Psych
Not Forgotten: Caravan – In the Land of Grey and Pink
Along with Soft Machine, Caravan are perhaps the definitive Canterbury Scene progressive rock act. Less jazzy than their more famous neighbours, Caravan weren’t as heavy handed as their more critically lauded peers, but what they did have was a much firmer grasp of pop dynamics and nowhere was this more obvious than their 1971 album, …
Album ReviewBlack Mountain – IV
I’m on my third listen of Black Mountain’s newest opus, the labyrinthine IV. It should be no surprise that I will need a few more listens before I’ve covered all the nooks and crannies of this stately beast of an album, but I can say very confidently that everything they’ve done beforehand has been building …
Say Psych: One Unique Signal Interviewed
Like a debilitating onslaught of necrotizing fasciitis, One Unique Signal have been carving away complicated lesions on the traumatised skin of the psychedelic music scene for around fourteen years now. Their distinctive take on guitar-driven repetitive noise music has been gaining serious traction among the psych faithful and certainly serves as a welcome antithesis to the slavish kaleidoscopic posing …
Say Psych: Playlist 5/2016
There is nothing new on this Psych Insight playlist, rather a collection of tracks that I really love and come back to again and again. I hope that you dig them too. Sex Priest by Buffalo Tooth From the album ‘Gardeners of the Devil’s Lettuce’ (Captcha Records). If you haven’t heard this yet…you really …
Say Psych: Meet, Mugstar
Mugstar appear to be on a roll at the moment. With a new album, Magnetic Seasons, receiving rave reviews (my rave review is here), and a reputation as an amazing live band that just seems to get bigger. This seemed a great time to find out more about the band and how it has taken …
Say Psych: Album Review, Tales of Murder and Dust – The Flow In Between
Danish post-rockers Tales of Murder and Dust release their second LP, The Flow In Between, today on Fuzz Club Records. Formed in Aarhus in 2007, Tales of Murder and Dust have mutated from psych-surf which was displayed in their debut EP Peyote, released in 2009, to this noisy post-rock offering. They received critical acclaim for …
Say Psych: Playlist 4/2016
This year already seems to be hotting up with new bands and new albums coming out of every cosmic orifice. Here’s another selection of Psych Insight tunes, mostly new but with a couple of older ones thrown in. As always, enjoy! Pharmakon by Dead Sea Apes I recently played the Dead Sea Apes ‘Lupus’ …
Say Psych: Album Review, JuJu by JuJu
The very existence of this album is a sad reflection of our times. JuJu is the latest incarnation of Sicily-based Gioele Valenti (Lay Llamas, Herself) who uses the ancient idea of JuJu, the designation of objects, such as amulets, and spells used ceremoniously in West Africa and broadens its to encompass a mix of rhythmic psychedelia, ancient …
Say Psych: Album Review, Heron Oblivion by Heron Oblivion
Most of the albums that I post on here are of the variety that could be filed under the general term ‘difficult’. Not as in ‘difficult second album’, but as in ‘a difficult and challenging listen’. Nothing wrong with that, if a band have put in a lot of effort to come up with part …
Live: Cosmosis Festival, Manchester 12.03.16
Myself and the Shoegaze Brigade touched down in Manchester early, ditched the vehicle for safe keeping and headed out of town. Our mission -which we had already chosen to accept – lead us to the Victoria Warehouse and a rendezvous with our newly accredited Cosmic Cadets. Our task, to get them through twelve and half hours …