PSYCH COLLECTOR
Blow My Mind!: The Doré-era-mira Punk & Psych Legacy (★★★★
Munster) compiles top moments from 45s released in the 60s by the three labels in its subtitle. It offers heaps of fun, be this delivered with the aid of organs, harmonicas or a whole lotta yelping. Highlights include the cowbell break on Ty Wagner’s Slander and The Motion’s vivid tale of being mugged on the sidewalk. The appearance by The Outlaw Blues lasts under three minutes. Bit of a shame, given it’s called Non-stop Blues. The groove they hit sounds like it could’ve rattled on eternally. Extra points for some of the band names on this double LP. The Puddin Heads? The Tormentors? Basil & The Baroques? As if they won’t deliver the goods.
Following his stint in The Vagrants, Leslie West recorded a solo album with Felix Pappalardi who’d produced Disraeli Gears by Cream. Their next step together was to form a powerquartet, named after that solo LP: MOUNTAIN. There’s a no-nonsense vibe to 1970’s Climbing! (★★★
Music On Vinyl). The boys rock as hard as any hard rock group should. The drums thud rather than soar. Opportunities for guitar solos are never missed. Some listeners might wonder whether Pearl Jam had in mind the lead licks of Silver Paper when writing Dissident some twenty years later. Overall, it’s good stuff rather than great. Y’know, like Led Zeppelin or whoever. (Please don’t write in.)
After he left a certain progressive rock band from Canterbury, Robert Wyatt formed MATCHING MOLE. Their name sounds a bit like the French phrase “machine molle”. Translate that and you get... “soft machine”. LOL! The first of their two albums, Matching Mole (★★★★★
Music On Vinyl) begins with the gorgeously pastoral O’caroline. When not wailing wordlessly on this LP (now with a second disc of bonus content), Wyatt comments on what he’s up to, in a postmodern fashion. The words and music might work better, he concludes, if Caroline was still in the picture. On Signed Curtain he ponders aloud, in that high voice of his, whether he’s singing the bridge, verse, chorus or another bit of the song. If that makes its lyrics sound unfinished, wait until the poignant denouement in the final lines, where Wyatt admits he’s lost faith in his own song, “Cos it won’t help me reach you...” For those more partial to heavy, jazzy and instrumental material, Part Of The Dance is a powerful nine-minute jam. The band let themselves even looser elsewhere.
SANULLIM were a South Korean group formed by three brothers in the 70s and their output is being reissued for the first time outside of their native country. While punk was breaking in the West, this trio were churning out fuzzy, tuneful psychedelic rock with spiky guitar solos aplenty. 1977’s Volume 1: Already Now
(★★★ Guerssen) got the ball rolling. Stick with it because the LP’S B-side is livelier than the first, peppered as it is with commanding basslines and frisky keyboard motifs. On Volume 2: Spread Silk On My Heart (★★★★
Guerssen) the trio hit their stride. The leap is apparent from the first track’s lengthy, confident and absorbing intro. This time the recording is meatier, to boot. Vol. 3: My Heart (My Soul Is A Wasteland) (★★★★ Guerssen) has another great opener and its second side is filled with one massive piece which couples Blue Cheer stomp with proggier aspirations. The same label has curated a handy 2LP compilation of songs from Sanullim’s 1979-83 period, Evening Breeze
(★★★★ Guerssen), so there’s really no excuse to miss out on their
Korean chops.
Two limited re-pressings have been exhumed from the vaults of SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN, an Oakland collective based around core duo Will Halsey and Ash Reiter. The reissues come from 2013 and 2016 but sound more like time capsules from the late 60s. Mystic Hits
(★★★ Sugar Candy Mountain) and 666 (★★★ Sugar Candy Mountain) showcase the group’s sophisticated and varied forms of kitsch. Some listeners will get right on board with the way SCM’S lushness brushes politely against the fuzz. Others might shrug their shoulders like Alan Partridge and return to the source material that’s influenced the group. Truth be told, a record named 666 should sound a lot more EVIL.
It started in the late 80s. There was a modest revival in the new millennium, involving bands like Ringo Deathstarr. (Remember them?) Then My Bloody Valentine finally finished their third album and likeminded acts reformed to perform for bigger audiences than ever before. That’s right, baby. Shoegaze is back.
And this time Damon Albarn can do nothing to stop it, cor blimey. Seattle’s SOMESURPRISES are led by Natasha El-sergany who’s built the project from a bedroom folk affair to the sonic ocean it now resembles. There’s been a five-year break since their last record but the material on Perseids (★★★★ Doom Trip) suggests nobody’s been twiddling their thumbs. The songs have been skilfully crafted. That’s in terms of both the writing itself and the crucial decorative effects. Elsergany’s voice floats at just the right level in the mix: loud enough to hear her thoughts and feelings; not so dominant that it would risk overshadowing the instrumentation. On the title track, Jessika Kenney recites a poem about the redemptive power of music. If you ain’t behind that sentiment, you’re probably reading the wrong magazine, kiddo.