It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine: 2017

Collector’s corner: René Debot

René Debot is owning some of the most unique records ranging from obscure experimental music to underground German rock.

Do you remember your first record?

My first records was a present from my parents in 1968 together with my first record player. They were 2 singles which were in the pop charts at that time. Yes I remember exactly. It was ‘Congratulation’ from Cliff Richard which was at that moment second on the Eurovision Song Contest in London, UK. The other single I got was from Johan Stolz - ‘Concerto voor Natasha’ which was a popular song in the hit charts from Flanders.

New Moon Rising - Bohemia Nervosa (2014)

https://newmoonrising.bandcamp.com/releases

Literally stumbling across New Moon Rising’s song “Child Of The Moon”, I was instantly rocked back by this gracious little neo-psychedelic track filled with wasted longing and inspired couch-bound intoxication. The track is filled with lovely harmonies that are sonically interwoven with meandering guitar work that ebbs lusciously forward, where they create a superb wake & bake number that will ride effortlessly in your back pocket, a song sounding fresh, yet inspired from the late 60's & early 70’s, and at over nine minutes, will certainly give you every reason to drift.

MSB - Nope (2017)

https://brownbass.bandcamp.com/album/nope

The appearance of jazz in the early 1900s – with its inconsistency-as-structure whereby uncertain melodic propositions are driven to ideal resolution via brave curiosity and explorative interest pursuing the line of inquiry and expression, with Trust or Bust and lack of ego to ensure its accuracy - might be seen as symptomatic of a societal communication breakdown, not a dysfunction but an adaptation to generalized psychoemotional fragmentation after the First World War.

Jamie & Steve - Sub Textural (Loaded Goat Records 2017)

Although most people know Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel as one-half of the Spongetones, they also record as a duo when not making merry as North Carolina’s noble band. After nearly forty years of performing together, it’s no surprise Jamie and Steve have developed a strong telepathic bond, and the twosome’s amazing chemistry rears its head time and time again here on their latest effort, Sub Textural. Comprised of six tracks, the disc holds steady as a solid testimony to Jamie and Steve’s multiple talents and devotion to the kind of music that has brought them ample accolades the past few decades.

“Soft as Fire in The House of Love” (Blog That Celebrates Itself, 2016)

https://theblogthatcelebratesitself.bandcamp.com/album/va-soft-as-fire-in-the-house-of-love

House of Love are one of those bands who’s music entered this galaxy with nearly absolute perfection and magnificence, composed of rolling guitars that were lushly layered, balanced by hypnotic well considered lyrics and vocals delivered with an eloquent softness that hangs around the edges of each song like an early morning haze, so trying to bring something new to the table with a cover version of anything from the House of Love collection is nearly impossible. That being said, the songs laid down here have been created with loving hands and a reverence for one of the best bands too many people are not aware of.

A great band too many folks have never heard of ...

For more reasons than I can count, it’s nearly impossible to realize that this album burst on the scene in 1994, because for all the world, Lotta Nerve is a relentless step though a portal of time an into the atmosphere of a hazy psychedelic past.

Daybreak - Daybreak (Gear Fab Records, 1971/2017)

Operating out of Pearl River, New York, Daybreak came together in 1969. The band played local gigs to enthused audiences, and wound up cutting an album. Originally released on the RPC label in 1971, “Daybreak,” produced only four hundred copies, making it an extremely rare bird. So hooray for Gear Fab Records for hunting this baby down, reissuing it and granting it the wider exposure it deserves!

“Blues Rock Festival”/“Beat Club International” (Gear Fab Records, 1970/2017 reissue)

Exploitation albums were the underground of the underground. Pressed in miniscule quantities on vanity labels, these offerings were so obscure that the majority of them were probably not even sold in stores, which raises a question mark, considering the forces behind the concoctions were clearly aiming to make quick couple of dollars. Aha, the smell of tax write-off fills the air! More than likely, the recordings were given to family and friends of the uncredited musicians responsible for the platters. Or they simply remained stored away in boxes, covered in dust bunnies, until years later when collectors came sniffing around, looking for long forgotten relics of the psychedelic age.

Temples - Volcano (Fat Possum Records, 2017)

There’s no way I’m saying that the music found within the grooves of Volcano isn’t good, what I am saying is that it’s not at all what I’d expected from all the hype.

Psychedelic States: Missouri in the 60s Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Various Artists, Gear Fab Records, GF-282, 2017

Following its long time tradition May 19, 2017 marked the release of the latest installment of Roger Maglio’s Gear Fab Records’ Psychedelic States series. Missouri releases of the 1960s is the topic covered this time around, with 54 tasty treats included in this most impressive collection, with a total run time of 140 minutes.

Adrian Shaw has an absolutely incredible music career. He’s been involved with many different bands including Magic Muscle, Hawkwind and for the past 30 years with The Bevis Frond. On that note I would like to mention to check out latest Bevis Frond reissues by Fire Records.

Where and when did you grow up? Was music a big part of your family life? Did the local music scene influence you or inspire you to play music?

I moved around London quite a lot as a kid. I started off in Tottenham, then Notting Hill, Putney and then Wembley. I was born in 1947 and consequently was there at the very start of Rock and Roll. I remember hearing the likes of Elvis, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1950’s and was hooked immediately. Then the Beatles came along when I was 15 and they just blew me away.

The Aliens - Luna (2008)

Rising from the ashes of the Beta Band, a band eternally being discovered, rediscovered and then forgotten again, only to swing back when you expected to hear from them least. Here, The Aliens seem to sonically define themselves as something between a Twin Peaks soundtrack and that of an offhanded meeting over Quaaludes between Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett, where a fluid intoxicating viscous melodic psychic brew ebbs and flows … not forward nor back, but ever present, with each song existing in the moment of its listen, displaying a swaying hallucinatory quality, often foggy and nearly forgotten, while at other times far too real, as if the song is standing before you from out of nowhere.

A brand new podcast hosted by Ross Beattie (The Night Tripper)

Kim Fowley - The Trip

Plastic Crimewave Sound - Another Dimension

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana

The Master's Apprentices - Our Friend Owsley Stanley III

Orange Claw Hammer - Click Clack

Liquid Sound Company - Free

Föllakzoid & J Spaceman - Earth

Fifty Foot Hose - If Not This Time

Iasos - Rainbow Canyon

Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen

The Sunshine Fix - Future History And The Irrelevance Of Time

Roy Montgomery - Cocktails With Can

The Bevis Frond - Mediaeval Sienese Acid Blues

Bardo Pond - Mescalito Part.2

I have long been a fan of Zaharas’s 1978 self-released LP Livin’ Ain’t Easy after finding it in my search for vintage North Carolina rock music online. They were from Hickory, and being a native North Carolinian I always had high hopes I would find the LP around locally as it commands hundreds of dollars in the collector’s marketplace. As luck would have it I eventually found it in a record store that didn’t know what they had.

High End manufacturer Clearaudio from Germany is sponsoring It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine.

“Ticket to the top of the world”

The Innovation Compact turntable with its very efficient design is nothing less than an audiophile revelation. Thanks to optical speed control (OSC), speed stability values are obtained that lift this turntable into the global highend class.

“Vinyl Of The Day”

Vinyl Of The Day is a popular series sponsored by hi-end turntable company Clearaudio. We are using their hi-end profile audio gear to get the most out of your vinyl records. Read more at: here

http://clearaudio.de

Bad Luck at the 2017 Ballard Jazz Festival in Seattle Wednesday May 17th

Neil Welch – tenor saxophone, Chris Icasiano – drums/percussion

Formed more than 10 years ago, Bad Luck are an avant-jazz duo featuring Neil Welch playing tenor saxophone and electronics and Chris Icasiano playing drums and percussion. Their musical collaborations began with late night marathon sessions exploring the nuances of creative jazz while they were students at the University of Washington. Founding members of the Racer Sessions avant-garde series, as well as Table & Chairs, a Seattle based arts organization that produces events and facilitates educational programs, they have released four albums on the Table & Chairs Music label and have a fifth scheduled for late 2017.

Ippu Mitsui - L + R (Bearsuit Records, 2017)

https://bearsuitrecords.bandcamp.com/album/l-r

Japanese artist/musician Mitsui is one of the latest signings to the eclectic, mostly electronic Scottish imprint, Bearsuit Records, a longtime favourite around these parts. Last year he released a split LP with Annie And The Station Orchestra and here he forages out on his own, delivering hypnotic electronic beats that are full of energetic creativity and will make your pants get up and dance. The eleven tracks segue seamlessly like a classic DJ mix, with the stomping floorthrobber ‘Small Rider” sprinkling tinkling fairy dust over a ferocious backbeat. Inaudible vocal splicings slice through the patchwork quilt glitch rock of the appropriately titled ‘Patch Up’ and ‘Break Through 50 Watt’ and ‘In My Mind – Kokoro’ are chill out, romance music for the new generation; the former harkening back to vintage Warehouse grooves, while the latter reminds of the pronouncements of the backwards-talking midget in Twin Peaks!

The Origin Uber Band consists primarily of artists who record for the Origin Arts label. Given that Origin has organized the Ballard Jazz Festival in Seattle since it began in 2002, it seems natural that some of the region’s best players would come together this year if for no other reason than to celebrate the festival’s 15th anniversary. Performing two staggering sets of music at the Conor Byrne Pub, it featured Dave Peterson – guitar; Richard Cole – tenor saxophone (first set); Brent Jensen – tenor saxophone (second set); Rick Mandyck – piano; Chuck Deardorf – electric bass; and John Bishop – drums.

Triptides are premiering their new album Afterglow. Jangle echo-laden psychedelia at its best.

“We recorded Afterglow in a period of transition. We knew that we would be moving from Bloomington, into Los Angeles at the end of the summer of 2014 but we wanted to create another album before we left town. As a result there’s a transitional energy comes through on the record; whether it’s the uncertainty that comes with change or the excitement associated with exploring the unknown.

The record is comprised of songs in which our love of 60’s psychedelia and pop are fully embraced. We had just acquired a 12 string electric guitar and a Farfisa Compact Duo and decided that they should be put to work right away. Maybe we thought it would be cool if Roger McGuinn played guitar on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn or if George Harrison stopped by a Strawberry Alarm Clock recording session with his 12 string Rickenbacker.

At the end of the day we weren’t getting hung up on recordings that were already created - we just wanted to make something entirely new by combining elements of what we love with the inescapable ideas of our own minds.” - Triptides

Afterglow will mean something different to everyone.

What color are the flowers blooming through the swirling sounds? Who is she? When did all this time go by? What for?

We’ll let you decide.

Brad Shepik, who was raised in the Seattle area, began playing guitar at the age of 10 and studied music with the likes of Ralph Towner and John Abercrombie. Besides touring Europe and recording two albums with Paul Motian over the course of five years, he has also performed and recorded with Dave Douglas, Matt Darriau, and Yuri Yanakov’s Bulgarian Wedding Band.

With a pocket full of lush celestial narcotics and this wasted sonically layered infusion of Spiritualized covers, laid down lovingly by some of the best of those influenced by Spiritualized, and dare I suggest Spacemen 3, reality can be endlessly extended, be gone in a flash, or burn up as you fly too close to the sun.

“The continuing saga of a most talented artist!”

Merrell Fankhauser And H.M.S. Bounty “Things” (Gear Fab Records, 1968/2017 reissue)

Following the breakup of Fapardokly, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Merrell Fankhauser and guitarist/vocalist Bill Dodd of the band set off for Los Angeles to pursue a record deal, while band members John Oliver and Dick Lee chose not to follow and were replaced by basssist/vocalist Jack Jordan and drummer Larry Meyers. After a name change to H.M.S. Bounty the group did indeed land a contract with UNI/Shamley Records, the end result being the November, 1968 release of an LP titled simply Things. The album, wonderful as it is, containing two tracks that appeared on the national charts, “Things” and “Girl I’m Waiting For You”, received virtually no support from the label due to its recent signing of Neil Diamond, and despite gigging with such national acts as Canned Heat, CTA (later Chicago) and The Blues Image, among others, achieved only moderate sales. These facts, however, belie the continued musical evolution of Fankhauser’s songwriting, vocal and guitar talents, made obvious by the twelve tracks composing Things which are reviewed here , joined by the group’s final recording “I’m Flyin’ Home” (as a bonus track) from the quite recent reissue by Roger Maglio’s fine Gear Fab Records label.

Human Ottoman is a prog rock band from Portland who “actively ear-pillage” the Pacific Northwest US. Their lineup features Julian Kosanovic playing cello, Grayson Fiske playing vibraphone, and Susan Lucia playing drums. The trio first met during music school, and focusing their classical training and jazz sensibilities, they have created a unique sound that transcends the boundaries of multiple genres.

Hi Vernon,

Congratulations on your newest work, A Melange Of Musical Pipedreams And Pandemonium and thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for our It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine readers.

Your newest title has been published as part of a revision of your previous book Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares from Far Away Lands Revisited is it not? Why the new title rather than an updated edition of Dreams?

It would not have been possible to update the Dreams book as a single volume to the quality and standard I wanted and I had feedback about the high freight costs of shipping two-volume books and the weight of carrying them around. I also wanted to introduce the music from some new parts of the world to my readers so it made more sense to write two new titles.

(Grapefruit/Cherry Red CRSEG036D; 77.38, 75.04)

Label retrospectives are released nowadays thick and fast as smog in Poland. Some compilations put together what doesn’t always seem to be linked, but when well-curated and for the first time, like here, they are a welcome addition. Music lovers may have once had originals but can’t now afford due to rarity value. Not the most loved of formats, at least CDs make up in cost and content-size what vinyl can’t do. There have been great retrospectives of famous labels such as Vertigo, Harvest and Dawn, as well as Cherry Red’s own Dandelion catalogue: equally wide-ranging in its eclecticism, this new offering spotlights what may have been missed in those featured genres.

Stonewall recorded one of the most obscure hard rock albums of the 1970s. It was released in 1976 on a label called “Tiger Lily.” According to Assalti, drummer of the band, the actual recording is from 1972 and the release by “Tiger Lily” is a bootleg. The band never received anything and their music was literally stolen! For the first time in history here’s the TRUE story behind Stonewall, one of the most sought-after bands by collectors. Many thanks to Anthony Assalti for answering my questions.

“The growth of an incredible musician”

Fapardokly - Fapardokly (1967/2017 Gear Fab Records reissue)

Formed from the remnants of Merrell and The Exiles in 1967, Fapardokly was formed, and is a both delightful and important documentation of musical growth of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Merrell Fankhauser. Their sole, s/t 1967 LP is given new life in Gear Fab Records’ 2017 reissue.

Glitterbust - Glitterbust (Burger Records, 2016)

Glitterbust is one of the more odd and energetic albums that’s come my way in a very long time. It’s impossible to call this body of work noise-rock, jazz, fusion, or even experimental versions of any of the aforementioned genres, because the band incorporates all of those effortlessly and flawlessly.

Wouldn’t want to speculate, but there must have been something in the wind that reached out, turned up my collar and set me here peering in through Gram’s rusted screen-door that afternoon, my date waiting in the car at the curb, with a license, but no receipt, and knowing nothing of my demons.

“Cabin fever”

Think Half Machine Lip Moves by Chrome. Think Twin Infinitives by Royal Trux. Think Hairdryer Peace The Hospitals. Now stop thinking. Now play Boilin’ by Lichen Gumbo.

“How I one day woke up and decided to live life again”

Ten years after its first release, Drunk Elk’s the self-titled debut gets a re-release on the L.A. based House Rules label.

How do you look back now at this record, ten years after its original release?

Simon Krause: Me and Dave had some songs and were looking for another member. I was playing bass and Dave was on vocals. We wrote “Quintessence” and “Drunk Elk Theme Song”. We asked Sam Acres to join because we heard him play keyboards in a band Kisses Bye-Bye. Sam was doing his PHD and living with his girlfriend and a cat.

Dave Askew: Me and Simon formed this band out of boredom, and wanted to do something fun to stop ourselves from going completely insane.

When it first surfaced over 10 years ago on MySpace, the album Gout, by Art Jackson’s Atrocity, was mired in mystery and confusion. It originally purported to be a never-issued Columbia Records promo LP from 1974, guided and funded by Miles Davis, and featuring an East St. Louis collective of ex-Black Panthers fronted by a hotshot 20-something junkie guitarist who was making avant-garde jazz-rock ahead of their time.

“Taking in the horror and the beauty of this world and reacting to it”

Jan Anderzén talks about his work as ‘a minuscule part of this enormous hive mind project that strives towards more harmonious existence in the mama matrix most mysterious’, his Kevätjuhla LP on Alter being the latest part of this.

“A Melange Of Musical Pipedreams And Pandemonium”

by Vernon Joyson reviewed

Having outgrown its britches, or binding capacity, as the case may be, author Vernon Joynson’s title “Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares from Far Away Lands Revisited” has been put to bed and replaced by two new titles, the first of these “A Melange Of Musical Pipedreams And Pandemonium: Australian, New Zealand, Africa, Turkish And Middle Eastern Rock, Pop, Beat, R&B, Folk, Psych And Prog 1963-1976” is reviewed here. It is also important to note that while the book mainly covers the period 1963-1976, releases by bands that carried on beyond this time frame are included, albeit perhaps not in quite such detail.

Hot Curl is an indie surf / psychedelic / garage rock band based out of Brooklyn, NY. It was formed at the start of 2015 and consisted of members from various projects that singer / guitarist Prescott Horn had been a part of. The band currently consists of Prescott Horn (Vox/ Guitar), Justin Lisa (Drums), Alejandro Triana (Guitar), Justin Lisa (Drums), and Sharif Mekawy (Bass/Vox).They have one release to date; their 2016, four-song EP titled ‘Beached’. This EP combines elements of low-fi indie rock and surf rock akin to bands on the Captured Tracks label such as DIIV, Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing. After playing a multitude of shows around Brooklyn and Manhattan they went back into the studio at Converse Rubber Tracks to record a follow up EP to ‘Beached’. This new EP finds them exploring more psychedelic and garage rock realms than it’s dream-pop oriented predecessor.

In the Bread with Jonathan Richman

On the way to the Bluebird Theater on the bus the other night, to see Jonathan Richman sing and play guitar, accompanied by his bandmate of 24 years, Tommy Larkins, on the drums, I wondered what Jonathan would say about all the bad politics lately. This would be the third time I’d seen him live, one of the more important figures in contemporary rock and roll history, someone who could have choked down the whole poison sandwich of fame in the 1970s but decided against it, who’s manifested decades of inimitable, excellent music under the radar instead ever since. Everybody was in a bad mood about politics lately, and as de facto focal points, performers could add themselves to that discontent in assumptive political fighterly manner, or effect an attractive alternative. I looked up to this guy as someone who knew better than consensus opinion. I figured he’d probably say something about the political funk, just to give us friends and fans the high sign, and I wanted to hear whatever it was. However he handled the question, I felt sure he wouldn’t let it cheapen or dominate whatever he put across otherwise.

The Babe Rainbow - The Babe Rainbow (Flightless Records, 2015)

https://thebaberainbow.bandcamp.com/album/the-babe-rainbow-ep

Babe Rainbow’s EP, released as a limited edition of 1000 on pink vinyl, creeps up on you like the first inklings that the dose of acid you just took is kicking in, causing an uncontrollable smile inch across your face, and visionary happiness to ooze from every pore.

Tomorrows Tulips - When (Burger Records, 2014)

Intoxicatingly simple and ear catching, Tomorrows Tulips lay down a sonic atmospheric of ultra mellow southern California low-fi dream pop played and sung in the lower registers with limited and pleasingly repetitive chord changes that move across the room like the afternoon sun, highlighting bits of dust slowly dancing through the air by the smallest breeze, and causing your eternally sleeping cat to stretch out even more comfortably on his back.

Ross Beattie presents It’s Psychedelic Baby podcast #15 (June)

A brand new podcast hosted by Ross Beattie (The Night Tripper)

Stone Garden - Oceans Inside Me

Faust - Lights Flicker

Albert Ayler - Untitled Duet

Oiseaux Tempête - Baalshamin

The Sonic Dawn - Six Seven

Morgen - Purple

Thurston Moore - Exalted

Tim Buckley - Come Here Woman

Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Illistrum

Relatively Clean Rivers - A Thousand Years

Kikagaku Moyo - Nobakitani

Sun Ra - Other Worlds

Colour Haze - Black Lilly

The Black Angels - Half Believing

Just released are the remastered Island recordings of Quintessence (Move Into The Light, Cherry Red Records under their Esoteric imprint ECLEC 22584). Complete with a single and full-length live track from the Bumpers compilation, as well as original art-work and photos, this double CD box is a most worthwhile addition highlighting the period that was the English counter-culture’s heyday as the 60s turned a corner into the 70s. They were heady days indeed, in more senses than might first seem.

“Psychedelia 101 Iconic Underground Rock Albums 1966-1970” by Richard Morton Jack (Sterling Publishing) 2017

Defying description, psychedelia still holds ground as one of the most radical and exciting movements in musical history. Shunning concrete rules, these colorful expressions stemmed from experimentation and improvisation. Anything goes was the attitude!

WITCH playing first ever UK gigs & Documentary on lead singer Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda enters final stages of production.

WE INTEND TO CAUSE HAVOC TRAILER 2017 from Pantheon Pictures on Vimeo.

Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, lead singer and last surviving original member of legendary Zambian Garage Psych Rock band WITCH will be performing at Moth Club in London on September 22nd and at Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia on September 23rd 2017. Joining him onstage to play songs from their 5 album catalog will be Jacco Gardner on bass, Jay Whitefield (Whitefield Brothers, Poets of Rhythm) on lead guitar, Patrick Mwondela (“Disco” WITCH) on keys, Nic Mauskoviç (Jacco Gardner Band, Eerie Wanda, The Mauskoviç Dance Band, Altin Gün) on drums and Stefan Lilov (L’Eclair) on rhythm guitar.

In 1970 one of the best, if not the best, heavy psychedelic rock albums of all time was released on Mainstream Records. The album Drive It! was the product of the band Lincoln St. Exit, featuring Michael Martinez on lead guitar and lead vocals as well as being the band’s chief songwriter. Recently, Martinez was kind enough to share the saga of Lincoln St. Exit with “It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine” readers.

Sanguis draconis is a thick, blood-red resin extracted from exotic trees. Since the dawn of time it has been used in medicine, crafts and of course… magic.

Witchthroat Serpent are ready for the upcoming European tour and today they’re releasing new 7” EP “Striped Dragon” on Svart Records.

Here you can listen “Striped Dragon” and pre-order EP!

Psychedelics, shamanism and DOOM!

Witchthroat Serpent so far released two albums. Latest being Sang-Dragon. What’s the story behind it?

Well, nice question. Sang-Dragon was a name we came up with in Barcelona where we were waiting to play our worst gig ever. At this moment we talking on the terrace of a bar near the Mediterranean Sea, drinking the most expensive beer we’d ever bought (no beer was provided by the concert promoter) and the idea to name our new album after the incense we use on stage appeared to us as obvious. Sang-Dragon incense is a really special resin, surrounded by mysticism and magic, so we always like to use it during our shows with a special mix of herbs... Red Dragon needs company to be well-catalyzed.

Most bands I interview make it easy, but not Blair 1523, I got a call shortly before the interview saying that not only that the location had changed, but that I would be meeting only with George Harris, to which I said, “Hey, that’s fine with me, as long as I can cut through the mystery that’s been surrounding the band for so long.” The space we met at was clean and quiet, George was sitting alone in the back, all smiles, certainly not what I’d expect, yet a pleasure to meet.

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