MIND DE-CODER 89

MIND DE-CODER 89

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“I’ve never seen such infinite beauty in all my life - I wish I could talk in technicolour”

                                                                                                 Woman takes LSD in 1956

THE PORCUPINE TREE     THE SKY MOVES SIDEWAYS (PHASE 1)

I think The Porcupine Tree started out as a private joke between multi-instrumentalist Steve Taylor and collaborator Malcolm Stocks who, entirely for their own amusement, fabricated a fictional band with a detailed back-story which included information on alleged band members and album titles, as well as a ‘colourful’ history which purportedly included events such as a meeting at a 1970s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison. Wilson even went on to create several hours worth of music to provide evidence of the bands existence and then, at some point, in the early 90s, the band became a real thing, with real members, and real albums and, indeed, real fans. Initially inspired by Pink Floyd the early albums were highly psychedelic but I understand that they became a lot heavier with later albums exploring something of a progressive metal direction (words to strike fear into the heart, I fear). The Sky Moves Sideways, however, from their 1995 release of the same name, more or less melts from the speakers, creating a lysergic ambiance that is almost overwhelming. Epic.

JANE WEAVER      ELEMENT (LOOPS VARIATION)/MILK LOOP/ARROWS (LOOP VARIATION)/FOUND BIRDS

Four tracks from the new release by swirling psychedelicist Jane Weaver, the fairly wonderful LOOPS IN THE SECRET SOCIETY, a re-imagined journey through parts of 2014’s THE SILVER GLOBE and 2017’s MODERN KOSMOLOGY, with new ambient pieces primed and polished, and new tangents explored. By turns propulsive, cosmic, exotic and highly transcendent, the album is segued as a seamless whole, taking the listener on an immersive journey through brain-melting, luminous, cosmological soundscapes that take in proggy spacerock explorations, motorik loops, electronic experimentation and ambient sketches which combine to capture the sounds and colours of a particularly glorious sunrise. Marvellous.

MANFRED MANN     RAINBOW EYES

 Striving for some kind of cultural relevancy, the Manfred’s dabbled in psychedelia but their hearts were never really in it. That being said, the dreamy Rainbow Eyes, recorded in 1967 but never released (it hardly got beyond this demo stage) hints at what could have been.

NATHAN HALL AND THE SINISTER LOCALS     SCATTERSPARKS

The title track to the most recent release from Nathan Hall And The Sinister Locals is a trifling fancy, a hazy interlude, a quirky vignette, but one which employs that most favoured of all the psychedelic tropes - the backwards guitar, so there’ll be no complaints from me, then. Elsewhere, off-kilter delights, bucolic whimsy, clever wordplay and psychedelic loveliness abound.

 GRATEFUL DEAD     MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON

Considered by many to be the very apex of the band’s experimental phase (bless them an’ all, but I could never be doing with that whole bluegrass thing that followed) AOXOMOXOA, released in 1969, features many of the Grateful Dead’s most wilfully out-there tracks. Mountains Of The Moon has a gorgeous folk feel with the simple guitar picking and harpsichord accompaniment giving it a lysergic renaissance feel - they even go so far as to throw in some folderol-de-riddle’s for that authentic bucolic effect. This version is taken from the original recording - in 1971 the band suffered something of a crisis of confidence and remixed much of the album, removing many of the embellishments that must have seemed like a good idea at the time but were no doubt suggested by their prodigious acid use - for myself, I prefer to keep the choir that accompanied the original version of this song, which remains, to my mind, one of the prettiest they recorded.

BRAINTICKET     (THERE’S A SHADOW) WATCHIN’ YOU

Brainticket’s debut album, the potently hallucinogenic  COTTONWOODHILL, actually came with a health warning: "Listen only once a day to this album. Your brain might be destroyed", but their second release, PSYCHONAUT, released in 1972, is an altogether more relaxed affair - more trippy than overwhelmingly lysergic - but (There’s A Shadow) Watchin’ You is probably the most hard-rocking track the band ever recorded. Elsewhere, sitars, tablas, and various other ethnic instruments sit alongside more traditional instruments and draw a line between psychedelia and European prog.

COIL     STRANGE BIRDS

Formed in London in 1983 by John Balance as a solo side project to Psychic TV, Coil developed into a full-scale musical group in 1984, when Balance cemented a partnership with Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson, founder member of Psychic TV and formerly of Throbbing Gristle. Archly experimental, their vision encapsulated a potent trinity of chemically-altered states, occult arcana and technological transmutation which explored, as the cover of their debut release puts it: “How sound can affect the physical and mental state of the serious listener”. The vaguely tropical sound piece Strange Birds is taken from their 1999 release MUSICK TO PLAY IN THE DARK VOL. 1, one of two albums that marked the band’s migration from solar to lunar expressionism - it’s an extraordinary, immersive listen, and possibly not for the faint of heart. Julian Cope is a fan…

JULIAN COPE     POSITIVE DRUG TEST

...so much so that his newest release, JOHN BALANCE ENTERS VALHALLA, is dedicated explicitly to the memory of John Balance, who died of an alcohol-related fall in 2004. Across five rhythm-laden tracks, Cope brings a funky, upbeat tribute to Balance, in which hefty, largely instrumental, grooves shimmer and shake, guiding the listener through the various stages of the artist’s journey into legendary Valhalla. The massive motorik groove of the 15-minute title track depicts John’s journey out of the Earthly Realm, its final musical moments enacting a conversation between two air-force pilots mistaking John’s Shamanic Spectral Body for a distant UFO - if this was ever the case, the mighty Positive Drugs Test suggests that the UFO in question may well have been Funkadelic’s cosmic mothership. Whilst not the psychedelic album Cope’s been promising for some time, this is as far-out that Archdrude has been for ages, a cause for some celebration in these here parts. I found myself mesmerised.

WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND     AS KIND AS SUMMER

The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s music was often as unwieldy as their name - haphazard and pretentious but, on those occasions when it all came together, the band could produce music that was undeniably exquisite and very much at home to off-the-wall psychedelic excursions. As Kind As Summer is taken from their fourth (and arguably their best) album, A CHILD’S GUIDE TO GOOD AND EVIL, released in 1968, pretty much at the height of west hippie excess. The band comes with quite a back-story - rich-kid playboy buys himself into the band and bank-rolls their first album in return for being allowed to front them and write all their songs - but as this song only lasts less than two minutes, you’ll just have to read about it elsewhere - MD 73 is a good place to start.

THE FOURMYULA     BANG ON HARRY

This week’s kiwi band (I’m thinking of turning it into a short-lived thing) are The Fourmyula who, between 1968 and 1971 when they disbanded, enjoyed a string of hits unmatched by any other New Zealand group. In fact, their No. 1 hit Nature was voted New Zealand’s best song in 75 years in a 2001 poll. The cheerfully Barrett-esque Bang On Harry is taken from their 1969 album, GREEN B HOLIDAY, considered something of a milestone in your New Zealand pop circles; an ambitious concept album themed around a summer tour and immortalising the small towns and local characters encountered of which, I expect, Harry was one.

THE STAINED GLASS     A SCENE INBETWEEN

The Stained Glass are considered one of the great lost bands of the West Coast psychedelic era, of which, it must be said, there are quite a few. A Scene Inbetween, tucked away on the b-side of a 1967 release, is a terrific track that show-cases their distinctive take on psychedelia at their very best, but for some reason the fickle record-buying public ignored them and they split in 1969.

NICK NICELY      SOUVENIR

nick nicely, of course (he prefers the lower case spelling), is no stranger to the whims and vicissitudes of the record-buying public himself but has, nevertheless, been able to grow quite the cult following since the release of his debut single Hilly Fields (1892), back in 1982. The mighty Souvenir is taken from his 2017 release SLEEP SAFARI, an homage to unconsciousness, lyrically exploring sleep’s mysteries through a surrealist eye. On it, he eschews his earlier mix of backwards guitars and lysergic ambience for swirling, distorted electronic rhythms that owe as much to the dance floor as they do somnambulist reverie, but the overall effect is, as usual, profoundly psychedelic, full of tuneful inventions and deep euphoria. Gorgeous.

THE HARE AND THE HOOFE     DID I DREAM PARTS 1-4

The Hare And The Hoofe are rapidly becoming a band to cherish - their marvellously entertaining and deliciously weird debut album seldom off the phonogram. Bursting with fuzzed-up psychedelia and deranged invention, THE HARE AND THE HOOFE, a double album no less, has garnered praise from all quarters - my favourite comparing it to a Blake’s 7 re-imagining of The Pretty Things’ SF SORROW, which sums things up very nicely, I think. The deliriously catchy Did I Dream Parts 1-4 sees something very similar to The Psychedelic Furs’ Sister Europe reconceived as a mad rock opera performed by IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD-era Moody Blues, and I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of the album yet. A mind-bending listen.

THE FENWEH     WHERE DID THE SEA GO?

Absolutely gorgeous - The Fenweh’s knack of dreaming up sublime melodies makes them the band I go to when I want to wander around the house humming a pretty tune and feeling good about myself and more or less everything else too. Their eponymous debut album, released last year, is simply a superb distillation of gather-in-the-mushrooms-era British folk acts such as Heron, Trees and the Judy Dyble-led Fairport Convention when they were still trying to be Jefferson Airplane but, and get this, with better tunes. There are other reference points: Where Did The Sea Go? Could be taken from Michael Head’s THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE STRANDS. They really are that good.

SOFT HEARTED SCIENTISTS     MOTHS MISTOOK US FOR THE MOON

Plaintive loveliness from Soft Hearted Scientists who returned earlier this year with a cover of The Bee Gees’ Please Read Me for an as-yet-unreleased album for the wonderful Fruits De Mer record label and, from the b-side, the first new music from  SHS in some years, Moths Mistook Us For The Moon, which ought remind anyone who needs reminding why we need a new album from the psychedelic troubadours as quickly as possible. A thing of quiet beauty.

PURPLE OVERDOSE     HER ARMS EMBRACED THE SUN

I think you know what to expect when a group calls itself Purple Overdose, and the Greek band Purple Overdose don’t disappoint, producing a cosmic blend of hard rock and jazz combined with distinct oriental influences and whatever it is the Greek equivalent of acid folk is called. It is, as you might imagine, a sound heavily indebted to the 60s, but you’ll receive no complaints here. Her Arms Embraced The Sun is taken from their 1999 release, REBORN, an unabashed celestial voyage of lysergic grooviness and arch progginess.

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