[1969] Forest - A Fantasy You

listen to the song:

Within the rediscovery of better, lesser and really obscure and unheard psych music from the 60's and 70's, the selftitled album of this UK psych folk act, appeared again on several label imprints that rereleased it. But that's just the factual and boring background. I could tell you the stories, of how often it got bootlegged etc., but I'm a bit tiered of it and don't think this knowledge is very amusing if you are after the music and it's spirit, that enfolds ones you tuned in. Without any research and checking, what I can find in books about this band, other things come to my mind to share about it. If you contemplate about the froncover artwork, you will soon notice that the musicians on it are looking like children's of the ancient god Pan. the trees in the background are merging with the horns of the mystic beings. Could it be more inviting like this for a gentle hippie/psych folk record? Flutes are leading into the depth of the song, wich rhythmically dance along and morph into something ambivalent, that is somehow soft and greenly-protecting, and somehow melancholic and a bit wailing. That makes me feel a bit like being on the run, but surrounded by benevolent creatures of the forest. a bizzare but familiar feeling. It's been a long time since I heared the compelte album. It's time again it seems. Maybe I'll find more songs from it to post here some day. Also their second album wasn't bad as well.

[2009] Broadcast & The Focus Group - The Be Colony

Listen to the song (and album) and you'll watch your mind melting and dripping into deeper layers of perception... I remember reading on Linda Perhacs homepage, that Trish Keenan, the singer of Broadcast, was a huge fan of her sound, but sadly died in a car accident(?) in 2011. The name of the two groups together (Broadcast & The Focus Group) and the long and strange album name ("Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age") awoke my interest. And when I listened to it the first time I was a kind of blown away. Their experimental psychedelia is something quite unique - at least for me as I know only very few things that would be really equal in their musical style. They are often described with "old library music sounds, sixties-inspired pastiches, and soundtracks to 1970s films and programmes, as well as the sound collage of musique concrète." Except for the 60's psych pastiches, I'm pretty unfamiliar with the other styles, and even never heared of "library music" before ... damn, what's that?! find it out yourself! the reason why I'm posting a video today and not just an mp3, is, that the video expresses optically, what the song brings to your ears. together this grows to a real mindblower!

[1968] The World Column - Lantern Gospel

listen to the song:

Picture taken from the psychedelic underground 

movie "The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda"

This song is taken from Bill Synth's great "Acid & Flowers" compilation, that got released in the 90's by "Timothy's Brain". One of the best psych comps around by the way! But, what to say else about it? Huh... ! Well, the mood of this track is placed somewhere between the Ultimate Spinach and Jefferson Airplane - maybe you noticed, I have a predilection for that chorus like soft psych, as well as for organs, so "Lantern Gospel" is beaming me up once again!

Luckily someone band-familiar shared some words about the band on Crud Crud's blog. Since I'm not the one, being familiar with them, I prefer to qoute those lines here: "I must admit, I think the song is kinda cheesy. However, a studio band the World Column was not. They were orignally known as the Segrams (ave.. age was 15 y.o.) They were on the road giggin' almost nightly for years a range of 20,000 miles a year. During this time,they shared the stage with performers such as Jackson 5, Aerosmith, Dave Clark 5, Herman's Hermits, Sonny and Cher. When they recorded these 2 45's they were still teenagers. These guys studied music-one in Sweeden, one at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and one at Indiana University. Studio heads lookin for a one hit wonder-no. Talented kids who rocked the stage-ask anyone from the midwest from this era. Most of these guys went on to raise families. I'd love to say as a teenager I had this type of experience and then 40 years later people are bloggin about my music. I just found that their song So Is the Sun is found on 6 different complilation CD's produced between 2000 and 2006. Rock on. Benoit and Meyer-rest in peace. Be proud Kaplan and Boller."

[2012] The Sufis - Where Did She Go

listen to the song:

The Sufis, a new psych band from Nashville are beaming you up with kaleidoscopic soundpatterns. There are elements in their music, reminding me on the UK psych from the 60's - I'm talking of bands like "The Open Mind", the more psychedelic pieces of "The Eyes", Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" & co., or some lysergic songs by the Beatles... I can also hear strong parallels to Broadcast & The Focus Group's "Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age" ... Klemen did a nice interview with the Sufis and if you dig their sound and would like to know more about them, check it out here: http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-sufis-interview-with-calvin-laporte.html

Introduction... about the future of the Psychedelic Jukebox

Hi folks,

about 4 years ago, I started this blog with the intention to share psychedelic art with all of you, adding some thoughts here and there, recommend some stuff, ... Yet it have been only songs - (mostly) - that I posted. For the future I'm planning A.) to post more regularely, B.) also to post video's/trailers/etc., psychedelic visual arts/drawings/so called digital-art (photo-"manipultion" etc.), introducing artists and performers C.) I'm also planning to post news about my two projects; my record label for Psych Rock & Acid Folk, called "Merlins Nose Records" and my shop "Surreal Peppermint Store", which is dedicated to supply you with "Psychedelic Delights for Body and Mind"!
Since a lot of mp3's are down and I have to re-upload them again, I will try to post one new post per week and restore one of the old posts and adding them to the top.

I'm excited to get this blog more active and I'm also glad about every feedback I do get on topics or whatever...

psych-out!

Amadeus :-)

[1966] The Eyes - The Immediate Pleasure

listen to the song:

The Eyes, were an Freakbeat and Garage Rock group from London in the 60's. I don't know much about them, but that they have realeased a load of singles and Acme licenced them and putted out a propper reissue of them in a compilation in 2006 together with Lion Productions. Sooner or later I will post another song form this comp, wich is entitled "The Arrival of the Eyes" and also feat. alternate takes/demos. Some of the tracks (as well as this one) are quite psychedelic! "The Immediate Pleasure" for example leans toward a strong Byrds vein (before they had their "cowboy attitude" ;-) ) mixed up with that certain british beat of the 60's, the Beatles cultivated.

[1967] The Quiet Jungle - Everything

listen to the song:

The Quit Jungle's '67 single got bootleged quite often. starting with the countless amount of psych comps and ending with the recent Garage Greats exact repro 45's ... What is known about this band? Let's ask Canuckistan Music: "Toronto's Doug Rankine and the Secrets scored huge in early 1966 with a rather goofy novelty hit, a quintessentially Canadian ode to the burly Toronto Maple Leaf forward Eddie Shack called 'Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack'. This tepid Merseybeat clone rocketed to number one on the CHUM-AM charts in Toronto in February, 1966, ultimately and inexplicably charting for nine weeks. However, by early '67, having by then adopted the hipper-sounding Quiet Jungle, the lads debuted with the first of two seven-inchers for the Yorkville label, later home to fellow garagesters the Ugly Ducklings. 'Ship of Dreams', is stellar psychedelia, opening with an eerie guitar squeal that presages Fever Tree's 'San Francisco Girls', and with delicious organ riffs and mellifluous harmonies that would justifiably see it hit #31 in February of that year. Flip it over and the wax explodes with some gruff and snarly - if not a tad formulaic - garage punk. The Quiet Jungle followed this with the less interesting, though much tougher to find, Too Much in Love / Make Up Your Mind (also on Yorkville), before vanishing from Toronto's Yorkville scene. Unbeknownst to many, though, is that the band found gainful employment as session musicians for the budget label Arc, churning out fodder for hundreds of K-Mart and Kresge bins with an entire set of Monkees hits, as well as a totally lame-o Christmas disc, The Story of Snoopy's Christmas and Other Favourite Children's Songs (Arc)."

A nice interview with Doug Rankine from the band can be read at: The Garage Hangover!

[2008] Otis Optic & The Option People - Traffic Lights

listen to the song:

Otis Optic & The Option People are aband based in Germany. They released their debut on Nasoni Records and mark their discoraphy highlights along with a hand full of other albums. Although it's a mystery to my, why they are that little known. ok, it's the label-politics regarding promotion on one hand, but on the other they are not known to a lot of Garage Punkers. Their songs consist of a strong psychedelic style, and they rather established in the Neo-Psych scene (Vibravoid, Liquid Visions, Siena Root, ...). So let me recommend their album to everyone who is digging the good old Garage-Psych! The band's last activity is dated back to 2008, so just let's hope they have not broke and will delight us with more goodies in future!

[2005] Josephine Foster - Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You

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Beneath Joana Newsom, Devendra Banhart, Iron & Wine and others, Joesephine Foster is one of the leading voices in the so called New Weird America genré, wich consists of a mix of alternative folk/songwriter and a remembrance of the psychedelic folk of the 60's and 70's. maybe some of it rooted as well in the freaky 90's folk as well (The Iditarod, Stone Breath, In Gowan Ring etc. ...). No Questions, Josephine's "Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You" (where this title-track comes from) album is miles ahead of her other releases, wich are quite ... let's say, very strange (except for the "Little Life" EP). The Hazel Eyes album I could play over and over again. it's so deliciouse! it's a bit like Zen, turning everything topsy-turvy.

[1967] Tomorrow - My White Bicycle

listen to the song:


I doubt if I should post this song on the jukebox, since it's more than worn out and everybody of you might have heared it about 100 times already on several comps... however, this is a classic psych pop tune you should not miss to listen to once again. highly driven in that UK "Pepperish" psychedelic vein with a lot of echoing effects swirling around your head, even if you have no headphones on.

[2010] Aleppo Pine - Black Wizard

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Aleppo Pine is a contemporary band from Spain. Their creations consist of a strong singer & songwriter vein, with a hint of Grateful Dead-like ease and strong leanings to psych folk bands and artists like Mark Fry, Amber, Maureeny Wishfull and others... "Black Wizard" reminds me on this gentle hippie-like sounds we are used to know from Yellow Autumn or the Tree People. Imagine longhaired, dovelike fellows and woman in couloured cloths, exotic visions and a peaceful rainbowfamily of the living light spirit. It's no wonder that the album where this track comes from is called "Holy Picnic". I highly recommend this band to anyone crossing the jukebox! you can listen to the whole album and/or pruchase it here: http://aleppopine.bandcamp.com/album/holy-picnic

[1967] The Baroques - Iowa, A Girl's Name

listen to the song:

"The Baroques had a fuzz-guitar/keyboard-damaged sound that retained much of the garage intensity of ’66 while plunging into the experimentation that marked the latter part of the decade." (~therisingstorm.net)
Starting like a psych-pop ballad, you'll later get overwhelmed with tons of heavy fuzz storming through your mind. Iowa is one of this sort of songs, wich might suprise you of their short runningtime. If you hear the experimental garage-psych-jams you probably would expect an 8-10 minute journey. However, this way it's been a nice flipside for their single "Mary Jane" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDa5hCSQX0).