The Third Eye

One of the great things about Bandcamp is you never know what kind of cool stuff you’ll find when you do a deep dive. Drop in some search terms, scroll along on your phone or laptop, and you may find a hidden gem. That’s the feeling I got when I saw a 2014 debut record by a band called Polska Radio One.

Polska Radio One is a group from the cold and gloomy Ural city of Yekaterinburg that released Cosmos Inside in 2014 via New Jersey’s Trail Records. The Bandcamp description tells us the band rose from a beginner garage combo to one of Eastern Europe’s most exciting and promising psychedelic bands. However, there’s not too much information about them online.

A quick look at Polska Radio One’s Bandcamp profile shows the band likely split in 2015, and the members drifted off to work on other projects. Whatever the case, they left behind an excellent record in Cosmos Inside.

In 2014, the group described themselves as “somewhere between Sixties-style British rock, modern fuzz-guitar psychedelia, and traditional German krautrock.” The Krautrock influence is apparent when you listen to Cosmos Inside, a debut album flavored with Indian spices that sounds like a full-bodied psychedelic trip. 

“Its sounds are dynamic and powerfully driven as their influences were, with touches of Hawkwind, early Pink Floyd, and early CAN.” Cosmos Inside is superbly recorded and played with intent and control, with most tracks leaning mainly towards instrumental composition with some phased vocals that fit the power of sometimes dark themes. The record features exotic sounds from keyboards, wah-fuzz and tremolo guitars, deep tone bass, and other sound effects that create a potent sonic impact.

The album consists of eight tracks and a tad over fifty-five minutes of music, with several songs breaking the five-minute mark. The title track – “Cosmos Inside,” – encompasses much of the album’s themes and overall feel, a trippy, trance-inducing long jam. Two tracks feature sitar playing from Stepan Jee, and many songs feature the use of a tambura.

Cosmos Inside reminds me of an album I loved earlier this year by the excellent heavy psych group Apex Ten. Polska Radio’s One’s sounds usually aren’t as heavy as Apex Ten’s, but they bring the same exotic and esoteric world-psychedelic vibe. I think Cosmos Inside is one of those great crate-digging-type records that may have gotten lost in the infinite streaming world worth spending some time with.

I’m also not sure what the fate of the label that put this music out is. Trail Records was founded in 2007 and bills itself as an “exclusive source of psychedelic world music,” a label formed by two visual artists collaborating to produce and release creative work of musicians from different cultural backgrounds and traditions. “We realize that there are a lot of talented artists around the globe who produce ingenious work that never had a chance to be discovered for lack of financial support or promotion,” the label says on Bandcamp.

A glance at Trail Records’ Instagram profile shows their last post was in August 2023, and there’s since been radio silence. I’m unsure what their status is, but they’ve left behind some great releases on Bandcamp if you’d like to grab the digital copies. Cosmos Inside is good “music for tripping” and an excellent pick for Krautrock and Neo-Kraut fans. Enjoy, my friends.

Check out Cosmos Inside by Polska Radio One on Bandcamp here.

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Author’s note: I’ve been slowing down the past few days, and it’s been nice. It’s allowed me to spend more time with the music I’m writing about and enjoy it. Music has sounded better to me recently. I’m grateful for that.

Thanksgiving was nice. I spent the day with my in-laws in my new state in the South. It was a little awkward, but there was tons of great food. I’m looking forward to seeing my family soon for Christmas, although going home has been weird since I moved out of state. Trying to stay present and in the moment and keeping in touch with people in recovery has helped. I hope all y’all have a great holiday season. The holidays can be rough; family functions can be weird, and some of us get lonely during this time of year. So, be good to yourselves and try to stay grateful for the little things. It helps.