Hooveriii - A Round of Applause

Hooveriii return with an album of uplifting psychedelic guitar pop

Los Angeles is a city which has given rise to some incredible music since the dawn of the recording age. It continues to do so, as I can confirm having recently had my ears turned towards LA-based band Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”). The band grew out of a bedroom recording project started by Bert Hoover (Jesus Sons, MIND MELD). The old adage about small acorns is apt here, as Hooveriii has evolved into a truly powerful psychedelic force.

Their latest album, A Round of Applause, sounds like a record that was fun to make, made by a band that would be fun to be in. A refreshing concept in itself! By the band's own admission, A Round of Applause is an unashamed attempt at making a pop record, forsaking the “jam band” approach of previous album Water for the Frogs. Anyone hoping their experimental edge has been smoothed away needn't worry. The album may be big on hooks and melody but there's plenty of left-field touches and sheer sonic brilliance to please listeners who like their sounds to lean towards the proggier, more experimental side.

The album opens with 'See', a twisted take on country rock with twin-guitar arabesques, rolling bass and mysterious lyrics. 'Out of My Time' is a sonic assault on the senses, edging towards industrial rock with its riffs and barrage-like driving drums, before sweet and stately guitar lines emerge from the sonic fog.

'Twisted and Vile' is the first showing of the album's promised pop thrust. It's a minor key affair, underpinned by a programmed electronic pulse, whereas 'Water Lily' has a frantic, unsettled feel at odds with the calmness invoked by its title. With a hint of math-rock in places it comes across akin to Marc Bolan fronting The Cardiacs. A nice thought indeed!

Elsewhere there's an alt-glam stomp to tracks such as 'Time the Outlaw' and leftfield electropop on 'My Directive', even some jazz quall courtesy of the saxophones on 'Iguana'. There's also enough to keep rockers on board. Guitar fans will surely be enthralled by the playing throughout which at times reminds one of Television's Verlaine and Lloyd, Will Sergeant of Echo and The Bunnymen, and Robert Fripp.

Sadly I missed the band on their recent short run of UK dates but hopefully they'll return soon. If that happens I'll see you down the front. In the meantime get familiar with A Round of Applause. You'll feel all the better for it, I guarantee!

 

 

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Interview with Farmer Dave Scher (All Night Radio, HOO)

Los Angeles musicians Farmer Dave Scher and Jimi Hey had played in a string of bands together in the nineties, including Strictly Ballroom and Beachwood Sparks. But it was as duo All Night Radio that the pair were able to give full flight to their creativity. All Night Radio's sole album, Frequency Spirit Radio, was released on Sub Pop Records in 2004. Admired by those in the know at the time, the record's stature and reputation is such that it's now getting bespoke vinyl release later this month thanks to UK label Big Potato Records. You can hear it's psychedelic majesty via the embedded player below, or click over the jump to read the full interview with Farmer Dave about how the album came to be.

(CLICK OVER THE JUMP FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH FARMER DAVE)

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

 

Eyeball - Crawling Creatures

New track from North Carolina's astral rockers!

Eyeball are a band based in Raleigh, North Carolina who make music that challenges and delights in equal measure. They released and EP, Paradox of Eternal Limits a year or two back which I heartily recommend you check out. Especially for those of us predisposed to music with an adventurous boundary-pushing bent.

Good to know the band are still active and have recently unleashed a new track. 'Crawling Creatures' is available to download via the band's website or Bandcamp page. Combining a post-punk bass and drum groove, slashing layered sheets of metallic guitars, Bowie-esque vocals and an eerie spoken word section. Don't expect pentatonic cliches, or tired and tested tropes. DO expect to be slightly unsettled, albeit in a very welcome way. I don't know what you might call this... sci-fi-rock? Nu-goth? Nightmare-metal? That matters not, just take a moment to immerse yourself in its mind-bending world.

Click here Eyeball's website.

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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.

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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.

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Clickhere for Fruits de Mer Records.

Thee Telepaths – The Velvet Night

Kettering space-rockers explore drone and dynamics on their full-length debut!

There seems to something of an underground renaissance at the moment for exploratory psychedelic space-rock. Bands such as Eyeball in the US, and on our own shore the likes of Psychic Lemon and Moon Goose all digging deep intro astral rock. The latest addition to the growing army is Thee Telepaths, a quartet from Kettering who formed in 2014 and have since gone on to release a couple of vinyl EPs.

The extra time available on a full-length album allowed the band to stretch out and given them full rein to explore the joys of drone, dynamics and free-form ensemble playing associated with the genre along with the excitement of not quite knowing where you're you're going to end up. The album is neatly divided up into three segments – Alpha, Epsilon and Delta, which are in the keys of A, E and D accordingly. Each of these sections is then sub-divided into parts which allow for changes in tempo and feel. It's a neat conceit and that highlights the importance of limitations and framework in exploratory music.

So what does it sound like? A mixture of driving motorik beats, electronic keyboard textures and hooks with guitar work that sounds like the MC5 one minute, Ron Asheton the next. All topped with vocals that help steer the improvised music towards something more song-like. It's an interesting journey on which it's possible to hear a whole host of influences – Kosmiche Muisk acts such as Neu!, new wave bands such and Public Image Limited, along with later sonic explorers such as Loop, Thee Hypnotics. There's also a hint of afro-beat and post-punk in there too. A veritable gumbo of left-field music. You can check it out yourselves via the video the band have released for 'Epsilon Parts I-III'. The band will be playing a select string of live dates over the next few weeks. Check out the video and list of dates below.

Live Dates

April 5^th – The White Hart, Corby

April 26^th – Hot Box Skate Shop, Chelmsford

May 5^th – The Blue Moon, Cambridge

May 17^th The Lamplighter, Northampton

May 25^th – The Jolly Brewer, Lincoln

July 5^th – Tannerfest, Northampton

Clickhere for Thee Telepaths on Bandcamp.

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Eyeball – Paradox Of Eternal Limits

Experimental astral rock from North Carolina.

A nice surprise waiting for me when I returned from my summer holiday was this CD EP by Eyeball, they're a quartet from Raleigh, North Carolina. Not only do Brian Oaksford, Trey McLamb, Aaron Albrecht and Myriam Martian have a great collection of surnames they also make music that entertains, challenges, defies expectations and gets into a fistfight with any notion of categorisation. The band describe themselves as a “Psychedelic Experimental Music Ensemble” which is a pretty good starting point. Paradox Of Eternal Limits is their debut release and came out in 2017. Don't expect any love songs here unless they relate to aspects of quantum physics or astronomy.

Opening track 'Acid War' is built around an ominous and eerie guitar riff, driving beats and a vocal that despite being centred only two or three notes is as catchy as they come. The track comes across like Jethro Tull's 'Aqualung' re-imagined by Neu. Pretty neat! 'Inside The Moon' opts for a more textural Dreampop approach with slow tempo, shoegazey guitars, electronic shimmer, and (what sounds like) a violin solo.

'Astral Projector' then flips any expectations on the head by going all acid-folk – gently strummed acoustic guitar, hand-held percussion and a vocal that sounds not unlike Anton Barbeau. The EP finishes with 'The Red Minimum' a doom-rock opus that starts slow but picks up tempo a minute in. It comes adorned with '50s sci-fi movie sounds and a vocal from the John Lydon school of singing. It occupies that sweet spot between punk and metal.

Interesting to note that with only four songs the band demonstrate a variety of styles and sounds. If they ever release a full-length LP and really stretch out who knows where they'll take us. Wherever that is it will be worth the ride.

Click here Eyeball's website.

Click here for Eyeball on Bandcamp.

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Dream Giant - A Different Light

(This review first appeared in issue #72 of Shindig! magazine.)

Paisley Parade CD / LP

The Roger Dean-a-like artwork may promise heavy prog but Dream Giant's debut overflows with ideas-packed psychedelic indiepop. It's (almost) all the work of one man, Harry Dean, formerly a member of Bear Driver who's reinvented himself as an auteur of kaleidoscopic neo-psych. In lesser hands it could come across as lightweight and twee, but there are enough ideas and melodic twists here, along with an intelligence, that makes this a delight from start to finish. And for a bedroom recording it sounds lush and epic.

Opener 'Every Song' may be one of the best pop songs you'll hear all year, breezily melodic and catchy to the max. 'Moonfire Mountain' sounds like early JAMC albeit with a wide-eyed optimism and sense of wonder. The spirit of '67 is alive, well and in good hands. And in the true spirit of psych it will melt minds in most delightful ways. The future looks bright.

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.

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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.

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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)

Shadow Band - Wilderness Of Love

 (This review first appeared in issue #65 of Shindig! magazine.)

Mexican Summer CD / LP

The UK's acid-folk scene of the late '60s is a well-mined seam of inspiration these days. In lesser hands there's a danger of style over substance. Not here. The Philadelphia band's debut may concern itself with Mother Nature and owe a debt to Pentangle, Vashti, The Incredible String Band et al but it's no nostalgic trip through the faerie forest. This is as contemporary a record as they come. With recurring themes of seasons turning, light and dark, and portentous meteorological metaphors it chimes with the global mood of the day.

Though not initially apparent the album tackles today's toxic political climate, using soft poetic power and delicate acoustic instrumentation. It's nuanced and made for quiet reflection. For all their tasteful parsimony this is a band that can also do loud when required. Check out the buried howls of feedback on 'Darksider's Blues' for evidence of the rock band that lurks within.

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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.

Interview with Emm Smith (Stereo Moon)

(This feature first appeared in issue 62 of Shindig! magazine. For the full unpublished interview with Emm Smith click over the jump at the bottom of this post. Photo by Mat Manser.)

 

Canadian sonic adventurers go back to the future and top up their studio tans with Duncan Fletcher.

“Ultimately I want to trip out like when you're dreaming, which can be the most amazing journey. Jumping from one adventure to another, seeing things appear in multiple places or configurations. Using the recording studio as an instrument. A Jerry Garcia quote says it best - 'mixing it for the hallucinations'” So says Stereo Moon mainman Emm Smith talking about modular recording, the technique pioneered by Brian Wilson on 'Good Vibrations' and SMiLE, and also utilised on Stereo Moon's latest outing, The Shape Of Psych To Come EP. Over its four tracks the band pick up the psych baton that was dropped by mainstream musicians in the late '60s. “I think in a Brian Wilson interview from that time he mentions the future of music being psychedelic and it doesn't happen. That future is a lie to some.”

Aside from the tightly arranged psych-pop of lead track 'Requiem For The Non-Believers', the band get to stretch out with free-form jamming and studio experimentation on the EP's instrumental tracks. They've also been obsessively re-working a debut LP, Smoking Shake By The Riverside, which should be ready for mixing next year. “There's a lyric in one of the songs that says, 'I've been driving myself insane but I wouldn't have it any other fucking way'. There's everything from pedal steel to horns, strings, double bass, organ, piano, banjo. I was laid-off from work in 2015 so production has slowed down. It costs money to rent a vibraphone for example, the next thing to get excited about! All the exotic instrumentation can be hard to find, or even people who can play them!”

Live shows are a less disciplined affair. Says Emm, “Live I’m going for more of a noisy Velvet Underground sound with psychedelic organ. For me the VU and The Beach Boys are the two ends of the spectrum I want to explore.”


Click here for Stereo Moon on Twitter.

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.