Games For May 2016 – The Half Moon, Putney, Sunday 29th May

This month's hot gig ticket! Bank holiday psych all-dayer! Four live bands and a mini record fair!

You have to love the month of May in merry old England! The sun and heat has finally arrived, there's not one but two Bank Holidays, the festival season is just around the corner, and it's also time Games For May, the all-day music event that's become a must-attend for any self-respecting psych fan. Jointly hosted by Fruits de Mer Records and Mega Dodo Records

As well as the four live bands appearing, (Sendelica, Magic Bus, The Honey Pot and Soft Hearted Scientists. More on those below), there'll also be a mini record fair with lots of rare and exclusive items from both labels and all the bands. Worth spending the day indoors I'd say!

All legitimate ticket holders will receive some free items on entry including a 4-CD set featuring the four bands along with a bonus CD of acoustic guitar instrumentals by Scott William Urquhart.

One of the exclusive records for sale will be a rather wonderful lathe-cut 8” (yes that's eight inch vinyl!) tribute to David Bowie. It features Cary Grace doing Black Country Rock and Sound And Vision which segues into Consterdine's version of Sound And Vision. Only 50 copies are up for grabs so get 'em while they're hot as they say. (Or spend a week's wages tracking one down on Discogs!)

Here's more about the 4 bands - 

Sendelica

Welsh Spacerockers. Their epic new album Cromlech Chronicles is out next week. We'll be running a review soon! Their contribution to the 4-CD set is an exclusive mix of highlights from their 10 years of music making. Check out their recent Ziggy Stardust 7".

Magic Bus

The Canterbury sound re-imagined in Devon. Pastoral prog at its finest. Their first single for Fruits de Mer came out last year. Let's hope there's more releases soon.

Soft Hearted Scientists

Favourites here at HD,Soft Hearted Scientists are set to release their 7^th long player Golden Omens in July. If you're not familiar with them, get that rectified! Games For May will be the band's debut London appearance. 

The Honey Pot

Flagship band for Mega Dodo Records, featuring Crystal Jacqueline on vocals. The band will be promoting tracks from Jacqueline's newly released Morning Dew EP.

Unfortunately I'm unable to attend but you should! Tickets from the link below. Don't hang about!

Click here to purchase tickets online.

Click here for the Fruits De Mer Records website.

Click here for the Mega Dodo website.

Magic Bus – Seven Wonders b/w Eight Miles High (Ltd. 7”)

Devon band's take on the Canterbury sound is as warm and welcome as a ray of late summer sun.

Magic Bus make music that lives up to their name; it delights, dazzles, and takes you places you want to go. Their first single for the Fruits de Mer label contains an original A-side, Seven Wonders, backed with their take on The Byrds' Eight Miles High. It may just be the pick of the crop of FDM's early Autumn releases.

If you want comparisons think Caravan and the Canterbury sound. Think gentle, pastoral home counties psychedelia. Think Englishness as encapsulated by Robert Wyatt-esque vocals. Think hops fields, sunny days and games of cricket. But really don't think at all, just listen. You won't be disappointed.

The initiated may have already heard Seven Wonders as it's taken from their Transmission From Sogmore's Garden album, their 2^nd for Static Caravan Records. For the rest of us this first meeting is as warm and welcome as a ray of late summer sun. Along with its strong melody and harmonies worthy of Crosby, Stills and Nash, the band prove equally adept at wigging out as evidenced in the song's proggy coda.

Eight Miles High is a slowed down take on The Byrds classic with an almost Gregorian vocal intro. Any folk-rock urgency is replaced by a more measured jazz swing. Similarly it's flute and synthesizer that take flight on the solos instead of McGuin's garbled guitar. Very nice indeed!

Click here for the Magic Bus website.

Click here for Magic Bus on Facebook.

Click here for more on Fruits De Mer Records.