Gary Numan announces intimate Summer tour + festival dates.
As I mentioned in my last post about Gary Numan, I was a huge fan of his back in the day and remained so for many years. I still always look out for his releases and continue to follow his career with interest. Like all artists who have had long careers in the music …
10 Reasons Why I’m Avoiding Record Store Day, again.
Record Store Day (RSD) was a brilliant idea, get artists to release something special on vinyl on a particular day and only release the product to independent record stores, which have been on the decline for well over a decade now. Surely everyone wins? The record stores get exclusive gear to sell and more …
Psych Insight: New Music – Ragged Barracudas 7” EP (Cardinal Fuzz/ Who Can You Trust)
There was a time, back in my distant memory, when as a young teenager I used to disappear on my bike telling my parents “I’m just off out for a ride”, chain it to the railings of the local railway station and get the train into Birmingham. It was 1977 and I was 13. …
Psych Insight: Album Review – A Psych Tribute to the Doors (Cleopatra Records)
When people ask me what sort of music I am into these days I am never quite sure how to respond because whatever I say be it just ‘psychedelic’, or something like new, neo, or contemporary psych does not really help. The most common response is something along the lines of “oh that druggy music them”, …
Say Psych: Album Review – Sky Is Hell Black by Has A Shadow (Captcha Records/ Fuzz Club Records)
In the past musical trends have tended to be broadly geographical: the Merseybeat scene, West Coast Flower Power, German Krautrock, NY Punk, Coventry’s Two Tone, Madchester – I could go on. One of the amazing things about the current psychedelic scene, however, is that it is truly global. Facilitated by social networking and the digital …
Psych Insight: Album Review – Hello Griefbirds! by The Shine Brothers (Cardinal Fuzz)
To say that Cardinal Fuzz are on a roll would be an understatement. The label has a series of vinyl releases under its belt which have, to my ears, all been winners; and my previous recommendations of albums by The Dead Sea Apes and Vision Fortune might lead you to believe that I have some …
Psych Insight: Album Review: Wooden Shjips – Back to Land
There have been few new albums out this year that I have been eagerly awaiting more than the latest Wooden Shjips album, Back to Land. The problem with this is that this can mean that I will almost certainly be disappointed with the outcome, so high are my expectations. When I was thinking about this …
Say Psych: Album Review – Stars Are Our Home by Black Hearted Brother (Sonic Cathedral)
Neil Halstead will be familiar to many as one of the main driving forces behind shoe gaze stalwarts Slowdive and country folk band Mojave 3, and is part of the trio, along with Mark van Hoen (Seefeel, Locust) and Nick Holton (who produced and appeared on Halstead’s recent solo albums), who go to make up …
Say Psych: Album Review – Lupus by Dead Sea Apes (Cardinal Fuzz)
Ding! The bell at the beginning of this album seems to tell us that we are entering some sort of sacred space, and certainly the processive drone of the first track, Pharmakon, sounds to me like it could be set in a Buddhist monastery. Although the title of the track would suggest otherwise, it is, …