Wolf People – Ruins. Wanted to check this after the very fine guitar the main bloke contributed to last year’s Baron album… Yet on first listen, there’s still something about their folk/psych mix-up that seems a little clunky to me, particularly if you compare them to Crumbling Ghost. It’s good, but not begging for a repeat play on the Spot… What do others think? https://wolfpeople.bandcamp.com/album/ruins
Shaman Elephant – Crystals. More jazz/prog/psych Norwegians with a truly dreadful name. Namecheck Motorpsycho and Mahavishnu Orchestra, but I think they may also have some Heep and Zeppelin albums in their collections… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8J_bXMBXWU
The Magic Mushroom Band – Pictures In My Mind: Anthology 1984-1994. Well, this was a bit of a turn-up. Having the kind of name and imagery that brings me out in a cold sweat, I had always steered well clear of this lot, but blow me down if some of this isn’t rather great. Early stuff does indeed sound like a gene splice of Hawkwind and Gong (though very well done), but later material is positively poppy. Yet it’s the dance cross-over stuff that’s really interesting, particularly this piece of pervy techno rock, which could be Psychic TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l2FJrtihSU
Dead Sea Apes – Soy Dios. Nice desert psych/post-rock feel to this, enjoyable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXdYJe-LzV4
Our Solar System – In Time. Another thing I got earlier this year, then promptly forgot about. Decent long-form Kraut-ish jazz psych. Yes, more Scandinavians… https://soundcloud.com/mike-newman/01-in-the-beginning-of-time
Jason Simon – Familiar Haunts. Dead Meadow bloke. Like this track a lot: https://jasonsimon.bandcamp.com/track/the-people-dance-the-people-sing-2
Radar Men From The Moon – Subversive I. Hmmm, kind of gothic industrial Krautrock? These people are Dutch I believe… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rkmrJoEcpE
Jethro Tull – Nothing Is Easy: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970. As Robot Emperor notes, this is Tull going reet heavy, though one of the highlights for people like myself who are relatively agnostic about (most) live albums is the extended piano improvisation from John Evans in ‘With You There To Help Me’… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdvRBjR0wxw
VA – Brown Acid: The Third Trip. Comp of early 70s (mostly American) proto-metal, and mostly of a high standard. Great opening track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzNvI1aBoQ0
Listen With Father:
VA – Rebels And Records. Still going through this V&A comp of late 60s stuff. ‘White Rabbit’ got a repeat play request, which had me thinking what a completely crackers song it is. Them: “What’s it about, daddy?” Me: “Basically, drugs. Just say no, kids!”
