Fruit de Mer Records go into even deeper water with their new project, Strange Fish. Promised to satisfy those yearning for more of the goods found on releases like Head Music and Roqueting Through Space, Strange Fish have five releases planned…For those who dig “…Neu!, Klaus Schulze, 70s Tangerine Dream, the Brain and Ohr labels, extended prog rock tracks, acid-james, side-long ambient pieces, electric/acoustic guitar + electronics tracks…”
Check Fruits de Mer Records for release/order info and a roster of artists that will be swimming between your ears. FdM’s YouTube conduit has excerpts from all their upcoming bounty of the sea…again…
One-man psych pop shoppe Beaulieu Porch (Simon Berry) is satisfying the sweet tooth again with an autobiographical ‘real life psych pop odyssey’ that carries TheBeatles infused finery of Beaulieu Porchforward, and carves a couple new facets into Lucy’s diamonds. All the detail and watery lushness of the self-titled are here in abundance; high lilting vocalsreading the signposts to ‘be your guide to the other side,’ effortless hooks spilling out and intimate pop mastery virtually bubbling up at every turn. In every way a worthy successor to the self-titled debut, We Are Beautiful revels in the fertile soil that gave rise to indelible pop poppies of the ’60s, furthering that tradition while extending Berry’s grasp—and love—of it, as well as his own output. Golda 03 kicks of the odyssey in the fine form expected, but also signals more twists in the licorice. Golda 03 has a stop-start pace that doesn’t disrupt the flow, but adds a new light to Beaulieu Porch’s shimmering vibe. The exceptional The View From Gainsborough moves so freely and naturally that it’s airborne out of the gate, giving an aerial view of the ‘starlit ocean.’ Here though, the guitar cuts a bit deeper and highlights a slightly thicker sound throughout We Are Beautiful. By no means a radical shift, or even a jettisoning of what makes Porch go down so smoothly, but a slight coalescing that makes the chewing even more satisfying. It’s a subtle addition that dovetails right in, made clearer on the lysergic swirl and pop maelstrom of Anno Domini, the carousel chug of Daylight Faces or the fiery ride-out of the shape-shiftingcloser If. Contrasted with cuts like thewonderfully hazy waking-edge of The Narcissists or the gentle ricochet-dancing of planets and atoms in Of Particles, the small-scale escalation of dynamicsmakes the whole ridea touch moreimmediate without any abruptness. In the case of Beaulieu Porch and Berry’s role as psych-pop ferryman floating you downstream, the gently lit sparklers and flare-ups make the sounds, colors and the traditional pop aspects of his vision even more kaleidoscopic without being blinding, or blind-sideing you.
The Warlocks are hitting the road and gearing up for their 8th release, Skull Worship, due this fall on on their own Zap Banana. In the works for 2 years, head Warlock Bobby Hecksher says of Skull Worship:
“We went for a heavier psychedelic feel a la Blue Cheer and maybe Red Crayola. A few songs go into acoustic territory as well maybe something like T Rex and early acoustic David Bowie. Other songs yet turn to Hawkwind, Neu! and experimental rock for inspiration. Pretty much inspired by simple changes with complex guitar fingering.”
Gig info, culminating at The Austin Psych Fest, can be found at The Warlocks.
Eat Lights Become Lights have drawn up plans and finished construction for Modular Living, due July on wax (Great Pop Supplement) and through the wonders of 0s & 1s (Rocket Girl). ELBL have also eased the weight with a live offering of cuts from Autopia and Heavy Electrics from The Windmill in Brixton available via their Bandcamp outpost. If that’s not enough to ease the weight of modern living, be sure to find comfort with Life In The Sprawl.
I’m honored to duet with the incomparable Jamie of Love & Other Crimes for WRIR‘s Record Store Day Crawl at Deep Groove (10 a.m.)…come see my Mutt to his Jeff…or your other fave WRIR DJ as they will be out and about Richmond on RSD at our other fine purveyors of wax. Check WRIR for more info as it all gets tighter. Hope to see you at Deep Groove and beyond.
Believe it…Bakery Records, home of Todd Parker & The Witches, Tadpoles, Wigdoor and most recently the long-awaited co-conduit for Tony Mentzer‘s vast catalog, is stepping up to the plate for WRIR, home of Sunrise Ocean Bender, during our fund drive. If you don’t know, the show took its name, and in many ways part of its spirit, from said Tadpoles song. A song, and band, that has had big impact on what goes on around here. And now, Bakery Records is making its own impact on WRIR and asking you to do the same.
Make a difference for independent radio, for independent media, for independent voices…not just in our outpost here in Richmond, but across the globe…and if Bakery Records and I have anything to say about it, across the universe.
All of them.
Here is your flight plan:
During WRIR’s ’13 Spring Fund Drive, if you donate $50 or more you not only get the sweet new WRIR t-shirt, but you’ll get 7 CD’s from one of America’s finest,
PLUS, the opportunity to take a whiff of Tony Mentzer‘s seminal Smell My Finger
Ethel Had A Raincoat, from Smell My Finger:
All you have to do is donate $50 or more online at WRIR,say you dig Sunrise Ocean Bender (so we know who you are…don’t forget) and we’ll ensure the baked goods get to you. With an overwhelming whiff of gratitude and the knowledge that you waved your freak flag high–very high–for a worthy cause.
Scotland’s The Cosmic Dead get reanimated—sort of—with an upcoming 2LP re-release of their ’11 self-titled via Leeds-based Cardinal Fuzz Records. The Cosmic Dead is another tasty slice in an already delicious run of limited edition releases from Cardinal Fuzz. If ever there was an opus deserving of a wax job, this is it. If you’re not familiar with The Cosmic Dead, or this monster of a record, here’s your chance. And you better grab it. As with other Cardinal releases, like the recent outstanding Gnod/Black Bombaim live leviathan, Black Gnod, the unhinged jamfest from Bristol’s The Heads, Inner Space Broadcasts Vol. 1, and the sweet pairing of Black Tempest and Dead Sea Apes, it’s sure to evaporate quickly. Cardinal Fuzz came out of the gate hard and fast and established an impeccable track record immediately that shows no signs of stopping. Access to the recent tour-only/RSD Mugstar epic, Centralia is in the works as well as a rare live outing from Sweden’s Hills. All good reasons to stand up and testify for the Cardinal.
The skinny and more upcoming release info is available at Cardinal Fuzz, and via their Facebook outpost. Official release April 8th.
Spice Melange Spectrum :: The Cosmic Dead :: The Cosmic Dead (2013, Cardinal Fuzz)
…Overhang Party is criminally overlooked. From the heavily psychedelic noise-rock of their first album to the piano-rock anthems of 4, Overhang Party was somehow impossibly consistent and seamless. This box set flows as an even, open document of this fearless and inventive Japanese rock group…The Complete Studio Recordings of Overhang Party includes each of their studio albums (each with a bonus track) and their unreleased final recording sessions. While this 4 CD set is sure to please aficionados of Japanese underground rock The biggest surprise, however, will be for the uninitiated who can finally confront the groups emotional depth and stylistic breadth head on…
As encompassing as it is exhilarating, Complete Studio Recordings might seem overwhelming in scope, and style. But only in concept. Ears here were unfamiliar with them, but the new 4-disc testament from Important Records changes that. Certainly not the only band to cut a wide stylistic swath by any means, Overhang Party certainly did it innately. Depending on where your loyalties lie taste-wise, it might be evolution vs. de-evoltuion, but there’s no arguing that Overhang Party approached each tangent with as much commitment and fervor as the next. And did it successfully without disappearing into the shifts. They move effortlessly from subdued, elastic stretches to garage-fueled psych flare-ups, and handle landing just as comfortably on more straight-ahead ‘modern’ fare; progressive, powerful and daring. A true showcase, Overhang Party call to mind—and join—a vast history of artful and aggressive rock, fluent in its many splintered tongues.
“We are not scared of staying in the same place, but we always need a change. I want to make a truly alternative style.”—Rinji Fukuoka, from Sake-Drenched Postcards
Then The Ship Sank :: Overhang Party :: Complete Studio Recordings (2012, Important Records)
France’s Beat Mark hit the mark and a psych-pop sweet spot on their new single, Breezing!, from their upcoming full-length on Ample Play Records. Howls of Joy is due this February, but in the meantime Breezing! is available from Ample Play’s blog to hold you over.
“While I was in Paris – during a heat wave – a friend took me to a café and little record shop in a small hilly street just North of Canal St Martin. He asked the owner of the record shop to play Beat Mark and I realized that I was listening to what England had lost the ability to create anymore, what’s more, it was a whole album of that stuff, an album of songs that immediately moves in with you.”—Ample Play Records’ Tjinder Singh (Cornershop)
Todd Parker & The Witches are set to release the King of the Castle EP December 18th (available gratis for a limited time). King of the Castle is stocked with alternates and extras from their earlier Evil Bliss outing. Sandwiched in-between alternates of King of the Castleis the just-eerie-enough Tammy’s Secret Wish, an orphaned Tadpoles cut from the 90s that gets a ’spacier makeover’ here. Wish fulfilled. Slip Number 2, another dark seed from Tadpoles, gets a new lease on life…appropriate considering the back-story of yet another lost king…
“David Max, Mike and I were riding the Staten Island Ferry back from Manhattan to our rented house on Staten Island where we lived and had our rehearsal studio. David had just joined the Tadpoles. A seemingly confused and disturbed individual walked up to us on the boat and asked us ‘How do you get down to the lower level?’. This was an odd question since in order to be up on the top-level of that particular boat, you had to go up the stairs. So, obviously, you go down the stairs to get to the lower level. We directed him down there and the next thing you know, the boat was stopped in the middle of the harbor. Word got around that a guy had just jumped off the boat. Hearing the description, we knew it was our guy. Rescue boats came and didn’t find him. This kinda freaked us out, so when we got home, we just jammed for a bit and came up with Slip Number 2, recorded it on the 4-track. Guess we got that out of our system and we never went back to the song as it creeped us out. This remake contains the core of the song and it’s still dark, hopefully in a Joy Divisionish way. “
You can read an interview with Todd Parker and Mike Audino here.
"This show is 110% … one of the most consistently awesome programs we have come across."
The Sunrise Ocean Bender sets sail every Monday morning, 1 – 3 a.m. on WRIR lp 97.3 FM, to find something for your ears, and something for your head … From psych to prog to pop and whatever tributary we can find on the way … and right back around again. There might be a map, but the destination is up for grabs. If it all goes right, we may just get lost. Meet me at the muster station … it might be a long week.
One-man psych pop shoppe 
As encompassing as it is exhilarating, Complete Studio Recordings might seem overwhelming in scope, and style. But only in concept. Ears here were unfamiliar with them, but the new 4-disc testament from 
Todd Parker & The Witches
