Oakland-based Everyone Is Dirty is best described in their own words: “violin-driven post punk”. These words could not have been better exemplified than by their 2023 release, Caramels For Grandpa. I went into this album completely blind – I was unfamiliar with the band and their sound. Their name and the album title told me two different stories, and I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from Caramels For Grandpa, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the album. Everyone Is Dirty is comprised of Sivan Lioncub (vocals and violin), Chris Daddio (guitar), and Tyler English (bass). The writing credits on this album are primarily shared by Daddio and Lioncub.…
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Cowboy Grooves and Psychedelia – Pretty Lightning’s Night Wobble
Coming to you straight from Saarbrücken, Germany is Pretty Lightning’s newest album – Night Wobble. This new LP is the German trio’s second instrumentals-only album, but it is their sixth full-length project to date. I was offered to take a listen to this project before its official release and invited to take a sonic journey through an “oozy, woozy cowboy groove”, as described by the band. Night Wobble is a fun psychedelic fusion album – the band says the album is “dusty spaghetti-western psychedelia, Tuareg-derived desert-blues, library music and ’70s progressive”. Just based on the description alone, I was super stoked to get my headphones on and sit with the…
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Elephant Stone: Back Into The Garage – Demos and Unreleased Tracks
The Canadian psychedelic band Elephant Stone has released a follow-up of sorts to their 2024 album Back Into The Dream – an album of the remains of “what could have been”. Back Into The Garage is comprised of the home demos that frontman Rishi Dhir created during the writing process for Back Into The Dream during Christmas 2021. Dhir calls the album a “collection of charmingly imperfect songs” and a “sneak peek into [his] creative process”. This 10-track album is a delicious display of Dhir’s composition and creative abilities. Back Into the Garage is my first introduction to Rishi Dhir and Elephant Stone. Though listening to an album of demos…
