Review: Ash Ra Tempel's 1973 album Starring Rosi, led by innovative guitarist Manuel Gottsching, showcases a more accessible sound compared to their earlier cosmic explorations. Rosi Muller, Gottsching's then-girlfriend, contributes spoken word passages, adding a unique texture to several tracks. The album opens with 'Laughter Loving', a cheerful, wah-wah guitar-driven track with hints of country-rock and droning synths. 'Day-Dream' features a stoned, two-chord acoustic sequence, paired with gentle lead guitar and dreamy vocals. Instrumental track 'Schizo' offers a detached, spacey atmosphere, while 'Cosmic Tango' delivers a funky groove, reminiscent of Gong's space-whisper style. The nearly nine-minute 'Interplay of Forces' starts in a psychedelic, space-rock vein before evolving into a guitar and drum-heavy jam. The album closes with 'Bring Me Up', a bluesy, funky track that spotlights Gottsching's masterful guitar work. The album's reissue on 180-gram coloured vinyl further highlights its timeless, genre-blending appeal.
Review: Mr Bongo look back to the damn fine Latin funk and rock-infused soul sounds of Coke's 197 self-titled opus for their next well-chosen reissue project here. It is their only album, sadly, but is a brilliant mix of Miami Latin-funk, psychedelic garage rock and gritty soul sung mainly in English. It blends bright funk drumming, flavourful organs and zesty horn with Paul Garcia (guitar), Ariel Hernandez (bass), Ruben Perez (drums), Jose Rubio (keys) and Peter Fernandez (vocals) all produced by Mato. The record was popular in Miami but faded due to limited promotion and a Coca-Cola trademark dispute but was later rediscovered by collectors, with standout tracks like 'Na Na,' 'Got to Touch Your Face' and 'Te Amo Mas' all became staples of Latin sets.
Review: Cllignon is back with more musical adventuring in the form of Bicicleta, a new album recorded during their last summer tour. As such it does a fine job of capturing the band's live energy but also dives deeper into their sound where you will find a melange of nice sunny grooves, deft psychedelic guitars and sharp keyboard riffs. The album spans multiple influences from the Maloya rhythms of 'Fonker la Mer' to the Brazilian groove of 'Vai Vai Vai (Into the Stars).' Recorded while Jori spent a year in the Netherlands, it celebrates cycling as a symbol of freedom and adventure and certainly travels far with each piece adding up to a fine story overall.
Review: Following the success of two cult-favourite EPs, Common Saints now drops the debut album Cinema 3000 which continues its exploration of the blurred lines between soul, funk and psychedelic sounds. Created by writer and producer Charlie J Perry in 2020, Common Saints embraces an organic production style by recording live instruments in Perry's London home studio with one mic on the drums, a beloved piano, and amps turned up loud. By blending vintage recording techniques with modern dynamics, the album offers a rich sound reminiscent of Tame Impala and Khruangbin.
Review: Taking their cues and inspiration from their earlier peers in The Nomads, Stockholm, Sweden's psychedelic garage rockers Cornflake Zoo were active for a brief period in the mid to late-1980s, releasing just a small handful of singles and EPs during their short tenure. Knights Of Fuzz offers up a definitive compilation of the (unfairly) lesser-known garage gurus, including their Hey Conductor and Just A Game 7" singles, released in 1985 and 1987 respectively, while also featuring their 1986 The End Of The Beginning 12" EP in its entirety, along with a few unearthed bonus cuts for good measure. Jagged, bluesy, chaotic buzzing guitars twisted into jangle-pop refrains, Cornflake Zoo truly were the Scandinavian knights of fuzz that time forgot.
Review: Dead Meadow's latest offering marks a major leap forward for the legendary American psychedelic trio, blending their signature sound with new emotional depth. While their past albums have dazzled with expansive, mind-melting riffs and heavy cosmic grooves, this release brings a raw, introspective energy that highlights their lasting presence in the psych-rock world. Tracks like 'The Space Between' and 'A Wave Away' show the band experimenting with softer, more reflective moments, balancing their traditionally heavy sound with delicate, expansive textures. Drummer Mark Laughlin delivers some of his best performances yet, especially on 'Dead Tree Shake,' while the influence of late bassist Steve Kille is strongly felt throughout. His final contributions are heard in the powerful closing track, 'Voyager to Voyager,' where his artistry resonates deeply. This album proves Dead Meadow are evolving i not just in their sound, but in the essence of what continues to make them a standout act in modern psychedelic rock.
Review: Brian Auger's Streetnoise was originally recorded in 1969 with Julie Driscoll and The Trinity. It stands proud as a genre-blurring work of jazz, rock, folk and soul greatness that found the group moving beyond their r&b and jazz roots. Instead, Auger and Driscoll crafted a progressive, avant-garde yet deeply soulful record in which Driscoll's haunting vocals contrast beautifully with Auger's instrumentation. The gatefold sleeve was designed by Hunter S Thompson collaborator Ralph Steadman and was inspired by Hogarth's satirical etchings which in turn reflects the album's artistic ambition. Streetnoise features dynamic instrumentals like 'Ellis Island', great reinterpretations of 'All Blues' and 'Flesh Failures' and standout tracks such as 'Indian Rope Man' which highlight Auger's visionary fusion of styles.
Review: Viaje Sideral is a cosmic journey led by El Leon Pardo and his ancestral instrument, the kuisi, which is a pre-Colombian flute that traditionally symbolises resistance and survival. This second album from Pardo explores humanity's connection with the stars by blending Caribbean percussion, analogue synths, deep bass, electric guitars and the distinctive sounds of kuisis and trumpets. The tunes channel the tropical psychedelia of the 70s and 80s while incorporating ambient and electronic influences from artists like Terry Riley and Kraftwerk. Viaje Sideral is a great mix of dreamlike astral sounds with tropical rhythms that mean both the earthly and the cosmic are explored.
Review: If you don't know (well, even if you do know it is still true), Californian multi-instrumentalist Brian Ellis is Egyptian Lover's keyboard player, and is also a member of Campus Christi with Peanut Butter Wolf. He steps out alone here with a new and outlier funk album that shows off his idiosyncratic style. It is a raw and dense sound that mixes up bold funk and gritty psychedelic soul while embracing the darker edges of both styles. Along the way, Ellis explores themes of truth, authenticity and the pitfalls of wealth while reflecting on the cost of giving away one's heart. Tracks like 'The Real Deal' and 'Money Drives Me Crazy 'capture these ideas with unfiltered emotion.
Review: California multi-instrumentalist, Egyptian Lover's keyboard player and experimental producer Brian Ellis follows up his Quarantine Tapes with his first full-length solo album in four years. Unfortunately, we'll never have a lifetime supply of Brian's music, although that's forgivable since recorded music media also incorporates the genius invention that is playback, which means even one purchase can last for a lifetime as long as you keep your record in good nick! This one is a swirling bomb of bombast funk and dodgy-output psychedelic soul, one that is unafraid of the murkier ends of each sound. Ellis muses on the nature of truth, authenticity, dirty money and the consequence of leasing one's heart out, as on 'The Real Deal' and 'Money Drives Me Crazy'.
Review: Oakland, California. Present Day. Although you might not believe it when you hear it. Justin Pinkerton, or Futuropaco, certainly knows how to drop a red herring, conjuring a cacophony of psychedelic funk-jazz-rock stuff that feels like it has always been here but is brand new, and implies it took a full entourage locked in sweaty jam to realise what is really a one-man-band triumph. Hone in squarely on the rhythmic aspect to understand the core strength. Those drums, and those drum solos, seem to invoke percussive legends without demanding you listen for 20 minutes to their patter and thud. The guitars lunge and drive and chug with the intent of early metal or slo mo druggy electronic dance. And the melodic elements veer from disorientating crescendo to the best of the Spaghetti Western scores.
Review: Straop yourself in and prepare for a cosmic trip on psyched out cosmic polyrhythms with kosmische overtones at the hands of newcomer Glass Beams. This debut on Research Record is a stunning one from the enigmatic producer but will have you googling t find out as much as you can while you get lost in the sliding bass and transcendent synthwork. It's tinged with a certain retro charm and 70s prog magic but also feels decidedly new and fresh. Masterful.
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