Some great garage here form Abstract Sound, full of choppy guitar, teen angst and wailing organs. It has that classic early R&B Garage sound similar to the likes of Things To Come, and Them, and although it’s nothing original – sometimes that tried old formula works just perfectly.
Some brilliant late 60′s hard psych here. It’s got everything really, drones, dark eastern riffs, chanting, tabla’s. Mind melting.
I’ve been really digging this band lately, they describe themselves as “new age psychedelic” and I guess that’s a fairly accurate description. I’ve no idea how I came across these to be honest I’ve never heard or read anything about them before, it was another one of those late night long “related video’s” fluke discoveries. They are a 3 piece band based in Brooklyn formed by 2 sisters and a friend who where raised on a Hare Krishna commune in Florida. Their upbringing certainly explains their predisposition for chanting and Indian flavoured melodies, and spiritual air. They even partook in workshops researching the use of music as a religious ceremony. They play a modern semi-electronic psychedelia, I suppose slightly in the vein of Animal Collective (Whose Paw Tracks label they are signed to), but they are by no means just another Animal Collective rip-off. Prince Rama’s music is truly original, it manages to sound spiritual, spooky, lysergic, and at times even operatic, while at the same time containing the perfect amount of Pop sensibility to make it catchy. It has a truly cultish feel to it, and I mean that in a good way. I say it sounds modern but that’s not strictly true, it possesses a weird timeless quality and although it does sound fresh and new at the same time it could be from anytime between 1970 to present. They’ve released 4 albums since 2007 apparently, but judging by their view count on youtube and the fact that I’d never heard of them up until now they can’t have been getting near the recognition they deserve. I haven’t listened to all the albums yet but 2009′s ‘Zetland’ contains a couple of my favourites I’ve heard from them so far.
Listen with your third ear.
Night Beats are definitely one of the most exciting new Garage bands around at the moment. They play raw and earnest Garage in the vein of The Elevators and Golden Dawn, and to draw form more recent influences Black Lips. Their whole self titled album is a belter but the highlights for me where, opener “Puppet on a String”, which you can’t help but compare to Golden Dawn’s classic “Starvation”, and the gigantic “The Other Side” which alternates between angst ridden midwest garage and epic psychedelic breakdowns. I’ll be looking forward to hearing more from these lads.
I’ve been pretty bad lately with updating the blog, and this entry was pretty half-arsed but I’ll get back into the swing of things eventually. Anyway the Music’s what’s important, enjoy.
Here’s an early Christmas present for all you psych fans out there. I’ve decided to venture into the heavier end of psych and compiled a CD full of mind melting riffs and heavy fuzz freak-outs. Basically it’s a collection of late 60′s and early 70′s heavy psych and proto-metal. There was a time in the late 60′s and early 70′s when some truly great music was made, when the sometimes infantile whimsy of the 60′s had died out and before the self indulgence of mid 70′s progg, and cheesiness of much metal had yet come into effect. Heed to the monolithic power of Zeus!
A couple of the songs on it aren’t the best quality as the only way I could get some of the songs where through Youtube rips, so I apologise for that in advance. Link Bellow.
Power of Zeus – Late 60′s & Early 70′s Heavy Psych/Proto-Metal
Track Listing:
1. Chico Magnetic Band – Explosion
2. Blue Cheer – Doctor Please
3. Hawkwind – Born to Go
4. The Open Mind – Magic Potion
5. Pentagram – Forever my Queen
6. Wicked Lady – Rebel
7. Sir Lord Baltimore – Helium Head
8. Lucifers Friend – Ride The Sky
9. Night Sun – Plastic Shotgun
10. Negative Space – Forbidden Fruit
11. Tomorrows Gift – How You Want To Live
12. Bang – Lions, Christians
13. Pinacle – Astral Traveller
14. Leaf Hound – Freelance Fiend
15. Noah – Why Should I Care
16. Mother Sunday – Midnight in The Grave
17. Power of Zeus – In The Night
18. Budgie – Hammer and Thongs
19. Gift – Bad Vibrations
20. Flower Travelin’ Band – Satori I
21. Brain Ticket – Black Sand
22. Necronomicon – Prologue
23. Aguaturbia – Evol
24. Shinki Chen & His Friends – Freedom of a Mad Paper Lantern
Too break all the predictability of the constant Christmas music being shoved down your earholes in any public shopping area, heres a nice bit of yule time jangly synth driven psychedelic drone rock courtesy of the masters of the genre Wooden Shjips. And if you’re still in the spirit; a nice shoegazy festive number from Wooden Shjips off shots Moon Duo. Merry Christmas!
It’d be nice to know your thoughts on the new Occult Psych CD, do you think it’s better or worse than the original? Are there any songs you feel are missing from it that would sit well with the rest? I’m always happy with suggestions of good bands to listen to or review. Especially of the occult kind.
There’s an old Occult Psychedelia compilation floating around the internet, I think it’s an old mix tape. Anyway I’ve had it for a while now and although it’s pretty good I always felt that a lot of the songs on it weren’t actually that occult, or that there where some great songs missing from it. So I decided to make an updated and (hopefully) improved version of it. I kept the best songs off the original and added some more which I thought where fitting. I’ll attach links to download bellow. I hope you like it.
Everyone seems to be just downloading disc 1, remember disc 2 as well…
Occult Psychedelia Vol.2 (Disc 1)
Occult Psychedelia Vol.2 (Disc 2)
Track Listing
Disc 1:
1. The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound – Occult Roots
2. Coven – Black Sabbath
3. Bruce Haak – The Word & Cherubic Hymn
4. David Santo – Rising of Scorpio
5. The Black Angels – True Believers
6. Earthling Society – Council House Mystics
7. The Green Man – Liber Al
8. Mark Fry – The Witch
9. English Heretic – Typhonian Museum Piece
10. Bonniwell Music Machine – Astrologically Incompatible
11. Entrance – Silence On A Crowded Train
12. Gin Gillette – Train To Satanville
13. Gwydion – The Sun God
14. Heaven and Earth – Feel The Spirit
Disc 2:
1. Electric Wizard – Witchcult Today
2. Kalacakra – Nearby Shiras
3. Mystic Tide – Mystic Eyes
4. Macabre – Be Forwarned
5. Lumerians – Hashshashin
6. Mystic Shiva – Supernatural Mind
7. The Open Mind – Magic Potion
8. Jason Crest – Black Mass
9. Sunforest – Magician In The Mountain
10. Rings & Things – Strange Things Are Happening
11. Strawberry Alarm Clock – Black Butter Present
12. Weird Owl – Do What th’Owl Wilt
13. Black Widow – Come To The Sabbath
14. The Dovers – Third Eye
15. Wounded Kings – Invocation Of The Ancients
As Buju Banton once said “The East is the best”, these lads may not be eastern themselves but they sure know how to bring you there musically. Listening to it makes you feel like you’re at a rave up in Interzone (William S Burroughs’ fictional arabic country from Naked Lunch), loaded up with Mugwamp Jizzum whilst as one youtube commenter wisely put it, recieving “the cosmic belly dance of kali”. Enjoy!
I’d heard of The Oscillation before and come across them a few times in the past, but never gave them a proper listen to until recently. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t earlier because they’re absolutely brilliant! Their debut Out Of Phase from 2007 is an instant neo-psych classic, blending all the best of psych, kraut, funk, dub and progg.
The opening track “visitations” is an absolutely mind-blowing piece of dark avante-gard noise, a real third eye opener of a track. It crowbars open your mind and prepares you for what is to come, which is the cosmic funk of “liquid Memoryman”. “Liquid Memoryman” has a killer funk bassline, echoed-singing and, as you might expect, is laden with electronic oscillations. The next track “Violations” has a Lumerians feel to it, it’s a dark psychedelic groove with eerie disassociated singing, chanting “all thoughts are violation” like a mantra over the track. Listen to the advice, and just turn off your mind and let your self be taken a long for a trip, and it’ll be an enjoyable one! Comatone (part 1) is a brilliant example of what I’d think of as cosmic funk, it’s got a beat and bass that you can really move to and wouldn’t be out of place on a dance floor, Albeit in a very strange nightclub, and great electronic effects and noise interwoven through the beats. There’s some great little ambient electronic tracks as well between some of the songs, such as “Distant Transmission” and “This is Nowhere”. Anyway I’m not arsed doing a breakdown of every single song but you should get the idea by now. It’s a funky, electric, kraut-psych, dance masterpiece that I recommend to anyone who’s a fan of psych and funk!
