From The Vault: The Plastic Cloud - “The Plastic Cloud” (1968)

The Plastic Cloud have much going for them, so considering the band just one of so many softer rock outfits from the mid 60’s would be a mistake. With but a solitary album for the group to be remembered by, they gracefully bridged that gap between folk rock, garage and psychedelic far better than The Byrds, whom they were deeply influenced by.

Coming From Reality -- A Sixto Rodriguez Interview

Sixto Rodriguez’s amazing story was brought to the world’s attention in the 2012 Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugar Man. This talented musician, whose two sublime early ‘70s psychedelic folk albums--Cold Fact, and Coming From Reality--failed to make him a household name in America, stopped making music professionally and spent the next several decades of his life doing intense manual labor in Detroit, Michigan.

Astrodome - “II” (2018) review

Astrodome - II (YaYa Yeah, 2018)

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

Astrodome is a four piece instrumental band from Porto, Portugal. I really loved their debut and have been waiting quite a long time for this one to arrive. The vinyl is still not out (a long story) but the digital version and cassettes are!

Marc Jonson interview

For the uninitiated, Marc Jonson is a hugely gifted US singer, instrumentalist, producer and performer originating from the town of Merrick, New York, and whose 1972 album for Vanguard, Years, whilst having remained a secret listening experience across decades for the few who knew of its existence, has proven to be something of an undiscovered beauty, or as I should now say a rediscovered beauty.

Vymethoxy Redspiders

“My own theatre”

Vymethoxy Redspiders released a black hole new age 7” on Lexi Disques.

Joel Jeronimo and Jim Cabeza De Vaca - “Atlantis Airport 1982” premiere

Atlantis Airport 1982 is an album that synthesizes realism and fantasy. Written and recorded in Los Angeles on analog and digital instruments it tells the story of a city that paralleled ours. “Atlantis”, the first track, introduces us to the atmospheres of Atlantis and the second track, “Airport”, merges our worlds. The third and final track, “1982”, is the soundtrack to a video game based on the story of Romeo and Juliette, or as it is known in Atlantis, Jeromeo and Juliette.

From The Vault: Friend & Lover - “Reach Out of the Darkness” (1968)

The year was 1968, incense was burning in every teen’s bedroom and even those such as me, who couldn’t play a musical note, carried around a green tambourine (acquaint yourself with the song “Green Tambourine” by The Lemon Pipers). AM radio still had their ‘standards & practices’ clauses, so when the folk duo Friend & Love delivered this sonically harmonic song, a number as enticing as Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)”, they jumped on it, pushing the song to the number ten Billboard slot that year.

Tashi Dorji - “but a night that ends, as all nights end, when the sun rises”

Tashi Dorji is a celebrated free-form/improvisational guitarist. Born and raised in Bhutan, but transplanted to Ashville, NC in the early 2000’s. He is a musical force that is in a caliber of his own. The amount of originality in his playing could have only been summoned when one is forced to confront limitations and raise a big middle finger to the ‘status quo’.

Bror Gunnar Jansson: Blues Tradition for the 21st Century

One of the rarely lauded treats of mass media is that different cultural genres can be explored and experienced simultaneously. Watching the T.V. series Damnation I was struck by the song ‘Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Keep My Body Down)’: must be 50s blues or a modern souped-up version by such as The North Mississippi Allstars, maybe even Tame Impala? Nope. Gander my shock when I found it was by…a Swedish one-man band living in Paris! Of course, most of us well know that Scandinavia generally has much at the cutting edge of cross-cultural music, but also a one-man band sounding part Tom Waits, Capt. Beefheart, and John Lee Hooker sharing amps with Canned Heat!

From The Vault: Spacemen 3 - “Sound of Confusion” (1986)

For me, the cover says it all, what could be more psychedelic then the entire band looking off into the distance and one member turning just as the picture is being taken, to look you right in your dialated eyes ... as if knowing that you were looking [listening] was more important than what was drawing the band’s attention.

3 Of The Most Influential Deceased Rock Artists

The rock genre is one of the most interesting ones in music history because it stretches over so many decades and involves so many different characters, bands, and different takes on the genre. When a single genre of music forms an umbrella under which you can rightly put Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix at the same time, you’re working with a lot of material. And sadly, rock has been around long enough that some of its most prominent contributors have long since passed - most of them well before their time. In this piece I want to take a look at a few of those rock stars, and specifically at the ones who’ve proven to have lasting influence over the genre even after death. 

From The Vault: Spiritualized - “Lazer Guided Melodies” (1992)

There are those living on the dark side of the moon who are gonna claim that Lazer Guided Melodies is far superior than anything materialized by Spacemen 3 and have obviously not considered All That Noise by The Darkside. And while this may be debatable, let me take the easy way out and say, ”Why shouldn’t it be better? Lessons were learned, stratospheres were explored, and like any good drug, once one knows the limitations, developing a more rich body of work while expanding on familiar concepts is exactly what an artist is supposed to do.”

Complex interview

Complex formed in 1968 consisting of lead guitarist Brian Lee, lead vocalist and drummer Anthony Shakespeare, bass guitarist Lance Fogg and rhythm guitarist Tony Fisher. After some initial personnel changes, in early 1970 the line-up added Steve Coe on keyboards. They were based in Blackpool in North-West England. In November 1970 they cut their first album, entitled simply Complex. Originally devised as a demonstration record (demo) for bringing the band to the attention of major record companies for the purpose of obtaining a recording contract 99 copies of the album were pressed by Craighall Studios in Scotland. The reason for so limited release was the imposition of Purchase Tax on quantities greater than 99. 

Pussy interview

A psych classic. Pussy recorded their only album entitled Pussy Plays back in 1969. It’s a wonderful progressive psychedelic hard rock with a nice production. Quite unique and well worth a listen. After searching for many years, I finally found members of the band.

From The Vault: The Verve - “A Northern Soul” (1995) review

You know, it must have been awfully difficult for The Verve to be one of the greatest bands roaming the planet, yet not be able to enjoy it, as The Verve were constantly breaking up, or on the verge of so doing, with the door on the cover art suggest that someone was either on their way out, or hat in hand, walking back in, hoping that the other members will understand.

The See See - “Late Morning Light” (2010) review

The See See - Late Morning Light (The Great Pop Supplement, 2010)

https://theseesee.bandcamp.com/album/late-morning-light

If you consider yourself a psychedelic dream pop fan, or that of jangle pop and you’ve not found your way to The See See and this album by now, that’s a sincere shame and one that can easily be remedied.

From The Vault: Verve - “A Storm In Heaven” (1993)

Most people had never heard A Storm In Heaven until the release of the highly successful album Urban Hymns some three years later, then walked the cat backwards, discovering this highly intoxicating bit of wanderlust. Without a doubt A Storm In Heaven was not exactly what most fans were expecting based on the single “Lucky Man” that was dominating the college airwaves in the year 1997.

Ross Beattie presents It’s Psychedelic Baby podcast #29 (September)

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

Bongzilla - Gestation 

Mien - Earth Moon

The Yardbirds - Heart Full Of Soul

Sun Ra - Plutonian Nights

Clarke Hutchinson - Free To Be Stoned

Wooden Shjips - Staring At The Sun

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - East West 

Leaf Hound - Sawdust Caesar

Harsh Toke - Weight Of The Sun

Mythic Sunship - Cosmic Rapture

Country Joe and The Fish - Susan 

Flowers Must Die - Dööm

Kraftwerk - Radio Stars 

Out Of Focus - Blue Sunday Morning

Ten Years After - “A Sting In The Tale” (2017) review

Ten Years After - A Sting In The Tale (2017)

Several things come to light on A Sting In The Tale, with the first being that Alvin Lee has still not channeled a single note in from the great beyond, and fans finally understand that Ten Years After was not an Alvin Lee project. The band came into being during the Summer of Love (1967) and then took the world by storm at Woodstock, yet somehow, even while racking up staggering sales during the 70’s they managed to forever live under everyone’s radar, before breaking up in 1974.

Sunlight interview

Sunlight’s jazzy psychedelic pop instrumentation easily draws parallels to the Doors and Iron Butterfly. It’s not hard to hear the joy Sunlight experienced cutting the record, and we can only imagine where their subsequent steps would have taken them had they continued making music.

Weed Demon - “Astrological Passages” (2018) review

Weed Demon - Astrological Passages (Electric Valley Records, 2018)

https://smokeweeddemon.bandcamp.com/album/astrological-passages

This is a very intense record from Columbus, Ohio based quartet Weed Demon. Their first release Stoned To Death is from 2015 and you can also hear it on bandcamp. The band has evolved quite a bit since then, though. Astrological Passages features five intensive stoner doom tracks.

Meanr Mynr - “Park Hill Prophet” (2018) review

Meanr Mynr - Park Hill Prophet (Self-released)

https://meanrmynr.com/album/park-hill-prophet

As the opening track to Park Hill Prophet hints, guitar virtuoso and producer Meanr Mynr has honed his musical skills for almost a decade. Collaborating with a variety of groups and releasing a couple of EP, he’s now ready to debut his first full length record—a hip-hop opera of sorts tracing his upbringings up in Chicago. Following in the footsteps of greats like Kendrick and Thundercat, the artist attempts to weave together disparate genres to craft a robust narrative.