San Fran trio Mi Ami (with two founding members who were in the DC combo Black Eyes) step up to a similar (dub) plate to their hometown associates Tussle, but plunge deeper into the heart of darkness with spookified Persian Surgery Dervishes-era Terry Riley organ, practice-room lo-fi gamelan vibes and a willingness to unhinge things more into some distorto-dub flights. In fact, "African Rythms" from this 12" (on White Denim) and "Echonoecho 4" (not on the record, but both can be heard on Mi Ami's My Space page) both spiral up into some totally tripped-out echoplex feasts that hit the spot a lot more than the dozens of other bands aiming for such, and I think they sound killer. Vocals tend to become more of a vague, not-too-defined instrument in passing, but a sense of urgency and high ritual definitely leave their mark. The fact they also toured prior to this debut recording with Balto's excellent Food For Animals certainly ain't a strike against them either.
The new release out of the gate from Mayyors (pic: 7 Inches Blog) is called "Megan's LOLZ" and ratchets up this Sacramento duo to being in even better form than on their excellent Marines Dot Come LP on Waste of Oil from last year. We've certainly been beseiged by (and for the most part enjoyed) the recent wave of bands all trying to incorporate Brainbombs and Chrome separately into their sounds, but rarely have seen someone doing both with such mongoloid flair. More guitarists really should consider playing with their FX pedals elevated to arms reach. And maybe tied behind their backs too. Real Audio of "Intro/Airplanes".
Thankfully Japan's modern psychedelic rock scene is often more
concerned with sound than with fashion in comparison to some of their
Western peers, because in many cases the Mission UK are providing some
quite active templates for the latter. Reading a review of a Death Comes Along live set on Hello Damage
it seems as if each band member is subscribing to some varying degrees
of Grateful Dead/goth wear, though that might not be as extreme as the
other reviewed band on the bill, Baneiru, sporting cornrows, fangs,
Hebrew face tattoos, G-strings, and pancake make-up with beards (and yes, I
want to hear them). But getting back to DCA, we had their 2nd LP a
couple years back Psychedelic Inferno and it totally raged.
Made up of members of the Japanese punk band Crow, DCA elevated their
crusty Amebix-fixation into stratospheric metaloid bliss; now WFMU got
its mitts on the 1st LP Heavy Psychedelic Schizoid God from
1994 which doesn't tear the roof off as much, but is still a pretty
strangling kind of thing. Blistering guitars, spaced out
vocal-excursions, a sleeve name dropping Bodkin, German Oak, MB, SPK,
and Ed Gein. What more do you need? Fusetron might have some left. Real Audio: "Part II".
Comments