Listening to too much mainstream music can be dangerous for mental health. Dr. Fester prescribes the antidote: Large Plants, Rolling Blackouts C.F., Body Type, Warpaint, Ufomammut, Wo Fat, Mordecai Smyth, The Smile, Melts, Ecstatic Vision, Kikagaku Moyo, Orkan, Fuzz Meadows and more.
I can sometimes understand why many people who reach a certain age stop bothering to listen to new music. I don’t mean they avoid all media and streaming, but stop buying new albums, or listening to entire new albums. With around 2,000 albums being released every week now, it’s overwhelming, and even to scratch the surface of listening to the most hyped 5-10 releases can be taxing. And with artists that I’ve admired in the past like Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, Fontaines D.C. and Kendrick Lamar, underwhelming efforts combined with outsized senses of self-importance results in an extremely draining experience. But hey, it’s okay not to like what everyone else likes. There’s still a constant flow of amazing music coming from artists who have much more likeable personas like Jack Sharp’s humbly named Large Plants, the nerdy sound lab of triple guitar tones from Melbourne’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and the long-anticipated debut full-length from Sydney’s Body Type. I can’t imagine not wanting to hear the latest albums from artists like Warpaint, Ufomammut, Wo Fat, Radiohead side project The Smile. In a world of horrors, it’s one of the few things I look forward to.
1. Large Plants – The Carrier (Ghost Box)
After one of the best bands around, Wolf People, went on hiatus (I thought they were broken up, but I’ll take hiatus anytime), Jack Sharp went into a songwriting and recording frenzy during lockdown in 2020. Chris Cohen (Deerhoof, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti) mixed it in 2021 and it’s finally out on Ghost Box, known for electronic/plunderphonic artists like Belbury Poly, The Advisory Circle, The Focus Group, Pye Corner Audio and psych folk/ambient/dream pop Beautify Junkyards. Fortunately Sharp did not drink the electro Kool-Aid and instead reveled in even grittier heavy psych crunch than Wolf People, while still preserving the eerie beauty of Sharp’s signature hauntological folk prog sound.
This beguiling combo was previewed last year with a cheeky cover of Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita,” transforming it into a spooky, melancholy psych prog gem. B-Side “Please Don’t Be There For Me” and single “The Death of Pliny” aren’t included on the new ten track album, but are well worth seeking out. While Sharp recorded all the parts himself, it could easily have been accepted as a Wolf People album, with songwriting and riffs that hold up that band’s strongest work, such as the haunting “Hold Onto,” the alternatively chonky and ethereal “No Difference,” and the proto-metal guitar harmonies that kick off “Wreckers.” This is clearly a fully realized work, backed up by Sharp already touring the album with a live band consisting of two of his music students, The Taylor Twins (Oliver and Edward) and Joe Woolley of The Lords of Thyme.
This isn’t the kind of album that gets up in your face, slaps it’s ass and says, “Look at meeee, look at how SIGNIFICANT I am.” The bewitching craft of this talented warlock musician is enough to warrant repeat listens, letting it get under your skin, until you realize at the end of the year that it’s a contender for Fester’s Lucky 13.
2. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms (Sub Pop)
Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever’s third official full-length kicks off with the minute long synth ditty, “Pearl Like You,” that recalls the intro to Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight.” I would have felt some dread that yet another great guitar band fell down into the great synth sinkhole, had I not already heard several singles. While there are synths snaking throughout the album, they don’t interfere with the three guitar dream team. Nine years after they first started recording, RBCF show no signs of abandoning their strengths for the sake of fickle fashions. | Full Review
3. Body Type – Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising (Poison City)
Body Type from Sydney, Australia may just be releasing their debut album now, but they’ve been active for six years, releasing two enticing EPs in 2018 and 19, and the single “Night Gratitude” in 2020. This is certainly the case of a pandemic related delay, as the band already has a second album’s worth of material written. Their sound has already evolved since that first EP, leaving behind the dreamy Warpaint inspired trip jammin’ mix of jangle pop, garage and post-punk into harder rocking material that makes good use of the twin guitar duo of Sophie McComish and Annabel Blackman. In the face of misogynist presumptions about their musicianship, they came up with the “wankiest, shreddiest” guitar solo in first single “The Charm.” Rather than a pisstake on cock rock though, it sounds like a really excellent tribute to the best guitar leads from Sleater-Kinney and undersung virtuoso Mary Timony (Autoclave, Helium, Wild Flag, Ex Hex). The driving “The Brood” is even better, and the side two run of “Flight Path,” “Buoyancy” and “Sex and Rage” keep the punk-infused energy level high. They haven’t totally abandoned their more delicate early style, however, as there’s plenty of slow-burners, such as “Futurism,” “An Animal” and the title track that inhabit a similar sonic and emotional space as some of the Wet Leg album. It makes me wonder if that band weren’t paying keen attention to Body Type’s early work, or perhaps all these bands are drawing inspiration from the same deep wells of feminist post-punk and guitar pop, and coming up with their own unique stamp. The more the merrier, as every note sounds like an antidote to both the dumpster fires of reality, and popular culture.
4. Warpaint – Radiate Like This (Heirlooms/Virgin)
I know I’ve been clamoring for new Warpaint for a couple years, but dang, how did six years slip by? I’ve been a fan since their Exquisite Corpse EP (2009), but I’ve admired them even more once the Warpaint acolytes were spawned, starting with Peluché, who once described their music, which shares Warpaint’s roots in gauzy psychedelic post-punk, dream pop and trip hop, as trip jam, a reference to how they’d write their music by jamming together in their garden she-shed. I may be the only one who’s ran with it and applied it to other groups like Groupie, Fassine, Patio, Body Type and Goat Girl among others. Not all the artists may directly cite Warpaint, but they’re clearly influential, though slightly less so with their more traditional pop structures on Heads Up (2016). I had a good feeling they had better music to come, and Radiate Like This proves it. Singer/guitarists Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman have recognized that what makes their songs stand out is their rhythm section, Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass) and Stella Mozgawa (drums), who create a brilliant fusion of post-punk, dub, kosmische-infused 90s Too Pure bands and trip hop, with the assistance of some ethereal, stellar production by Sam Petts-Davies (Frank Ocean, Thom Yorke).
The propulsive “Champion” and sensuous “Stevie” are definitely highlights, great choices for singles. The post-calypso dance beat brings fond memories of Laika and Pram, while “Hard to Tell You” evokes Cocteau Twins. “Like Sweetness” features catchy vocal melodies, like Stevie Nicks guesting with Kate Bush’s band circa 1982. The folky and playfully lascivious “Send Nudes” is perfect way to end the band’s deceptively low-key, triumphant comeback.
5. Ufomammut – Fenice (Neurot)
I’m still fuming about two recent histories of doom and heavy music that failed to mention Italian cosmic doom psych sludge behemoths Ufomammut even in passing. I won’t even mention the titles of the books because they’re garbage for their omissions. Their ninth (if you only count the majestic installments of 2012’s Oro: Opus Alter & Priumum as a double album) album vindicates my outrage, sealing their status as one of the most important heavy bands of the 21st century. Coming in at a succinct six songs in just over 38 minutes (despite “Duat” breaking the 10 minute barrier), Fenice is a change of pace from the sprawling, sometimes bordering on unwieldy albums. There’s also a shift in the production, with more dynamics and space in the tracks, so when the densely packed sludge overdrive switches on, it’s impact is all the more visceral. Five years is a pretty common gap between albums these days, but apparently the band was on hiatus for a bit, after losing drummer Vita. With new stickman Levre in place, they do a great job in approximating the aural equivalent of a phoenix, a flaming space phoenix, of course, emerging from the sun and directing it’s baleful gaze at the doomed Earth.
6. Wo Fat – The Singularity (Ripple)
Wo Fat shares some of Ufomammut’s cosmic psych sludge DNA, but adds elements from regions surrounding their Dallas, TX homebase, including the swamplands that extend from East Texas into Louisiana, and the blues boogie that extends from ZZ Top all the way back to Dallas native T-Bone Walker in the 1940s. They’ve even given nods to jazz fusion, going way back to their 2006 debut with “Runnin’ the Voodoo Down.” Of course more contemporary influences like Kyuss is closer to the surface, and while the band clearly have the chops to prog out like Elder, they have usually kept it reigned in service to the groove, riding the mostly simple but transfixing riffs. But unlike Ufomammut, Wo Fat’s seventh album is their most expansive since their double album Psychedelonaut (2009), at a weighty 75:38.
The album title refers to a popular concept in science fiction, notably addressed by Greg Bear in Blood Music (1983), in which biotech triggers a rapid transformation of people into a posthuman state, though the origins of the idea go back to at least 1872 with Samuel Butler’s Erewhon. Vernor Vinge explored this further in a 1993 symposium paper, “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era.” Kicking off with the nearly 14 minute long “Orphans of the Singe,” and then “The Snows of Banquo IV,” it’s no surprise that they do get a bit more progressive this time around. This is a good thing. Ever wonder what ZZ Top would sound like if they circled back to their origins as psychedelic band The Moving Sidewalks and mixed in some prog chops? It probably wouldn’t quite resemble “The Unraveling,” but if they were lucky it would be just as amazing. With Wo Fat, you don’t have to wish they’d have explored more interesting sounds, because they’re already there, and between the engaging, multi-part composition of “Overworlder” and the epic 16:32 instrumental “The Oracle,” they’ve nearly perfected their craft.
7. Mordecai Smyth – Things Are Getting Stranger On The Shore (Mega Dodo)\
If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve been compelled to hear everything put out by the fantastic UK psych label Mega Dodo, I may have never discovered Mordecai Smyth lurking in the far reaches of Berkshire/Albion. His first album, Sticky Tape and Rust (2011) was actually the label’s first release, and was missed by all but the most persistent of psych pop obsessives. This is only his third release, after 2017’s slightly more progressive The Mayor of Toytown is Dead, which featured featured special guest Dave Lambert from the British progressive folk psych pioneers the Strawbs. Smyth continues to push forward in the psych prog direction, while still retaining the folk beauty (“The Love That We Found”) and pop accessibility (“Fear of Flying”) of classic psych. Here, Rennaissance’s Jon Camp is the honored guest, along with assists from labelmates Icarus Peel and, on the epic 15:38 long “That Late Autumn Sun,” Crystal Jacqueline. Smyth doesn’t frolic and brood exclusively in the meadows and shoreline, achieving liftoff into the atmosphere and beyond on the propulsive opener “In Your Dark Space” and the stunning “Mercy,” which is touched by the folk kosmische delicacy of Popol Vuh. The album concludes with Hawkwind-inspired saxophone-driven space rocker “High Once More,” the view of the strangeness on the shore receding into an insignificant speck as Smyth ventures for parts unknown.
8. The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention (XL)
Another band that hasn’t had an album in six years is Radiohead. This is not Radiohead, but easily the next best thing, Sons of Kemet’s drummer Tom Skinner with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood take a more eclectic, loose approach to sounds that Radiohead has flirted with since In Rainbows (2007), mostly successfully, and with a couple stunning bangers, like “You’ll Never Work in Television Again” and the gorgeous “Waving a White Flag.” Closer “Skirting on a Surface” is deceptively low key, but could have been good enough for a Radiohead track. The rest is a swirling mixof art rock, psych prog and Afrobeat jazz fusion, but with a side project this good, I have high hopes a new Radiohead album will be even better in the semi-near future.
9. Ecstatic Vision – Elusive Mojo (Heavy Psych)
Philly band perfects their fusion of Detroit pre-punk (MC5/Stooges) with Hawkwind on their triumphant fifth album.
10. Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island (Guruguru Brain)
Tokyo band consolidates their strengths in psych, kosmische and raga rock, announcing they’re calling it quits. It’s only their fifth album, way too soon to throw in the towel. Hopefully they’ll come back someday.
11. Orkan – Livsgaranti (Gamlestans Grammofonbolag)
Four Swedish women and a dude from Göteborg, Sweden create lovely and upbeat psychedelic folk and prog on their second album. See also debut from 2017.
12. Fuzz Meadows – Orange Sunshine (Copper Feast)
An extremely promising debut of instrumental heavy psych from Melbourne. Traces of post-rock, shoegaze and post-metal keep it sounding contemporary, but there’s also roots in King Crimson prog.
13. The Citradels – Contactor (Citradels)
Prolific Melbourne psych poppers The Citradels have been stretching out stylistically lately, dipping their toes into country rock on Tracs (2020) and during the pandemic, they built an analog modular synthesizer from scratch and used it to create their eleventh album. They’re making everyone else look lazy.
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Night Gnomes (Marathon Artists)
Like many Australian psych bands, Perth’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have been working under the long shadow of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Which is not exactly fair. While few bands are as prolific and tour as hard as King Gizz, many are creating albums that are more cohesive and engaging. I’ll take the consistently great, grungy psych prog of Night Gnomes over Omnium Gatherum any day.
RLYR – RLYR (Gilead)
Chicago post-metal/math rock instrumental band get extra heavy on third album.
A Sound of Thunder – A Krimson Kult (ASOT)
I thought we had the new Haunt album due, but not until June 10. No worries, we’ve got some sincerely enthusiastic carriers of the metal flame with A Sound of Thunder, who we included in the Dark Romance Metal category with Parallel Eternity (2020). Their ninth album keeps the quality symphonic power metal content at consistently high levels.
Melts – Maelstrom (Mother Sky) Jun 17
New band from Dublin, Ireland mixes psychedelic post-punk (The Chameleons, Teardrop Explodes, Psychedelic Furs) with kosmische/space rock. What’s not to love? Bandcamp originally listed this as a May 13 release, but it now says June 17.
- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Endless Rooms (Sub Pop) | May 06 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Large Plants – The Carrier (Ghost Box) | Apr 29 | UK | Bandcamp
- Ufomammut – Fenice (Neurot) | May 06 | Italy | Bandcamp
- Body Type – Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising (Poison City) | May 20 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Warpaint – Radiate Like This (Heirlooms/Virgin) | May 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention (XL) | May 13 | UK | Bandcamp
- Wo Fat – The Singularity (Ripple) | May 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Mordecai Smyth – Things Are Getting Stranger On The Shore (Mega Dodo) | May 24 | UK | Bandcamp
- Besvärjelsen – Atlas (Magnetic Eye) | May 27 | Sweden | Bandcamp
- GYASI – Pronounced Jah-See (Alive Naturalsound) | May 27 | USA | Bandcamp
- Otoboke Beaver – Super Champon (Damnably) | May 06 | Japan | Bandcamp
- Wucan – Heretic Tongues (Sonic Attack) | May 20 | Germany | Bandcamp
- Munly & The Lupercalians – Kinnery of Lupercalia: Undelivered Legion (SCAC) | May 13 | USA | Bandcamp
- Ecstatic Vision – Elusive Mojo (Heavy Psych) | May 13 | USA | Bandcamp
- Lost Cat – Lost Cat (Lolipop) | May 27 | USA | Buy
- Alune Wade – Sultan (Yellowbird) | May 20 | Senegal/France | Bandcamp
- Ealdor Bealu – Psychic Forms (Metal Assault) | Apr 22 | USA | Bandcamp
- Just Mustard – Heart Under (Partisan) | May 27 | USA | Bandcamp
- Kikagaku Moyo – Kumoyo Island (Guruguru Brain) | May 06 | Japan | Bandcamp
- Fontaines D.C. – Skinty Fia (Partisan) | Apr 22 | UK | Bandcamp
- Sacred Skin – The Decline of Pleasure (Synthicide) | May 27 | USA | Bandcamp
- Jalayan – Floating Islands (Alessio Malatesta) | May 20 | Italy | Bandcamp
- Fuzz Meadows – Orange Sunshine (Copper Feast) | May 06 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Dhidalah – Sensoria (Guruguru Brain) | Apr 22 | Japan | Bandcamp
- JER – Bothered / Unbothered (Bad Time) | May 27 | USA | Bandcamp
- Okkoto – Climb the Antlers & Reach the Stars (Okkoto) | May 06 | USA | Bandcamp
- Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Night Gnomes (Marathon Artists) | Apr 22 | Australia | Bandcamp
- Plastic Crimewave Syndicate – Space Alley (Cardinal Fuzz) | Apr 27 | USA | Bandcamp
- Orkan – Livsgaranti (Gamlestans Grammofonbolag) | May 13 | Sweden | Buy
- Emissary – Emissary EP (Emissary) | May 17 | Finland | Bandcamp
March 29, 2024
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1994
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Winter Rundown
January 4, 2024
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1989
