A few good times in my life
Manchester's Lewis Olsen aka Psychederek announced his first album later this year. Almost two years ago he released Space Arcade, an EP with various mixes which became one of the most played records at my place. This song is an appetizer from his upcoming album and it nothing more or less superb psyche-pop with good guitars and great harmonies that can brighten your day.
Staifia is one of the songs I really enjoyed from their first album and explains why you should give them a listen.
Acid Arab - Staifia
These days I recalled that Mark Lanegan died almost a year ago. Much too early of course because he ever made a records he refined with his incomparable voice. So I spent an evening with his output from the last decades and finally I came to the result that his legacy should be Gargoyle from 2017. He celebrated for me the last time all his influences, if it was grunge, blues-rock, stoner sound or just heavy ballads, he made an album that stood the test of time for me. And he had a voice that I really miss in rock music.
Mark Lanegan Band - Old Swan
Mark Lanegan Band - Nocturne
After the split of London based Northern Ireland post-punk band The Undertones brothers O'Neill returned to their home in Derry to form another band. That Petrol Emotion returned from the ashes with a new sound. More guitars as The Undertones, different arranged songs full of hooks on their first two albums. They combined the energy of new wave with the ability to write great pop hymns. I still love their early output from the mid 80's because they hit my nerves. Someone once said that they combine The Clash with CCR and listening to their songs I can't say he's wrong. Babble is for me the better album than their debut because it more raw than their first one. An album that is almost complete when you listening to it in full length in a row.
That Patrol Emotion - Swamp
That Petrol Emotion - For What It's Worth
But TPE weren't only a post-punk band they also experimenting with new sounds like remixes, samples and other stuff like this and prepared the floor of the upcoming sound of Manchester that came popular in the following years.
That Petrol Emotion - Abandon (Boys Own Remix)
That Petrol Emotion - Hey Venus (Mad Thatcher Disease Remix)
The past years have seen Duncan Gray champion a sludgy, slow-mo take on dance music that favors chuggy bass guitars and psychedelic sound palettes and drag and drop samples. He was featured at this place several times and often with new releases that were all over the usual average of new releases in electronic music. Now he's back with a new release on London's tici taca label. Short Haul is a bassy song inspired by the sound of Bill Laswell and Eno's/Byrne's Bush of Ghosts with great guitar parts in the second half. Anyway a one of the best songs this year so far.
Sometimes I wonder in which corner of the world there are no musicians who have a deep love for surf-rock and psychedelic, form a band and release a record. This thought crossed my mind when I heard the debut Skeleton Ranch by Los Palms, an Australian band from Adelaide who musically venture into the 1960s in California and Texas. On their debut album we get surf, western and classic sixties psych of the unexciting kind. All played very true to style with their own touch. A lot of reverb and a bit of fuzz, always more committed passages as well. What more could you expect from a psych record.
A couple of days ago Ripley Johnson announced a new album by his project Rose City band in April. It seems that they didn't changed their style. Sunny westcoast country songs with a sparkling guitar that drifts into a psychedelic mood to the end of the song. This song is the perfect recipe to get rid of the cold, wet and windy weather outside and shortens the time until spring will arrive.
