Psych

New single: Pelomono || Danza De La Cobra

By / / Garage Rock, Psych, Surf / Leave a Comment

Surf rock can be found on all possible wavelengths. That of Spanish duo Pelomono is on the far left of the dial, where influences from krautrock and sounds from exotic instruments seep through. Although the two musicians are wearing masks on stage, we know that we’re dealing with Antonio Pelomono and Pedro de Dios (Guadalupe Plata). At the end of 2020 they released their nice debut LP Gibraltar, which they now follow up with two new instrumental songs. On side A’s title track Danza De La Cobra (translated: cobra dance) they inimitably fuse electric guitars with a melody from an ancient ritual from India used to charm snakes. B-side Alguien Me Persigue (someone is chasing me) comes from the soundtrack of a film directed by American filmmaker Hulser Haselford, heard in a scene where a monkey flees from a phantom threat. Dark and psychedelic, danceable and bewitching.

Danza De La Cobra, produced by Pike Cavalero and Mario Cobo, is out now digitally and on vinyl 7″ through Everlasting Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album (and video premiere!): Vanity Mirror || Puff

By / / Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Psych / 1 Comment

Vanity Mirror features the multi-talented Brent Randall (Gentle Brent, Electric Looking Glass) and Johnny Toomey (The Turns, Electric Looking Glass). Today, the duo release their debut LP PUFF. Below you can read my thoughts on this (spoiler alert) Psych Pop masterpiece. But first, let me direct your attention to the band’s latest video which we are honored to premiere here at Add To Wantlist. The black-and-white video is for the quietest song from PUFF, the heartbreakingly gorgeous Somehow You Know. It was directed by Fred Joseph who also worked with the likes of Uni Boys, Triptides and Young Guv. The band explains: “We have been big fans of Fred’s for a long time. He’s a true artist and creates stunning analog TV/film pieces often utilizing period accurate vintage video equipment. He works out of the lovely Savannah Studios and you may have seen his work with many choice West Coast artists as of late. Fred was generous to collaborate with us to create this stunning vignette for Somehow You Know. Filmed with black and white vintage broadcast cameras, the camera floats around the studio on a track capturing us performing the song but also discovering a series of other little surreal and romantic scenes featuring our friends. Almost like a dream sequence or moment of clarity when many interconnected memories flood your mind all at once. And that is really what the song is about, making sense of things without being able to necessarily verbalize it.”  [post continues below video]

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New album (and video premiere!): Vanity Mirror || PuffRead More »

New album: Guadalupe Plata || Guadalupe Plata (2023)

By / / Blues & Roots, Psych / Leave a Comment

Spanish psychedelic blues rock duo Guadalupe Plata debuted in 2008 with a self-titled EP, which Pedro de Dios Barceló (guitar, vocals) and Carlos Jimena (drums) followed up with self-titled LPs in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018. So it really was time for a new one, and here it is (for the record: they also released an album in 2021, but it actually had a different name: Devil Can’t Do You No Harm). The thirteen fresh songs are as mesmerizing, poisonous and hypnotic as ever, but less raw and more groovy and laid back, you could even call them melancholic and cinematic. The sound is loose and primitive, transporting you to a gritty environment where snakes are just as dangerous as the heat of the sun.


Guadalupe Plata (2023), produced by Guadalupe Plata and Raúl Pérez, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Everlasting Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Sunfruits || One Degree

By / / Glam Rock, Psych / 1 Comment

Melbourne/Naarm band Sunfruits knows like no other how to link a sunny sound to dark themes. Winter Mcquinn (guitar, vocals), Evie Vlah (guitar, vocals), Elena Jones (bass, vocals) and Gene Argiro (drums, vocals) play uplifiting psychedelic pop/rock with folk, glam and garage rock influences, but from their lyrics shows how environmentally conscious and politically aware they are. Their eclectic and emotional debut album One Degree features eleven songs that transport you from fear to hope. Has there ever been such joyful singing about the End Of The World? This music surprises with new hooks around every turn, with the harmony vocals standing out.


One Degree, produced by Gene Argiro & Theo Carbo, is out digitally and on vinyl LP through Third Eye Stimuli Records / Earth Libraries.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Earth Libraries || Third Eye Stimuli

New album: The Dream Machine || Thank God It’s The Dream Machine…

By / / Garage Rock, Psych / 1 Comment

Not to be confused with at least a dozen previous bands of the same name, here we’re talking about Merseyside (UK) four-piece The Dream Machine, featuring Zak McDonnell (vocals, guitar, percussion), Matthew Gouldson (guitar, keys), Jack Inchboard (bass, backing vocals) and Isaac Salisbury (drums). After three four-track EPs (compiled on the Vol: 1-3 LP), they’ve now released their self-produced debut album. Thank God! It’s The Dream Machine… consists of twelve appealing songs shifting between baroque pop and psychedelic garage rock, a melting pot of styles rooted in the 60s. What’s striking is how strong, rich and diverse this record is, with charismatic biting vocals (so characteristic of British bands), atmospheric harmonies, hypnotic melodies, and percussion that reveals a good eye for detail. This is certainly a new Dream Machine to be thankful for.

Thank God It’s The Dream Machine… is out on CD and vinyl LP through Run On Records / Modern Sky UK.

Add to wantlist: Discogs || Run On Records

New album: The Fyoogs || Ambedo

By / / Country & Folk, Psych / Leave a Comment

The Fyoogs are an Australian rock band inspired by the lonely deserts of South Australia’s wild and rugged west coast. Their new full-length album Ambedo has seven drawn-out tracks that effortlessly evoke the atmosphere and temperature that prevail there. It’s cinematic music with a 70s feel, laid-back, groovy and exciting at the same time, not least thanks to the gritty vocals. Expect a sweltering mix of blues, country, psych and surf – desert rock – in which an organ, saxophone or children’s choir can pop up just like that. For fans of JJ Cale and RF Shannon.


Ambedo, recorded/mixed/mastered/produced by Evan James, is out now digitally via 3889953 Records DK. Musicians: Simon Hartley (lyrics, vocals, guitar), Kevin Lewis (bass), Rodrigo Andres Gonzalez Bea (percussion), Micheal Filmer-Smith (keyboards), Takashiva Nanda (drums), Damien Hills (saxophone), Chris Parkinson (acoustic guitar), Jim Marshall (drums), Tasman Daish (keyboards), Robin Bushell (violin), and a choir featuring Olivia, Emma, Mia, Ivy, Leilana and Charli.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: The Lavender Flu || Assorted Promenades

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

The new The Lavender Flu EP Assorted Promenades has 9 songs, but officially is an EP. That makes sense. Not just because it’s relatively short playing length, but also because its content defies boundaries. That makes Assorted Promenades a great fit on the Mind Meld, a sublabel of Total Punk that is designed to release eclectic music. In case of The Lavender Flu, a personal favorite of the Total Punk head honcho, the music is a hypnotic mix of psych, garage pop, tape hiss and sonic soundscapes. Or as I’d call it: a perfect backdrop for typing away in my home office. Assorted Promenades mixes traditional (yet exciting) psych-y garage pop (listen to Dream Girl – originally by Oscar Mack) with brain tickling dreamy melodies (listen to the eponymous track) and more sonic weirdness.

The Assorted Promenades EP was originally planned as a single around a cover of Moby Grape’s I Am Not Willing, but the inspiration of Chris Gunn and his fellow band members was too high to fit the 7″ single format. The Lavender Flu did not want to waste the interesting material their sessions produced, and listening to this EP I fully agree. This is one adventurous, interesting and pleasant trip to faraway places. Buy the 12″ at Mind Meld!



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Rubber Band Gun || Shut Up and Deal

By / / Indie Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Rubber Band Gun is the solo project of New Jersey prodigy Kevin Basko. As owner and operator of recording studio Historic New Jersey he has the means to record music, but apart from that he also has the gift to write great song after great song. To the hugely impressive list of output so far he now adds the new full-length album Shut Up and Deal. Highlights include psych pop charmer Big Step, jangle pop portrait Family Biz, catchy glam stomper Lighten Up, exotic floor filler The Green Flash and uplifting summer hit Ready Or Not, which shows how diverse this collection of 16 tunes is. These are fine, sunny melodies, where quality is not inferior to quantity.




Shut Up and Deal is out now digitally. All songs written, performed, recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Kevin Basko, with a little help from Emily Moales (vocals, melodica, keyboards), Riley Byrne (bass on The Green Flash) and Pat Gaeta (percussion on The Green Flash).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New post: Damploft || IN

By / / Alternative Rock, Psych / Leave a Comment

Damploft is an interesting DIY project by Galicia (Spain) musician Sergio F. Sánchez. For the last few years he has been composing and producing the 12 chamber psych songs that make up the album IN, completely independently, playing, mixing and mastering everything by himself. It led to the kind of guitar music we usually don’t write about – experiments with electronics often get out of hand, here it functionally contributes to the mood – but somehow it still intrigues me, reason enough to share it with you as well. The sound and lyrics are dark, mysterious and dreamy, slightly reminiscent of Radiohead, but also cinematic, intense and hypnotic. This absorbs you just like the cover art does, putting you in a wistful state of mind to face the night.


IN is out now digitally (self-released). Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Billy Tibbals || Stay Teenage

By / / Glam Rock, Power Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Billy Tibbals’ debut single left us wanting more, and we didn’t have to wait long. The Stay Teenage EP has six new hits by Billy Tibbal that are built on a steady foundation of ’70s powerpop, glam rock’n’roll and ’60 psych. That in itself may not be unique, but wait until you hear what Tibbals makes of it. Billy Tibbals appears to be born with a natural gift for melody and hooks. And his songs have a bold almost theatrical like quality. Listen to Hollywood Baby for example, a song that opens with a ’70s Springsteenesque piano and string parts and then slowly builds towards a huge glamrock chorus. Or what about All For You, a song where Tibbals within 5 seconds exclaims “All Right!,” which is exactly what I was thinking after that short and tasty opening.

Are we witnessing the emergence of a rock star in an era where the rock star seems all but extinct? I wouldn’t put it past Billy Tibbals. It is telling that, after a chance encounter in a bar, Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) invited Tibbals to record the EP in a legendary recording studio. The yields are excellent. Billy Tibbals has never sounded better and he is only just getting started. The Stay Teenage EP is out now on 12″ through Silver Arrow Records.



Add to wantlist: Discogs

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