Post by thesoundmonitor on Jul 5, 2004 4:40:14 GMT -5
THE PSYCHEDELIC AVENGERS AND THE CURSE OF THE
UNIVERSE
The Psychedelic Avengers and the Curse of the
Universe
(Funfundvierzig)
From the group name to the album artwork, you can tell that the folks who made this album ingested a startling amount of psychedelics before, during, and after the production of this labor of love. Hell, I can't even list the song titles for the review because the format is so psychedelicious, but here's one just for grins: 'Trapped beneath the silverdome of the undead teenage lesbian mutant vampire queens from Veneris Prime.' See what I mean? There's a bunch of them like that. It would take all the space I've got
for this review to list them all. The artwork combines round-edged neo art deco space stations and the like with star wars, which ends up looking pretty campy. Much of the music is based on the Perry Rhodan series of science fiction novels and such, the world's
largest sci-fi series. It started in Germany in 1961 and features the work of a multitude of authors. I'd imagine that it[‘s just about impossible to collect them all.
So we've got this rather tongue-in-cheek yet sincere music inspired by the world's longest-running sci-fi serial. What about the musicians? They're a kind of awho's who of the hard psych underground, with many people who've appeared on Germany's Nasoni label, home of the creme de la creme of weird psychedelia. The album sports representatives of Colour Haze, Vibravoid, Sula Bassana, and On Trial, not to mention
Texas' own Liquid Sound Company. The music is not nearly as heavy as I expected. The first song, though, is a killer: a burning mix of desert heaviness and Hawkwind spaciness. Tasty. The rest of the album is a pretty radical mix, though as you might guess it’s very heavy on the electronics. There's ambient, psych ('natch), and electronica galore. How you like the album will pretty much depend on how you feel about those genres. Not that this is a genre-bound record, but you've got to have a touchstone, right?
Personally, I'm not at all into techno or electronica, so I tend to pass on the tracks leaning in those directions. You may feel differently.
Despite the all-over-the-map songs, the album holds together remarkably well, in a druggy way. This speaks well of the abilities of the musicians involved. So the next time you're in "the land" and want to try a different trip, you may want to set the controls for an hour-plus voyage into Perry's universe. It’s an effective way to, as the avengers say: "Spread love & respect throughout all the known universes and beyond..."
Kevin McHugh
Band Site: www.psychedelicavengers.de.vu
UNIVERSE
The Psychedelic Avengers and the Curse of the
Universe
(Funfundvierzig)
From the group name to the album artwork, you can tell that the folks who made this album ingested a startling amount of psychedelics before, during, and after the production of this labor of love. Hell, I can't even list the song titles for the review because the format is so psychedelicious, but here's one just for grins: 'Trapped beneath the silverdome of the undead teenage lesbian mutant vampire queens from Veneris Prime.' See what I mean? There's a bunch of them like that. It would take all the space I've got
for this review to list them all. The artwork combines round-edged neo art deco space stations and the like with star wars, which ends up looking pretty campy. Much of the music is based on the Perry Rhodan series of science fiction novels and such, the world's
largest sci-fi series. It started in Germany in 1961 and features the work of a multitude of authors. I'd imagine that it[‘s just about impossible to collect them all.
So we've got this rather tongue-in-cheek yet sincere music inspired by the world's longest-running sci-fi serial. What about the musicians? They're a kind of awho's who of the hard psych underground, with many people who've appeared on Germany's Nasoni label, home of the creme de la creme of weird psychedelia. The album sports representatives of Colour Haze, Vibravoid, Sula Bassana, and On Trial, not to mention
Texas' own Liquid Sound Company. The music is not nearly as heavy as I expected. The first song, though, is a killer: a burning mix of desert heaviness and Hawkwind spaciness. Tasty. The rest of the album is a pretty radical mix, though as you might guess it’s very heavy on the electronics. There's ambient, psych ('natch), and electronica galore. How you like the album will pretty much depend on how you feel about those genres. Not that this is a genre-bound record, but you've got to have a touchstone, right?
Personally, I'm not at all into techno or electronica, so I tend to pass on the tracks leaning in those directions. You may feel differently.
Despite the all-over-the-map songs, the album holds together remarkably well, in a druggy way. This speaks well of the abilities of the musicians involved. So the next time you're in "the land" and want to try a different trip, you may want to set the controls for an hour-plus voyage into Perry's universe. It’s an effective way to, as the avengers say: "Spread love & respect throughout all the known universes and beyond..."
Kevin McHugh
Band Site: www.psychedelicavengers.de.vu