I don’t want to say “what the f*ck” because there may be children listening so, “WHAT THE SOARING DOLPHIN AURAS!!!” I was going through a bunch of my old records last night and found an album tucked away called Cosmic Beam Experience by Francisco. I popped it on the turntable today and experienced a pleasantly unexpected epiphany. This is a new age, freak-jazz mind blower! It was released in 1976 on Francisco’s own Cosmic Beam Records & Tapes and features him playing an array of contact mic’d steel beams (sourced from semi-trucks) running through an Echoplex, gongs, chime trees made from house keys, super spaced guitars and other far-out sound tools. The video above is a short glimpse into how these elements combine to zap you into a yogic flashdance.

Francisco played his Cosmic Beam on the soundtracks of many films including: 1979’s Star Trek: the Motion Picture, a short film about the Tibetan Book of the Dead called Tanka and Terence Malick’s masterpieces The Thin Red Line and The New World. Francisco, if you’re out there, and we know you’re way out there, please drop us a line.

You can find a great interview with Francisco Lupica on the Mutant-Sounds Blog and read an account of his 1978 Venice Beach street performance here.