• Music

    Chris Karrer – The Mask

    Sad news to report today, as former Amon Düül II guitarist, oudist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Karrer passed away on January 2, 2024.  We honor him by sharing a North Africa-influenced work of his from 2018 called The Mask.  The back story is rather interesting, and that story can be read by clicking the link here.

  • Music

    Ofege – How Do You Feel

    This album is quite a revelation!  Ofege, A group of hippies from Nigeria came together to record an absolutely solid disc full of tunes that sound less Afrobeat and more West Coast psych.  A cool album, indeed.

  • Music

    Shūko No Omit – 秘密の回顧録 (Secret Memoir)

    Ramble Records out of Australia have published a unique album here – one that should be seen as a modern psychedelic rock masterpiece.  From their Bandcamp site: “Shūko No Omit, the name of the band, featuring Yonju Miyaoka on guitar and Vocals, his older brother Taiju Sugimori on bass and chorus,and his cousin Yuya Yamazaki on drums and chorus, is a mix of Japanese and english. Yonju told me he came across the word omit while reading an old English dictionary. Shuko (終古) is old Japanese. A word no longer used. One lost to time. The characters 終 + 古mean…

  • Music

    Various Artists – D​-​Day: A Grateful Dead Tribute from Krautland

    Although the bands themselves on this comp from our dear friends at the Lollipoppe Shoppe might play Kraut-influenced music, this comp is definitely NOT Krautrock.  I can’t say that the music is perfectly straight-ahead covers of some of the Grateful Dead’s finest work, but to hear these songs in a more modern setting is rather refreshing.  The tunes maintain their psychedelic heart, even if there is a touch of Kraut (a welcome addition, mind you) imbued into these tunes.

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    Jeff Gburek and A.J. Kaufmann – Jazzisthmus

    Had I not known the previous (impressive) works of both Jeff Gburek and A.J. Kaufmann, I would have happily believed that this was a lost psychedelic music gem long forgotten about in a basement studio recorded during Soviet times.  While the tones are dulcet, you never really get a chance to get into a groove.  The music shapes and shifts, making you ever aware of its presence and demanding that you pay attention (particularly hard to do as I’m grading papers at the moment).  The introduction to the album at Ramble Records’ Bandcamp site is one of the most elegant…

  • Music

    Wara – El Inca

    Bolivia is a country who rarely pop up on my radar.  Thankfully, today we have a hard-rock/psychedelic gem to present to you.  Wara were influenced by hard-rock giants like Uriah Heep and Deep Purple, but they also added touches of their own Bolivian heritage to their music. Straddling the borders of psych, hard rock and prog, this album is considered to be one of the holy grails of South American rock music.

  • Music

    My Brother The Wind – Once There Was A Time When Time And Space Were One

    This post is dedicated to my dear brother in music, Shane Beck, because he turned me on to this magnificent band.  My Brother The Wind is something of a supergroup comprising of Nicklas Barker of Anekdoten, Makajodama’s Mathias Danielsson, and Magnolia’s Ronny Eriksson & Tomas Eriksson.  The music is a bit less metal-influenced, and more in the tradition of Swedish progressive and psychedelic rock.  It’s dark, mellow, and if you’re more into Pink Floyd’s deeper psychedelic excursions (not the famous stuff, but the weirder), you’re going to appreciate these guys.