The Cactus Blossoms - “Easy Way” (2019) review

The Cactus Blossoms - Easy Way (Walkie Talkie Records, 2019)

On Easy Way, The Cactus Blossoms have not only revived the style and attitude of the Everly Brothers, but their spirit as well, as brothers Page and Jack deliver a solid set of old school breezy easygoing and often plaintive laid back numbers that ride with confidence and assuredness.

1967 Brit-Psych B-Sides

The mode of the music changed, the walls of the cities shook, rooms hummed harder, ceilings flew away. In his 1965 poem, ‘Who Be Kind To?’, the preeminent beatnik spokesman Allen Ginsberg envisaged ‘nameless voices crying for kindness in the orchestra, screaming in anguish that bliss come true’. Amidst the hallucinatory shangri-la of 1967’s Summer of Love, the potential of that bliss came to visit under the thin disguise of UFO-ria. Tomorrow’s ‘real life permanent dream’, unable to gestate quite long enough to be fully realized, nonetheless appeared tangible enough within those twelve tumultuous months as to plant blossoms within an entire generation’s worth of young minds. Building upon the achievements of the psychedelic pioneers of 1965-66, the British counterculture took flight, penetrated the mainstream, flew too close to the sun in conglomerate homage to Icarus, before falling into a disorganized and acid-fried retreat which by the decade’s end proved irreversible. Yet, 1967’s hippie high water mark, a desperate bid to enact an Eden of peace, free love and not insubstantial drug use before the encroaching tide of violence could destroy the schemes of the cognoscent bohemian dreamers, changed the society which birthed it in a manner few other subcultures have managed. Not just in the U.K, but across the Western world and beyond, the movement unleashed some of the most compelling music ever recorded. So potent was the power of the new exploratory genre of psychedelia that Rolling Stone’s Langdon Winner recalls this all too brief epoch as ‘the closest Western civilization has come to unity since the Congress of Vienna in 1815’.

Bingo Trappers

The Amsterdam based Bingo Trappers started out 25 years ago as a lo-fi band (with releases on labels like Shrimp and Sing, Eunuchs!). These days, Bingo Trappers sound less lo-fi, which means you can concentrate more on the songs and less on the sound. 

Mott The Hoople - “Mental Train-The Island Years 1969-71” (2018) review

Mott The Hoople - Mental Train-The Island Years 1969-71 (Universal Music, 2018)

A rather enigmatic British rock band who recorded seven studio albums and one live LP between 1969 and 1974, Mott The Hoople were always recognized as an incredibly original sounding band despite the fact that many of their best performances were covers of songs written by artists ranging from Bob Dylan and David Bowie to Sonny Bono and Doug Sahm. The groups’ career was split into two periods, their early years on Chris Blackwell’s Island Records and their later tenure spent at CBS Records. None of the four studio albums and three singles appearing on Island chartered on either side of the pond, but arguably contain their finest recordings, with a rawer, more varied sound. Universal Recordings celebrates their Island catalog with the incredible six disc, eighty nine track box set “Mental Train” which contains no less than thirty previously unreleased tracks. The set’s contents are thematic, with one devoted to each of their four albums released on the label, all generously supplemented by bonus material, another titled “The Ballads Of Mott The Hoople” containing rare or unreleased studio tracks and the collection rounded out by “It’s Live And Live Only” comprising six cuts from a 13th September 1970 gig at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, and six more tunes from a 30 December , 1971 BBC Radio 1 “In Concert” show. The box set showcases the instrumental talent of the group’s original quintet and presents a wonderful mix of original tunes and cover versions which the band invariably made their own.

TFS - “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” (2018) review

Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace (Joyful Noise Recordings, 2018)

https://tropicalfstorm.bandcamp.com/album/a-laughing-death-in-meatspace

It’s hard for a group with a name like Tropical Fuck Storm to not trigger a swarm of expectations for their listeners. But with their recent full-length release, A Laughing Death in Meatspace, the Australian group goes above and beyond all anticipations. Spanning 9 songs, the LP is full of monstrous catharsis that in many ways defies categorization while feeding a rock-centric hunger. With an affinity for noisy experimentation, shoegaze-y explosions, and math rock-esque songwriting, the group delivers some fringe sound that couldn’t be more delirious and delicious.

Heronimus Fin interview

UK psychedelic acid rockers Heronimus Fin! Interview with Jon Buxton & Andy Cooke of Heronimus Fin. 

Space Debris interview

Space Debris is a German space rock band. They combine variety of genres, from ‘krautrock’ to jazz fusion. 

Annexus Quam interview

Annexus Quam formed back in 1967 in Kamp-Lintfort (near Dusseldorf). By 1970 they released Osmose and two years later very experimental album entitled Beziehungen. Both releases are very unique by an equally unique band. Interview with Ove Volquartz (tenor & soprano sax, flute) and Hans Kämper (trombone & guitar).

The Citradels interview

The Citradels began in Geelong, Australia, in late 2010 as a musical outlet for Sunny Down Snuff. His bedroom project gradually expanded into a band and two EPs were self-released in 2011. After relocating to Melbourne, the band began playing regular shows. Material for a full-length album was recorded near the end of 2012 at the band’s home in the Western suburbs of Melbourne. The Citradels’ debut LP Psychotic Syndrone (January 2013), was followed by Our Lord’s Secret Service (August 2013), Droned and Rethroned (February 2014), Nepenthe (September 2014), A Night Of Contemporary Feedback Music (May 2015) and Are They Still Here? (January 2016), Where’s One? (May, 2017), God Bless (January, 2018) and their latest Fuck The Hits: Vol​.​1. 

There have been numerous lineup changes with 15 members coming and going. The current line up consists of Sunny Down Snuff, Curtis Goodfellow, Sam Heathcote, Rhys Young and Alex Pijpers. They are currently working on a new album.

The Action - “Shadows And Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968” (2018) review

The Action - Shadows And Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968 (Grapefruit, 2018)

Many incredible mod rock bands came out of the UK in the 1960’s, The Who, Creation and Small Faces to name but a few. All of the above mentioned groups have had their works compiled and released in multi-disc collections. However, one of the very best mod rock bands of the period have until very recently been conspicuously overlooked. Thankfully Cherry Red Records have filled the gap with the incredible, comprehensive four disc set “Shadows And Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968” which amasses the group’s complete originally issued tracks, a mere six singles, five produced by Sir George Martin and originally released on the Parlaphone label, the sixth belatedly released on the German Hansa label in 1969, as well as a 1964 single released under the group’s original moniker The Boys. Compiler Alec Palao has done his usual magic by rounding up all things related to The Action, resulting in a staggering eighty-six tracks spread across the four discs, of which a full twenty five have never before been released in any format, including fifteen new stereo mixes done by Palao.

Walker Phillips interview

Walker Phillips released a wonderful album on his God’s Eye Records label. Fans of acid psych folk will love it.

Ross Beattie presents It’s Psychedelic Baby podcast #33 (January)

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

Singapore Sling - Fuck Everything 

Mecki Mark Men - Free

Peter Brötzmann & Heather Leigh - It’s Almost Dark

Jakob Skøtt - Altered State

The Kundalini Genie - Horse Tranquilizer 

Big Brother & The Holding Company - Oh, Sweet Mary

The Blank Tapes - Secret Drugs

The Chocolate Watchband - Don’t Need Your Lovin’

The Mountain Movers - My Eyes Are Always Heavy

Kanaan - Roll Beyond

The Bevis Frond - You’re On Your Own

Amorphous Androgynous - The Emptiness Of Nothingness 

Jandek - Time And Space

Pink Floyd - Grantchester Meadows

Rainbow Ffolly - “Spectromorphic Iridescence: The Complete Ffolly” (2019) review

Rainbow Ffolly - Spectromorphic Iridescence: The Complete Ffolly (Grapefruit, 2019)

Among the many bands to have albums released by EMI in 1968 none may have had a stranger back story than Rainbow Ffolly, whose “Sallie Fforth” hit record shops the first week of May. EMI, home to The Beatles, among others, was one of the most respected labels of the day, with “The Beatles” better known as the “White Album” being perhaps the best known LP issued on the label that year. January, 2019, more than fifty years after its original release sees “Sallies Fforth” reissued on Cherry Red’s Grapefruit Records imprint as part of its three disc box set “Spectromorphic Iridescence” containing the complete works of Rainbow Fflolly.

Scott Hirsch - “Lost Time Behind the Moon” (2018) review

Scott Hirsch - Lost Time Behind the Moon (Scissor Tail Records, 2018)

https://scissortail.bandcamp.com/album/lost-time-behind-the-moon-2

A friend brought this record over, and as side one spun on, I began thinking that I should get a copy for myself, as what was being delivered on Lost Time Behind the Moon (which is a stunning album title) was comfortable, hazy and couch-bound, played with a light steady hand and was infused with great harmonics, lovely vocals, gentle harmonies, along with mindful soloing that distills an essence of open road meanderings.

Astral Cloud Ashes - “Get Out To New York” (2018) review

Astral Cloud Ashes - Get Out To New York (Self-released, 2018)

https://soundcloud.com/astral-cloud-ashes/get-out-to-new-york

The UK-based Astral Cloud Ashes is a rock pop group in infancy. Still climbing in notoriety, they just recently released a new single, “Get Out to New York.”

The Moody Blues With The London Festival Orchestra - “Days of Future Passed” [50th Anniversary Vinyl Edition] (1967)

Referencing the 50th Anniversary Vinyl Edition ...

With the album being dwarfed by the brilliant single “Nights In White Satin,” where so many radio listeners, entranced by the hypnotic flowing harmonies, music and lyrics, were almost defeatedly let down when they brought this album into the homes, thinking that it would contain more of the same. Which it does not. The notion of this is supported by the number of these albums that turn up at estate and garage sales, where the final track has been played to death, while the rest of the physical record are as pristine as they day it was purchased, rendering the album nearly valueless on the secondary market. Yet still, here I sit with an album that promises to unlock new sonic doors and present Days Of Future Passed as I’ve never experience it before.

Joe James Boyle - “Flawed Individual” premiere

London-born/Berlin-based Joe James Boyle makes music inspired by the free spirit psych rock of Jimi Hendrix and Ty Segall but with a unique and loose vocal delivery that recalls Alan Vega. JJB’s songs have their own distinct and sometimes surreal literary world in which individuals and outsiders try to make sense of what is happening around them, all amidst a wild rock n roll soundtrack. (Photo: Laura Cherry Grove)

CarnyMusic - “CarnyMusic” (2018) review

CarnyMusic - CarnyMusic (Self-released, 2018)

https://carnymusic.bandcamp.com/album/carnymusic-2

CarnyMusic is the solo project of Mike Carnahan, a singer/songwriter based in San Francisco. His newest self-titled EP is a passionate concoction of acoustic folk complete with reverb heavy ballads, soft tamborine-driven percussion, and spacious fingerpicking. Put simply, CarnyMusic is a fresh batch of good ol’ American heart—served bare.

From The Vault: Wilco - “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (2002)

Wilco will forever be one of those bands from which I pick and choose which songs ride best in my back pocket, with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot being another. That being said, others have suggested that the album is nothing short of complex, dangerously catchy, provocative and lyrically sophisticated, along with being both noisy and oddly serene … if not a downright masterpiece, which to my way of thinking is a lot to live up to, offering zero room for any faults whatsoever. 

Purple Corporation - “Mind Phonics” (2018) review

Purple Corporation - Mind Phonics (Self-released, 2018)

https://soundcloud.com/purplecorp/sets/mind-phonics

Purple Corporation’s Mind Phonics is an eclectic production of jazz rap—with a major emphasis on jazz. The LP dropped this August and is plump with instrumentals ranging from static-drenched drum tracks to glorious trumpet crescendos. While the group seems fairly undiscovered, their talent is far beyond their years. The album is, quite frankly, a must listen.

The Music Industry’s Not Dead: The Internet Made It Better

We’ve long been told that the music industry is dead, and that the Internet is responsible for killing it off. However, with the stats showing that the music industry has actually been booming once again in 2018, it’s time to acknowledge that things have simply changed. Thanks to streaming, round-the-clock updates, and more tours than ever before, we’re in a new era with lots of exciting experiences.