Like a signal traveling through the unfathomable vastness of space, hoping to relay instructions on how to build a transportation device so Jodie Foster can visit her dad, it’s been a long journey for Astral Hand. The heavy cosmic-psych band emerged from the shadow of another Milwaukee band (Calliope) way back in 2019. The rebranded outfit released a couple of tentative singles, but plans for a full-length album were put on hold due to the pandemic and other nefarious interstellar forces.

But now—finally!—Astral Hand is set to release that debut record. The 8-track Lords Of Data is due March 6 on streaming services (vinyl copies are due March 18 on Romanus Records). A record release show is due March 10 at Cactus Club (with Dead Feathers and BLOOD). A cinematic video for towering single “Contact” is due…NOW.

The spiffy clip features the members of Astral Hand (Vic Buell, Al Kraemer, Anthony Smith, Dan Dahl) fiddling with some retro-futuristic communication tech straight out of Logan’s Run, and eventually making contact with someone…or something. Anyone else getting big “Metropolis meets John Carpenter’s Prince Of Darkness” vibes from that final shot?


Kraemer says Astral Hand’s “rebranding and release process has taken longer than David Lynch’s Dune film,” and he ain’t kidding. Look for a deeper cosmic dive into the (excellent) Lords Of Data soon.

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Calliope says farewell (for now), morphs into cosmic Astral Hand

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Matt Wild weighs between 140 and 145 pounds. He lives on Milwaukee's east side.