Kevin Robertson - Why/D.C.B.A-25 (Ltd. 7")

 

 

The Byrds and Jefferson Airplane get a modern makeover on a new Fruits de Mer 7"

Seasons come and go, fashions and tastes change, but some things remain constantly awesome. A well-poured pint of Guinness, log fires in autumn, and quality time with good friends are all things guaranteed to lift my spirits. Other perennial touchstones for me include the music of the Byrds and new vinyl records. They're both things that I seek out whenever I'm in need of a mood-lifting boost. A joy then to hear this forthcoming 7" by Kevin  Robertson on the Fruits de Mer label, which features his take on The Byrds' song 'Why' as one of it's double A-sides. Kevin is the frontman of Aberdeen psych band The Vapour Trails but is flying solo on this vinyl release. His version of 'Why' is respectful to the original's tempo and feel and comes with wonderfully ripping psychedelic guitar breaks. Nice! I wonder of David Crosby has heard it yet. I'd like to think so.

The '60s revisited theme continues on the record's flip side with a cover Jefferson Airplane's 'D.C.B.A-25', a song about LCD no less. Now I'm not one to condone drug-taking, or indeed to condemn it. Whatever gets you through the night is alright by me, just make sure you stay safe folks! I have to confess that I'm not familiar with the original version, but Kevin's has plenty of 12-string jangle, harmony vocals, and hits the hotspot of slightly trippy folk-rock. And if you fancy having a go at the song yourself, the title gives away its chord sequence. How helpful is that! All in all this is set to be one of autumn's best 7" discs. The label has plenty more goodies on the way too, check out their upcoming releases via the links below.

Click here for Kevin Robertson on Twitter

Click here for the Fruits de Mer website

Click here for Fruits de Mer on Twitter 

Click here for Fruits de Mer on Facebook

Mark & The Clouds - Waves

Psychedelic guitar pop! Trio's third album is a generous, melodically memorable treat.    

 

One of my recent late-lockdown listening joys has been the new album by Mark & The Clouds. It came out recently on Gare du Nord Records and is the band's third full-length outing following on from Blue Skies Opening (2014) and Cumulus (2017), both of which were put out by also fabulous Mega Dodo Records.

I'll give the chaps this – they know how to pull me in. Opening track 'You & Me In Space' has a sound that draws on savvy Revolver-esque guitar pop, complete with backwards solos. Crashing chords and drums combine in on the opening riff, but leave enough space for a catchy vocal melody. The track is followed by the altogether gentler textures of 'Back In Time', a dreamy, wistfully laid-back ode to memory and nostalgia. Like the opening track, it too pays heed to that often forgotten rule of pop music – that melodies should be memorable.

What follows is just shy of an hour's worth of gently trippy, psychedelic power pop with plenty of little touches and attention to detail to ice the cake - The softening strings on 'Winter Song', the bombastic riff and swagger of 'No One Makes a Sound', and the spaghetti western twang on 'Somebody Else'. Oh and they have a nice line in twisting middle eights too.

So who are Mark & The Clouds? The band are a London-based trio fronted by Marco Magnani (formerly in Instant Flight, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Smokers, and Avvoltoi), along with Shin Okajima on drums, and John O'Sullivan bass, pedal steel and backing vocals. Or I should say that is the core band for live appearances. On record their sound is fleshed out by guest musicians.

Marco, the band's sole song-writer, is equally adept with lyrics as he is with melodies, as evidenced on 'Peace Not Religion' with its admirable adult-in-the-room honesty, and 'Heavy Drops Of Rain', which displays a bittersweet acceptance of life's curveballs.

Aside from the new album the band also have a 7” vinyl single out now on the increasingly happening Hypnotic Bridge label. For a committed sun-worshipper like me it takes something quite special for me to say this but here we go – Bring on the Clouds!

 

Mark & The Clouds are -

Marco Magnani – Vocals, guitar, harmonica

Shin Okajima – Drums 

John O'Sullivan - Bass, backing vocals, pedal steel


Click here for the band's website

 

Various - A Band For All Seasons (4CD)

Hugely enojoyable 4CD set of psych covers.

The promo of this set landed through my letterbox a few weeks back in the era now described as “pre-lockdown”. Since then the world appears to have shifted on its axis and we have this new strange reality. Given the gravity of the situation, what seemed important before the coronavirus crisis hit can now seem trivial, and it's tempting to put music in that box, along with football, luxury food items, and whether or not ITV is able to film Coronation Street. But, there's a counter argument - culture helps us make sense of the world, it keeps us sane, occupied, and entertained. That vital role should not be underestimated. Before the lockdown, I enjoyed listening to this set very much on my daily commute. Since then it's become something of a talisman to help me get through each day. I think you would enjoy it too.

Anyway I'll shut up about the coronavirus now and tell you about this compilation. Fruits de Mer released an amazing triple vinyl compilation a couple of years back. The Three Seasons featured 27 tracks, all covers of songs from the years 1967, 1968 and 1969. It sold out almost instantly so if you want a copy, be prepared to pay an inflated price via Discogs. The good news is that FdM released an expanded 4CD edition at the end of March under the title A Band For All Seasons: Songs From the Four Seasons of Love 1966-1969. The collection features a mind-blowing 61 tracks, many from HD-approved acts such as Moon Goose, Crystal Jacqueline, Schizo Fun Addict, Fuschia,Jack Ellister, Anton Barbeau and Nathan Hall. But that's just the tip of this iceberg.

Expect to hear well known psych-pop tracks getting a modern makeover along with lesser known gems that will open up new avenues of discovery. If, like myself you missed out on the pychedelic era by being born too late, this compilation will take you down musical rabbit-holes you never even knew existed and be introduced to a globe-spanning array of current bands who are not only enthralled by music from the late-'60s but use it as a starting point to take their own music to new and exciting places. Also included is a 24 page booklet to aid your enlightenment. Joy doesn't even begin to describe. A quick look at the FdM website tells me it's now sold out via their mail-order, though you should hopefully be able to track down a copy via secondary sellers.

Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.

Click over the jump below to see the full tracklisting.

Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals - Scattersparks

Third album syndrome? Nah. Cardiff's prolific song-smith returns with more explorations of new weird suburbia.

If you've yet to hear the work of idiosyncratic songwriter Nathan Hall, I recommend you rectify this at the nearest opportunity. As main songwriter in Cardiff-based band Soft Hearted Scientists, he's responsible for a rich seam of gently hallucinogenic, mild-mannered music. His songs take a sideways glance at the foibles of the modern world, see the absurd and comic in the everyday, and bristle with visionary imagination and expand the range of subject matter for the humble three minute pop song. Imagine if you will Robyn Hitchcock or Syd Barrett  crossed with Ivor Cutler's polyphony-obsessed Welsh cousin.

With Soft Hearted Scientists on something of a sabbatical at the moment, Hall has kept himself busy with offshoot outfit Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals. Their third and most recent long-player Scattersparks came out at the end of July and has been one of the summer's staple soundtracks round our house, acting as a balm as the increasingly barmy backdrop of UK politics.

Across a whopping 24 tracks there's plenty of ground covered. Lyrical obsessions occupy a peculiar and distinctly British ground – the weather, history, a dislike of pomposity and pretentiousness, all tackled with humour and a sense of wonder at the everyday oddness of 21^st century life. This is DIY music, though well-recorded at home using a number of vintage keyboards with a Joe Meek approach to sonic experiments and effects. Such explorations of new weird suburbia are proof that these Isles have much to offer culturally in contrast to our direly divided political landscape.

Click here for Nathan Hall and the Sinister Locals on Facebook.

Soft Hearted Scientists - Please Read me (Ltd. colour 7")

Back and on form! New coloured vinyl 7” from Cardiff's top psych-popsters!

“Happiness comes in small doses.” It's a quote that has stuck in the back of my mind since I first heard it on a televised comedy show in the 1990s, uttered by famous philosopher Denis Leary. While his comedy may have dated the sentiment holds true, happiness does indeed come in small doses and fleeting moments. Leary said it comes via a cigarette, a chocolate chip cookie or a five second orgasm. You no doubt have your own personalised list you can add to that. For me it's 7” singles, psychedelic pop with catchy melodies, and knowing that your favourite musicians continue to make happening music.

So my quota of small doses has been topped up by this forthcoming single from Soft Hearted Scientists. The band have had a bit of a break to pursue other projects, with frontman Nathan Hall remaining most noticeably active with Nathan Hall & The Sinister Locals. The return of Soft Hearted Scientists is something of a surprise but a very welcome one. For the single's A-side they've covered an early classic by The Bee Gees'. 'Please Read Me' appeared on The Bee Gees' first LP back in 1967 and is given a superb and sympathetic reading here, the band making it their own.

Soft Hearted Scientists' reputation as prolific songwriters is bolstered by the single's flipside 'Moths Mistook Us For The Moon', a gentle number with pizzicato strings and lyrics that merge nuanced psychedelic observations with ordinary and everyday experiences. It's good to have the band back.

Click here for Soft Hearted Scientists' website.

Click here for Soft Hearted Scientists on Facebook.

Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.

Moon Goose - Source Code

Can meets the KLF on the Welsh borders.

Has there been a record label over the last ten years that's done more in the service of psychedelia than Fruits de Mer? I'd say not. One of the label's latest releases is this cracking debut album from Moon Goose. A new band for for the label but one that shares the ethos for exploring music's outer reaches and your head's inner spaces. Source Code is a double colour vinyl offering featuring twelve shape-shifting instrumentals. It's an expansive affair as you'd expect for a 2LP set, with many of the tracks over the seven and eight minute mark. But the band never lapse into needless noodling or give any dull filler.

There's a definite trace of Can in their musical influences, but their mindset owes more to the surreal, the daftly mysterious and ancient historical references as espoused by the KLF. Don't go thinking they take themselves too seriously, there's plenty of playfulness and humour about this album as evidenced in the track titles – ' Goldfish In A Bag', 'Dark Shit' or 'Fist Fight At The Bingo'. Source Code is a musical journey that takes in motorik beats, funky '70s spy movie instrumentals, surfadelic guitar wig-outs, slow-burning moody passages and shimmering electronic textures. All delivered with brio, passion and panache. A joy to listen to in one sitting, we think you'll like it.

There's scant biographical detail about the band but we do know that Source Code is the result of weekly rehearsals in a barn in Herefordshire near the Welsh border. If any of our dear readers know more about these mysterious music mavericks perhaps they can enlighten us in the comments section below. If you want to hear these tracks in a live setting the band will be playing at FdM's summer festival. See the label website for more details.

Clickhere for Moon Goose.
Click here for Moon Goose on Twitter. 
Click here for Moon Goose on Facebook.
Click here for Moon Goose on Instagram.

Clickhere for Fruits de Mer Records.

The Paperweight Array - Greek Theatre Show EP

If psych-tinged British guitar bands are your thing (and why wouldn't they be?) we have a great recommendation for you. The Paperweight Array are a Northampton-based trio who've just released Greek Theatre Show, their third EP, via Bandcamp. We've written about them before having enjoyed their debut EP Transmissions From A Distant Star. The follow up Kaleidoscope Of Antiquities was also on our radar but somehow slipped through the net when it came top writing about it. (Must have been a busy time work-wise, that's what usually stops me posting more!)

Anyhow their latest is well worth a listen. The opening track 'The Mountain' is reminiscent of Ride at their floppy-haired best, a mix of irresistible rhythms and spiky guitars. The title track 'Greek theatre Show' follows with more of a mid-'60s folk-rock feel. Lyrically it explores the volatile minefield of fractured friendships before leading into an extended coda of modal guitar arabesques.

They save the best for last however - 'Reflections (On A Western Trail)' has a Seahorses-meets-Big Star vibe, seemingly simple but actually quite complex chords and melody and ends in an extended guitar solo that any aspiring axe-god would be proud of. All of the band's releases are available via Bandcamp so go check them out. Here's hoping a long-player will materialise sometime soon.

Click here for The Paperweight Array on Twitter.

Click here for The Paperweight Array on Facebook.

Secret Colours - Dream Dream NEW LP & VIDEO!

Secret Colours are a new group to me. Based in Chicago, they're all set to release their fourth LP, Dream Dream in July.  This is the title track and lead single. I don't often post new videos on here but thought this was pretty good! A mix of '60s psych and '90s Britpop. Pretty cool I'd say!

Click here for Secret Colours' website.

Click here for Secret Colours on Facebook.

The Corridors - The Corridors

(This review first appeared in issue #70 of Shindig! magazine.)

Viziarmonic CD

Jason Wagers makes music as The Corridors out of his apartment in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. More of a studio-based project than a band, The Corridors came about after Wagers became jaded with the under-paid, under-attended gig circuit. His re-focusing of energies is to our benefit. Stylistically loose and varied, this seven song album is difficult to pin down genre-wise but therein lies its strength.

Each song is a mini-cinematic adventure. Whether it's the domestic drug troubles documented in 'Ghoul', the Barrett-esque melody of 'Elixir Divine' or the magnificently titled 'Granny, Put Down The Gamma Ray' complete with vocoder vocals and sci-fi feel, it all holds together.

I'd wager that Wagers is something of an Anglophile, a neat guitar player in the John Squire indie-funk mould, and a singer from the Ray Davies school of vocals. True or not he's made a record that puts bigger names and established studios in the shade.

CaStLeS

(This first appeared in issue #67 of Shindig! magazine.)

Three musicians, one static caravan and a 16-track portastudio. Mix together in the Snowdonian hills and see what happens. Duncan Fletcher finds out.


Though their sound has mutated since brothers Cynyr and Dion Hamer started making music as CaStLeS in 2008, an alchemy has been achieved by bringing in new member Calvin Thomas and swapping instrumental roles. The trio's brand of soft psych-pop can be heard on latest single 'Foresteering' which is taken from their similarly titled debut LP Fforesteering. It's an album full of charmingly melodic lo-fi delights.

There's something about the album's predominately Welsh language vocals that adds to the psychedelic appeal - “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Welsh language is so mysterious in some ways” muses Cynyr, “There are very few people that understand and speak the language, so maybe when people hear it they are drawn by the mysticism, which is what psychedelia does to you really.”

Like their previous 'PartDepart' EP, Fforesteering was recorded on a Zoom 16-track portastudio in a static caravan at Cynyr's home in the Snowdonian hills. “Most of the songs were written there as well,” says Dion, “and the surrounding wilderness is what inspired the concept of the songs for the EP and album, so in a way it's all been one big site-specific project, using the surroundings as a subject, it almost comes across as a human character at times.” Cynyr adds “I live in the caravan so it's very convenient to have a home studio where we can get straight into recording after arriving home from work. It's a cool place to record, being on top of a hill and having great views for inspiration.”

Though natural beauty inspires them, the shared joy in making music is equally important - “The concept of escapism can exist anywhere... you can pretty much find anywhere to get away from it all,” explains Calvin, “but music in itself is a way to escape.”

 
Fforesteering is available now from www.castlesofficial.com

(Click over the jump for the full unpublished Q&A)

Green Seagull - Scarlet / They Just Don't Know (Ltd. 7")

(This review first appeared in issue #68 of Shindig! magazine.)

Mega Dodo 7”

As you'd expect from a band that bonded over a shared love of obscure '60s psych, Green Seagull's vinyl debut sounds like it's been beamed in from 1967, determined to warp modern day minds. 'Scarlet' sits on the darker side of baroque pop, documents the dream/nightmare knife-edge of obsessive love, and is packed with ideas, intricate instrumentation, tight harmonies and a neat melody.

Flip-side 'They Just Don't Know' could be an out-take from Forever Changes. Its opening guitar motif and odd time signature give way to a frantic flamenco rhythm, the music matching the apocalyptic theme, full of compositional quirks and false stops before the dramatic instrumental finale. Listen closely and there's as much a debt to the classical cannon as there is to The Left Banke and Love, courtesy of keyboardist Sarah Gonputh (Formerly of The Lysergics, New Electric Ride). A thrilling debut and a must-have piece of vinyl!

Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Hitchcock

(This review first appeared in issue #66 of Shindig! magazine.)

Yep Roc CD / LP

Lemmy once said a problem of being a living legend is that no one listens to your most recent LPs. Robyn Hitchcock may be the best exception to this rule, with each new LP being essential listening. This eponymous album shows no let up in his knack for heart-on-sleeve lyrics combining childhood memories, skewed observations, compassionate worldviews and juxtapositions of the absurd with the everyday.

Producer Brendan Benson (Raconteurs) brings out a powerpop punch but maintains Hitchcock's left-of-centre edge over the stylistically diverse tracks. From the album opener 'I Want To Tell You What I Want' where Hitchcock states his desire for the future (“world peace, gentle socialismo, no machismo”) through to the Nashville country knees-up of 'I Pray When I'm Drunk' and the Revolver-esque guitar-pop of 'Virginia Woolf' and 'Time Coast'. Best of all is the eastern strings and backwards guitar on 'Autumn Sunglasses'. Thought provoking and essential as ever.

Joss Cope - Unrequited Lullabies

Guitars! Songs! Poignant English psych-pop that your milkman can whistle!

An album that's been a soundtrack to my daily commute over the last few weeks is this gem by Joss Cope released on the ever reliable Gare du Nord label. Despite being recorded in Helsinki with a group of Finnish musicians it's as English as they come, due to Cope's knack of capturing the melancholy, humdrum observation and poignant humour that forms our much lauded national psyche. I should mention at this point that Joss is the brother of Julian Cope, so the shared upbringing, genes and collection of 45s must have fed into his worldview. Anyway that's enough about that, who wants to be compared to their elder sibling. Not me, so I ain't gonna do that here!

If you wanted to pigeonhole Unrequited Lullabies with a genre, we can call it guitar-driven psychedelic pop. But really it's all about the songs which have a point, a poignancy and are some of the most melodically memorable I've had the pleasure of hearing in recent months. 'Turned Out Nice Again' captures the sadness masked by everyday small-talk. It's just one example of how, in a similar way to someone like Robyn Hitchcock, mixes kitchen-sink ordinariness with cosmic observation.

Cope also has a pleasing way with words, twisting and adapting everyday idioms and sayings, - “drowning in a sea of familiar faces”. He also comes up with succinct and pleasing couplets throughout that seem to capture something of where we are now as a species and a society. It all makes for intelligent and literate pop that even references Rudyard Kipling's If on 'Triumph or Disaster'. Don't let that fool you into thinking it's a heavy ride, it's as fun as they come and the tunes will be swirling round your head long after the disc is out the drive (other formats are available but you catch my drift!)

Click here for Gare Du Nord Records on Twitter.

Cyanna Mercury - Archetypes

Athens based Cyanna Mercury debut LP gets vinyl release plus new video!

Here at Harmonic Distortion we've followed Cyanna Mercury since their first self-released single 'Ode To The Absent Father' back in 2014. Since then the band have gone from strength to strength getting better with each release and have recently released their debut long-player. Archetypes fuses western psych-rock vibes with eastern scales and dynamics. I think you'll like it. Oh and the band have some tour dates coming up. Check out their website for full details.

I'll resist from giving a track by track breakdown and just let the music speak for itself, check out the album via the embedded Bandcamp player below. The album is available digitally and on CD, as well as on very desirable gatefold 12” vinyl. Yes indeedy! For the more visually-inclined there's also a new video for the track 'Nothing We Can Do'. Sit back, turn it up and enjoy!

Click here for Cyanna Mercury's website.

Click here vinyl goodies from Cyanna Mercury's Bandcamp page.

The Paperweight Array - Transmisssions From A Distant Star EP

One of the more enticing releases to have come to my attention recently, this time via the magic portal that is Twitter, is the debut release by Northampton/London-based trio called The Paperweight Array. Their three-track EP 'Transmissions From A Distant Star' brims with melodic invention, accomplished harmonies and side-stepping chord sequences that conjures up an impressive list of possible influences. Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, ELP, Jellyfish are just a few names that spring to mind.

Like all good bands though they're more than just a photocopied version of their favourite bands with a sound that both pushes boundaries but not at the expense of accessibility As is said in music industry parlance they're definitely "ones to watch". Intriguing to see what they'll come up with next. Check out the EP via the player above. 

Click here for The Paperweight Array on Twitter.

Click here for The Paperweight Array on Facebook.

The Neighbourhood Strange – Let's Get High / One Last Chance 7”

If sixties were nineties. Beefy garage-psych from the Salisbury quintet.

Less than a year on from their eponymous debut 7”, The Neighbourhood Strange are back with another double A-sided dose of dark garage-psych. This couln't have arrived at a better time for me. I recently had chat with a pal about psychedelia where he described it as music that's all about head-in-the-clouds, holding hands and golden unicorns. This slab of plastic may help in opening his up his mind. Let's all wear flowers in our hair? No thanks, let's just crack on with the substances instead. Psych is a very broad church that can accomodate a lot of punk-ish attitude.

The Neighbourhood Strange have one foot in the Sunset Strip garage sound of the mid '60s and another in the swaggering guitar band sound that was all the range in the '90s. With a lead vocal that recalls both Lennon's salty snarl and Jim Morrison's baritone. 'Let's All Get High' is a call to arms for heads everywhere. Unlike the treble-heavy '60s recordings that have obviously inspired the band, the track benefits from today's production values. It's all about the full sonic spectrum baby, where the bottom end can cut through!

Flipside 'One Last Chance' has a slower early '70s Stones-ey vibe. Jagger-esque vocals with instrumental passages where both guitar and organ get to take centre stage. Another top release. Nice work lads! Anyway where did I leave that golden unicorn?

Released on March 17th on 7” vinyl and CD (Each limited to 500 copies).

Click here for The Neighbourhood Strange on Facebook.

Click here for The Neighbourhood Strange on Bandcamp.

Morgan Delt - Phase Zero

(This review first appeared in issue 58 of Shindig! magazine)

Sub Pop LP / CD / CASS

Despite the implied clean slate, Delt already has a self-released six song cassette and a full length LP to his name. Yet this latest outing makes the best starting point, with Delt having honed his mix of home-made bedroom psych and trippy soft rock. Experimental but never at the expense of melody, with his falsetto vocals low in the mix the ten songs are performed entirely by Delt in his Topanga Canyon studio. It's a modern take on west coast psychedelia, avoiding retro re-hash errors and sound-a-like faux pas.

The poppy 'I Don't Want To Know What's Happening Outside' begins the inner journey before giving way to the heavier, more ominous tracks that characterise the rest of the album. Coming across as the Californian hippy cousin of Jacco Gardner, Delt has created a comforting blanket of sunshine dappled lo-fi layering, albeit one that hints at darkness in the sunshine state.

The Orange Drop - Stoned In Love

Blissed out psych-rock from Philadelphia!

It's been a busy time recently at HDHQ, which means I haven't been able to post as often as I would have liked. With Christmas, work and family commitments, a couple of bouts of man-flu my little music blog has been a little neglected of late. But with a new year comes a new start, and a firm promise to myself that I'll make more time for writing. There's so much great music around at the moment. If I can help in some small way bring it just a little more recognition then it's well worth it. Which brings me to this fine record that came out in November last year. It's been a favourite on my listening pile for the last couple of months.

Not an album that you could easily pigeonhole into a recognisable genre (but hey, ain't they often the best?!), this sonically beautiful set of songs has elements of pop, shoegaze, indie, dream-pop and acid-rock yet is not restricted by any of these labels. The album opens with 'Juniper Pearl', sadness tempered with melody and marked out by the vocals which bear an uncanny likeness to those of a young Bobby Gillespie. 'The Curse Of Kukaku' features Dave Gilmour-esque gilded guitar which takes of into the space-rock stratosphere and into the track's hypnotic coda. Tasty!

'Make It Her, Forever' begins with a portentous eastern drone. Its use of quiet/loud dynamics and guitar tremolo. 'Julia Dream' is like a lost Lennon White Album out-take, with a slightly sinister nursery rhyme vibe to it. Simple but enhanced by trippy studio effects. That's it till the end of side one but there's plenty more sonic joys to be had – the dubby beats on 'Substance B', the funky bass and fuzz guitar of 'Hey Man' and the more garage-rock stylings on 'If You Feel It'. Fans of Spiritualized, Heron Oblivion, Ultra Vivid Scene and their ilk are well advised to seek this LP out.

The band are from Philadelphia. There seems to be a happening neo-psych scene there at the moment. You should also check out Shadow Band, who have more of an acid-folk bent rather than the new psych-rock sound of The Orange Drop. But it's interesting to note both bands are mining yesterday's sounds and making something new, vibrant, and very enjoyable. Go check 'em out!

Available on limited edition orange vinyl (250 copies) and CD.

The Orange Drop are -

Marc-Andre Basile – vocals, guitar

Anthony Bove – drums

Matt Calhoun – bass

Peter Stanko - guitar

Click here for more on The Orange Drop.

Click here for The Orange Drop on Facebook.

Click here for The Orange Drop on Twitter.

Click here for Mega Dodo Records.

The Karovas Milkshake - In The Shade Of The Purple Sun

(This review first appeared in issue 53 of Shindig! magazine)

In their home city of Yekaterinburg, east of the Ural Mountains, The Karovas Milkshake have concocted an aural love letter to '60s UK psychedelia that should appeal to fans of the original genre as well as those of its recent torchbearers (The Bees, The Coral, Temples et al.)

Standout track 'Purple Sun Of Glastonbury' is a seven and a half minute sitar-driven freakout which conjures images of rituals, standing stones and the dark spirit of Brian Jones, complete with a searing backwards guitar section.

Light relief comes via the Austin Powers-y pastiche of 'Zombie Wok' and the jaunty continental pop of 'Cryptique'. There's also room for some Bolan-ish folksy warble (Apple Pie) and Barrett-fronted jug band blues (Sugary Life).

It's all executed with a playfulness that raises it a notch above most time travelling psych-pop. Yekaterinburg may not share a ley line with Glastonbury but on this evidence you'd believe it could.

Click here for The Karovas Milkshake website. 

Click here for The Karovas Milkshake on Twitter. 

Click here for The Karovas Milkshake Facebook.  

Click here for The Karovas Milkshake Bandcamp.

Icarus Peel - Forget-Me-Not Under Pussy Willow

Conceptual village wyrdness among the rolling hills!

A concept album about an undertaker and a gang of London villains set in a village between the Cotswolds and Milton Keynes! Yep you heard right. The leader of The Honey Pot and musical collaborator with Harmonic Distortion favourite Crystal Jacqueline has concocted a song suite set in a fictional English village. A seemingly normal world but scratch beneath the surface and the strangeness of old Albion soon reveals itself. Packed from start to finish with the sort of pastoral eccentricity that went out of fashion when Mr. Barrett retreated to suburban Cambridge, this album was apparently written as a bet. The nature of that bet may not be known but the resulting LP means everyone wins.

No-one would make the claim for Icarus Peel as being a great singer, his voice more suited to teaching geography than selling a song but that matters not and indeed is almost the point, with the songs all delivered in a straight, English folk story-over-style manner. Shifting between gentle psychedelia, acoustic ballads and soft spacey rock, this is a strange album for an even stranger year and a great tonic when the real world's ugliness is too much.

Available on limited edition black vinyl (250 copies) and as a 4 CD set housed in a handmade individually numbered wooden box.

Click here for Icarus Peel on Facebook.

Click here for Mega Dodo Records.