The best 60's band youve never heard of....

Ok Greg Watson, you have fooled me. Upon hearing the Orange Alabaster Mushroom for the first time, i was convinced that they were a psychedelic band from the 60's that just never made it big. Discovering that this album came out in 2001 was startling, because it taps into the sound of early British psych/pop ( think Piper at the Gates of Dawn) so perfectly that sounds like it could be a bastard side project of George Harrison, Syd Barrett, and Jon Lord.

"Farfisa organ, gloriously fuzzy guitars, and rattlesnake percussion (plus occasionally the obligatory sitar and trippy backwards tapes) support Watson's deliciously whiny vocals", writes Stewart Mason of All Music Guide, observing the bands dead-on recreation of the 60's British sound. What completes the deception are the deliciously weird song titles such as "Aim the Vimana Toward the Dorian Sector", "Ethel Tripped a Mean Gloss", and "Sydney's Electric Headcheese Sundial", which sound like they are B-sides on early Pink Floyd recordings.

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom is a one man band/project from Canadian singer/songwriter Greg Watson, that somehow perfectly captures the fuzzy psychedelic sounds of the 60's while maintaining an uncanny pop sensibility.....these songs are seriously catchy.

Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom (Earworm Records), contains songs that you are guaranteed to hum to yourself after hearing them once. The song "Sunny Day", feels like the soundtrack to a montage of people happily walking through a park in the 60's, dressed in bright, pastel colors (preferably with matching parasols), while "Your face is in my Mind" is a heavy, organ driven song which starts with a tease of Bach's Toccata and Fugue In D minor before plunging into a pounding drum beat with fuzzy guitar weirdness and an extremely catchy hook.

Production for the album is notably Lo-Fi, and it works. High end production this album would only take away from what is otherwise a very raw sound. There is a scratchiness to every song that makes them feel comfortable and authentic. The only complaint i have about the album is that the songs tend to flow at similar tempos. This however, is easy for me to overlook, because they are so gosh darn good! Watson also accomplishes a rather noteworthy feat--he makes whiny vocals not only tolerable, but downright enjoyable!

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom are a real sonic treat and a seriously hidden gem of 2001--a charming, quirky little band that sure to make you smile while you bob your head.

Dirty Fuzzy Soul

Ever wondered what it would sound like if Iggy and the Stooges played soul music? Probably not. Such musings are reserved for idiots. Enter Mick Collins, frontman and songwriter for the Dirtbombs--one of the best kept secrets in hard rock. When a friend turned me onto the album "Ultraglide in Black"(In the Red records), my first reaction was "How the F*&^ have i not heard these guys before?!".

With guitars fuzzy enough to make speakers grow beards, the Dirtbombs infuse their music with catchy pop melodies and a garage rock edge that makes you want to throw on a leather jacket and grow an afro at the same time.

One thing that can be said for the 'Bombs is that they do not like to be pigeonholed--As agile covering The Gun Club and The Romantics as they are Covering Sly and the Family stone and Brian Eno, the Dirtbombs bring their signature blend of Soul and Fuzz to everything they touch.

Hailing from Detroit, the home of Motown records, it is not surprising that they hammer soul into every single over-driven note. 'Ultraglide in black' is a prime example of this...they blast out the door with a cover of J.J Barnes' "Chains of Love", drenching the listener in a spray of funky bass, fuzzy guitars and vocals that are reminiscent of Sly Stone...and it dosent stop there. Every cut on UGB is a winner, from their cover of Funkadelic's "Ill Stay" to the one original song on the album,*(lets see if you can guess which one) which blends in so perfectly, youd think it was a cover.


Im not sure if Afro-Fuzz is a genre, but if it is, the Dirtbombs are the best Afro-Fuzz band ive heard, and provide the perfect soundtrack to any type of ass kickery. Listening to them is like being trapped in a time machine...the type of time machine that combines the past present and future into one sticky batter of time and shoots you into it....and the experience is feels like a deja vu that you havnt had yet.





*Your love belongs under a rock

http://www.myspace.com/dirtbombs

The Dirtbombs original song "Your love belongs under a rock"

It Burns So good

Feel like driving through the desert at full speed while drinking gasoline and smoking cigarettes? Need a soundtrack? Karma to Burn is the band for you! Hailing from Morgantown West Viriginia, the band plays riff heavy instrumental stoner/rock metal. To classify them as such, however, is to sell the band short. They inject their music with a healthy helping of southern rock and blues and a pinch of R &B. How do they do that instrumentally? I have no clue, but the end result makes a listener want to throw on an acid washed denim jacket and aviator sunglasses and do something reckless.

An interesting note about KTB is that none of their songs have titles, at least not in the conventional sense. Their songs are titled with numbers and the numbers are not in sequential order which makes describing a particular song to a friend or colleague a difficult and amusing thing to do.Their 2001 album Almost Heathen on Spitfire Records contains such memorable tracks as "19", "34", "5", etc.

To say that their entire catalog is amazing would be lying, however a high percentage of it is very enjoyable if you are in the mood for heavy groovy rock. Though they sometimes(briefly and rarely) forage into territory that is mildly reminiscent of Disturbed, the overall package is extremely solid. "32" from the album Wonderful Wild Purgatory on MIA records, is a jam that encompasses the entire spectrum of KTB. Starting with an eerie guitar riff that leads into what would be a throwaway rock groove were it not for the unique almost Santana-esque drum beat, the band moves through sections are that a funky, bludgeoningly heavy and danceable--not necessarily in that order and sometimes all at once.

Karma To Burn could add a vocalist, but why? their music speaks for itself. It is clearly not for everyone, and judging by the way that the band titles its songs, I suspect that they just fine with that. So if your in the mood to be destructive, raunchy, loud, devious, blunt , or all of the above( is that possible?) check out KTB.

*Karma to Burn must be listened to Loud for the full audiological experience.

Welcome

Welcome friends, to a strange place.
Where Crooked trees grow wild and strange, unfearful of the dreadful chainsaw of mediocrity.This is a garden that houses different types of music--past present and future, without the constraints of genre or popularity.Music that has Soul and a healthy helping of weird. Plunging in an out of history, this is music worth checking out. It may not be for you, but you'll be glad you heard it.
-Analog