Category Archives: Psychedelic
Psychedelic Horseshit – Laced (FatCat Records)
Psychedelic Horseshit
Laced
FatCat Records
Rating: 3.4 out of 5
Link: http://www.myspace.com/psychedelichorseshit
When All Night Radio released their psychedelic opus, it was laced with charm and a dignified strangeness that swirled around your mind. Psychedelic Horseshit sounds like an evening of dumpster diving. And if All Night Radio is the Sgt. Pepper of modern indie psychedelic then Laced is the Her Satanic Majesties Request.
Laced is junked out and kicked around that bares no resemblance to the smoothed out neo-psych jams that has saturated the indie market. Psychedelic Horseshit beats those revivalists down with a hammer like Basement Jaxx did to house music.
“I Hate The Beach” pairs Yes-like random synth sounds with over-exposed Casio-sounding drum thumping. “French Connection” is hazy sampling overlayed with an homage to Bollywood. It’s the mystics versus Carlos Castaneda in an oiled-down ring. “Automatic Writing” is one of the sweetest quick-fire ambient pieces I have heard coming from a band who is not ambient related, while “Revolution Wavers” is about as normal as this band gets. But as you listen, the indie rock construct disintegrates into a noisy collage of loops and layers that goes on and on and on, which messes with your head even more.
Thank you Psychedelic Horseshit for making me cross-eyed.
Akron/Family – S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey Of Shinju TNT (Joyful Noise)
Akron/Family
S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey Of Shinju TNT
Joyful Noise
Rating: 5 out of 5
Link: http://akronfamily.com/
Remember those ‘70s driving songs? The feel-good tunes that if you had the top to put down, it was down and the wheels would spin love vibes warmed by the summer sun.
Akron/Family’s latest is a revitalization of the summer cruise music if it meant cruising around Mt. Fuji with Hokusai in mind.
S/T II for short, is a ritualistic celebration that bleeds elements of purist ‘70s power pop icons like The Raspberries or the Bay City Rollers (listen to any of these songs and any day will feel like Saturday night) with influences of Japanese noisecore and psychedelia. You can get just enough out of their music to have a mental image of the band freaking out to The Boredoms or The Flower Travellin’ Band.
Two things I really love about this album beyond the glowing aura that surrounds it. First, the way the album is laid out is flawless; the transitions impeccable. It’s like waking up and wanting to tell someone, “Hey man, I just had the most incredible dream!”
The second thing is that the album is difficult without being difficult. There is so much crazy and cool things going on that you could listen to it a thousand times and still be able to pick up on something new. But at the core of these songs, it can be deconstructed into simple pop songs that are catchy as hell.
It’s one of the greatest indie pop albums I have heard in a while.
Abby GoGo – Self Titled (Music Review)
Abby GoGo – “Louder Than Dreams” Podcast: Play in new window
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Abby GoGo
Self-Titled
Double Phantom
Rating: 4 out of 5
Link: http://www.myspace.com/abbygogorocks
When setting out to review Abby Go Go’s self-titled album, my goal was to write a review that doesn’t name-check a bunch of other bands in order to describe the band’s sound. I’ll tell you now that I failed, and here’s why: When the Brian Jonestown Massacre so masterfully used their musical roots as a transparent blueprint for creating new songs using old sounds and production techniques, I doubt they anticipated that this would become the template for a massive wave of bands in the late 2000s. If the BJM was “retro-inspired”, does this make this new wave “retro-retro-inspired”? Do I stick to my goal when the line of inspiration is so clearly visible? I think not, because it has become necessary to point out that some albums may appear to be second-grade BJM knock-offs on the surface, others demand and deserve you not dismiss them out of hand. Abby Go Go is one of these bands.
With the opening riffs of “Louder Than Dreams” it is clear there’s no time to waste.
“I want to pick up the pieces. I hold them out in my hand. I put them back together. They fall apart again. It all seems so much louder than dreams” – This may or may not be a nod to the various influences that make this album a kaleidoscope of awesome, but it sure ties back to the opening thesis of this review, so I’m going with that interpretation.
Regardless, it sets the stage for what’s to come. The second, and arguably weakest, track – “The Lost Song” does sound a lot like early BJM. A lot. Specifically, it would have fit nicely on Take It From The Man. The result is a somewhat forgettable song, but things really start to pick up on the third track: “Torpedo.” From here on out, the album veers out of Anton Newcomb territory and finds itself flying down the street In A Priest Driven Ambulance. Thank God.
At 5:00 (yes, five minutes) into this 7:20 epic, the Shoegaze injection kicks in just a little, and things start to get interesting. By the time I got to “Guitar #0,” I was hooked. Sure, there’s a clear Souvlaki sound beaming through the song, but the longing and haunting vocal that bleeds at the 1:00 mark is the gateway to the gut punch 30 seconds later. I listened to this one 10 times in a row. Song 5 (“Feelin Slow”) gets jangly again, but “Sweet Sweet” brings back the swirling sound salad arena rock. “Come On” has a distinctly indie low-fi feel, and like many Abby Go Go tracks, really hits a stride 3/4s of the way in with a driving guitar riff backed by cathedral-like vocals in the background that takes the song from precious to kick-ass back to precious again. It works well.
The final cut on the album is a gem called “Glass.” The 27-second opening guitar bit that opens the track provides some slight-of-hand to the listener, as second #28 reveals where this one is heading, and it is pure sonic bliss. Another seven minutes of epic gut punch-guitar riffs that belong next to the best shoegaze songs recorded.
Yes, I failed to write a review that doesn’t compare Abby Go Go to their apparent influences, but at the same time, Abby Go Go succeeded in taking those influences and creating a great album that deserves your attention. Personally, “Guitar #0″ and “Glass” will be permanent fixtures in my listening rotation. Above all, these songs make Abby Go Go worth owning.
Viva – Rock & Roll Lover (Music Review)
Viva
Rock & Roll Lover
(Self-Released)
Rating: 3 out of 5
Links:
Viva’s Homepage: http://www.vivamusic.info/live/
Viva on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vivadeconcini
Viva DeConcini and her back up band released Rock & Roll Lover in mid-July.
Rock & Roll Lover is good, girl-fronted, girly-centric fun rock and roll. Many tasty ingredients make their way into this gumbo of a record. The title track is a bouncy, funky, danceable song that should appeal to the rockabilly kids in the crowd, as should “Go-Go Boots,” and her instrumental cover of Carole King’s/ Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman.”
DeConcini’s vocals are skilled and show a plethora of influences. She goes from fun and flirty to slow and serious in the span of the record. Her voice seems better suited for the upbeat tracks more than the solemn track “Emily.”
The strings are mainly well-crafted blues and rock guitar with some late 60s Brit-psyche. Nothing about the bass and drums stand out too much; the focus stays on Viva’s voice, the guitars and horns. Horns? Yes! Viva employed the services of a full horn section in this her release, and apparently takes a 4-piece with her on tour.
Rock and Roll Lover is over all a good record, a solid record. It is not, however, a fascinating listen. I have always had the opinion that when a musical outfit plays a little bit of everything on a single record (for this record, it would be a psychedelic rock song, a few upbeat rockabilly-new swing songs, and an instrumental Motown cover, etc), they prove themselves to be a great studio band. They do not prove themselves to be a good independent band with their own sound.
Where the band may lack in a sound that they own, they make up for in playing decent songs. Overall, Rock & Roll Lover is a fun record to relax to and have as background music, or to see at a festival or show; not a band to make a point of seeing based on the contents of this record alone.
RIYL: Stray Cats, Motown records, Ani DiFranco, any alternative-Grrrl music, David Bowie, neo swing music.
Sukilove- Static Moves (Music Review)
Sukilove
Static Moves
Jezus Factory
Rating: 3 out of 5
Links:
Jezus Factory: http://www.jezusfactory.com/
Sukilove on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sukilove
Sukilove is great Belgian art-pop/blues-based alternative rock, not too far removed from The Only Ones , the Walkmen, and Radiohead. Static Moves is a bouncy, bass-heavy artsy alternative album. The production is deep and overly-full; the bass is so powerful it drones a bit and becomes the ambience, the vehicle to carry the remainder of the music and vocals. Keyboards and sustained guitars accompany the echoing vocals and back-ups.
The LP is an interesting listen; sporadic, intense, and unafraid to let the music play out a bit; the tracks are balanced and produced together giving a definite theme to the release. The only drawback to this notion is that one is almost drawn to consider the whole album, not the individual tracks; this will make things difficult for the band if they are trying to get a track onto the radio for exposure.
The track “Rebel” has an intensity that grabs hold right away and doesn’t let go easily. “Fear” has a rambling, grooving backbone to it driven by a nice bass line, and the line “We’re all just meat, we’re all just waiting to die” repeating over and over adds a psychedelic feel to the track.
