New York’s Prison are nebulous at best, a loose and ever-changing collective of players who consistently produce some of outsider rock’s most freaked-out jams, regardless of who’s taking part. There are key contributors like Endless Boogie’s Paul Major, Liquor Store’s Sarim Al-Rawi, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Lilly, but different sessions find them joined by various like-minded heads making for different shades of psychedelic intensity on each new record.
Prison’s third long-player, Big Rigs on the BQE, is the product of a recording date in 2024 that included percussionist Ryan Sawyer and Sic Alps’ Mike Donovan adding fuzz-saturated organ to the mix, along with former Prison-staffers Matt Leibowitz and Adam Reich also adding…
Category: psychedelic rock
A new album from US psychedelic rock legends Dead Meadow! Foundlings is a seven-track collection that delves deep into the band’s archives, spanning over two decades of sessions, tributes, and unreleased gems.
This rare collection promises to shed light on the band’s evolution and features previously unheard material showcasing their unique ability to channel classic influences, from Sabbath-inspired heaviness to shimmering, Cure-like textures, through their own hazy lens. It also serves as a tribute to bassist and founding member Steve Kille, who passed away two years ago after a long battle with cancer.
Foundlings is set to become essential listening for long-time fans and newcomers alike. It arrives as the band continues to cement…
Austin’s The Black Drumset isn’t just a band, it’s an experiment. Brian Wiley has released three studio recordings since 2009 and the latest, Friends in Dark Places was carefully crafted over the course of seven years, its seven songs are full-bodied trips into the nexus between interstellar intrigue and carnal rhythms. With droning keyboards as copiously applied as the droning guitars, it’s the drums, other percussion, and Wiley’s mesmerizingly monotone vocals that provide a solid center. “Everything turns in time/ See my place in this life/ Every place, every time/ Beauty, hope, peace of mind,” he sings, offering a reassurance that gives way to an extended, entrancing jam.
Wiley’s music radiates a calm, justified…
REZN create psychedelic music both retro and modern, occasionally experimental but largely streamlined. It’s space rock and stoner rock with hints of Americana and prog; Sky Valley-via-Sacramento with a not-so-final destination of Live at Pompeii, though the band is from Chicago. If 2024’s breakout album Burden sounded like an ominous transmission from the cosmic depths, then Cycles in the Infinite Dream trades outer space for inner space, recalibrating those hostile frequencies in favor of a heaviness that registers as more organic, more human.
REZN guitarist/vocalist Rob McWilliams leads the way with smooth vocals somewhere in the rarefied air between Chino Moreno and Failure’s Ken Andrews. His high-flying melodies on…
On 23rd December 1977 a unique concert took place at Queens Hall, Barnstaple that has justifiably earned a special place in the history of Hawkwind.
Billed on posters as being an appearance by Dave Brock’s Sonic Assassins, the band featured Hawkwind members Dave Brock and Robert Calvert, along with future members Harvey Bainbridge (bass), Martin Griffin (drums) and keyboard player Paul Hayles.
Intended as a Brock and Calvert side project, the concert was recorded and featured early renditions of tracks such as ‘Freefall’ and ‘Death Trap’, along with a classic improvised piece later titled ‘Over The Top’ which showed Robert Calvert at his improvisational lyrical best. The performance would later be seen as sowing…
Remember when SST records ruled the independent rock scene in the late ’80s, early ’90s and when those sounds created by the bands like The Meat Puppets, where everything sounded like it was going to fall apart any second, but never did, creating effervescent-sounding jams somewhere between elastic folk and spaced-out jazz?
If you do, rejoice, as Philadelphia’s Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders are back again with their latest (umpteenth) offering Liquid Donnon. If you are yet to get to such a sound, listening to this one, you will not only go for that sound, but will revive your Grateful Dead collection (if you have one, if not, make one) as well as the vast set of offerings Alexander and his crew have on offer. Here, Alexander and his Lidders go…
Heavy Metal (Live! Nairobi International Casino!) is a landmark Zamrock album by Paul Ngozi and the Ngozi Family Band, originally captured live-in-the-studio style in 1977.
Blending psychedelic rock, heavy fuzz guitar effects, and African rhythms, it stands as a cornerstone of the ’70s Zambian rock movement. The album relies heavily on Ngozi’s signature “Gee Flanger” guitar effects pedal, creating a swirling, psychedelic fuzz texture that drives tracks like “Heavy Metal” and “Dangerous Woman”
…Zamrock was a bona-fide rock scene, with albums released through independent labels based in Zambia. This music scene was complete, encompassing the genres of rock, acid folk, fusion, Afro-beat, South African jazz and…
Hiding your identity is a bold move in 2026. In this year of stalker glasses and flock cameras and algorithmic analysis of every internet move you make, it might seem futile to try to keep your name out of things. But Ferries, based who knows where and comprised of who knows how many or what sort of people, is doing its level best.
Aside from a modest (and cagey) Bandcamp page, the band has left very little internet trail. Assuming this secrecy is an intentional decision, it’s certainly working; their sound is the only objective info we’ve got.
About that sound: it’s slow and dubby, its cavernous sonic space encompassing body-shaking low-end and dreamy, trebly vocals. You might point to the Mekons’ most…
Fabienne Delsol does modern garage psych as well as anyone; her handful of solo albums have been mysterious, magical delights full of drama and intrigue; it’s no wonder that one of her songs ended up on the soundtrack of Killing Eve. Any music coordinator looking for a song that combines the hooky pop of French ye-ye, the guitar and keys swirl of psychedelia, the stomp of Freakbeat, and the sweetness of the beat group era would do well to pick any one of her songs.
There are plenty of fine examples of Delsol at her best on her 2026 record Indigo Red. Co-produced by Ed Deegan and Delsol herself with a crack band of contributors (Thomas Gardner, Carwyn Eliis) on board, the record sounds typically good, coated in reverb and echo but still cracking…
Like Tony Allen’s drumming in Fela Kuti’s band, or Clyde Stubblefield’s beats for James Brown, there’s something essentially timeless about krautrock rhythms. Can’s Jaki Leibezeit and Neu!’s Klaus Dinger created a rhythmic language that is “motorik” in every sense – a way of delineating forward-momentum, a propulsive groove that links rock music’s physicality with the repetition of electronica. Perhaps this is why a genre of music that emerged in a West German counterculture of the early ’70s continues to represent futurism and progress, even for bands who have absolutely no contact with Germany – from Tokyo’s Minami Deutsch to Chicago’s Lifeguard; from Sao Paulo’s Bike to Bristol’s Beak; from London’s Snapped Ankles to Venice’s Squadra Omega.
The volumes of music referenced in the title of Gnod’s latest dispatch are slated to total three, all of them drawn from just shy of a week in the studio. In many ways, this Salford-originated experimental group are different – in personnel, setup, lifestyle – from their beginnings, two decades ago this year, but by no means comprehensively so, and this sort of nose-to-tail approach to serving up their recording sessions is reminiscent of when there’d be a new Gnod release practically every other month.
Moreover, on the evidence of Chronicles of Gnowt Vol.1 there’s no reason to think they’re offering us offcuts. With vocals featuring only sporadically, it lacks the polemical feel of some of their releases, but insularity can be very fruitful…
Take a look at Thames & Hudson’s magnificently illustrated coffee table tome Off the Wall: Psychedelic Rock Posters from San Francisco, and among the phantasmagorical, hallucinogenic artwork promoting nights at venues such as the Fillmore, Winterland, Carousel and Avalon ballrooms, three names trailing clouds of lysergic glory occur more than any others – the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Yet although the Dead and the Airplane have become the stuff of legend, the other corner of the original San Fran acid-rock trinity has been rather forgotten. This 79-track boxset chronicling Quicksilver’s protean iterations over seven albums in the space of five tumultuous years – along with a generous helping of bonus tracks…
Emerging from the gentle coastal terrain of South Cornwall, England, The Heavenly Bodes’ debut LP, The Green Hills, is, at times, a reflection of its surroundings. The album’s opener, “De Gruene Heuvels” (the album’s title in Dutch), and its closer, “The Heavenly Bode,” both have a jangly late-’60s country-rock vibe reminiscent of The Byrds and Mike Nesmith’s solo output. “De Gruene Heuvels” bears a resemblance to The Monkees’ tune “Circle Sky” from the cult classic film Head, with its freaked-out fuzz guitar lines layered over jangly rhythm guitar. “The Heavenly Bode” uses a similar formula but adds shimmering guitar work and fiery fuzz leads to propel it along. Both songs possess a down-home style filtered through a kaleidoscopic haze.
Though vaguely considered along the lines of noise, space rock, dream pop and psychedelic, The Telescopes have consistently expanded boundaries, colouring outside the lines with possibility. This house has many rooms, embraced across genres, influential to many, all embracing, in an orbit of its own. Static Charge is The Telescopes’ 19th studio album since the group’s inception in 1988 – and their 7th release on Tapete Records.
After a three-month tour of the UK and Europe, the all embracing sounds of The Telescopes return with a lean blitz of seditionary hits. Take a jolt of Static Charge and step beyond the realm of natural vision. Stone age beats, outsider sounds, low end disturbance unite in resistance to the new weirdness of existence.
The Karl Hector adventure continues with their fourth studio album. Since the release of Sahara Swing, the group have built a devoted following through their fusion of funk, psychedelic sounds and influences from across Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
Yolek digs deeper into the Krautrock history embedded deep in the soil of their native Munch – three of the most influential bands of the 1970s experimental German rock scene sprung from there: Amon Düül, Popol Vuh and Embryo. Drawing from those bands’ homebound and worldly influences, JJ Whitefield and Zdenko Curulija conceived and produced this kosmiche-werk. Influenced by these musical heroes, and following the path of Non Ex Orbis, Whitefield…
Any discussion about Datura4 will focus on its frontman/founder Dom Mariani.
Although not a world-renowned, or even familiar, name to all but the most dedicated rock fan, Mariani is an award-winning icon of the Australian roots music scene. He has led, or been involved with, a dizzying array of bands over a career extending back to the early ’80s.
Those familiar with the sounds from down under may recognize groups such as The Stems, The Someloves, DM3, The Stonefish, The Summer Suns… and there are more. Mariani has been connected with them all, some as frontman, others as a hired hand for a while or tours. There is a full Wikipedia page dedicated to his eventful, colorful career for those who want to learn more.
Working with guitars, drum machine, sampler, self-built electronics, and all manner of percussion, BASIC, the trio of Chris Forsyth, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Douglas McCombs, synthesize the vast influences and distinct histories of each member, producing a boundary-less, rhythm-forward amalgam of art rock, trance jazz, collective improvisation, and humming electronics on their new eponymous full-length for No Quarter.
Philadelphia’s Chris Forsyth, known for his lyrical guitar compositions and mercurial improvisations as leader of the Solar Motel Band, founded BASIC in 2022 naming the project in homage to the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album “Basic,” yes, but also to indicate a desire to get down to fundamentals rhythmically and musically.
…Cream’s third album Wheels of Fire was originally released on 14 June 1968 in the US; less than a month later, the three-piece – Ginger Baker (drums, vocals), Jack Bruce (bass, lead vocals) and Eric Clapton (guitar, vocals) – announced that they were going their separate ways…
The 5CD super deluxe edition features a 2026 remaster and a previously unreleased phase-corrected version of the entire album. The latter version was achieved by using software to reverse the Haeco-CSG effect originally applied to the album. This was a ’60s audio processing technique intended to make stereo recordings compatible with mono turntables but had a side-effect of ‘blurring’ the stereo imaging. The first CD offers the remaster of the original…
Legendary space rock band Hawkwind return with a brand new collection that blurs the lines between studio album, archive excavation and future transmission. Drawing together unheard recordings, newly reworked classics and fresh material from the current line-up, this latest release stands as a vital and evolving chapter in the band’s ever-expanding sonic universe.
Rather than a retrospective, this forward-facing release presents a snapshot of Hawkwind in motion. Featuring brand new studio recordings alongside previously unheard material from ongoing and unreleased projects, the album captures multiple facets of the band’s creative output, from cosmic psychedelia to driving space rock and experimental electronica.
Off Course, the new Osees record, is only five tracks, but some of them are long, and Dwyer is calling it an album. It certainly takes you on a journey the way good albums do. The songs are playful, funky, and hallucinatory in a way that reminds me how much King Gizzard owes to this crew.
Dwyer says it emerged from endless jam sessions, a method the Osees hadn’t employed for a while: We went back to an older method of writing for this one. We jammed and jammed and jammed. I took the tapes home and ironed out some mutant tunes. We went back into the studio and burned them to tape live and then I took it home to Stu-Stu-Studio and did the vocals and brought in Tom Dolas & Brigid Dawson to put the finish on…