-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers, and Happy Vernal Equinox to all in the Northern Hemisphere! (Happy Autumnal to those below...)

What a Pick this week! From two gentlemen who've been creating some of the best music these ears have heard since 1993! Lars Pedersen and Haakon Ellingsen first came to the world stage via their band, The Last James. Running up until 1999, they produced a couple great albums of Beatlesque power pop with psychedelic colorings. On the side, Lars was creating a more experimental sound with When; albums such as Psychedelic Wunderbaum (1998), The Lobster Boys (2001), on through 2007's Trippy Happy Jester, were certainly more psychedelic-inclined...

Just released this past January on Jester , Lars & haakon have again collaborated on a jewel, Misshimmisshimmisshim...!



Featuring 13 tracks, this collection ranks right up there with their best. Track 4, "The Scream," features a ferocious riff, with a melody to match that wouldn't have been out of place on The White Album. Track 5, "Vertigo" does just what it says, coming off like an Andy Votel-treated whirlwind for the Vertigo Remixed set. Track 6, "Beaches," with its "I will rock you" repeating mantra would have Lewis Carroll stating: "Yes. Exactly so...", while track 8, "Lowcast Man," reminds me -in a good way, of "And Your Bird Can Sing." All in all the album won me over at first listen but is of that rare breed which not only stands up to repeated listens but rewards the effort. Applause!!!

MP3 samples available here
Also, available via Amazon.

You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.