Psych / Prog

Floaty psychedelic guitar explorations taking the listener to far away lands. “You Only Think That You Think You Think” “Simple Pleasures”

I bought this on the strength of STASH, and the intense high-contrast sleeve. But I didn’t have high hopes. Everything seemed to indicate that this was going to be boring seafood restaurant jazz. Three originals couched by standards like “Route 66,” “Robin Hood,” and “Summer Wind.” I was suitably impressed by the title track. Wait […]

The Key Boys were a very successful Korean rock group that got their start by playing to American GIs stationed in Korea. Often called the Korean Yardbirds, their music ranged from tepid covers of American songs to fuzzy psych freakouts. Note, this isn’t the same group as the Key Brothers, however some of the members […]

With song titles like “Deathwagon” and “Monkey Swarm,” frankly I expected more. Keeper sleeve though. Monkey Swarm.

This 1975 LP was released on the Korean label Jigu (Earth) and is an example from the poppier side of Korean psych (or vice versa). There are three really strong uptempo tracks and the others tend to be a bit too light and pop based or just too slow. The bass playing is pretty solid […]

Recorded in 1973, this LP is the middle release in a trio of collaborative LPs between singer Kim Jung Mi and guitarist/bandleader/songwriter Shin Jung Hyun. Here we have Kim Jung Mi’s cool female vocals over a solid bunch of pop/psych songs. This LP and the one directly preceding it (“Now”) are both highly rated LPs […]

This Ohio band existed in various incarnations throughout the late 60s/early 70s, and released a handful of singles.  The a-side here is a Beatles cover, quite reminiscent of Vanilla Fudge’s ominous version of “Eleanor Rigby”.  The b-side is a more uptempo original.  More info about the group can be found at: http://www.buckeyebeat.com/velvetcrest.html “Things We Said […]

This LP is something of a classic as far as Korean Psychedelic Rock goes. Shin Jung Hyun is the guitarist and writer and he is a pretty legendary figure in Korean Rock music. Side A features a number of shorter, more commercial styled songs with Shin Jung Hyun’s band The Men behind featured vocalist Jang […]

Admirable and overlooked xian rural/hard rock lp on the Sonrise label from 1978, favorably reviewed in Ken Scott’s ‘Archivist’. The standout track here is “Suffering Servant”, a stellar piece of moody, heavy rock with psych tendencies and strong, searing guitar tone. “No Sir” carries along in a similar vein, its melodic phrasing evocative of some […]

Privately pressed 45 from Belgium, a bit of an “Electric Warrior” influence on the b-side.  I don’t know any details but maybe someone out there does? “Teach Me How” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] “Lonely Man” [Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Jerry Rooth’s Higney-produced single is further evidence that Higney’s sonic philosophy was no accident. All the classic shimmers present are: muted drums, rough, desperate vocals, and the wonderfully inexplicable audio-temporal mixing that made Attic Demonstration such a classic. “But You’ll Try…Again” strays from Higney’s downer-rock and dives into a strange brew of hard-rock, power-pop, and […]

Edward E. Levin has been operating his “Magic Piano Shop” since 1971, giving lessons and tuning pianos. He still enjoys composing, though a cerebellar stroke in 2009 impaired his ability to perform. This 1980 LP features an odd parody of the Monopoly board game. One of the game squares simply reads, “FOLD BACK FOIL TO […]

I collect records that feature playing cards on the cover. I don’t know why, but it’s fun. Two Of A Kind didn’t look very promising, but check out their oddly progressive interpretation of Harleme Nocturne (sic).

Released on the Czech Supraphon label, “Night Club 68” features not only a way cool mod pop art LP cover, but a nice sampling of the groovy young sounds from hip Prague nightspots. Pavel Sedlacek opens the proceedings by covering a couple of UK beat pop hits — his version of The Move’s “Flowers In […]

Imagine if you will, Carlos Santana fronting Pink Floyd circa Wish You Were Here, with a dash of Camel and a little Popol Vuh for flavoring.  Add some synth and smooth melodic vocal harmonies chanting devotion to Hare Krishna, and you’ve got the sound of Jagad Guru Chris Butler’s “Mantra Electric” double LP.  Released in […]

I was born in Cologne/Germany. Although Cologne is widely in peace with the cities surrounding it, there is however a strong rivalry with the neighbouring city of Leverkusen. Naturally, as a loyal citizen of my hometown I share this sentiment. This is fairly easy since Leverkusen is indeed a pretty boring city mainly consisting of […]

If you, like me, habitually check out Indonesian krontjong pop records, you know many of them look promising and some might have a good sounding backing band. But in the end, the songs are for the bigger part pretty formulaic. I was very happy to find this one though. The excellent backing group De Galaxies add […]

A fun instrumental exploito record from Colombia 1974. The cover, with face painted hippie chics and the title, “Colombians in Hippie Clothes”, promise at least some psychedelic music. The drum-organ-guitar-bass combo has more of a cool South American surf/go go sound but derails frequently enough. In fact, I was initially a bit disapointed in this […]

The Dove Project No. 9 compilation is one of the most obscure artifacts of Canadian psychedelia. The main individual responsible for this excursion into the remote recesses of rock’s underground was a young and aspiring musical businessman named Doug Wong. In 1969 Doug was a leading member of the student newspaper published at his high-school. Unlike […]

Jack Hennig was one of the more prominent country singers living in Edmonton, Alberta in the 70s. However, unknown to almost everyone, he cut two singles with The Breaking Point Group sometime in the mid-to-late 60s. The Busy People b/w Maybe Tomorrow single is the second and last recording he did with the Breaking Point […]

A rare 7inch EP on Hans Wewerkas tiny Austrian Inmus-Label. It’s the soundtrack to Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s Tolstoi adaptation “Scarabea – Wieviel Erde braucht ein Mensch”. Syberberg is one of the most obscure and controversial german independent moviemakers. Due to his neo-conservative and nationalistic views he plays a rather isolated role among the otherwise predominantly leftwing orientated […]

Before I went to Istanbul in 2007 to study there for half a year I did some research about record stores in Istanbul. One Ebay seller from Turkey who I asked for info just moved from Istanbul to Ankara so he was so kind to share his knowledge of good spots with me. While some […]

The Exotic is one of my favorite finds I ever made in Asia. Except one track it’s mainly a Thai pop album with some obscure and even psychedelic moments that unlike many other Thai albums you can listen to all the way through. The stand out track though is a raw funk track with Thai […]

If I had to distill the essence of this album down to one word, I would go with Maelstrom. If I’ve got two words to work with then it’s Shit Storm. Howard Nishioka, who plays electric and acoustic guitar and bass guitar (and vocals on a couple songs), sounds like a man tearing holes in […]

The generic ‘sun-dial’ cover keeps delivering hits, here in the form of an early 70s club band who pack a lot more punch than expected. Straight outta Omaha, the Marquee Revue have more in common with fuzzed out hippie cover bands like Smack or Marble Phrogg than the lounge-rock acts they’re usually lumped in with. They […]