Browsing Tag

Psych Rock

Embrace your insanity with House of Weirdos’ timely Alt Rock hit ‘Climbing up the Walls’

Posted on 14 January 2021

On Christmas Eve, the adept alchemists of Alt Rock, House of Weirdos, delivered the ultimate antidote to the claustrophobic restlessness with their Psychedelically-layered Garage Rock track ‘Climbing Up the Walls’.

If you could imagine what Queens of the Stone Age would sound like if they incorporated more absurdity, chaos and psychotropic synths into their sound, you might be able to get an idea of what is on offer. Yet, Climbing up the Walls could easily enamour fans of everyone from the Misfits to The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.

Climbing up the Walls is façade-less, it’s relentlessly ingenious, it’s a visceral invitation to shake off pretence and relinquish shame for the fact that 2020 did a number on your mental health.

The playfully despondent track was made even sweeter with the pairing of the music video which will fill you with gratitude for House of Weirdos, just one of the irreplaceable artists who looked into the stir-crazed frustration and found inspiration so we could be hit with that invaluable feeling of connection and resonance.

You can check out the official video to Climbing up the Walls by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The John Michie Collective goes interstellar with their latest Alt Psych single ‘I’ll Write Your Constellation’

Posted on 28 December 2020
https://soundcloud.com/the-jmc-336238029/ill-write-your-constellation

The John Michie Collective has put a new twist on the already twisted Psych Rock genre with their latest single ‘I’ll Write Your Constellation’.

With classical strings cutting their way through the soundscape which contains transcendently experimental disco beats, angular guitar notes and the transfixing trickles of Neo-Classic keys, I’ll Write Your Constellation is as beguiling as Dark Psych gets.

Hints of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Phobophobes and The Velvet Underground may be detectable, but the multi-instrumentalist will undoubtedly be appreciated by anyone looking for enlivening ingenuity rather than assimilation from new artists.

There’ll be plenty more to come from the UK-based artist in 2021, making room for The John Michie Collective on your radar will undoubtedly pay off.

The John Michie Collective’s latest single is available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cave Suns – Sloop John Dee: Tribally Entrancing Dark Psych Rock

Posted on 28 December 2020

Even with the Avant-Garde obscurity in Cave Suns’ danceably electric single ‘Sloop John Dee’ from their New EP ‘Surt Skum’, the tribally rhythmic pull of the single allows your pulses to register the arrestive instrumental improvisation from the first progression.

Each new evolution in sound hits you like an emboldening, radiating incantation. Any fans of the Telescopes, Gnod, Kill Your Boyfriend, Goat, Grateful Dead, Femur and Television will undoubtedly want to delve into the transfixing release which takes you on a 6 minute journey through the Newcastle, UK-based artist’s ingenuity.

I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to hear a new luminary powerhouse offering galvanizing droning fuzzy dark psych-rock instead of appearing  as a carbon copy of the Beatles, The Doors or Pink Floyd. It’s probably for blackened hearts instead of the faint of heart.

You can check out Cave Suns’ single Sloop John Dee for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Captain Klas & Secret Circus give us a taste of freedom with their dark, menacing new single.

Posted on 25 December 2020

Deep, dark, menacing, with an infernal groove and sounding like the devil’s own rock band, Captain Klas and Secret Circus deliver a stunning, brilliant ode to – dare we say – psylocibin mushrooms and the power of hallucinogens in general with this absolute stormer of a lockdown track.

Opening with a threatening telephone call sample, ‘Once You Taste Freedom’ is part psychedelic electro-pop banger, part minacious alt-rock grind, all ominous synth bass, dotted delay, grindy guitar parts and a mildly distorted drum sound, all hemmed dangerously behind the oh-too-easily-breached cage bars of Captain Klas’ gruff, gravelly low-down vocals.

In keeping with the avant garde experimental nature of Secret Circus, there’s not just one video for ‘Once You Taste Freedom’, but six (count ‘em), all then composited together into one YouTube vid. This can’t be stressed enough, ‘Once You Taste Freedom’ truly is the real thing, an absolute gem of a track amongst the humdrum daily monotone of 2020 Lockdowns. Freedom’s one thing, for sure, but more pertinently – once you taste Secret Circus you definitely won’t go back.

See the video for ‘Once You Taste Freedom’ on YouTube, and follow Secret Circus on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Shared Image Redefines Who Does What on their superb new single.

Posted on 25 December 2020

Soft, jangly indie-pop is overdone at times these days, but ‘Redefined’, the first single from Shared Image’s new album ‘Who Decides Who Does What?’, is a cut above the usual ‘three lads with Telecasters from Crewe’, with a charm and style all of its own.

Shared Image – hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is a little more exotic than Crewe for sure – have pretty much answered their own album-title question here – this is the brainchild of Craig Delin, a 20 year veteran of bands now forging his own path by writing, creating, performing, and producing ‘Who Decides Who Does What?’ all by himself. So it seems he decides pretty much who does everything, and on the basis of ‘Redefined’, that’s working to extremely good effect.

Vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums and programming, and synth parts are all down to Delin, the whole track sitting together beautifully; there are elements of old school alt-rock indie goodness in the likes of Pavement, a little of Johnny Marr’s guitar work and certainly some Modest Mouse, coupled with a little of They Might Be Giants and maybe a touch of Crowded House in the mix too. That’s a pretty heady mix, and on ‘Redefined’ it works extremely well. Based on this, Delin deciding Who Does What is a pretty sensible plan.

‘Who Decides Who Does What?’ is out now across all major streaming platforms. You can hear ‘Redefined’, and the rest of the album, on Spotify, and follow Shared Image on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

The Tazers’ ‘Dream Machine’ – trippy, fuzzed up retro rock from South Africa

Posted on 21 December 2020

If Kasabian, the Strokes, Jet, or The Vines had come from South Africa and taken a little more acid, they’d probably have sounded pretty much like The Tazers on ‘Dream Machine’; a fuzzed-up, retro garage-rock psychedelia with a ton of drum fills, vocal harmonies, and mosh pit-fuel.

There’s some trippy, reverb-and-phaser-soaked slowed breakdown sections, some proper heavy riffing, a ton of paradiddles and flams, a little dash of the Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured’, and maybe some smatterings of proper 70’s Hawkwind or Deep Purple in the mix too. Nonchalant vocals, that repeating distorted guitar riff, and a wash of hi-hat tambourine across the track, giving ‘Dream Machine’ a sleazy, groovy old-school rock feel from the South African three-piece – make no mistake, this is proper rock’n’roll.

Check out ‘Dream Machine’ – and the accompanying video – via the Tazers’ Facebook page.

Review by Alex Holmes

‘Just Dance’ with Action Doll Joe

Posted on 20 December 2020

Hailing from ‘the dusty deserts of California’, Action Doll Joe – AKA Elijah Barrera – has just dropped his debut EP, ‘Hello!’, from which ‘Just Dance’ is taken. It’s a bouncy, frivolous, affair, all good fun and light-hearted, story-telling lyrics, with heavily fuzzed-up guitars and keyboards and punky, cracking drums. It’s a great playful-sounding record, and ‘Just Dance’ is a perfect leader from it, a great introduction to the four songs on offer – a storytelling piece, led by whispered and charmingly spoken vocals, a sing-along chorus, and a bass-line that simply won’t go away once the track’s ended.

It’s quirky, it’s silly, it’s reminiscent of early Green Day or Blink 182, and it’s simply jolly good fun.

Check out ‘Just Dance’ on Spotify. Follow Action Doll Joe on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Major Fantasy deliver a driving Vintage Rock hit with ‘Car Stereo’

Posted on 15 December 2020

‘Car Stereo’ is just one of the instant classic hits found on Major Fantasy’s self-titled debut album. The Vancouver based newcomers may have used the same formula as Rock icons such as Zeppelin and Whitesnake, but there’s no denying that the artist’s signature zeal was infused.

Major Fantasy formed in 2016, but they’re already amassing plenty of hype with their ability to cook up psych-tinged vintage Rock earworms. Setting aside the usual sleaze, aggrandised pretence and ego, Major Fantasy opted for a more self-assured soulful sound which you can’t help but get gripped by as you feel the soaring guitar hooks pulling you in deeper.

You can check out Car Stereo for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

West Wickhams – Who’s Out There: Mind-Altering Blood-Chilling Psychedelic Garage Rock

Posted on 27 November 2020

Scilly-hailing, Surrey UK-based Dark Punk duo West Wickhams’ has dropped their most transfixing track to date, ‘Who’s Out There’. From the first fiercely chilly note, the Surfy, Psychy Garage Rock hit will leave you psyched. (Pun kind of intended).

With elements of Post Punk found within the antagonistic vocals which practically effervesce with aggressive zeal, there are some reminiscences to the likes of Magazine, but you’ve never quite heard an infusion of Psych, Post Punk, and Garage Rock quite like this before.

If you got excited about Fontaines D.C, West Wickhams might just leave you with palpitations.

You can check out Who’s Out There which dropped on October 26th on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

8udDha bl0od serves up psychedelic dirt with their Alt Rock single ‘Nevermind’

Posted on 16 November 2020
https://music.apple.com/album/id/1539119804

Whereas 8udDah Bl0od’s previous couple of submissions have been instrumental compositions, ‘Nevermind’ is something different; a three-minute grooving, charming alt-rock number in the style of the Dandy Warhols, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, or Louis XIV.

It’s chilled and laid back, loose and psychedelic in feel with a sleazy, dirty guitar riff that’s almost reminiscent of Duke Erikson’s work with Garbage.

With a bohemian, filthy bassline and a properly salacious rock n’ roll backbeat, all topped by 8udDah bl0od’s trashy, disreputable sneered vocal, ‘Nevermind’ is a proper rock song, all attitude, snarl, and swagger. “I think it’s time I severed my ties” he sings on the chorus; on the basis of this track, he’d absolutely better stick around instead.

Hear ‘Nevermind’ on Apple Music.

Review by Alex Holmes