-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! Our Pick, this week, comes from Oslo, Norway: Dog Age! They've just released their new album, Swanlake Gate, via Voices of Wonder.

Veteran -and inveterate, psych-poppers Jon Anders Strand, Jørn Smedslund, Harald Beckstrøm, Øystein Jevanord, Lars Fredrik Beckstrøm, & Eystein Hopland, collectively known as Dog Age, release this new album four years after the acclaimed Reefy Seadragon. Like its predecessor the band knows their way around a tune very well indeed thank you. (What the hell else are ya' gonna' do during that nine month Winter?) While this new one certainly extends the catalog to seven, taken on its own merit outside that rich past, you'd have to say it is worthy of praise. So, let's. Lead track, "Opening Up the Park," is an almost carnivalesque Abbey Road invitation, insistent drumming pushing the pace and the right amount of efx to let you know there's nothing normal in here. Further in and the not-normal continues. Try to relax during "Sonatine"! Pure "Because" to these ears. Dog Age keeping exploring the rabbit hole and after a quarter century of digging they keep finding all manner of substances the effects of which they share, thankfully, with us. Gods bless Dog Age and the Psychedelic Beer Club!!! (Also, cover art by good friend & good guy Mick Dillingham.)



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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 Dogs Got A Bone out of Edinburgh, Scotland, from 10pm to midnight, Mondays, U.K. time, (adjust accordingly,) on Belter Radio.