Canadian psychedelic raga band Elephant Stone are not afraid to take a stand. After the release of the Everything Evil single earlier this year, they turn it up a notch with Fascists Killed Yer Rock 'N' Roll, proving that a distorted sitar can sounds as nasty as an electric guitar.
It is another first taste from their new album ASHA, due for release on August 28th via Elephants On Parade/Little Cloud Records. It is available for pre-order here (vinyl, digital).
After the all-instrumental album Underwater Waltz Minneapolis multi-instrumentalist and singer Scott Gagner stepped up to the mike again for a sparkling collection of power pop infused songs. His new album Sweet Tooth will see the light of day on July 28th, but lead single Sugar Rush is a good indication of what's in store.
Few guitarists are as recognizable after hearing a single chord as Johnny Marr. His fifth studio album The Age Of Everything will be released on October 2. Lead single Spin finds him in contemplative mood, trying to make sense of all the thoughts that are clamouring for his attention; "Come around now see what's doing // Stick around now see what we done // Getting lost in the thoughts racing from behind // There's too much coming and too much time".
Rick Hromadka, lead singer and guitarist with Los Angeles based neo-psychedelic band Maple Mars, goes out on his own with two sunny side up songs. The love song Are You Magical? could have been recorded in the late 60s, using a hybrid of the sound of the Lovin' Spoonful and Donovan.
The acoustic B-side My Son is about becoming a father at a moment that he thought that it might never happen to him, carefully sidestepping the cheesy clichés that ballads about that particular subject matter tend to have. Even the whistling is on point. Recommended if you like Yorick van Norden and Nick Frater.
German psychedelic stoner rock trio Kalamata contemplate the passing of time on their new concept album Zenosyne, with five seamlessly linked longform instrumental tracks. A bit of vulnerability has entered their music. On their previous records it was all about wall-to-wall heavy-handed riffs, but on this one they have allowed the light to come in and give listeners the change to make up their own stories as they are transported by the transcendent post-rock.
Zenosyne means being overwhelmed by the sense that time keeps going faster. They don't want to be stuck in the past however. The band went through line-up changes, something that captured by the more reflective passages, but as a whole they want to go forward. Grief for what is being lost forever is a pain in the ass and getting to grips with loss might take quite some time. But as the five track name spell: "there is no coming back".
