Blake Fleming, former drummer for The Mars Volta, Dazzling Killmen, and others describes himself as “too punk for jazz and too jazz for punk.” As a result, he started making whatever music he wanted, and putting out The Beat Fantastic. The notes I got on the press release for Fleming’s album said it was “a mesmerizing journey of percussion-driven psych noir.” That’s spot-on because there were many times while listening to this album that I thought it could score a film or the next time I run a Blade Runner role-playing game session.
“First Transmission” comes in with static and feedback, leaving you to wonder what kind of record this is at first. Is it just ambient noise? Industrial anger? Something you’d hear in a haunted factory attraction this time of year? Then “Desert Frame One” appears almost like magic and starts hypnotizing you with weird synths and cauldron beats that might be stirred by “The Girl with the Electric Pants” – who brings punk funk with her.
“Devolution Revolution Evolution” sounds like dwarves beating on anvils with magic hammers to craft a drum kit fit for a wizard. “Desert Frame Two” is a nice set-up for “Get Up” – a wild action sequence of a track that has Fleming crushing his kit. “Time Slip” slips into “Drum Killah,” which layers so many types of percussion that I kept losing count of them.
“Dense Jaki” slows things down a bit and adds a slight Middle Eastern rhythm to the mix. “PaleoCyberKineticism (for the MC5)” might melt your mind with its Throbbing Gristle-level throbbing synth bass, so be careful with it. The hand percussion on “Delancey Stomp” is sharp as a hundred knives, and the closer, “The Shadow Cast” sounds like a lost track from your favorite 1980s horror film.
I love good instrumental rock records, and this one is a great find.
Jay Watson, otherwise known as GUM, had a lot of ideas bouncing around his head while playing with Pond and Tame Impala. He had songs that didn’t fit with either band, or even other bands in which he wasn’t jamming or touring or producing. He wanted to do something with them, but wasn’t sure how to bring them to the world.
Enter his pal Ambrose Kenny-Smith of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and The Murlocs, whom Watson had known since both men were teenagers. Kenny-Smith’s bluesy vocal style was just what Watson wanted, and Kenny-Smith was looking for something to work on during winter downtime between festivals and gigs.
The album, Ill Times, turned out to be a cathartic experience for both of them. Watson was finally able to get these songs out of his head, and Kenny-Smith was able to sing about the deaths of his father and a close friend. Watson brought his funky production, Kenny-Smith brought his harmonica, and they ended up making one of the best albums of the year.
The lush, brilliant psych-synths of “Dud” uplift Kenny-Smith’s lyrics about experiencing, living with, and accepting grief over the loss of his father (“Father, I bid you adieu. The man out of time. I’ll see you soon.”). The song was even written with his father and fellow musician, Broderick Smith, but the senior Smith never got to hear it since he died before the track was finished. Still, the song (and the others dealing with loss) is uplifting.
The booming, downright funky-sick title track is about getting out of dark places in your head after suffering a big loss (“What’s it gonna take to shake ya and leave it behind?”). The shiny synths of “Minor Setback” inspire you to shake off the dust and move forward after you realize you don’t have to spend energy on negativity. “Fool for You” is a song about embracing love.
The groovy bass line of “Resilience” is almost slippery, and lyrics like “You know you’re one in a million. It’d be a shame to diminish your brilliance.” continue the positive energy permeating the album. “Powertrippin'” is a fun takedown of toxic masculinity.
“Old Transistor Radio” was the first track the pair created (through back and forth direct messages, no less), and it’s a fun one full of bumping bass and bluesy harmonica riffs. The simple “Keep it simple.” lyrics of “Emu Rock” almost become a mantra. “Marionette” is a clever look at people who choose to live in negativity instead of embracing happiness that is often right in front of them (“If he had it his way, he’d be alone in a cottage, rather than swimming in the Caribbean.” / “Marionette, analyzing in a rocking chair. Marionette, reconciling with his frail conscience.”). The closing song, “The Gloater,” is another takedown of people whose overinflated egos will eventually bring them misery.
Watson and Kenny-Smith haven’t confirmed if Ill Times will be a one-off project or not, but it’s a bright gem in a pile of the literal and metaphorical coal dust all over the world if it is.
Keep your mind open.
[I might experience ill times if you don’t subscribe.]
Free Energy is a good name for Dummy‘s new album, because it provides plenty of it – usually in the form of reverb and fuzz. The band also seems to have had plenty of it while making their sophomore album, as each of the band members is all over the place and playing multiple instruments throughout it.
“Intro-UB” alone features plenty of bubbling, poppy synth beats and bass, and all four members of the band (Alex Ewell, Emma Maatman, Nathan O’Dell, and Joe Trainor) are all listed on the album’s liner notes as playing synths. O’Dell and Trainor’s guitars crash into the room on “Soonish” that almost overwhelm Maatman and O’Dell’s vocals. The Jesus and Mary Chain-like roar they produce is great. “Unshaped Road” weaves and curves, carrying you along on a psych-shoegaze journey to the cosmic “Opaline Bubbletear” with dreamy saxophone by Cole Pulice.
It drifts into the 1990s synthpop-tinged “Blue Dada” and Maatman singing happy, echoing vocals over soft synths and sped-up hip hop beats. “Nullspace” takes early 2000s Garbage and mixes itwith industrial guitar riffs and dub synths. Speaking of industrial guitar riffs, the ones in “Minus World” sound like they could’ve been recorded in a metal fabrication plant…and yet the vocals are so upbeat that you figure the workers there must have a great union.
The way Dummy effortlessly goes from the grinding rock of “Minus World” to the trippy psychedelia of “Dip in the Lake” is stunning. The jump back to the heavier, faster “Sudden Flutes” isn’t jarring. It feels right. “Psychic Battery” might just levitate you out of your seat. Nine Clean Nails reminds me a bit of Public Practice with its background ghost-like vocals that somehow brighten up a room. The closer, “Godspin,” feels like waking up in your car at a sea side highway rest stop after a long night of driving and seeing the ocean in the emerging daylight.
Dummy said they wanted to go in a more psychedelic direction with Free Energy, and they succeeded. The shoegaze elements are still there, so don’t worry if that’s what you’re seeking, but this new sound is lovely.
Does the cover of Meatbodies‘ new album, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom, feature a ghost tiger? A tiger made of flora? A tiger that lives in the ocean? Or in outer space? I don’t know. I do know, however, that the album is great shoegaze / psych record that made me want to see them live (coming up at Levitation 2024!) as soon as possible.
This album gives the songs time to stretch, but not to the point where you grow weary of them. The opener, “The Assignment,” is a great example. It’s a little over six minutes and is a perfect simmering pot of psychedelic tea that brews, drinks, and infuses into you for the perfect time. Groovy, solid bass builds to a burst of fuzzy tiger fur guitars. “Hole” is another six minutes-plus, and it also doesn’t waste a second of it as Meatbodies advises us to fill the holes in our hearts by letting go of what we wrongly think will fill them. The power of the guitars in it sounds like you could blast holes in concrete with it. And the synths that hit you around the 4:30 mark? Come on! It’s almost not fair.
You can imagine the meaning of “Silly Cybin,” which starts with simple acoustic guitar strumming before it hits you with crushing drums and crashing guitars. The rhythms of “Billow” will help you set sail on whatever, ahem, trip you’re taking (and the guitar solo in it is wild). “They Came Down” hits as heavy as any Ty Segall or Fuzz track.
“Move” is a great rocker that seems to have front man Chad Ubovich thinking about how his lover is moving away from him, but he’s unsure as to how to fix it (“I can count the reasons we don’t talk.”). “Criminal Minds” showcases the band’s love of early tracks from The Cure in its bassline. The growling fuzz of “ICNNVR2” is great, and instantly makes you feel like a bad ass, and the saxophone on it is a great touch that Iggy and The Stooges would love. The squall of guitars on “Psychic Garden” is a neat contract to “(Return of) Ecstasy,” which is almost a Middle Eastern-tinged trippy instrumental. The album ends with “Gate,” opening your mind to something beyond what you’re stuck in at the moment, encouraging you to escape the grind and embrace the ethereal (“Do it now. Take that spin.”).
Again, I don’t know if that’s just a green tiger or a tiger made of seaweed on the cover, but that’s kind of the point. Just flow with it. Get weird with it. Stop worrying and start experiencing.
Keep your mind open.
[Drift over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
I hadn’t seen King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in concert for a few years, and I’d never seen one of their three-hour marathon shows, so I jumped on a ticket for this one as soon as they went on sale late last year. That was a wise decision, because it was a sell-out of tens of thousands of Gizz fans. The line to get into the venue went all the way back to the lawn beyond the amphitheater and then doubled back upon itself.
Yes, that guy in the bottom right corner is wearing a Chicago Bears-style “Cocaine Bear” hat.
The line was mostly policed by the fans. There was no one of this far end telling people to turn around and head back for the main gate. Gizz-heads are always a happy bunch, so this camaraderie is par for the course.
As a result of the long line for entry, and the long line for merch, I missed most of the opening set by Geese, who sounded loud and somewhat prog-rock-ish from what I could hear.
The crowd was enjoying the late summer sun mixed with (finally) cooler weather, and KGATLW made sure to keep everyone on good terms by putting up this message.
They came out and fired up that pit right away with a set of tracks from Nonagon Infinity, beginning with “Robot Stomp” and then moving onto “People Vultures” and “Big Fig Wasp.”
Of course, they played some tracks from their new album, Flight b741. In fact, they played the last three tracks, “Sad Pilot,” “Rats in the Sky,” and “Daily Blues” in a row.
Cookie!
“You Can Be Your Silhouette” was a nice touch, and “Iron Lung” was a big crowd favorite. “Crumbling Castle” was around the halfway point of the show. The sun had set, and the wind coming off Lake Michigan was cooling off anyone not in the mosh pit by then.
So, to warm everyone, they unleashed “Hell,” “Predator X,” “Dragon,” and “Flamethrower,” igniting the mosh pit once again.
After that was an extended set of tracks from Murder of the Universe that included “Welcome to an Altered Future,” which they hadn’t played in about six years, and a wild version of “Vomit Coffin.”
Then, to mix it up further, they did a synth-jam (with four members surrounding a table covered in synthesizers, arpeggiators, sequencers, and digital audio workstations) that was supposed to close out the show.
However, they were told they had more time, so they ended with a great version of “Head On / Pill,” which delighted me since it’s from my favorite album of theirs (Float Along, Fill Your Lungs).
This show was like seeing old friends again. I’ve been a fan of theirs since 2014 when I saw them first play in the United States, and I love seeing their success and the massive fan base they’ve built. Long live King Gizz.
Acid King‘s 2015 album, Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere was their first album in nine years and would be their last until eight years later when the newest version of Acid King (with Rafael “Rafa” Martinez on bass and Bill Bowman on drums) would emerge with Beyond Vision.
Vocalist and guitarist Lori S. still had longtime Acid King drummer Joey Osbourne on drums for Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere, and bassist Mark Lamb had been with the band for seven years by this point. All three were clicking and grooving and leveling everything in earshot. They wanted to create something massive for their first album in nearly a decade, and they certainly did it.
In case you’re wondering how big this album is, the “Intro” is almost four minutes long, and it sounds like something you’d hear from a distant star as you were orbiting the moon. Lori S.’s guitar on “Silent Pictures” grows like the rising sun bursting up over a desert mesa and drops you into a different mind state as Lamb’s bass groove moves like an adder across a dune.
“Coming Down from Outer Space” is wonderfully heavy and has Lori S. dropping a slick, downtempo guitar solo right in the middle of crushing riffs. It flows into “Laser Headlights” well, with Lori S.’s guitars sending you almost relentless waves of fuzz. “Red River” is solid desert rock with Osbourne’s drum work on it being some of the best of the album, and Lamb’s bass hitting even harder than Lori S.’s guitar.
If, for some reason, you think the album isn’t heavy enough, Acid King then unleashes “Infinite Skies,” which crushes you from the first notes. “Center of Everywhere” levitates off the desert sands and straight into the stars where you drift toward something that might be a black hole (“Nothing to be found in the center of everywhere.”) or a gate to another plane. The album ends on an instrumental “Outro” that might as well be titled “Outro of Gravity’s Effect on You.”
This was a great return for Acid King, and the 2024 reissue from Blues Funeral Recordings sounds excellent. Get it and get your mind altered.
There are records and there are records that change the game. The Damned‘s debut album Damned Damned Damned is one such record. People hadn’t heard anything quite like it before 1977. This album made people sit up and pay attention.
Comedian Craig Ferguson once described punk rock as “sounding like a fight…and that made me feel happy,” just before he introduced The Damned on his show in 2008 to play the album’s opener “Neat Neat Neat.” It’s a great description because the song instantly ignites a fire wherever and whenever it’s played. “Fan Club” has a swaggering danger to it. Rat Scabies‘ crashing cymbals on “I Fall” sound like a thousand breaking windows.
On “Born to Kill,” Brian James‘ guitar roars and soars at the same time. “There’s a brand new kid in town,” Dave Vanian declares on “Stab Your Back.” He was right because The Damned’s frontman inspired thousands to come after him. “Feel the Pain” dips its toes into psychedelia.
“New Rose” was the second A-side of the split single with “Neat Neat Neat,” and it’s another punk classic full of pent-up anger (“A got a rage inside of me, hormones, and frantic energy (“A got a feeling inside of me. It’s kinda strange, like a stormy sea. I don’t know why, I don’t know why. I guess these things just gotta be.”). James’ guitars on it trade shredding and growling throughout it.
No Damned album review would be proper without mentioning Captain Sensible, who played bass on this record before later switching to lead guitar. Sensible’s bass line on “Fish” is full of heavy fuzz that hits you like a mackerel upside the head. “See Her Tonite” is another rager, burning down everything around it. Scabies’ drums on it are just bonkers.
Sensible continues the heavy bass thuds on “1 of the 2,” and Scabies throws in so many wild fills that you lose track of them. “So Messed Up” absolutely crushes, barley giving you time to get ready even with Vanian’s three-count to start the song. The album ends with their cover of The Stooges‘ “I Feel Alright,” which somehow matches the original’s intensity and ups the madness.
Shoegaze and psychedelic music have always been siblings, and this is readily apparent on The Spin Out by Seattle’s New Age Healers.
Opening with psych-keys, fuzzy bass, and orbital guitars on “Dying Moon,” the album is off to a great start and instant head-turning for anyone hearing it for the first time. Farkhad Saidmuratov‘s keys on the title track creating a neat effect the builds into bright rays breaking through dark clouds. The whole song builds to a stunning end.
“Spark Up” has a dangerous edge to it thanks to Jeramy Koepping and frontman Owen Murphy‘s guitar work and Adam LeVasseur‘s snap, crackle, pop, and crash drumming. “Operatic” reminds me of some of A Place to Bury Strangers‘ early tracks during the verses.
Allen Murray‘s bass on “Chemical Control” is like a lit fuse racing toward a cache of explosives that will blow open a dam holding back sound that will flatten everything in front of it. “Let’s take a trip,” Murphy sings at the beginning of “Radiate,” and the band certainly obliges that suggestion as they all click with psych-rock guitars, 60s garage beats, mod synths, and lyrics about connecting on multiple levels with someone. The album ends with “All Wrapped Up,” bringing you back down to Earth, but you immediately want to levitate off it again by putting this album on repeat.
Meat and Bone was the first album in eight years by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion when it was released in 2017. The trio (Jon Spencer – guitar and lead vocals, Judah Bauer – guitar, Russell Simins – drums) had worked on various side projects here and there and thankfully returned for another wild ride.
Opener “Black Mold” drops you right back into that solid grove the JSBX can only seem to pull off – chaotic yet tight at the same time. You can tell that they felt like they wanted to make up for “lost” time and unleash plenty of power in just three minutes or so.
“Are you ready for your new career?” Spencer asks at the beginning of “Bag of Bones,” prompting us to wonder if we need to tip over our desks and cubicles and strut around like the rock stars we are instead of the tired, locked-in-the-past worker bees we’ve become. “Boot Cut” has a great, gritty grind all the way through it.
“Get Your Pants Off” is a wild, wicked track about wanton women doing naughty things. The bass tone on “Ice Cream Killer” is as cool as its namesake. “Stranger Baby” has Spencer and his mates screaming the chorus and growling the verses. “Bottle Baby” has some of Simins’ wildest drumming. He seems to switch tempos every thirty seconds and yet he’s in the groove all the time.
“Danger” is a vicious rocker, and “Black Thoughts” has so much guitar fire in it that I’m not sure if Spencer or Bauer is putting out the most volume. “Unclear” is a fast, fuzzy cut, and “Bear Trap” snaps hard and has a heavy, swaggering menace to it. Spencer’s vocals are often distorted almost to the point of becoming just weird sounds, which is often the point.
I love that the album ends with an instrumental, “Zimgar,” showcasing the band’s wild and sometimes weird sounds. The JSBX returned from an eight-year hiatus and showed they hadn’t lost a thing. It’s almost like they went into cryogenic hibernation, shook off the frost, and walked into the studio and proceeded to melt everything around them.
I first learned of the French psych-rock giants The Limiñanas when they teamed up with Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre to form L’Épée and put out an outstanding record, Diabolique, in 2019. I had no idea that the band had been around since at least 2010. I’d been looking for some of their music for a while in physical form, and ended up finding their two-CD collection, Electrified, in a record store in Edinburg, Scotland.
Starting with “Migas 2000,” Lionel Limiñana‘s fuzzy guitar riffs grab your attention right away and have you dancing like you’re an extra on Shindig. Marie Limińana‘s drums on “I’m Dead” pound out a hip-shaking beat you can’t ignore and (former Les Bellas bandmate) Nadége Figueroa‘s playful vocals about death are just delightful. “Je Ne Suis Pas Très Drogue” (“I Am Not Very into Drugs / Very High”) is so trippy that you think they’re probably lying. Lionel’s guitar sounds like a buzzsaw on “Down Underground,” and Mu‘s guest vocals on “Je Suis une Go-Go Girl” hypnotize you straight away.
Lionel sings lead on “La Fille de la Ligne 15” (“The Woman on Line 15”), in which he laments about seeing her each day and wondering who she is and if he has enough bravery to finally speak with her. The looping synths on “Je M’en Vais” (“I Am Leaving”) combine with a bouzouki to transport your brain out of your head.
“Wind is blowing, black cloud approaching. I remember nothing when I think of you,” Figueroa sings on the sultry and slightly snarky “Salvation.” The band poke fun at themselves and one of their biggest genre influences on “Votre Coté Yéyé M’emmerde” (“Your Yéyé Annoys Me”). Marie’s vocals on “Cold Was the Ground” are breathy, sexy, and, of course, sad as she sings about missing her lover as one of them is on the other side of the veil. Lionel’s bass groove on “My Black Sabbath” is super-slick. I love that they have a song (and instrumental, no less) called “Carnival of Souls,” and that it’s full of weird organ riffs by Pascal Comelade – which you know makes perfect sense if you’re a fan of the film of the same name. The slow, quiet groove of “El Beach” will have you playing it every time you come back from a late night swim. “Prisunic” takes us down to the “Dime Store” and encourages us to hang out with all the weirdos there. “Dahlia Rouge” starts off with a low motorcycle rumble and then bounces into a playful yé-yé tune.
The last three tracks on disc one (Yes, all of the above-mentioned songs are just on one CD) are all team-ups. The first, “Garden of Love,” features none other than Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook, whose trademark crisp bass lines are all over the track. “Istanbul Is Sleepy” has The Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s Anton Newcombe on lead vocals and guitar for a powerful psych-track with a great beat from Marie. Mr. Hook returns on the last track of Disc One – “The Gift.” It’s a lovely track with slight goth and shoegaze touches.
The team-ups continue through most of Disc Two, starting with French actress, model, and signer Emmanuelle Seigner (who would later go on to form L’Épée with them and Newcombe) on the groovy and slightly gritty “Shadow People.” “Dimanche” (“Sunday”) with French actor and singer Bertrand Belin is hypnotizing and somewhat sinister. Speaking of French singers and musicians, French 1980s synthpop star Étienne Daho joins them on “Blood Circle,” singing in English about a tale of what appears to be murder or a tragic accident. Spanish siren / vixen Nuria contributes sexy vocals to “Calentita” (“Warm”), which, as far as I can tell, is about getting high and seeing funky phantoms.
French DJ Laurent Garnier adds house beats to Mr. and Mrs. Limiñana’s spooky pych jams to great effect on “Saul.” “USA Motorbike” (with film composer David Menke) is a great psych-instrumental. I’d take a whole record of stuff like that. Areski Belkacem has been making music and comedy since at least the late 1960s, and here he is co-creating trippy psych-jams on “La Musique.”
“Les Hommes et les Ombres” (“The Men and the Shadows”) is a cool Ennio Morricone-influenced instrumental with neat guitar work, and the following instrumental, “Domino,” (with Golden Bug) throbs with synth-bass and industrial hisses for a wild contrast between the two tracks. A third instrumental track, “Pulsing,” reunites The Limiñanas with David Menke for a growling, snarling, guitar-driven instrumental that has fuzz chords mingling with weird synths and sci-fi sounds.
The last seven tracks are all from the first group Mr. and Mrs. Limiñana were in – Les Bellas – a psych-rock group they had along with guitarist Giom Picard and vocalist / trumpeter Figuerola that was active from about 2003 to 2007. The tracks are a great addition here. “Hey I’m Going Down” sounds like it could’ve been a lost Dum Dum Girls track with it’s fierce beats and 60s garage rock guitars. “She’s on My Track” is a perfect slice of 60s girl group vocals and wall of sound fuzz. “A Dream That Sleeps” mixes rock and surf guitar with heavy organ riffs and Figuerola’s trumpet taking on a great solo.
The title track of this collection comes from a Les Bellas song, and it has a snappy post-punk edge to it that punches hard. Marie Limiñana’s beats on “You Got My Soul” roll back and forth between subtle and smashing. “Drown” mixes sexy vocals with psych-guitar riffs, Spanish trumpet blares, and almost Styx-like synths. The collection ends with the title track from Les Bellas’ lone album, “Belladellic,” a playful, fuzzy yé-yé track that reminds me of a cute kitten playing with you one moment and shredding your hand the next,
It’s a fun collection of rock that will instantly make you feel cooler and make people ask, “Where did you find this?” when you play it.
