quête:psy

For their first album, Seth Troxler and Phil Moffa joined forces and became multidimensional creative dissidents Lost Souls Of Saturn. This time, even further into the vortex, they’ve metamorphosed into sci-fi AR comic characters John and Frank who’ve explored the galaxy and returned with this perception-melting new LP.

Although ‘Reality’ still possesses the wigged-out conceptual brilliance which garnered installations and performances at Saatchi Gallery (London), Fondation Beyeler (Basel), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, plus live sets at Field Day, Glastonbury and Kappa Futur, as its title might suggest, there’s vividness amidst the mind-bending. Where its predecessor was a murky exploration of weird and dark cerebral passageways, this album – though still fathoms deep – has a dazzling clarity of sound, as if listeners are beginning to crack the arcane codes, and reach for enlightenment.

A prime example of these newfound beams of light guiding participants through the maze is their recent single; the chugging cosmic techno synth pop of ‘Mirage’, featuring the voice of Adam Ohr. Also guesting on the album is Lvv Gvn, whose honeyed Billie-Holiday-meets-Rickie-Lee-Jones tones adorn the tranquil pixelated broken beat of ‘Click’, Greg Paulus’s trumpet sessions on ‘Zorg Arrival’ and ‘Scram City’, and Protomartyr’s vocalist Joe Casey and guitarist Greg Ahee, who grace the liminal drifting celestial plane of ‘Lilac Chasers’. Sitarist Rishab Sharma, the last disciple of guru Ravi Shankar, also shreds on ‘Scram City’.

Elsewhere, across the LP’s immensely inventive instrumental passages techno, dub, house, jazz, psych and ambient are vapourised into an expansive yet pleasingly concise series of morphing dream states. Fans of Air Liquide, Ravi Shankar, Ray Manzarek, Carl Craig, Pole, The Orb and ‘Son Of A Lung’ era FSOL should find much to like.

Opaque Yellow Vinyl
Orgone sind zurück in Kalifornien und kommen mit "Chimera", einem feuerspeienden Spektakel aus psychedelischem Afro-Soul, in Fahrt. Produziert von Sergio Rios (Neal Francis, Say She She), ist "Chimera" eine elektrisierende, traumähnliche Odyssee, die durch die nebligen Sümpfe von New Orleans führt und Texturen von betörendem Voodoo-Soul, dröhnendem Afro-Funk und steinhartem Psych-Rock verwebt. Auf "Chimera" verwandelt die Band aus Los Angeles harte, düstere und ansteckende Grooves in mitreißende Tanzrhythmen. "Chimera", benannt nach einem mythischen Tier mit dem Kopf eines Löwen, dem Körper einer Ziege und dem Schwanz einer Schlange, beschwört einen Zustand herauf, der gleichzeitig tranceartig und herzzerreißend aufregend ist. Das Album beginnt wie eine berauschende Rauchwolke im Gesicht mit "Hallowed Dreams" und zieht den Hörer in einen Zustand, in dem die Realität verschwimmt und die Musik die Kontrolle übernimmt. Der Fokus-Track "Zum Zum" ist ein mitreißender Afro-Funk-Tanzflächeneinheizer, der den Herzschlag mit der treibenden Perkussion synchronisiert, wobei sich der hypnotische Rhythmus zu einem rauschenden, psychedelischen Höhepunkt aufbaut. Auf dem rauen und mitreißenden "Tula Muisi (Dance Like Them)", einer Mischung aus Afrobeat und schwerem Psych-Rock, ruft der Sänger zu Einheit und Respekt auf, was übersetzt so viel heißt wie "Hört die Musik und tanzt wie sie". Die Band ist bekannt für ihre packenden Instrumentalstücke und ihre mitreißende Live-Show. Das verdiente Selbstvertrauen dieser bewährten und kultigen Band ist auf "Chimera" zu hören. Von Anfang an war Orgone eine Chimäre - eine facettenreiche Schöpfung und die physische Manifestation unmöglicher quixotischer Träume. Chimera wird Fans der frühen Orgone begeistern und gleichzeitig die mühelose und unendliche Fähigkeit der Band zeigen, ihre Form zu verändern. Es ist ein elektrisierendes, hypnotisierendes Album, das die Erwartungen übertrifft und den Hörer in Atem hält.

Orgone sind zurück in Kalifornien und kommen mit "Chimera", einem feuerspeienden Spektakel aus psychedelischem Afro-Soul, in Fahrt. Produziert von Sergio Rios (Neal Francis, Say She She), ist "Chimera" eine elektrisierende, traumähnliche Odyssee, die durch die nebligen Sümpfe von New Orleans führt und Texturen von betörendem Voodoo-Soul, dröhnendem Afro-Funk und steinhartem Psych-Rock verwebt. Auf "Chimera" verwandelt die Band aus Los Angeles harte, düstere und ansteckende Grooves in mitreißende Tanzrhythmen. "Chimera", benannt nach einem mythischen Tier mit dem Kopf eines Löwen, dem Körper einer Ziege und dem Schwanz einer Schlange, beschwört einen Zustand herauf, der gleichzeitig tranceartig und herzzerreißend aufregend ist. Das Album beginnt wie eine berauschende Rauchwolke im Gesicht mit "Hallowed Dreams" und zieht den Hörer in einen Zustand, in dem die Realität verschwimmt und die Musik die Kontrolle übernimmt. Der Fokus-Track "Zum Zum" ist ein mitreißender Afro-Funk-Tanzflächeneinheizer, der den Herzschlag mit der treibenden Perkussion synchronisiert, wobei sich der hypnotische Rhythmus zu einem rauschenden, psychedelischen Höhepunkt aufbaut. Auf dem rauen und mitreißenden "Tula Muisi (Dance Like Them)", einer Mischung aus Afrobeat und schwerem Psych-Rock, ruft der Sänger zu Einheit und Respekt auf, was übersetzt so viel heißt wie "Hört die Musik und tanzt wie sie". Die Band ist bekannt für ihre packenden Instrumentalstücke und ihre mitreißende Live-Show. Das verdiente Selbstvertrauen dieser bewährten und kultigen Band ist auf "Chimera" zu hören. Von Anfang an war Orgone eine Chimäre - eine facettenreiche Schöpfung und die physische Manifestation unmöglicher quixotischer Träume. Chimera wird Fans der frühen Orgone begeistern und gleichzeitig die mühelose und unendliche Fähigkeit der Band zeigen, ihre Form zu verändern. Es ist ein elektrisierendes, hypnotisierendes Album, das die Erwartungen übertrifft und den Hörer in Atem hält.

REPRESS of the sophomore album Sang Dragon. "The whole tone of the album is one of pure DOOM though shades of Psych Rock and Stoner Metal do appear to show you there is much more to the bands sound. Though this will take a few listens to fully appreciate as Witchthroat Serpent have created quite a complex album at times. Tracks such as - Lady Sally, Into The Black Wood and Mystical Detective - even venture into the world of Prog Rock as some of the guitar solos can only be described as epic." - Outlaws of the Sun

REPRESS of the sophomore album Sang Dragon. "The whole tone of the album is one of pure DOOM though shades of Psych Rock and Stoner Metal do appear to show you there is much more to the bands sound. Though this will take a few listens to fully appreciate as Witchthroat Serpent have created quite a complex album at times. Tracks such as - Lady Sally, Into The Black Wood and Mystical Detective - even venture into the world of Prog Rock as some of the guitar solos can only be described as epic." - Outlaws of the Sun

Riding the Low are fronted by actor Paddy Considine, who was inspired to start a band after seeing Guided by Voices play live. "Robert Pollard's songwriting is just incredible. The immediacy of it just blew me away. His presence on stage... Being a fan felt like being in a gang. I wanted my own gang". The name Riding The Low came from a biography on Lee Marvin that Paddy read before the idea of having a band was even conceived. "There was a section in the book where it described the way Lee felt after he’d completed a movie. He used to see a psychiatrist who advised him that after movies he should fill his time doing the things he enjoys to take his mind off things and settle him back into normal life. The psychiatrist called this period 'Riding the Low'." 'Riding the Low' initially came about as a hobbyist outlet for Paddy's musical interest and ability; writing Pavement inspired songs on acoustic guitar on his own, before developing them with The Leisure Society's Nick Hemming.

Psychedelic Latin-funk holy grail from Nicaragua, 1974!!
Poder del Alma (“Soul Power”) was a supergroup formed by some of the best musicians from the Nica scene. This all-star band of nine members was assembled to play at the famous free concert of Santana in Managua in benefit for the 1972 earthquake. After that successful gig supporting the Latin-Rock superstar, what was to be a one-night stand became the seed of the most loved Nicaraguan act from the 70s. All the members had already played an important role in the history of the Nica music / hippie scene in the 1960s. Among them, we can find Roman Cerpas (previously on Bwana), Rene “Chapo Dominguez (Los Rockets), Edgar “El Gato” Aguilar…

A few months after the Managua concert with Santana, Poder del Alma traveled to Guatemala to record their first long play for Dideca (Discos De Centroamerica, S.A.) in just one week of recording sessions. Despite the low budget and precarious recording equipment, the band managed to obtain a powerful psychedelic / afro / funk-rock sound full of electric guitar, heavy drums, hot, percussion, horns, Spanish male/female vocals…featuring titles like “El Valle del Ayatimbo”, “Ia-Taa Yo”, “Zumbale”…

The latest release on An’archives, Suikyō, documents a first-time meeting between three Japanese improvisers: Takashi Masubuchi on guitar and harmonica; Ayami Suzuki on voice and electronics; and Tomo on hurdy-gurdy. Recorded at Permian on the 29th of January, 2023, it’s a stunning, forty-minute long improvisation of rare artistic sympathy. Notably, it was the first time the trio had performed together, though Masubuchi and Suzuki have prior form as a duo; on the evening itself, the trio performance was preceded by solo sets from Suzuki and Tomo, which served as a kind of introduction, of sorts, to the broader aesthetic visions of two of the musicians on Suikyō.

Masubuchi, Suzuki and Tomo make for a fascinating trio, not only due to the shared musical sympathy that’s clear from their performance, but also due to their histories, and the way these dovetail on the music you hear on Suikyō. Masubuchi has recorded a number of stunning solo albums for guitar and has also improvised with a number of musicians: you can hear his responsiveness and thoughtful playing on albums alongside Suzuki, Taku Sugimoto, Straytone, Shizuo Uchida, Takahiro Kawaguchi, and more. Suzuki’s work for voice has been documented on several solo cassette releases, and in consort with Tetuzi Akiyama, Rob Noyes, Leo Okagawa, Aidan Baker and Tobias Humble. And Tomo’s music can be heard on a small clutch of solo CDs, as a member of Tetragrammaton and Archeus, and in collaboration with Junzo Suzuki.

The way their instrumental voices meld together on Suikyō, though, is evidence of a capacity both to draw from these histories, and to take these collective knowledges to new places. And sometimes, unexpectedly old places: Masubuchi notes that his guitar on this set took him back to the rock and blues he used to play, perhaps in earlier groups like Pelktopia, which he suggests contributes to “the psychedelic mood” of Suikyō. Tomo’s hurdy gurdy matches this by pulling drones out of the air or allowing melodies to slowly morph and envelop the listener – their development, at times, reminds me of troubadour music from Occitanie.

Suzuki’s presence is equally compelling and curious. Her voice is an eternally flexible instrument, and whether it sits unadorned within the soundworld magic’d into space by Masubuchi and Tomo, or slips between the cracks thanks to subtle use of electronic effects, it has a quality about it that is both otherworldly – at times, the voice soars and pirouettes – and thoroughly, deeply grounded, of this earth, a most human and intimate encounter. There is a lovely consort between Suzuki and Tomo, the voice and hurdy-gurdy shadowing each other: as Tomo notes, “the hurdy gurdy has been an instrument played to accompany singing since the Middle Ages.” For Suzuki, the performance was “psychedelic and hedonistic in a good way,” but it wasn’t simply given in to that experience: “we were at the same time looking at it from an objective point of view.”

That feels like the right way to approach Suikyō: as a performance that both sets the mind and ears spinning, but with a careful, thoughtful, and considerate objectivity to its moment-by-moment development. It’s also incredibly gorgeous. As a first encounter, it’s surprising in both its comfort and its challenge: and as Masubuchi says, the playing together feels just the way it had to be: “instinctive, unintentional, and inevitable.”

Je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas" (I pray that the drop does not fall) is the first international release by Japanese trio Chi To Shizuku. While they have released five albums and a 7” in Japan, their spectral, haunted rock songs haven’t yet reached a much wider audience overseas. With this album, then, a live recording taken at Koenji HIGH, Suginami, Tokyo on 23rd November 2021, the unique, quartz-like character of Chi To Shizuku’s music is writ large, the bleak bliss of their songs carved onto twelve-inch vinyl.

Perhaps the best-known member of Chi To Shizuku, at least for audiences with an ear turned to Japanese psychedelia, is drummer Takahashi Ikuro, known for his membership of almost every group worth a damn from that scene – Fushitsusha, Nagisa Ni Te, Ché-SHIZU, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, LSD March, the list goes on. But the core of Chi To Shizuku’s music is the collaboration between vocalist, bassist and lyricist Morikawa Seiichirou, and guitarist and arranger Yamagiwa Hideki. Morikawa is a member of long- running punk/goth group Z.O.A., and has also played with YBO2, Zzzoo, and as collaborator with Takeshi and Atsuo of Boris in A/N; he’s also recently been performing with Mitsuru Tabata. Yamagiwa’s history takes in stints with Katsurei and Cock C’ Nell, and he also recently guested with la scene 裸身.

All this contextual information does relatively little, though, to prepare you for the unique vibration of Chi To Shizuku’s lustrous songs. They shimmer in the same half-light, perhaps, as Shizuka and the quieter moments of LSD March, sharing a similar poise and classicism, and there’s a tenderness and wracked poetry to Morikawa’s voice that reminds of the emotional intensities both of traditional Japanese folk, and of British folk music: on “Musuu No Nemuri No Naka De Kumo Wo Tukamu”, the combination of his singing, backed with gorgeously plangent guitar, reminds of no-one so much as it does The Pentangle or Spriguns Of Tolgus. Chi To Shizuku’s love for the ballad as form gifts their music an archaic, sometimes arcane resonance, and from what you can hear on this album, it’s clear they’re in love with graceful melancholy.

But this is not a folk album, by any means; it just shivers with the same eternal spirit. There are also hints of prog rock, and you can catch some passages of scratchy, distended free rock, on the extended spirit invocation of “Nanhito Hanhito”. je prie pour que la goutte ne tombe pas is an extraordinary album, a melancholy surprise, that reminds dedicated listeners of the seemingly bottomless well of great music to be found via the Japanese underground in its many forms. Perhaps Michel Henritzi says it best, though, in his liner notes, when he writes, “Chi To Shizuku’s music reminds us that our life is a dream that lasts only a season, and that oblivion will follow.”

Champagne Dub is a collective of selected artists who come together to practice psychedelic dub rituals. Lysergic weather front top-loaded via betamax"s hippocampus trapdoor melding Catto"s studio into a rainbow of textures, formless places, and emotional sonics awash with resonant poy-rhythms. Champagne Dub is a mission in space-dub whose "crew" took a few too many wrong turns. "We are here to bring raw metamorphic rock-rituals that escaped our minds."

Lo-fi, low budget, and low key, The American Analog Set's suite of hypnotic, neo-psychedelic, Texas sloth-kraut LPs appeared briefly on Austin's Emperor Jones label and slunk quietly into the sprawling indie underground as the old millennium crested. Gathered here are "The Fun Of Watching Fireworks", "From Our Living Room To Yours", and "The Golden Band" albums, garnished with period b-sides, outtakes, and demos. Remastered from the original analog tapes,this early-career spanning 5xLP box includes lyrics, photos, and ephemera from the before times.

Lo-fi, low budget, and low key, The American Analog Set's suite of hypnotic, neo-psychedelic, Texas sloth-kraut LPs appeared briefly on Austin's Emperor Jones label and slunk quietly into the sprawling indie underground as the old millennium crested. Gathered here are "The Fun Of Watching Fireworks", "From Our Living Room To Yours", and "The Golden Band" albums, garnished with period b-sides, outtakes, and demos. Remastered from the original analog tapes,this early-career spanning 5xLP box includes lyrics, photos, and ephemera from the before times.

On Imitation o f War, songwriter and guitarist Kayla Cohen advances Itasca into rockier terrain, with a suite of smoky nocturnes and uneasy idylls surveying, with refreshing urgency, mythologies and psychologies both classical and personal. Co-produced by Robbie Cody (Wand, Behavior), these ten sturdy set-pieces represent the loosest, leanest, and most smolderingly electric guitar-forward recordings of Cohen's deepening catalog.

`La Camita’ is an incredible Latin funk nugget –recorded in Peru by Traffic Sound and later on by funk pioneers Black Sugar, comprising all the right ingredients to shake dance floors worldwide. Both takes on the song were released on records that today are extremely difficult to find in any condition. Latin party music in all its glory! Peru enjoyed a thriving and exciting music scene since the mid-1960s. Bands such as Los Saicos, Los Shain’s and Los York’s, to name just a few, released a number of brilliant records that drove young fans crazy and set an example for many to follow. The end of the decade brought about an evolution in sound and new music genres, as Peruvian bands kept an eye on the groundbreaking British and US artists. One of them was Traffic Sound, founded in Lima in 1967. Over a very short period of time the band managed to successfully develop their career. In 1971 Traffic Sound recorded ‘La Camita’ where their Latin influences overpowered the psychedelic prog vibe of their previous records. The song became a local hit and several versions were recorded by different Peruvian artists. On the other side of this single we find Black Sugar, a Peruvian band considered to be a pioneer group in Latin America in mixing funk influences with rock and Latin rhythms. In 1976, following their gig at Coliseo Amauta in Lima, opening the night for the legendary Spanish band Barrabás, they started to show a growing interest in disco music, resulting in some line up changes with members leaving the project due to their lack of interest in the new sound and new ones joining in. Their own take on ‘La Camita’ was released in 1978 and adds a modern twist to the original song, becoming decades later a winner spin at the most discerning dance floors worldwide. Latin party music in all its glory!

High Roller Records, slipcase Es ist durchaus eine kleine Sensation, dass dieser Tage ein weiteres MORBID SAINT-Album erscheint, also mehr als 30 Jahre, nachdem ihre zweite LP „Destruction System“ aufgenommen, aber bis zu ihrer offiziellen Veröffentlichung vor kurzem nicht fertiggestellt worden war. Allerdings war die Aussicht, neue Musik in ihrem einzigartigen Death/Thrash-Metal-Stil zu schreiben, einer der Hauptgründe dafür, dass sich die Kernmitglieder 2010 überhaupt wieder vereinten. Während ihrer ersten aktiven Phase von 1984 bis ’94 konnte die Band ihr Potenzial längst nicht ausschöpfen, insbesondere im Hinblick auf ihre bahnbrechende erste Platte „Spectrum of Death“ (1990). Das neue Werk entstand im kreativen Fernaustausch, wobei sich alle Mitglieder gegenseitig Ideen zuspielten, um ein Breitseite aus zehn Extrem-Metal-Tracks abzufeuern, wie man sie heute kaum mehr hört – absolut verheerend und doch musikalisch anspruchsvoll, Grenzen überschreitend, aber nicht auf Teufel komm raus, und abgerundet von einem Artwork des legendären Ed Repka (Death, Megadeth). „Swallowed By Hell“ wurde von Chris Djuricic (Num Skull, Disinter) im The Belle City Sound Company aufgenommen und erhielt den letzten Schliff von Scott Elliott in den Chernobyl Studios. Es riecht nach alter Schule, steht aber mit beiden Beinen im Hier und Jetzt. „Eine bessere Besetzung könnte man sich nicht wünschen“, sagt Gitarrist und Mitbegründer Jim Fergades. „Wir freuen uns jetzt über alle Möglichkeiten, und je nachdem, welche sich uns bieten, kann eine Menge passieren.“

Mastered & Cut by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios, London

OVERVIEW: Stylotone in association with The Bernard Herrmann Estate, The Hitchcock Trust and Universal Picturesis proud to announce the World Premiere Release of...Marnie. Composed and Conducted by Bernard Herrmann (Vertigo, Psycho, Taxi Driver)

A 4-Track 7” 45RPM Vinyl EP featuring music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 Production.

“No composer contributed more to film than Bernard Herrmann, who in over fifty scores enriched the work of such directors as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, and Martin Scorsese.”Steven C. Smith, author of ‘A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann’

The long lost 1968 debut album by singer-songwriter, Scott Fagan, once tipped to be bigger than Elvis, is set for release on 9th February 2024 via Earth Recordings. 'South Atlantic Blues' will be reissued for the first time in its original artwork, with an iconic portrait of Fagan by famed rock photographer, Joel Brodsky, following a widely celebrated 2015 release. Revisiting his mystical, mythical, and deeply soulful masterpiece, this psych-folk gem doffs a Tropicalia hat direct from downtown New York. "His songs embrace a broad sonic fantasia, swirling in '60s New York R&B and '40s jazz, as well as the Caribbean rhythms of calypso, meringue and Pachanga." New York Times Scott Fagan's story is worthy of a movie in itself. A swinging hipster who landed in 60s Greenwich folk scene, escaping the abject poverty of his U.S. Virgin Islands upbringing, Fagan found himself mentored by the Brill Building's Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and feted as the next big thing. "Forget Rodriguez, forget Searching for Sugar Man," says Sharyn Felder, daughter of the late Doc Pomus, the legendary songwriter who signed Fagan to management in 1964. "Scott was so much more. He was cut from a different cloth." 'South Atlantic Blues' is the perfect soundtrack to this tale, an epic song cycle wrapped around an impassioned love story, driven by Fagan's dense, allusive lyrics, and production by Elmer Jared Gordon (Pearls Before Swine) and rich arrangements by Horace Ott (Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, The Shirelles). The Earth Recordings reissue coincides with a resurgence in activity for Fagan, with a new album in the works - the never-recorded soundtrack to 'Soon', the 1971 Broadway rock musical he co-wrote and starred in - and a documentary 'Soon: the Story of Scott Fagan' currently filming through Scissor Kick Films, from director Marah Strauch, writer Chris Campion (who rediscovered the singer-songwriter in 2015), and producer Eric Bruggeman. Classic Black Vinyl + DLC

FOR FANS OF: Big Thief, Whitney, Good Morning
Auf ihrem neuen Album Any Light präsentieren Loving eine Reihe von Songs, die aus Momenten zufälliger Inspiration entstanden sind: ein spontan
verfasstes Gedicht, eine längst vergessene Sprachnotiz, ein unheimlich treffendes Buch, das sie in ihrem Studio entdeckt haben. Um diese Songs zum
Leben zu erwecken, haben sich die in British Columbia lebenden Musiker Jesse Henderson und David Parry einem langen Prozess des freien
Experimentierens hingegeben und oft mehrere völlig unterschiedliche Versionen eines Stücks erdacht, bevor sie sich für eine endgültige Version
entschieden. Durch all diese gemächliche Erkundung ist Loving zu einem Werk gelangt, das ein ähnliches Gefühl von charmanter Empfänglichkeit
vermittelt, auch wenn die Songs so komplexe Themen wie Depression, existenzielle Unsicherheit und die psychischen Folgen des Lebens in einer
zunehmend digitalisierten Welt behandeln. Das von dem Duo produzierte und von Parry gemischte, gemasterte und produzierte 10-Song-Projekt
umfasst einen weitaus ausgefeilteren Sound als sein Vorgänger.

Repress. The trio were formed at the end of 2011 by Fredrik Bolzann, leader of the avant garde black metal band Darvulia and former bassist of Malhkebre, who recruited bassist Lo Klav and drummer Niko Lass to help him realise his doom laden dreams. Mining a very similar territory to Witchsorrow, or the first Electric Wizard album, Witchthroat Serpent sound at once refreshingly distinct and instantly familiar. We have a feeling their eerie, heavy-as-balls sound is going to make doom fanatics across the globe very happy indeed... The main success of Witchthroat's Serpent's self-titled doom debut lies in the contrast between the raw vocals and the fuzzy guitars, both of which are produced by Fredrik Bolzann.