Words by Jonathan Stout
When not doing freelance writing, Jonathan Stout is heavily involved in the NKY and Cincinnati music scenes as the Marketing Manager for Kentucky based venue The Southgate House Revival and founder of DIY Recording label Lo Fi City Recordings. He’s also an active musician, performing and recording with Sleepy Drums, Mutt Fuzz, Burnt Cabins and gewgaw.
What can I say? The last few weeks have been depressing. As we attempt to figure out how to navigate the next few years of life in America, things like music journalism seem less important in terms of survival. But the truth is, especially in times of worry and woe, music and art is what carries us through. It gets us to sing together and remember the beauty in life. We must continue to celebrate creativity and the natural beauty of life without being completely consumed by the fire all around us.
Besides, there’s an unprecedented amount of new music released every day by new and old artists alike! MusicRadar recently reported that “more music is released in a single day now than in the entire year of 1989.” There are, of course, inherent problems involved with this too, but instead of focusing on the negative, let’s celebrate the positive fact that there is always something new to listen to and experience! It may not be much, but it’s enough to carry me through many days… so onward ho! Back into the psych zone!
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. continued their run of 2024 releases with Trust Masked Replicants (Important Records) in October. It’s hard to track what their album number count for this year up to as they’ve released many under multiple iterations, but needless to say, this is one of the most consistently prolific groups in the experimental/psychedelic spectrum. And boy, are they as far out as ever! Trust Masked Replicants collects five compositions, ranging everywhere from 1:24 minutes (“99th Century Quackery”) to 19:41 minutes (album closer “Asoko Ananda”). This collection is not for the faint of heart or casual listening – this band demands your attention like an elephant charging through a wall. The opening track, “Metaphysical Deceptions” bursts out of the gates in what sounds like if Yoko Ono collaborated with the Sun Ra Arkestra on a fusion rock song. That statement alone is going to polarize a lot of people, but I think it gets the point across. “Sneer At Fates” rides a krautrock rhythm while synths provide a meditative drone, drifting in and out of ambiance. Overall, the collection is quite compelling and a wild ride but anyone who’s familiar knows to expect the unexpected at this point.
Spirit Mother returned in September with Trails (Heavy Psych Sounds Records). I recently saw this band open for the aforementioned Acid Mothers Temple, which was interesting because although both bands fall under the psych rock spectrum the differences between them are like night and day. Whereas Acid Mothers Temple range from garage psych to free jazz freakout, Spirit Mother keeps things reeled in, playing brooding and mysterious heavy stoner rock. Although Spirit Mother may not be as wildly creative as Acid Mothers Temple, they still are often able to exceed expectations- sufficiently rocking out while throwing in enough unique nuances to escape the tropes of modern hard rock. One of the biggest attributing factors to their unique take on the stoner rock sound is the presence of violinist SJ who adds a haunting ambiance to all of these tracks. Bassist/vocalist Armand Lance’s vocals are also filled with grit and character – almost recalling a young Mark Lanegan. The band blends aspects of desert rock, grunge, garage rock and stoner metal throughout Trails with pretty pleasing results.
In 2015, artists J Spaceman (Spiritualized) and John Coxon were asked to perform new original music live to a screening of William Eggleston’s art film Stranded in Canton for Doug Aitken’s Station to Station festival. After years of being under wraps, Music for William Eggleston’s Stranded in Canton (Fat Possum Records) was finally released this month. Although one might expect this simply to be a collection of jams, Spaceman apparently insisted against that, so what we have instead are focused instrumental compositions that sometimes spill over into improvisation – often accented by segment’s of the film’s dialogue. The film, made in 1974, follows filmmaker Eggleston’s friends partying, playing music and basically raising all kinds of hell. The film itself is hard to track down, but if the audio samples are any indication, it seems pretty greasy. The soundtrack is quite the sensory experience- creating an atmosphere filled with raw blues (“Last week I took a trip”), mellow melodic psych (“What train blues”), cosmic country (“Back up William”) and more. One of the most thrilling parts of it, for fans of J Spaceman, is to hear him take part in and release a collection of such stripped back recordings. Spiritualized has become known for huge, beautifully ornate and orchestrated compositions but let’s not forget that this is the same person from the minimalist (and legendarily loud) psych masters, Spacemen 3! It’s inspiring to hear him this raw and stripped down, especially on tracks like the heavy droning wah smash of “Love for the asking” which echoes Spacemen 3 more than anything that Spaceman has released in quite some time. Strongly recommend jamming this one next time you throw on some headphones.
Harvestman (Steve Von Till of Neurosis) recently released the final part of his 2024 Triptych (Neurot Recordings) series, which has been really exciting to follow. Fans of heavy psych, post rock, John Carpenter and experimental music in general will find a great deal to enjoy with these releases. Filled with largely instrumental recordings, often accented by samples and atmospheric augments, there’s a lot of texture per composition which warrants repeated listens. The results are truly mysterious, mellow, intense, ominous, and ambient – sometimes all at once while other times shifting from one to the other within a single composition.
Finally, as Pink Floyd are one of the founders of psych rock, I feel obligated to mention Luck and Strange (Sony Music), the newest album by guitarist David Gilmour. It’s funny, because the overall public perception of Pink Floyd has evolved over time. For years, fans were essentially split into two camps- those who exclusively listened to the Syd Barrett era and fans who listened to the Roger Waters-led albums (to be honest, the final Gilmour-led albums barely ever factored into anyone’s discussions). However as time has passed, and as Waters let down many fans with his support of extremist dictatorships (that pseudo Nazi imagery in The Wall hits a little different now, huh?), Gilmour is beginning to come out on top of the long winding, fraught filled Pink Floyd timeline.
Nowadays, the Gilmour guitar sound can be heard all throughout the contemporary neo psych made by younger artists. Even in unexpected places – Lil Yachty’s most recent album, Let’s Start Here, had more in common with Dark Side of the Moon than his normal realm of trap music. But I digress – Luck and Strange picks right up where the final Pink Floyd albums left off in almost startling fashion. I haven’t looked at the personnel involved in these recordings, but I’ll be damned if most of these tracks don’t sound like material that could be snugly fit side by side with the other songs on The Division Bell, which almost gives me renewed appreciation of the sounds on that album. Whereas in the 90s listeners may have thought that the change in sound was for the benefit of contemporary listeners at the time, it’s more clear now that this was genuinely the sound that Gilmour wanted, and continues to want.
With that being said, his atmospheric, reverb drenched blues licks aren’t going to appeal to everyone – it will likely verge too heavily onto the grounds of Adult Contemporary for some – but overall, it’s really worth it if you’re willing to give it a try. Lyrically, Gilmour explores themes of looming mortality and general worry of the quickly approaching ominous future. Gilmour might be much older at this point, but these themes are becoming more relatable to listeners of all ages these days. In terms of atmosphere, these compositions often bare close resemblance to the 90s psych/shoegaze of bands like Mazzy Star or Slowdive, especially on “Between Two Points” which features Gilmour’s daughter, Romany Gilmour, on lead vocals. In the end, this album may not gain Gilmour new fans as a solo artist, but it does stand tall next to his achievements and legacy as a guitarist and bandleader of a legendary band.