Oil of Angels - "Oil of Angels" (2011)

Not much info here. Young band from Spokane, Washington, named after Cocteau Twins song, sounds a lot like BRMC, but slightly more mellow (check out the live video below). Nice music for every sunny morning, even the freaking cold one you'd rightly expect to have in February here in Kyiv.

Myspace || Facebook || Listen

Polytoxicomane Philharmonie

Formed in Germany in 80s, Polytoxicomane Philharmonie didn't issue their first record until 2003. The guys took a lot of inspiration from classic jazz-rock albums of Frank Zappa, blending it with space, kraut and prog influences to create their awesome sound. Never in a hurry, the band has released two more albums and one 7" EP since then. My favourite is "Psycho Erectus", but each of them clearly deserves more than a few listens.

Click the cover, something good will come out of it.

2003 - Psycho Erectus


2007 - Drosophila Road


2007 - Pot Rats 7"


2009/2010 - Go Ape


Learn about them more at: ProgArchives || Off. site || Myspace || Last.fm

2011 stuff worth checking out

Black Pistol Fire - Black Pistol Fire - bluesy garage rock, like The White Stripes+The Black Keys+Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Lia Ices - Grown Unknown - female folk rock, dreamy and melancholic.
KYPCK - Ниже - Finnish doom metal sang in Russian. About vodka and communism. Russian-speaking listeners are laughing their arses off, the music itself is pretty solid.
Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under - mainly a live record (all songs are new, some songs are good).
Snakerider / The Moon Mistress - Obsessed By Cursed Wastelands (Split) - two EW-inspired bands from Ukraine (Snakerider) and Russia (The Moon Mistress), the first record for both of them. Good one.

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom - Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom (2001)

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom are:

Greg "Grog" Watson - vocals, guitar, organ
Gord Mylks - guitar, vocals
Mark "Fuzzy" Fraser - drums
Ryan Bol - organ, vocals, guitar
Andy Shurvell - bass

Influences: The Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Pretty Things, Soft Boys, Robyn Hitchcock, Electric Prunes, Byrds, Chocolate Watch Band, Dukes of Stratosphear, Kaleidoscope, Move, Tomorrow, 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Monkees, Rolling Stones, Them, July, Kinks, Zombies, Smoke, Status Quo, Bee Gees, Beatles, Donovan

It's hard to believe this acid psychedelic pop (very much Barrett-like, only noisier) was recorded in 90s in Canada, not in late 60's Great Britain. Though there are quite a few people in the band, as you can see above, many sources still list The Orange Alabaster Mushroom as Greg Watson's one-man band. "Space and Time" is a collection of songs, recorded between 1991 and 1998. Production is rather lo-fi, which only suits this kind of music. Enjoy!

Myspace || Listen

Mona de bo - Nekavējies, Šīs ir Spēles Ar Tevi (2010)

Mona de bo are:
Edgars Eihmanis (drums) and Edgars Rubenis (guitar)

with help of:
Anete Stuce - organ
Dāvis Burmeisters - guitar
Kaspars Majors - trombone
Raitis Rozentāls - french horn
Paulis Grīnhofs - organ
Stanislavs Judins - double bass.

...all hailing from Riga, Latvia. They started with garage rock in 2005, but changed their direction distinctly since the release of their first album in 2008. Nekavējies, Šīs ir Spēles Ar Tevi (Don’t Hesitate, You’re Already Part of It), their second full-length, dwells deep into drone fields, with heavy psychedelic overtones. I'm talking drone rock now, meaning there are still shapes of rock music, not the pure drone stream of sound. In fact, sometimes I'm close to saying it's just really slow rock (maybe post-, like on video below), then (nearing the end of the album) late-Earth similarity occurs to me, though these guys are heavier. Anyway, I suggest you give this stuff a try.

Official site || Myspace || Listen

Hills - Hills (2009, 2010)

Hills are the three-piece psych/kraut/space-rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed around 2006-2007. They released their self-titled LP album in 2009 on Intergalactic Tactics Records (300 copies). In 2010, it was reissued on CD through Sulatron Records with rearranged song listing and two bonus tracks.

I love Swedish music, they're fantastically potent in every genre from sad indie rock to kraut jams. In fact, the latter are what Hills are about, though the range of their sound stretches from trippy space-scapes one moment to menacing and dark krautrock (think German Oak maybe) the other, while bright piano passages and flute sounds bring even more variety. Not even slightly boring, this album is definitely a worthy listen for all who value experimental side of psychedelic music.

Myspace || Listen

Blaak Heat Shujaa - Blaak Heat Shujaa (2010)

Nice 8-hour sleep restored some of my writing enthusiasm, but now I feel like writing about the album that didn't make it into my top-25.

Meet the three guys who come from 'the city of high fashion and through-the-roof beer prices' (which, I was told, is located somewhere in France) to play some rather uncliched and very trippy desert rock. The band name like 'Blaak Heat Shujaa' must've taken something heavy to come up with anyway. Then again, I was told 'shujaa' means warrior-hero with magic skills in some African language. Get told lots of stuff, not all of it fun (for instance, that they were initially called 'Black Light Black Heat' after VU song, then decided to shorten it to 'Black Heat', at which point they got sued by some 70's funk band, and then went artful). So these lads decided that playing desert rock when you never saw a real desert in your life is kind of shitty idea, so they traveled to California and Uganda before getting started with their album. Which was, btw, recorded in California desert and produced by Scott Reeder himself.

Official site || Myspace || Facebook || Listen