Free Download Roundup - Monster Rally / Vintage Cucumber / Sleeping Orchard

Here's reviews for another three releases available for zilch on Bandcamp (some have name your price options if you want to make a donation to the artists - they're all worthy).

Monster Rally "Sunflower"
Master audio and visual collagist Ted Feighan (the cover art is his as well), is back with a new E.P of his beautifully constructed psychedelic exotica turntablism.
Inspired by a trip to Japan, and the discovery of a vintage American aural travel guide, "Sunflower" is put together like a brief guide with brief vocal interludes from the travel guide introducing each musical section, which masterfully combine the exotic with the loungey and the beaty. Imagine if you will an early D.J Shadow album constructed entirely from Martin Denny samples (with added beats) and you'll get an idea - beautiful strings, exotic instrumentation and a sunny disposition.
At just over twelve minutes it feels more like a stopover than a full visit, but there's plenty more to discover on his Bandcamp site to keep you busy, some with vinyl releases too - they're all incredible.
Available as a free / name your price download here:



Vintage Cucumber "Neuland"
I've written about prolific one man band Johannes Schulz before (here & here) - not as often as I'd have liked to, but that would require a dedicated blog of its own. With a huge backlog of E.Ps that have appeared over the last couple of years in styles ranging from kosmische to krautrock to psychedelia to ambient to eighties video game style MIDI music, Johannes is a busy character and his latest E.P "Neuland" is my favourite from his more recent releases.
"Neuland" casts his motorik psych impulses through a sunny prism that makes it sound like something that Kraftwerk would be listening to on the autobahn on their summer vacation if they were headed to the idyllic holiday locale on the E.P's sleeve. There's plenty of trippy effects on the layers of guitars and vocals that keep the steadily building tracks interesting over their sometimes lengthy playing times, with a pleasingly hazy and chilled underwater vibe that should be at odds with the insistent rhythms but fits very snuggly indeed.
Extra points for the cover looking EXACTLY like the contents sound too.
Name your price download available here:



Sleeping Orchard "George" "Planet Snakes" 
It's only been a month or two since I reviewed the latest E.P by this slightly mysterious outfit, so I was very surprised to find not one, but two new E.Ps on their Bandcamp page within a week of each other. I'm not sure if they've elected for two E.P releases for artistic reasons, but the "George" and "Planet Snakes" E.Ps sound very much like they're cut from the same cloth as each other to me, making a nice album length package between them. Both show considerable growth as well, with a heightened set of songwriting skills, and hooks with a stronger grip than those on their previous E.Ps. Oddly this more structured songwriting approach has coincided with a more psychedelic feeling in general, which gifts these often simple, and always melodic vignettes a hazy, desert-swept, peyote-infused, around the campfire charm. Lovely stuff, and a huge progression from the already fine material they were previously responsible for.
Both E.Ps are available here as free / name your price downloads:

The Projection Company "Give Me Some Lovin" / Staff Carpenborg & The Electric Corona "Fantastic Party"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

This is the pick of a recent bunch of excellent reissues from Gear Fab Records, a number of which focused on late sixties / early seventies exploitation titles - quickly recorded cash-ins masterminded by greedy labels and played by session musicians who would typically cover a few hits of the day with a bunch of self composed instrumentals for padding. Against all odds some of them are pretty great too!

This two-albums-on-one-CD extravaganza features two albums that make unusual bedfellows, but between the two of them offer two of the best psychsploitation titles of the era - if these two don't do it for you, you should probably close the door on the whole exploitation arena now and move on.

Starting with the Projection Company's "Give Me Some Lovin" from 1967, this is before the era when fuzz guitars really ruled over exploitation albums so it's not as wild as some, but has plenty to offer as a good time party record. Kicking into life with a perfectly serviceable cover of the Spencer Davis Group's title track, there's a very enjoyable mod-soul tinge to a lot of these tracks, with nods to the bluesy psychedelia of early Cream too, not to mention a cover of the Id's "Boil The Kettle". Things really heat up with the closing trio of tracks though - a hypnotic piece of sitar-heavy raga, a Hendrix tribute that sounds little like Hendrix (but cooks nonetheless) and a groovy organ laced gem with some lovely, jazzy guitar octaves.

Things get much weirder as we step forward into 1971 with the German exploitation classic from Staff Carpenborg & The Electric Corona. It's easy to see why this one has the reputation it has and has been reissued in so many formats over the last few years, sounding like the band have been given a bottle of Electric Kool Aid each as they enter the studio, with the material sounding as unconventional as the song titles themselves ("Shummy Poor Clessford Idea in Troody Taprest Noodles" anyone?). "Fantastic Party" shows the full potential of the exploitation concept and is a lightning in a bottle showcase of what can happen with the right people are thrown together in a studio for a day with full creative freedom. Sure it's psychedelic as all hell, but it also owes a heap to both free jazz, and Miles Davis of the era (the magnificently slinky double-basslines are pure "Bitches Brew"), not to mention funk, krautrock, eurohorror films and a bit of almost anything else you can imagine. Vocals appear sporadically, with an off the cuff, scat delivery but their general absence isn't missed in the slightest - there's so much going on here, that there's just no room for them.

So a pretty great combo here packaged in a nice vinyl replica sleeve, with the original front cover art from each title on either side - hugely recommended.

Available here.

Active Listener Sampler #21 Now Available

This month's sampler is now available, featuring a selection of tracks from recently reviewed artists in these (virtual) pages, as well as a few surprises...

Special thanks to Courtney Jones for the sleeve art.

This month's sampler features:

1. Southern Boutique - Don't Be Yourself (Cowboy Song Pt. 2) 05:18
2. The Electric Magpie - Mourning Gloria 02:46
3. Coloured Clocks - It's Getting So Close 03:50
4. Verma - The Traveller 04:29
5. Tor Peders - Smafaglars varn 07:40
6. Pez Headz - Black denim 03:24
7. Dark Haze - Arrival 05:28
8. The Unseen - Susan's Dream (From the Motion Picture Soundtrack "Goatman") 02:06
9. Firefay and Alison O'Donnell - Strawberry Wine 04:49
10. Savage Sister - Huge Moves 04:48
11. The Planets Collide - Message In The Sky 03:08
12. The Galileo 7 - You're Not Dreaming 03:27
13. The Love Explosion - Eternally Recurring 03:34
14. Torpa - Dead Letter Drop 04:35
15. Casual Strangers - Casual Strangers (See You Around) 02:00

Download or stream right here, and don't forget to follow the links on the Bandcamp page to hear more music from all of these artists.

Firefay and Alison O’Donnell "Anointed Queen"

Reviewed by Grey Malkin (The Hare & The Moon)

Alison O'Donnell should need no introduction to anyone with even the vaguest interest in both psychedelic and acid folk’s back pages. Her background in such luminary and legendary bands as Mellow Candle and Flibbertigibbet alone should be a recommendation in itself to all Active Listener readers and that’s before consideration of her recent sterling work with modern wyrdsters United Bible Studies and The Owl Service. ’Anointed Queen’, with Alison ably backed by Firefay’s masterful psych folk, is an album that is at turns unpredictable, chilling, heart-breaking and exhilarating; it easily stands shoulder to shoulder with her best work.

Opening the album, ‘Living on the Concrete Path’s storytelling narrative is backed by a hallucinatory waltz to describe a gritty and real life tale of homelessness. Psych guitar patterns finish the song as our protagonists head to the next cardboard box bed. ‘Night Spell’ is a ghostly tango, reminiscent of Marc Almond's ‘La Magia’ period, flamenco guitars and haunting vocal backing creating an atmosphere of yearning and mystery. ‘Under The Church Tower’s Brechtian accordion and acoustic guitar builds to a rousing stomp and frames O’Donnell’s tale of five little maids. Again an air of something slightly unsettling abides; the interlude of fiddle and Alison’s spectral choir only adding to this tension. ‘White Lilies’ electric guitar puts us pleasingly back in trad folk rock territory again. No-one currently does this better – not your Steeleyes or Fairports and it is a veritable joy to hear. Listen to the final fading reverberation of fiddle and voice and tell me you don’t agree. Recounting a journey back to a more rustic, rural life following a spell in the city, the song brims with life and solace. ‘Hart Felt’s accordion led acid trip is the most overtly psychedelic moment, reverbed vocals and analogue keyboards add an almost Eastern tinge. This is apt as the lyrics tell of one Syd Barrett, fallen magus of the early Floyd. ‘The Day The Winged Fury Came’ starts with a funereal bell before harpsichord adds an almost Elizabethan, deeply English touch to the tale. Midway a veritable storm of fuzz guitar echoes and crashes into proceedings, howling into the void before once again the bell tolls. It's at once both chilling and enthralling; a sepia photograph set to music. It is in fact inspired by a WWII bombing of a shopping centre and its aftermath, O’Donnell having taken inspiration from a relative’s published poem about the incident.

Indeed the musical backing on this album needs special mention; it’s both hugely creative and descriptive, adding flesh, muscle and tone to Alison’s stories and words without once overpowering or over embellishing. Inspired by the 2012 riots across England, ‘Come All Ye Malcontents’ fiddle led jig starts as more straight ahead folk rock reminiscent of the Fairport’s best although O'Donnell's lyrics and vocal performance mark this out as very much her show. Her multi tracked vocals at the close lift the song into new dramatic heights and a cosmic almost krautrock keyboard takes the song into unexpected territory. It is these unusual and inventive touches that make the band such a good match for O'Donnell's searching and unique take on the folk medium. ‘Strawberry Wine’ begins with a swirling drone before finger cymbals and picked guitar lead us into a medieval procession via 1960s Greenwich Village; there is then arguably the most amazing vocal break this side of O’Donnell’s work in Mellow Candle which leads us down the rabbit hole into deep psych territory again. Alison in Wonderland indeed. ‘Blood on His Horns’ addresses the issue of bullfighting, raising images of the sheer horror these creatures go through in the interest of ‘entertainment’. ‘Golden Carpet’ competes (in this writer’s opinion) for best track in the album. Almost chanson and musical-like in style it sparkles eerily across sympathetic and restrained choired backing; a broken hearted dream. O’Donnell’s voice is as clear as glass and ends in a shimmer that is both heartrending and unsettling. Closer 'The End is the Beginning’s sinister majestic drones and Floydian feedback is both beautiful and unpredicted; indeed one is left reflecting on the sheer level of creativity on this album both vocally and musically.

Released by the splendid Stone Tape Recordings (home of Greanvine, the aforementioned Owl Service and many other fine artists) the album is available from the 23rd June both as a download and in CD format in a beautifully illustrated six panel sleeve. Recordings as inventive and truly beautiful as this are scarce these days; do not miss out on this one. All hail the anointed queen.

www.stonetaperecordings.co.uk

http://www.alisonodonnell.com/

Read Grey Malkin's interview with Alison here.

The Fresh & Onlys "House of Spirits"

Reviewed by Jason Simpson (Forestpunk)

The Fresh & Onlys are a San Fransisco band, rooted equally in Buffalo Springfield and Big Brother & The Holding Company, as well as the fuzz scuzz garage pop of the 2000s; the many, myriad John Dwyer projects and Ty Segall, for instance. While many San Francisco musicians confine themselves to reliving that hilly city's heyday, forever remaining in a static 1967, The Fresh & Onlys are expanding, looking outward, browsing through time.

To receive the essence of "House Of Spirits", frontman Tim Cohen actually had to leave that misty city on a hill, to relocate to an isolated horse ranch in Arizona, cheap synths, drum machines and a battered guitar in tow. It was in this spacious desolation the skeletons were created, and "House Of Spirits" is a dreamtime half-life simulacra, in this house, in the middle of nowhere. In this house, there's a cauldron of hearts on the stove, and someone is always watching.

I was mainly familiar with The Fresh & Onlys as a reverbed garage pop outfit, and as retroactive psychedelic warriors, via Tim Cohen's Magic Tricks solo project, so to say seeing "House Of Spirits" compared to The Cure's enigmatic "Faith" in the press was surprising is an understatement. Further reading yielded references as diverse as Ennio Morricone, The Smiths, The Shins, and Einsturzende Neubauten. I was intrigued.

"House Of Spirits" starts off with the desert vibes conceived at the horse ranch, and then drags them back to San Fran, to adorn and twine them with haze and sculpted fog. This embellishment strikes right at the heart of who The Fresh & Onlys are, and what makes them so special.

Like I mentioned, a lot of psychedelic musicians are stuck in 1967. Rather than trying to create authentic anachronisms, TF&O are more inspired by five decades of close lysergic listening. There's plenty of guitar rave-ups and country waltzes, that sound right at home with the school of '67, but you can also hear traces of Steely Dan's studio sheen, like on the track "April Fools". Clean, ringing guitar arpeggios recall artful psychedelic post-punk, like The Cure, or the underappreciated Felt.

Rather than trying to slot into some neat category or niche, The Fresh & Onlys draw upon decades of lysergic listening to create something personal, something unique . To create an environment, a world of their own, using whatever tools are at their disposal. And if you were to view the original psychedelic school as painting in a pallet of avocado and day-glo, House Of Spirits is drawn in lavender and spring green and penwashed greys; like a Japanese ink drawing of a city clinging to the edge of a cliff.

With exquisite taste and songwriting instincts, House Of Spirits addresses the weaknesses of some of the genres they draw upon. It's more passionate and exciting than a lot of post-punk. It's rootsier and more personal than shoegaze. It's more forward thinking than a lot of psych rock, bringing in some of the tools of the '80s. The Fresh & Onlys, with "House Of Spirits", have created a slab of Nuggets psych rock for the blankgaze generation. It's The Byrds, adorned with triangles and inverted crosses. It's a ghost-train through an empty house, thick with dust, the air thick with voices. It's the desert, swaddled in mist and vines. It's the past, brought into the present, giving way to the future.

The future looks bright for The Fresh & Onlys, and for lo-fi scuzz garage pop. Not choking down the ashes of the past. Not being crushed under the stones of weighty influence. Instead, a living organism; a house, a world unto itself. "House Of Spirits" is a haunted dwelling you could lose yourself in for days, weeks, months. A proper record artifact - gatefold sleeve as gateway portal. The Fresh & Onlys haven't released a bad one yet, and if you haven't been paying attention, you really should.

"House Of Spirits" is available here on vinyl, CD, and digital formats.

Alison O'Donnell talks "Anointed Queen", Mellow Candle and more....

Alison O’Donnell should need no introduction; legendary vocalist with Acid Folk luminaries Mellow Candle, sometime singer with Irish wyrdsters United Bible Studies and England’s own acid tinged folk outfit The Owl Service, solo artist in her own right (listen to ‘Hey Hey Hippy Witch’) and now collaborator of the band Firefay with their splendid new album ‘Anointed Queen’. Oh and she has also recently recorded with a couple of chancers called The Hare And The Moon, whoever they might be. This latter escapade introduced me to Alison on the eve of the release of the Firefay album; what better a time to ask this most influential of singers a few choice questions about ‘Anointed Queen’, her rich musical past, and range of projects both ongoing and future.

Alison, ‘Anointed Queen’ is a strong and diverse piece of work. You sound seamless as a band, like you have been playing together for years. How did you meet with the other members of Firefay and what was the process of putting the record together? Are there plans to tour the album? 

Our computers kindly made the introductions. We bumped into each other online and tentatively edged forward over a period of time. This was a few years ago and we are only going to meet in person when we get to launch the album at Leigh-on-Sea Free Folk Festival. Firefay are rehearsing in London and I am practising with their rehearsal recordings in Dublin. There were a number of embryonic songs that Firefay had knocking around and I had a few also. We wrote them all together and worked them up to full recordings over time. Since the record is going to be released on CD with Stone Tape and later on vinyl with Golden Pavilion, we want to organise a few mini-tours with a full set in the latter part of 2014 and through 2015 if we can.

The tracks on ‘Anointed Queen’ have a strong lyrical narrative. ‘Living on Concrete Paths’ deal with homelessness and ‘Hart Fell’ is inspired by late Floyd leader Syd Barrett. ‘The Day the Winged Fury Came’ describes a WW2 bombing raid. Where did the inspiration and ideas for these songs (and others) on the album come from? 

Adam Bulewski asked me to write a song with him loosely based on Syd Barrett. In the current recessionary times there are more and more people facing mental health issues so ‘Hart Fell’ was something I really wanted to write. Adam gave me the title also. Since he and I both have experience of contact with homeless people, a topic that always requires attention, it was another song that got written quickly. ‘Living on the Concrete Path’ is the second song I have written on that subject. My mother’s cousin Peter O’Donnell, a lovely man long gone now, was a teacher and published poet in England. In 1960 he wrote a poem about the bombing of a shopping centre. I suppose I wanted to pay homage to him as I admired him so much for his intellect and gentle and kind demeanour so I wrote ‘The Day the Winged Fury Came’, which is more about the aftermath of a WW2 bomb blast. ‘Strawberry Wine’ is from an original lyric and idea by Carole Bulewski, akin to parts of the story of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in that potions and altered states are endowed upon a young person in a fantasy setting. The album title came from this song. ‘Come All Ye Malcontents’ came along when I read about and saw reports of how ordinary people going about their business during the London riots suddenly got sucked into the temporary madness of looting and stealing, which later ruined quite a few of their lives. ‘White Lilies’ is about a country girl who becomes enthralled with the excesses of city life but who manages to find redemption and ‘Blood on His Horns’ deals with the cruelty of bull fighting and attendant sports. Golden Carpet is quite spacey; a warning of the downside of impetuosity, and Night Spell is dreamy – the influence of the moon.

‘Hey Hey Hippy Witch’, your solo album, was recorded with a wealth of well-respected and well-known names in folk and psychedelia such as Michael Tyack (of Circulus) and David Colohan (of Agitated Radio Pilot, Raising Holy Sparks, United Bible Studies). What do you feel these collaborators brought to the album and to the songs? What made you choose to record a solo album rather than as a collaboration or a part of a band (such as with Firefay or UBS) and are there any plans for a follow up? 

Well to be honest, part of the reason for recording HHHW with a bunch of collaborators living in other countries and cities was purely financial. I was in touch with them all and had done work for various of their own projects, so it seemed an obvious thing to do to ask them to co-write songs with me for my solo album. I didn’t have funds to get together with a group of people and go into a studio. They all worked up the tracks with me, recorded their parts and I did mine in Dublin. I would love to follow up sometime but I have been so busy working with United Bible Studies both live and on record, and having two albums out in the past few years, and also a string of contributions on other musicians’ projects, that I haven’t had time to get round to thinking about another solo record.

You must get a lot of people wanting to talk about the Mellow Candle years. Has this been increasingly so as the Swaddling Songs album has come to be regarded as an acid folk classic? You were very young when you recorded the album. What do you remember about those days? 

I don’t remember as much as I would like to – ahem! If I’d known that ‘Swaddling Songs’ would become a cult classic, I’d have paid a bit more attention. I was 17/18 and life just rushed along in quite an exciting fashion. I was in thrall to the music and the lifestyle of that period. It was absolutely everything to me. It was incredibly rich and rewarding.

As a fan and collector, are there any plans to re-issue the Flibbertigibbet ‘Whistling Jigs to the Moon’ album? You have been involved in the past with your back catalogue and its reissuing; is there anything left in the vaults that might be released at some point in the future? 

‘Whistling Jigs to the Moon’ is a collector’s item now also. It was supposed to have been reissued on vinyl a few years ago but it fell through. I was involved with reissues for some years back in the mid to late 90s and always keep an ear to the ground when a reissue is happening, but I have too much current music swirling around now to get too involved. That was back when I had a lot less going on. If I say there is something left to put out, someone might pounce on that. There is one song somewhere but it would be difficult to do anything with it and I don’t think it would be worth the effort. There might be an external attic recording knocking around but it is probably all material that has already been released.

As well as being active as a singer and musician in both Ireland and the UK you also spent time running a music club and playing with a jazz band in Johannesburg and playing with a trad band in Belgium. You also starred in a pantomime there in a leading role. The Firefay album and your work with United Bible studies and others suggest an artist who can’t or won’t be defined within the sometime narrow parameters of ‘traditional folk’. Recently you also recorded with Big Dwarf who are have an electronic aspect to their music and Cathedral, a well-known metal band. How would you define yourself as an artist and how important is it for you to experiment and work with others and in different genres? 

I used to coolly stand still with hands on hips in Mellow Candle performances. It was only when I got involved in theatrical and satirical revues in Johannesburg that I started to consider stagecraft. A lot of technical and dramatic ability only came together very late in my career. I have felt a lot freer to experiment since around 2008. I revel in working across different genres and strive to be defined for writing and performing, as well as singing.

You recorded absolutely beautiful and personal versions of Nick Drake’s day Is done And Nico’s Frozen Warnings for the Fruits Der Mer 7” single series. I’m interested in your choice of both these artists and these particular songs; how did this venture come about and why those choices? 

‘Frozen Warnings’ remains a set number that I have performed with a number of musical groupings. That song really pierced through my being and I still hold on to that. Fruit de Mer suggested several songs which I didn’t go for and wanted a Nick Drake, so I felt I could do something with ‘Day is Done’. I felt I made a good version of ‘Frozen Warnings’ although some Americans would disagree with me and have said so (well one or two)! Taking on Drake and Nico is always going to piss someone off.

Your music may be known to a number of readers due to your collaborative work over the last few years with The Owl Service (The Fabric of Folk EP) and United Bible Studies. How did these collaborations come about and to what extent are you still involved in these acts? Have you any further collaborations in the pipeline? 

I am intending to do two songs with Steven Collins and Nancy Wallace of The Owl Service at Leigh-on-Sea. I love working with them. We’ve done quite a lot of songs together over the years and they have all worked out really well. I’m always up for new collaborations with former and new potential collaborators.

You can read Grey Malkin's review of "Anointed Queen" in these pages over next few days.

http://www.stonetaperecordings.co.uk/

Fogbound "Whispering Corridors"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

After including the sublime a-side of this single on a sampler a few months back, I promptly forgot how great it was and only a random Facebook post from a friend alerted me to the fact that I hadn't actually gotten around to reviewing it, which as it's quite possibly the best psych single of the year so far, is a pretty big oversight on my behalf.

As debut singles go this is a hugely confident effort, no doubt largely due to the experience of the band members who are also regularly to be found in Wolrus, Misterioso Viaje Holanda, The Twin‑Sets, One Of These Days & Thee Heavy Random Tone Colour Lab among other bands.

Combining the best elements of neo-psychedelia with some extremely authentic sounding vintage psych moves, I honestly can't recommend this highly enough.

"Whispering Corridors" is a monster - moody and mysterious, with an insistent guitar riff, an unexpectedly spooky pre-chorus refrain that suggests something sinsterly Lovecraftian, and heaps of crazed guitar trickery making all of the sounds we love to hear here at Active Listener Towers. If this really was the sixties artifact that it sounds like it'd be deified alongside the Misunderstood - it's that good.

Flip it over and "Come & See" is slightly more conventional, but none the worse for it boasting a tough mod riff that could have graced a record by the Creation, with Fabio Mahía's vocals alternating between tough and ethereal at the drop of a hat, and that huge freakbeat guitar sound on the solo's not to be sneezed at either.

Astoundingly good.

The good news doesn't end there either - they've already got a followup lined up. You can hear the flipside of that here.

The Whispering Corridors 7" was released in April by Sunny Day Records - the first pressing has sold out but if enough of you are vocal about it they could do a second press? You can stream both sides here.

Check out the great video for "Whispering Corridors" below:

Icarus Peel & Mordecai Smyth "Barnburner"

Reviewed by Nathan Ford

Mega Dodo regulars Icarus Peel & Mordecai Smyth challenge each other to a friendly bout of fisticuffs on this fetching split 10".

Icarus Peel comes out swinging early in the first round with "Aunty Powders Her Nose" landing strongly with an early U.K psych pop hit ala "Granny Takes a Trip", before tag-teaming regular collaborator Crystal Jacqueline in for the entertainingly daft "Almost Murder Ballad", which sounds like Gomez and Morticia Addams dressing up as Nancy & Lee for Halloween and tackling Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home a Heartache". Peel's last song, a tribute to Crystal Jacqueline has a nice mellow "Castles Made of Sand" vibe, with backwards guitars ebbing and flowing nebulously against a backdrop of busy Hendrixian rhythm guitar.

One might expect Mordecai Smyth to be on the ropes at this point (especially given that sneaky,  unsporting double teaming trick earlier on), but Smyth's side has plenty of charm of its own. "Out In The Stars" is a lovely, melancholy opener that may suggest Smyth will be struggling to stand by the end of his side, but he quickly rallies with the irrepressibly perky "Plastic People" thumbing its nose to all and sundry, before the marvelous "Drifted Along" makes itself comfortable atop waves of gorgeous mellotron.

So, no K.O in this particular bout, we'll have to look to the judges for a result. And on points the winner is?

Available on vinyl and fully streamable here:

Kikagaku Moyo Vinyl Pre-order Now Up

Just a heads up here on a couple of extremely limited edition, (not to mention essential) vinyl pre-releases that I don't want y'all to miss out on - the first two Kikagaku Moyo releases coming real soon from Captcha Records!
The key bit of information below is that they are only going to press the amount of orders they receive, so you HAVE TO PRE-ORDER, so no time to sleep on this one.

+++++++++++++PRE-ORDER HERE ++++++++++++++++++++

Press release follows

Captcha Records is stoked to be collaborating with KIKAGAKU MOYO

We are releasing both critically acclaimed albums, "Kikagaku Moyo" and "Mammatus Clouds" on heavyweight vinyl on 9/2. This is the first time that both are available in the United States.

THIS IS A ONE TIME PRESSING ONLY!!! WE ARE ONLY PRESSING THE NUMBER OF ORDERS WE RECEIVE. DON'T SLEEP ON THIS.

WE ASSURE YOU, THAT THESE ALBUMS WILL BE LIMITED AND VERY SPECIAL.

KIKAGAKU MOYO/幾何学模様. The name means GEOMETRIC PATTERNS in Japanese. This Tokyo band started channeling the spirits of the Japanese psychedelic underground in the summer of 2012, quickly developing the sound of ‘60s psychedelia to a breathtaking degree. Their debut album exerts an elemental power. Enlivening their sound with sitars, percussive drums, theremins, wind instruments and ethereal vocals, the band manages to sound powerfully spacious and lazily serene all at once. Their songs can be light as air, or heavy as earth. Many evolve out of intense experiences of engagement with the natural world. The album’s first track, “Can You Imagine Nothing?” was written over a night spent jamming on a suspended footbridge in remote mountains. As the song progressed the bridge began to sway, making band members feel as though they were floating weightless in midair.

Drummer Go Kurosawa says that KIKAGAKU MOYO use sound to recreate passages in nature where natural geometric patterns appear, like snowflakes and honeycombs. The music also reflects patterns found in the mental state of hypnogogia, where one sees colors and patterns appear out of complete darkness. The simple, hypnotic drones on this album gradually unfold into complex polyrhythmic structures—fractal architecture for the ears. Each song builds on a direct yet otherworldly folk/psych vibe, evolving into a joyous, haunting, far-out and totally colorful tribal sound. Lysergic mind-expanding soundscapes, ghostly rhythms, clouds of uplifting fuzz, swirling guitar excursions into space, water-stained sitar licks and beautifully wasted vocals are guaranteed to send you. We say if you’ve dug bands like Amon Düül, Ghost, Can and the Flower Traveling Band, you should take a chance on Kikagaku Moyo.

Krakatau "Riddells Creek" 16 mm Video

Following on from our review of their upcoming debut on Trouble In Mind Records, Melbourne based three piece prog band have released an excellent 16mm film of the highlight track from that album - the twelve minute plus "Riddells Creek"
Cast in the same vintage BBC pastel tones as the Radiophonic keyboards contained within, this is a perfect example of matching video to film and creating something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Check out the video below: