The Routes – Tune Out, Switch Off, Drop In

Still where it's at! Japan-based psych-garage trio hit the spot!

I still remember the epiphany of catching the garage-rock bug as a teenager. While the majority of my fellow sixth-formers were content to have Dire Straights' Brothers In Arms on constant repeat on the common room cassette deck, (or worse - Pink Floyd's The Wall), I was introduced by my pals Chris and Sean to the Nuggets and Pebbles compilations along with a raft of reissues on Bam Caruso Records. Here was music that was punky, soulful, and psychedelic. A rich seam to explore. It was colourful and fun, which went against the grain of being a goth, seemingly the only other rebellious strain available to to us sheltered young pups in our small market town. I was smitten, and remain so to this day.

The Routes' latest album, their seventh, which came out just before Christmas, is a reminder of just how valuable that epiphany has been in forming my musical tastes and outlook, and also highlights that while the basic sonic template of psychedelic garage-rock may not have shifted much over the years, if you have something to say it will serve you well. And if you're a savvy enough musician you can add touches of other genres – R&B, surf-rock, folk-rock, Krautrock, shoegaze, even house or techno. It's no surprise that shape-shifting bands such as Primal Scream started out as a bowl-haircutted garage band with a pointy shoes, paisley shirts and a tambourine player.

The Routes are a trio led by Chris Jack – a Scottish born musician now resident In Hita City, Japan. While they too have a fondness for paisley shirts, skinny jeans, and teardrop-shaped guitars played through vintage fuzz pedals, there is more going on in their music than the retro bubble letters of their band logo would suggest. Within these grooves are experimental sonic threads – be it the tremolo and drone of album opener 'The Ricochet', 'Up and Down' with its shimmering layered guitars, or the title track's chromatic chord progression in the chorus recalling the works of Syd Barrett.

The album's more traditional garage-rock tracks such as 'The King Of Loose Ends' and 'You Cried Wolf' are equally thrilling, full of riffs, hooks, snarly vocals and ear-splitting trebly guitar solos. Dick Dale gets channelled on surfy number 'Split Personality', and there's plenty punkish attitude throughout with nods to artists such as Loop, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Spaceman 3, The Seeds and 13^th Floor elevators. Tune Out, Switch Off, Drop In is no pure retro trip though, it lyrically addresses current global concerns, pointing out that as a species we are without doubt regressing rather than progressing. The CD version comes with an extra four taken from the Driving Round In Circles EP, which originally came out on Ghost Highway Recordings in 2018. Whether your musical first love is '60s garage-rock, '90s indie, or simply great guitar bands from any era, this is an album worthy of your attention. Switch on and tune in!

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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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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

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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!

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