Browsing Tag

Psych

Spotlight Feature: When Mountains Speak embarks on an abstract journey in their live album, From Beyond Comes Within

Posted on 18 January 2022

Texas’ most spiritual solo artist, When Mountains Speak, has released their latest sonic exploration, From Beyond Comes Within. The live-recorded album was recorded through one microphone – not that the all-consumingly psychedelic and transcendent release will allow you to believe it.

The 12-track album pays an earnest homage to the deep spiritual roots that created the foundation for the tribal and rhythmic soundscapes. Yet with When Mountains Speak’s avant-garde flair slipping in through reverberating hums and electronic glitches, there’s a bold sense of creative playfulness. The kind of playfulness that is reflective of the wonder we found in the world before we grew weary of it.

The extended singles amount to a 1 hour and 52-minute experience. With the tribally magnetic rhythms that marry the East with the West, you couldn’t ask for a better sanctum from the chaos that exists beyond music that awakens spiritual intuition.

From Beyond Comes Within is now available to stream on all major platforms. Check out When Mountains Speak on Spotify or via their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Henry Friedman De Miguel takes us around the world with the standout single, ‘Ghost Orchid Has Many Pollinators’ on his debut LP

Posted on 15 January 2022

The 22-year-old Atlanta-based singer-songwriter, Henry Friedman De Miguel, has made his official debut with the release of his LP, The Witch’s Guide to Ecology & Other Times the Earth Has Impressed Me. That may not be the most memorable name for a debut album, but the album itself is sonically unforgettable.

In the jazzy standout single, Ghost Orchid Has Many Pollinators, there’s a touch of the Doors in the psychedelically kaleidoscopic textures and hints of Jim Morrison in the vocals. Yet reminiscences are always fleeting in the cinematic feat of world music that ends with Spanish guitars and art folk harmonies after delivering beguiling Eastern rhythms against tribal drums. If you could imagine what the sex and the city soundtrack would sound like if it pulled in culture from all corners of the world and was complemented by nature-celebrating lyrics, you’ll get an idea of what you’re in for here.

Ghost Orchid Has Many Pollinators is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Feliz told a fuzzed-up modern love story in a neo-western landscape with their garage rock hit “Pocket Cowgirl”

Posted on 22 December 2021
Pocket Cowgirl by FELIZ

With plenty of gorgeous wobbly tape echo delay around the Iggy Pop-level gruff vocals in the intro, slipping into the latest psychedelic feat of garage rock from Feliz is a blissful trip away from reality.

The fuzz-loving Californian outfit’s latest single, Pocket Cowgirl, is an analog modern love story gone wrong set in a neo-western landscape. It carries the same gritty gravitas as the likes of Alex Cameron and Jack Ladder in the low timbre vocals while Isela Humerez’ dreamy, distorted and poppy vocals add a stunning dynamic to the lo-fi yet succinctly arranged track.

Even after the eccentricity of Pocket Cowgirl has faded away after the first few plays, it still doesn’t disappoint. The ingenuity keeps on pouring like rabbits from a magician’s hat along with the affirmation that Feliz psychologically delved far deeper than most to deliver this sultry ground-breaking release. And the best part? The playful humility shines through just as much as the shimmering guitars.

Pocket Cowgirl is now available to stream, purchase and fall in love with via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Meet the Tom Waits of this Generation in Vince Chinaski’s Debut Album, Never Painted Black.

Posted on 26 November 2021
Vince Chinaski

Copenhagen’s most prodigal up and coming singer-songwriter, Vince Chinaski, has released his debut album, Never Painted Black, which opens on the title single and instantly arrests you in the Avant-Garde neo-classically inclined feat of psych, jazz and folk.

Without any hint of hyperbole, Vince Chinaski deserves to be just as revered as Tom Waits for the way he pulls new sonic intrigue from a timeless sound. With Louis Armstrong reminiscences in the cinematic jazzy score that flows at a teasingly mellow pace that leaves you desperately eager for the next note, Never Painted Black is beyond absorbing.

Its mind-meltingly artful gravitas becomes even more visceral towards the outro as the Chinaski’s crooning timbre starts turning dark and scuzzy vintage rock guitars feed kaleidoscopic discord into the release.

Chinaski’s debut album will be available to stream on all major platforms from November 26th, 2021.

Check out Vince Chinaski on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Soundcloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ger Lane indoctrinates us in ‘The New Revolution in Love’ in his stadium-worthy alt-rock track

Posted on 8 November 2021

Irish-born, London-based Avant Rock artist Ger Lane’s seminal single, The New Revolution in Love, carries enough soul to remind you that you’ve got one of your very own. While the lyrics prise affection, the instrumentals submerge you in a sonorous pool of psych-tinged, shoegazey alt-rock.

The sultry psychotropic track is an obsession-worthy nostalgia trip that will instantly transfix any alt 90s fans. Right from the intro, Zane Scott’s drums arrest your rhythmic pulses with the caustic hits that create visceral friction against the effect-laden angular guitars. With vocals as captivating in their stridency as Chris Cornell’s, abject apathy isn’t an option once you hit play, which may sound hyperbolic in our age of ennui, but if anyone can deliver aural salvation; it is Ger Lane.

As for Tim Bazell’s production, Kevin Shields couldn’t have pulled The New Revolution in Love together better. It should be a paradox for a single soundscape to unravel as visceral and hypnotic simultaneously, but the stadium-ready hit did just that and plenty more. It is enough to make Arcade Fire sound flat and pedestrian.

Check out The New Revolution in Love, featuring the London Brazilian Choir for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Indie rock pioneer COLUMBIA breaks new psychedelic ground with ‘Keys to the Kingdom’.

Posted on 20 October 2021

Cardiff’s most promising act since Catatonia, COLUMBIA, put a psychedelic spin on vintage rock tones in their latest indie rock n roll release, Keys to the Kingdom.

As the kaleidoscopic guitars glide through the chords, the snarling basslines work with the anthemic drums to send the energy of the release into overdrive. Any fans of Frankie Teardrop Dead, The Kundalini Genie and Corvus & the Morning Star will want to save space on their radar for the rhythmically blessed raucous powerhouse. They may not have sold out stadiums yet, but their sound is already built for them. We’re stoked to see where their sound takes them next.

The lyric video to Keys to the Kingdom is now available to stream on YouTube.

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

The Narcissists have made their psychedelically jarring post-punk debut with their EP, Conflict.

Posted on 10 September 2021

The Narcissists claim to be the best thing to have come out of Australia’s Capital City’; based on their debut EP, Conflict, it is safe to say that many noise-rock fans would be inclined to agree.

The lead single, Alcohol, creates a jarring introduction to The Narcissists’ sound that is just as nefarious as their moniker. The extended prelude finds itself on the darker and dingier side of no-wave as the 3-piece weaves in elements of post-punk and psych-rock. While the remaining duration of the 7-minute single toys with your rhythmic pulses as you’re shunted through unpredictable progressions and left at the mercy of The Narcissists tumultuous furore.

Their debut EP was released on September 10th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Avant-garde experimentalist Dan Devon has released his summer reggae-pop track, Party Dancer

Posted on 4 September 2021

Singer-songwriter, producer and composer, Dan Devon, has released his sophomore single, Party Dancer, as part of his psychedelic soul experiment that fuses elements of RnB, soul, rock, hip hop and electronica in avant-garde fashion. While it probably isn’t to everyone’s taste, anyone who appreciates an unadulterated shot of high vibes will soon feel their souls warm to this tropic summer reggae-pop single.

After garnering over 10,000 streams with his short and sweet debut single, Kitty Cat Song, which is somewhere in between Nada Surf’s Meow Meow Lullaby and Frank Turner’s Plea from a Cat Named Virtue, Dan Devon’s sweet and affable style has more than earned its space on the airwaves.

Party Dancer is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sakara’s Son gave grunge a psychedelic kick with their single, Crying Shame

Posted on 23 August 2021
Sakara's Son

Irish alt-rock artist, Sakara’s Son, gave their grungy alt-90s single, Crying Shame, a bluesy psychedelic garage rock kick and proved just how mind-melting Alice in Chains could have been if they were a little bolder with their distortion pedals.

After an early FNM-style intro, the swaying melodies give way to a sonic kaleidoscopic furore, forceful enough to leave the hair on the back of your neck give a standing ovation to Sakara’s Son.

There really is no overstating the level of energy and innovation contained in this scathingly veracious release, paired with the practically pornographic guitar solos, what more could you possibly ask for, other than the opportunity to experience that wall of noise live?

Stream Crying Shame on Spotify and Bandcamp; connect with Sakara’s Son on Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast