Sunday 15 February 2015

THE YELLOW TRAFFIC LIGHT – DREAMLESS EP (D/L)


An unexpected, nice surprise dropped into the STRANGE THINGS ARE HAPPENING in box the other day, a very cool three tracker from Turin based psych pop/shoegaze influenced outfit THE YELLOW TRAFFIC LIGHT. Their first EP ‘Dreamless’ is a glorious mix of groovy Byrdsian jangle pop and swirly psychedelia which is well worth your attention if you are a fan of Temples and Tame Impala. The lead track ‘April’ is a wonderful slice of psych tinged sunshine pop and the other two tracks ain’t half bad either. Brimming with chiming guitars, both ‘Care’ and ‘Do It Right’ are great psych pop tunes that are as good as anything we have heard so far this year.
You can check 'Dreamless' out at THE YELLOW TRAFFIC LIGHT Bandcamp page… http://theyellowtrafficlight1.bandcamp.com/ where it is available as a “name your price” download.


THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

Saturday 7 February 2015

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN ON BIGJAF.NET 21/02/15


BIGJAF.NET will be broadcasting two THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN mixes on Saturday 21st February. Listen to them at www.mixlr.com/wwwbigjafnet . A full track listing will be posted on www.facebook.com/pages/Thee-Psychedelicatessen/1448966508687765 a few days before broadcast.

Monday 2 February 2015

SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS – PORTRAITS OF A LANDSCAPE (CD, D/L)


This is the first full album from SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS AKA multi-Instrumentalist Gavin Lloyd Wilson. Taking inspiration from the area around his home in south west Wales, Portraits Of A Landscape is predominantly instrumental and split into two distinctive sections, one being shaped by the industrial landscape of south Wales, the second being influenced by the countryside that surrounds it.

The first section is titled ‘The Industrial Landscape’ and it is essentially minimal industrial soundscapes mixed with more up tempo krautrock influenced tracks. There are some interesting ideas here but nothing really special…….if you like the stranger end of Mute Records or the releases from Ghost Box there may be something here for you. However the more psychedelic second section of Portraits Of A Landscape is superb and would work as a brilliant standalone EP regardless. Titled ‘In Harmony With Nature’, there are four tracks that combine sitar drones, soaring EBow guitars, sweeping synths, minimal electronics and found sounds/field recordings to excellent effect moving the record towards the more experimental/ambient sounds of Fripp & Eno, Michael Brook and many of the artists on the Portland based Darkwave, Ambient and Shoegaze label ProjektRecords. Built on a foundation of drones and tablas, sounding like a psychedelicized Bat For Lashes, ‘Under The Same Stars’ features singer/composer GHOST DUST (one of the guises of Jasmine Eden, currently making music as THISTLE THISTLES) while two tracks heavily influenced by kosmische musik  ‘The Parrog’ and ‘Glacial Express Way’ merge together as a 10 minutes of sweeping synths, swirling EBow guitars and sparse percussion. The final track on the album, ‘Poppit’, is a beautiful piece of music which brings to mind the late Gravenhurst’s more experimental excursions………underneath slight, eastern-flavoured guitar picking runs a field recording of waves lapping upon the shore.

This is a promising full debut from SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS and worth checking out if only for the more psych tinged, ambient/cosmic side of Portraits Of A Landscape…….play the last four tracks either stupid loud or listen to them on headphones, they sound great. Available as either a CD or Download from the SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS Bandcamp page….Check it out here https://spurioustransients.bandcamp.com


THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN