Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Legs - Legs
Legs play post punk shoegaze, heavy on the punk side. The four songs you find here range from aggressive post punk heavies to ethereal shoegaze sagas. This band could do some cool things if they keep going.
The Flower Drums - Suburban Wilderness
Five tracks of relaxed, floating in the cloud psych pop songs. Rain drips on has some major Phil Collins dripping off it's sleeves to start the album but the second song Outside the Province leads the way into a song that still holds onto some Phil Collins moments but more like if Phil had been part of Tame Impala and not Genesis. This song has a nice psychedelic break in it that lets you drift off before coming back to a 90s style chorus outro. Swimmers is next. This one is a sing along dream pop gem. Nice song for the summer if you can find some water and get out of the record breaking heat. Below the Forest Floor is next and it comes in with a more folk/psych rock approach. This one is a big change in mood from the previous songs, though, with a sadder sound for half the song before being transitioned by a reverb drenched building solo into a hopeful sounding end. Last is Howling Hollow, which sounds almost like a mix between Lasso and Devendra Banhart.
Heavy Midgets - Something Terrible EP
Heavy Midgets play a weird blend of garage rock, lo-fi, 90s alternative and punk attitude.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Bloody Ripper
Two new tracks from the King Gizzard guys out of Australia. Bloody Ripper is a mix of psych rock, and 90s alternative with a hint of country twang buried beneath reverb for days. Sam Cherry's Last Shot is a slowed down song that sounds like a soundtrack to a psychedelic western stand off.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Le Pécheur - Space Crash !
Another digital album from Le Pécheur. This one sounds more mature than the other releases. More great brooding psych rock.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Heavy Ghost - Ten Thousand Years
Heavy Ghost is Caden Moore, who is also the guy behind LAKE R▲DIO, who has been featured on the blog before. Heavy Ghost is a different kind of weird electronic exploration than you find on LAKE R▲DIO releases. This one is like if My Bloody Valentine and Depeche Mode did some drugs in the attic with Billy Idol huddled in the corner bobbing his head. And by that I mean, highly recommended.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Abunai! - Universal Mind Decoder
Great space rock from 97. Available free on bandcamp. Imagine Spacemen 3, Acid Mothers Temple, Tame Impala. Similar to all of those bands but still uniquely having a sound all to themselves.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Swahili - S/T
Swahili are coming in strong on their self titled out on Translinguistic Other. Second record featured from the label, the first being Integratron by Midday Veil. First thing I have to say is Translinguistic Other has some of my favorite production. It's raw but clear and makes you wish you could be there for the live experience. That being said, it's what helps make the drone you find on Swahili so intense and relaxing at once. It starts off with Chapel, which starts slow and evolves steadily into a pulsing rhythmic force before tapering out and dying off. Next is Invocation. This song is evil. Whatever it is they're trying to invoke, let's hope they can tame it. It starts off with a buzzing, droney evil section that brings in a slowly played bongo and some tambourine to help the rhythm. Then comes the haunting distorted vocals and the chant builds into a seriously psychedelic droney tribal jam and ends with another evil sounding cymbal noise wall of sound. The third track, Soma, comes in like a cross between Pocahaunted, Sonic Youth and Naked On The Vague. Three bands that I love, which means I'm really starting to dig this album. Kidhr is next and it's a short noisy helper along your transcendental stage. This brings us to track number 5, Fall Out. This one is a big change from what you find on Soma. The psych out rock style you found there is replaced by a more desperate, apocalyptic sound. Distorted vocals, distorted symbols, and an overall feeling that something horrible might happen but if it does, Swahili are ready to play the soundtrack. Following that is Into One. It's a big change from everything else on the album and feels like a shift in mood halfway through the album. Not a bad change though, more like an eye of the storm kind of change. It almost sounds hopeful at times, even if that hope is distant and slightly troubled. The next song is Ascher J2000. The name sounds like a robot and so does the song. Well, more like the theme song of a robot and a pretty kickass one. It definitely sounds like the soundtrack to an early nintendo game but it works. Kirghiz is next and is a high pitched, meditative, headphone smack in the face. This is great headphone music here. This sounds a lot like what you hear from Emeralds. However, as soon as you find your center in Kirghiz, Agni comes in with a vengeance. Agni is a beast. Blown out drums mixed with an eerie tribal feel that is ready to wake you up and take you on a new ride. Surrender is next and is another short extremely trippy song that sounds like they want to make sure you're thoroughly disoriented. The final song is Contact. This one is a nice slow head nodding drone with distorted vocals at first but ends in a noisy synth ending in one last brooding psychedelic jam. All said and done, Swahili has put together one great psychedelic album and hopefully this will only be the first Contact of many we get with Swahili. Soma, Fallout, and Into One for free download. Buy the album to get the rest. It's worth it.
Birdlips - Emanations / Powerlines
Birdlips is by far the best psych pop duo out there right now. Their albums just have everything going for them. Mixing a 60s psychedelic feel with an indie makeover and a nice mix of folk and New Weird America for extra taste, they create one great song after another. Thunderbolt being a standout track for me. Good lyrics, good quality, interesting and original songwriting and the vocal style is incredible on it's own. Name your price downloads at bandcamp. It's free but it's worth paying for.
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