Tag Archives: psych

“Fast Silver” and “I’m Still Believing” – Two New, Early Christmas Presents from TOY

Posted on 2016/09/09 | Leave a comment

TOY, “Fast Silver”; “I’m Still Believing” (Heavenly)

Not one, but two, new tracks from the brilliant TOY released in the past few weeks – Christmas comes early!  “Fast Slilver” (released last month) and “I’m Still Believing” (released this week) will each feature on the band’s forthcoming long-player, Clear Shot, with “Believing” serving as the first official single.

TOY established themselves at the forefront of a group of bands fusing psych and shoegaze with their self-titled debut and 2013’s Join the Dots, creating alarmingly beautiful songs bathed in layers of reverb and propelled by a crisp rhythmic churn.  These new tracks suggest a bit of a blue-pencil job by the band on this sound – it’s cleaner; less pedal-driven.  Each feature brisk, sharp stabs of wistful, sonically vivid psych-pop, reminiscent of bands like Soft Boys, The Dream Syndicate, Split Enz and The Chills.  Both also even summon some 70s drivetime AM radio, with sweet three part harmonies and strummy guitar work (“Fast Silver”’s outro solo is Ventura highway worthy).  Singer Tom Dougall (brother of thegrindinghalt resident muse, Rose Elinor Dougall) channels Robyn Hitchcock, singing of feeling “unreal” and “perfectly out of time”.

Clear Shot is due October 28, via Heavenly.  On this evidence, it should be very good, indeed.  Check out TOY on fbook, the twitt, and their website.  The band also have some tour dates coming up in the UK and Europe – you can find those here.

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“Voices”, from Seattle’s Posse, Is Lush, Kaleidoscopic Psych/Dream pop – and Should Be in Your Ears

Posted on 2016/07/07 | Leave a comment

Posse, “Voices/Perfect H” 7” (Wharf Cat Records)

Been sitting with this single for a while now, trying to come up with something profound to say.  Dreamy, lush. hypnotic, narcotic – all fit, yet somehow disappoint, in describing the two tracks on this new 7” from Seattle three-piece, Posse.

“Perfect H” – with its hushed call and response between Paul Wittman-Todd and Sacha Maxim, lightly reverbed guitar and hushed rhythm – is a great reminder of what made the group’s fusion of dream pop and psych with Sonic Youth downtown cool and Flying Nun down under jangle so compelling on their last outing, 2014’s Soft Opening.

It’s on “Voices”, though, that the band starts to toy with new sounds and textures.  Where “Perfect H” sounds like a conversation in a closed room, “Voices” cracks the window and lets a hazy atmosphere swirl through, giving the track a weightlessness where other tracks feel more Earthbound.  Wittman-Todd sing/talks, in an urban drawl reminiscent of Lou Reed via Thurston Moore, enigmatic lines (“who are these voices/I hear…from a century ago”), and snippets of remembered conversations with an ex (“and if i gave up my hobbies/and you gave yours up, too/would we/be ok/doin’ nothin’?”).  The subtlety of the band’s approach fails to blunt the song’s overall impact as it unwinds around the 5:30 mark into an absolutely lovely guitar solo and slow fade out.

The single is available now, on Wharf Cat Records – a limited edition 7” or digital copy can be purchased on the label’s bandcamp site.  Posse can be found fbook, and tmblr.

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New Music: The Parrots, No Me Gustas, Te Quiero

Posted on 2016/07/06 | Leave a comment

The Parrots, “No Me Gustas, Te Quiero” (Heavenly Recordings)

Shout along to this shambling psych/garage track from The Parrots, an excellent Madrid-based three piece.

The Parrots bring a similar energy to that of other modern purveyors of slightly inebriated, shamalamadingdong stompers like King Khan or The Black Lips, as well as compatriots like sisters-in-tuneage, Hinds, and thegrindinghalt fave, Wau y los Arrrghs.

The title literally translates as “I don’t like you, I love you” (fun fact, these lines are similar  to the opening lines of The Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold On Me”:  “I don’t like you/but I love you”).  The detuned guitar strumming and ringing lead melody line, combined with hoarsely cried lines like “I don’t remember too much/if I did something and you didn’t like/sorry, darling” call to mind the image of a late night, drunken plea to a darkened upstairs window.

The track has us all aquiver with anticipation for The Parrots’ upcoming debut release for the mighty Heavenly Recordings, “Los Niños Sin Miedo”, due August 26.  It also had the added bonus of prompting us to go back through the band’s earlier releases, which you can also find and enjoy on their bandcamp page.

“No Me Gustas” comes out physically, as a limited edition 7”, on August 5, together with b-side “Let’s Do It Again” (no slouch of a tune, in it’s own right) – you can preorder it here.  Check out The Parrots on the fbook, the tumblr and the twitter.

The band also have a slew of dates coming over the next few months in Europe and the UK (effing Brexit) – listed below.  Here’s hoping for some US dates soon.

July 09 — Quintanilha Rock, Portugal
July 16 — Super Bock Super Rock, Lisbon
July 22 — Siren Festival, Vasto, Italy
Aug. 25 — Rough Trade East In-store, LDN
Aug. 26 — Sea Change Festival, Totnes Sea Change, Totnes, UK
Aug. 27 — The Magnet, Album Launch Party, Liverpool
Aug. 28 — Hare & Hounds, King’s Heath, Birmingham
Sept. 04 — Broadcast, Glasgow
Sept. 05 — Headrow House, Leeds
Sept. 06 — Concorde 2, Brighton
Sept. 07 — The Victoria, London
Sept. 09 — Strange Waves 2016, Manchester
Sept. 10 — Start the Bus, Bristol (free entry!)
Sept. 11 — OnBlackheath, London
Sept. 12 — Le Point Éphémère, Paris
Sept. 14 — Péniche Cancale, Dijon

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Review: The Oscillation, Monographic

Posted on 2016/07/01 | Leave a comment

The Oscillation, Monographic (All Time Low/Hands In the Dark, 3/11/16)

The Oscillation is a project of UK-based multi-instrumentalist Demian Castellanos, who we first encountered on the excellent Kyvu Tapes, courtesy of our friends at the Cardinal Fuzz label.  Monographic, released in March, is a psych tour de force that packs a lot in while never losing its focus or continuity as a complete album.

From the off, the phaser set to stun effects introducing the opener/title track’s Clinic/Brechtian oompah drone grabs you by the scruff and leads you thro’ fields of stars on a sci-fi psych trip to the next whiskey bar at the edge of the universe.  As mentioned, there’s lots going on here, with the album’s seven tracks (the CD also contains two, bonus mixes) embracing elements of psych, epic Spacemen 3 drone haze (“Lonely People”), Hawkwind-style space rock (“Another Attack”), Scary Monsters style guitar wailing (“Take Us to the Moon”), early industrial, dub, dream pop (“Let It Be the End”), and chugging glam pomp (“Truth In Reverse”).

It takes work to bring all of these musical pieces together, and here they are brilliantly curated by Castellanos, whose sneering, breathy vocals recall Mark E. Smith, Robert del Naja, even Ian Brown in parts.  He plays all instruments on the record, save the drums, which are provided by live band member Valentina Magalietti.  Take the trip – it’s all about the journey.

Highlights include: “Truth In Reverse”, “Let It be the End”, “Monographic”, “Lonely People”.

Monographic is out now as a joint release of UK-based All Time Low and French label, Hands In the Dark.  The album, and much else both Oscillation and Castellanos-related, is also available on The Oscillation’s bandcamp site.  You can find out more on fbook and the band’s site, where you can also find their summer touring schedule.

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Review: Juniore, Marabout

Posted on 2016/06/30 | Leave a comment

Juniore, “Marabout” ep (Le Phonographe)

Juniore is an all-female trio based in Paris, and “Marabout” their latest fantastic collection of psych-pop.  It’s got a really great beat, and we’re totally freaking out to it.

“Marabout” finds the band mining fluid, in the pocket rhythms and bass lines that cast a more modern light on a worthy addition to the imperious French, 60s yé-yé and beat pop lineage, of a mind with artists such as Melody’s Echo Chamber and Julien Gasc.  Like the best psych-pop, there’s a hint of malice just underneath the surface – opening track, “Mon autre” starts with a screech worthy of Psycho, while the title track features a malevolent, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins-ish cackle – and there’s more than a glimmer of M. Gainsbourg’s discomfiting atmospherics on show.  There’s also elements of more American sounding 50s-60s pop and surf (perhaps not surprisingly) on closer and personal fave, “A la plage”, as well as the leftfield garage and pop of that era that would later inspire groups like The Cramps and The B-52s.

My french isn’t good enough to decipher much of the lyrics, so I was left to be swept away by the effortless charm and skill in the arrangements and the playing.  Anna Jean’s vocals are beguilingly insouciant throughout, a calm amidst the groovy Shindig! party around her, which might inspire you to act like l’homme sur la gauche in this video.  Effortless cool; hide your gauloises.

After releasing a few 7” singles and eps in Europe on Le Phonographe – all of which are available to purchase via their Bandcamp page – Juniore’s collected works are, happily, being given a U.S. release thanks to the formidable Burger Records.  Be sure to also check out Juniore on fbook and twitter.

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New Music: Nots, Entertain Me

Posted on 2016/06/23 | 1 comment

Nots, “Entertain Me” (Goner/Heavenly)

New from great Memphis band, Nots.  Burbling forth with whorls of scrappy, wah-wah guitar noodling, a propulsive drum beat kicks in from under a blanket of fuzz.  By equal measures the snotty new wave punk of the their excellent debut album (which we reviewed here) and the more psych-freeekout, experimental, even funky feel of last year’s “Virgin Mary”, the band continue to forge a unique amalgam of their influences.  Singer/guitaritst Nathalie Hoffman shouts “entertain me/tell me what to see/…tell me who to be” as a kind of dismissive mantra for the vapid, selife-sticked, kardasherized zombie hordes, as the track dissolves into a free-form, no wave jam around the 4:30 mark.  Put down your phones and listen up.

Per the good folks over at Stereogum (whose article contains Hoffman’s explanation of the track), “Entertain Me” will feature on Nots’ second album, “Cosmetic”, due September 9 on Goner (US) and Heavenly (UK).  It’s available to pre-order now, here, and you can keep up with the band’s other activities, here.

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Album Review: Higher Authorities, Neptune

Posted on 2016/04/28 | Leave a comment

Higher Authorities, Neptune (Domino, 4/20/2016)

Higher Authorities is a side project of Ade Blackburn and Jonathan Hartley, founders of Liverpool paranoid psych-rockers, Clinic.  Joined by ace dub producer Adrian Sherwood, the three have created a fantastic dub/psych meltdown in Neptune.

To put the paraphernalia on the table, then:  yes, the use of “higher” in the moniker is likely not a coincidence and, yes, the album was purposely released on 4/20.  Waiting to exhale, apparently, was rejected as an album title.

The link up with Sherwood as a production partner is inspired, with him raiding the Black Ark and adding his trademark foreboding atmospherics to every track, from skittery echo chaymbah vocal samples, squelchy keys, and burbling bong water (er, “found sounds”).  While dub and psych, while both constant reference points (see “Colours”, with it’s killer dub drum and bass rhythm), are not the only influences on show here.  Cheesy, lo-tech synth tones abound, with shuffling rhythms and typically mumbled vocalizations from Blackburn.  Tracks like “…and why not” are hazily dreamlike and pastoral, recalling not so much “Black Gun” as a tripped out take on gloriously cheesy 70s AM gold staple, “Loving You” – and it absolutely works.  “Monocle Man” strides along like some kind of demented cabaret number; “Abracadabra”, a lascivious, lost disco deep cut.  “Neptune” oozes, at around the 2:15 mark, into a middle tiptoe through the elysian fields; lovely stuff.

Overall, the album seems a bit less structured than the recent output of Blackburn’s and Harley’s main gig.  Highlights abound here, the overall sense being of musicians having a really freaking good time making music together.

Neptune is available now, on Domino.   While their internet presence is elusive, you can check out the band on fbook and their website.

Highlights include: “and why not”, “Colours”, “Neptune”, “Twilight (In the Luminous Lodge)”, “If”.

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New Track(s) Review(s): Amber Arcades

Posted on 2016/04/26 | Leave a comment

Amber Arcades, “Fading Lines”, “Right Now”, “Turning Light” (Heavenly Recordings)

Amber Arcades is the nom de la musique (is that a thing?) of Dutch artist Annelotte de Graaf, who is set to release her new album, Fading Lines, in June.  Lucky for us, three of the album’s tracks – “Turning Light”, “Right Now” and, most recently, the title track – have been released into the ether for your listening pleasure, each showing a slightly different variation on psych-tinged dream pop.

There’s a languid, partly sunny/mostly cloudy (eye of the beholder), gossamer-wrapped melodic quality to both “Right Now” and “Fading Lines”, with hints of C-86 jangle, and bands like Lush, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Trespassers William.  de Graaf possesses a light, somnolent voice that fits the mood perfectly, sitting dead center of the mix, accompanied by a loosely strummed, reverb-heavy Rickenbacker (de Graaf penned the tracks, and the album was recorded with musicians from Real Estate and Quilt, as well as Kevin Morby of The Babies).  The soundtrack to a wordless car trip through the countryside, shot on over-exposed Super 8 film.

“Turning Light”, while still light on its feet, gains traction through the use of a chugging, kraut rock drum and bass rhythm.  The vocal melody reminds me of Broadcast (in particular, “America’s Boy”) and comes off less dream pop and more something from label mate, Gwenno (who we are, admittedly, slightly obsessed with).  Train trip this time, then?  It’s an interesting twist and bodes well for sound variety on the full length.

Fading Lines is due June 3, on the always Heavenly.  Check out Amber Arcades on her website, fbook and SoundCloud.

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New Music: Innerspace Orchestra, One Way Glass

Posted on 2016/04/06 | Leave a comment

Innerspace Orchestra, “One Way Glass” (Different Recordings, 3/4/2016)

Innerspace Orchestra is a group comprised of Rose Elinor Dougall (formerly of The Pipettes, as well as an established solo artist), Tom Furse of The Horrors, and Cathy Lucas of Fanfarlo.

“One Way Glass”, a Manfred Mann rework, is their debut single as a group, combining the cinemascopic, prog/wave lushness favored of late by Furse’s main group, with Dougall’s dreamy, psych-inflected, halcyon pop and Fanfarlo’s rhythmic sensibility.  The single swirls and sways through 3 minutes and change of pure bliss – from the shuffling, baggy drum intro, on through the raga sitar breakdown towards its completion.  A song with so many elements that it runs the risk of coming off bloated, instead feels effortless.

Dougall’s voice is as enchanting as ever, inhabiting the groove and melody from within – she’s an artist whose post-Pipettes body of work deserves a wider audience; here’s hoping she gets it.

“One Way Glass” is out now on [PIAS] electronic imprint, Different Recordings (under license from Smile Recordings).  Enjoy the trippy video, below, and follow the band’s musings on fbook and the twit.

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New Music: The December Sound, Real Reign

Posted on 2016/03/22 | Leave a comment

The December Sound, Real Reign (self-released, 3/11/2016)

Fantastic news that this long dormant Boston band has once again resurfaced.  Real Reign is a new, two-track release from The December Sound:  here’s hoping it’s a sign of more new things to come.

Lead track, “Speaking From Tomorrow” is a typically noisy cloudburst of a track.  Showcasing the band’s aural fission of shoegaze, industrial, drone and even a bit of britpop, the track thrums with a narcotic drumbeat, wall of noise guitars, and whispered vocals in the vein of Robert del Naja.  Second cut, “Just Let Go” shows a softer side, a psych drone and slow burning bassline reminiscent of Spacemen 3 or Loop slowly moprhing into a kaleidoscopic churn of, er, looped guitar effects and a mantra-like repetition of the titular refrain.

Real Reign is available now through on the band’s bandcamp.  In addition, you can – nay, should – now order The December Sound’s excellent 2007 debut, The Silver Album, directly from the band by messaging them via their Facebook page.

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