Review: Cult outfit The General Store laid down four songs in the year of 1967. They release two of them, but the other two have remained under wraps ever since. Now, more than half a century later, they are getting pressed up to vinyl for the first time thanks to Perfect Toy who have decided to cut just 300 copies. The band themselves have given full blessing for this one and as soon as the needle drops you're taken into a swirling, high-octane world of raw 60s rock heavy funk. It is very much a case of Tower of Power meets Funkadelic with a lo-fi twist.
Review: You're unlikely to find much information about The General Store online. Clearly back in the 1960s they weren't coming up with band names that took Google searchability into account. Belonging to a different age, they made music that sounds like heart, soul, unity and good times all rolled into one, even when dealing with less rose-tinted issues. Say what you will about being able to find anything you want in a couple of clicks, right now we feel the world could do with a lot more of their sound. Love Is You can be traced by to 1967, and the very early beginnings of psychedelic funk and garage rock. Recorded in 1967, this four-track 7" is harder to track down than information about the group themselves. Or at least it was until now. Finally reissued, this is collector's stuff for sure.
Review: Gipsy Power Band - what a name that is, by the way - debuts with aplomb here and mixes up a fiery sonic stew of flamenco rumba, rock and funk that captures the essence of a unique time in Spanish music. Formed in Madrid in 2022, the band originally paid tribute to "cine quinqui," a Spanish exploitation film genre, by performing tracks from its iconic soundtracks and other hidden gems from the mid-70s to early 80s. Drawing inspiration from artists like Los Chichos and Las Grecas, they lit up Madrid's stages with their vintage repertoire. Now, they've evolved to create original music and it comes in the form of these two songs.
Review: Belgian-Moroccan singer Aicha Haskal is at the heart of this fabulous project which sees her joining creative forces with super-talented musicians from the Belgian scene. Between them, the group has a mad diverse spread of backgrounds and influences which means their music too is broad in scope - psychedelic sounds and funky grooves, Arabic melodies and European rhythms all feature in this album as do rap and parlando. Egyptian poet Abdelhamid Farag penned their first single 'Ghalat' and now this album expands around that with music that fights the oppression of women and fights for revolution.
Review: Medway's garage rock king Allan Crockford has credits flittering all the way back to the 80's including the likes of The Prisoners, Billy Childish's Thee Headcoats, The Solarflares, and even the OG line-up of the James Taylor Quartet, to name but a handful. Keeping sharp and busy, however, The Galileo 7 serves as his own passion project; melding 60s mod-beat garage rock with jangling psychedelic pop, leading to a sonic bickering between anthemic hooks and fuzzed out, twinkling guitar lines. Following two exceptional full-lengths released through Damaged Goods; 2017's Tear Your Minds Wide Open! and 2019's There Is Only Now, the collective return after a half-decade of respite to deliver another batch of lysergic, hazy power pop goodness, intended for the wannabe mod/hippie in all of us.
The Girl In The Glass Case (instrumental edit - bonus track)
You Tear My Mind Wide Open (Home demo - bonus track)
The Mask (original version - bonus track)
Everything Keeps Coming Round Again (Home demo - bonus track)
The God Of Gaps (Band demo - bonus track)
One Lie At A Time (Band demo - bonus track)
Live For Yesterday (Home demo - bonus track)
Grow Up (bonus track)
Review: While The Galileo 7's records are all nostalgic by design - they specialise in making psych-pop and psych-rock that sounds so authentically 1960s that it should come with a Beatle wig and a free tab of acid - few are quite as heady, densely layered or hallucinatory as 2017's Tear Your Minds Wide Open. Here that album is given the expanded reissue treatment. Alongside all 12 tracks from the set - including the squally brilliance of 'The Mask', with its gnarled guitar riffs, Hammond stabs and elongated solos, and the Hendrix-esque 'Your Face Tomorrow' - you get eight bonus cuts. Expect a mix of instrumental mixes, alternate versions, band demos and home recordings.
Review: Building on the success of their A New Kind of Love album back in 2022, Ghost Funk Orchestra ventures further into the realms of film music, exotica, and psychedelic surf rock with new record A Trip To The Moon.' It was written with the aim of creating a richly layered and collaged listening experience with myriad elements waiting to be discovered with each new spin, and they have certainly achieved that. Featuring fuzzy guitars drenched in spring reverb and horns arranged in a studio big band style, it offers a blend of garage rock attitude and big compositions with influences like Eddie Palmieri and Dusty Springfield to be found within. It also features real recorded transmissions from the Apollo moon missions weaved throughout the tracks as a tale is told of a woman left stranded on Earth by her cosmonaut partner.
Review: Erlend Viken's first outing as Giant Sky - 2021's self-titled debut - was part epic prog rock overture and part major statement about the state of the music business. Only available in physical album format, for some time just a single track was doing the rounds on streaming services, which wasn't really a track at all, but instead a message about the evils of major streaming platforms and their role in ruining the artistic economy. Second time around, and the music itself is no less powerful. Moving from 'Origin Of The Species' and its floating-through-the-cosmos atmosphere, to the rousing call-to-unity of 'The Pensieve' and the industrial-noise-cum-delicate pop on 'Imposter', the vision and scope are incredible, new ideas seemingly presenting themselves at every twist and turn on this 13-strong track list.
Review: Formed in the peak pandemic year of 2020, GIFT emerged during a challenging time but quickly found their sound as they blended early shoegaze, 90s alternative rock and modern pop. Their 2022 debut Momentary Presence showcased their potential and now their new album Illuminator on Captured Tracks further highlights the band's ever-evolving sound and unique chemistry. With nods to label mates like Beach Fossils and DIIV, GIFT creates sleek, danceable, and mesmerising tracks led by TJ Freda. The quintet deftly explores themes of time, love, and change through standout songs like 'Wish Me Away' and 'Going In Circles' to make Illuminator a soundtrack to life's fleeting moments.
Review: Scott Gilmore's tracks are deceptively pared back. Putting an Arp Odyssey, Yamaha CS-01, Korg DW-8000, Hohner Pianet T, Roland TR 606, Roland SH 101, bamboo alto saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar and electric bass to very good use on this nine track Balearic-downtempo stunner, the tunes are easy to groove with yet subtly complex. They feel simple, but are incredibly detailed. Veering between a kind of synth-y smooth jazz, lounge, lofi electronica and sunset instrumental, Volume 01 is the proof after the promise of Gilmore's 2019 debut, Two Roomed Motel. Second album in and it's quite clear how talented the guy is. We just wish there was more information available for us to get to know him better with.
Review: Russia's Gnoomes (aka Sasha Painkov and his wife Masha Piankova) have really overcome some hefty odds to get out their new album Ax Ox - the pandemic, illness, depression and of course turmoil back home. But it was worth the graft as they offer up a potent and moving mix of melancholia and strident optimism. The mix up the hope of dream pop with the drive of Krautrock, the vidid melodies of transcendent music with plenty of great narratives about the troubled relationship the band has with their home country. This is an eye-opening and thought-provoking record that is very much reflective of the troubled global times in which we love.
When The Food Runs Out (We Still Have Each Other) (3:24)
I'm Going Down To Hell (5:25)
Keep Your Eyes Wide Open (4:33)
In Flames (4:32)
Al-Sayyida (4:56)
Dance For You (4:27)
Creeping Vine (4:11)
Regeneration (3:20)
Review: Reading-based Garage/Punk/Psychobilly band The Go Go Cult signed to the iconic rockabilly-led Western Star label in 2012. This electrifying new album is their sixth studio record since then and it's an electrifying addition to their back catalogue. Led by a frontman who rivals The Cramps' Lux Interior when it comes to a darkly-theatrical approach, the tracklist is bursting with highlights. 'Black Is The Colour Of My Love' is hypnotic and menacing, 'When The Food Runs Out' nods to Joy Division, whilst 'Regeneration' has an air of Fat White Family about it. The label only pressed a limited number of copies, making it potentially a future collectible, not to mention its stunning, niche work of art thanks to retro illustrator Vince Ray's cover.
Red Cadillac And A Black Moustache (feat Link Wray, bonus track)
Lonesome Train (feat Link Wray, bonus track)
Summertime Blues (feat Link Wray, bonus track)
A Picture Of You (bonus track)
Review: Dreams can come true. When the late, great Robert Gordon was nine years old, the punk rocker turned Rockabilly-revivalist heard Elvis on the radio and he set his sights on becoming a rock & roll musician. The American went on to have a glittering career that included a stint in New York punk scene favourites Tuff Darts and having Link Wray on his records. But it was in 1978, upon signing to Elvis' label RCA, that he said it was "a dream come true." This is the first album Gordon did with RCA and his first with the go-to session guitarist of the time, Chris Spedding. It's a powerhouse of a record expertly weaving through rockabilly, 50s pop and country. Gordon's soulful vocals sparkle with nostalgic and lustful tones that are able to light up any room where it's heard. A true master of his art.
Review: Spain's Discos Fantastico deals in Peruvian and Latin American musical archaeology. It has put out a vibrant array of what it describes as "psych cumbia, fuzz killer chicha, rockbeat, boogaloo, nueva ola and boleros" and now joining the great canon is Arrollando Con Alegria by Grupo Alegria - a cumbia band formed in Huancayo, Peru in the late 1970s and led by Augusto Bernardillo - which has hints of all those sounds and more. It is a classic for world music lovers that was related back in 1983 in Peru and will cost you a few quid if you are to find an original copy.
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