Various Artists - "What's Up, Mutants? Volume II"
(self-released 2005)
Various Artists - "What's Up, Mutants? Volume II"
(self-released 2005)
From Aural Innovations #33 (March 2006)
Here's an interesting DIY Global-Grassroots collection of obscure psych and dark experimental/noise-scapes compiled by Joe Davis. Elton Junk's "Again in the Room" is some extremely surreal horror-psych with creeped-out Italian-English lyrics, wicked bass, cymbal crashing and guitar attack. Electric Vials offer up a piece of warped fx, soft horns and various disorienting guitar stylings. Tim Mungenast's "Candles" is classic transcendent "non-chemically-aided" psychedelia; tabla, beautiful guitar licks, sublime multi-vocal chants (the lead vox remind of Vine Sweetland). The Sublimator (of heavy-ass southern space-rockers Spaceseed) provides "Alabama Meltdown", a lengthy obnoxious industrial ruckus of metallic rhythm, various grinding swirls, buzzes, drones and samples - I like it, especially when the rhythm drops out once toward the end before kicking back in again. Astro Al's "Friday Night in Squaresville" has some interesting camp-psych fx and percussives while this cat (Paul Angelosanto) narrates a spoken surreal psych-tale. Crystal Castle feat. AcidGuitarKing is a melodic kinda slow-blues jam laying down some nice lead and rhythm guitar. Emad Gabran turns out a hypnotic oud-and-drum rhythm with clarinet, sitar and Egyptian chant. Mr. Mungenast transposes freaky rhythm fx with bluesy lead-work on "Red Ball Jet". Far Look's quicky "Clunk Rock" is a fuzzy garage-psych number that makes its point in 35 seconds. Wisteriax's "Ocean's Marrow" closes the comp. with ambient washes, treatments and dark mutations. Cool.
For more information you can visit the What's Up, Mutants? web site at: http://www.whatsupmutants.s5.com.
Email at: spacereptile@yahoo.com.
Reviewed by Chuck Rosenberg