Tag: psychedelic

255. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

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(March 2020) Episode 255 is KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD.  As I continue prospecting Australian psychedelic bands, I hit the friggin’ gold mine with KG&tLW (out of Melbourne, not Perth, this time). They are My New Favourite Band!  Strong prog-rock elements here, so I label their sound “Progadelic” (if no one else has coined the term).  Each album has its own personality and offers its own experience: melodic acoustic ballads, psych freak-outs, jazz fusion, thrash metal, microtonal tuning, garage rock, and a sci-fi concept album featuring vomit.  Their output is as prolific (15 albums and 2 EPs in less than a decade) as their music is propulsive, which often feels like skydiving after downing a case of Red Bull. Try it!

Favourite album: Nonagon Infinity

Favourite song: Head On/Pill

Possibly a Reincarnation of Olivia Tremor Control: Paper Mâché Dream Balloon

Special sauce: whoever’s on bass guitar

Compared with expectations: ↑↑

Nonagon_Infinity

245. Oh Sees

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(January 2020) Episode 245 is OH SEES (also known as OCS and Thee Oh Sees).  One of my favorite bands of the ’10s; a good representation of the music I’ve been into in recent years, although its style is hard to describe. Their initial lo-fi experimentalism is not so interesting, but they hit the gas around 2010 with psychedelic garage-rock freakouts.  The evolution to space- and prog-rock in the recent albums is excellent.

Favorite song: The Dream

Favorite album: Floating Coffin

Compared to expectations: ↑

Floating_Coffin

239. Nazz

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(November 2019) Episode 239 is NAZZ. This psychedelic-tinged group out of Philadelphia enjoyably touched the sounds of the late 60s.  As the launching pad for Todd Rundgren, Nazz also, not surprisingly, previewed power pop and soft rock.

Favorite album: Nazz

Favorite song: Open My Eyes

Compared to expectations: same

Nazz

238. Acid Mothers Temple

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(November 2019) Episode 238 of the “opus project” is ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE and its various emanations.*  In all my project, there is no greater gap between the love I have for a group and the revulsion that others have of it.  I adore Beautiful Noise, and they are masters — feedback, distortion, psychedelic, freakouts, weirdness.  AMT is a Japan-based collective of musicians with Makoto Kawabata at its center, producing prolifically (80 studio + 48 live albums).  They humorously honor their inspirations (Zappa, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Terry Riley, etc.) with clever word-play album and song titles.** A-E-D-A-G-D

Favorite album: Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars

Favorite song: The Tales of Solar Sail ~ Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky

Best psychedelic: Crystal Rainbow Pyramid

Best acid rock: Cosmic Soul Death Disco

Best space rock: Pink Lady Lemonade

Best ambient: The Holly Mountain in the Counter Clock World

Best drone: In D

Compared to expectations: ↑

AMT Crystal_Rainbow_Pyramid_Under_the_Stars

* Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno

Acid Maso Temple

Acid Mothers Afrirampo

Acid Mothers Gong

Acid Mothers Guru Guru

Acid Mothers Guru Guru Gong

Acid Mothers Kaidan

Acid Mothers Temple & Space Paranoid

Acid Mothers Temple & The Pink Ladies Blues

Acid Mothers Temple SWR

Tsurubami

Yamamoto Seiichi & Acid Mothers Temple

 

** Top 20 punny AMT album/song titles

  1. Son of a Bitches Brew
  2. Starless and Bible Black Sabbath
  3. 41st Century Splendid Man
  4. Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!!)
  5. The Ripper at the Heaven’s Gates of Dark
  6. Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs?
  7. Minstrel in the Galaxy
  8. Pataphysical Freak Out MU!!
  9. Ziggy Sitar Dust Raga
  10. Are We Experimental?
  11. Doobie Wonderland
  12. Babe, I’m Gonna Reave You
  13. Hardcore Uncle Meat
  14. Electric Heavyland
  15. In Search of the Lost Divine Arc
  16. Shine on You Crazy Dynamite
  17. Just Another Band from the Cosmic Inferno
  18. Maggot Head Cheese
  19. Born Free Stone Free
  20. Close Encounters of the Mutants

229. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

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(August 2019) Episode 229 is PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS. Did you know it’s the Golden Age of Australian Psychedelic Rock? You do now. And one of its highlights is this band from, oddly like many others, Perth. Put on some headphones and max the volume. PPC will exhaust you but in a good way. My new favorite band. (This is the 3rd band in the Project discovered through a podcast, and only the 2nd to start recording this decade.)

Favorite album: And Now For The Whatchamacallit

Favorite song: Ergophobia

Compared to expectations: ↑

AndNowWhatchamacallit.jpg

 

214. The Chocolate Watchband

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(May 2019) Episode 214 of my “opus project” is THE CHOCOLATE WATCHBAND. A late 1960s Bay Area outfit that combined gritty garage rock and psychedelic sounds — shoot this directly into my veins! While they didn’t have a hit that endured in the popular consciousness, it’s good stuff. Like several groups of that period, some surviving members hit the revival circuit, and even, as septuagenarians, released an album this year (it’s not bad).

Favorite album: The Inner Mystique

Favorite song: Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)

Compared to expectations: same

The_Inner_Mystique_cover.jpg

212. Foxygen

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(April 2019) I have completed episode 212 of my “opus project.” This edition: FOXYGEN. It’s exceedingly difficult to characterize their music, so here goes: Imagine Olivia Tremor Control reincarnated as a duo in Los Angeles as the love child of Ty Segall and Lou Reed, mixed with early Beck, mid-period Kinks, Satanic-era Stones, Oh Sees, late Beck, and a sprinkling of ELO and Zappa. That might be Foxygen, for now, because their next sound could be completely different. Fun fact: their latest album came out yesterday, setting the OP record for quickest incorporation of a new release.

Favorite album: We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Favorite song: San Francisco

Compared to expectations: same

foxygen

202. Love

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(February 2019) I have completed episode 202 of my “opus project.” This edition: LOVE. The distinctive style of this late 60s band is hard to label — “thespian hippy” is my best attempt. After their masterpiece, Forever Changes, their sound became more conventional for the era. Also noted (for the time) for the racial diversity of their lineup.

Favorite album: Forever Changes

Favorite song: Seven and Seven Is

Compared to expectations: same

Love_-_forever_changes.jpg

177. Parliament/Funkadelic

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(August 2018) I have completed episode 177 of my “opus project.” This edition: PARLIAMENT and FUNKADELIC. Of course I did the P-Funk together as two halves of George Clinton’s cosmic brain. Ironically, Parliament is funkier, but aptly, Funkadelic is more psychedelic. The copious output is rather eclectic – rock, soul, psychedelic, R&B, rap, and even a country song and a heavy metal song – but at its core, it’s classic funk. With his versatility, irreverence, raunchiness, prolific-ness, orchestration of rotations of talented musicians, and insistence on doing it his way, George Clinton reminds me of Frank Zappa.

Favorite Parliament album: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On

Favorite Funkadelic album: Mothership Connection

Favorite Parliament song: Red Hot Momma

Favorite Funkadelic song: Up for the Down Stroke

Best album title (perhaps of all-time): Free Your Mind … And Your Ass Will Follow

Best album cover (among the greats): Maggot Brain

Secret Sauce: Eddie Hazel (just listen to his work on the song Maggot Brain)

Compared to expectations: same

Standing_on_the_Verge_of_Getting_It_On.jpg

ParliamentMothershipConnection.jpg