It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine: April 2018

Kontiki Suite - “The Greatest Show on Earth” (2015) review

Kontiki Suite - The Greatest Show on Earth (2015)

https://kontikisuite.bandcamp.com/album/the-greatest-show-on-earth

The Greatest Show On Earth is Kontiki Suite’s second formal album, with some of the material being available in other places. Nevertheless, the band still manifests that early evening hippie Laurel Canyon vibe that was laid down so long ago … and coming from the UK, has been done surprising well.

Without a doubt Time Out, with one of the most beautiful album covers of all time, is among the most subtle and signature releases by Dave Brubeck, where the Quartet float in a cool smooth blend of West Coast jazz that stands out for several reasons. The first being that it does not rivet the listener in place, but more gives the listener a space in which to allow the music to encompass them. The second is that the album features Brubeck and his players adding their own touches to what would be considered traditional sounds, ebbing out what was important within that construct and moving it forward, where with their non-common time signatures, they deliver something the world had never experienced before.

Mixing pop melodies with more experimental sounds and structures, Hund offers a dreamy melancholic indie which features harmonized guitars, strong dynamic changes and introspective lyrics.

Megaritual interview with Dale Walker

Megaritual is a solo project by Australian multi-instrumentalist Dale Walker, who is also member of Sun Of Man and Drug Cult.

The Auras - The Auras (2012)

In consideration of the band’s catalog in general ...

Many years ago, one of the first things that drove me to cassettes was the fact that I often felt too many bands were padding their albums with filler or were at times off on musical tangents where they’d lace their albums with ‘so-called’ tripped out nonsense, that while fun for the first couple of listens, soon became tiring, boring, even embarrassing, forcing me to edit out material, often saving only the songs that road most comfortably in my back pocket.

The Brussels based Lexi Disques label is celebrating ten years of existence. Two personal favourites: the paddo one (City Hands - A Place In The World, 2014) and the dandy one (Edgar Wappenhalter - Zingt Hendrik Marsman en Karel van de Woestijne, 2012).

Chuck Stewart shot. When we were told to dress for the LP cover, Bob Shad said “dress like what you would think Jelly Bean Bandits look like.” Notice Jack on the right. He is wearing what ladies of the time called a cover-up when they went to the beach in their bathing suit. And notice that Jack’s guns are around his knees. He took us out to Times Square in Manhattan 1967 to make these shots. Sure couldn’t do that nowadays.

Interview with Michael Raab of The Jelly Bean Bandits. In 1968, The Jelly Bean Bandits put out their debut LP on Mainstream Records Inc.

Healing Spells - Past Lives (Self-released, 2018)

https://artist.landr.com/music/800739316126

I know, I know. You’re judging the album art. I get it. That was my first instinct too. I suppose the moral here is that a phenomenally talented musician can also be a completely inept visual artist.

Healing Spells, the solo project of a Tokyo-based producer, put out a staggeringly gorgeous EP this January. What surprises me is that it holds its own when put up against IDM masters like OneOhtrix Point Never, Dan Deacon, and Andy Stott. Spanning just five tracks, Past Lives weaves together a gleaming synthetic tapestry of future house, downtempo, and neo-psychedelia.

Spirit - It Shall Be: The Ode & Epic Recordings 1968-1972 (Esoteric Recordings, 2018)

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a most fertile time in musical history, especially in the rock genre. While many of the seminal bands came from the UK, such as The Beatles, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, there were also incredible groups who originated in the United States. One hotbed of music was on the West Coast, with centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles in particular. One of the most interesting and talented of these ensembles was the quintet known simply as Spirit. Between the years of 1968 and 1970, Spirit released four wonderful albums as well as a movie soundtrack that went unreleased at the time and some most interesting singles. Cherry Red Records, UK, has gathered these recordings as well as a 1972 album released by the band, albeit in a much different configuration, album outtakes, alternate versions, non-LP single sides and mixes done for the 1991 compilation “Time Circle”, the result being the simply sublime 5 CD box set “It Shall Be” which is reviewed here.

The Beatles - The Beatles in Stereo (Parlophone, 2009)

To my way of thinking, one can’t say enough about the most influential band of my life, and for anyone who doesn’t think that The Beatles have influenced their small corner of the musical universe, all I can say is, “You are deeply mistaken.”

US group The Rising Storm emanated from out of a small, but isolated scene outside of the main commercial rock circuit that was happening in and around the Boston area during the mid-sixties. The group’s main activities centred around Phillips Academy, the prep school in Andover, MA, where all six members of the group studied during the early-to-mid 1960s. The ‘Storm dug the sounds of local groups like the Rockin’ Ramrods, and the Remains - going so far as to name their embryonic group the Remnants, before hitting on the idea of a cooler, more historically poignant moniker in the Rising Storm. And, like thousands of young folks around the world at that time, they were thoroughly fascinated by the music of the Rolling Stones.

BUNNIES “The Problem With Link Think” off their new album, Transportation To Mind Transformation

Sweet Thursday: The New Herman Dune (Video Premiere in This Article!)

David-Ivar Herman Düne is a French/Swedish citizen who began playing anti-folk in Paris at a time when no DIY scene existed, let alone any songs performed in English. With the release of 2018’s Sweet Thursday, David-Ivar is back in the driver’s seat of the musical undertaking bearing his surname, following the dissolution of Herman Düne mark one after sacrificing any profit from the aborted production Chasing Bonnie and Clyde. I first spoke with David-Ivar last just after this unfortunate turn, and he was generous enough to release the entire soundtrack free online as a gift to the world and a nice way of washing his hands of that mishap, also releasing a collection called Black Yaya that was hard to find in the U.S., some samples of which are available on YouTube. “This time I’m doing everything myself,” he says. “It’s hard, but worth it.”

Banchee - “Banchee” (Atlantic Records 1969)

I first became aware of Banchee in the late nineties, when hearing their song, “I Just Don't Know,” on a “Psychedelic Frequencies” compilation album. I was immediately hooked, and thrilled to the core to discover the East Coast based band had released two albums. Considering these albums are rarer than a purple poodle, they are not instantly accessible. But I eventually hit the jackpot and found and purchased both albums, which remain perennial favorites.

“I get seduced all the time and actually kind of like it.”

Video maker and performance artist Céline Gillian released her first single, a record about seduction, youth and beauty.

Liz Brasher makes her own kind of southern music — one that’s caught halfway between the garage, the church, the bar, and the bedroom. She’s a soul singer. A guitar-playing rocker. A one-woman girl group. A gospel revivalist who worships at the altar of the Box Tops.

Ryan Summers - ii (Self-released, 2018)

https://ryansummers.bandcamp.com/album/ii

Wisconsin-based electronic artist Ryan Summers recently released “ii,” a darkwave LP that explores ambient soundscapes with a wide assortment of chilling and arpeggiating synths. Summers has spent several years working in his basement studio on various group projects, and has only recently emerged as an independent creator. His sound is a charming blend of micro-tonal and lo-fi experimentation, with each track off the new album evoking its own dystopian microcosm.

Magical Beasts - Someone To Lift The Blue (Self-released, 2018)

There’s a Chicago-based music group out there that isn’t interested in pushing the envelope, pioneering a new subgenre, or putting out shock value songwriting. Instead, they’ve got one priority: good, clean indie folk.

Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle, Friday March 9, 2018

Highly influential drummer and jazz fusion pioneer Billy Cobham brought his Crosswinds Project to Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle to begin his 2018 US tour. The A-list quintet featured guitarist Fareed Haque, Paul Hanson playing bassoon and soprano saxophone, Scott Tibbs playing keyboards and electric piano, and Tim Landers – a member of Cobham’s Glass Menagerie band – playing electric bass.

The iconic cover to Star Wars no. 1 - by Howard Chaykin, 1977

Legendary Comic Book Creator On His Controversial New Series, Politics, Love of Jazz, and the Industry Giants Who Influenced Him

Hidden Volume Records proudly presents the latest from The Blind Owls, a 4 song EP appropriately titled Four that recalls the amphetamine energy of Cavern-era Beatles with the best of the Mersey sound we know you dig.

Mixed by Matt Marando (The Above/Quitty & The Don’ts), side one kicks off with the full-throttle Easybeats-lovin’ “Make Up Your Mind” dance floor filler before ceding the spotlight to the ear-worm harmonies of “I’ll Be There”. The beat continues on side two with the ringing chords of “I Know” and the one-take glory of “Alright” will have you screaming “ALRIGHT!” into your speakers. That’s what we’ve been doing since we first heard these amazing cuts.

Gunman And The Holy Ghost - “House For The Dying” EP premiere

Icelandic Berliner Hákon Aðalsteinsson guitar player for The Brian Jowntown Masscre, Tess Parks and frontman for The Third Sound is back with his new project Gunman and The Holy Ghost.

Influenced by melancholic country rock and sounds from Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave, the new EP “House For The Dying” expands on the bands previous album. Recorded at the Funkhaus studios in Berlin and featuring Joe Dilworth from Stereolab on drums, the new EP also features a remake of Jack Holmes song “Lonely,” the Led Zeppelin ingloriously used as the basis for “Dazed and Confused.”

8MM Musik
Gunman And The Holy Ghost

New tape release by Electric Wizard!

Very happy to be part of the latest Electric Wizard tape release! Released by Creep Purple Promotion. Already SOLD OUT!

Beau - “Rattle the Asylum Bars” (2018) review

Beau - Rattle the Asylum Bars (Cherry Red Records)

Almost 49 years to the day after his first recording session for John Peel’s Dandelion label that brought 1917 Revolution to the west, Russia and a hit in Lebanon, comes a download album from Cherry Red entitled Rattle The Asylum Bars. This could also be a title for the recently prolific 12-string maestro’s entire work this century. Beau has developed and woven threads from his first two albums for Dandelion around 1970 into a rich tapestry that places him among the foremost musical commentators of English life and the world today.

Powell St. John is unquestionably one of the true founders and innovators of the acid rock sound.

Powell St. John about Sultan of Psychedelia release:

Most of the cuts on this release “Powell St. John, Sultan of Psychedelia” were recorded in 2005 in Austin at Cedar Creek Recording Studios resulting in the CD “Right Track Now”. The product was never released or promoted. Our publishing administrator met the owner of LSD Records, Steve Purdy, at a memorial service for producer Snuff Smith. She asked Steve if he knew about me, which he did, and they then decided to put out this record. Three of the tracks came from the digitally released “Women Rule” and the others are all from “Right Track Now”. “Women Rule” was a release of just me (with some exceptions), playing guitar, harmonica, and singing. I’m including some tracks below.

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

C.A. Quintet - Underground Music

The Cosmic Dead - Anatta

Froth - Lost My Mind

No Strange - Martian Manhunter

Catfish - Catfish, Get High, Get Naked, Get Down

The Heliocentrics - The History Of LSD

Gibby Haynes - Horse Named George

Taman Shud - Trench Arcana

The Murlocs - Space Cadet

Dufus - Bareley Holding

Efrim Manuel Menuck - Black Flags Ov Thee Holy Sonne

Renaldo & The Loaf - Dying Inside

Attic Abasement - Opium Eyes

Stephen Martin - Monkey Demon

I discovered Conor Hutchinson’s band From The South completely by accident, when a green vinyl copy of “Cool, Cool Memories” showed up at my door with an unsigned note that read, “You don’t yet realize how much you’re going to love this album.” With that being said, I highly recommend you slip into this release.

Melody Fields - Melody Fields (Kommun 2, 2018)

If you were like me, discovering the Melody Fields by way of their first single “Morning Sun” in 2017, you know I was highly anticipating the release of this self titled album, which was delivered on delicious red and black splattered vinyl, where the band attempt to weave together jangling guitars, three part harmonized vocals while lacing it all together with oriental influences to bring about a hypnotic psychedelic effect, though conceptually the music doesn’t actually come off as smooth and flowing as I’d personally hoped. And on that note, I must say that I guarantee most people will be much more delighted with this release as a whole, as I’ve come to accept that my tastes tend to run more concurrent with the slow channeled waters of deeply laid back couch-bound intoxication.

The Brotherhood Of Peace was a Mount Airy, North Carolina-based rock group from the 1970s that had a lone LP out on the private Avanti label called “Cuttin’ Loose” released in 1976. They played everything from hard rock to dance tunes, power ballads, southern rock and power-pop. Their LP was recorded by Don Dixon and Robert Kirkland of Arrogance, and recently I was lucky enough to score a copy at a local record store. I figured I’d try and track down the band to find out more information and found Dennis Tolbert, their guitarist and singer, who still plays live with his Dennis Tolbert Band. He was glad to talk about his time in Brotherhood Of Peace.

Kip Nelson is a fresh songwriter out of Santa Barbara making chilled out, indie-psych tunes.

Psychedelic Folk issue available

Dedicated to British psychedelic folk. New issue of printed version projected from the well-known, leading psych on-line site It’s Psychedelic Baby. After the previous issue covering exclusively the US psychedelic folk scene (IPB 002, 2016), this new issue covers the 1960s and 1970s British folk scene, with exclusive interviews of members from acts such as Fresh Maggots, Comus, Mellow Candle, Dr Strangely Strange, Spirogyra, C.O.B., Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Pererin, Courtyard Music Group, Magic Carpet, Sunforest, Oberon, etc. Also includes a few pages of record reviews. Cover by Justin Jackley.

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