psychedelia
CD: Black Sedan - Adventure Lit Their StarFriday, 08 June 2018
Mark Hodkinson is a Rochdale writer, journalist, songwriter and musician who’s also behind underground label/publishing house Pomona. Black Sedan is the latest product of his febrile mind, a band collective that’s been slowly coming together over... Read more... |
CD: Wooden Shjips - VTuesday, 05 June 2018
Wooden Shjips’ new album was apparently written as a “summer record” and, if that was Ripley Johnson and his psychedelic confederates’ intent, it has been fully achieved. While this may not be immediately apparent to fans of Calvin Harris, David... Read more... |
CD: Kanye - YeFriday, 01 June 2018
Would it come as a terrible surprise to learn that this record is highly problematic? Well, duh. Kanye West is the sad clown narrating the global tragicomedy, a troll on an epochal scale, a bundle of contradictory drives all attempting to express... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: NirvanaSunday, 27 May 2018
In William S, Burroughs’ The Naked Lunch, a simopath was “a citizen convinced he is an ape or other simian. It is a disorder peculiar to the army and discharge cures it.” Being in uniform, then, reversed evolution.In October 1967, a British band... Read more... |
Pinkshinyultrablast, Band on the Wall, Manchester - glitch-pop madness from Russia’s finestMonday, 07 May 2018
Pinkshinyultrablast might be a long way from their hometown of St Petersburg, but in recent years they’ve built themselves up in England as one of the more bizarre and original bands in today’s psych/shoegaze revival, and on the day their third... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: SpiritSunday, 25 March 2018
The press ad for Spirit’s debut album wasn’t shy. “Five came together for a purpose: to blow the sum of man’s musical experience apart and bring it together in more universal forms. They became a single musical being: Spirit. It happens in the first... Read more... |
Tim Maia tribute, The Jazz Café review - the Brazilian wild soul legend revival continuesTuesday, 20 March 2018
The packed crowd at the Jazz Café was fired up by a sizzling samba soul band led by Kita Steuer on bass and vocals, singing along to a production line of hits, complete with dynamic brass section and superior percussion. All songs by a singular... Read more... |
CD: Dreamweapon - SOLThursday, 15 February 2018
Dreamweapon’s second album, SOL, is a spaced-out trip of oceanic psychedelia that calls on the listener to pay full attention and sink into their potent motoric vibes. Free of any hippy-dippy fluffiness, Dreamweapon may be experts in laying down the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jon Savage's 1965Sunday, 11 February 2018
For Britain, 1965 began with The Beatles’ “I Feel Fine” at the top of the single’s chart. In December, the year bowed out with their double A-side “Day Tripper” / “We can Work it Out” in the same position. But 1965 was not just about The Beatles.... Read more... |
Khruangbin, SWX, Bristol review - stoned stew of global sounds hits the markSaturday, 10 February 2018
Texan trio Khruangbin are a rare concoction, psychedelic rockers, for sure, but seamed with all manner of global influences, notably Thai pop but also running the gamut from Latin sounds to Middle Eastern scaling. Hitting the UK in support of their... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 36: Gary Numan, Wes Montgomery, Trevor Jackson, Propaganda and moreMonday, 29 January 2018
Vinyl matters. It matters to theartsdesk on Vinyl, clearly, as the name may hint. And it matters to many of you. But why? Why does it matter? We all have our own reasons for playing records, some practical, some sound-related, some personal, some... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Television PersonalitiesSunday, 21 January 2018
How much of someone else’s despair is it possible to take? What are the limits on putting a sense of desolation or isolation into a song? Can such naked expression be mediated by a glossy production or crowded instrumental arrangements which... Read more... |
