Dec 2022 - In Which Everyone Loves Psychedelia

Albums

TVAM - Psychic Data

This is one of the most surefire Ben Great albums I’ve ever heard. Space-filling, reverb’d up guitar/synth tones? Check. Unusual drum patterns? Check. Psychedelic, glissando-y melodies? Check. Washed out, indistinct vocals? Check. It’s my fav psychedelia there is.

A couple weeks ago I had some people over and put this on while my roommate was watching Adult Swim in the next room. When I came back from a trip to the kitchen, everyone had given up whatever they were doing and was just staring gape-mouthed at the TV with the sound off. We tried putting on the normal audio for a second, but everyone agreed that TVAM is better. See also the follow up album, High Art Life.

Working Men’s Club - s/t

Imagine if someone took all the sonic hallmarks of the 80’s, left the hard-edged production style in place, and sweetened all the back-ends to make it even more jarring, and gave it a hard techno bass beat. Severe limiters on the drums, Chintzy Casio synths, concise funky guitar riffs, and someone talk-wonder-singing “Why is the darkness so strong?”

Apparently, before this album these guys were basically just doing indie rock? That must be why I’d never heard of them.

Simple Symmetry - Sorry! We Did Something Wrong

Even just from looking at the album cover, there’s no question about what these guys are trying to do: they want to recreate the sound of 1960’s experimentation, complete with all the bongos and bells and sitars and all that. What’s interesting is that they want to do it by slamming it together with the 2000’s era experiments in major-chord electronica. Think “Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb or “Squares” by The Beta Band. And of course updating all of it to modern production styles.

Does it sound cool? Yes! But like a lot of ambitious stuff, it sometimes verges into the territory of “interesting” rather than “enjoyable.” Nonetheless, it’s well worth a listen, even if you skip around a little.

Even if you don’t like this album, Simple Symmetry has some fantastic singles out there. I’ll mention one below, but poke around and you’ll find more.

Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul - Topical Dancer

There are two very different things to talk about here: music and lyrics.

When it comes to music, I absolutely love this project. It’s got interesting effects on the vocals, fun ping-ponging boings, occasional interjections of acoustic instruments… check out “HAHA” for something amazing that verges into irritating and back to amazing again.

That said, your ability to enjoy this album will depend a lot on how you take the lyrics. Charlotte Adigéry is extremely direct in her snarky, condescending takes on race, gender, and sexuality. To be completely honest, I find it kind of gratingly on-the-nose, in spite of the fact that I agree with absolutely everything she has to say. YMMV, but overall, there’s a lot to love in here.

Django Django - s/t

I’m cheating more than a little here, in that this album came out in 2012. I’m not being very strict about everything on this blog being “new music,” but this is definitely beyond what I’d normally do.

Nonetheless, I was led here because MGMT did a remix of “Spirals” in 2020, and as a result, their self-titled album has been on heavy rotation for me. No one is doing Beach Boys-style blended vocal harmony like this these days.

Tracks

Avalon Emerson - Rotting Hills

Avalon Emerson is always awesome, but most of the time it’s pretty intellectual. On this track, she goes all the way to dance territory, with warm round basslines, quick techo percussion lines, and ping-ponging melodies. It’s extremely satisfying.

The Allergies - Felony

It seems like it’s back in style to do these Motown-y soul samples with modern basslines and big horn parts. And you won’t hear me complaining. Also… “I thought loving you was a felony”?

Django Django - Spirals (MGMT Remix)

As mentioned above, I love Django Django. MGMT’s remix takes their great vocal lines and works them into a swirling… er… spiral.

Circuit des Yeux - Dogma

Moody rock with echoy guitars and vocals that sit at the far edges of the soundscape. The vocal work is very late 80’s theatrical gothiness.

Kit Sebastian - Pangea

It’s hard to make this kind of sultry Bond-era track work, but when it works, it’s glorious. This is a pretty good album, but this is the track where it really comes together for me.

Umoja - La Piragua

I love interesting takes on jazz, especially latin jazz. This track spins on and on, going in a number of different directions, but staying focused on its central piano/organ pieces with delays on them. It’s piratey. And once in awhile, I love piratey.

Simple Symmetry - Voodoo Your Ex

This track doesn’t have very much in common with the Simple Symmetry album I listed above. Instead it’s just a great electronic track with a sense of mystery. If anything, the vocal line kind of reminds me of “Che Che” but only if you’re really listening for it. As mentioned above, they have a number of interesting singles if you’re willing to look around.

Moodymann - Do Wrong

This is well within Moodymann’s wheelhouse: blues/soul inflected electronic production. Sometimes I feel like his stuff doesn’t really go anywhere, but in this case it feels an actual song, and he’s got a fabulous voice to pull it off.

New Candys - Twin Mime

In the same vein as Circuit des Yeux’s “Dogma” - Moody, fuzzy rock with 80’s theatrical gothiness.

YoSoyMatt, Eva de Marce, French Braids - Sr. Tigre (French Braids Rework)

Sometimes lightning strikes when you put three collaborators together like this. In this case, it’s landed us in a smoky nightclub in some tropical city.

Kino Todo - Gidafi Na

I’m told that Kino Todo is a hot up-and-comer in the Tel Aviv electronic scene. This track feels pretty fresh to me - talk-singing over some nice electronic bass and some hand-drums. I didn’t hear much else on this EP that I was interested in, but he’s someone to watch.