It’s been a
while……… After an almost 10 year haitus Cleveland PsychHeads New Planet Trampoline have finally completed their double LP Psychedelic Rock opus, Dark
Rides And Grim Visions, that they left unfinished back in 2008. Originally breaking
out of the Cleveland local Psych scene around the turn of the millennium, the
band followed a string of self-released EPs with the Elephant Stone Records
released The Curse Of The New Planet Trampoline album in 2004. The band extensively
toured the record before taking an extended break to focus on other projects.
New Planet Trampoline finally reformed
for what was meant to be a one-off performance of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the
Gates of Dawn at a local Halloween show in 2013 and the unexpected,
overwhelming reaction to this lead to an invitation to reprise the Piper set at
The Committee to Keep Music Evil’s kick-off show for Austin Psych Fest in 2014.
Revived and inspired, the group headed into the studio to resume sessions on
Dark Rides And Grim Visions, the album they had begun writing back in 2005. Released
by Stow House Records, the album is a collision of the West London and West
Coast Psychedelic scenes circa 1967/68 and veers between intricate Psych/Pop,
raging Garage/Punk and multi-part Prog/Psych epics, packing its 69 minutes with
melodic, experimental and lyrically cryptic songs.
Sharing an
affinity for British Psychedelic and Progressive rock, New Planet Trampoline
take inspiration from Pink Floyd and the late 60s/early 70s Canterbury scene
with a sound that is a mixture of swirling, organ-driven drones and spaced-out
guitars. Add to this elements of the West Coast sounds of the Doors, Love, The
Electric Prunes and the Byrds plus the lysergic pop of newer bands such as the
Flaming Lips then you have a pretty potent brew of headswirling, tripped out
Psych Rock. Along with the obvious Pink Floyd/Soft Machine/Caravan influences, there
are some wonderful far-out acid laced Pop Psych tunes on this record………..it’s
kaleidoscopic Neo-Psych passed through a multi-coloured filter of 60s
influences as New Planet Trampoline showcase their unique twisted spin on the
Psych/Garage genre…….’Confidence Man’ and ‘Nervous Intuition’ pits Arthur Lee’s
Love against the fairground swirl of the Doors in epic Psych Rock wig-out’s
from the Nuggets stable while the gorgeous harmonies and Acid Folk jangle of ‘This
Is the Morning’ evoke the pre-Country Rock Byrds at their best. There is a
modern Psychedelia feel of the archetypal 60s Psych influenced bands such as
the Black Angels on ‘Dark Ride’, ‘Ex-President’ and ‘Grim Visions’ which are some
of the coolest new Psych tunes we have heard this year. New Planet Trampoline
are at their best when they stretch out and really explore a tune……clocking in
at nearly 10 minutes long ‘Acts of Mania’ is a blissed out meeting of minds
between Syd Barrett and Jerry Garcia as the track twists and turns in rarefied
air and the multi-part ‘Nearly Finished Face’ is classic Floyd meets proto-Prog
Rock as the band show off their BritPsych influences. New Planet Trampoline
will no doubt be a band that many of you will not be familiar with, but check
them out People as Dark Rides And Grim Visions is an excellent record and one
for all you PaisleyHeads out there……….seriously recommended.
Out now,
Dark Rides And Grim Visions is available as 2 x vinyl LP, CD and as a digital
download. The vinyl can be purchased by your turned on local psychedelic record
store or the usual on-line retailers (Amazon etc)…………you can also get yer hands on
the LP, CD and download direct from the New Planet Trampoline Bandcamp page here https://newplanettrampoline.bandcamp.com/album/dark-rides-and-grim-visions
where you can stream the album.
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