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…
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Knockout 10.27.23 – Psyched! Fest 2023. Reckling, Annabelle Chairlegs, Daydream Twins, The Grizzled Mighty and WIFE
I attended Psyched! Fest 2023 show at the Knockout on October 27th, one of multiple shows sponsored by Psyched! Radio SF. This was the sixth show in their series of shows in San Francisco. This was the smallest of all the shows, showcasing bands in a smaller and more intimate venue, where they could interact with the crowd in all their Halloween costumes. There was a DJ set by 13 Angels, playing some good standards like The Smiths and others, to set the mood of the show in between sets, “spinning melodic enchantments that will transport you to otherworldly dimensions,” but it’s also hard to hear the DJ at the…
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Aoife Nessa Frances has returned with a new album, Protector
Aoife Nessa Frances has returned with a new album, Protector, on Partisan records. Starting off the album is the calm track, “Way to Say Goodbye.” The soothing vocals are mixed over a mid-tempo beat, with a creative use of brass and strings that softly creep up in the mix, which opens the door to the rest of the album. “This Still Life” has a similar vibe and production. “Emptiness Follows” has a fantasy acoustic-type vibe with shimmering keyboards and/or mellotron. Harps and Brass accentuate the chorus, giving it a timeless feel and the hearing of music on a grand scale. The next track, “Only Child” features a toe-tapping minimal beat,…
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C.ROSS’s new full length album “Skull Creator”
Story by: Matt Robeson Martin Skull Creator is the new album by C. Ross (Chad Ross) of the Canadian bands Comet Control, Quest for Fire, Nordic Nomadic, and the Deadly Snakes. Recorded at the Balloon Factory in Vancouver, British Columbia by Joshua Wells, the album has a very cosmic acoustic style production that permeates across the album as a whole. Each song is uniquely different. However, the lush, mellow production dresses each track differently, like they were all cut from the same mold. This would be a soundtrack to a rainy morning, with chill vocals resting perfectly atop the lush acoustic production of each track. Sweeping synths on some of…
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Return of the Bay Area Psychedelic Rock Scene
"As the sun set through the clouds over Haight street, the faint sound of a Turkish drum being played can be heard in the distance amongst all the tourists, hippies, and street bohemians of the neighborhood. The Milk Bar is hosting a modern psychedelic show with bands on the bill this evening, and things were shaping up to be a nice return to form for the Bay Area psych rock scene"
