Who was your favourite 60s psychedelic pioneer? We're not talking the obscure bands who turned up on compilations years later, we mean the main players; the movers and shakers, the ones who took the music from strange clubs and tiny record labels to the mainstream and into people's homes. We're talking The Beatles, Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett, as well as other counterculture heroes of the time in other artforms like Hunter S. Thompson or Andy Warhol. If any of the above have ever captured your imagination then there's every chance you'll love Sir Psych and his album 'The Popsike World Of Sir Psych'. Originally released last year, the 500 copies sold out fast and so the decision was made to make a new edition available now, complete with fifteen extra tracks.
And so we begin, 'Magical Mystery Tour'-like, with Sir Psych promising to "take you places that you've never been before" on 'Hold On To The Strings Of The Balloons', from the outset making use of unusual, trippy vocal samples and weird sound effects. He's right, this is a different world. As well as the Beatles-type musical tour we're about to embark upon, there are plenty of strange snippets of ideas, many under a minute long and recalling those original 'Smile' sessions that reportedly drove Brian Wilson to the brink. If you've heard the outtakes of that album you'll spot the similarity as these short pieces come and go; it's as if the album is an orchestra without a conductor. 'Lazy Daisy', 'Again' and the weird nuclear warning of 'Something For Nothing' are seemingly there to baffle and reiterate the point of the project.
The album is loaded with beatnik vocal samples on tracks like 'In L.A' and 'Loneliness Can Find You'. There are more conventional (we use that word loosely) songs such as 'Only For You', the excellent 'Good Love', 'Yesterday's Smile' or the heavily affected 'View From A Wave'. Sir Psych also creates Barrett-esque characters ('Slender Penny', 'Merry Go Maggie') to add to the overall story feel of the album, although if you can find any kind of story then you're on better drugs than us.The bonus tracks are early demos of songs and a few outtakes, many serving as little more that curios, a strange peep inside his creative mind, but half of the album (see 'Banister Boon Dog' or 'Set Me Free') are like that anyway. Sir Psych is a genuine, modern-day musical fruit loop.
Sir Psych's website
Stream or buy the album
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