Released in March 2021, this album includes lots of the band’s songs written during the pandemic era. Formed in 2011, this is the bands fourth album as they continue to hone in on their sound. They are not afraid to be melodic in any way and embrace their pop sensibilities. Songs about beaches and surfboards, with a heavy Brian Wilson influence, sit alongside more garage-type songs and imaginative guitar solos. “It’s Over” starts off the album with bells and vocal harmonies, with a huge sound to follow, including horns and regal fanfare on the chorus section. “To You I’m Bound” is a fun and catchy love song with a memorable…
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Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans | Ates
Hailing from Bergamo, Italy, Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans is a project born from an idea by Thomas Mascheroni (also guitar/voice of stoner trio Humulus), after a long series of jams inside a former barn above the hills of Lake Iseo. Thomas Greenwood and the Talismans play a psychedelic rock heavily contaminated by 70s influences, condensed into a cauldron of neo-psychedelia and West-Coast-style surfing sounds, transmitting an overwhelming energy live. After releasing two singles (‘Valley of the Sun’ and ‘Violet Hills’), the Talismans released their first album – the entirely self-produced entitled Rituals (2023). In March of this year, the band released Ates, their second full-length record. Ates is a…
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Supplemental Pill | No Easy Way Out
Sometimes it’s vexing when a new band’s press kit tells you what other bands they sound like. As a reviewer, this means you’re not able to listen to the music without prejudice. You’re going to compare the newer artist to the bands that their press agent just told you they sound like. In this case, we’re informed from the outset that we’ll like Oregon’s Supplemental Pills if we like Spacemen 3, The Velvet Underground, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. I am delighted to report that Supplemental Pills does in fact sound like those bands, but takes those influences and melds them together into something new. They are less derivative than…
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W.I.T.C.H. “Zango”
This 2023 release is the first new music from the band in over 40 years. It is also the first album since 1976 to feature front man and co-founder Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda. Joined by a younger band of European musicians who breathe new life into the music, the album retains classic elements of the band’s signature sound, even with an analog recording feel. The title “Zango” refers to a central meeting place in Zambian villages where the community can gather, and exchange ideas and learn from each other. W.I.T.C.H. recently played a free outdoor show at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in San Francisco. This “Zango” community feeling was present at…
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Kilowatt Bar 3.9.24 – My Dallas Teens, Down Dirty Shake, The Love Dimension
Another Saturday night in San Francisco, and another great psych show. DJ Mr. Robinson spun all vinyl throughout the night, starting out with some chill Ravi Shankar at door time, and building throughout the night through an eclectic mix of classic psych and modern rock music. The projections were provided by White Light Prism, a mix of post-modern collage art and optical art moires throughout all the sets. Each band got their own visual pallet, making each song unique and different looking. Often there were two smaller split screens behind the bands, juxtaposing imagery with flashing strobes of nature visuals, classic 60s psych imagery, surf imagery, and film-grain urban landscapes…
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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…
