psychedelic – Page 6 – 7th Level Music

Big Grunt – In Session

Recorded on March 16, 1970 for the BBC’s legendary John Peel Show on Radio 1, Big Grunt (Dennis Cowan – bass, Roger Ruskin Spear – saxophone, Vivian Stanshall – vocals & euphonium, Ian Wallace – drums, Bubs White – guitar) emerged from the break-up of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Stanshall was a wild performance artist and psychedelic rocker, and Big Grunt combined excellent rock chops with wild costumes, robots, and enough trippy lyrics to make your head spin.

The Peel Session was only four tracks, but they’re all a neat slice of early 1970’s British psych-rock. “Blind Date” is a quirky, weird track full of Stanshall’s goofy humor about meeting a woman from a dating service. “11 Mustachioed Daughters” is probably the band’s biggest hit, and it’s easy to hear why with Wallace’s big drums, Cowan’s killer bass line, White’s near-stoner rock guitar, and Stanshall raving like a mad druid.

“The Strain” is about trying to poop as Stanshall sings from the perspective of whatever’s inside him and needs to get out and then about his grief as the phone rings and people knock on the door. White’s surf guitar is outstanding on the track. “Cyborg Signal” is a cool instrumental that shows the band weren’t just a one-trick pony that made songs about sitting on the crapper.

Mega Dodo Records has unearthed this rare recording, so don’t miss it if you’re a fan of early British psychedelia.

Keep your mind open.

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Live: Heaven’s Gateway Drugs, Pleasures, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, & Slug Love – August 14, 2016 – Ft. Wayne, IN

There was a nice psychedelic rock show at Fort Wayne’s Brass Rail last week. First up was Slug Love – a local act who played a good set of punk-psych. They have some stuff on Soundcloud right now and hope to have more material out soon. I look forward to it.

Detroit’s Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor were up next and they played only one previously released song (“Desert Brain”). Everything else was entirely new material, and all of it sounded great. The new material has a bit of a cosmic vibe. Guitarist and singer Sean Morrow mentioned Hawkwind to me when discussing the new stuff, so I’m hoping their upcoming album will be a spacey trip.

Pleasures came all the way from Florida to play their wild electro-psych full of distorted robot vocals, throbbing synths, and even a weird collection of film clips projected on their kick drum head (a genius idea, by the way).

Ft. Wayne’s Heaven’s Gateway Drugs closed the night with a lot of material I hadn’t heard before either. I’d learned earlier from SOYSV that this was a challenge they’d made to HGD to play new material (The two bands are all pals, by the way.). HGD played their usual sharp psych layered with almost meditative beats.

It was a fun show for a cheap price. Don’t miss the next one.

Keep your mind open.

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ORB – Birth

Not to be confused with techno / house giants The Orb, Australia’s ORB specialize in heavy stoner and psych-rock riffs. Their newest record, Birth, even starts with a song called “Iron Mountain,” so you know they mean business. You can’t start an album with a song titled “Iron Mountain” and not have ground-shaking rock to go with it.

“Iron Mountain” does indeed put down two-ton riffs that bring to mind Black Sabbath, MC5, and even early Pink Floyd. The groove of “Reflection” is excellent. The cowbell isn’t overdone, the skronky guitar is perfect, and the psych-bass is solid. The breakdown around the four-minute mark is jaw-dropping.

“Birth of a New Moon” is as heavy as the plunge into darkness the title implies. The song practically oozes incense smoke from your speakers and projects images of beautiful women in hooded robes dancing across hot coals onto the back of your eyelids. There’s some cool synth work in this that makes it even trippier. It’s also an instrumental, which I always appreciate.

“First and Last Men,” the shortest song on the record at just under five minutes, is a sharp fuzz-rocker with some of the heaviest bass on the album. I also like the near-funk drum groove and how the guitar almost switches to prog-rock riffs at times.

The album ends with “Electric Blanket,” which is over sixteen minutes of mind-warping psychedelia that winds from gut-rumbling guitars to early Gary Numan synths and back to more early Pink Floyd madness.

It’s one of the best psych / stoner rock records I’ve heard this year, and further proof that there must be something in the water in Australia that causes that continent to churn out so many good bands.

Keep your mind open.

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Mega Dodo Records releases rare Big Grunt John Peel Session tracks.

UK label Mega Dodo has released a rare recording of John Peel live session tracks from the obscure 1970’s psych band Big Grunt. Featuring members of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the World, and Sean Head Showband. These four tracks (one of which, “Cyborg Signal,” was never released until now) have rarely been heard since the early 1970’s, and Mega Dodo is releasing them for download and on limited edition 12″ yellow vinyl (only 500 copies!).

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The Luck of Eden Hall release new single inspired by Neil Gaiman.

Chicago psych-rockers The Luck of Eden Hall release their new single, “The End of the Lane” today. The single, a great trippy psych tune, is inspired by award-winning author Neil Gaiman’s book The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Gaiman even drew the cover art for the limited single.

The single can be purchase for download, and there are limited blue and black 7″ vinyl versions to be had as well. The B-side is the song “Blown to Kingdom Come” from their excellent album The Acceleration of Time.

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Wolfmother – Victorious

Australia’s Wolfmother return in 2016 Victorious. It’s a proper name for the album, because the band (Andrew Stockdale – guitar, bass, and vocals, Josh Freese and Joey Waronker – drums) can claim victory in the world of rock with it.

The opening riff of “The Love that You Give” instantly lets you know Wolfmother means business with this record. It’s fast and like something you’d crank as you race across the desert flats of Oz. The title track has Sabbath-like chugging as Stockdale’s vocals rise to give praise to a powerful woman snatching victory from outside forces trying to destroy her. The breakdown on this cut is outstanding and like something you’d hear blasting out of your brother’s customized van in 1978.

The heavy organ on “Baroness” is the magic touch on it, and the boot-stomping drums are an added bonus. “Pretty Peggy” is, believe it or not, a lovely ballad that has Stockdale singing to the back wall of the club. It has a bit of a psych-rock feel that I like.

“City Lights” gets back to the rock with Stockdale’s guitar practically singing backing vocals. It’s a great summer driving song. The drums and cymbals on “The Simple Life” are anything but simple, nor is Stockdale’s shredding. His riffs on it are some of my favorite of the record. “Best of a Bad Situation” has a nice pop ring to it, especially with the acoustic guitar and handclaps, and Stockdale’s vocals are light-hearted on it.

“Gypsy Caravan” is a classic cosmic rock track from the band. Stockdale’s reverbed vocals mix well with the groovy organ, fuzzed guitars, and Keith Moon-like drumming. The caravan seems to be travelling more around Saturn than through a dusty outback town. “Happy Face” has synths that remind me of ELO songs. Imagine ELO as a psych / stoner rock band and you’ll get the idea. The album ends with “Eye of the Beholder,” which is heavy enough to be about the multi-optic monster from Dungeons & Dragons. Stockdale brings some of his best “epic rock” vocals to the closer, the drums go for broke, and Stockdale’s guitar is more like a bullet train racing by you.

Victorious is a nice return for Wolfmother. They are currently on tour, and I recommend you see them. They pull no punches on stage and leave you humming their songs for days afterwards.

Keep your mind open.

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Pink Floyd to release 27-disc set of early and unreleased material.

Members of the psychedelic pop group Pink Floyd. From left to right, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Syd Barrett and Rick Wright. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)

Start your Christmas wish list now because Pink Floyd is set to release The Early Years 1965-1972 this November – a 27-disc box set covering not only albums like Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma, but also rare BBC sessions, unreleased studio sessions, remastered singles, unreleased video, and over seven hours alone of unreleased live audio tracks.

They also plan to release a two-disc (and far more affordable) set called The Early Years – Cre/ation. This stuff is gold if you’re a fan of Pink Floyd, classic rock, prog rock, or psychedelic rock.

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Elephant Stone offer new album and great goodies through PledgeMusic.

Montreal psych-rockers Elephant Stone are set to drop their latest album, Ship of Fools. You can order a digital download of it for only 8 bucks and a lot of other neat stuff through the PledgeMusic campaign for the record. That digital download, by the way, is an early release, so you’ll get it before most of the general public.

Other fun goodies include the album on CD, cassette, and vinyl, exclusive T-shirts, signed CDs and albums, Indian cooking and sitar lessons with Rishi Dhir, a signed vinyl test pressing of the album, and even the first sitar Dhir owned.

You also get to download four tracks from the album right away – “Manipulator,” “Where I’m Going,” “Andromeda,” and “The Devil’s Shelter” (all of which are excellent) – when you make any purchase.

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Live: Wolfmother and the Living Statues – July 10, 2016 – Chicago, IL

I’d wanted to see Wolfmother live for many years, but their U.S. dates were few and far between for me. A friend of mine had seen them on their first tour and described their live show as “orgasmic.”

Lo and behold, I was in Chicago on the same weekend they were playing at the Double Door. I managed to score a ticket and get there in time to meet my friend and catch the last half of the opening set from The Living Statues – a local pop-punk band with hints of Buzzcocks, Beatles, and the Killers. They had a lot of hometown fans there and put on a good show.

The place was packed by the time Wolfmother took the stage. We got a nice spot along the bar and near the stage right corner. Wolfmother came out gunning by playing “Dimension” right away. The crowd was singing and jamming within seconds. They followed up with “New Moon Rising” and then the first single off their new record, Victorious, “Gypsy Caravan.”

Wolfmother start strong with “Dimension.”

The crowd was bonkers by the time they reached “Apple Tree,” “California Queen,” “Victorious,” and “White Unicorn.”

They ended with the lead track off Victorious – “The Love that You Give” and then “Mind’s Eye,” both songs calling for compassion and looking past the illusions we create. The encore was “The Joker and the Thief,” which sent everyone over the edge into stoner / psych-rock madness.

Wolfmother flattening walls during “The Joker and the Thief.”

It was well worth the wait. My friend sent me a text message two days later that read, “I’m still high on Wolfmother.” I too had been humming the songs for two days. I’m sure the rest of the crowd was still buzzing, because Wolfmother shook the rafters.

Keep your mind open.

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The Blind Owls – All Day and Night

The Blind Owls (Joshua De Leon – guitar, Jesse De Los Santos – guitar, Carlos Garcia – bass, Dylan Romel – drums) return from the sunny beaches of Corpus Christi with their second full-length album All Day and Night just in time for the second half of summer. It’s full of catchy power pop hooks, rockabilly beats, and dashes of punk.

The title track opens the record, and it has everything the Blind Owls do so well – a slick bass line, good vocal harmonies, jangly rock guitars, and clockwork drumming. I like the way “Good Time” starts with a crunchy little guitar riff that becomes a fun rockabilly song with a rough edge. “Sweet Baby” reveals the band’s love of Jerry Lee Lewis, as evidenced by the pounded piano, bonkers guitar work, handclaps, and frantic vocals. It’s a barnburner.

“Nobody Else” has a great walking bass line from Garcia that you might miss if you’re too busy tapping your toes to Romel’s beats, so be sure to listen for it. “Home” is really a blues tune hidden in a bop song about a cheating girlfriend. “Better” has a bit of a Bob Dylan flair, if Bob Dylan were a bit more light-hearted when singing about love.

“Out of My Mind” drops the album into full-blown psychedelic material, which is a great switch from the power-pop. The Blind Owls switch gears on us just when we think we’ve figured out their game. “Fever” keeps up the psych-rock somewhat as it keeps a nice balance between psychedelia and 60’s garage rock. The track also makes me wonder if Dylan Romel is actually a robot, because his snare work seems to obey Asimov’s laws.

“Good to Me” is sharp bop-rock that will get you moving. “Searching For” is a fast, sweet love song, as is “If They Say.” “The Way” is another song about how great the singer’s girl is, and it has a nice early Kinks sound to it that hardly anyone is attempting anymore. “Mystery Man” is full of great rock swagger (and the organ in it is a nice touch). The closer is “Doctor,” which is a cool garage rock song that melds Buzzcocks with Black Angels.

It’s a fine record, especially if you like early 1960’s garage rock (and why wouldn’t you?). Get on the Blind Owls bandwagon. They’re going places, and you should join the trip before everyone else eventually will.

Keep your mind open.

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