8udDha bL0od’s new release ‘Silver’ packs some serious punch. It’s a short track, coming in at just 2.05, but it is a pleasurable, harmonious petit four that you just can’t get enough of. Like early Brian Wilson, 8udDha bL0od is adventurous and groundbreaking in their approach to harmony and electronic manipulation. Their expert musicality cannot be denied and they do what all great bands do – they confidently understate their genius by laying back on the track and timing their crescendos perfectly, coaxing the listener, lulling them like psychedelic pied pipers, with hypnotic flowing guitar licks and mellow, close harmonies.
William Orpen is the mastermind behind 8udDha bL0od and he shrouded in mystery. I like it!
The music is everything and ego has been minimised to an admirable degree. We get to focus on the story, the motives, and the way that it is all pulled together, and its done with a skill that uses the best of the past to inspire the generations to come.
Have a listen to this cool track by 8udDha bL0od called ‘Silver’ on Soundcloud. You’re gonna love where they take you and you may never want to back!
This song is a party, psychedelic trip into your senses, filled with various instruments and low-fi frequencies. Nothing sounds organised, like chaos has been planted on shifting sands, with an efficiency that’s deliberately broken by peculiarities.
Imagine thinking you’ve got it, nothing can surprise you, and then they find a way! At one point, there’s a loud guitar, amped up so you’re called to attention for no particular reason, and later there is a moment where the record seems to jump so everything can return at an increased volume.
This song’s strength is that it finds a way to appeal to my rock sensibilities while still belonging, unmistakeably, to the psychedelic genre.
Close your eyes, dreamers, and take a trip with 8udDha bl0od
Up and coming Brighton-based Alt Rock artist 8udDha bl0od are being incredibly prolific with their releases in 2020. And their experimental culturally-rich sounds couldn’t have hit the airwaves at any better time.
As the fabric of our society becomes even more confusing, we can at least take great comfort in the fact that tracks such as 7h3 RA<3 A7 7h3 3nD 0f 7h3 W0rlD exist which can take you on kaleidoscopically colourful aural trips
There may be ambient and light melodicism in 7h3 RA<3 A7 7h3 3nD 0f 7h3 W0rlD but the depth of the sound and the extent of the ingenuity ensures you’re hooked into the transcendentally electric arrangements which come with a fiery psychedelic kick.
You can check out 8udDha bl0od’s absorbingly track out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.
On January 31st, 2020 Brexiters insipidly celebrated the prospect of monoculturalism. Meanwhile, I embraced the cultural diversity found in another stellar line up curated by Manchester-based promoter Astral Elevator.
With Noisy Italian Psych Post-Punks Kill Your Boyfriend headlining and support from Manchester’s Hey Bulldog and the Dee Vees along with Dublin’s finest Psych Garage Rock act Glossolalia, there was a sticky-sweet melange of Psych-driven noise to delve into.
Hey Bulldog’s socialist approach to Psych Blues Garage Rock left me mesmerised once more; their sound was as tight as the government’s welfare budget. The momentous tensile force behind their deftly orchestrated tracks paired with the disquiet delivery of the sniping lyrics will never fail to blow me away.
Photo Credit: Astral Elevator
The caustic tones of Kill Your Boyfriend may be ringing in my ears some 24 hours later, but it’s a small price to pay for witnessing such an explosively entrancing set which matched the same decibel-intensity of Swans and My Bloody Valentine.
Their darkly despondent experimentalism finds the perfect balance between Noise, Shoegaze, and Post Punk to offer a level of distinction which aggressively resonates in every note delivered.
With their tribal drumbeats, inventively distorted angular guitar progressions and riotously-charged vocals, getting swept up the energy of their anarchic performance is pretty much non-optional. Even in the basement of an indie venue, they were able to deliver an all-consuming performance that allows you to forget that you’re standing in front of three musicians. There was synergistic chemistry found in both their abrasive stage personas and the delivery of their pummelling eerie rhythmic noise.
Photo Credit: Sean Crossey
Manchester-based poet Leon the Pig Farmer also doused the crowd in his poetic vitriol in between the acts. With the penetrating parables which he’s able to draw from his savage wit and unabashed honesty, each performance cut just as deeply as the last. While many spoken-word artists rely on prosaic methods, Leon the Pig Farmer projects resoundingly raw verses in a way which truly revives the undiluted expression of the beat generation. Whether he’s spitting bars about the graffiti on the Peer Hat toilets or being viscerally honest about his mental health, the weight behind his words leaves an imprint which isn’t easily forgotten.
Perfectly rounding off the night were the guest DJs Kay & Gray with their back to back synoptically eclectic danceable euphoria-dripping earworms. It’s a rarity to hear DJs championing new artists and simultaneously appeasing the crowd. Evidently their needles are on the pulse of some of the best up and coming artists around.
Follow Astral Elevator to keep up to date with their upcoming gigs via Facebook
In recent years, I’ve heard Psychedelic tones revived under a plethora of different guises. But never have I encountered anything quite as darkly absorbing as the latest single to be released from Soupcan and the Spaceman.
The production may be lo-fi. Yet, considering that Heartbreaker resonates like they just pulled it from the deepest pungent depths of the Mississippi Delta, all will be forgiven as you ingest the raw unpolished caustic aural divination.
With some spacey cosmic Bowie vibes mixed into the viscerally ominous soundscape which should appease any fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the distinction isn’t hard to find in Heartbreaker.
The instrumental progressions aren’t left to swim in a sea of reverb. Instead, the swampy Blues retain their organic winding serpentine charm. And the constant evolutions in vocal style will make sure that you’re as invested in the first verse as you were in the last.
You can check out the latest single from Soupcan and the Spaceman for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.
With the curiosity-piquing promise of getting to hear Heavy Salad’s new material from their upcoming debut album, I couldn’t resist heading to their headline show at Gulliver’s on January 25th in Manchester.
There was little room for disappointment as their multifaceted talent donned a plethora of wholesome new guises during their set. From mesmerising Blur-Esque trippy transcendence to their individualistically cosmic take on Pop to bitingly vivid Psych Rock to occultist eerily kaleidoscopic tones, they offered it all and more. Their versatility is illimitable.
All too often, when you listen to new bands, you’ll also hear the desperation in their bid for conformity and acceptance within a scene. With Heavy Salad, there’s a tranquil air to their live performances as they relay the melodic manifestations of their Lynchian imaginations and ingenuity. If anything is as refreshing as their defiance against orthodoxy, it’s seeing deftly talented artists with no sense of ego or grandeur. The vibe between them spills out in rhythmic tides ready to sweep up anyone open-minded enough to appreciate genuine distinction.
The sprinkling of bemused faces in the crowd affirmed just how innovative Heavy Salad are – both on record and in their live shows where they are joined by their aptly-named backing singers The Priestesses. Their extremely nuanced vocal contributions lace every single track with a celestially arcane feel. If witch trials were held today, The Priestesses definitely wouldn’t be safe.
But it is safe to say that they know how to end a set. The visceral monster with which they concluded was the first time I’d truly gotten a taste of the extent of guitarist Rob Glennie’s talent. His usual cathartic serene style took a seismic shift into a blisteringly arrestive masterfully crafted riffs which induced a literal jaw-drop moment. It all seemed to happen at the speed of light. If I wasn’t excited for their debut album which is still in production, I definitely am now.
You can check out Heavy Salad’s previously released singles via Spotify.
Keep up to date with their album release and tour dates via Facebook
Under the influence of the Beach Boys and Frank Ocean, California-based artist Soul Natural Remedy released their own sun-soaked melodically kaleidoscopic soundscapes.
Their standout single “Don’t You Know” from their self-titled EP, is slightly more eccentric than the tracks offered by the aforementioned artists. But that’s all the more reason to fall in love with their effervescent tonally diverse sound.
Their approach to Psychedelic Pop is something which we definitely won’t be forgetting in a hurry. The vibrato on the vocals, the consistent tonal fluctuations, the sweet sentimentality in the lyrics, the archaic magnetism, they all play their part in making Don’t You Know the perfect track to turn to if you’re looking for a little sunny catharsis.
You can stream and download Soul Natural Remedy’s latest single for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.
“Rootstrings” is the quite literally hair-raising world music debut from up and coming artist Soto. If they keep creating soundscapes with such sensory appeal, I dare say that they won’t be up and coming for long.
You don’t need the ‘golden ear’ to perceive the ingenuity in Rootstrings. Ut’s perceptible through the way you can’t really tell what’s in control, the rhythm, or the artist. Expect exotic intricate organic beats to frenetically offer warmth and soul – even in the absence of lyrics.
Within the eclectic instrumental arrangement, you’ll pick up on virtuosic fingerpicked guitar progressions, tribal drum beats, classical strings, playful ukulele melodies and plenty more. It’s a seven-minute invitation to a higher plateau. I’d take it if I were you.
You can check out Rootstrings for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.
If it’s been a while since you heard a track so succinctly beautiful and melodious it made you want to cry, you can give yourself a reminder of what emotively arrestive music sounds like by delving into Futurist ‘s latest 2019 album “Omens”.
Each of the ten singles on the album is equipped with an arsenal of authentic creative ingenuity, but the single “All I Ever Wanted” is the best introduction to their soulfully stylistic sound.
It’s not often I get viscerally excited about the commercial potential of music. But the jazzy, soft, comfortingly psychedelic progressions found in All I Ever Wanted have quite the enamouring effect.
Their unique take on Psych Pop is only possible through the talent possessed by the four NYC based artists. Through a mix of playful keys, lightly dexterous guitar progressions, and accordantly energetic percussion, the perfect platform for the magnetically quaint vocals was constructed.
You can check out Futurist’s sweetly serene latest single All I Ever Wanted by heading over to SoundCloud. Your soul will get quite the stroke if you take a chance on this endearingly mesmeric soundscape.
Aidan Maizels released their latest artfully indulgent single “Nuages Cœur” on September 20th, sharing with the airwaves a unique smorgasbord of sounds which pull together in sonically lucid concordance.
The single may kick off with some slightly ominous synth keys, yet, the progressions of the single reveal plenty of elements of psychedelic ambience – that’s when the melody behind Nuages Cœur truly grips you. There’s an incredible amount of catharsis to be found in Nuages Cœur, and it’s safe to say that it should be plenty of appeal to any fans of bands such as Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, and Ride.
Considering that I’m fairly aurally jaded and Nuages Cœur still managed to give me chills, that’s a fairly undeniable testament to Aidan Maizels ability as a songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist.
If the alchemic contortions of sound don’t leave you enamoured, the fact that the Melbourne-based artist wrote it about falling in love with a cloud definitely should do it.
You can stream and download Nuages Cœur by heading over to Bandcamp now.
