-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from two places: Denmark & France: Halasan Bazar & Tara King th.! Their collaborative album, 8, is out on Moon Glyph Records.

To these ears it's a perfect update of the magical collaborations between Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, circa "Some Velvet Morning" and "Sand." If that description gets you excited check it out!



Of the collaboration and how it came about:
" February 2014 in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a sleepy mountain village in the Auvergne, and Tara King Th (FR) and Halasan Bazar (DK/NO/UK) meet for the first time, a musical blind date arranged by Steve Rosborough, boss of both bands’ Californian label Moon Glyph. Armed with an embryonic songbook of ideas exchanged over the internet, the newly formed sextet set up a makeshift studio in La Gargouille, the deliciously incongruous 70s-styled local discothèque, together with photographer/film-maker, Sébastien Tixier. Living and playing, singing, drinking and dancing together in glorious isolation amidst the snow and disco balls, the collective rapidly bond, and the stage is set for them to merge their individual brands of psychedelia - Halasan’s introspective and whimsical folk-rock and Tara King’s cinematic baroque pop - into one organic whole. They rise to the occasion, swallowing influences, expanding their palettes with open minds, maturing startlingly before our very ears. Guitars shimmer and keyboards swirl and chime to form an atmosphere of giddy intoxication, while bass and drums provide a backbone of powerfully pulsating precision. In the foreground are the stoned, melancholic vocals of Fredrick Rollum Eckoff and the seductive and nuanced tones of Béatrice Morel-Journel. The songs are a delicious variety set to life by the detailed production of Arnaud Boyer. ‘Coeurs Croisés’ and ‘Ventolin’ come from a soundtrack to a halfdreamed Nouvelle Vague tale of espionage, sex and spilled blood. ‘Rot inside’ is aching dark romance. There’s crystalline fragility on ‘Cover’, bluesy swagger on ‘Door wrap’ and plaintive, primal howl on ‘TK16 Part 2’ and ‘Beneath the Golden Tree’. ‘Below your deepest expectations’ ebbs and flows in epic style, close-to-defeat yet defiant, while the tripped-out groove of ‘Try their best’ drones hypnotically before soaring heavenwards." (by Robert McTaggart)

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers!!! Our Pick this week come from Iceland: Singapore Sling! They've just released their seventh album, The Tower Of Foronicity, on Fuzz Club Records.

As Henrik Björnsson, main man behind the band states on With Guitars dot com: "The new songs were written and recorded at Henrik’s home studio in winter 2011/2012 and in February/March 2014. To the band’s front-man, “Foroncity” is a made up word that means “ridiculousness” and “adversity” at the same time, in other words “so much adversity that it’s just ridiculous”. “Foroncity levels have been extremely high this year” and Henrik adds: “The Tower of Foroncity is endless, it goes on and on and on, and when you think you are at the top you really are at the bottom”. Such statement is not a surprise, as it comes from the man who named his project after an obscure 90s film by Nikolai Nikoladis: a perverse and dark movie about a man who has sex with a corpse." For those who need more Surfgaze n' Psych' in their life, along with a heavy helping of the Jesus & Mary Chain sound, I highly recommend this one!





***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! We're back with another great Pick after a week's hiatus spent celebrating our sixth year on air as a radio show in addition to the blog here. I was blown away with this Pick the first, and second, time I heard it: from San Francisco, California: Cool Ghouls! Their new album, A Swirling Fire Burning Through The Rye, is available via Empty Cellar Records! (In vinyl as a limited run of "swirling fire"!) Beautiful!

Together members Pat Thomas, Ryan Wong, Pat McDonald, and Alex Fleshman, have built quite a powerhouse of psychedelic sounds. An embarrassment of riches are contained in the grooves, caught live-to-tape in the recording studio by Sonny Smith, (of Sonny & the Sunsets.) What Mr. Smith has done is capture a document of a band firing on all cylinders, first purring then roaring then careening. Strap in!!! This a ride you'll be glad you took. Multiple times. Highest recommend.




Note: the album is also available on cassette via those wacky guys at Burger Records.

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from Barcelona, Spain: The Outside Hours! Their new album, Gone, is available as a free download at Bandcamp.

Leaning heavily on blues-based garage and psych', the duo blasts through the ten tracks on offer with aplomb and vehement swagger. Not unlike Dan Auerbach or Ty Segall, for those who need comparisons. If this is your niche then these two have what triggers your synapses and gets the juice flowing, pineal-wise. I'm hopeful a label will start to take notice and their next recorded output will have the support they deserve. Try 'em! You've zero to lose!

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from Liverpool: The Wicked Whispers! Their debut album, Maps Of The Mystic, is out now on Electone Records.

Cut from the same cloth as Temples, Jacco Gardner, Balduin, (and the late, lamented Moles,) The Wicked Whispers create music evocative of the '60s original artyfacts era with an ease that captivates and haunts, lingering long after the music has stopped. I think any number of the eleven tracks could be slipped into a compilation of '60s pop-psych sounds and no one would question the authenticity of the sounds of that era whilst standing out amongst that crowd as one of the better tracks contained within. This eleven track assemblage is thus crowned a solid winner in an ever-crowded field of bands attempting to capture the feel of that magical era. Bravo to Mike Murphy & Company!!!

Try this:


***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! From Fort Wayne, Indiana, comes our Pick this week: Heaven's Gateway Drugs! Their new album, Apropos, is out now via their Bandcamp page.

A nine-track bolt of lightning and blue fire from an outfit which has shown consistent growth, by leaps and hookahs, with each release! From the backwards-tape opener with chiming guitar and treated vocals of "Read Between The Lines," through grand finale, (and unFCC-friendly to my chagrin,) "Fall Back Down Again", they're a band to watch. Try it!





F Y I, they'll be among a great lineup at this year's ECHO Fest in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, November 15th! More info' here.

***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our choice for Pick of the Week call Sydney, Australia, home: Richard In Your Mind! Their new album, Ponderosa, is out now via the Rice Is Nice label.

Offering up a fourteen-track embarrassment of riches, the band, Richard Cartwright, Conrad Greenleaf, Pat Torres, Richard Cuthbert, and Joe Muller, have conjured yet another satisfying release to add to their remarkable catalog. (In truth, one of the best albums I've heard all year is their 2007 release, The Future Prehistoric, available on Bandcamp for the "name your price" option!)On this excursion the band gives us sitar, synth's, plenty of guitar a-wobble, and impeccable percussion, saturated liberally with tongue-in-cheek humor by a band clearly having fun being. That's quite enough for me. And, I think it will be for you, too. Try some:





Highly recommended!

***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! From Londinium comes our Pick this week: The Chemistry Set! Fresh off their inclusion, (as if they'd be denied!,) in Fruits de Mer's box set homage to Love, the guys continue their upward trajectory into mental inner space with a new 7" EP titled Elapsed Memories, out November 22nd.

At three tracks there's no room for half-measures, nor do they give it. This EP once again confirms the band's dedication to the genre of psychedelia and their talents and ability to create it. A-side, the title track, is a five-plus minute graduate course in craft. The B-side is no slouch either! "A Cure For The Inflicted Afflicted" explodes out of the gate and is a relentless slice of freakbeat, (and my favorite of the three.) The B-side also offers a cover of the Jimi Hendrix track "Love Or Confusion." They choose the "make it our own" route, versus rote replay, and it's another winner.
Proof?



You don't have to teach old dogs new tricks, sometimes you just need to let the dog show you his BIG BAG of tricks. Hail The Chemistry Set!!! (And Fruits de Mer, who continues to boggle and blow minds with their impeccable taste!

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from the FAR north. Korpilombolo, Sweden, to be exact. It's Goat! Their new album, Commune, is out via Sub Pop.

As Sub Pop says of the band, and the new album:
"Ultimately, it is GOAT’s music that speaks the most about them, and, on their second album, Commune, GOAT deliver a heavy dose of acidic grooves, hypnotic incantations, and serpentine guitar lines, building on the much-lauded sound of World Music to explore new territories. Starting with the layered percussive groove, Eastern guitar flourishes, and convoking vocals of “Talk To God”, Commune re-establishes the trance-inducing rhythms and exotic blaze of guitar that characterized World Music. That spellbound pulse delves into darker and more propulsive territories on “Words” and “Goatslaves”, while “Goatchild” veers towards the transcendental pop of ‘60s Bay Area rock. The vintage psychedelic vibe permeates through songs like “The Light Within” and “To Travel The Path Unknown”—tracks that suggest that these rural Swedes operate on the same wavelength as the Turkish psych-folkies recently rediscovered by reissue labels like Finders Keepers. Commune reaches its apex when GOAT’s hymnal invocations meet a heavy dose of proto-metal fuzz on “Hide From The Sun” and “Gathering of Ancient Tribes”." I found the album to be not only an extension of their wild and wildly successful debut, but also an advance on their abilities within a recording studio. Kudos to the engineer(s)for giving their sound more depth and breadth than previously realized. The proof is in the grooves!

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week is more a funeral bouquet amidst a celebration they existed at all: from Bristol, England, The Moles! In March they packed it all in to become another band, leaving us with 17 tracks to celebrate and ruminate over titled And Now It's Time To Say Goodbye Again.

Stating the end on their Bandcamp page with this paragraph: "The Moles were a band from Bristol, U.K. who released one album in 2010 called 'The Future Sounds Of Ashton'. Nobody bought it. Feel free to now get it for free in the interworld... you have our blessing. It wasn't ever going to buy the baby a new cot anyway.
And now, here is 17 more tracks that got left behind for your ears... enjoy & weep with us."

So what we are gloriously (and thankfully) left with are tracks from those sessions for The Future Sounds..., or subsequent sessions for a follow-up. That nobody bought it is our own loss. Or, as Jeff Penczak wrote in his January, 2011, review for the Terrascope: "With enough ideas for three albums, The Moles have tossed the kitchen sink at the wall and leave it to you, dear listener, to salvage the wreckage. Punk…psych…metal…, it’s in there. Just dive in with the same reckless abandon that went into assembling the carnage at hand and have a damn good time."

(Full review here.)

Of The Future Sounds Of Ashton, Brin Davies has stated: "The album began as a fantasy recording project between me and Billy [Fuller] our bass player, inspired by our love of the Rubble uk psych comps. We threw the gauntlet down and set ourselves the target of writing and recording a song once a week. It was also a useful way for me to exorcise whatever ghosts I was dealing with in my job; I run a psychiatric admissions ward. We ended up doing this for a year or so until we morphed the project into a full band [....] most of the press we received focused on the 'English whimsy tag; I've always been a bit narked by this and see it as a much more neurotic affair. It's for this reason I don't feel it necessary to do the Bandcamp thing; I'm more interested in giving it a good send off." This quote from (La) Luna blog, along with what may be a still-viable link to the album, here. Spacerock Mountain also may have a viable link, here.

Here's a track I'm smitten by from this final document:


Here's the video for their track "Fuller's Dram" from The Future Sounds Of Ashton:


To quote the band: "THE MOLES have the telepathic ability to beam psychedelic music into receptive individuals frontal lobe. This music was made by utilizing this brainbeam. PRAISE THE MOLES. PRAISE THE INFINITE. PRAISE THE NEVER. PRAISE THE MOLE."

And we do...praise Brin and Billy!!! Best wishes on your new projects!

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers!!! New week, new Pick: from Melbourne, Australia, The Citradels! Their new album, released last week, is entitled Nepenthe and is available via their Bandcamp. (With a vinyl option, for posterity.)

The band are no strangers to these pages, having been cited as a Pick of the Week back in October of 2013 for their Our Lord's Secret Service album, as well as a Mid-Year Best of last year for their Psychotic Syndrone long-player. Suffice it to say this new one carries on in that line of Citradel Sound: a product of the talents and aspirations of the band now working even better together. If the thought of an amalgamation of the sounds of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Rolling Stones, and the Velvet Underground get your synapses firing this is a band for you. Guitar lines which haunt. Check 'em out!

The Citradels are: Thomas De Vries - Vocals, Guitar, Synth, Percussion, Organ, Mellotron; Curtis Goodfellow - Vocals, Guitar, Trumpet, Sitar, Percussion; Sam Heathcote - Bass, Synth, Percussion; Archer Moore - Organ, Marimba; Connor Tolson - Drums, Motorbike. (With vocals from Kayla Moon, on Dead Time and Tabla on Ultraviolet By Vincent Dodd.)

Watch. (Beautifully rendered, as always, by good friend blood meridian.)

***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! We're back with a new Pick: from Switzerland, Balduin! A one-man wunderkind from Bern, his new album, All In A Dream, is out via Sunstone Records UK.

A veteran musician, (recording material since 2001 if I'm correct,) who's clearly unafraid to wear his influences on his sleeve. The new album provides 16 tracks worthy of our attention most of which are in the psych-pop vein. (He's cut from much the same cloth as another one-man show: Jacco Gardner. I hope Balduin attracts a similar amount of attention.) Perhaps most telling, to me, is the choice of cover he's gone with on this outing, "Which Dreamed It," by Boeing Duveen & The Beautiful Soup. Not the first time he's covered them. An EP released back in January of this year had him try on their "Jabberwock" for size. It fit.

If whimsy and brighter hues of the sound palette read as tempting I recommend Balduin.



Watch!

***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! New week, new Pick: from Salvador, Brazil, Van der Vous! Their new album La Fuga, is out via Bandcamp.

Like fellow Brazilians Boogarins, Van der Vous consistently show their appreciation for the tricks and sounds of long-ago, AND their record collections may be bigger than their neighboring fellow psych' n' rollers! They certainly have a swagger about them and it comes through the music, loud and clear. While adding nothing new to the genre we love so much it's difficult -for me, not to appreciate and indeed applaud, the effort. Try the jangle and punch of opener "What You Need":



Or, "I Get High", remixed from an earlier single release:


I have high hopes for the future of this band. I hope you do, too. GO Van der Vous!

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week calls Montreal, Canada, home: Elephant Stone! Just released this past Monday, Aug. 25th, is their new long-player: The Three Poisons. Out on Hidden Pony.

Together Rishi Dhir, drummer Miles Dupire, and guitarist Gabriel Lampert, have created a mesmerizing follow-up to last year's highly acclaimed eponymous release. We're all watching/listening as the Elephant Stone Sound develops and matures. For those of you who preferred a grittier dynamic within the song structures you'll be richly rewarded on this effort. Gone are the softer, more poppier influences, instead they've opted for a harder edge to the material. Rishi's sitar playing is still at the fore and what sets them apart from so many of their peers. Loud applause from my ears. I think you'll enjoy it quite a lot. Highest recommend.

The band are about to begin a significant tour beginning this Saturday, August 30th, in their home city and taking them across Europe through the Fall: check here.

***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from Los Angeles: the Electric Prunes! Delivering their fourth album of the new century, (!), with WaS!

As lead singer James Lowe says: "Mark Tulin and I were collecting ideas and songs for our last adventure when he went through the door. I am not sure he is really gone because I hear his voice as clearly as if he were standing beside me. Usually Mark and I would send each other song ideas back and forth until we had the rough story line and music in hand, then we would meet and pound everything into submission."
Also: "There is a fine line between "IS " and "WAS". If what you did is more important than what you are doing, you WAS. One moment you is and then you was. Somehow 1967 doesn't seem much different from today; tastes change but I think people are always on the lookout for some fresh ideas from the "is" that makes them remember the "was".
So take a ride with us as you listen to our new album, with a bit of the unreleased, a bit of the new, and as always, a fully Electric sonic journey 'round the universe through time and space, with WaS."

For me the album is yet another assertive statement and the perfect follow-up to '06's Feedback. Full of fire and fuzz, the Prunes show the energy of bands one-third their age with a panache which only comes from the roads traveled by men their own age. I first listened to the CD on a long drive last week and caught myself saying "wow!" during nearly every song. (A lot easier to remember what tracks I wanted to air on the radio show when it becomes "all of 'em!")



***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! From Melbourne, Australia, comes our Pick this week: The Baudelaires! They've recently released their debut EP, Be A Baudelaire!, themselves via Bandcamp.

(At six tracks it's as long as some full length releases.)Opener "Dream Salts" sets the stage for what's to come: woozy guitar, nonchalant vocals, and bright percussion. Put me in mind of early Ocean Blue. "Love Ain't Gone" continues the sonics of the opener with a BJM-esque approach. While wearing their influences way out atop their sleeves the EP offers worthy reward for listeners and is a welcome addition to the growing number of bands popping up mining this rich vein of rock.





The Baudelaires are: Grischa Zahren, Ben Reid, Blair Wittstadt, and Ryan Wittstadt. "Music fathoms the sky." -Baudelaire

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! New week, and the new Pick is Chicago's own The Red Plastic Buddha! Their new album, Songs for Mara, is out via their own Space Cat Records label!

On this, their third album, Tim Ferguson has once again managed the miraculous: assembling yet another lineup of stellar players assisting him in his singular -and forceful, vision. On offer is twelve tracks of heady psychedelia even the most jaded among us will enjoy and appreciate for quite some time. My guarantee. Beginning with the hurricane that is "She's An Alien," through to the pulsating "Little White Pills," Tim & Co. show they're ALL in service to the song and the craft of same. The strumming Bowie-esque "Being Human" allows those of you who don't know Tim very well a glimpse of what this man is capable of, and his strength as an observer of the human condition. He knows better than most the universal laws of yin and yang and this track is a summa. In case you failed to notice on prior albums, and continuing here, Tim also believes strongly in paying homage (and the mechanical royalties) to the forefathers of psychedelia by including at least one cover version. Here he's chosen Love's "A House Is Not A Motel" and the passion shows for the original and their remake. "Cosmonaut" is as propulsive as the title suggests.





While perhaps it isn't the easiest route to creating and sharing one's vision, the ability nonetheless to assemble and reassemble people willing to assist in making it happen shows just how much Tim Ferguson's gravitational pull on good people really is. Stand up for the good guy here and try it, then buy it.

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Brighton, England, provides our Pick this week: Soft Walls! Their album, No Time, is out now via (the mighty & reliable,) Trouble In Mind Records.

From the label's press:
" Dan Reeves is a very busy guy. In addition to running his own label, Faux Discx Records and playing in the band Cold Pumas he also finds time to record songs all by his lonesome under the moniker ‘Soft Walls’. After recording and releasing the eponymous Soft Walls album in 2012, Reeves set to work again, this time with a borrowed 8-track and a vision of composing a suite of thematically interlaced tunes, resulting in his Trouble In Mind debut, "No Time".

“No Time”s ten songs are meditations on the passing of time itself and the pre-conceived notions (both external and internal) of what you can and should be doing with it. “No Time”s lyrics touch on a universal fear held by many young people heading north of their Twenties; what am I doing, and will I have enough time to do it? Reeves spent many hours writing and re-writing the album’s tunes at home and in his rehearsal space in Brighton before hitting “record” and it shows. While his debut was constructed ‘as-it-happened’ and recorded directly into his computer, “No Time”s deliberate songcraft proves just how far he’s come as a tunesmith, seamlessly aligning his pop smarts with avant-leaning psychedelic drones and a propulsive, rhythmic drive. Dreamy guitar ragas like the opening track “Won’t Remember My Name” ebb and flow seamlessly into motorik head-boppers like “Never Come Back Again” and “All The Same”, whilst pop tunes “Guided Through” and “No Time” shimmer enticingly through a foggy haze.

Mixed to perfection with likeminded independents and Hookworms mastermind, MJ in Leeds and mastered by Joe Caithness at Subsequent Mastering, these are songs to get lost in; to discover & re-discover. Don’t worry - there’s plenty of time. The first vinyl edition of “No Time” is pressed on black vinyl, & includes a printed inner sleeve & download code.

RIYL: Loop, Fresh & Onlys, Hookworms, Cave, Dirty Beaches, White Fence.

For my part, the ten tracks offer a refreshing take on all things krautrock-inspired, with a driving rhythm section, pulsing guitars, and vocals just right in the mix. Time well spent. More reviews, if you need, through Metacritic .



***

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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! New week, and with it a new Pick: White Fence! Now five albums into this project, Tim Presley, (Darker My Love,)makes a brilliant follow-up to Cyclops Reap!Titled For The Recently Found Innocent, it came out yesterday via Drag City.

Perhaps as a result of getting himself into a studio, rather than past recording efforts in more humble sonic spaces, Presley -and producer Ty Segall, have found that sweet spot for Presley's tunes to fully bloom into the magical creations they were meant to be. Mind, there's still lots of the lo-fi shambling and ramble but it's appreciated more at this dosage. Emotion-filled and full of the fire of the bands inspiring him to create music, this one has the Kinksian and Who-like all sewed up. Power surges. We reap the benefit. Recommended. Highly.


Catch 'em if you can:
07-24 Los Angeles, CA- Echo =
07-25 Los Angeles, CA- Echo #
08-05 Big Sur, CA- Henry Miller Library / Woodsist Fest %
10-13 Brooklyn, NY- Baby’s All Right
10-14 Allston, MA- Great Scott ^*
10-15 Montreal, QC- Il Motore *
10-16 Toronto, ON- The Garrison *
10-17 Cleveland, OH- Happy Dog *
10-18 Chicago, IL- Subterranean *
10-19 Buffalo, NY- Tralf Music Hall *
10-20 Baltimore, MD- The Metro Gallery *
10-21 Philadelphia, PA- Underground Arts *
10-23 Kingston, NY – BSP Lounge !

* = King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
^ = Juan Wauters
% = Woodsist Festival with Woods, Angel Olsen, Skygreen Leopards, Kevin Morby
# = w/ Tomorrows Tulips, Cold Beat
= = w/ Dream Boys, Abigails

***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick this week comes from "The Queen of Watering Places," a/k/a Brighthelmstone, a/k/a Brighton, England: Nightworkers! Their album, Sleep Generation, is out now and available via Bandcamp.

Nightworkers are: Jack Moullin - Vocals / Guitar / Percussion; Rowan Reddington - Guitar / Bass / Vocals / Sitar; Mitch Turner - Bass / Guitar / Vocals; Joe Haberfield- Keys / Synth / Vocals; Jonny Ross - Drums / Vocals / Percussion.

The album, Sleep Generation, begins with martial drumming and flurried guitar for "Wake Up #88." Then it brings the storm of psychedelic efx, tasteful, not overdone. Anthemic. Forceful. And that's just the opener. The harmonica opening of "Daydreamer," provides a wail amidst the hand-clapping mantra riding the interspersed guitar sonics and another clear winner of a track. In truth, the album in some wise reminds me of the best parts of House of Love: talent galore and sonic surprises aplenty. To wit, "Just Like Everyone Else." Put this on the Fontana debut, (a/k/a "The Butterfly album,") and no one would be the wiser methinks. I like their style. I think you will, too!




***
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 other Thursday from 11pm to 1 am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Note:
Adding the Pick of the Week to their show is Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio. Thanks Col Chant!