MINAMI DEUTSCH – MINAMI DEUTSCH (Cardinal Fuzz LP)

 

Strange things are happening in the Far East………..Always a hotbed of outthereness, there is currently a vibrant Japanese Psych scene with many bands making waves in the West and here is another band that look like breaking out.  A Japanese band playing Krautrock???? This certainly sounds like something that would be on a Julian Cope fantasy wish list……….The debut album from Minami Deutsch is all this and more.

Taking inspiration from the classic early 70s German bands but adding a new twist to the genre, Minami Deutsch embody the ‘Endless Straight’ motorik of Neu!, La Dusseldorf and Harmonia, yet feel very part of the here and now. From the opening track, ‘Vocalism Ali - Forever Takemitsu’, Minami Deutsch lock into the groove with laser guided precision, tracks drone, while shimmering chimes coalesce into some sort of cosmic Ur-drone, punctuated by thuds and epic swooshes, resulting in a grand and gorgeous ambience. The hypnotic ‘ Futsu Ni Ikirenai’ is driven by a throbbing metronomic pulse…..somnolent vocals drift in and out of the mix until it all explodes into a cacophonous, fuzzed up, guitar wig out ala Moon Duo. Flip the disc and the awesome ‘Ubergleich Part 1’ kicks in………channelling Can’s ‘Mother Sky’ it hurtles along at a blistering pace, laying waste to everything in front of it until it is brought to an abrupt halt after 4 minutes, definitely a track you want to go on for at least another 10 minutes and some. ‘Ubergleich Part 2’ closes the album and again this has a massive Can vibe with rhythms that would not be out of place on Ege Bam Yasi and repetitive Damo Suzukiesque dream like vocals that ease you into a blissed out state. There is a lot to love on this record……..there is a mix of beauty and brutality that harks back to an era when some of the most innovative music from the last 50 years was coming out of small studios in Cologne and Dusseldorf and this is also an album that holds its own against the current wave of bands who have also been influenced by this period.

Released on 28^th September on white vinyl, Minami Deutsch’s debut album is available to pre-order now from the Cardinal Fuzz on-line store at  http://cardinalfuzz.bigcartel.com/product/minami-deutsch-s-t-white-vinyl.

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MOONSONG – MOONSONG EP (D/L). NUVEM LEOPARDO – REVOLVER MERCURIO (D/L). THE TAILBREAKERS – THE TAILBREAKERS (D/L). ALRIGHT – ALRIGHT (Negative Fun 7” Single, D/L). THE BEATCOMBERS – TWIINS (D/L)

Strange Things Are Happening is back with a quick round up of some new and newish groovy Garage/Psych Bandcamp releases that are available for you to download for free.

First up is an absolutely fantastic EP from Moonsong (AKA Cody Nielsen from Fayetteville, Arkansas). Packed full of hook laden psychedelic ear candy, it’s an EP of gently twisted Psych Pop with echoes of early Todd Rundgren and the vibe of current records by the likes of Pond and Tame Impala.

There are five tracks of experimental but perfectly accessible, snappy 3 minute Psychedelic Pop tunes, which bring to mind A Wizard, A True Star period Rundgren, the brilliant ’Two as One’ and ‘Expansions’ are perfect examples of this. There is also a very current, neo-psychedelic feel to this EP……’Instability’ is driven by disco drums and throbbing synthesizers and ‘Start Over’ is full of sparkling guitars, both tracks would not sound out of place on the last Pond album.

You really must give this EP a listen…..there is no excuse as it is available as a “name your price” download from the Moonsong Bandcamp page http://moon-song.bandcamp.com/releases. You can also find this EP on both iTunes and Spotify.

For those of you that like your psychedelia to be of a darker hue, you need to check out Revolver Mercurio by Nuvem Leopardo (a self-recorded, mainly solo project by Brazilian psychonaut Marcel Willou). It’s an intriguing blend of Mogadon laced heavy Psych and Black Sabbath inspired dense riffing that lovers of early 70s head music will enjoy.

Break out the bong and let Nuvem Leopardo drag you down into an ocean of warm fuzz, let it wash over you while you weightlessly drift. Revolver Mercurio is a proper psychedelic Stoner Rock record and deserves your attention………the tracks ‘Narcisos’, ‘No Centro Do Sol’ and ‘Tangerina ou Romã’ are very, very heavy but also very, very heady.

You can get Revolver Mercurio from the Nuvem Leopardo Bandcamp page at https://nuvemleopardo.bandcamp.com/album/revolver-mercurio where it is available as a “name your price” download.

Next up is a 3 track download from 60s Garage Rock influenced Canadian band The Tailbreakers. Very much in the mould of bands like the Allah Las, Black Angels and The Spyrals, The Tailbreakers have a great sparse, classic Garage Rock sound that you will dig if you like the Nuggets/Pebbles era bands.

There will be a full album dropping at the end of September on Ongakubaka Records which we hope we will get to hear, but in the meantime you can wrap your ears round these groovy tunes. A “name your price” download is available from The Tailbreakers Bandcamp page at https://thetailbreakers.bandcamp.com/album/the-tailbreakers.

Coming to you from Negative Fun records is a 7” single by fuzzy Garage/Punk three piece Alright. Fizzing with energy this is a great little record and of the 3 tracks ‘Mixed Signals’ is no doubt the stand out track. Available as either a 7” single or a “name your price” digital download, go to their Bandcamp page at http://alrightnc.bandcamp.com/ and check it out, alright!

And finally, coming out of outta Wellington, New Zealand is Beatcomber……a five piece super lo-fi garage band. Twiins is a two track single/download…..whereas the track ‘Twiins’ is seriously woozy, no-fi tune with a cool Velvet Underground vibe, ‘PsyychSafari’ is a mind-blowingly good reverb drenched, swirling organ Garage/Surf mash-up, groovy floor filler that is worth the price of admission for a “name your price” download……plus you have to admire a band that has a tambourine player. Download the tracks here http://beatcomber.bandcamp.com/album/twiins

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TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE PSYCHEDELIC BASEMENT- THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN on BIGJAF.NET

People.....this Saturday (15th August) we are back on Internet Radio for the first time for quite a while. We are doing a one-off 3hr Psych special with our showbiz chum the estimable Mr Geoffrey Leppard, resident Stoner Rock/Psych Rock cosmonaut at wunnerful BigJaf.net. We are going to have fun with this and will be playing lots of great tunes that we don't usually get chance to play out on our club nights.......we will be spinning a mix of newish Shoegaze, Psych Rock, Space Rock and other groovy psychedelic goodies....some you will know, others maybe not but we hope you will dig the show we have put together for broadcast. Don't forget to stock up on Rizla and Monster Munch.

Transmissions From The Psychedelic Basement goes out onwww.mixlr.com/wwwbigjafnet at 8pm GMT on 15.8.15 and will also be broadcast by our new friends from the USA Grip of Delusion Radio the next day. The full 3hrs goes out via www.gripofdelusion.com on Sunday 16.8.15 at 1pm GMT, 2pm CET and 8am EST (ideal soundtrack for a psychedelic breakfast People). No worries if you miss the original broadcasts as the show will be archived and be available for listening to at a later date (will post details about this later).

The show is going to be 3hrs of continuous music lovingly mixed together by Geoff and ourselves......there are no commercials or gabbin' between tracks, so here is a full track listing for show so you can check out the bands and buy their records......

Vibracathedral Orchestra - Es Inaceptable Para Mi
Gonjasufi - Kobwebz
Cloudland Canyon - Krautwerk
Hellstorm - Cry of the Newborn
Ultimate Spinach - (Ballad of) The Hip Death Goddess
Traffic - Freedom Rider
The Amorphous Androgynous - The Emptiness of Nothingness
White Noise Sound - (In Both) Dreams and Ecstasies
Causa Sui - Mirelle
Blitzen Trapper - Stolen Shoes & a Rifle
Chatham Rise - Autopilot,
White Glow - Unreachable Hopes,
Jetman Jet Team - Rainbow Party,
White Noise Sound - There Is No Tomorrow,
The Lucid Dream - Heading For The Waves,
The Luck of Eden Hall - A Very Large Array,
Beautify Junkyards - Radioactivity,
The Besnard Lakes - 46 Satires,
Grand Rapids - Great Shakes,
The Dalai Lama Rama Fa Fa Fa - You Make Me Crazy,
Sand Pebbles - A Thousand Flowers,
White Manna - E Shara,
Verma - Sacrifice,
Cosmic Letdown - Venera 6,
The Asteroid #4 - Rukma Vimana,
Pretty Lightning - A Gift From A Bone To A Bell,
Sun Dial - North Eastern,
Grand Rapids - Blow Up,
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Anenome,
Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions - Golden Hair,
Elephant Stone - Between The Lines,
Plastic Man - North Polar Land,
The Vickers - Love You To.

Turn On, Tune In..........er.........Trip Out

PURE PHASE ENSEMBLE 4 (feat. Mark Gardener) – LIVE AT SPACEFEST! (Nasiono Records CD, D/L)

The PurePhase Ensemble is certainly quite a unique musical concept. It’s an international music collective, created especially for the annual SpaceFest festival in Gdansk in Poland, which plays live only the once before disbanding. Each year, in the first week of December, several musicians from Poland and elsewhere take part in several workshop sessions where they collectively compose a concert's worth of music which they then present live to the festival-goers. This one-off performance is recorded and subsequently released on Nasiono Records. The programme for each workshop is jointly curated by Ray Dickaty, a British saxophonist improviser and former member of Spiritualized (1997-2002), and Polish musician/Nasiono Records label boss Karol Schwarz. Along with these two key figures, every festival involves a new musical director who is asked to co-curate the workshop. For the 2014 SpaceFest Ride guitarist/singer Mark Gardener was invited to be the musical director for the fourth incarnation of the Pure Phase Ensemble and bring his significant talent as a musician and songwriter to the project.

If you have not heard any of Mark Gardener’s music since the messy implosion of Ride back in the mid 90s this record will be a bit of an eye opener…..this line-up of Pure Phase Ensemble mix up Kosmische jams, Space Rock freak outs and swirling Shoegaze a million miles away ‘Vapour Trail’. However, this is not just Mark Gardener and some Polish guys acting as his backing band but a proper collective effort with the entire band bringing something to the party, all playing off each other and sharing the musical limelight. With the involvement of Ray Dickaty in this project there is inevitably a feel of early Spiritualized here (calling the project Pure Phase Ensemble is also a bit of a giveaway)……..the crystalline ‘Morning Rise’ emerges from a hazy drone to open the record, with chiming guitars and lazy sax intertwining it is a beautiful tune that would not sound out of place on an album like Lazer Guided Melodies. ‘Peter Song’ is in the same vain with a bouncing, dubby bass line driving the song forward amidst a sea of swirling synths and sax. This version of Pure Phase Ensemble can also rock out like a mutha and kick up a wall of noise….. ‘Zostan na noc’ is a heavy, heavy monster of a loud/quite/loud Space Rock jam with skull crushing bass, squalling sax, big rock drums and pulverizing, distorted guitar riffs crashing into more delicate passages. The centrepiece of the whole album is ‘Notatki’, an epic 15 minute Kosmische wig out which really messes with your head …….building from a clicking rhythm track and pulsing synths ‘Notatki’ initially shares a lot of musical DNA with the Harmonia track ‘Veteranissimo’. As it gains pace the drums really kick in hard building and building, pushing the tune well into the outer reaches of deep space……… when you think the track has peaked it goes again……..more far out, finding more gears and pushing harder, growing into a big, beautiful cosmic freak out. This is an absolutely fantastic track that is worth the price of admission alone. The 55 minute set closes with ‘Happy Dancing Woman’, a joyous, polyrhythmic groove driven number that is the perfect conclusion to a brilliant set of what are mainly improvised songs. The only disappointing thing about this record is that this was a one off performance never to be repeated again. This performance was recorded before the no doubt very lucrative Ride reunion shows and it will be interesting to see what direction Mark Gardener takes when that adventure reaches its conclusion……we can only hope that he is able to put a band together and make music that is exciting and forward thinking as the songs on this album.

You can get your hands on the CD of Live At SpaceFest! from the Nasiono Records website at www.nasiono.net and the digital download is available from either the Pure Phase Ensemble Bandcamp page at https://purephaseensemble.bandcamp.com/ (where there is also a link that will take you to the Nasiono Records website) or iTunes. It’s a fantastic record and a must hear for fans of bands like Spirtualized…….check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

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