Following the release of their new concept album, Hollow, Elephant Stone have announced a spring North American tour starting with a free show in Winooski, Vermont and ending in Chicago, Illinois. All tour dates are with DJ Al Lover, with whom Elephant Stone‘s lead singer / bassist / sitarist Rishi Dhir has worked in the past with their Acid House Ragas project. Tickets are available for all dates.
4/29 Winooski VT @ Foam Brewers FREE SHOW 4/30 New Haven CT @ State House TICKETS 5/1 Brooklyn NY @ The Sultan Room TICKETS 5/2 Allentown PA @ Muhlenberg College TICKETS 5/3 Washington DC @ Comet Ping Pong TICKETS 5/5 Cleveland OH @ Beachland Tavern TICKETS 5/6 Indianapolis IN @ Square Cat Vinyl TICKETS 5/7 Windsor ON @ Meteor TICKETS 5/8 Milwaukee WI @ Milwaukee Psych Fest TICKETS 5/9 Chicago IL @ Sleeping Village TICKETS
The forthcoming tenth edition — #10! — of the popular compilation series featuring long-lost vintage 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner rock singles, Brown Acid: The Tenth Trip will be available, fittingly, on April 20th, 2020. As the celebrated series reaches landmark double-digits, there are no indications it will slow down in the near future. Hear and share the first single, “Tensions” released in 1969 by Detroit rockers Sounds Synonymous via YouTube and Bandcamp. The Brown Acid series is curated by L.A. label RidingEasy Records and retailer/label Permanent Records. Read interviews with the series curators via Paste MagazineHERE and LA Weekly HERE.
About The Tenth Trip: Here we are, arriving at the tenth edition of Brown Acid in just half as many years! As always, we packed in the highest highs of the dankest hard rock, heavy psych, and proto-metal tracks previously lost to the sands of time. Like we’ve done throughout this series, all of these tracks were painstakingly licensed legitimately and the artists were paid. It’s hard to believe we’re already up to 10 volumes of this lysergic Neanderthal wail, but the long-lost jams just keep-a-coming like Texas crude to fuel your rock ‘n’ roll engine and melt your metal mind. This Trip kicks off with the Hammer of the Gods howl of “Plastic Thunder” by Bitter Creek. The Atlanta, GA quintet’s lone single from 1970 on Mark IV Records is rated #6 of the Top 50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath by GuitarWorld Magazine. You can hear why in the ominous riff and larynx-ravaging chorus that merges the deepest of Deep Purple sludge with The Who’s rollicking psychedelia.
Not much is known about The Brood‘s 1969 bluesy paean to dirtbag weed consumption “The Roach” on the It’s A Lemon imprint, except that it’s a big, growling rocker with a crazed in-the-round blowout of wailing guitar solos, screeching organ blasts, wildly overlapping vocals and drum rolls for days.
Nova Scotia, Canada sextet Brothers and One‘s double-entendre laden single “Hard On Me” certainly pushes the boundaries of what would be acceptable at the time (especially amongst their ever-polite Canadian brethren.) Their lone full length was released in 1970 on short-lived Audat label, the group featuring two sets of brothers (hence the name) recorded the album while all members were between age 13-18-years-old. This glam-influenced single was privately released on the band’s own label nearly 4 years later.
Louisville, KY quartet Conception‘s excellent revision of Blue Cheer’s “Babylon” (1969, Perfection Records) adds heavy phaser effect on the guitar and a more driving rhythm to make the song entirely their own. Lead guitar and high harmony vocals by Charlie Day (not to be confused with the Sunny Philadelphian actor) are assertive and commanding as he implores listeners onward to hallucinagenic nirvana.
Not exactly a typically psychedelic band name for the era, but First State Bank‘s “Mr. Sun” (1970, Music Mill) pays hearty dividends of boogie bustle. The Central Texas band led by guitarist/vocalist Randy Nunnally released only 3 singles in its career from 1970-1976. For those keeping score at home, their song “Before You Leave” was featured on The Third Trip back in 2016. “Mr. Sun” is the heavy B-Side to “Coming Home To You.”
Clearly inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Tucson quartet Frozen Sun topped the local charts in 1969 with this barnstorming rocker “Electric Soul” (Capt. Zoomer Records.) The song is replete with guitarist/vocalist (with big Hendrix hair) Ron Ryan’s spoken interlude, “Well have you been electrically stoned? You know, living in the danger zone?” We say yes.
Ralph Williams and the Wright Brothers took flight with “Never Again” on Hour Glass Records in 1972, and apparently never landed after this 45 with “Dark Street” on the A-side. The serpentine riff and sexually-charged backing vocal grunts drive this archetypical tale of a young man’s chemical odyssey… or, should we say, trip?
Sounds Synonymous pretty much epitomized heavy fuzz from Michigan with their 1969 single “Tensions” on the Wall Productions label. The Hendrix “Fire” meets Arthur Brown’s “Fire” track lunges and lurches with glee throughout its 3-minutes and change of unbridled crunch.
Tabernash‘s “Head Collect” (1972) is the suburban Denver quartet’s only release following the name change from The Contents Are and a move from Davenport, IA. This more stately psych-rock chune features Byrds-like harmonies, twangy reverse-looped guitar soloing and Keith Moon-esque drumming that should’ve made it a chart-topper, but we all know there’s no justice in rock’n’roll.
The Tenth Trip closes, appropriately, with the “War Pigs” reminiscent fuzz of New Orleans quartet The Rubber Memory‘s 1970 tune “All Together.” The band self-released only 110 copies of their lone album, making it an incredibly sought-after rarity for decades. Alongside a limited edition reissue in 2000, the group reformed for a one-off show before quickly bouncing back into our collective cosmic consciousness.
About the Brown Acid series: Some of the best thrills of the Internet music revolution is the ability to find extremely rare music with great ease. But even with such vast archives to draw from, quite a lot of great songs have gone undiscovered for nearly half a century — particularly in genres that lacked hifalutin arty pretense. Previously, only the most extremely dedicated and passionate record collectors had the stamina and prowess to hunt down long forgotten wonders in dusty record bins — often hoarding them in private collections, or selling at ridiculous collector’s prices. Legendary compilations like Nuggets, Pebbles, ad nauseum, have exhausted the mines of early garage rock and proto-punk, keeping alive a large cross-section of underground ephemera. However, few have delved into and expertly archived the wealth of proto-metal, pre-stoner rock tracks collected on Brown Acid.
Lance Barresi, co-owner of L.A./Chicago retailer Permanent Records has shown incredible persistence in tracking down a stellar collection of rare singles from the 60s and 70s for the growing compilation series. Partnered with Daniel Hall of RidingEasy Records, the two have assembled a selection of songs that’s hard to believe have remained unheard for so long.
“I essentially go through hell and high water just to find these records,” Barresi says. “Once I find a record worthy of tracking, I begin the (sometimes) extremely arduous process of contacting the band members and encouraging them to take part. Daniel and I agree that licensing all the tracks we’re using forBrown Acid is best for everyone involved,” rather than simply bootlegging the tracks. When all of the bands and labels haven’t existed for 30-40 years or more, tracking down the creators gives all of these tunes a real second chance at success. “There’s a long list of songs that we’d love to include,” Barresi says. “But we just can’t track the bands down. I like the idea that Brown Acid is getting so much attention, so people might reach out to us.”
Brown Acid: The Tenth Trip will be available everywhere on LP, CD and download on April 20, 2020 via RidingEasy Records. Pre-orders are available for digital (with immediate download of the first single) at Bandcamp, physical pre-orders at RidingEasy Records.
Keep your mind open.
[Trip over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
Randy Holden, former guitarist and vocalist of metal pioneers Blue Cheer, debuted his first solo album, Population II (because it was just Holden and his drummer / keyboardist Chris Lockheed – and it’s also a term for a star cluster with heavy metals in it), in 1969 to stunned audiences. He recorded the proto-doom metal record with sixteen 200-watt Sunn amps in an opera house and troubles with releasing it bankrupted Holden. The album was bootlegged and copied many times, but RidingEasy Records has unleashed it in a new, high quality remaster that sounds like, as Holden once put it, “Godzilla walked into the room.”
The album opens with the cosmic sludge of “Guitar Song.” Holden moves back and forth between heavy stoner psych and gold old-fashioned metal shredding. Lockheed keeps the drums minimal, letting Holden’s guitar take center stage. Don’t ask me to figure out the meaning of “Fruit Icebergs,” just enjoy the epic riffs and iceberg-heavy drums as they come at you like an unstoppable force. The song (with lyrics about enjoying colors and heaven, among other things) is so massive that there’s a groovy break in it entitled “Between Time” in which Holden sings about loving his guitar before “Fruit Icebergs (Conclusion)” comes back for nearly another two minutes.
“Blue My Mind” could refer to Holden’s time in Blue Cheer or a woman who once gave him a wild ride. Either way, Lockheed thumps out the heartbeats of a titan while Holden’s guitar seems to be the marching music of an orc army. The album ends with the stunning ten-minute long “Keeper of the Flame.” Holden compares women to beautiful blue skies and rainbows, but don’t let the lyrics make you think the track is some sort of acoustic hippie love jam. It’s a chugging blues-influenced rocker that sounds like an out of control big rig truck at some points.
This could easily be one of the top reissues of 2020, and it’s a treasure if you’re a fan of cosmic / stoner / doom rock. Many thanks to RidingEasy Records for giving it a proper release.
Psychedelic jazz rockers Khruangbinand soul crooner Leon Bridges have come together to create a lovely four-song EP called Texas Sun. It’s a tribute to their home state and the reduction of the self that can happen if you spend a lot of time in the American southwest.
The title track opens the EP and begins with country acoustic guitar before Mark Speer‘s distinctive guitar sound comes in as a perfect match with Bridges’ vocals about driving along warm Texas highways at dusk. Speer puts down some romantic charm on “Midnight,” so much so that I wouldn’t be surprised if the track has scored him a hundred dates by now. Plus, Laura Lee‘s bass groove on it is as seductive as the devil.
Speaking of grooves, the one cooked up by Ms. Lee and drummer Donald Johnson on “C-Side” is so slick that you should probably put a “Caution: Slippery Floor” sign in your living room when you play it. The EP ends with “Conversion,” which brings in some gospel touches to Bridges’ vocals about finding freedom in love.
This EP is a steal at a mere four bucks and a nice way to relax for a little while as you deal with the last days of winter.
The title of Cosmonauts‘ 2013 album Persona Non Gratais Latin for “Person Not Appreciated.” In the world of politics it refers to someone prohibited from entering or staying in a country. Cosmonauts are known for wall-to-wall shoegaze riffs that highlight lyrics of alienation and dissatisfaction (from the world in general to something as simple as the effort it takes to go to a party), so it’s a perfect title for an album reflecting themes of not fitting in anywhere.
The album starts with “Shaker” (which does indeed have a shaker prominent in its sound), in which the band sings about uncertainty and being dumbfounded by one’s own willful ignorance (“I can’t believe that I can’t believe that I can’t believe.”). “Sweet Talk” brings in psychedelic reverb to the rolling riffs and a solid rock groove in a song about murder.
“Wear Your Hair Like a Weapon” was the first single from Persona Non Grata. It’s a crunchy, echoing blast that tells the tale of a dangerous woman. The drum beat on it is wicked and the way it drifts into a trippy section near the end is great. The guitars on “My Alba” have a Middle Eastern sound that I love and might make a lava lamp materialize in your office or bedroom while you’re not looking.
“What Me Worry” was the slogan of Mad Magazine‘s Alfred E. Newman whenever confronted with something out of his control – particularly in the world of politics. The song keeps this attitude throughout it, but focuses it toward a relationship coming to an end (and the killer bass line and shredding guitar solos only make it better).
“I don’t worry about the other guys, ’cause they know me well and I’m cold as ice,” they sing at the beginning of “Pure Posture” – a song about posturing masculinity to hide insecurity. The opening guitars on “I’m So Bored with You” sound like saw mills in full operation. “Vanilla” is the song that follows. “Vanilla” is another term for “boring” or “plain,” especially in the bedroom. The song bounces along like a groovy dream and is hardly boring. The wink of it following “I’m So Bored with You” is inescapable as it tells the tale of girls coming to Los Angeles (the band’s hometown) and them pleading for her to go home and avoid the pitfalls of the city and new relationships there
“Dirty Harry” moves along as fast as an action film and almost dares you to keep up with it. The closer, “Summertime Blue,” ends the album with southern California shine that turns into prismatic colors swirling around you, even as the band sings, “Nothing ever seems to turn out right, and I’m staring at the sky…”
It’s more disconnection. Cosmonauts knew in 2013 that we were all racing down a road of distancing ourselves from others because we were too afraid to embrace the present and the light within us and everyone else. We made ourselves into persona non grata, never at home anywhere because we were too busy being elsewhere with our phones and computers. They, in the meantime, were using rock to propel into orbit and encourage us to kick down the barriers we’d created.
Keep your mind open.
[I feel like persona non grata when you don’t subscribe.]
For a small place, Ft. Wayne, Indiana’s Brass Rail can pack in a lot of sound. This show of indie shoegaze and psychedelic acts was no exception.
First up was local band Leones, who played a good set of bass-forward shoegaze with thick Latinx psychedelic touches.
Leones
Second on the bill were Chicago’s Diagonal. I’ve been a fan of the band for a while now and was happy to finally catch them live. They played a sold psychedelia set of mostly new material from their upcoming album. One of the funniest parts of their set was how they kept referring to Gary Numan and playing parts of “Are Friends ‘Electric’?” after I played it on the Brass Rail’s juke box while they were doing their sound check.
Diagonal
Closing out the night was Ft. Wayne’s Necromoon, who are not a Dead Moon cover band. They play a mellower version of psychedelia than Dead Moon (and to be fair, few bands can match Dead Moon’s raw power) but still put out a lot of sound as they played songs about love and death and other subjects with a bright hope to them.
Necromoon
All in all, it was a fun night of live music in a small venue and a nice oasis in the dead of winter.
Detroit’s Shadow Show(Kate Derringer – bass, Ava East – guitar, and Kerrigan Pearce – drums) mix 1960’s garage rock with psychedelia and post / art-punk to create their debut album Silhouettes.
The album’s songs deal a lot with perception and illusion. The band’s and album’s names represent things that are real yet unreal. The first track on the record, “Charades,” begins with Pearce’s rapid-fire drumming and then dives into lyrics like “I could be you, you could be me. I could be anything I see.” The fiery “Contessa” is a tribute to a fiery ex-lover who deals in deception (and hot love that sometimes makes it worth it, to be honest). Derringer’s bass on “Green Stone” is as funky as Donald Dunn‘s on “Green Onions.”
An alchemist is someone who, among other things, seeks ways to transform one element to another. It’s another reference to altering perception and reality. The song “The Alchemist” has a cool underlying fuzz to it and lyrics about seeing “the center of your mind.” “Shadow Box” refers to something preserved for all to see, but yet still entrapped. The lyrics refer to a lover who couldn’t see and think outside the box and thus screwed up the good thing they had.
The deft “Trapeze Act” moves and glides like its namesake as a relationship is compared to death-defying stunts. East knows when to let her guitar take the lead and when to swing it back, and the reverbed vocals near the end are a great touch. Her guitar takes on a bit of bluesy swagger on “Glass Eye” (another title alluding to false images and altered perception). “Dreamhead” opens with dreamy acoustic guitar (and, I suspect, acoustic bass) for a groovy trip that discusses how some secrets are best left that way.
The opening riffs of “The Machine” remind me of old Love and Rockets tracks and even seem to have a bit of Middle Eastern flair in them. The words “There are times you keep me hanging on…” start the closer, “Silhouette.” It’s a song about finally seeing truth and reality in a relationship and realizing that going along the path that’s been set will only result in becoming a shadow of what you once were.
Silhouettes is a lovely, groovy, sexy, and somewhat dark record that I suspect has many layers that will reveal themselves over multiple listens. Don’t miss the Shadow Show.
Detroit-based girl-group Shadow Show has released the first music video from their upcoming debut album Silhouettes out February 14. The video, for the 60s psych-rock inspired track “Charades,” premiered today exclusively on the IGTV and Youtube channels of Southern California Roller-skate company Moxi, whose colorful Lolly roller skates are featured in the video.
Shot in the band’s hometown of Detroit, and directed by Bobby Harlow of The Go, the video for “Charades” was filmed entirely with a super-8 camera, a reflection of Shadow Shows retro style and sound. About filming in and around Detroit, band member Kerrigan Pearce (drums) said, “we wanted to include all of the things that make Detroit home to us. The live footage was shot at UFO Factory, owned by local musician Dion Fischer. The rest was filmed in various places, such as Belle Isle, Detroit African Bead Museum, and another favorite bar Outer Limits Lounge.”
Shadow Show is a new sound in light of a new era. A power trio of a mysterious hue, Shadow Show combines elements of 60s garage-psychedelia and 21st-century modern pop-art. The trio pushes the boundaries of what can be, yet remain deeply rooted in a raw, untouchable Detroit sound. Comprised of guitarist Ava East, bassist Kate Derringer and drummer Kerrigan Pearce, the group made their debut in August of 2018. The group plan to tour the US and Europe to support the release of Silhouettes.
Shadow Show’s debut album Silhouettes was mixed by bass player Kate Derringer and mastered by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs, Ghetto Recorders). The album will be available on February 14, 2020, via Stolen Body Records in the UK and Europe and Burger Records for the rest of the world.
Canadian garage rockers Dead Ghosts new music video for the track,“Drugstore Supplies” premiered today on the Shindig! magazine website. “Drugstore Supplies” is the first single release from the group’s highly anticipated upcoming album Automatic Changer, out April 24, 2020 via Burger Records and available to pre-order now.
Formed nearly a decade ago in Vancouver, Canada, Dead Ghosts grew out of founders Byran Nicol (vocals/guitar), Drew Wilky (guitar), and Mike Wilky’s (drums) desire to hang out, listen to records and play music. After the trio uploaded a few demos to Myspace, this was 2008, after all, the group were offered the opportunity to release a single via a small Iowa-based punk label. The single quickly led to the group’s first full-length self-titled album. By 2015 the group had joined the Burger Records roster and released two more albums, Can’t Get No and Love and Death and All the Rest.
With time the band added two members, bass player Mauricio “Moe” Chiumento and organist Craig Pettman. Playing a distinctive brand of swaggering, blues-infused lo-fi rock, the five-piece quickly won over transatlantic fans and scored fresh fodder for their lyrics with their punk rock antics.
Keep your mind open.
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This is the first of three (so far) live albums released this month from Australian juggernauts King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. All proceeds from the purchase of Live in Adelaide ’19(and the other live records) go toward wildlife rescue efforts during Australia’s horrible brush fires.
They come out roaring with “Planet B,” “Mars for the Rich,” and “Venusian 1” – any of which can flatten the uninitiated. “Cyboogie” is a switch to synth-blues and the grooves of “Real’s Not Real,” “Hot Water” (with guest flute from Adam Halliwell of Mildlife) and “Open Water.” “Sleep Drifter” is one of those songs that always delights when you hear it live.
“Billabong Valley” is always a crowd favorite because Ambrose Kenny-Smith takes on lead vocals in the song about an Outback outlaw. “The Bird Song” is another great live treat, as the song is so happy and groovy you can’t help but smile when you hear it. Things get weird on “Inner Cell,” a tune that had a menacing buzz throughout it, and “Loyalty,” which has plenty of odd time signatures to amaze you.
The groove on “Plastic Boogie” makes you think the song should’ve been named “Solid Rock Boogie.” The band then heads back into thrash metal with “Organ Farmer” (which is bonkers) and “Self-Immolate” before learning they still have thirty-five minutes of stage time left. What to do? How about playing a nearly half-hour version of “Head On / Pill” which is nothing short of outstanding?
This is a solid live album by one of the best live bands on the planet right now, and you can’t beat the price and you’re contributing to a great cause when you buy it. It’s a win for everyone.
