19 January 2011

Black Moth Super Rainbow - 2007 - Dandelion Gum

Quality: 4.5 out of 5
Trip-O-Meter: 4.75 out of 5

I've been digging this one on a pretty regular basis for the past three-and-a-half years. This very psychedelic synth loaded band hails from Pennsylvania and can rightfully lay claim to one of the trippiest pop albums of the past decade. There's plenty of novelty on this record with all of the vocals being run through a vocoder and plenty of goofy analog synths sounds often competing with mellotrons (or a good approximation of one). Still, the band steps up to the plate with some great songwriting and top rate psychedelic atmospherics.

This is an album that washes over you entirely, and there's not a bum track among the bunch. Even some of the experimental tracks rise above the 'filler' status as they do a fine job of transporting the listener through the album. I will give you a few starting points, though, to get you hooked. "Jump Into My Mouth and Breathe the Stardust" comes across as Beck on quaaludes with it's crusty acoustic guitar riff occasionally becoming overpowered by huge washes of mellotron, synth, and strange sound effects. "Lollipopsichord" seems to physically twist your mind with its reality bending synth riff. Actually, I think this would have been a fantastic album opener. The band does a fine job of building off of French electronica bands like Air and Mellow - "When the Sun Grows on Your Tongue" definitely would have fit well on one of Mellow's albums as a standout track.

This is an album that begs for plenty of repeat listening. Although many of the influences are clear, Black Moth Super Rainbow certainly appropriates them into a very groovy sound trip. If you have the opportunity, I'd recommend picking this up on vinyl. The trippy cover art is also bubblegum scented and the discs themselves of printed on strange bubblegum coloured vinyl.

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Black Moth Super Rainbow - 2007 - Dandelion Gum

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.mediafire.com/?9sfidnlio97a89g

louisville michael said...

i like listening to this record.

Anonymous said...

This dumb album isn't psychedelic. It's just a bunch of harse noises. I'm disappointed every time somebody fails to recognize the difference.

Anonymous said...

*harsh

Anonymous said...

hearse*

Mattydigs said...

I was pretty amazed by your blog until I saw this entry. Every song from this band sounds the same and they rely on vocoder WAAAAAAYYYY too much. While I will venture to say that yes it is still trippy ... it is also very annoying. The stand out track is 'Forever Heavy' and even that is ruined by a brutal panning/phasing synth come the chorus. you're much better off with Flaming Lips - "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" if you like this particular sound. All the (good) sounds on this album + a lot more are available in "Yoshimi" and "At War with the Mystics" and used with much more skill.

Jed said...

A masterpiece for all time.

Spend some significant time with it or refrain from typing. It will not reveal itself until multiple rotations have occurred.

Thanks, Marrtydiggs, for the suggestion, but I am already familiar with that material. Add to this the fact that Wayne of Flaming Lips chose BMSR as their opening act, and will soon be releasing multiple tracks of a collaboration between FL and BMSR.

Anonymous said...

To each his own I guess, but I strongly disagree with the comments that disparage the music. As Jed said, this is, in my opinion, a masterpiece for all time. The statement that all the songs sound alike is silly and speaks more to the individual's skimpy attempt to enjoy the music......deato/d34t0