Browsing Tag

Psych Rock

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

Buddy J Francis became the Eckhart Tolle of psych-rock with his latest single, Breathe

Posted on 30 June 2023

Don’t be fooled by the meditative posture on the cover art, the latest single, Breathe, from the alt-rock Avant-Gardist, Buddy J Francis, is a frenetic firestorm that could give the most overzealous tracks from Oh Sees a run for their galvanising money.

With angular guitar work sent into overdrive in the electronica-infused psych-rock hit, you won’t get much time to catch your breath as you roll with the melodically distorted punches. But if your playlists are crying out for a psychedelic shot of adrenaline, which mainlines into your veins through the unique interplay of trippy vocals, synths and guitars, you will get a potent fix via Breathe.

If you can tear your attention away from the experimentalism in the bedroom recording, you will note the context of the cover art in the lyricism as Buddy J Francis establishes himself as the Eckhart Tolle of psych-rock by teaching the importance of conscious breathing to overcome sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression.

Stream Breathe on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Strange Things became the heirs to sonic obscurity with their vintage psych rock tour de force, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness

Posted on 1 June 2023

With the same fuzzy psychedelic alchemy that would be tasted in the notes of a cocktail of The Zombies, Sonic Youth, and Wire, the standout single, Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness from Strange Things’ LP, In That Light of Fading Day will leave you intoxicated from the first time you savour the vintage tones.

The melting pot of psych, shoegaze and experimental noise, influenced by the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Telescopes and The Stooges, ensured that the LP from the Canadian connoisseurs of sonic obscurity was far from the ordinary lockdown-born albums that proliferated the airwaves when amateur hour seemed to stretch out in perpetuity.

Beneath the sludgy swathes of effects are some serious songwriting chops, written in the way the progressions immerse you even deeper in the vintage psych outpour of grief for the victims of the Uvalde County shooting.

Closing the single on headily distorted Eastern rhythms was the cherry on the sonic dissonance cake. Stream Witness to the Apathy Gospel / Approaching Mindfulness for yourselves via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Groovy Shirt Club chiselled a modern edge into rock n roll nostalgia with ‘Electric Flowers’

Posted on 25 April 2023

With Groovy Shirt Club on the scene, no one can claim ‘they don’t make ‘em like they used to’. Their latest single, Electric Flowers, chiselled a modern edge into a vintage sound, captured through a live euphonically melodic performance.

The vocals in Electric Flowers are enough to give you the Chris Isaak chills, and elements of the psych originators (the Beatles, obviously) can also be noted in the kaleidoscopic soul that spills across the entire sonic landscape that you will want to visit time and time again to affirm that rock n roll isn’t dead, it’s still alive and kicking on the underground. There’s also an undeniable touch of the college radio rock sound that R.E.M. defined with their creamy chords and ruggedly sugared harmonies.

Electric Flowers is available to Stream on Spotify.

Join the Groovy Shirt Club gang on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Party in the Pews is Returning to Christ Church in Macclesfield with an Unmissable Lineup – Low Ticket Warning

Posted on 22 April 2023
Party in the Pews

With five weeks remaining until Party in the Pews gives indie, pop, post-punk, psych, and rock fans to get pious about, the ticket supply for the hotly anticipated two-day festival in Christ Church in Macclesfield is close to running dry.

The inexplicably impressive line-up curated by Jo Lowes, who is quickly becoming Manchester’s contemporary answer to Tony Wilson, comprises two well-known headliners who need absolutely no introduction; Badly Drawn Boy and The Futureheads. As stoked as I am to hear their iconic alt-indie hits, it is the supporting artists that are making me shake off my usual levels of festival-going apathy.

The psychedelic visionaries Heavy Salad always warm the soul with their endearingly cultish stage presence, Pavement-ESQUE cruising riffs and harmonised to the nines vocal arrangements. If Stephen Street was keen to produce their upcoming sophomore LP, you should be stoked to witness their mind-altering aural conjurations live.

Sam Scherdel on the line-up affirms just how on the pulse of current breakthrough artists Jo Lowes is. It is only a matter of time before his enigmatic indie rock anthemics that amplify his ruggedly affectionate everyman blues establishes him as one of the top indie rock artists in the country.

After a series of sell-out shows and acclaim from just about everyone who matters in the industry, Dirty Laces will tarnish Christ Church with their grimy vintage rock rancour that proves the extent of their reverence to the proto-punk past and seriousness about sealing guitar music’s place in the future. They’ve got psych grooves and razor-sharp dark hooks by the execrably exhilarating smorgasbord.

You might want to dress up warm for the Manchester-based supergroup, Sea Fever. There will be an atmospheric chill in the air when they spill their scintillating darkwave synthetics into the venue. Members of the five-piece banding together after working with Johnny Marr, Section 25 and New Order is infinitely less exciting than the coldly transcendent tones they subject their live audience to through their pulsating beats and hypnotic strings.

The final few full weekend tickets are available via Skiddle.

Check out the Party in the Pews event page on Facebook.

Amelia Vandergast

Party in the Pews