Al Lover :: Heavy Hippies–Cheapdrugsfreelove

I seriously doubt the drugs are cheap, or the love free…on this world…maybe they still are in San Francisco, where producer Al Lover is back and the tunes are cheap…in cost only. Thoroughly rich with his fusion of garage/psych rock and hip-hop, the beats are dirty, sweet, earthy and spacey. Heavy Hippies–Cheapdrugsfreelove is the ‘unofficial’ 2nd part to Satanic Tambourines that dropped at the end of ’11. Pushing the psych side of the mash a bit more, from the swinging snippets of vocals and ramblings that link some cuts to the all out swirling immersion of Mind Melt 1400 A.D. Swag, Cheapdrugsfreelove has a gritty propulsive swagger and grind. Walking Through the Sludge of Infinite Dischord favors a swampy menacing stomp, while other cuts push the dynamics from the groovy (Death Ride in San Francisco) to the outer limits (17 Dimensions of Teeth). Al Lover doesn’t skimp on sampling from all kinds of psych and offshoots, using the beats as both throbbing momentum and spine. Though it’s a trip and trippy, Cheapdrugsfreelove has more in line with the flip side of the party coin. Running up and down that spine is a morning after, dark side of the trip vibe that teeters on that manic ride that ends up in flames, brought full frontal on The People and the Drug, a Dynamic. There’s got to be a low for there to be a high, and that’s played out in the dynamics to the self-professed ‘off kilter bad vibe psych made only of samples, drugs and occult magic.’ If the idea of taking psych rock and stewing it up with hip hop puts you off, let the idea of both going and being used where they aren’t normally calm your nerves. Al Lover bypasses an über-produced sheen, favoring a dirtier and more combustible air where the two can catch fire and work it out. Cheapdrugsfreelove is layer upon layer of sonics, but Lover’s two main ingredients are mixed up and whipped together so the separation of the two becomes, at the least, unimportant. It’s a heady and heavy ride all the way through, snaking it’s way up and down, in and out. Plans are being made for Al Lover to take another ride this summer with Al Lover & The Haters on the road as well as more musical trips coming down the pike, including the recent Austin Psych Fest 2012 Mixtape.

Death Ride in San Francisco :: Al Lover :: Heavy Hippies–Cheapdrugsfreelove (2012, Al Lover)

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