King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced Chunky Shrapnel; a feature length music documentary film and accompanying Double LP to be released in April 2020.
The album will be released digitally on April 24th with vinyl pre-orders available on April 10th. The film will premiere online April 17th.
“Chunky Shrapnel was made for the cinema but as both concerts and films are currently outlawed, it feels poetic to release a concert-film digitally right now. Get the loudest speakers you’ve got, turn ‘em up and watch Chunky on the biggest telly you can find. Get heaps of snacks and convert your lounge room into a cinema.” Stu Mackenzie
A musical road movie dipped in turpentine, Chunky Shrapnel is a point of view/on stage experience from the perspective of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Once a song begins, just like the band, you’re stuck in the adrenaline fueled quick sand that there is no escape from. The film’s contention is clear from the outset, it’s going to be a “journey” not a “lecture”, an incurved experience rather than a linear one.
The band, nor the film-makers were interested in making a self congratulatory “behind the scenes expose” film. It was a direct decision to keep the inner workings of the band’s personality at arms length, it is the music they were interested in exploring. The approach was taken that the film’s protagonist should be the “on stage” performances, that was the focus. With this, they abandoned multiple cameras and cross cutting during performances, turning the camera into a vehicle for the audience to experience the show through, rather than placing them in a crowd or side of stage. At 96 minutes, Chunky Shrapnel more than earns its length. At times gently holding your hand and at other times smashing a bottle over your head and dumping your body in a heaving crowd. There is an inevitability to the film, a driving, ever accelerating spiral that climaxes in a 15 minute medley that spans four countries.
Chunky Shrapnel is directed by John Angus Stewart and scored by Stu Mackenzie.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Flightless Records for this press release.]
Back in 2009, psych / kraut-rock trio Earthless (Mike Eginton – bass, Isaiah Mitchell – guitar, and Mario Rubalcaba – drums) played a music festival in Guadalest, Spain. Thankfully for all of us, Live in Guadalest was recorded and released in 2013 as a special item at the band’s merch table during an Australian tour and also made available as a digital download for those of us who missed out on the few physical copies produced.
The set is “only” two songs, but the shortest one is twenty-two minutes and fourteen seconds long. That’s the second track, “Godspeed.” The first, “From the Ages,” is over half an hour and tears out of the gate like an Arabian race horse with black coffee in its veins. It turns into a meditative jam around the eleven-minute mark. The song is cruising along a dark highway by minute-fifteen, and your mind is blown eight minutes later when they break the song down yet again.
“Godspeed” melts whatever traces of your brain are left from the previous track. It starts mellow enough, but soon Rubalcaba is hammering away at his kit with renewed vigor and Eginton and Mitchell put the pedal to the metal. Eginton’s bass is particularly funky on this version of “Godspeed,” and Mitchell seems to be playing two guitars at once. The breakdown at the seventeen-minute mark is outstanding and the fade out leaves you breathless.
This is a good place to start if you’ve never seen Earthless live. It will make you want to catch them as soon as possible, as you should. You won’t regret it.
It’s a bit difficult to describe the music of Radar Men from the Moon (who are actually from the Netherlands). Is it psychedelia? Prog-rock? Synthwave? Shoegaze? All of that? None of it? I’m not sure. They were all playing synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines when I saw them at Levitation Francea couple years ago, and Subversive I is heavy on electronica and synths, whereas other albums are more guitar-based. I do know, however, that everything I’ve heard from them is good.
Subversive Iis the part of a triptych of albums released in consecutive years starting in 2015. Subversive I is only four instrumental tracks, but the shortest one is six-and-a-half minutes long.
That one is the first track, “Deconstruction,” which starts off with fuzzy synth bass and sharp drum beats before robot pulse guitars come in to get you moving. It’s an industrial dance track in many ways, again making RMFTM difficult to categorize.
“Habitual” takes on a darkwave tone with guitars that sound like they were recorded in a dark tomb and bass and synths that sounds like some…thing pounding and clawing it’s way out of that tomb.
“Neon” is the longest track on the album at eleven minutes and sixteen seconds. It starts quiet and brooding, like a slow, building rain hitting a tin roof. It turns into a theme for a cool futuristic mystery-thriller movie you think you’ve seen but never have.
The closer, “Hacienda,” is the most “in your face” song on the record with its buzz-saw guitars and “Peter Gunn”-like bass that gets under your skin.
Subversive I, like a lot of RMFTM’s work, is one of those albums that changes the feel of the room when you play it. It’s one of those albums that makes people ask, “What is this?” Sometimes they ask it out of intrigue, other times out of confusion, and other times out of apprehension. If that doesn’t make you want to hear it, I don’t know what will.
Back in 2006, Detroit psych-rockers Sisters of Your Sunshine Vaporwere known as the garage rock band SikSik Nation. They record a four-song EP that never saw the light of day…until now.
The EP opens with power drumming and chords on “Power Couples,” with vocalist Sean Morrow sounding a bit like The Cult‘s Ian Astbury. Drummer Rick Sawoscinski beats his kit like he expects the rented studio time to end at any second. Morrow’s guitar and Eric Oppitz‘s bass on “New Face” has some of the psychedelic touches (space rock guitar solo in Morrow’s case) and heady fuzz (Oppitz’s bass line) the band would later refine when they became SOYSV. The honky tonk piano in it is another great touch.
“You’re rising up now, but she’s always got you down,” they sing on “Murder on My Lips,” which ups the fuzz and power even further from the last track. This must flatten walls when its played live, as must “Sold Gold Souls.” The final track screeches like a Detroit auto plant’s assembly line at full production during an earthquake. The whole track rumbles with menace and chants of “Sell my soul, it’s solid gold.” before it melts into a weird warp that wouldn’t be out of place on a doom album.
It’s great to hear SOYSV so raw, angry, and hungry. SikSik Nation is the map to the psychedelic trips they would later take. It’s must-hear stuff for fans of the band, or anyone else.
I first heard most of Elephant Stone‘s new album, Hollow, at the 2019 Levitation Music Festivalin Austin, Texas when they played a good chunk of it on the inside stage at Barracuda. I’d heard a couple of tracks ahead of the gig and was intrigued by the heavier-than-normal sound. That sound was even heavier live, and the theme of the album – a story set in an apocalyptic future in which people are trying to flee a dying Earth to another planet – takes on even more weight when you hear it live and / or in its entirety.
The album opens with “Hollow World” – a track brimming with Elephant Stone‘s trademark psychedelia and lyrics about having to finally say goodbye to Mother Earth because the human race has succeeded in destroying it. “Darker Time, Darker Space” is a quick interlude as doomed Earthlings fly into unknown space in hopes of finding something better.
“The Court and Jury” decide who leaves, however. Lead singer / bassist / sitarist Rishi Dhir‘s vocals sound like they’re coming through a faulty intercom system on an old spacecraft and his sitar sounds like circuits working overtime as the ship lands on the “Land of Dead.” This was the first track I heard off Hollow. The bass and drums are heavy and the guitar shreds for just under two minutes of raw power.
“Keep the Light Alive” brings in a children’s choir to represent the new generation of Earthlings alone on what could be a hostile new world. “This place is far too cold,” Dhir sings on “We Cry for Harmonia.” The Earthlings are quickly realizing the new planet might end up as wasted as the old one (“How can you fill this space with air you cannot breathe?”). Gabirel Lambert‘s guitar solo on this track is top-notch, by the way, and the backing synths and hand percussion only elevate the song higher.
“Harmonia” is dreamy psych accented by Dhir’s sitar and more of that groovy hand percussion. Dhir’s bass takes center stage on “I See You” (and how about that wicked high-hat work by Mile Dupire, too?) – a groovy track with some light pop touches that could be a radio friendly smash if enough DJs give it a chance.
“The Clampdown” isn’t a cover of The Clashsong (although that would be great), but rather a song about the Powers That Be coming after those of Earth living in underground communities. The dark synths underline the menace of the lyrics. The synths are bright on “Fox on the Run” – the title of which seems to reflect the hunted Earthlings making another run for it. “House on Fire” has the Earth, or is it the new world, burning while people try to ignore it. The guitar on it is like a distant warning klaxon, but the synths are still bright – giving us some hope while things crumble around us. The album closes with more hope on “A Way Home.” The Earth has been all but abandoned, but the ones who remain realize they can repair it and build something new while old karma continues to build new paybacks on the new world inhabited by the privileged few.
It’s a wild record, and I don’t think anyone expected a concept album with doom overtones from Elephant Stone, but it’s great that they’re pushing the envelope and exploring new avenues.
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.]
