Psych albums
Album, Review: Mammatus – Sparkling Waters
Since 2005 the Santa Cruz, California trio Mammatus have been churning out some seriously mind-melting psych and stoner rock. From the Holy Mountain-released Mammatus in 2006 and The Coast Explodes in 2007, to the Spiritual Pajamas-released Heady Mental in 2013, Nicholas Emmert, Chris Freels, and Aaron Emmert have explored everything from expansive, dreamy realms, to psych freakouts, and serious guitar shredding. While …
Say Psych: Album Review, Cardinal Fuzz ‘Stay Holy’ Compilation
Cardinal Fuzz is one of my favourite records labels bringing out a series of, for me, essential releases. This is evidenced by the fact that the label was involved in a quarter of the albums on our ‘Essential Psych’ list last year. This year also saw the label being invited to curate a stage at the …
Album Review: Fyrskeppet – ‘Sydostbrotten’
Who the fuck is Fyrskeppet I hear you cry… In this instance it is not so much a who, as a what. In the truly idiosyncratic style to which we have become addicted, Fyrskeppet – or Swedish for Lightship is the latest incarnation of Daniel Westerlund, aka The Goner, aka E Gone. That he returns in a …
Album Review: Singapore Sling – ‘Psych Fuck’
‘Psych Fuck’ by Singapore Sling, buy it, love it, the end… Listen, feel, assimilate, emote, sensate… As a kid, I would have sat with the dictionary for hours, chasing “meanings”, following roots, finding nothing, repeatedly exposing words as empty vessels, crude, devoid approximations, blunt communicative tools, pregnant inadequacies… “I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, …
Album Review: The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol – ‘Masters Of The Mole Hill’
‘Masters of the Mole Hill‘ is the 9th LP by TBWNIAS – The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol, perhaps Cana-duh’s best kept secret. Last year’s ‘Pathfinder’ opus, introduced to the baying UK pack by Cardinal Fuzz, rightly left the uninitiated salivating for more – ‘Masters of the Mole Hill’ consummates that fevered tryst. ‘Masters of the …
Say Psych: Live, Lucern Raze, Liverpool PsychFest, 25/09/15
The Swedish PNKSLM label made a big impression on me at last year’s Liverpool PsychFest, with a number of acts wowing audiences and Sudakistan in particular causing quite a stir. Lucerne Raze is the moniker of PNKSLM founder Luke Reilly whose debut album, Stockholm One, came out to some critical acclaim earlier this year. Combining …
Album Review: The Virgance – ‘Paradigm 3’
‘Paradigm 3’ is the 3rd album in 18 months from precocious and prodigious talent, The Virgance aka Natham Smith. It follows hot on the heels of 2014’s ‘Lost Continent’ and this January’s ‘Hiko Shrine’, a release which, in conjunction with an interview with the man himself, I was honoured to have grace this page – “‘Hiko Shrine’ …
Album Review: The Orange Revival – ‘Futurecent’
Anyone with enough nous, to come up with a transcendental record title as good as ‘Futurecent’, is guaranteed to pique my attention. The Orange Revival have nous in abundance, as a listen to their sophomore LP will quickly attest. “Emerging from the depths of Sweden, the band The Orange Revival playing experimental rock n’ roll”, says …
Album Review: Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down
Kurt Vile comes off as a bit of a mystery at first. You listen to the guy as he mumbles and shrugs his way through a song, surrounded by some really great music. You wonder is this guy for real? You listen some more and little details, shaded nuances, and sly phrases begin to make …
Album Review: The Underground Youth – ‘Haunted’
The Underground Youth return with yet another vinyl masterpiece, their latest triumph, in the shape of ‘Haunted’. Such is the buzz, for those in the know, around The Underground Youth – that the Fuzz Club Records deluxe vinyl edition of 100, sold out immediately on the day the pre-order was announced, one of which plays before me as …