2013 is already shaping up to be a vintage year for psychedelia, so I thought I'd take a quick look at some of the highlights of the year so far, as well as a few that are still on the near horizon...
Follow the links to read more and hear sample tracks.
Listed alphabetically BTW....
ELECTRIC EYE - PICK-UP, LIFT-OFF, SPACE, TIME
Ladies & Gentlemen we are rocking in space. Amazing space rock extravaganza from Norway on the awesome Fuzz Club label. Full review coming real soon. Check out a sample track here.
ELEPHANT STONE - S/T
Awesome melodic psychedelic rock which combines the tunesmithery of Elliott Smith with some of the trippiest instrumental jams you'll hear this year. Full review and sample track here.
FOXYGEN - WE ARE THE 21ST CENTURY AMBASSADORS OF PEACE & MAGIC
A GREAT album that channels a bunch of excellent influences into something totally fresh with some of the best songwriting you'll hear this year. Full review and sample track here.
JACCO GARDNER - CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
A near perfect debut from the Dutch wunderkind. Baroque pop of the highest possible caliber. Comparisons to the Zombies, Curt Boetcher and the Left Banke have quite rightly been made. Full review and sample track here.
MASTON - SHADOWS
A fascinating distillation of sunny baroque pop ala Van Dyke Parks, with the kooky, moody, cinematic flair of Angelo Badalamenti or Ennio Morricone. Full review and sample track here.
NEILS CHILDREN - DIMLY LIT
Broadcast style cinematic guitar pop with stacks of reverb and an emphasis on strong songwriting. Full review and sample track here.
POWDER BLUE - DREAM IN BLACK
Moody, hazy, smoky psychedelia from this all female outfit from Saskatoon. Full review and sample track here.
RE-EVOLUTION - FDM SINGS THE HOLLIES
Another excellent Fruits de Mer vinyl only tribute album with the likes of Sky Picnic, Hi Fiction Science and the Bevis Frond reinventing the Hollies 66-68 psychedelic era material. The originals were good, these reinterpretations are uniformly great! Full review and sample track here.
THE RESONARS - CRUMMY DESERT SOUND
Speaking of the Hollies, the Resonars sound a whole lot like them, only chucked in a blender with the Who, and to a lesser extent, the Ramones. Only Resonar's frontman Matt Rendon writes better songs than all three of them. Full review and sample track here.
IAN SKELLY - CUT FROM A STAR
The Coral's drummer and sometimes songwriters steps into the limelight with his own excellent pastoral psychfolk album. Lots of mellotron, acoustic guitars and top top tunes. Full review and sample track here.
SOFT-HEARTED SCIENTISTS - FALSE LIGHTS
Due out next month, I've been lucky enough to be spinning a pre-release of this for the last few months, and I can't get enough of it. Easily their best album so far (which is saying something). Quirky Welsh psychedelic pop with traces of the Beatles and Kevin Ayers among others. Wonderful. Full review coming soon. Sound samples here.
WOLF PEOPLE - FAIN
Another upcoming new release which I can happily report is every bit as good as their first two LPs. Full review coming soon. Sound sample here.
And there's plenty more where that came from with new albums from the Black Angels, Heaven's Gateway Drugs, White Fence and a whole lot more.....
Already a banner year. It's a really fine moment for psychedelia, for sure, and I'd be lost without The Active Listener to help me navigate the tide!
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to see Elephant Stone at Austin Psych Fest this year. I knew nothing about 'em - a music lover buddy of mine recommended I check them out. Glad I did - they were mindblowingly good. They won over the crowd pretty handily, too. I bought both of their records at the merch table before the set was over, telling their merch guy, "I'm getting these now, because you're gonna be mobbed when the set is over." Sure enough...
ReplyDeletecheck out KAVA from Chicago. www.KAVAtheband.com
ReplyDeleteThey go between their heavier side like Queens of the Stone Age and minimalist psych rock like the new Flaming Lips
what about psicomagia?
ReplyDeleteCan't say enough good things about the powder blue album. Also, Fain is one of the best new-psych albums. I also like the heavier side: Cosmic Dead, Cosmonauts, Far Flung, etc. The Trip CKUW-FM 95.9, Winnipeg plays psych, stoner, garage + Grateful Dead. Saturdays 4-6PM CST. Stream it live at ckuw.ca
ReplyDeletethese bands are like my fat people. a bunch of farmers anonymously sending people tickets. FAT FARMERS.
ReplyDelete