21st century psychedelia

What does it mean to be psychedelic in the 21st century?  Or maybe a better question is, what does it mean to be 21st century psychedelic?

via disenfranchisedfm.com

It's hard to say exactly what’s happening with Tame Impala -- something like really smooth, introspective melodies that I’m willing to bet closely mimic brain-wave activity. I’m actually hesitant to classify them under psychedelic rock, what with all the baggage (historical and otherwise) that term carries. I think a more appropriate term is cerebral. They produce cerebral music, both in lyrical content and instrumental effect.

However you’d like to think about their sound, you’ll certainly feel tripped out, even if you’re not sure how or why. It’s great lazy/chill music, but you’ll also find in it a type of vibrancy that is so outrageously beautiful, you’ll want to listen to them over and over again. Tune in on a summer evening, drink beer, let it play, fall asleep. Tame Impala.

via genius.com

So they only have two full studio albums out -- which is both kinda bad and also not such a big deal. Bad because they’re original and great and we all want more; not such a big deal because their music really doesn't ever get boring -- go through an album once and just replay it. That’s the beauty about music that has the potential to inspire other-worldly experiences. It just does not get old.

Why I really like one of Iron and Wine's songs

Because it’s so illuminating when I generalize over whole artists and/or albums, I thought I might treat everybody and use this post to focus on a specific track off a specific 2007 album that I think is particularly noteworthy. The track is “Carousel,” off of Iron and Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog, and it is both just enough Iron and Wine to tolerate (while still maintaining that neo-folk rusticity that all the folkheads love)  and almost entirely unlike other tracks so as to be surprisingly refreshing.

Right about now, you might be objecting, “Hey! Iron and Wine is great!” And to that objection I say I will respectfully bite my tongue. Don’t mistake my ambivalence for ignorance -- I do recognize that there’s top-tier musicianship at work here. And while I can be swooned into heavenly twilight by some of these melodies as easily as the next, I feel that Beam recycles imagery so much (innocence, naked people, pastoral settings, rusticy things, etc.) that it just simply isn't effective anymore.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, we can get right down to it. Carousel is just an all-around fantastic song, start to finish. Here’s why: it’s nearly the perfect distribution of light and shade, both in terms of lyrical content and progression (and that always adds a level of texture to the song otherwise missing); back to its lyrical content -- the profundity of the themes explored in the song is understated enough to be both relatable and abstract (recipe for cerebral elation); and finally, it’s just one of those songs that has the potential to give you the “aha moment,” as only music, literature, and (perhaps) religion can do -- a moment of total euphoria and clarity, which is simultaneously transcendent and grounded in reality. Probably a feeling you’ll never forget if you’re lucky enough to experience it. And the beauty about music is that it’s the perfect trigger for nostalgia. Now, this may be good or bad, depending on your perspective, but my personal opinion is that it’s one of the most mysterious and powerfully overwhelming experiences an individual can have; a brief glimpse at the heart of life through the superficiality of the mundane.

So here’s to your “aha moment,” whenever and whyever that may be.

via albumoftheyear.org

Listen to White Denim. Now.

keyword: Austin, TX; 4-piece; denim, dungarees, sans color (i.e white)

It was only less than a year ago that I read White Denim’s name on a silly nonsensical list of bands that “probably wouldn't exist if not for Led Zeppelin" floating around the Internet (see link at bottom of page). No doubt Zeppelin influenced them all in one way or another, but why not “bands that independently are worthy of your investigation?” But hey, it got my attention. So maybe not such a bad editorial technique after all.

Ah, the staggeringly sweet, sweet sounds of White Denim. It isn’t very often one encounters a group of musicians who can trade off between each other rapid, seamless changes inflected at moments with furious intensity, and keep it lighthearted, graceful, and seemingly “easy.” But these guys do it so well. God damn, are they good. There’s so much happening in one song, it has the potential to come off as an absolute frenzy. Yet somehow it feels like one, unified statement; each part has its place. And when it’s finished, your instinct is to release a long, satisfied sigh.

 (via www.austinchronicle.com)

And if part of you wants to attribute this to “studio syndrome” (only good by virtue of studio clean-up and decoration -- I made up the term, bear with me), I can tell you that their live shows are bone-rattling. They are shockingly exhilarating, and be forewarned that you may at some point weep. I had the opportunity to see them in Ann Arbor, MI during one of their tours, and the hours spent listening to their discography paid off. Tremendously. Adding to my glowing review of the evening, James Petralli (lead singer/guitar) was an absolute delight, humoring me by answering my probing questions about mysterious song titles, lyrics etc., which, by the way, is probably never a good idea to ask about. But I had three beers in me and I was feeling cocky and confident.

Their latest, Corsicana Lemonade, is just as good an introduction as any. And by the end of the track of the same name, if you don’t already know the local geography and nomenclature of Texas, that giant fucking state, you will -- and what’s more, you’ll feel homesick for it. Sadly, I’m not sure what else to expect from White Denim at the moment -- James was *strategically* terse when I questioned about a follow-up album.

www.buzzfeed.com/spotify/bands-that-wouldnt-exist-without-led-zeppelin

The Bearded Ones

http://thebudosband.bandcamp.com/album/burnt-offering

I'll start with some kind of witty reference to the cover: Can you smell the ominous, heretical reek coming off this album? If anything, its title -- Burnt Offering -- gives you the sense that the group is intentionally trying to piss off some higher power by charring whatever offering they're putting up on the pyre. 

Does that work?

They are The Budos Band -- according to one band bio (last.fm), a derivative of los barbudos, Spanish for "the bearded ones." And so we have a killer album title, and an even better group name -- alone almost enough to pull me in.

If you shamefully judged the album by its cover (like me), not to worry. The content is sure to surpass your already-high expectations. Call it neo-funk fusion, Afro-funk, proto-Afro-funk rock jazz, or Afro-funk rock, their sound is an astounding mash-up of Ethiopian, funk, and jazz-influenced instrumentalism that is so full of energy, I'm certain you'll be caught off guard. I can only describe the sound as abrasive but smooth, full-bodied and organic, something like what the utter bliss of cosmic background noise would sound like if we could detect the wavelength directly with our ears, unadulterated and pure.

I'm waxing poetic, but this group really is quite unlike anything I've heard coming of age within the last decade or so -- mostly because they sound and feel like a group whose heyday was three decades earlier. But alas, they're out of NY, and they released their self-titled first album in 2005. I can't take credit for this discovery; a good friend of mine passed them along to me, and I've been obsessively listening ever since. Their most impressive quality -- and what I think truly makes them a superior group -- is that, according to the autobiography on their website (and the ethos of their label), they record only in analog, and in live takes. So if they are on point and really hitting it hard, you can actually feel it. And if someone misses a note, they'll leave it in -- so you'll feel that too. They're humanizing the music, and that makes it unique, organic -- they don't have to say they really care about what they're doing, because look at all the shit they go through to record an album.

I could write much more about them, but you'll just have to listen. This album is great, but they have a pretty extensive discography, all of which is in keeping with everything I've said here. If you start with Burnt Offering, I recommend "The Sticks." It's my favorite, and it'll give you an idea of just how good this band can be. 



The Rolling Stones?

Organ, sitar (trippy), mellow/melancholic -- Smiths-esque, punk-esque, rock-pop-esque. ‘90s?

Alright, my first official post will feature this really fantastic group that popped up unexpectedly during a spotify radio session -- The Brian Jonestown Massacre. While their moniker puts into question the fabric of reality that is current events and pop culture from the last half-century -- pulling of course from the mass cult suicide of the early '70s, and none other than Brian Jones, guitarist for an early rendition of the Rolling Stones -- ya gotta love it. Something about it seems very '90s, doesn't it? Fitting, because they got together at the start of the iconic decade. And I've already learned something from this group -- that no matter how smart you think you are, the term shoegaze will creep up on you and strike you down, very harshly. I thank the shuffle feature of many a radio streaming program (likely some algorithm that I don't understand) for illuminating the gift that is the BJM.

If you need more proof that these guys love the Stones, check out their fourth album:

How many requests can satanic majesties possibly have? Do they only make requests of Brit-blues/pop rock ensembles and/or those who fall in with them? The answer to the former is two (that we know of -- see The Rolling Stones ca. 1968). The answer to the latter is probably irrelevant -- and think, we’re not even certain if these requests belong to those satanic majesties, or if they’re the ones doing the requesting (hint: a careful look at both covers will underscore current confusion).



They don't sound exactly like the Stones, which actually legitimizes all of this Stone-code. There is something withheld but confrontational about their style, because it seems to move freely between the genre it belongs to and the genre it pays homage to. They still keep it totally authentic, and I’d peg them as a beautiful '90s neopsychedelic gem, eclipsed probably by the likes of Oasis and others in that vein, with a rich (there's sitar!) but subtle sound that makes you want to live in the past, but glad you're around to hear these musicians. Sometimes you feel like you're underwater listening to them, and other times you feel like you're blinded by the sun. Sometimes you're just left in awe by the quality of musicianship. They are definitely worth checking out if you love the '60s, The Stones, or '90s genre mixup phenomena.