Alien Planetscapes

Alien Planetscapes got to be the brainchild of space rock veteran Doug Walker who unfortunately died of a heart attack in April 2006. The New York based musician has been a prolific keyboarder with a jazz background showing interest in using an experimental instrumentation consisting of synthesizer and other electronics. In 1977 he started with the avant-garde rock/jazz project Yeti which existed until 1990. He additionally was involved in two other bands named Third Sun and Cool And The Clones.

 
Alien Planetscapes was founded in 1981 then based on an experimental approach with elements of improvisational rock, free jazz and the Berlin School electronic music represented by Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. The band never was provided with a steady line-up for a longer period and Doug Walker also played under several moniker like 'Alien Karcasscapes'. Not intending to be signed by a label the musical output is placed on a huge amount of self-produced cassette and CDR releases.

 
1982/83 was a very active period for the band. Louis Boone (synthesizer), Kevin Shelton (bass), Marc Adler (drums), Reginald Taylor (synth, guitar) and Doug Walker represented the first line-up. They were involved with the International Electronic Music Association and played live a lot. The following years saw collaborations with uncounted musicians -besides the classic instrumentation consisting of guitar, bass, synthesizer and drums there are also some violin and saxophone players contributing here and there. Futhermore Alien Planetscapes has been a welcomed act on diverse space rock festivals in the USA. 

It is said one of the rare regular CD productions, 'Life On Earth', is culminating the project's effort. It was released in 1997 on the own label Galactus Music. Scott Heller (Oresund Space Collective) and other friends have put together the band's official website with memorabilia, member and gig lists plus music of live concerts respectively independent releases as a tribute to Doug Walker's exceptional presence. [SOURCE: PROG ARCHIVES]