The Norse make like a horse with a diverse batch of loosey goosey rockers, plus Spirit Mother, The Jesus Lizard and Upupayāma.
Compared to the run of five epic albums, two of them doubles, between 2017-22, the most recent Motorpsycho releases might seem like irreverent toss-offs in comparison. But to be honest, a breather is most welcome. The slightly more compact Ancient Astronauts (2022) which wrapped up that phase still features a track that’s over 22 minutes long, capping off nearly five and a half hours worth of music that should keep anyone busy unpacking for years. So the breezy summer psych folk vibes on Yay! (2023) were a nice palate cleanser, and on the latest, the band playfully toys with expectations, saying that the songs were left over from previous sessions, but their time had come to fit together.
There is more stylistic diversity on this album than you usually get, venturing beyond their signature psych prog (represented by “Elysium, Soon,” which probably was left off something like The Tower simply because they ran out of space) into glam (“Crownee Says”), power pop (“All My Life (I Love You)”), new wave (“This is Your Captain”), but always infected with queasy space madness. In a way, their moments of rolling gleefully about with the lumpen in boogie rock fun runs parallel to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s latest, Flight b741. Check out their two covers of UFO’s “Rock Bottom” and Nazareth’s “Silver Dollar Forger” as a precursor to the album, showing they’re down to clown with classic rock.
Upupayāma – Mount Elephant (Fuzz Club)
Alessio Ferrari’s full length debut as Upupayāma’s, The Golden Pond (2022) drew from European progressive folk and psych, similar to Kikagaku Moyo but from Parma, Italy instead of Japan. And like French proggers Magma, Ferrari also sings in a made-up language, creating a completely self-contained mythical universe. The sound design of his gorgeous psych folk tapestry is even more intricate on the latest, drawing on Anatolian (Turkish) folk, kosmische jams and Bhutanese music, augmented by flute and sitar, all played by Ferrari. While there’s some spiritual aspect, it’s also playful, engaging in all kinds of quirky percussion driving danceable rhythms like congas, bongos, even a cowbell.
Spirit Mother – Trails (Heavy Psych)
Second album from Long Beach desert psych noir band Spirit Mother elevate eerie atmospherics with heavy riffing. Armand Lance’s slur/sneer combo brings to mind a mix of dark Americana pioneer Califone’s Tim Rutili and All Them Witches’ Ben McLeod. While SJ’s violin is a key element of their haunting textures like Lord Buffalo, the band offers a step up in propulsive garage/grunge energy, especially on the second half of the album. This is a very promising progression from their debut Cadets (2020), and I look forward to their third, hopefully in less than four years.
The Jesus Lizard – Rack (Ipecac)
Normally I would never expect a noise rock band who’s reputation was based on a slavering feral energy, to return to their original glory 26 years after their last album. Iggy Pop could pull it off live, but the two 21st century Stooges albums were disappointingly ordinary garage rock. Nick Cave has too much damn sense, or perhaps a desire to preserve his dignity, to ever consider attempting revisiting The Birthday Party again. And yet, I was hopeful, based on a couple of their live reunions I witnessed over the past decade. And sure enough, Rack kicks the living shit out of the band’s two Capital albums from the late 90s, and serves as a proper follow-up to Down (1994). More often than not the pace is slow and menacing, which the band always used as a tension-and-release technique. While they don’t match the brutal brilliance of Goat (1991) and Liar (1992), I’d like to think Steve Albini is smiling, from hell (where he knows everyone), and nodding his approval.
September 13 Releases
- The Mystery Lights – Purgatory (Wick) | USA | Bandcamp
- Deadletter – Hysterical Strength (Soak) | UK | Buy
- Motorpsycho – Neigh!! (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
- Hello Mary – Emita Ox (FrenchKiss) | USA | Bandcamp
- Upupayama – Mount Elephant (Fuzz Club) | Italy | Bandcamp
- Spirit Mother – Trails (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Jesus Lizard – Rack (Ipecac) | USA | Bandcamp
- Slomosa – Tundra Rock (Stickman) | Norway | Bandcamp
- Legions Of Doom – The Skull 3 (Tee Pee) | USA | Buy
- Gnome – Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome (Polder) | Belgium | Bandcamp
- Satan – Songs in Crimson (Metal Blade) | UK | Bandcamp
- Siderean – Spilling the Astral Chalice (Edged Circle) | Slovenia | Bandcamp
- Zetra – Zetra (Nuclear Blast) | UK | Bandcamp
- Kalandra – A Frame of Mind (ByNorse) | Norway | Bandcamp
- Gurriers – Come and See (No Filter) | Ireland | Bandcamp
- Trentemøller – Dreamweaver (In My Room) | Denmark | Bandcamp
- Etran de L'Air – One Hundred Percent Sahara Guitar (Sahel) | Somalia | Bandcamp
- Juniore – Trois, deux, un (Le Phonographe) | France | Bandcamp
- Sans Froid – Hello, Boil Brain (Sans Froid) | UK | Bandcamp
- Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets – Indoor Safari (Yep Roc) | UK | Bandcamp
- Star Beast – Star Beast (Black Throne) | Canada | Bandcamp
- Colin Stetson – The Love It Took to Leave You (Invada) | USA | Bandcamp
- Robyn Hitchcock – 1967: Vacations in the Past (Tiny Ghost) | UK
- Nada Surf – Moon Mirror (New West) | USA | Bandcamp
- Oceans Of Slumber – Where Gods Fear to Speak (Season Of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
- Julie – My Anti-Aircraft Friend (Atlantic) | USA
- Wendy Eisenberg – Viewfinder (American Dreams) | USA | Bandcamp
- Flotsam & Jetsam – I Am the Weapon (AFM) | USA
- Floating Points – Cascade (Ninja Tune) | UK | Bandcamp
- Tindersticks – Soft Tissue (City Slang) | USA | Bandcamp
