Best Releases of 2012 (Part I)

"Best Sounds of 2012"

 by TimeLord Michalis

 part I

ALBUMS:

14. AYAHUASCA DARK TRIP - Mind Journey

 (Cosmic Eye)
13. MR. PETER HAYDEN - Born A Trip

(Kauriala Society)
12. THE BEVIS FROND - The Leaving Of London

(Woronzow)
11. ENTRANCE BAND - Fine Flow

(Spiritual Pajamas)
10. BARRETT ELMORE - Woodlands

(Trail Records)
9. TRAVELING CIRCLE - Escape Fron Black Cloud

(Nasoni Records)
8. SKY PICNIC - Paint Me A Dream

(Nasoni Records)
7. EARTHLING SOCIETY - Zodiak

(Nasoni Records)
6. LUCK OF EDEN HALL - Alligators Eat Gumdrops

(Self Released)
5. DEAN ALLEN FOYD - The Sounds Can Be So Cruel

(Crusher Records)
4. BABY WOODROSE - Third Eye Surgery

(Bad Afro Records)
3. SENDELICA - The Satori In Elegance Of The Majestic Stonegazer (FRG Records)
2. SULA BASSANA - Dark Days

(Sulatron Records)
1. VIBRAVOID - Gravity Zero

(Sulatron Records)

BARRETT ELMORE – Woodlands (2012)

BARRETT ELMORE – Woodlands
2012 (CD Trail Records) 
www.soundcloud.com/barrettelmore

Barrett Elmore is not a person. Barrett Elmore is a 4piece creative unit hailing from somewhere in Sweden, formed in 2008. It’s Claes Mikael Svensson on drums, percussion and backing vocals, Max Karlstrom on bass, vocals, organ, harmonica, syntheziser, Mikaela Eriksson on vocals, William Friman on guitar, piano, organ and THEY Love to Play Psychedelic music, to “clear your mind” as they state. This is their debut album, an album dipped deeply inside the early progressive 70s, the psychedelic side of Pink Floyd, the experimental side of Morrison’s Doors, the Swedish folklore. It’s quite impressive how much creativity and musicianship the Swedish Woods are hiding! Prog Acid Folk in a natural mystical psychedelic vein! Melancholic but Optimistic. Dark but Lightly Clear. Old-fashioned but Newly Fresh. Wonderful! Album consists of 10 songs in a flowing continuous order plus an eleventh, a 12min bonus track. It takes off with “Entrance” (1:55min), which despite its length is an ideal instrumental beginning that captivates all the woods’ sounds under a haunted organ sound and a distinctive drumming. “The Creek” (3:16min) is a folkie acoustic dreamy ballad with female fairy vocals. “I See A Man” (1:30min) gets us deeper into the forest with a steady – but creepy - rhythm piano sound. Without even noticing we've moved to “The Nixie” (4:01min), a mystical journey into consciousness with male whispering vocals starting eerie and transitioning into a trippy heavy guitar sounding masterpiece. “Drowning” (3:58min) is an acid guitar driven track with much distorted ala Jim Morrison vocals. “Storm” (4:24min) hits you like a summer rain inside a forest. It’s an instrumental prog tune starting with backward sounds adding tremolo fuzzy guitars and a beautiful organ sound. “The Brook Horse” is another acid-psych tune with really incomprehensible male vocals. “Lost In A Swamp” (2:25min) is an imaginary little piece of music with Calliope sounding keyboards that gives you the feeling of another age, maybe Renaissance. “Dusk (Dance Of The Pixies)” (4:21min) is another cool gentle ballad, a little more hallucinogenic this time. Oh those Mushrooms! They’re hiding deep in the woods. But once you find them… “Woodlands” (3:29min) has wondrous female harmony vocals with a real moody psychedelic guitar passage that sets you right there, in the middle of the forest, in a glade that no one else can see, except the listener/traveller. Album closes with the bonus track “Psilocybe Semilanceata” (12:06min). A mystical - becoming either hauntingly scary either tranquil at times - epos! Just imagine the Masters, playing the entire Ummagumma Live at the Pompeii! Wood-e-licious! TimeLord Michalis

grab it here: Trail Records