3 Jun 2013

Bandcamp Reviews Roundup

We've got a nice selection of new discoveries for you to check out today - all available through Bandcamp (some in hard formats too of course).

Wheat Fields - Saturnalia
There's a prosperous new psychedelic scene happening in Australia right now, with new bands popping up on what seems like a daily basis. Wheat Fields may well be the best of these that I've heard lately, and their debut "name your price" E.P should be hopped upon immediately by all of you.
Opener "Let's Play" is reminiscent of more well known exports ( Tame Impala & Pond specifically) - woozily hallucinogenic with a killer melody that's immediately familiar. There's a nice ebb and flow evident throughout, lovely textures, and the strong melodic content is nicely balanced by some quite delectable jamming (check out the lovely "Riders on the Storm" style intro on "Let's Play Some More").
Massively promising. Big things beckon.
Available here.
Listen here:


Buried Feather - Buried Feather
Another piece of prime Australian psychedelia, this time from Melbourne four piece Buried Feather.
The Feather (if I may be so familiar) are a rather exciting prospect, mixing the strict Motorik tempos of Neu with droning Spiritualized style space rock, huge, sludgy guitar breaks and plenty of moody proggish keyboard work. And while the more insistent Kraut style numbers may be those that grab the attention to start with, the slower numbers - "Weekends" in particular - have a slowburning intensity that's every bit as hypnotic, and awash with a beautiful dreamy psychedelia.
Available here.
Listen here:

Invisible Ships - Lucy Dream / Acid Tide
We head to the UK now, and this very promising debut single from Kent based outfit Invisible Ships who offer psychedelic rock with muscular production and some nice subtle surf touches in the guitar work.
A-side "Lucy Dream" is an anthemic rocker with a melodic pop heart and some nice cascading guitars while B-side "Acid Tide" is a boisterous piece of instrumental spy movie raucousness with enough garage muscle to ensure that it doesn't sound like a sixties retread.
It'll be interesting to hear where they go from here.
Available here.
Listen here:


Kikagaku Moyo - Kikagaku Moyo
Go Kurosawa of popular Japanese psychedelic space rockers Deigen has a new side project with Kikagaku Moyo (Geometric Patterns), although he plays drums for this outfit rather than guitar.
Tribal psychedelia which takes it's cues from German bands like Amon Duul and Can as much as the more recent Japanese psychedelic scene, Kikagaku Moyo's origins as a sort of free-psychedelia experiment would perhaps lead  you to expect something a little more chaotic than the well structured fare on display here. The combination of inventive improvisation and effortless melody instead brings to mind the Amazing and Dungen, who also share a similar vintage mindset. "Zo No Senaka" is the early stand out with it's loping stoner rhythm (think Flower Travelin' Band covering Captain Beyond), while the more exploratory nature at show on the likes of  "Tree Smoke" and "Lazy Stoned Monk" offers plenty of welcome diversions too. There's even room for a big "Gish" style riff rocker with "Dawn". Nice.
Available here.
Listen here:


No comments:

Post a Comment