Album Review...Hibushibire - Freak Out Orgasm!

Osaka based, Japanese hard psychedelic freak out rock band Hibushibire (translated as freak out orgasm) were formed by guitarist Chang Chang and bassist 821 as an improvisation jam rock band in 2012.  It's taken 4 years to cut a record due to lineup changes; their debut was recorded in just a day at Helluva Lounge and then overdubbed with extra instrumentation to give it its psychedelic feel.  Finally, the album was mixed by producer Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple at his mountain top studio temple in Osaka.

The frantic, feral noodling of 'Lucifer's My Friend' opens the record; the shortest track at just 3 minutes long.  It's hyperspeed, receptive groove and feedback serves like a statement of intent; and over the next 40 minutes your brain is getting fried.

'Hallucination Valley Blues – Flying Shiva Attach – Hallucination Valley Blues (reprise)' follows, within the dirty, fuzzed up guitars, sounds a cool groove nodding in the direction of Bonzo's masterful drum pacing on 'Moby Dick'.  The middle section becomes a bat-shit crazy freak-out, before settling down again into its beginnings of acid blues groove.  'Trepanation Breakdown' rocks on like a scuzzy behemoth, over an irresistible riff and sonic wall of noise and the album shows no signs of settling down.  Side two of the record is  'Deep Throat River HolyMountain High',  commencing at first in a gentler, more atmospheric manner; folk-like instrumentation gives the cosmic trip a unique and absorbing feel, before the tempos shift and the band build to an ear bleeding, guitar shredding, sonic blast of an ending.

It is said that the 4 tracks on the LP are shortened down as recorded versions, whilst live, their wild psychedelic, improvisational nature can make the tracks constantly, and organically evolve without the limitations of time; there is no doubting the skill in which the band have achieved this here. Whilst chaotic at times, Freak Out Orgasm! remains tight and focused; Hibushibire show a clever knack for making it seem like the music is out of control; however, like the best insane orchestrated works of Zappa and Funkadelic, to the raw manic caustic workouts of Acid Mothers Temple; this works incredibly well.

Kudos to label Riot Season Records here for putting out what is without doubt one of the most  essential records so far of 2017.  Hibushibire will give your brain a cosmic battering, and you will thank them for it!

Hibushibire Bandcamp

Hibushibire Facebook

Riot Season Records

Album Review...Buried Feather - Mind of the Swarm

Australia's Buried Feather have been making heads turn for a while now: the band are known for their engaging live presence, something  that's afforded them a loyal fanbase and following. 'Mind of the Swarm' is the follow up to the acclaimed Self Titled 2013 debut.
The Album was recorded by Paul Maybury (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) and mixed by Nick Franklin (The Grates, Deep Sea Arcade) and is considered to be a more dynamic realisation of the band’s hypnotic sound.

The record opens with 'Would I Miss You', a cheeky Creedence Clearwater Revivalesque guitar lick starts the track and leads straight into heavy organs and pounding drums.  The track, itself, is dark, psych pop and it's irresistibly cool.

Lead single 'Dust' follows, hitting immediately, like a lost Wooden Shjips track, complete with phased guitars and hypnotic beat.
The title track is a fuzz fuelled dope trip; It's tone is hazy, but warm with serpentine synths.  'Sunshine' is much more garage rock inflected than previous songs, but still maintains a gothic-synth like aura.
Further on the record, there is the dirty, electro stomp of 'Regular Creep' and the drunkern drone  vibrations of the cinematic 'Screen Dreamer'. It's the sublime closing track 'Well Wishes' that steals the show, like an amalgamation of every note and beat that came before it; the track is a hard reverberating mammoth; its sonic grooves swell over a rolling drum pattern and help bring the LP to its intensely satisfying conclusion.

It's fair to say I was taken by 'Mind of the Swarm' pretty much on its first listen.  Theres plenty to recommend about its addictive sounds. There's no doubt it works well, on one hand as a rock album, however, the drones that inhabit the songs and the drowsy vocal on tracks like 'The Stranger' give it something far more alluring than the bands enjoyable debut record.  The fuzzy guitars and mesmeric drumming serve to add to the overall approach the record strives to achieve.  Its stoned, psychedelic feel is pitch perfect.  Buried Feather have released one of the first essential listens of 2017.  This is something fans of Moon Duo, Dead Meadow and The Cult of Dom Keller will definitely want to hear.


Buried Feather Bandcamp

Buried Feather Facebook

Cobra Snake Necktie Records (Aus)

Kozmik Artifactz Records (Eur)

Album Review... Moon Duo - Occult Architecture Vol. 1

Read the Original Review for Midlands Rocks HERE

Moon Duo’s new LP has been split into two parts; not only that, but the duo now appear to be a trio! Confused? You won't be.

The decision to split Occult Architecture into two releases came during the mixing process. According to guitarist Ripley Johnson, “We were recording and mixing the songs; beginning in the dead of Winter, and continuing into the rebirth and blossoming of the Spring.  There’s something really powerful about the changing of the seasons in the Northwest; the physical and psychic impact it has on you, especially after we spent so many years in the seasonal void of California".

The album opens with 'The Death Set', a fuzzed-up monster that fills every space that it sonically occupies.  It's also one of the few tracks that follow the expected constructs of a Moon Duo Record.  'Cold Fear' features a more electronic approach akin to 80's synth pop and has a Krautrock feel; the synths buzz and swirl throughout, as the drum track loops.  Follow on track 'Creepin' is fast paced psych pop and has some of the same touches, but has an urgency within its delivery; the synths sounding, once again, very much like they were built in the 80's.

The second half of the album kicks off with 'Cult of Moloch' and offers a change in tone.  The synths remain, but introduce a darker layer; a more gothic feel, bringing to mind The Sisters of Mercy and Nottingham's brilliant The Cult of Dom Kellers 'Goodbye to the Light'  LP from 2016.
'Will of the Devil' lightens a little, leaning more towards synth-pop once more.  The albums highlight is without doubt, the epic closer 'White Rose'; a motorik and relentless track, that moves towards its swirling end.  The final track doesn't feel like closure. It actually leaves a state of anticipation for the second part.

Occult Architecture Vol. 1 marks the first time drummer John Jeffrey plays on the whole album having only played on selected tracks on 2015's 'Shadow of the Sun', and although the album does have a more synth approach, he definitely brings something that expands the groups sound.

Make no mistake, there isn't an atypical diversion going on here, Volume 1 remains as vibrant and true to the craft of Moon Duo's previous releases; there are differences, in terms of tones and the synth textures, but the sound remains undoubtably their own.  Listening to this first part, does set off a curiosity in terms of what the next volume will deliver; how warm can it become without a radical departure?  For now, volume 1 does exactly what you expect it to and want it to.

Official Site

Moon Duo Facebook

Sacred Bones Records

Listen to February's Atom Heart Mutha Anytime on Mixcloud

February's Atom Heart Mutha RadioShow is now available to listen to anytime on Mixcloud. You can go to the AHM Mixcloud page HERE or listen on the embedded player below. This months show went out on the Bigjaf.net RockShow on February 11th and again for American Radio Station Grip Of Delusion Radio on the 12th. This month features a ton of brand new releases from the likes of Moon Duo, Kingnomad, Buried Feather Sula Bassana and Hibushibire, theres plenty of Psych Stoner and Spacerock to discover. As always if you like what you hear please support the bands and labels by buying their music, there are direct tags on the Facebook Page, check it out.

Tracklist:

Moon Duo - Cult of Moloch
Sula Bassana - Grong
Holy Mount - Blackened Log
Buried Feather - The Stranger
Old Blood - Silk Road Rash
Seedy Jeezus - Chasing the Dragons Tail
Deep Space Destructors - Journey to the Space Mountain
Kingnomad - Nameless Cult
Hibushibire - Hallucination Valley Blues/Flying Saucer Attack/Hallucination Valley Blues Repise

Bandcamp Roundup

2017 is shaping up to be a great year for new music, below are some Bandcamp Links to some brand new/recent releases you can stream and hear now.
Take some time and check this stuff out, theres some absolute gems.  Ive also put links up to some albums that are a little older that may have passed you by, they're all crackers though !
The tile links are clickable and will take you to the bandcamp page.
As always, if you like what you hear support the artists and pay for the download, or check out their pages and buy a physical version.
A lot of the artists here will be selling vinyl versions and special edition packages

Enjoy!




Ddent - آكتئاب




Old Blood - Old Blood




Seedy Jeezus - Seedy Jeezus




Gozu - Revival




Vintage Cucumber - Schnecke




Alpha Omega - Dark Tales of the Shroom




The Clamps - Blend, Shake, Swallow

Tau - Tau Tau Tau




Deep Space Destructors - Spring Break From Space




Early Mammal - Take a Lover

Album Review...Cosmic Fall - First Fall

As 2017 moves on, Clostridium Records have released the first Long Player from Berlin's Cosmic Fall; a heavy, psychedelic rock act formed, in the summer of last year.
 The band are said to follow in the tradition of artists such as Earthless; and whilst that may be true, to a degree, they also have something original within their approach too.

'Sun of a Gun' is a measured, bluesy rock number that emits an atmosphere of its own; it slowly travels its way over its 15 minute length, consuming your brain warmly, until reaches its climax, suddenly evolving into a rocking freakout!
'Road to Ufa' follows, and there's no escaping its stoner rock nod to Clutch, and the old blues feel of John Lee Hooker.  'I Must Obey' follows; a confident, strutting bassline, and, in its latter section, impressively rocks out, as if Jon Lord's drumkit got it on with a Tony Iommi riff!  For me, it's the standout track of the record.
The album closes with 'Jam I', a lengthy track with an intense groove.  The band are clearly comfortable with starting with an idea and rolling with it to see where it goes; despite its length, it manages to be pleasing, without wearing out its welcome.

Cosmic Fall do a great job of making music that showcase 4 songs over 45 minutes, yet maintain the listeners attention.  It's almost unbelievable to conceive what they have achieved in just 6, short months of forming.  Whilst often improvisational in approach; what is delivered feels tight and focused, this is something that the bands homeland contemporaries, such as Knall and The Spacelords, do so well; Clostridium Records have excelled, in adding a band of such high calibre to their arsenal and introducing them lovers of Heavy Psych Rock.

First Fall is a record that should be explored over time and with repeated plays; this is an earthy album that leaves you with the desire to hear it live, loud and without limits.  There are times when its sound is just too big to be contained on a record; how they choose to follow this mammoth debut will be an interesting reveal.

The record is available from the bands bandcamp page and as well as a digital and CD release there is a choice of three vinyl ops, Black, purple and splatter design.


Cosmic Fall Facebook

Cosmic Fall Bandcamp

Clostridium Records

Album Review...Secret Saucer - The Reset

Born from the ashes of the Strange Daze Festival, is an Ohio based Space Rock band known as Secret Saucer.  The music they make is pure, improvisational, spacerock/krautrock and have been melting brains for 12 years, since the release of the debut 'Element 115'.

We liftoff with the synth heavy  intro of 'Mercury' before morphing into 'Roaming Shores' a tripped-out Space Rock opus that unfolds beautifully, over nearly 7 minutes.
'Silver Tethers' is a heavily synth laden track, with a sci-fi feel.  The drumming is reminiscent of Nick Masons's celebrated work on 'Dark Side of the Moon'.  It's easy to get lost in the track as you find yourself getting carried on to higher plains. Follow on track 'We're Waiting' is a pulsating, electronic soundscape that peaks with the sound of (One presumes) alien birds. The title track is a magnificently unnerving, oscillating soundscape, that serves to warn us of "violent quakes' on the earths surface. The next track 'Orbital Perturbation' carries on with the ominous theme, as it builds to to a gravely riff and intergalactic whirling.

Elsewhere, on the record is the looping, bass-driven, space stomp of 'Surfing on Saturn' and the 'Comfortably Numb' influenced 'Treading on Crystal light' that evolves into a cosmogonic space skank, before reverting back to its Floydian sway.  The album highlight for me comes in the closing tracks of the record with 'Beaten Path'; a euphoric composition that takes the album towards concluding piece 'Dripping Metal'.

The Reset is album number 7 for Secret Saucer and it finds them on great form.  The band continue to be driven, and on point.  Within the grooves, you can hear the influence of Nik Turner and Hawkwind, as well as all the hallmarks of any great, modern, SpaceRock record in the cosmic mix. This is a band that deserve a wider audience to absorb the hard work poured into the intergalactic psychedelia that lives within their albums.  The Reset might just be the album to do that.

The band have just announced that a limited edition vinyl run will be released in May via German label PsyKa Records; the album is due to be mastered by the brilliant Eroc.  Preorder now, before it's too late!

Secret Saucer on Facebook

Secret Saucer on Soundcloud

The Next Atom Heart Mutha RadioShow goes out....

...Live online on February 11th at 9pm as part of the Bigjaf.net RockShow.  You can hear it Live as it happens  by going to www.mixlr.com/wwwbigjafnet
There will be a clickable player on the AHM Facebook and Twitter pages as well on Bigjaf.nets own social media. As always the encore performance on  awesome American Station Grip of Delusion Radio will go out the next day on the 12th at 10amEST/4pmCET/3pmUK
This months show will feature brand new tracks from recently released and upcoming records and showcase the best that HeavyPsychedelicStonerRock has to offer; until then you can check out February 2016's broadcast which was part of BigJaf's Cover Version Special.

Track List:

Incredible Bongo Band - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
L'impero Delle Ombre - Snowblind
Dark Horses - Hello, I Love You
Cult of Dom Keller - Dazed and Confused
Elder - Voodoo Child ( Slight Return )
Fireball Ministry - Doctor Doctor
Teeth of the sea - In the Space Capsule
The Atomic Bitchwax - Astronomy Domine
The Vickers - Love You To
The Holydrug Couple - Je T'aime Non Plus