You Will Spend Your Christmas With Electrick Sages?

Andwella's Dream - 1969 - Love and Poetry

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

Something in the vibrational energy of psychedelic rock shifted somewhere around New Year's 1968.  Or maybe it's a more prosaic deluge of influences flowing in.  Anyway, in 1967 it seemed perfectly acceptable to put all your vim and vigor into a startling slab of psychedelic pop - big league hitters like "See Emily Play" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" typify this.  Then 1968 rolled around and suddenly you couldn't just be poppy without being relegated to the world of bubblegum.  You had to let in that early heavy metal/electric blooze crunch or get more country (folk was admittedly a key feature of prime psychedelic pop).  I guess it worked out ok for the Grateful Dead, but it counter-intuitively painted a bland streak over other acts.  Of course, I like "Who's Next," "L.A. Woman," and "Abbey Road," but I'll never dig them as much as "The Who Sell Out," "Strange Days," and "Sgt. Pepper."  That 1967 never really seemed to reemerge as far as I can tell until the late 90's, when Elephant Six made its mark.  While it was very groovy stuff, it was also far more low budget and indie.

We've got Andwella's Dream creeping out in 1969, with a foot planted in both dynamics.  Much of the songwriting does harken back to psychedelic pop, but they have the makings of a hard rock backbone (even when they are often mellow) and the vocal bombast of a Traffic-era Steve Winwood or post-"Tommy" Roger Daltrey.  If you are looking for that pop groove, "Sunday" and "High on a Mountain" do a pretty spiffy job of honing on that.  On the other side of the coin, opener "The Days Grew Longer for Love" could get tossed onto side B of Traffic's self-titled album without anyone batting much of an eye and the ballad "Andwella" actual works up a pretty heavy metal head of steam for a few moments.  "Midday Sun" gets into the softer side of Dylan.  I feel like people usually go for the nasally invasive, ranting vibe when they get Dylan-esque.  Meanwhile "Lost a Number, Found a Kite" looks like a psychedelic epic if you look at the track time, but really it's just a tune with half the time a rambling intro.

So, middle of the road?  Pretty much.  But it's got some very nice craft with groovy production and sticks its head up above the sun enough times to take notice.  Let me throw in one caveat.  If you absolutely love the first couple Traffic album and prime Procol Harem, this is directly up your alley and you will like this much more than my rating suggests.  I can see where someone would really dig all of this stuff.  I've made concerted efforts to get into that bubble understanding that there is a worthwhile headspace to work your way into, but I've found that Traffic, Procol Harem, and now Andwella's Dream only hit about half of my pleasure buttons for whatever reason.

Electrick Sages

Let me set it down straight for you.  We are not looking for wealth, although a bit of coin would obviously be nice.  We are certainly not looking for fame.  That doesn't look like a nice paradigm.  We are looking for your ears, though.  We are trying to speak to your soul, that etheric energy that you can feel when you pay attention to those breaths in and out.

These  are  the  sounds  of  the  Electrick  Sages.  The  sound  is  electronically-infused  art  rock  with  echoes  of  plastic  soul  Bowie,  post-punk  Joy Division,  and  Berlin  School  drones.  The  purpose  is  to  assist  You  in  your  conscious  evolution.  Maybe  you  are  starting  on  your  way  to  seeing  the  true  fabric  of  reality.  Maybe  you  have  already  awakened.  This  is  music  to  engroovy  your  spirit.

Who  are  we?  An  American  and  an  Australian – we  are  both  living  in  Japan.  We  have  taken  up  a  position  outside  the  bubble  and  are  bringing  back  insights.  Who  were  we?  We  were  Glaze  of  Cathexis,  and  brought  you  visionary  psychedelic  rock.  We  were  Damaged  Tape - warping  electronic  sound  to  enlightening  vibrations.  And  now,  we  want  to  vibrate  higher  and  bring  you  along  with  us.  We  are  the  Electrick  Sages.  We  are  going  to  take  you  higher.

We  are  not  priests  or  cult leaders – we  extol  no  religion.  We  are  not  psychics – we  know  not  what  the  future  brings,  only  the  present.  We  are  not  philosophers – we  have  moved  past  that,  into  pure  feeling.  This  is  the  satori  experience  of  "one  hand  clapping."  And,  we  are  not  charlatans – we  are  abstract  but  bring  to  you  truth  as  we  feel  it.  We  are  sages – we  are  musical  seers,  peering  into  the  prismatic  abyss  and  reporting  back  to  you  exactly  what  you  need  to  know.

This  is  not  religion.  This  is  not  a  cult.  This  is  a  pure  expression  of  Spirit,  taking  you  past  the  coarse  physical  plane  and  launching  you  off  into  the  refined  astral.  Trip  with  us.  Spread  the  word  on  the  Electrick  Sages.

Here are the sounds to take in.  The most obvious move is a move to out Bandcamp site:

Or maybe you wanna get a little more direct with the download.  You can do that here:

http://www36.zippyshare.com/v/pNGDPT63/file.html