While I'm not going to claim it to be exhaustive - this is still a pretty comprehensive list of quality Psychedelic music that emerged in 2012. This isn't one of those top *arbitrary number* countdowns - but rather a pile of the very finest herbs and spices the year had to offer - presented in no particular order. Consider it a roadmap through the last 12 months - marking some of the best spots to pull over and see the sights.
Most of these entries are linked up to artists' respective Bandcamps, or other places where you can purchase and give a listen - providing you with a long enough soundtrack for the months that it will take you to actually read all of the words I've selected to describe them.
So, please, click anywhere and everywhere - and feed, feed away...
The Spyrals — S/T — (Mock Records) — The first thing I got excited about this year came to us right on January 1st. It literally only takes about one second of "Lonely Eyes" for this track to register, and after that, it's a lesson in Rock's most prime and unspoiled elements. It's anthemic, even. The rest of the album is nearly as good, with sharp hooks that don't dig deep enough to draw blood, but can still leave a mark. It's releases like this that show you how relevant Bandcamp.com has become in aiding great musicians with zero marketing leverage.
Your Reflection — Electric Indian — (Symbol Heavy) — What initially sounds like a gimmick, turns out to be an extra-ordinary foray into a color-zapped history lesson of the American Natives shown through the lens of a wealth of meaty Moog synthesizers. The catchy riffs, muted drum machines, and samples-galore are danceable in a way that feels almost hip hop in its delivery - but above it all are squelching bellows of electric guitar abuse thick enough to have you coughing up a lung.
Your Reflection — Electric Indian — (Symbol Heavy) — What initially sounds like a gimmick, turns out to be an extra-ordinary foray into a color-zapped history lesson of the American Natives shown through the lens of a wealth of meaty Moog synthesizers. The catchy riffs, muted drum machines, and samples-galore are danceable in a way that feels almost hip hop in its delivery - but above it all are squelching bellows of electric guitar abuse thick enough to have you coughing up a lung.
They're all different pieces of the same lysergic puzzle. Just don't play with it too long - or you might absorb something you can't handle. If you're a real Oh Sees fan, you'll probably understand every word of that review -- and agree with most of them.
Goat — World Music — (Rocket Recordings) — The sleeper-keeper-album-of-the-year that is "World Music" is certainly the most interesting use of the word "fusion" this side of Gonjasufi's 2010 debut. On paper, there's no way this album works. Roaring guitars and extra down-tuned bass are mashed through filthy fuzz pedals to create something undeniably metal - but wait, what's this? Tribal chanting over hypnotic hand drums, saxophones, and bright organ lines that sound straight out of a funkified Nigerian studio, circa 1975? But how? Who knows. Who cares? As Joe Dirt's dad once explained: "...It just does." The collective is also from a tiny town in Northern Sweden, furthering the album's WTF? factor. There's a lot of mystery within these 9 songs, and they have altogether provided the most entertaining exploration of ridiculous genre collisions in recent memory. Wildly ambitious, but not in a way that grates or tries to hard. Kudos to Goat (official bandpage) for pulling off such an achievement - who you also have a chance to see in The States at APF 2013. Righteous.
Ilyas Ahmed — With Endless Fire — (Immune Recordings) — One of Ilyas' finest efforts, for sure. A lot of the space between the outer edge and the spindle-hole of this record could be called "folk drone," but the way the notes tumble from his layered guitar on tracks like "Skin in Circles" is truly lush, and has warranted many repeated listens for me since it came out back in January, so it may be worth checking out to listeners interested in the Six Organs, Grouper, Three-Lobed, Time-Lag, Digitalis side of things.
Dead Sea Apes — Lupus — (Deep Water Acres) — Manchester, England's premier space cadet rock ensemble play music so absurdly heavy that it hardly even fits into the scheme of our gravity-based reality. "Lupus" drones and echoes and punctures the time≥≤space continuum in ways that have you believing it clocks in at least double its length. Accompanying their 2012 LP, you can find the equally heavy, 3-song EP "Astral House". Get scared.
Mark McGuire — Nightshade / Surrogate Channels EP — (self-released) — Mark McGuire is still making excellent soundscapes that trickle down the sides of your brain like technicolor liquid over the stone of the fountain in your dentist's waiting room. "Surrogate Channels" is perhaps the better of the two tapes, released in tandem on November 3rd, and November 7th. On the downside, he is a major progenitor of the "limited cassette" scene that is currently experiencing an unfortunate resurgence. I personally really hope that the whole cassette craze will crash and burn in a timely manner - but luckily they were also put out as separate mp3 releases, and a pretty nice description can be found accompanying them.
Dustin Wong — Dreams Say, View, Create, Shadow Leads — (Thrill Jockey) — So I know that I'm probably alone on this one. I doubt it even made anyone else's lists - let alone held in as high of regard as me. But, after crunching numbers and tabulating stats - this might be my favorite record of the year. Every song is instantly accessible on its own, but also acts as an integral, structural piece of the unfolding journey that this album takes you on. I don't throw around the word "masterpiece" too often, but the sum of these tracks amounts to
something that is pretty close.
Debo Band — S/T — (Sub Pop) — Debo Band easily have one of the most refreshing sounds within the current '70s Afro-Revivalist microcosm - serving up an exploratory blend of vintage Ethiopian jazz-fusion with modern style-points. Extraordinarily well-realized in its delivery, this debut from the 11-piece Boston-based collective brings together all your favorite sounds from one of the most fascinating time periods in Ethiopian music (roughly 1968-'75) and give them a swinging soul for modern heads to bounce on. This is heavy-hitting dance music for lovers of a complex groove (jazz, let's say) from an authentically Ethiopian perspective. Beautifully relaxing moments swirl into intense psychedelic spirituals that can go in seemingly innumerable directions, but whatever direction that is, you can count on them going deep. I'd imagine fans of Akron/Family would enjoy.
something that is pretty close.
Debo Band — S/T — (Sub Pop) — Debo Band easily have one of the most refreshing sounds within the current '70s Afro-Revivalist microcosm - serving up an exploratory blend of vintage Ethiopian jazz-fusion with modern style-points. Extraordinarily well-realized in its delivery, this debut from the 11-piece Boston-based collective brings together all your favorite sounds from one of the most fascinating time periods in Ethiopian music (roughly 1968-'75) and give them a swinging soul for modern heads to bounce on. This is heavy-hitting dance music for lovers of a complex groove (jazz, let's say) from an authentically Ethiopian perspective. Beautifully relaxing moments swirl into intense psychedelic spirituals that can go in seemingly innumerable directions, but whatever direction that is, you can count on them going deep. I'd imagine fans of Akron/Family would enjoy.
Black Moth Super Rainbow — Cobra Juicy — (Rad Cult) — Tom Fec (A.K.A. Tobacco, A.K.A. BMSR) has been producing high-grade hipster-feed from rural Pennsylvania for about a decade now, and the releases are somehow getting better in succession. While 2004's "Start A People" will probably always be tops for me on a personal level, Mr. Fec really seems to have a grip on what people want, and how to evolve without compromising. This album is basically going to become a dancefloor banger within Buffalo Exchanges and indie clubs across the country - and regardless of what taste that puts in your mouth - Black Moth Super Rainbow are still creating thought-provoking music that is unique in the truest sense of the word. Get a dictionary definition and you'll see what I mean. I'll also think of them any time someone mentions a vocoder for as long as I live.
Peaking Lights — Lucifer — (Mexican Summer) — The third proper album from the husband and wife duo refines their sound substantially. Part of what they've always done is largely tied into hypnosis through repetition, but "Lucifer" always makes it work to their advantage. Most of the songs hover around the six-minute mark, giving them just enough time to enjoy a thorough stay in the pleasure sensors your mind, but not enough to overstay their welcome. Each track has a certain focus that previous works may have lacked. Stealing sounds from all over the map - but always filtered through a heavy layer of Dub, this is probably their most versatile release thus far. Dance to it, sleep to it, whatever's clever. Dig?
Flying Lotus — Until The Quiet Comes — (Warp) — Flylo's highly lauded "Until The Quiet Comes" is comprised of 18 songs that span a wide range of the producer's abilities - while maintaining a consistent sonic landscape that we never really depart throughout the album's 46 minute runtime. Which is something that a lot of artists in the instrumental/turntablist scene lack the scope to drum up. This is far more than a 'beats' tape, or something that's only interesting to DJs and knob-twiddlers - or even Hip Hop heads in general. Rather than just a series of technical flourishes to impress his producer-friends out there, this release contains beauty and emotion. It's got the boom-bap to start the party, with a subtlety more often associated with IDM. There is mass appeal, but with an artistic validity that's refreshing to hear within the realm of things that usually caters to 'mass appeal'. One look at the song-titles (literally, almost every one of them...) tells us that he set out to create a mind-expanding headtrip to zone in to, and he succeeded pretty well.
Lumerians — Transmissions from Telos Vol. IV — (Hands in The Dark // Permanent Records) — The Bay area mind-benders' exploits just keep going further and further. Trouble is, we can't tell if their travels are taking them (and us) deeper and deeper into the outer-most reaches of intergalactic space, or the inner-most nether-regions of the human mind. Either way, it's my guess that the two aren't that different in the first place. Be weary when diving into this one, holy cow.
Cosmonauts — If You Wanna Die Then I Wanna Die — (Burger Records) — I know I mentioned my feelings on the cassette resurrection earlier, but someone really needs to fill in Burger Records that this trend deserves no such revival. They've been slaying it with the greasy garage freakouts though, and their bigger releases - like this one - actually get presented in real formats so ya win some lose some, right? Cosmonauts' first full-length is a perfect example of these greasy garage freakouts, and is non-stop awesome from front to back. Blasting this album through my helmet on sunset motorcycle rides is a highlight of the summer, for sure.
Spanish Moss — KELP — (Burger Records // Spot-On Sound) — More Southern Cali love. From Santa Cruz, these guys' debut really seemed to strike the right chord with folks, as the reception surrounding it has been loud. Everyone loves this record. It's full of venomous guitar shredding, thumping bass, and crashing cymbals that I thought people stopped caring about in the '70s - but connects echo'd vocals and DR(((O)))NES that remind us of the current year while never sounding passé or overdone.
UFO Club — S/T — (Burger Records // Reverb Appreciation Society) — So Danny Lee Blackwell of The Night Beats and Christian Bland of The Black Angels decided they wanted to get together and play '50s and '60s-inspired pop songs and drench them in overdriven fuzz and reverb that seem to make whatever room you're in shake a little bit. So they did that, and Austin Psych Fest helped it become a recorded thing. Buy it through them.
Kadavar — S/T — (This Charming Man // Tee Pee Records) — What Kadavar does is so inexplicably entrenched in the look and feel of the '70s, there's no doubt that nerds would love to sit around drawing Mountain and Pentagram comparisons until Iommi finds his lost fingertips - but at this point, that would be useless. The sheer might and quality of this album is beyond explanations or justification. It just rocks so hard. Do you need a reason to rock this hard, when you're doing it this well? By my estimation, no. And if your quipy musical high-ness wants to write this off as "derivative", then you're surely due for a swirly in the Toilet Bowl of Life sooner than later anyway.
Flavor Crystals — Three — (MPLS Ltd) — I'm going to remember the first time I heard The Flavor Crystals for years to come. The ominous way that "Mirror Chop" starts off, easing into the motorik beat of "Ivan In The Park," which rolls seamlessly into "Boris In The Pool," had me floating in no time. And highly impressed with the emphasis on restraint these fellas use. A lot of modern space rock focuses on blunt force and shredding that doesn't always lead anywhere, but this album is something else. If you looked at the actual soundwaves - these compositions really don't have a whole lot of peaks and valleys, but you'll never miss them, as this thing goes deep without the need for bombast. 72 minutes of plodding drums and swirling waves of electricity are the landscape beneath precisely-placed notes, bouncing effortlessly from the horizon into oblivion. See it?
Smell it.
Taste it.
Yeah, taste it....
Twelve — WAR — (self-released) — Released on the last day of our Gregorian Calendar, Chris Olleys' solo project Twelve comes through with some of the most engaging electronics I've heard all year. Beat-driven, percussive elements push ever forward amidst the vast array of synthesized melodies that together, sound like mini-symphonies played by a futuristic alien orchestra.
Lightning Bolt — Oblivion Hunter — (Load Records) — This album is absolutely unhinged. Most bands these days put together about a half-hour of music and slap it with the "full-length" badge, but not Lightning Bolt. They're calling it an EP, though it's got almost 40 minutes of archival insanity from recordings made over the past few years. And they were clearly some pretty explosive sessions. "Oblivion Hunter" contains nothing but block-rocking blast-beats and walls of guitar noise that are sure to have your neighbors knocking. Your old neighbors. The ones who live in the brick house across town. The songs are loud no matter what level your volume knob is at, so buy it and revel in the glory that be...
Hush Arbors / Arbouretum split — Aureola [ltd. Record Store Day LP] — (Thrill Jockey) — If you've never given attention to Keith Woods' Hush Arbors brainchild, now's your chance to pay up. Truly some of the best music in the folk rock camp that I've heard. His soul shines right on through the fuzz and slop like beams of light through a crackling thundercloud. Meanwhile, Arbouretum's side of the record finds their kick-ass Richard Thompson-esque/take-no-prisoners-heroics in full form, and employs a guitar tone so meaty and overdriven that it almost feels like the sound of your own skull splitting right down the middle when he hits those high notes....
White Fence — Family Perfume Vol. 1-2 — (Woodsist) — Lo-fidelity yips and yowls from our semi-deranged friend Tim Presley. He hasn't done anything with Darker My Love in a while, but boy, has he been busy with White Fence. He wrote about a million solo compositions in the last year and the 'Family Perfume' two-fer compiles 29 of them for your spiraling flashback pleasure.
Ty Segall & White Fence — Hair — (Drag City) — A harrowing tale of damaged psychedelia, this is actually some of the finest work we've got from either Segall or Presley - and I think they'd both even agree with me on that. The album was on the receiving end of a good deal of hype, so you've probably already heard it and got your own opinions. In my ears though, it just doesn't contain a single clunker and has been bashing in the brains of everyone I've played it for since April, which is something we could all use a little more of, right? Though it's always hard to tell, it looks like this one will stand the test of time and be remembered as a high point in the 4th(or is it 5th? or 6th?)-wave of garage-rock resurgences.
Ty Segall Band — Slaughterhouse — (In The Red) — Coming in hot off the heels of the "Hair" collaboration, Ty Segall came back both arms a'swinging with the heaviest material we've yet seen from the guy. This time with a full band of cronies, they’ve clearly passed up the ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Pebbles’ crowd a long time ago, and are now apparently hanging with the likes of the MC5 and the Stooges. There’s also a couple slightly more subtle influences — with a fuzz-drenched and nearly unrecognizable Fred Neil cover (“That’s The Bag I’m In”), and what may be a nod to the Groundhogs on the record’s best song, “I Bought My Eyes” (Rich Man, Poor Man” lyrics, similar instrumentation, etc.) Killer artwork. Killer tunes. Killer meat.
Bad Weather Califrnia — Sunkissed — (Family Tree Recs) — Skater punks from Colorado add the golden vibes of the beach to their pointed commentary on all that's good and relevant in the world in 2012.
These songs are short and so hooky they'll get stuck in your head like they grew there. Akron / Family heard these guys and liked 'em so much they decided to release the record on their own label - but you don't need their endorsement to dig these jams. I've never said it before, but I'll say it now: anyone using saxophones in Rock is a-ok with me. (Ahem)
Celestial Bums — S/T — (self-released) — Excellent, anthemic rock inspiration from Barcelona, Spain. Four tracks averaging about 10-minutes each equal an extraordinarily memorable and straightforward album with all the fat trimmed off. High grade examples of what shoegaze-y psych build-ups á la Spacemen 3 can do for the soul.
The Sufis — S/T — (Burger Records // Ample Play) — White Fence did the same thing to me last year when "Is Growing Faith" came out. If I didn't know any better, I'da thought it was the best undiscovered album of 1967. Same thing goes for The Sufis with their self-titled debut. This stuff weaves together vintage fuzz, backwards phasing, snappy melodies, "found sounds", and reverb of every variety to create an incredibly succinct comment on what can be done with the farfisa's and tube amps of a bygone era. Things start off traditionally enough, but when tracks like "Lemming Circle Dance" and "Downtrace" sink in, they really knock this record out of the stratosphere.
MMOSS — Only Children — (Trouble In Mind) — Wow. If there ever were a disc worth putting on 2012's "Top 10" list, this one is it. The shorter tracks portray the high bar their compositional skill is at, while the long ones show you they can rock with the same abandon as any of those legendary Germanic spinsters. Get this without hesitation.
Clinic — Free Reign — (Domino) — I've been super excited all year to know that Clinic had a new record coming down the pike. Now that it's here, all you need to know is that Clinic sounds like no one else and have never put out an inferior release, so you can literally take an unbridled stab anywhere to dive into their discography and find sonic bliss. This one is far trippier than 2010's "Bubblegum", so if you love droning, paisley psychedelia in your pop music - then "Free Reign" is top shelf.
Kingdom of The Holy Sun — Jesus In India // Pharmacokinetics — (self-released) — Much like one of those Rogue STR guitars, Kingdom of The Holy Sun has six main sound-producers - but are enabled with an incalculable capacity to create whirring drones and sedated grooves enough to have any self-respecting Brian Jonestown Massacre fan believing the '60s are on their third go-around. In a measure that proves how all-around solid they are, the band produced and released three separate albums between February and June of this year - the two latest ones being my preference. Go download 'em for free and see them in Seattle.
three dimensional tanx — S/T — (self-released) — A set of demos which don't sit in the ears nearly the way you might expect demos to. This is our first exposure to the lo-key blokes from Lancaster, England - and their brand of carefree spacerock is put together so evenly that it makes us wonder how long they've refining their craft. Hard-driving wah-rock with sitar passages and lyrics about nothing and everything -- you get the picture.
Toy — S/T — (Heavenly Recordings) — A pleasantly surprising long-player from some young bucks in London, this debut is a couple of different things - all done very well. At first, I perceived a lot of '80s synthy influences - a trend everybody's doing these days which has me bored to death. But beneath these swirling New Wave swells, the click of the metronome is in charge of leading the listener through hypnotic krautrock beats while the singer croons away like a not-too-distant ghost of your cassette deck. Well done, chaps.
Beak> — Beak>> — (Invada) — Among music I actually enjoy listening to, this is the trippiest, most otherworldly thing I've heard in a long time. The production is headspinning. Every sound has this unplaceable, amorphous quality... They're there - but they're impossible to define. Angular guitar plucks sound like drum machines. What might be a bass could also be a field recording of a Martian construction site. Sometimes it just sounds like microscopic microphones were placed around the inside of a robot's body. We hear the inner workings of this robot's breathing and heartbeat. Everything can be smooth at one moment - but oftentimes - it sounds as if this robot has begun to malfunction, and things get hectic. Airy soundscapes swirl into surprisingly tough Rock-outs ("Ladies' Mile" into "Wulfstan II"). This album is unpredictable, bizarre, and inescapable. Trying to wrap your head around it only invites it to further wrap itself around YOU.
Eternal Tapestry — Dawn In 2 Dimensions — (Thrill Jockey) — Totally lysergic, out-there jams from some good ol' Nor'Westerners who know how to make it feel like your first time, every time. Recorded live with no overdubs, this is a good representation of the concerts these guys have been putting on for years. Though highly indulgent, certain sections are still pretty engaging. Check in and check out with "Wholeodome" and "Marrow of the Wand".
Circassian — Procrastinational — (self-released) — Spinalonga Records helped this EP come to fruition, but what really needs to happen, is for these Athenian rockers to get signed for real and get an album's worth of material to the ears of the masses. The 3 songs on "Procrastinational" (as well as the stuff from last year's Self-Titled) are each smashing in their own right, and show the immense potential for the band's future pursuits. They call their music torture and their influences "psuedocultured" - but spending any amount of time with them suggests that they are the real deal.
Sungod — Crash Galactic // Cuts From The Ether (Ethereal Mother // Dusty Grass Imprint)— Very impressed by the output of Sungod. Yet another addition to the growing roster of movers-and-shakers offering their vibrations to the world at no cost to you. This is a revolution, folks. And if you've been needing a meditative blend of atmospheric synth-clouds from dimensions unknown to accompany you, these boys are sending the right frequencies. Krautrock for a new dawn.
Earth — Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II — Southern Lord — Slow jams, just like the ones you danced to at your high school prom. Somehow, Earth has the uncanny ability to barely pluck their notes - yet wield heavy, heartfelt, walloping walls of sound. Walls of sound that seem to bounce off the walls of a room a little bit slower than every other soundwave you're used to. Echolocation would take days using these sounds. They break out the cello for a couple of these slogs, but if you're an Earth fan (geologically or sonically) you'll have no reason not to like part two of their Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light series. Super deluxe heavy-duty packaging from Southern Lord, too, of course.
White Manna — S/T — (Holy Mountain) — After focusing on more of the ambient/drone/experimental spectrum for the past few years, Holy Mountain picked up the The Arcata, CA group of ne'er-do-wells to unleash a spacerock freakout of a more familiar variety. This LP is teeming with energy.
MV & EE — Space Homestead — (Woodsist) — If you enjoy your folk with lots of guitar and coming from a more astral plane of existence, then rejoice to find yet another addition to the venerable Matt Valentine / Erika Elder catalogue. This one floats down the same kind of river they've been winding for the last decade. It's mostly a serene trip, but as we've come to expect, the water is liable to get a bit choppy at times. This record is a bit lighter on the experimentation, (relative to their other pursuits) and presents some of their most heartfelt and accessible material to date.
Woods — Bend Beyond — (Woodsist) — The initial single "Cali in a Cup" gave the impression that Woods' new long player wasn't going to be making any great leaps from their other albums, but tracks like "Bend Beyond," "Something Surreal" and "Size Meets The Sound" exemplify how the band is really instrumentally tighter than ever. Gone are the 7-9 minute extended jams from more recent outings - but they aren't exactly missed when Jeremy Earl's songwriting is also riding its' peak. The lyrical themes aren't as light-hearted as the sugary melodies suggest, but the album is an easy-going listening experience with enough background subtleties to warrant repeated spins.
Gunn-Truscinski Duo — Ocean Parkway — (Three-Lobed) — Visceral, meandering surf music. Some of the best you'll ever hear.
Various Artists — Eight Trails, One Path — (Three-Lobed) — An intriguing comp of acoustic guitar tunes for the most current scholars of the Fahey / Basho school of wisdom. LP features excellent letter pressed, matchbook folded packaging. The trails these eight men travel have been well tread, but not worn out. Introspective and expansive at the same time. Requires a slow-cooker of a frontal lobe.
Various Artists — Head Music — (Fruits De Mer) — The Fruits De Mer label has undoubtedly stamped some of the most immediate and true psychedelic music of this year or any other, but since it's almost always in the form of 7" singles, you aren't reading about it here. But when they do get around to throwing together a full-length, it is with precision and zeal. "Head Music" could very well be the best album in this list, but good luck ever being able to hear it - as it was only released on Double LP with bootleg downloads being a lot harder to track down than one might expect (read: nonexistent). In celebration of the iconic BRAIN label's 40th anniversary, (I always said '72 was the best year for Krautrock) the compilation brings together a slew of specially recorded European artists from the modern day to rework their favorite old German show tunes....Or something like that. New bands like Electric Moon, The Bevis Frond, Vibravoid, and Black Tempest are covering first wave innovators like Tangerine Dream, Amon Düül, Electric Sandwich, Kraftwerk and Klaus Shulze. If these tunes were any loonier, you'd end up in the bin.
Can — The Lost Tapes — (Mute // Spoon) — This list was initially going to completely exclude any reissues of old recordings - simply because there are so many incredible, high-quality ones circulating the market. It's almost impossible to even keep track anymore (but some reliable favorites come from labels like 4 Men with Beards, Rise Above Relics, Secret Stash, Mississippi Records, Now Again, Shadoks, Nosmokerecords, Soundway, and Analog Africa) . But mentioning The Can Lost Tapes is unavoidable. The compilation provides a plume of fresh smoke from one of the most influential bands of all time - and displays the remarkable creativity, virtuosity and honed skill that could really only exist within this limited time and place. It's insights into a group of individuals' unused body of work like these, that truly shows how tight they were in their heyday.
Well, your head is now sufficiently whirling. Good.
Soak it all in.
Cheers, Love, thanks for watching, listening, being you, etc, etc.
see yew next year!
