Tripwave - "Tripwave!"
(Tripwave Records 2005, TWR 004)
Tripwave - "Tripwave!"
(Tripwave Records 2005, TWR 004)
From Aural Innovations #33 (March 2006)
From New York City, Tripwave's 6-song 30 minute CDEP is a real trip back to the glory days of garage rocking psychedelia. A key member of the band is Dino Sorbello, who many of you may remember from Laughing Sky and Blacklight Chameleons, both bands who played similar 60's styled psych songs. The disc opens with "Psilocybe" a mind-bending space rocking psychedelic song created with liquid acid and fuzzed guitars and classic 60's organ. "Razzled By The Dazzle" is similar, but with sitar injecting a cool tripped out vibe to the already rocking psychedelic proceedings. "Freedom Afterwards" is an excellent garage psych rocker with playful verses that bring to mind an ultra psychedelic take on The Who. The fun continues with "Another Sip" and "Back to the Stone", both genuine in-yer-face power psych tunes with searing acid guitar licks. And rounding out the set is "Bardos", an example of Tripwave performing live. The song consists of sitar, guitar and rhythm section jamming along in flower power raga land. The band jam along for a while until peaking with a power jam that features both sitar and guitar rocking out. Wow, probably the trippiest song of the set.
The magic of Tripwave is not just the retro psychedelic style of music they're playing, but the songs themselves are well written and really outstanding, and the production is impeccable. Seeing these live with a liquid lightshow must be quite a happening. I hope they're working on a full length album. If you long for the sounds of yesterday you can't do much better than these guys. Mandra Gora Lightshow Society is probably the best analogy that comes to mind, which gives you a pretty decent idea of what to expect. Intrigued? Check 'em out.
For more information you can visit the Tripwave web site at: http://www.tripwave.com.
Hear song samples at Tripwave's myspace.com site at: http://www.myspace.com/tripwave.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz