Browsing Tag

Psych Rock

Take a soulfully psychedelic trip back to the 70s with DENIM DAN’s latest single, Guess I’ll Be Alright

Posted on 26 November 2023

“Guess I’ll Be Alright” from Denim Dan is a portal back to the smooth and rich tones of 70s rock and the vibrant psychedelic colours of 60s pop. While it marks a daring step in the band’s sound, it maintains the comforting and straightforward vocal style fans have come to adore from the outfit, which banded together in Boulder, Colorado, in 1996.

There’s an unmistakable soulfulness within the smoky layers of the music, with nods to Northern Soul and a subtle jazz influence that Denim Dan integrates seamlessly; the resulting sound is both nostalgic and fresh, an ambitious blend that pays homage to the past while forging its own path.

Following the international recognition with their sixth album, their seventh, Santa Maria’s Dome, from which Guess I’ll Be Alright is prised, resounds as a cultivated new beginning. A track which focuses on two friends trying to get the other over addiction could all too easily become a sombre sonic feat, but via the depth of the storytelling, the texturally upbeat musical backdrop and the signature vocals, which always portray melancholy as an option you need not take, Guess I’ll Be Alright is a realm of captivatingly uplifting intrigue.

Stream DENIM DAN’s latest album, Santa Maria’s Dome on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Buddy J Francis – Paralysed by Fear: Avant-Warped-Garde Psych Rock

Posted on 22 November 2023

Adelaide’s most endearingly audacious artist, Buddy J Francis suited himself in pink and his sound in psychonautic scuzz for his latest installation of Avant-Warped-Garde psych rock, Paralysed by Fear.

Each of the kaleidoscopically fuzzed instrumentals you hear on the release was individually tracked, giving the progressions plenty of mind-melting volition to captivate listeners within the lo-fi production, which laments the stagnancy that being afraid to take life-altering leaps breeds.

Even with so many experimental layers to his work between his instrumental experimentation, tongue-in-cheek guises and lyrical conceptuality, it is all too easy to get on the same level as the artist, who has transcended parody to deliver deliciously delirious subversion.

If Paralysed by Fear racks up 10k streams on Spotify in the first week, Buddy J Francis has vowed to get his nipple pierced, allowing his staunch fanbase to get their sonic and sadistic kicks in one swing.

Thankfully, there are fewer conditions attached to the imminence of his forthcoming LP, which Paralysed by Fear snuck out of prematurely; it is set to arrive in early 2024. Keep Francis on your radar for it, and undoubtedly other outlandish antics via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Speaker Cabinets unleashed euphonically augmented sci-fi escapism in their alt-indie sophomore LP, Tales from New Babel

Posted on 9 November 2023

For their sophomore LP, the Barcelona trio Speaker Cabinets spun ‘Tales from New Babel’ over an indie aesthetic that will ricochet you right back to the 00s alt-indie rock era with reminiscences of Kasabian, The Futureheads, and The Courteeners.

With an additional layer of Euro folk in the opening single, Ghost Town, there will be little deliberation as to whether Speaker Cabinets stamped down a distinctive sonic signature within the anthemics of their dance-worthy and constraintlessly daring concept EP. When you’re not ensnared in the hooks, you’ll be immersed in a sci-fi tale of retribution. The standout single, The Fall, is a straight-up space rock attest to the imaginative ingenuity of the powerhouse, who will seemingly go to any mind-altering length to deliver euphonically augmented escapism to their fans.

The band’s electro-heavy sophomore LP was released on October 20 along with a 6-episode podcast, which shares the story of their zany creation. Delve into the sonic sci-fi franchise, you’re unlikely to regret it.

Stream the Speaker Cabinets sophomore LP by heading to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Therum etherealised existentialism in his psychedelic darkwave score,  Mirror of Stars

Posted on 3 November 2023

Therum searched for identity in the cosmos in the standout single, Mirror of Stars, from his psychedelic darkwave album, Darklines Within Us; in the process, he added a new ethereal trajectory to the evolution of existentialism.

Through croons, which call out into the void of the alien soundscape that would be on a plateau beyond our perception if it weren’t for the huge bass adding weight to the release, are resolvingly efficacious in their interstellar mission of drawing you right into the melancholic soul of the art rock Tour De Force.

If you have ever struggled to make sense of the material and social reality we’re confined to and feel an even greater sense of alienation when you try and situate yourself in the context of the twisted tapestry of existence, Mirror of Stars is proliferated with apt consolation.

VNV Nation once declared that this world is just an illusion trying to change you. Therum’s more astute observation of disillusion, duality, and the mind being as unchartered as the galaxy feels far more nuanced.

Mirror of Stars will be released as part of Therum’s LP, Darklines Within Us, on November 3rd. Stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Space out with the rock-licked soul in Church Burglars’ kaleidoscope of psychedelic shoegaze, Fairy Tale Ending

Posted on 1 November 2023

If you take your rock classically cut with a twist of spacey psychedelia, explore the riff-carved cosmos in the standout single, Fairy Tale Ending, from Church Burglars’ debut album, Subconsciously Conscious.

With soaring riffs as strident as the licks orchestrated by Slash’s fair hands fused with the soul-lavished euphonic sensibilities of the Flaming Lips and Pink Floyd, Fairy Tale Ending is a prog-rock meditation on the highs and lows of diehard romanticism. The endlessly caressing vocal lines which have more in common with the Shoegaze pioneers than your average rock outfit draw you right into the gravity of the bitter-sweet release, which stands as a testament to the LA-based outfit’s determination to make real music for real people.

After the founding members met at Berklee College of Music in Boston shortly before the COVID pandemic, frontman Mike Foltz used the international live music breather to travel to LA to record the debut LP independently with the exception of a few lead guitar parts laid down by Alec Grugel. With the full line-up finalised, Church Burglars are making waves in the live circuit; grab any opportunity to see them in an intimate setting before you have to join legions of fans filing into arenas to witness the virtuosity of Foltz.

Fairy Tale Ending is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Visit a sonic Shangri La with the hypnotic hues in Copper Monks’ psych rock meditation, New Dawn

Posted on 25 October 2023

The Philadelphia psych-rock raconteurs Copper Monks gave their sophomore album, Potter’s Field, the college radio rock treatment while playing with a tonal palette which couldn’t be more kaleidoscopically transcendent.

Regardless of the swathes of psych-orientated outfits that have joined the fray since the 60s, with the standout single, New Dawn, Copper Monks delivered divinely distinctive catharsis, which doesn’t break the mould; it infuses the mould with spiritually scintillating soul. Each hypnotically hued guitar note feeding into the whirling dervish production efficaciously lifts you higher; when the slide guitars appear, you may as well be in Shangri La.

Honestly, if Copper Monks started a cult, I wouldn’t hesitate to join it; the peace that radiates through every expertly crafted progression is a sonic lesson in sanctity.

New Dawn was officially released on October 16; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Martin’s Revenge unleashed their gnarled psy-surf nightmare ‘Jack Let Go of the Door’

Posted on 23 October 2023

Martin’s Revenge made the Oh Sees sound like a 90s pop boyband with their latest darkly domineering single, Jack Let Go of the Door, which leads psych rock down a murky and nefarious corridor and surfs up to a gnarled nightmarescape that any fans of aural aggravation will want to repetitively revisit.

After The Eighties Matchbox B-Line disaster left a void in the industry with their departure, Martin’s Revenge has finally filled it with the rolling harbingering drum fills, electrified to the nth-degree guitars, stabbing basslines and drawling vox in their latest release, which revisits a Fear and Loathing-esque drug trip with striking visceralism.

Following the success of their EP, Harry’s Redroom, the Nottingham-based thee-piece is set to let the leash off of their latest EP, VR Porn, on November 6th. After reinforcing and honing their sound significantly between the two releases, Martin’s Revenge has established itself as more than the sum of its parts and the influence of Fugazi, Pixies, Idles and The Jesus Lizard.

Jack Let Go of the Door was officially released on October 23, Stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

djamesk13 has unveiled his retrospective krautrock lament, If We Had Been Forthcoming

Posted on 8 September 2023

Oasis told us not to Look Back in Anger in 1996; djamesk13 heeded that warning before getting to work on the production of his latest lo-fi alt-rock release, which carries the swagger of 90s Britpop into the sludged-up sanctuary of a release that emanates the artful style of an unreleased Pixies B-side.

If We Had Been Forthcoming is a retrospection-rich release that era spans and genre hops to lead the listener in a track that kicks with as much psychedelia as a Krautrock record and picks up just as much dust as desert rock. Between the laments of government-instilled delusion and bitter-sweet retrospections on how we’ve moved past the point of salvation as a society, there are some pitch-black dark lyrical themes, but the blows are nicely cushioned by the sonorously inviting distortion-drenched grooves.

If We Had Been Forthcoming was officially released on August 25; stream it on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fantastic Shams walk the ‘Crooked Line’ in their latest psychedelic proto-punk trip

Posted on 20 July 2023
Crooked Line by Fantastic Shams

Nostalgia may be a factor, but by no means is it a solitary driving force in the latest single, Crooked Line, from the Indianapolis-hailing prodigal sons of psychedelic proto-punk, Fantastic Shams.

The vintage-toned rhythms take the wheel in the feel-good hit, which allows you to revisit by-gone eras by a path never taken, while the kaleidoscopic colour that spills across the unpredictably wild progressions gives the soundscape the sticky-sweet propensity of an infectious earworm.

With catchy power-pop guitar hooks to draw you into the centre of the release, Fantastic Shams will have any fans of The Heartbreakers, The Stooges, and Velvet Underground eating out of the palms of their melodic hands.

Crooked Lines is taken from the forthcoming debut LP, Play Fantastic Games Win Fantastic Prizes, which will traverse themes of loss, love, and alienation through a social commentative lens.

Stream and Purchase Crooked Line via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Christo Mondavi reversed the laws of gravity with his psychedelically transcendent single, Daisy’s Gone Electric

Posted on 15 July 2023

Christo Mondavi firmly implanted psychedelic soul back into rock n roll with his latest single, Daisy’s Gone Electric; the hazily lofty single brings brand-new and literal meaning to the concept of dancing on the ceiling.

With the colourful melodies and Mondavi’s honeyed harmonies resonating as though they have been pulled into this atmosphere from a far higher plateau, Daisy’s Gone Electric isn’t a single you can slip into; it is a single that instantaneously reverses the laws of gravity while paying homage to the tones popularised by The Doors and The Beatles.

For an extra lick of authenticity, there are also touches of Bowie to the spacey Odyssey-esque progressions and Zappa to the zanily pure vocal and lyrical presence, which proves Mondavi has a soul of solid 60s psych pop gold. Perfection may often be seen as an unattainable ideal, but if anyone can claim to sonically come close, it is Christo Mondavi.

Daisy’s Gone Electric is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast