Bugskull

Sean Byrne deals in shades of subtle texture on his latest as Bugskull. His return album for Digitalis, sees the veteran producer layering gleaming streaks of noise amongst pastoral guitars, harmonicas, sax loops and in some cases primly chugging lines of bass. The result is Collapsed View, a train ride headphone trip that pulses through lush hills and dilapidated city centers alike with your eyes always squinting in the sun. Shades of transistor static and synth texture give the album a light Radiophonic feel but it never gets too heavy into the workshop sound experiments, rather it solders them onto its pulsing circuits and lets them break in every so often to crack at the odd beauty that Byrne has crafted in his electronic terrarium. The most intriguing aspect of Collapsed View is the carefully plotted sequencing, the character that's imposed on the album and makes it feel as if a flip book journey that was poured over to make it all work out just right. Byrne has obviously taken pains to not only craft each track as a standalone piece but as a larger component of Collapsed View and as such it remains hard to escape the album's pull once you've pressed play. But that's kind of the best problem to have, don't you think?

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Cozy

A while back HoZac put out a promising single by Cozy, wrapped in denim and packed with the edge of glam power pop that always hits the spot around here. Their ensuing album follows well on the promise of those first couple of tracks. Crackling like radio static between Slade cuts and the shimmy shakers from The Sweet, Button By Button is hard to put down. There's so much crunch and sugary pop that its hard to see how this won't crack you in half like a jawbreaker. Sure its locked in the '79-80 crux of power pop's heyday, but if you need to Groundhog Day a time period, why not keep things lodged in those sweet years when misunderstood love had a soundtrack that fizzed like this. Its easy to get over that unrequited crush that's been hounding your summer, just crank this beast as loud as possible and let the neighbors complain. You'll feel better. And isn't that the whole point?

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	Acid Baby Jesus - Vegetable 7" Just when you thought they'd never return, Acid Baby Jesus is back for another run through the grease trap. The brand of uneasy garage-psych came on full force for their previous LP and its good to see that even for this twofer they don't dream
of letting up. The a-side "Vegetable" has a bit of dirty sway to it but those lonesome keys bring it to another plain. The riff rips incessantly in such a good way that its hard to resist the charms of this Grecian unit. The flip gets even more sinister, echoing its theme of "Brain Damage" and feeling like a call to the gutter. The single appears again at their home on Slovenly, always a beacon for the grimiest of cuts. Listen: Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Kikagaku Moyo

Born on the streets of Japan and honed through time spent busking on the streets, its easy to slot Kikagaku Moyo in alongside fellow travelers Acid Mother's Temple and Ghost, though the latter may be a bit closer in scope, with the band folding a heaping dose of psych-folk into their otherwise heavy, rhythmic style. With three releases swiftly wrought upon the world, the band doesn't seem to be losing any time, and their latest Forest of Lost Children appears to be crystallizing their sound into a thrumming, burnt skies brand of dropout psych. While that release is still fresh from a May release, their first two albums see a US vinyl reissue via Captcha, making the whole lot of slash n' burners available domestically. The band's prowess lies in balancing their dynamic range, moving fluidly from sitar laced breakdowns to acoustic strums and locked pattern jamming. Everything about the band warrants keeping an eye on them, but for now Forest of Lost Children seems to be ruling the turntable.

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White Fence - "Like That" Video

White Fence amped up the production on his latest album and with that comes the band's first ever music video, starring Tim Presley as an inmate on a bad road to the gas chamber with a psychedelic breakdown as the result. Definitely a standout from the album but if you haven't checked out the full For The Recently Found Innocent then its about time. One of the year's best.

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	The International Vicious Society Vol. I&II The University of Vice has rounded up and reissued this long esteemed series of comps on vinyl and there's little reason not to give in to the cheesy whimsy of exotica, surf, novelty teeny bop and fifties cornball excellence
that they contain. There's nothing overly academic here, its the kind of party platter that's served alongside tiki drinks in the living room of someone who took all the pains to travel the world collecting just the right mix of the odd and the interminably catchy. As long as your inhibitions are properly loosened there should be dancing a-plenty with this kind of offering. The first two volumes are essential, though all entries to the famed French dance party are worth the trip, but for now rifle through Iranian versions of "Don't Be Cruel", an international variety of twists and all manner of tricked out jumpers that play out like a Pee Wee's playhouse viewing with the cast of Ghost World. Sometimes you need to let your serious side drop. Listen: Support the artist. Buy it HERE

Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper

Ok after a week off for vacation the Raven is up an running again and its a welcome return to another entry in the FRKWYS series from RVNG Intl. This time the label teams RSTB fave and veteran string wrangler Steve Gunn with the slide guitar virtuosity of Mike Cooper. Gunn has cited Cooper as a formative influence on his own style of acoustic guitar and the interplay here between the two is a conversation of fluidity and languidity. The pair recorded the album in Lisbon, Portugal and they took more than a little influence from the local Fado music, emotionally similar to blues in its love of melancholy, an emotional line that definitely runs throughout the release. The lines of guitar lope and tumble, occasionally break down into a fit of noise but more often they tap that nerve of longing and losing. The series always brings the best of out any participant and this entry is no slouch in that department, Cooper and Gunn prove just how good feeling sad can be.

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	Windian Subscription Series Whew, getting behind on my singles so its time to wrap a few up into on massive post here. Windian's been cranking for a while now, repping the DC vibes right but picking up a continental garage crop while keeping a keen eye on the past in tune with
HoZac's similarly minded 7" reissues. First up they've got a new crop on their second installment of the subscription series, pulling in gems from vet garage gangs A Giant Dog and Mrs. Magician while introducing a couple of new bits via the girl group charm of The Ettes, who swing with a bright-eyed jangle and some pop punk pounding via Overnight Lows. Plus, a nice dose of oddball dirge-sludge rumble from The Apes, whose creeping "Bodies" is a nervy mash of fuzzed bass and squirmy keys. Listen:
	The Ar-Kaics - Why Should I? 7"s Kicking harder than anything in that set though is this single from Richmond, Virgina's Ar-Kaics. In anticipation of their recently released full length, Windian issued this double shot of cracked knuckle rock n' roll. The A-side is jumped up and full of leather tough
moves that would make the toughest of the denim vest set proud to blast this out the windows. The flip tones down the tempo but beefs up the menace, with a gnashed teeth twang that feels as angry as the title, "Slave To Her Lies". Both are excellent reasons to check into their newly released long player. Listen: Last but certainly by no means least, the label is also issuing a single by RSTB faves The Hussy who only seem to be getting better with age. There's a demented little video for the A-side off of their new Windian single and its every bit as ragged, ravaged and revved as anything off of last year's year end pick Pagan Hiss. Check it out above and pick that sucker up below. Support the artists. Buy them HERE

Wand

Not to be confused with the sometimes moniker of James Jackson Toth, Wand are an LA four piece that have landed themselves (with damn good reason) on Ty Segall's imprint God? records. Its easy to see how the West Coast Kingpin would have a soft spot for these garage-psychers and his influence is all over their debut record, Ganglion Reef. There's plenty of fuzz here, and more than a few of those crunchy breakdowns their tourmate/label head seems to favor but over the course of the record it becomes apparent that the band are reaching for more cosmic heights; and an infusion of acoustic touches, synth float and gently faded production lodges this somewhere between Morgan Delt and Tame Impala on a shoestring territory. The band seems to have themselves a few moves behind the general psych-pop aesthetic and their catchy riffs and a bevy of interesting changes keeps this from becoming merely Instagram psych (choose a filter, press record). Certainly a strong debut and with the band opening for Ty on his upcoming tour, it would seem there’s much more to hear from these guys in the near future.

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Martyr Privates

I'll take a Slug Guts connection where I can get one for sure, and that connection pulled me into Martyr Privates with excellent outcome. The Brisbane trio opts for the low-slung crossroads of psych and garage, finding the grind and grit in incessant grooves that have proven attractive to Black Angels and Motorcycle Clubs alike. Its a more refined prospect than the Guts ever allowed, not as chaotic nor snarling but its still got that knife-in-boot quality that keeps the listener on guard and the surrounding fumes toxic. Still there's an allowance for pop to curl in at the edges, as on album standout, "You Can't Stop Progress," which rollicks and thrums with a slide guitar led catchiness that's kept just in check by the road dust that's pounded all around it. Definitely an album worth checking for those favoring the current output of Southern psych, these three would fit right in on the Austin Psych circuit.

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Ty Segall

What can I say about Ty Segall that hasn't already been said here? The man's a beast, a behemoth, a towering force that never seems to flag, tire, expire or sleep for that matter. Off a year that boasted touring, producing, a solo album and a stint with the black magik warriors Fuzz, Segall returns again with a new LP that's double wide and packed with the seemingly impossible task of containing some of his best material yet. Taking the tempos up from the low temperature sway of Sleeper, his latest jumps back into higher gear while seemingly incorporating every demon he's been working out the past year. Double-tracked acoustics fight with the aluminum squall bite of static. Extended breakdowns pummel the kit with classic rock appeal. Slow burn choruses fight with wide-splashed pop touches from strings to keys and atop all this beauty and din is the sinister/sweet croon of Segall proving that he's a man at the top of his game. Manipulator feels so cohesive in its incorporation of all the big rock moves it pulls off that it just seems a wonder how Ty's never felt this giant before. If there's one album to add to the 2014 essential list (and there are many actually) this is definitely the one.

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