Third Man Records has released Southeast of Saturn, a collection of music from Detroit’s space-rock/shoegaze/dream pop scene of the ‘90s. Stream the album or purchase standard black vinyl HERE. Exclusive limited edition copies of Southeast Of Saturn on Deep Space Dark/Aqua Wave colored vinyl are available in select independent record stores across the US and in UK/EU, as well as in both Nashville and Detroit storefronts. Watch a video on the making of the compilation HERE.

It makes sense that Detroit had a buzzy, thriving space-rock scene in the ‘90s. What American city’s denizens had a more urgent need to disengage and think outside the grim, post-industrial rustbelt realities? With space-rock (and its close sonic cousin shoegaze) being at once expansive and introspective, it naturally appealed to the young, intelligent artists who gravitated toward its vertiginous orbit. 

The music of Southeast Of Saturn did not arise organically from metro Detroit’s fertile soil. Locally, garage-rock, goth-rock, neo-hippie groups, and the usual preponderance of adequate bar bands dominated the landscape. Thirsty Forest Animals guitarist Andrew Peters summarizes the  prevalent  attitude among the Motor City’s space-rock  contingent:  “I  don’t  think  we  really noticed the local Detroit scene earlier on. We were more into the bands you would see in the NME / Melody Maker, zines, and records – mostly from the UK – on the walls at Play It Again”. If anything was a major factor locally, it was Play It Again, the independent record store in the suburbs  of  Detroit that nurtured the scene with its amazing curation of imports and killer used records picked up on owner Alan Kovan’s British record buying trips.

Penned “Detroit Space-Rock”, the scene centered around Burnt Hair Records, Burnt Hair CEO Larry Hoffman’s Life According To Larry radio show,  Zoot’s  Coffeehouse, and bands,  such as Windy & Carl, Asha Vida, Füxa, Auburn  Lull, and Majesty Crush. It was a modern movement of a  more traditional “space-rock”   sound,  influenced less by  The  Stooges and MC5  and more by Spacemen 3, Loop, My Bloody Valentine, and krautrock bands like Can and Neu!. Even the best-known artists on  Southeast Of Saturn – Windy & Carl, Majesty Crush, Füxa – never achieved mainstream success, but within the rock underground, they inspired a cultish devotion that burns to this day.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – SOUTHEAST OF SATURN

1. Majesty Crush – “No. 1 Fan”

2. Spectacle – “She Doesn’t Believe”

3. Thirsty Forest Animals – “Nape”

4. Füxa – “Photon”

5. The Delta Waves – “Andromeda Drone”

6. Windy & Carl – “Instrumental #2”

7. Asha Vida – “Eskimo Summer”

8. Ten Second Dynasty – “Continuum”

9. Children’s Ice Cream – “The Hand Of God”

10. Miss Bliss – “Grey”

11. Astrobrite – “Crasher”

12. Naming Mary – “Stardriver”

13. Glider – “Shift”

14. Space Monkeys – “Serenity”

15. Jazzless – “Something Warm About The Rain”

16. lovesliescrushing – “youreyesimmaculate”

17. Calliope – “Laughing At Roadsigns”

18. Auburn Lull – “June-Tide”

19. Thumbling – “Butterfield Eight”