The Psychedelic Aliens – Psycho African Beat There's been a glut of African 60's and 70's reissues of late with the majority of it drawing together some pretty strong material all around. And though it seems now that Nigeria and Zambia have been
pretty seriously strip mined for gems, Africa is a fairly gigantic mass of land with a musical history that's just begun to be tapped. Case in point, the release of this album took over four years and endless searching to become a reality, with the crew behind Voodoofunk making nine trips to the continent and running radio and newspaper ads to find material. The Aliens were from a fairly mixed heritage rather than being completely native to Ghana; with French, Indian and Lebanese parents and this led both to their open influences and to them being called "Aliens". As for the psychedelic part - the band is more a brew of hard driving funk, highlife and soul-flecked garage than any mindbending psychedelics but they manage to synthesize these pieces into quite a potent puzzle. The band shared the stage with several notable names including stints with Fela Kuti, Santana and Wilson Picket though by that time they mostly assumed the name The Magic Aliens. Unfortunately the departure of guitarist Carl Telfer and organist Malek Crayem left the band unable to continue and they disbanded but this document now leaves behind their collected singles and a testament to their sound. Kudos to Academy and Voodoofunk for the excellent packaging: the album has been pressed to LP, book bound CD and a 4x7" box set. Download: [MP3] The Psychedelic Aliens - Extraordinary Woman Support the artist. Buy it: HERE