Browsing Tag

60s Psych

Slip into the hazy catharsis of No Lonesome’s Indie-Psych-Folk single, It’s

Posted on 16 August 2023

With tones that will do as much for your nostalgia-seeking soul as songs from The Beatles, The Maccabees, and The Violent Femmes, the debut album, Flowers Recomposing, from the Chicago-hailing alt-folk outfit No Lonesome is a Tour De Vintage Force.

Between the blissful timbres of the harmonies and the serotonin that spills from the foggy with euphoria horn stabs, the standout single on the album, It’s, is the perfect introduction to the ingenuity of No Lonesome, which can be tracked through the distinction in the production that melds the quirky intimacy lo-fi with higher fidelity instrumental recordings.

If you were under any illusion that fresh alchemy can’t be squeezed out of amalgamating folk, 60s psych-pop and indie Americana, the seminally sticky-sweet LP will prove you otherwise as soon as you slip into the hazy catharsis.

The debut album from No Lonesome is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Turncoat Billy looked through a ‘Kaleidoscope’ in their psychedelically vintage debut single

Posted on 18 March 2023

Indie nostalgia peddlers may have created a massive stink pile of indie landfill on the oversaturated airwaves after realising they can string a few chords together in a way that references the Strokes or Oasis; with their debut, Turncoat Billy is the refreshing soul-stirring antithesis. Familiar yet awash with endearing autonomy, anyone that wants to enliven their playlists with contemporary ingenuity can get a jump start from Turncoat Billy.

With their influence range casting a net over everyone from Big Thief to Chas n Dave to T.Rex to Warren Zevon, the outfit, born in a brewery in Tottenham, will pull you into vivid vintage colour with their debut single release, Kaleidoscope.

Their ruggedly sweet indie rock flavour is addictive from the first taste; with the 60s psychedelic kicks paired with the 70s renegade rock swagger and hints of the Maccabees, there’s no sweeter way to evade the malaise of modernity.

Kaleidoscope is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Arizonian psych-rock experimentalists, SPACEMOOSE, have released their cathartic triumph of a stoner doom debut

Posted on 26 January 2022
SPACEMOOSE by SPACEMOOSE

The experimental music project, SPACEMOOSE, from the Arizona based space rock alchemists Blake Waltein and Josh Merrick, has made its official debut with the self-titled, psychotropic stoner doom single.

The 9-minute long desert rock-inspired single uses the first two minutes to ease you into the opium-den-style opulence and ambience, before darker and more ominous electronic textures join the sitars and tribal vibes. With the addition of angular 60s psych-rock guitars at the 4-minute mark, the single starts to amass momentum steadily, leaving the quiescence from the prelude far behind in the overdriven garagey tones that deliver a sense of chaos to the mix.

Even though the vocals consist of little more than ethereal sermonic chants that bleed into the soundscape, it’s hard not to be beguiled by the mystique in them. It certainly isn’t every day that we hear a debut as authentic and arresting as this 9-minute cathartic triumph. Naturally, we can’t wait to hear what follows.

You can check out the debut single from SPACEMOOSE by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Slip back to the 60s with Free Whenever’s ambient psych-pop single, Echo, featuring filo sofia.

Posted on 3 October 2021

Brooklyn-based duo Free Whenever’s latest single, Echo, is a tranquil feat of psych-tinged ambience that pulls you through the blossoming improvised progressions while the featuring artist, filo sofia, brings plenty of dream-pop-noir style to the hypnotically sublime soundscape.

If you fed an Angel Olsen single a few Ambien, the sonic palette wouldn’t be far from the amalgamation of soul, pop, jazz and 60s psych on offer here. You’d be seriously hard-pressed to find mellower vibes than those soulfully extended in Echo. It’s a nostalgia hit like no other. For my sanity’s sake, Echo will be left on repeat.

Echo officially released on October 1st; you can delve into the hazy accordance for yourselves by heading over to Soundcloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Andy Blecher has released his multidecade-spanning folk single, ‘One’.

Posted on 31 May 2021

Indie pop-rock artist Andy Blecher has worn his Gordon Lightfoot influence on his tonal sleeve in his latest single, One. The single spans across genres and decades to bring you a timelessly enamouring soundscape filled with raw affable emotion.

The lo-fi yet chorally charming folk single pays lyrical old to the storytelling style of folk from the ’30s and 40s while instrumentally, the single will psychedelically send you back to the 70s with the kaleidoscopic melodies and nuances of surf-pop carried in the acoustic guitar progressions.

Reminiscences may be plentiful in One, but Andy Blecher didn’t fail to establish himself as an authentic radio-ready artist.

One is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mantra is ‘Funny Like That’ in their crooning indie-rock track

Posted on 10 April 2021

Starting off with a cute solo acoustic guitar pattern before the rest of the band arrive with a slightly jazzy feel to this, the new single from alt-indie groove Mantra. It’s chilled, mellow, with a relaxed, off-beat feel, and a summery, ‘the-days-are-getting-longer’ kind of vibe.

There’s a touch of Beck or Mika to this, in that ‘the only rule is there are no rules’ sort of way of making music, a little of the Plain White Tees ‘college radio’ feel mixed with some Pink Floyd psychedelia, and overall there’s a sort of meandering kookiness that sets this aside from the run-of-the-mill guitar-bass-drums indie set-up; the vocals have that laconic laziness that seems to sit quite regularly with bands from the American South-East, and the whole thing sort of grooves and chills its way along letting you recline into its mix of effortless cool.

You can hear ‘Funny Like That’ on Spotify now.

Review by Alex Holmes

Taste the Grit of Modernity in KEEF’s Chorally-Entrancing Psych-Laden Alt-Indie Earworm ‘In This Town’

Posted on 8 November 2020
KEEF

Northwest purveyors of Alt-Indie Psych Rock KEEF released their sanity-saving earworm ‘In This Town’ on November 13th, 60’s Psych tones are teased, but there’s no escaping the present in this damningly danceable depiction of the 21st century.

Sticky-sweet kaleidoscopic accordance introduces despondent vocals which allow you to taste the grit of modernity whilst savouring the roguish foreboding derision which only Northern artists can serve up with such finesse and sincerity.

The playful venom which is spat towards people who obnoxiously make the world a bleaker place was the catharsis fix I never knew I needed.

In This Town affirms the necessity of music which permits a collective sense of consolation by feeding our frustrations back at us with the assurance that you’re not alone in your nihilism. While I’m gutted I can’t listen to it live and embrace the psychotropic effects of the eccentrically nuanced instrumentals in a sweaty euphoric crowd, I’m overwhelmingly gratified that I got a dopamine hit from this scathingly choral hit all the same.

In This Town will be available to stream on all major platforms from November 13th via this link.

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Review by Amelia Vandergast