THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL – Butterfly Revolutions Vol.2 (Review by TimeLord Michalis)

THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL – Butterfly Revolutions Vol.2

2011 (CD self release)

I can’t think of any US band playing the psychedelic pop 60s with such freshness and inspiration as Gregory Curvey and his band does. Just before the year (2011) of the Butterfly expired, the band from Chicago kept its promise and released the follow-up to Butterfly Revolutions, the promising Vol.2. The recipe remains quite the same, but without becoming boring either for just a second from the 41:08 of the album. Gregory (mastermind of LOEH) has the ability/privilege to create beautiful pop-psych tunes through a procedure that he calls it ‘Popped Psychedelic Rock and Rollism’ (sic!). So, what we have here are 12 songs full of 60s influences (from the Beatles and the Byrds to Stones and Love) filtered with today’s sound. A mix of melodic, dreamy psychedelically catchy tunes that sometimes becoming a little more heavier or rock-oriented, all dressed with nice vocals, interesting effects under a great musicianship. Album starts in a real smooth way with the lyrical & dreamy “Metropolis” but continues in a more speedy way with the more 70s-less 60s heavy rocker “Complicated Mind”. “Caroline” and “North Hampton Woods” are sweet psych-ballads that bring to mind the mellower moments of their homies (and good friends too) Smashing Pumpkins. It’s because of songs like “The Ottoman Girl” that make them the ideal band to open with “SF Sorrow is Born” the Fruits de Mer Tribute Compilation “Sorrow’s Children”. One of the best moments of the album follows, the late-Beatlesque “Henrietta Lacks A Smile” with a great use of piano and strings. “Flowers” and “Whither Fare Thou Be” are the rockier tunes here with a touch of psych of course. “Revolutions” acts like a soft & slow organic interlude, while “Realization Loop” increases the volume to high levels. “We Are Not Self Control” has a dreamy relaxing melody and album closes with my personal highlight, the psychedelically flavoured “A Drop In The Ocean”. Butterfly has spoken. Follow her Oracle! TimeLord Michalis

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BABY WOODROSE – Third Eye Surgery (Review by TimeLord Michalis)

BABY WOODROSE – Third Eye Surgery

2012 (LP/CD Bad Afro Records)

Danish psychedelic garagers Baby Woodrose release their 6^th studio on April 16^th.  This time Lorenzo -mastermind and driving force behind the band- flirts more than any previous time with the heavy psych and the space prog scenery, dominated by a fierce desire to experiment! “Third Eye Surgery” has been recorded in the Black Tornado studio in Copenhagen, engineered by Anders ‘Evil Jebus’ Onsberg and produced by Lorenzo. The artwork is made by German artist Kiryk Drewinski (also did “Mindblowing Seeds and Disconnected Flowers”). Most of the tracks are more than 5 min long, so there’s no questioning why there are only 9 songs in the contents. Let’s start.  Album takes off with Down To The Bottom”, a typical garagy & fuzzy BW song. “Waiting For The War” has real strong lyrics and a futuristic minimal draggy and drummy atmosphere. Next one is a duet with Danish singer Emma Acs. “Dandelion” (released as 2^nd single) is a fine psych-pop 2:31 ballad with a west-coast late 60s Rickenbacker intro guitar sound and inspired dialogues like “If I was a Jesus Freak...” or “If I was a Woodrose Seed…”. “It’s Just A Ride” starts with a Seeds haunted Farfisa Up-In-Her-Room sound and becomes a druggy mind blowing psychedelic anthem! “Bullshit Detector” is coming straight from 1971’s In Search Of Space, a very psych & spaced-out track, with loads of heavy guitars and endless feedback! The sitar on “Nothing Is Real” (chosen as the 1^st single) gives an Eastern feeling while Psychedelia reaches High Levels. The High Psychedelic Levels continue with “Love Like A Flower” while sitar and fuzz are melting in a perfect way. “Third Eye Surgery” is a heavy space-rock dynamite with spacey lyrics too. Last but not least is “Honalee”, a beautiful trippy ambient psych ballad. Experiment dressed in success. Surgery succeeded, Third Eye functions (works) again, and Lorenzo must be proud for having released one of the best albums in 2012! Invest… TimeLord Michalis

Info & How to Buy: http://badafro.dk/ 

1st Single: "Nothing is Real"

 2nd Single: "Dandelion" 

 

THE TREMOLO BEER GUT – Under The Covers With… (Review by TimeLord Michalis)

THE TREMOLO BEER GUT – Under The Covers With…

 2011 (LP/CD Crunchy Frog Recordings)

 I believe no further recommendation is needed about these Danish dudes, that back in 1998 the query “Why aren’t there any surf bands in Denmark?” led them to form the band. Maybe you’ll think that the band’s name is a dangerous and quite explosive combination. You’re damn right and just wait till you listen to their high voltage old school surf & western style of music! 3 words ‘Tremolo’, ‘Beer’ and ‘Gut’ that are completely interwoven with 3 other words, ‘Instro’, ‘Garage’, ‘Surf’. So, as the title explain, it’s a compilation of instrumental covers and according to the band, recorded in a tremoloramic variety of low fidelity audio formats for our sonic education and listening pleasure. All 17 cover versions were recorded between 1998 and 2011, 12 of them have already been released in various forms while 5 of them are brand new and unreleased till now. I’m sure you’ll be much excited listening The Tremolo Beer Gut giving some of their instrumental magic and 50s jungle-60s Spaghetti atmosphere covering a huge gamma, from Kraftwerk (Das Modell), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (She Said), Depeche Mode (Useless) and Duane Eddy (Because They’re Young) to Beach Boys (Pet Sounds), Tom Waits (Midtown) and Sonic Youth (Death Valley ’69)! So, yes, who needs lyrics when music is served so tremolodically well! An instrumentally magical album… TimeLord Michalis

Band Info:www.thetremolobeergut.dk 

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THE GOOD HAND – The Good Hand (Review by TimeLord Michalis)

THE GOOD HAND – The Good Hand

2011 (CD Self Released / LP Minstrel)

 When I first got this CD in my hands and after listening to it repeatedly, I was so blown away that I searched for the 4 magic numbers on the booklet. But, there’s no date! So, is this a 70s lost band? A late 60’s maybe? The results of my research gave me this release date: 24 September 2011! I searched deeper. The Good Hand are a power rock Dutch trio consisted of Dennis Edelenbosch (bass), Arjan Hoekstra (guitar/vocals) and Ingmar Regeling (drums). They started the band in 2010 with a vision to redefine the good old days of 70s rock n’ roll. Debut album including 9 songs, spreading out in 45min and 43 sec, with a great variety of influences and an even greater use of ‘other’ instruments, like bouzouki, tuba, piano, melodica, hitorgan, philicorda. Album starts with “Between Four Walls”, a catchy mid-tempo rocker with strong vocals and a few heavy riffs here and there. “The Ostrich” has a powerful rhythm section with a distinctive bass sound and nice vocals. “Ghost” is a Zepellinsque heavy rocker while “Drifting And Dreaming” is a nostalgic rock ballad with really catchy lyrics. Next comes my personal favourite, the highlight, the song that easily could make it to a Top 10 chart. “Remain”, powerful drumming, hot guitar solos and real strong vocals. “Wait wait wait” is another heavy rocker with consecutive speed-ups and speed-downs, it could set the whole stadium on fire! “Solitude” is a melancholic sing-a-long ballad with a great use of many of the aforementioned ‘other’ instruments. Back to basis with the next one. “On The Lips” is a heavy acid prog rocker! Album closes with the 7min long “Lost In Light” an epic moody melancholy ballad full of wind instruments and harrowing vocals. The Good Hand is going to keep us pretty occupied the next years, so… invest! TimeLord Michalis

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Band Info: www.myspace.com/thegoodhand

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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Keep Off The Grass (review by TimeLord Michalis)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Keep Off The Grass

2011 (LP Fruits De Mer Records FdM21)

 If you aren’t familiar with the releases of Fruits de Mer Records, and if you’re somehow new to this complicated psychedelic fuzz n’ flower “genre” then this 19-track double LP compilation is the perfect way to start digging the glorious underground psych past of the late 60s early 70s era. On the other hand if you happen to be a truly aficionado of the psych-past, then these ‘reinterpretations’ will make the admiration to these new bands become much stronger. What we have here, is a bunch of “revivers” hailing from the UK, USA, France, Spain and Finland, paying the dues to “classic” 60s Psychedelia by the likes of well-known names (Pink Floyd, The Byrds, Sky Saxon, Jefferson Airplane, Beatles, Traffic, Chocolate Watch Band, Amboy Dukes, Tomorrow, Thunderclap Newman) and also less-known names (The Godz, Skip Spence, John’s Children, Aquarian Age, Nazz, Gemini, Good Feeling’s, Marc Brierley). It’s really hard to pick favorites, but versions like Sendelica’s “Journey To The Center Of The Mind” or Permanent Clear Light’s “Cymbaline” or Sky Picnic’s “Revolution” could re-start the “carrier” of each one of these songs into the nowadays “bored” charts! The year is 2012, and we are experiencing a lack of color. This compilation, these versions, are so god damn colorful! So old but so new! So psychedelically fresh! Just play the vinyl records and try to smell the incense coming straight from the record’s grooves… This is the Best Compilation album of 2011, An Absolutely Fully Mind-Blowing Expanding Psychedelic Experience! Besides, the color vinyl, besides the amazing gatefold sleeve, besides the 19 lil’ pieces of modern-re-arranged-psychedelia, there’s another great surprise. Album comes with a wonderful packet of joss-sticks! Fruits de Mer’s special Blend designed to enhance your listening pleasure! So, after all, it wasn’t so hard to keep off the grass, right Sam? TimeLord Michalis

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