Boris with Michio Kurihara - 2006 - Rainbow

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Boris is a top rate Japanese metal band with some pronounced noise rock, drone rock, and psychedelic flourishes. Michio Kurihara is the amazing, spaced-out guitarist from Japan's premier psych-proggers Ghost. Together, these two forces create some psychedelic nirvana. Boris gets the chance to aim their wall-of-noise at some top flight songs and cathedrals of sound while Kurihara-san end up with some musicians that promote the best out of his infinitely oscillating torrents of guitar noise without feeling the need to jam pedantically.

"Rafflesia" starts things out extremely strong with almost pained vocals placed upon a stately rhythm while Kurihara slowly but surely launches the song into orbit far above the outer reaches of your mind. "Starship Narrator" brings in the noise and ends up hitting right on an acid-rock sweet spot. Nevermind that the lyrics are all in Japanese. The understanding and appreciation of this music resides between the lines. Soon the album floats through the lattice of clouds that must be near the titular rainbow before slamming into the full-scale powerhouse "Sweet #1." Finally, we get the music box-esque lullaby of "..And I Want" to send us off calmly.

As far as neo-psych goes, this is some of the best we've gotten this decade. I caught the band with Michio Kurihara in tow a few weeks ago in Atlanta, and their stage show is not to be missed. As good as this, and some of the choicer other Boris albums are, the live rendition is a true narcotic. Still, Rainbow will get you most of the way there and it doesn't fail to shine with the light of true psychedelic creativity.

Buy Me:
Boris with Michio Kurihara - 2006 - Rainbow

Ghost - 2004 - Hypnotic Underworld

Quality: 3.75 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.25 out of 5

Not to be confused with the late 60's psychedelic obscurity of the same name, Ghost is part of Japan's psychedelic underground. Let me be straight with you. I lived in Japan for three years and found a good 90% of Japanese pop to be derivative crap. The upswing of this is that those who actually want to rebel do so extravagantly, and end up with some pretty wildly extreme music. Ghost does so with a quiet concentration for the most part, but the end result shows them to be pros at the sonic warping of reality.

This LP, which is among their best, splits not so evenly into two parts. The first, superior part is the four part title track. Starting with subtle percussion and delayed horns, the music really seems to take the plunge into the underworld, building up with intensity. "Escape and Lost Down in Medina" ups the voltage with relentlessly crescendoing drums and a repetitive plunk of the piano keys. Finally we reach bottom with the distorting guitars and choral vocals of "Aramaic Barbarous Dawn. It's a fine psych rocker that more than earns its keep.

The second part of the album is a lot more conventional, and is a touch disappointing to me. It still stocks up plenty of creativity, even if it lacks the white hot focus of the "Hypnotic Underground" suite. "Hazy Paradise" lives up to its name while "Piper" starts of drinking Japanese tea with Donovan (not a guest appearance) before making a fly-by a little closer to jam band territory without quite succumbing to that sound. The ten minute "Ganagmanag" lands right smack in the middle of jam band land, which they do as tastefully as possible, but for me is still quite a comedown from the better parts of the album. Those tendencies do tend to slightly mar the second half of the album in general, even though the root songwriting and performances remain generally strong.

Although cursed with a need to stretch things out a touch longer than necessary, Ghost's high points on Hypnotic Underground are worth the trouble. The musicianship creates a sonic tapestry where no one musician ends up as the star of the show, but instead shows us a united front of psychedelic weirdos. Some of the music here is the best psychedelia that modern Japan has to offer.

Buy Me:
Ghost - 2004 - Hypnotic Underworld

We're Late For Class - 2007 - Live in the Theater of DisBelief

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

Digging through the archives of these internet psychedelic troubadours, I found this gem hanging out among the group's many recordings. At base a 32 minute collection of wild, improved psychedelic racket, this one presents itself as a pretty oddball concept album. Apparently, this is based on a random idea for a sci-fi television show whereupon a group of Star Trek-style explorers cavort about the galaxy searching for oddball radio waves out in space. This performance, therefore, would be an example of this interstellar noise. I'd say that the band pretty well achieved their goal.

Never truly coalescing, these sounds really seem to ride the strange waves that float through the emptiness of space. It's really hard for me to even make out what instruments I'm hearing, which is always a plus for me. This is a true tightrope walk of an improvisational performance, with no core holding the sound together and the musicians forced to plow further in their sonic exploration or fall apart. I'd say that 32 minutes is a pretty good run to hold together. Last year I reviewed the Pyramid album, which presented itself as a 1974 krautrock performance, although its authenticity was in question. This does not come with the krautrock label, but if it did I'd be pretty easily convinced that it was the real deal.

Live in the Theater of DisBelief is not comfortable music. It probes pretty deep into the unknown and will probably not be playing at your next dinner party (if it is, invite me). For those of you that like to hear the stranger end of those 'bleepy-bloopy' sounds, this should be right up your alley.

Listen to Me:
We're Late For Class - 2007 - Live in the Theater of DisBelief

We're Late For Class - 2008 - The Jim Morrison Seance Tapes

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.75 out of 5

We're Late For Class is an internet-based psychedelic improv group which manages to deliver an unadulterated psychedelic maelstrom on their better recordings (there are 30 so far, so you have plenty to choose from). This latest release is fortunately one of their better ones, complete with the unwilling participation of the ghost of Jim Morrison; better known as some of the poetry readings that Jim did while about to slip of this mortal coil.

What we've got here is basically one 14-minute track... twice. I guess it's wise to pass along the non-Jim version, but it's the one with him that really works. The music here is simply a jam from college-related folks (students? professors? hard to tell). The musicians are clearly listening to each other well, but the entire 14-minutes is based on a repeating bass line. I have to say that I prefer something a little more free-form and without a net, but these guys pull it off about as well as anyone's going to. There are lots of weaving delayed and de-attacked guitars at work here, and it's a pretty hypnotic affair. On top of all of this we are treated to the strange rantings of Mr. Mojo Rising about indians and blood while an engineer occasionally chimes in to keep Jim on tracks ("How about the post-death stuff, man?). I have to admit that I'm a bit of a Doors junkie (they very well be my most listened-to band) and this does it for me. In fact, these folks do a better job with Jim's poetry reading than the Doors themselves did on An American Prayer. The second track is the Jim-less version. It's nice to listen to in order to hear exactly what the musicians are doing, but the magic is definitely on the first track.

A lot of people, myself included, are whoring away their music on the internet but this is one of the better ones I've come across (side note: if you've sent me your music and I haven't posted it, it doesn't necessarily mean that you suck; just that I'm busy). In fact, I'm a touch jealous of this band. The only real strike against them is the somewhat terrible band name; I really hope they change it because they deserve more than a novelty. Give them a listen... and, uh, me too.

Listen to Me:
We're Late For Class - 2008 - The Jim Morrison Seance Tapes

Flower-Corsano Duo - 2006 - The Radiant Mirror

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 5 out of 5

Here's one that I've been anesthetizing my brain with for the past couple weeks. The All-Music Guide calls this one jazz, although the drums and distorted guitar combo definitely suggest more of a rock air. Really, with the modus operandi resting on a drone this is more of a future-injected raga. It kind of feels like the final five Cylon music out of Battlestar Galactica, but stretched out over 40 minutes. I mean that as a positive thing.

We've got tracks for three of the elements here; I guess these fellows aren't to hip on water. "Earth" gets this to a roaring star over its ten minute length. This must really send my brain into a trance as I've never had the impression that ten minutes have even passed when this one ends. The drone acts as the bedrock of the track while the drums spill all over the place in a style similar to Rashied Ali's pummeling on John Coltrane's very late period recordings (like the amazing Interstellar Space). I suppose that's where the jazz comes in. On top of that are some free form modal guitar runs that are pretty much the top form for that sort of thing. "Wind" brings things down a notch, although the basic instrumentation is the same. Our wild drummer does manage to reign himself in for an actual beat while the guitar attempts to cross the sitar barrier. Then everything comes together for the twenty minute "Fire," which passes us through raging torrents and graceful ebbs of roaring sitar-guitar and beats that seem to crest over rolling hills and epic mountains. This music will make you travel.

On The Radiant Mirror, you'll have the opportunity to hear rock/jazz/raga improvisation at its finest. I hesitate to refer to this as fusion as it doesn't really match up with that particular genre, but you will get an amazing blending of sounds different from anything you've experienced before. This is a true psychedelic experience.

Earth Island - 1970 - We Must Survive

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.75 out of 5


We Must Survive is a sunshine psych gem that I had no prior knowledge about. The disc seems to date a little past the expiry date of the genre, but the sounds are definitely the real deal and recall the better moments of Curt Boettcher's and/or Gary Usher's love fest freak outs. There's a slight nod to prog here with some of the meatier instrumental parts, and I can't help but note the strong environmental awareness aspect that crops up here the very same year as the first Earth Day (I think). In fact, there seems to be a bit of a concept concerning that topic which ties the whole disc together.

As any good album should do, the opening tracks are winners. "Earth People's Park" takes a little of Brian Wilson's pocket symphony idea to heart with it's multiple sections, as does the somewhat harder rocking "Ride the Universe." Forsaking straight up lead vocals, most of the songs rely on a weave of harmonies that compare favorably with just about anyone else. The first bump in the road is probably with "This Island Earth," where the band unfortunately takes on the opportunity to sing the title in a ludicrously rising chorus. It might just be that images of the wonderfully cheesy movie of the same name are filtering through my head. Things get back on track with the ever-so-slightly morose "Doomsday Afternoon" (I'd expect something a little more hardcore with that title). Highlights later on the disc include the entertaining hippie nightmare, "Mother Earth Is a Beautiful Lover," which spins through both waltz time and a chilled version of a garage rock rave-up. A few of the references to Tin Pan Alley among the tracks don't really do it for me, but it comes across better to me than Harper's Bizarre doing similar affectations.

Finding really listenable sunshine pop can be a sometimes harrowing affair as you wade through endless oceans of saccharine sugar wads. Earth Island manages that tinge of melancholy that really takes the music to a higher level. It's not the absolute best in the genre, but I'd wager that it has more to offer than your average Spanky and Our Gang or Orpheus recording.

Tommy Roe - 1967 - It's Now Winter's Day

Quality: 4 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4 out of 5

Tommy Roe's career stands mostly as a textbook example of a teeny-boppin', bubblegum rockin' "how-to." For a year or two in the late 60's, however, Tommy must have gotten the itch to be more relevant, and this great album is the result of the fruits of his labors. First off, Mr. Roe clearly chose the right producer in the guise of psychedelic sunshine master Curt Boettcher. Along with Boettcher came some of the awesome musicians who hovered around the Sagittarius and Millennium projects. Even beyond this first-rate psychedelic gauze, we've got to give Tommy Roe credit for penning some great pop songs (he has a credit on every track and sole credit on about half of them) and laying down some vocals that at least the Monkees would have been envious of (and keep in mind that I consider Mickey Dolenz a great vocalist).

Most of the tracks here sound like prime singles fodder, although this ended up as the low point of Roe's career commercially. I can't imagine why as the first four tracks here have pretty much been in constant rotation in my head since I bought the disc a few weeks ago. "Leave Her" is a driving, harmony-laced rocker, followed by the backward cymbals and endearingly goofy lyrics of "Moontalk." "Aggravation" and "Golden Girl" easily match the bubblegum psych standard of the Monkee's Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones. Later on the album we get the oddly ominous sounding ballad "Cry On Crying Eyes," which resembles a jukebox track from 1956 slowly melting over a psychedelic furnace. Even better is the title track, closing the album with ethereal pads of Boettcher-arranged harmonies and strange reverberating shimmers of sound.

As readers of this blog know, I'm a big fan, so let's give Boettcher's production some closer attention. At it's heart, this album really is not a far cry from Roe's teeny boppin' days. The difference is all in the details. The backing vocal arrangements are every bit as spaced out as the best moments of the Millennium while Boettcher throws in just enough instrumental twist, turns, and oddities to keep Roe floating somewhere past the ozone layer. It probably helps that Roe's lead vocals are not a far cry from Boettcher himself.

You've got to be receptive to a taste of sugar to really dig this one, but those of you willing to stare into the sunshine very well may end up regarding this as at least a minor classic. It's not quite up to the level of the Millennium's Begin, but it inhabits the same ballpark of sound and more than deserves your ear.

Buy Me:
Tommy Roe - 1967 - It's Now Winter's Day

The Olivia Tremor Control - 1997 - Those Sessions

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 3.75 out of 5

Here's a bit more OTC esoterica. These sessions (I hope that doesn't count as a pun) date from some late 90's Peel Sessions, and give us the only taste of the live experience that I know of unless you happened to catch these guys in concert back in the day (I did!). Although obviously lacking the psychedelic tapestry feel of the band's studio creations, this is another essential addendum for a few reasons. Among the couple of song suites present are a few tracks that were either unreleased or were drawn from obscure EPs. We also get a few renditions from the great LP, Dusk At Cubist Castle. More importantly though, the songs are stitched together in a series of mini-suites that almost play like proper EPs. It's also interesting hear the band attempt to fuse their bass/drums/guitar core with various sound effects and odd instrumentation in a live setting.

Leading things off is the only isolated song, non-LP track "I'm Not Feeling Human." The next two tracks are eight minutes each, and meld together about four songs a piece. These sport a far drier sound than their studio counterparts, and truthfully are not as good, but they do have the benefit of sounding very different. Hearing the altered atmospherics and more immediate punch is worth the price of admission.

If you have more than a passing interest in the Olivia Tremor Control, you'll find this an interesting listen. It doesn't come close to upstaging the band's short but masterful recording career, but it adds welcome perspective to that legacy.

Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza - 1967 - The Private Sea of Dreams

Quality: 3.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.5 out of 5

Somewhere past the precipice of sound, we find these avant-garde Italians making a curious racket. The ensemble began in 1954, obviously long before the psychedelic era, and their approach was along the more atonal side of contemporary classical composition than anything resembling popular music. Enrico Morricone was the most notable member of the group, although I have no evidence if he is part of this particular recording or not. Regardless, the mostly improvisational results here are definitely mind bending, and are sure to create a curious atmosphere in your music space.

Nothing here really resembles 'music' in the traditional sense of the word. We're looking more at alien soundtrack-scapes. There are plenty of seemingly random percussive and piano strokes scattered about the tracks, along with the occasional wailing horn. A few tracks like "Perfect Union," "String Quartet," and "Sunrise" scare me off with the screechier sound of string instruments, but I'm down with the more percussive odysseys of "Rkba -1675 Take One" and "Side One-Band Four." Honestly, even the more adventurous of you will probably find a few hits and a few misses on this one; it just depends on your personal tastes or aversions regarding abstract yet sparse orchestral sounds.

The big draw for me here is that this album is an interesting aural document of a specific artistic time and place. A few of you might be a little more up for the avant-garde orchestration, but I doubt that you're going to break this one out for your next dinner party. If you're looking for interesting nightmares, this could be a good bedtime album too. 'Private sea of dreams' could be 60's Italian code for nightmares for all I know.