It won’t be easy to keep up with the Captcha Records/Cardinal Fuzz trans-Atlantic psych collective over the next week, but we’re gonna do our best! With several upcoming releases planned for the end of May, and two more in the bag as of this week, that’s a lot of news to get to from the labels! But then again, that’s what we’re here for…
Let’s kick things off today with Cathode Ray Eyes. This is the solo project of UK musician Ryan Delgaudio, guitarist for the Nottingham-based psych rock outfit The Cult of Dom Keller. Following several self-released titles, Eyes In The Melancholy Palm is Delgaudio’s first label effort under the CRE moniker, and it seems to draw together “re-worked” highlights from his previous three albums. A late-night, lysergic ambiance pervades the tracks here, as the musician does his best to ward off those devils with a penchant for idle hands. “Death Song No. 1” is as good of a place to start as any, and it finds the guitarist sketching a mildly dissociative melody line that expands and contracts around warm bass fuzz, while Delgaudio’s layered vocals ride the mantric waves, repeating “You are the light” into the shimmering void. Elements of Sonic Boom‘s Spectrum project can be heard on the track, and elsewhere on the record, as well as a more scuzzy take on the Legendary Pink Dots. Sure to provide some excellently warped after hours listening, just when those synapses are beginning to gently fry and glisten!
Big Naturals self-titled debut, originally out in 2012 on the duo’s label Greasy Trucker, returns! Except, if you want it on vinyl, it’s already SOLD OUT…which speaks volumes as to the potent quality of this product. The Bristol-based pair, drummer Jesse Webb and bassist Gareth Turner, spent some years cutting their teeth with legendary space rockers the Heads, releasing three volumes of epic stoner rock with the group under the name Rituals. This debut finds the band melding psych and punk into a politically pitched missive missile from hell. Sprawling squalls of rhythmic, noise-based freakout make for some really fried out listening, as these two blast off straight into the heart of the sun with reckless abandon. “Krautpunk” comes later on in this release, but the title succinctly sums up Big Naturals’ sonic approach. Unleashing a burly bass groove and punishing drum pummeling that leaves this track dazed and staggering by midpoint, Webb and Turner are left to wander the narcotic haze looking for some new fix. Good thing for us, it always seems to be just around the next cobwebbed corner…
