psychedelic rock Archives - Various Small Flames

the Roof Dogs – Tinsel Chapel

Jon Doyle — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 21:02:28 +0000

Back in 2022, we wrote about Here You Are by The Roof Dogs, an album on Earth Libraries which pushed the boundaries of garage and slacker rock. The vibe was typified by single ‘Weather’, where carefree rhythm and slacker cool drew the listener into “a specific moment,” as we wrote, “a vignette brought to life with careful detail. Legs sticking to leather sofa cushions. Oil pastels. Yesterday’s Globe and Mail.”

But gradually the song deepened and mood darkened. “Each time the chorus circles around, the scene deepens, slowly turning the crank of the moment to twist its edge,” we continued. “Grandpa reading aloud from the newspaper. A printed letter addressed to a killer, a mother writing to a strangler of teenage girls.” The stakes seemed to heighten with every cycle, with “agency evaporating into something more ominous,” as we concluded. “People governed by powers beyond their control.” Not the usual slacker subject matter, but Here You Are showed that while The Roof Dogs are experts at sunny garage rock, there is so much more beneath the surface.

The Chicago band have now returned with ‘Tinsel Chapel’, a B-side to Here You Are which allows The Roof Dogs to show off yet another dimension of their sound. Namely a more placid, reflective aesthetic which draws on dream pop and psychedelic influences. The vocals are softened into this hazy soundscape, making for a vibe simultaneously nostalgic and mindful of its immediate surroundings. Fitting for a song about the power of simple beauty and the joys of free time. A song perhaps slacker at heart after all.

‘Tinsel Chapel’ is out now via Earth Libraries.

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Dead Tooth – Liars

Jon Doyle — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 16:19:25 +0000

Known previously as The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman, Dead Tooth is the brand new band featuring Zach James Ellis, Andrew Bailey, Dylan DePice, Jason Smith and River Allen from Brooklyn, New York. The rebrand coincides with the new EP Still Beats that’s set for release next week on Five Kill Records, and we’re happy to be able to share a new single, ‘Liars’, complete with video.

While fans of The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman would have little problem recognising the song, the change of name appears to come with refreshed style too. ‘Liars’ sees Dead Tooth retain some of the psychedelic influences carried through, though compared to the last TAOTSS release Bare Bones Part II: Electric Earth, the track is more succinct brand of indie rock. The real focus of the song comes in Ellis’s lyricism, the rhyming patterns leading to something of a rolling rhythm, energy building from the linkage of words.

Directed by Ellis and with cinematography by Jordan Edwards, the video is a representation of the musician’s life, honing in on the day of a show to highlight the reality behind the endeavour. “The most difficult part of playing shows in NYC is getting everybody in the same place at the same time,” Ellis says. “Conflicting schedules can be overwhelming, but when the group unites an energy is forged and fueled by loving antagonism expressed through the exchange of sardonic glances in a packed car on the way to a show.”

The rainy gloom of the setting creates something of a noir aesthetic, subverting the typical vision of touring life with something of a reality check. “Exhaustion, forgoing meals, pre-show nerves and the possibility of not meeting costs clouds the mind of most musicians,” Ellis continues, and the video becomes a lesson in the process of shifting this doubt and tiredness in order to exist within the moment on stage. As such, there is something of a ritualistic quality, a series of actions and mindsets to be performed in neat order to allow the epiphanic release to eventually descend.

I chose to save the live footage for the last 45 seconds of the video to represent how the majority of ones time is spent as a musician. The mere 30-45 minutes typically spent on stage is the time that makes the labor of being an artist in an unforgiving city worthwhile and fulfilling.

Still Beats is set for release on the 28th September via Five Kill Records and you can pre-order it now.

Photo by Michael K. Brown

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Medicine Boy announce new album, Kinda Like Electricity, with single E.V.I.L.

Jon Doyle — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:35:48 +0000

Some months ago, following her beautiful work as part of the Quiet, Constant Friends, the South African photographer/artist Amor Coetzee suggested we check out Medicine Boy, a Cape Town two-piece consisting of Lucy Kruger and Andre Leo. Needless to say we very much enjoyed the dream noise (their term), though we’d missed the boat in terms of writing about them, seeing as their last EP was released back in 2014.

Luckily, 2016 has changed all that with the announcement of their debut full-length album, Kinda Like Electricity. So far we only have one song to go by, but it’s enough to suggest that the brooding blend of dream pop and indie rock remains. ‘E.V.I.L.’ emerges with a dark energy, like some bluesy shoegaze track played on half-speed, the lyrics emerging like words from a forbidden love letter or the images of a late night fever dream (e.g. “I shaped the weather for my love / ’cause I know she likes to dance out in the thunder / I shaped the weather for my love / Well I guess that she was stuck in under cover”). It seems apt then that they posted a quote from Milan Kundera alongside the song on Facebook.

“Looking out over the courtyard at the dirty walls, he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love”

The song comes complete with a video. Directed by Mark Leonard, we find a suitably atmospheric dive-bar scene, complete with low lighting, smoky ambience, etc. Without wishing to spoil anything, the film develops to include a mysterious priest, a lot of hard staring, snake-handling, and an epiphanic/death-cultish conclusion. Check it out below:

Kinda Like Electricity is due out on the 15th August, but in the meantime you can grab ‘E.V.I.L.’ from the Medicine Boy Bandcamp page.

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