Archive for the 'Psychedelic' Category

• Band / Artist : Winston Giles Orchestra – mySpace
• Genre : Electronica / Psychedelic / Down-tempo
• Sample Track Download : N/A
• Buy CD : Artist Store
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 9 out of 10

I can’t remember the podcast on which I first heard the Winston Giles Orchestra, but I knew as soon as I heard it, that I had to get it in for review. This in itself proved to be a little harder than usual, seeing as the CD had to make its way from Australia to Canada, and the postal services just didn’t want to play ball. However the CD eventually made it’s way and I ran off to my stereo like a giddy school child.

This is an amazingly well balanced album, whose 10 tracks flow effortlessly, making it feel like a ensemble piece, rather than a rag tag of disjointed tracks. The production on the album is just stunning, with an amazing sound bed, giving your ears a whole ton of aural candy to digest.

The CD opens with “We Wait For Sunrise”, a track to me that is very stereotypical of the Winston Giles Orchestra sound. It reminds me a lot of a UK band called the Orb, but with less psychedelic/trippy influences, noting I said less, rather than no. This whole ambient sound spills over into the next track “Welcome to the Hotel”, which features vocals that blend in very well, reminding me a lot of Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. “A Little Song” is a slight departure, but those signature sounds are still there. The beginning of “Revenge” is still more of a departure, but it soon falls back into line with the rest of the album.

Track after track of just stunning music. I was a big fan after listening to that one track from the album on a podcast. One album later and I’m a huge fan, who can see myself playing this album into oblivion. “All Come Together” is probably my favorite track on the album, having the most amazing of beginnings. “Welcome to the Hotel” also gets a very favorable mention.

Conclusion : A wonderful album showcasing some of the amazing stuff Australia has to produce. Just sheer magic.

• Band / Artist : Hopewell – mySpace
• Genre : Psychedelic / Rock
• Sample Track Download : N/A
• Buy CD : Band Site (Music)
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 8 out of 10

Hopewell were a band I reviewed last year and thoroughly enjoyed, partly because I’ve always had a thing for Psychedelic Rock and partly because their album was just sheer class. This time around the band has released an EP, which if you are to believe what they say on their website, was released “Cause we got bored”. Who cares, it’s always great to have anything of theirs drop in my mailbox.

The title track was actually on their album “Birds of Appetite”, but this version is much more radio friendly. The album version is like an even more psychedelic version of the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows”. “Beautiful Targets” is a sprawling mass of sound, that is chaotic, but wonderful to listen to. I can almost hear a bit of the Rolling Stones “We Love You” in the underlying vocal harmonies. “True Blue” has nothing to do with the Madonna track of the same name and thankfully so. Again we get a 60’s infused psychedelic sound which has become a trademark Hopewell sound. “With Tomorrow” we have a softer more traditional rock sound and it’s nice to see the band has a bit of depth to their repertoire. The final two tracks have to be considered fillers, as they are both somewhat under 2 minutes long. “Silent Interlude” is a purely instrumental track and is almost as the name indicates a mere interlude to the final track.

Even though it’s a short track, “Sadness” is one of my favorites, but for one thing, but more of that later. This is a very stripped back track, that’s recorded very lo-fi. It’s simplicity is one of the things that I love so much about it. But there is one thing that just kills the song. There’s a break at around 1:17 where just the low string of the guitar is played over and over again and it just kills the song. If the note being played would have actually reflected the song that was playing, this would have been a killer track, even with it’s simplicity, but as it is, it drives me doo-lally every time I hear it. Shame.

Conclusion : So overall this is a great EP that’s just $6 on iTunes or $5 for the physical CD from the Hopewell shop. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Hopewell.