Purple Overdose - Fire Dance
Unreleased Track
exclusively
on a 7" vinyl split Single
with
Issue #7
of
Psychedelic Fanzine
"TimeMazine"
Limited...Limited...Limited...
250 Black + 250 Blue
Listen! Watch! Grab!
TimeMazine
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Purple Overdose - Fire Dance (7"vinyl Single Dec 2012)
Purple Overdose - Fire Dance
Unreleased Track
exclusively
on a 7" vinyl split Single
with
Issue #7
of
Psychedelic Fanzine
"TimeMazine"
Limited...Limited...Limited...
250 Black + 250 Blue
Listen! Watch! Grab!
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
THE STRYPES - Young, Gifted And Blue E.P (2012)
THE STRYPES - Young, Gifted And Blue E.P
2012 (7” EP Heavy Soul)
I’m sick
and tired all these years of Boy-Bands, of Girl-Bands, playing garbage music…
Here’s 4 talented promising young men (really young men, just 14 years old)
that are going to set the whole world on fire! Everything started back in
November 2010 with an appearance at the ‘Late Late Toy Show’. A digital single
followed (their interpretation of the Beatles “You can Do That”, released
July 22nd 2011). Hailing from Cavan, Ireland, The Strypes are the most fresh and
exciting ‘new thing’ to emerge from Europe!
The title of their debut EP release, describes it all. Young, Gifted and Blue!
Add a really mature coolness, a hipster Mod attitude, an uncontrolled charm, a
60s R n’ B feeling, a true devotion to the Blues and you’ll get the picture!
So, it’s Ross Farrelly on Lead Vocals/Percussion/Harmonica, Josh McClorey on
Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboards, Pete O'Hanlon on Bass/Harmonica/Backing
Vocals and Evan Walsh on Drums. Catch their names, the whole global musical
community will talk about them in the direct future. And the future is all
theirs! A Brilliant EP by Heavy Soul Records, a tribute to W. Dixon “You Can’t
Judge A Book”, J. Moore “I Got Love If You Want It”, Billy Boy Arnold “I Wish
You Would” and the holy triad Holland, Dozier, Holland “Leavin’ Here”. Listen
to these tracks, and instantly, pictures of a young Van Morrison, or a young
Eric Burdon, or a young Eric Clapton, unwillingly come to mind! What a
wonderful feeling I get by listening over and over again. I really don’t care
if it’ll take them a long time to introduce their own music, their own
compositions. I just don’t care. I enjoy listening to their covers. After all,
they won my anticipation for original music and they deserve it! Period! Meet
The Strypes! They Got Their Mojos Working! And they do it Bloody Well! A
wonderful appetizer! TimeLord Michalis
Monday, December 17, 2012
DRUG FREE YOUTH – The Avocado Index (2012)
DRUG FREE YOUTH – The Avocado Index
2012 (LP/CD Nowhere Street Music)
This
is the follow-up to 2006’s debut album “A Message From Now”. Hard to believe
that this is a one-man-band and the visions that this Psyche-Head (George F.)
is generously offering to us (listeners). So, George went to the nearby forest
picked up a couple of native mushroom varieties, then he closeted himself in
his room with a bunch of analog (mostly) gear and wrote, played, recorded and
mixed 19 tracks (varied from 0:40sec to 3:36min). He named the whole venture
“The Avocado Index” and released it as an LP/CD/Free mp3 Download
through his close friend George Markou's Nowhere Street Music label. The LP is
full of inspired 60s music with an attitude to experiment in various and scarce
musical forms – from neo-psych and modern-punk-pop to sci-fi music and avant
garde! Album starts with the instrumental “Pulsating Yellow Heart”, John Cage’s
mind meets Mimis Plessas melodies while Rick Wakeman shares keyboards
with Joseph
Byrd!
“Faces From The Past” is a happy Ska/Rocksteady computerized sunny effected
anthem inspired by the “Golden” age of the new –wave 80s (I swear I heard Ian’s
voice calling “…This is the way Step Inside…”) The experimental and full of
weird sounds “Miniature Ninjas” follows. “The Mysteries Of Life: Ms Abigeil Doe”
is an aggressive acid garage punky 2min dynamite. “Bonus Beats” with its spacey
effects and the sharp fuzzy guitars comes next while “The Broken Circle” is
another keyboard dominated experimental instrumental with lots of effects. Back
to normal with “Patterns”, a song that moves into a psychedelic vein with
vocals coming straight from the bottom of a well. The experimental “Thieves Of
Forgotten Dreams” with its whispered vocals moves in a sci-fi spacey vein. “Σύννεφα Από Καραμέλα” (Caramel Clouds) is a mushroom inspired psyched
garage song with Greek lyrics… Picture yourself in a boat on a
river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies… Side A closes with
“Doppelganger Love” – a garage punker with a sick-poppy atmosphere (cool!!!)
Side B opens with the garagy “Time”, a guitar&farfisa driven song with a
west-coast fuzzy feeling. “A Cat” is another instro moving into a psych-garage
style while “Sans Marker” welcomes sunshine west-coast psychedelia with lots of
experimentation going all the way, this one could easily fit in “The Beat Of
The Earth” album. “Veronique” is a pop-psych song reminding Neighb'rhood
Childr'n or Music Emporium. More experimentation on “A Voice Repeats”. “Εργοτάξιο” (Construction Site) has Greek lyrics (worth
mentioning that the last verse is written by Yorgos Romanos who released the
ultra rare psychedelic masterpiece back in 1970 “Two Small Blue Horses”) and is
a cocktail-sound of guitars, keyboards, spacey effects, really an explosive
one. “Surveillance Alphabet” with its sci-fi atmosphere and the synth effects
makes me sure that somewhere there in George’s room was the ghost of Iannis
Xenakis (but I still wonder what the seagulls are doing there). “Tomorrow” is a
fast organ dominated new-ager with a psych feel. Album closes with the
nostalgic neo-psych futuristic “The Future”. The Avocado Index is a record
destined to be “Cult” from its very first day of release. TimeLord Michalis
MR. PETER HAYDEN – Born A Trip (2012)
MR. PETER HAYDEN – Born A Trip
2012 (CD Kauriala Society)
Though
they’re 10 years old, this is the 2nd full length album
release, by this Finnish psych quintet. We were somehow accustomed with Mr
Peter Hayden’s long trippy improvisational acidly drenched jams, but this one
really overtakes our expectations. Born A Trip is a travelogue ambient astral
musical adventure and consists of just one song, the self-titled 68:20min, Born
A Trip! It starts slowly, torturous with a guitar oriented sound and then it
transforms into a space capsule full of distorted and effected guitars. After a
10min period, the sonic storm is calming down, and from now on the ‘discovery
mission’ takes over. 23rd minute… Images of undiscovered
landscapes… 31st minute… Nowhere to Land… The trip continues…
Space is Deep… So Deep… Approaching new territories… 40 minute… There’s a new
Light, then darkness again through lots of progressive elements and heavy
psychness… 48 minute… A small Ray of Light. Is it a self-luminous planet?...
Peaceful… Serene… 55 minute… Darkness, Darkness… Inside a Black Hole… Endless
Tunnel… Where is that noise coming from? Ah! Is it Earth? Yes! It is! But
How?... End of transmission. Wish I had pushed the ‘repeat’ button on the CD
player… Well, it’s worth tripping with Mr. Peter Hayden’s time-vehicle! Take this
Trip! TimeLord Michalis
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
PERMANENT CLEAR LIGHT – Higher Than The Sun/Afterwards (2012)
PERMANENT CLEAR LIGHT –
Higher Than The
Sun/Afterwards
2012 (7” FdM Records)
I
believe that it is the luck of sun in the Scandinavia area (Finland) that forces/inspires
people/artists to create such sunny, joyful euphoric melodic tunes! Permanent
Clear Light introduced themselves 2 years ago taking part on FdM’s compilation
“A Phase We’re Going Through” with Who’s “In The City”. Having occupied another
4 FdM comp releases, now the time has come for a 7” single of their own! On Side
A, there’s their own composition “Higher Than The Sun”, so sunny but so full of
melancholy simultaneously. Question: What the hell Bowie’s Space Oddity is doing inside Floyd’s
Dark Side? Answer: It’s just Permanent Clear Light’s mystic formula to drag us
Higher Than the Sun, maintaining our Molecular Structure in its entirety!
On Side B, they cover Peter Hammil’s “Afterwards” (originally on Van de Graaf’s
Grey Aerosol Machine), a cool version, thrifty but lightly space effected in
the middle with beautiful vocal harmonies, makes me think that this one could
have been recorded back in the early 70s. Versions like this, explains why the
band happen to be one of FdM’s favorites! After all, don’t forget that – as
someone used to say back in the 80s – It’s Always The Sun… and nothing but the
Sun… TimeLord
Michalis
Monday, December 10, 2012
IN THE LABYRINTH – One Trail To Heaven (2011)
IN THE LABYRINTH – One Trail To Heaven
2011 (CD Trail Records)
www.inthelabyrinth.com
www.inthelabyrinth.com
For sure this is one splendid appetizer. It will definitely make you wanna search, find and buy all the other “works” of this Swedish progressive psychedelic band. It’s like a ‘Best Of’ including songs from their 3 CDs so far (1994’s The Garden Of Mysteries, 1999’s Walking On Clouds and 2002’s Dryad) plus some unreleased original material including a Moody Blues cover (“Cities”). One hour of fine-old-sweet-progressive-folk-eastern influenced-psychedelic instrumental (mostly) music. Mastermind of the band is multi-instrumentalist Peter Lindhal who plays a serious amount of instruments in order to achieve his purposes. Mellotron, viola,guitar, bass, saz, zither, mandolin, baroque travers-flute, quena, synths, piano, melodeon, darbouka, daf to name a few… It’s hard to pick favorites. He deals with so many branches of well-played progressive music. Like a huge Labyrinth with numerous corridors. Each corridor, a different musical inspiration, a separate musical approach. The whole album is overwhelmed by a continuous flow of musical sounds and timeless tales that were put in the right order by the right person. Peter, a modern Thiseas, opened a trail to Heaven, in which, All of Us are Free to follow! TimeLord Michalis
BEYOND-O-MATIC – Time To Get Up (2010)
BEYOND-O-MATIC – Time To Get Up
2010 (CD Trail Records)
I’d like to
thank Alexander from Trail Records who kindly sent me a few of their releases
for reviewing. Alexander put me on an underground ‘trip’ and I suggest all of
you follow the steps I made. Well, Beyond-o-matic was a band (hailed from San Francisco) who
released 3 albums back in the 90s. They reformed in 2003 and recorded an album
that was never released till 2010. “Time To Get Up” consists of 7 tracks moving
into 70s psychedelic space rock using sounds from instruments like Croos5
bariguitar, long stiff finger of doom, synthesizers, table, accordion, flute
creating a unique ambient idiosyncratic atmosphere. “Plague Of
Bliss” (6:12min) opens the album, a slow spacey number combining heavenly
inspirational vocals and harmonies. “Hawaiian Lady” (the longest track,
14:18min) is a magical epic anthem with wah-wah guitars, spacey synth effects becoming
really progressively trippy at times with a groovy funky feeling. “Starbong”
welcomes Early 70s Floyd, mid 70s Gong and Hawkwind, a psychedelic cosmic tune
infused with various effects and a flute coming straight from the Canterbury scene. “Trying
To Find You” (12:09min) is a far-out space-rocker, a mind-expanding psychedelic
space trip. The self titled “Time To Get Up” (11:09min) follows. A
floating-around-the-stars kosmique piece of stardust! “The Liquid Midnight”
(1:16min) acts like a vocal interlude (an intermission - I don’t really know
from what) and album closes with “Child Of Fog”, a space-pop number
reminding of late 70s Floyd. A Space Journey worth tripping to! TimeLord Michalis
THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL
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
THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL –
Butterfly Eat Gumdrops
2012 (CD Self Released)
www.theluckofedenhall.com
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