Nick Riff - ' Magick Museum'
(Riff Disc) Catalog no: RIFFDISC 001
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
Some of you, like myself, have probably never even heard of Nick Riff until several
years ago when his song "Tribal Elders" showed up on Cleopatra's 'Space
Box: 1970 And Beyond' 3-CD box set. Riff's tune of "Tribal Elders"
on that fantastic various artists release managed to capture my interest and
a short time there after I landed down a copy of his second CD, 1995's 'Cloak
Of Immortality'. Here on 'Magick Museum', you get five tracks from that disc
- the stellar title cut, the airy psychedelic "Creature Feature",
the ultra-cool instrumental "Staring Into Space" (one of my personal
favorites), "Go Far, Go Wild" and the previously mentioned "Tribal
Elders". Then off of his first effort - 1992's 'Freak Element', you hear
that CD's title track, "Forbidden Love", "The Other Ones"
(do I hear female vocals?) and there somewhat out-there "Vegabond Unknown".
The two remaining songs are a super-rare 7" single - the trippingly awesome
"Mystified" and "Limited Light", not sure as to where this
cut comes from. So, this eleven track compilation is more or less to re-introduce
Nick Riff's pure psychedelic magic to new as well as old fans to let you know
he's still around and making great music. I really enjoyed experiencing Riff's
full use of fuzz guitar, well thought out lyrics and revived ' 60's vibe. He's
got another new title out now, you can hear snippets of it on the CD Baby site,
it's title is Nick Riff's Freak Element - ' The World's Alive' (see review this issue). In my humble
opinion, it's at least as good as this CD. Support independent music as such,
it's sure to enrich your everyday life
You can visit the Nick Riff web site at: http://www.nickriff.com/music.htm
Reviewed by Mike Reed