This two-hour episode is divided into three parts. The opening sets are recent psychedelia, followed by a few archival releases including one from the Beatles latest super deluxe box set of Revolver. The last set is extended, mainly improvised tracks.
This episode also features a track from the compilation “Purple Haze From East Vol. 1” which collects 20 recordings from Chinese psychedelic and avant-garde artists. This compilation was recently released by WV Sorcerer Productions, which is based in France and China, but that’s about all I know about them. Through a brief exchange with them I discovered that they do plan to release a Vol. 2.
The theme of this episode is the “Paul is dead” rumor. As I mentioned in a previous episode I’ve been running a lot this year and I took the picture that I used for the cover image of this episode while I was out running not too long ago. I was coming down a hill and noticed that someone had spray painted “MISS HIM” with an arrow on the pavement. I have no idea what that might mean but it put me in mind of the rumor that circulated in 1969 that Paul McCartney had died three years earlier and that the Beatles had replaced him with a lookalike. So not only is that the theme of this episode, the “Paul is dead” rumor is also where I got the name of the podcast itself–Turn Me On, Dead Man.
We’ll also hear a couple of other recent archival releases. After the Beatles I’ll be playing a Peel Session track from the Heads reissue of Under Sided. And then we’ll hear a live recording Suzuki Junzo made a few years ago. Junzo is still recovering from injuries he suffered earlier this year, although I haven’t heard any updates about him in a while. This live recording just surfaced last week on the Bandcamp page called We Love You, Junzo.
We survived an election in the US this week. One of the results of the midterm elections was that Colorado became the second state to legalize magic mushrooms. That, along with Maryland and Missouri legalizing marijuana, indicates that the “war on drugs” may be finally winding down.
00:22 The Landscape – The Stair 05:20 The Flower Machine – Painting Black Rainbows 07:17 Split Moon – Feel Free 14:26 阿鳴 Aming – 是我的腦海 還是雲的末端 Mind Cloud 18:27 Los Palms – Scared Of Saturday Nights 21:13 Solar Corona – Parker S.P. 26:34 Morningface – Are You Gonna Set Me Free 30:00 Space Shepherds – Life On Terra 38:42 Bhopal’s Flowers – Byrd Of The Tree 42:39 The Dandy Chainsaw Massacre – Loud Sonic Dharmadelica 46:35 Andrew Thomas Jacobs – Bend to the Fire 51:35 The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1) 55:29 The Heads – False Heavy (Peel Session) 1:01:06 Suzuki Junzo – Chi No Mure 1:16:40 Robot God – Sleepwalking 1:27:24 Space Invaders – Freak Waves 1:40:55 Dos Brujos – Dahr I
After a 2+ month hiatus, Turn Me On, Dead Man is back with two hours of recent psychedelia. This episode is divided into three parts. In the first hour I cover psychedelic tracks released during the last few months, followed by a short set of notable reissues, and finally I round out the episode with some extended tracks, improvised and otherwise.
One notable track is “Cosmic Prophet” by Snakes Don’t Belong In Alaska. This track caught my attention because it opens with a passage from Arthur C. Clarke’s book 2001: A Space Odyssey talking about the ratio the number of people alive today to the number of human beings who have ever lived. Interesting to me because I teach a course called Population Geography and we actually cover this in a unit on population in history.
Arthur C. Clarke’s book version of 2001 was published in 1968 and he put the ratio of the dead to the living at 30:1. The ratio is actually lower than that now because the population of the world is just about to cross the 8 billion threshold, which is more than double the population of the world in 1968, and the estimate of the number of people who have ever lived is now around 117 billion–so the ratio now is more like 14:1. A few years ago the Population Reference Bureau released a video showing a timeline of the human population. I’m not exactly sure why they used the amped up soundtrack but it does illustrate this point effectively.
Anyway, I asked Snakes Don’t Belong In Alaska why they opened their track with this quote and Aaron explained to me, “The song inspiration comes from my realisation of my significance in being insignificant,” which is an interesting take on it. I guess I think about it a little bit differently, though. In the course I teach we talk a lot about human development. Around 1990 the UN began using the “Human Development Index” which is a measure of human progress and well-being. They wanted to shift the focus away from economic measures of progress to a more human centered approach. So given that through most of human history, only a select few were able to rise above the level of subsistence, when I think about how many people have ever lived it’s only been in the recent past that large numbers of people could focus on pursuits beyond bare existence. I wonder how many talented people didn’t have the opportunity to develop their abilities. How many Einsteins have there been? How many Jimi Hendrixes? How many Joey Ramones? I would imagine that there have been a great many people who weren’t fortunate enough to live in a social-technological environment to actualize their potential and share their accomplishments with a wide audience. Can you imagine a world without “I Wanna Be Sedated”? I mean, there had to be at least a few punks among the hunter-gatherers.
Some interesting reissues have come out recently. This episode includes a track from the White Hills album The Revenge of Heads On Fire, which is an expanded reissue of their 2007 album Heads On Fire. We’ll also hear a live track by Psychic Ills, recorded in 2012, and released as part of the Reverb Appreciation Society’s Live at Levitation series.
Going a little further afield, we’ll also hear a track from Naujawanan Baidar, who rework tracks from cassettes containing Afghan traditional music “by collaging traditional melodies, entrancing loops, and psychedelic noise.” This episode also includes a track from the recent LP compilation from Orchestra Gold called African Psychedelic Music. Orchestra Gold is a collaboration that began between Erich Huffaker, an American guitarist, and Mariam Diakite, a singer/percussionist from Mali. What’s interesting about Naujawanan Baidar and Orchestra Gold is that they emphasize the psychedelic orientation of their approach.
Just a note about the cover image I used for this episode. Running has become part of my daily life and I’ve logged over 1000 miles so far this year. I took this episode’s cover photo on one of my regular running routes. I kept noticing this van parked near a facility for the homeless and I was struck by the artwork on it. Actually what particularly caught my attention was the fart icon drawn on the heart. Simple but effective. After passing by it so often I’ve come to see this beat up van with a flat tire and a kind of defiant expression of peace and love as an effective metaphor for our world. Whenever I run by, I always take a moment to pay tribute to the peace and love van.
00:30 Pale Blue Sound – Broken Heart 05:10 Erik’s Iridescent Tent – Wailing Fungus 08:42 Sun Voyager – Some Strange 16:55 Snakes Don’t Belong In Alaska – Cosmic Prophet 24:23 The Dead Novas – Bar Fite 29:15 The Hologram People – Drone of the Holy Numbers 31:53 Babe Ruthless – Mysteries of the Egyptian Gods 34:27 A.J. Kaufmann – So Hot 37:31 Ala Mil – Space Age Dub 41:04 Forklift Driver – On Board 43:50 Melt Plastic Group – Hooh 50:14 Lost Fuzz – Someday 53:18 Uncle Wizard – I Am, It Says 57:01 Brazil Banks – Swell 1:04:24 Orchestra Gold – Mali Senekelaw 1:08:21 Psychic Ills – Mind Daze 1:11:30 Naujawanan Baidar – Isyan Dorost Ast 1:15:24 White Hills – Radiate 1:19:34 Sol Viator – Phoenix Flies Over The Rockies 1:24:54 Uguns project – No quisiera 1:32:08 They Came From Mauritania – Space 1:38:22 Trip Pilots – Stargazing 1:45:22 Gozu – Pierced by Lunar Rays 1:51:21 Zong – Encounters On The Astral Plane
I guess I’ve always thought of psychedelic rock as being a genre on its own but psychedelia crosses genre boundaries and in this episode I’ll be playing some jazz, ambient and even a country track that are psychedelic. One of the most notable tracks in this episode is by the Medicine Singers, a collaboration between Yonatan Gat and the Algonquin drum group the Eastern Medicine Singers, among other noteworthy people. The result combines indigenous music with spiritual jazz and psychedelic rock with an improvisational approach. It’s well produced and really compelling.
Following the Medicine Singers are a couple of tracks that draw more on jazz, one by the London Odense Ensemble and another by the Chilean cellist Surreal, then on to the ambient/dub of bad lsd trips. Rounding out this set is a psychedelic country track by the Sensational Country Blues Wonders. Gary Van Miert is the psychedelic cowboy behind the Sensational Country Blues Wonders, and I asked him (as I’ve been asking a lot of artists lately) what makes music psychedelic. As you can see in the short interview below, he talked about psychedelic music having a surreal and perhaps a whimsical quality. He also talked about exotic instrumentation like the sitar. Psychedelic music is also a spiritual experience to a lot of the artists. In fact, more artists have mentioned spirituality as the inspiration for their psychedelic music than have mentioned drugs.
In past episodes of Turn Me On, Dead Man I’ve stuck mainly with recent releases but in this episode I’m going to close out with a set of tracks from reissues. One of the tracks, “Blast Off” by Psyclona, fits in well with this episode’s theme of When Worlds Collide (drops are from the 1951 sci-fi film). This final set opens and closes with 10th anniversary reissues, Flowering by Herbcraft came out in 2012, as did World Music by Goat, which has been remastered at Abbey Road studios. The Herbcraft album is being reissued on cassette but the rest of the tracks in this set are being reissued on limited edition vinyl releases. I never would have predicted how vinyl has become a sought after format. It seems like these days a vinyl release carries with it prestige and seems to make it more of an event. The LP format emphasizes the cover art but the records themselves frequently have really stunning designs.
00:35 Los Males Necesarios – Repeticion 03:07 Black Lizard – Killfire 07:20 Dead Waves – Wake Up In The Night 09:15 Kikagaku Moyo – Cardboard Pile 14:59 Medicine Singers – A Cry/Daybreak 19:32 London Odense Ensemble – Sojourner 25:11 Surreal – Sun Ra en la quebrada de Macul con Don Cherry (fumándose unos cuetes y bañándose en la cascada) 29:17 Bad LSD Trips – Consciousness Burnout 34:38 The Sensational Country Blues Wonders – There’s a Hole in the Fabric of My Reality 39:57 Psycada – Abstract/Halal 45:10 Primordial Undermind – Hermetic Armada 51:51 Science Killer – Blue 56:16 Smoke The Light – InHell 1:01:01 Fuzz Sagrado – In Her Garden 1:05:15 The Wesleys – Find a Way 1:10:12 The Cyanide Jug Band – Girl In The Can-Can Hat 1:13:00 Atom Mother – Searching/Finding 1:20:50 Quantum Pigeon – The Pigeon 1:24:43 Ciencias Ocultas – La ciencia oculta 1:35:36 Herbcraft – California Poppy 1:38:23 The Qualitons – Család 1:47:18 Psychlona – Blast Off 1:54:35 Goat – Goathead
Two hours of psychedelic/stoner/garage rock tracks that have all been released in 2022. The tracks in this episode come from Europe, the US and Canada, and one track from Australia, “Dark Patterns” by Night Rites. One of the most notable tracks featured in this episode is a collaborative effort between an American band, the Striped Bananas, and the Ukrainian band Nameless called “Newest Age Man”. A few weeks ago I did an episode of Turn Me On Dead Man where I focused on garage, stoner and psych bands from Ukraine, and “Newest Age Man” was released just after I posted that episode. Nameless works with the charity foundation Musicians Defend Ukraine which directly helps Ukrainian musicians and artists who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces in response to the Russian invasion.
Another notable track in this episode is “Invisible Hammerblow” by Mienakunaru–notable because it comes from the compilation We Love You Junzo. In February Suzuki Junzo fell from a train platform in Tokyo and that resulted in some serious injuries. He’s in a rehabilitation hospital now and is unable to tour or record music. We Love You Junzo is a benefit for Suzuki Junzo to support him financially but they also call it a “giant get well card”. Mienakunaru is a collaboration between Junzo and Mike Vest with Dave Sned on drums. I played a track by Mienakunaru on an episode of Turn Me On, Dead Man last year.
The last set in this episode opens with “Montjuic” from East and West Rendezvous, a group of musicians from Edinburgh, Scotland, who played an improvisational set drawing on spiritual jazz and psychedelic rock. Listening to this got me to thinking about an experience I had recently in the parking garage of Walmart in Washington DC. My feelings about Walmart are complicated, I guess you could say. A few years ago they built four stores in DC and they’ve genuinely been positive additions to the neighborhoods they chose. Still, it’s Walmart and I probably wouldn’t go there except that my teenage daughter loves shopping there. I bought her a mirror and I was having trouble getting it into my car. If you ever happen to be in the parking garage of the Walmart on Georgia Ave in Washington, DC, one of the first things you’ll notice is that it’s really hot–I mean the ventilation must be terrible–so I’m always anxious to get out of superheated noxious Walmart fumes. I was really getting frustrated trying to get this mirror into my car and this guy just appeared out of nowhere with a clipboard. I’m not sure what he said but all I said to him was “Whatever it is I’m not interested” before noticing he was wearing a T-shirt that said “Love Thy Neighbor.” I’m usually not rude to people but I was having a difficult time. He was nice about it and went away, and, of course, I felt shitty about it after that. There’s very little chance that he would hear this, but I’m playing the track “Montjuic” by East and West Rendezvous as a sort of message of atonement to the universe for being rude to someone who probably just wanted to tell me the good news.
00:40 The Mango Furs – Seeker 04:17 Night Rites – Dark Patterns 08:33 Melting Palms – Orchard’s Lie 14:18 The Striped Bananas & Nameless – Newest Age Man 18:18 Mienakunaru – Invisible Hammerthrow 22:03 The Dry Mouths – Den-Dro Sum 25:34 Birds Flying Backwards – Surrender to The Void I, II & III 30:11 Abronia – Night Hoarders 36:10 Golomb – Western Threshold 39:55 JIRM – Liquid Covenant 46:48 Dialing In – Blooming Wire 54:54 Acid Barretts – Heartlock 57:45 Vanishing Trace – Pierce My Brain 1:02:51 Bad Liquor Pond – Painted Daisies 1:05:51 Thee Mean Reds – Vessel 1:10:58 Underground Mountains – In Search of Highs pt. 1 1:16:52 Shane Hartman – Presence 1:23:10 East and West Rendezvous – Montjuïc 1:35:43 Sendero Luminoso – Sacred Bones 1:41:30 The Spanish English Dictionary – Hard To Find 1:45:31 Floating Witch’s Head – 911 1:47:59 Omaha Haze – Snow White Ferocity, Snow White Feral City (only setuar)
Well, COVID-19 finally got me. I managed to avoid it for more than two years but everyone in my household has gotten sick in the last couple of weeks. Our symptoms were relatively mild, I’m happy to say, but it’s still been difficult. I haven’t gotten a lot done in the past couple of weeks but I have been listening to a variety of new music. So after doing a few geographically themed episodes this one is much more spread out across the countries you would expect: the US, the UK, Australia and western Europe. This episode opens with the Cosmic Lotus, who are from Mexico City and combine members of various stoner/psychedelic bands, followed by Tombstones in their Eyes [LA], Drug Couple [NYC], and the Japanese band Dhidalah.
I have to say that all of the bands I’ve mentioned so far are candidates for my best of list at the end of this year. I don’t know if it’s all the ibuprofen I’ve been taking to deal with my COVID-19 symptoms but the music has just been sounding so great to me. Like the last couple of episodes, this one runs two full hours, and I guess that’s becoming the standard for Turn Me On, Dead Man. So much good music out there I don’t want to leave anything out. This episode is particularly varied, from the heavy psych of Ecstatic Vision, the drone of Hashishian, the garage psych of Limestone, the dub of Guitars on Drugs, the improvisational music of Black Toast and New Standards Men, to the experimentation of one of my favorites, Thee UFO. The apocalyptic drops come from the 1958 sci-fi film The Lost Missile.
00:28 The Cosmic Lotus – Lotus Devotion (Promo version) 08:17 Tombstones In Their Eyes – A Higher Place 11:22 Drug Couple – Missed Our Chance 17:27 Dhidalah – Soma 26:17 Ambassador Hazy – Modes of Transportation 30:32 Ecstatic Vision – Elusive Mojo 36:33 Foraging Badgers of the Black Forest – Vast Forest Lands 42:25 Hashishian – Let Us Reason 48:32 The Lower Depths – Trip Hazards 52:16 Boschivo – Oltre il Velo 55:43 Japanese Television – Space Fruit Vineyard 1:00:11 GDDLF – RAIIIWWAR 1:05:17 Limestoned – Sacred Key 1:08:35 Thee UFO – Impish Delight 1:14:42 Black Toast – And the Gods Just Stood There & Laughed 1:22:15 Guitars On Drugs – Trinity 1:26:29 UFO Över Lappland – Blå Vägen 1:34:05 The Telephones – Two Byrds 1:37:34 Weasel – Melt 1:40:07 New Standards Men – Spain’s First Astronaut A
I took a road trip recently and my GPS was behaving strangely. It happened a few times where my GPS was slow to identify roads I was traveling on–and I don’t mean back roads, I mean Interstate 95. I thought that was a little odd and then I noticed the street sign a short distance away from my destination: Black Swan Lane. There’s been some chatter recently about “black swan events” and it just seemed to fit somehow. A black swan event is one the is unpredictable, has far-reaching consequences, and somehow after the fact we create an explanation for it that makes it seem like it was inevitable all along. It strikes me that our world is defined increasingly by black swan events. Even though this episode isn’t geographically defined in the way that Beyond and On The Line (in fact, most of the episodes this year) were, I’ve broken up the playlist into sets defined by geography. The first set is music from Europe, followed by a set from Latin America/Caribbean, and concluding with some tracks from the US and Canada. The drops in this episode come from Panic in Year Zero, very much a black swan movie.
00:39 Luminous Rift – Bugs In The Module 04:31 Boar God – Birthplace 07:40 The Dharmas – 1000Miles Europe set 14:39 Misleading – Whirlwinded 16:49 La Casa al Mare – Otherwise 23:50 SWCC Community – Dreams of Space 28:28 Vomit Heat – Dematerialize 33:05 The Moondig – gasvoor 37:20 Bity Booker – Dreaming in the Morning 40:40 Bookhouse – Eferwad y Tonnau Gwyn Latin America/Caribbean set 43:55 The Kadeem Ward Project – Kaleidoscope (Demo) 52:12 Dorotheo – Alba Rosa 53:33 Mint Field – Contingencia 57:07 Hoja Madre – Hoja Madre III EP 1:00:20 Reverb Chamber – Let Her Burn 1:04:13 Venado Records – Jones Poison 1:08:20 Fulgor – Song 1:10:10 Skintaker – Face of Stone 1:13:32 Giant Jellyfish – Marvelous City Northern America set 1:16:15 Su Evets – the Deering 1:44:30 The Frozen Heads – Whatever, Sky 1:54:17 Ogua – Play 1:34:35 The Sadies – Stop and Start
This episode focuses on recent Garage rock and psychedelic music from the US and Canada. I’ve recently done a show on psychedelia in the UK and another show focusing on Australia and New Zealand. So with this episode I’ve covered all of the founding member states of the Five Eyes alliance.
I’m not exactly sure of when I became aware of the Five Eyes but it just reinforced this fear I’ve had that we’re spiraling into an Orwellian future. I read 1984 many years ago, but I’ve started to wonder if the Five Eyes alliance is Oceania–and that we’ve always been at war with Eastasia. 1984 was certainly dystopian with a steady flow of disinformation, but even so I don’t think even Orwell imagined how people would be such willing participants in the spread of disinformation.
The music in this episode is divided roughly evenly between the US and Canada. This episode is longer than usual because I got sidetracked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That got me to put together an overdue episode devoted to Psychedelic Source Records. I thought they hit exactly the right tone with Mantras For Peace. Then I put together an episode of garage/psych and stoner bands from Ukraine. All the while I kept adding tracks to the playlist for this episode. Rather than break it up I thought I’d go with the episode I had originally sketched out with a set devoted to music from the US and a set of Canadian music. The styles run the range from garage punk to minimalist/ambient psychedelia.
00:39 The Living Sky – Cylinder 04:31 Slow Dawn – See-Through 07:40 Night Collectors – One Thousand Years 14:39 Shimmer Bed – Signs 16:49 Supplemental Pills – Run On 23:50 Myrrs – When You’re Here 28:28 thefamilystoned – Deaf Church Choir 33:05 Skloss – Upper Attic 37:20 Fantastic Purple Spots – Blasting Into The Sun 40:40 Magic Shoppe – I Feel High 43:55 Daemones – Refractor 49:39 Fuguers Cove – Gust 52:12 Babe Ruthless – Dog Days 53:33 Lightning – Vallejo 57:07 Deadlights – Paralyzed 1:00:20 Groop – Belly II 1:04:13 Shimmer Bed – Fine 1:10:10 John Denver Airport Conspiracy – The Big Classic 1:13:32 Omissam – Hide 1:16:15 Cosmic Drifter – Chasing Shadows 1:20:57 The Gateless Gate – Helcaraxë One 1:31:02 Lammping – Everlasting Moor 1:34:35 Blume – It’s You 1:44:30 Spheroid – Transparent Radiation
This episode features garage rock, stoner and psychedelic bands from Ukraine. The Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 24th and it looks to have stalled without taking any major cities in Ukraine. But even so, the Russian invasion has led to a horrific amount of death and destruction as well as profound upheaval in the lives of Ukrainians. As of today some 4 million Ukrainians have left the country and millions more have been displaced.
Most of the bands in this episode are based in Kyiv, but the music map below shows that the playlist also draws on artists from Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Luhansk. As I usually do, I contacted the bands on the playlist and I was surprised how many replied. Given the circumstances I could understand how other things might now have taken a higher priority. The stories they tell show clearly how the war has had a direct impact on their lives. In my email I mentioned that I normally ask about influences and future plans but given what’s happening in Ukraine I was more concerned about how they were doing, and I asked them how the war has affected them and their communities. I went to say that if they just wanted to talk about the music, that was fine, too. I asked my standard questions of what had the biggest influence on the music, what record had changed their lives, and asked what’s next for them. Everyone who responded answered all of my questions. You can see their responses below.
The drops in this episode are mainly quotes from historian Timothy Snyder, author of such books as On Tyranny and The Road to Unfreedom. The book that had the biggest impact on me was Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Ukraine had the misfortune of being in the sights of two of history’s most murderous dictators and the population suffered greatly during World War II. The current Russian invasion reveals that Ukraine has never fully escaped this vulnerability. Vladimir Putin has gone so far as to say that Ukraine is a Soviet-era construct and questioned their right to exist. In defending itself against the Russian onslaught, however, Ukraine has clearly demonstrated a strong identity, not to mention a fierce national pride. No doubt Putin has plans of conquest beyond Ukraine and for that reason, Ukraine is defending not only itself, but the West and the liberal international order.
00:26 Headachee – Forever 03:49 Somali Yacht Club – Silver 08:43 Vasily Richter – Тебя придумала моя голова 10:51 Reflector – Take II 14:38 Reflector – Take III 22:42 Straytones – Oh Sweet Seeds 28:30 Лунар – О тебе, О мне, О нас 31:02 Ocean Bloom – Na oblake 34:24 PTMP – We U No U 35:37 Don Buzz – Mashrooms 44:14 Jesus Christ Gay Club – It Feels Like Summer 46:46 Электроптицы – Навстречу ветру 51:31 my mother hates me – Всё равно 55:25 Super Pink Moon – Disconnection Mantra 58:43 Ethereal Riffian – Dreamgazer 62:19 Twin Quasar – Over The Sun 67:32 Your Inner God – Plateau 73:35 Stoned Jesus – I’m The Mountain 86:12 Gooos – Night
The title of this episode comes from the most recent release from Psychedelic Source Records, a remarkable artistic collective based in Hungary playing mainly improvised music. They’re incredibly prolific, with more than 50 releases since they started putting out albums around 2017. A number of different bands play under the Psychedelic Source banner, and I’ve put together a playlist for this episode made up of tracks they’ve put out in the last year or so.
At the center of all this is Bence Ambrus, a multi-instrumentalist who plays in several of the Psychedelic Source bands and also does his own acoustic sets. The playlist includes a solo track of his, as well as tracks by Slight Layers, Pilot Voyager, Liquidacid, nepaal and Highbay, among others. Many of the bands share members and they often release their jams under the general Psychedelic Source Records name. What makes this output even more extraordinary is that they make it all available with the “Name Your Price” option. That’s right, they’re effectively giving it all away for free.
00:19 psychedelic source records – Opressions 15:14 Highbay – Dark Day 18:42 nepaal – Black Batik 29:24 Liquidacid – Beech Bums 30:35 Pilot Voyager – Dark Flood 44:18 Bence Ambrus – Levitating over Fields and Pine Forests 51:30 Come and See – Prayer of Death (desert song) 57:09 Ju – Ash (uses melodies from the traditional song ‘Kedah Kasaha’) 64:17 Slight Layers – Subconscious tales 69:44 psychedelic source records – Sparkling Melody (Golden Sights)
I devoted an episode of Turn Me On, Dead Man to psychedelic source records at the end of 2020 and I had been thinking about catching up with them again. They released Mantras For Peace on February 27, 2022, just three days after the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Upon listening to the extended psychedelic jams on this album, my thought was that this is exactly what I needed to hear right now. It’s a fitting counter to the horrific destruction and loss of life resulting from Putin’s senseless invasion. I did a short interview with Bence Ambrus about the crisis unfolding in eastern Europe. I asked him about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how it was affecting their community. Hungary has had its own political difficulties in recent years as their politics have shifted to the right. Opposition parties and the independence of the judiciary have been undermined in Hungary, and freedom of the press has been curbed. To make matters worse, it looks like the United Opposition is struggling to stay united for the upcoming election on April 3rd, and Viktor Orban may well win another term in office. Here is what Bence had to say:
TMODM: I’d be curious to hear what you have to say about the conflict in eastern Europe. Hungary has had its own experience with an aspiring authoritarian ruler, and now it has a refugee crisis from the mass displacement from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. How has this affected you and your community? Bence Ambrus: First of all, calling it “crisis” or “war” or “conflict” is just euphemism. Because crisis means the potato is little more expensive in the supermarket, and war is a traditional, balanced territorial conflict between for example: native tribes. This is scriptural massacre now, an exact example of the blown up bubble by the devil. When the evil insanity drives millions of young men into death and murder and suicide. Slaughtering children and families for nothing, only for black, remorsing fun and to get down the collective spiritual statement to the bottom, prediction the end as a proof: we, humanity lost this all. For us here by the border is scary yes, but i don’t see too much changes except the prices and Ukrainian car signs. Hungary stands before political elections now, this why our demagogic leader tries to please the blockhouse dweller/factoryworker/TVgazer Hungarians in all way, to get himself and his corrupt unbalanced BMW-Christian pseudo-democratic party re-elected. So his heart is “big” now, he let the refugees in. He is not a good man at all, and he will fell this country for sure, because the opposition parties are so week and dumb in front of this mean corrupt mafia, there is no happy end to Hungary. Only happy ending to the manifested evil what will destroy this mistake we call “humanity”.
Alright, so then I switched gears and asked about the music. I got some interesting responses from various members of Psychedelic Source Records when I asked them about records that changed their lives. TMODM: One of my standard questions that I’ve been asking artists is “what is a record that changed your life?” and I’ve gotten a wide range of responses. I’d be interested to hear from as many people who have participated in psychedelic source records recordings as would care to answer this. Krisztián (drummer in Satorinaut, PSR, Pilot Voyager): The Offspring – Americana, Pantera – Cowboys From Hell Ákos Karancz (guitars in Pilot Voyager, PSR): King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King István Baumgartner (drummer in Lemurian Folk Songs, PSR): Manfred Mann – Chapter Three Gergely Szabó (guitar and bass in PSR, ex bass in Lemurian Folk Songs): Pink Floyd – Animals Bence Ambrus (bass and guitar in PSR, bass in Slight Layers and Pilot Voyager, guitar in Lemurian Folk Songs, Satorinaut): Pearl Jam – Lost Dogs, Kispál és a Borz – Ágy Asztal Tévé Dávid Nagy (guitar in Slight Layers and PSR): Led Zeppelin – II, Queen – The Game Krisztina Benus (vocal and keys in Lemurian Folk Songs and PSR): Black Sabbath – Vol 4 Csaba Kocsis (drums in Liquidacid): Hatesphere – The Sickness Within Ákos Debreczi (bass in Liquidacid): Across the River – Across the River
In the last few episodes I’ve been exploring psychedelia from various parts of the world. The playlist in this episode is made up of new psychedelic music from Australia and New Zealand. I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that Australia, in particular, has a thriving psychedelic scene and this episode really bears that out. Not to take anything away from New Zealand or anywhere else for that matter, it’s just that so much good music is coming out of Australia and it’s really been enjoyable corresponding with the artists.
The drops in this episode come from the 1959 movie On The Beach. In that movie a nuclear war breaks out and the only life left in the world is in Australia, but even they’re not safe from the cloud of radiation that will eventually arrive. It’s a bleak movie, and with the end of the Cold War a lot of people (myself included) thought that we had left this behind and that the risk of nuclear war was remote. The situation has certainly changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Things don’t seem to be going well for Putin and he’s made noises about putting Russia’s nuclear arsenal on high alert. Even before that the doomsday clock was already set at 100 seconds to midnight–the closest that its ever been–and the UN secretary general recently said “The prospect of nuclear war is now back within the realm of possibility.”
So anyway, having said that, enjoy the great music in this hour of Turn Me On, Dead Man and just think of the message in the closing frame of On The Beach that said “There is still time, brother.”
00:34 Human Rites – The Serpent and the Rainbow 05:15 Flower Children of the Apocalypse – Return To The Sun 08:00 Golden Sunbird – Voyage, Pt. 2 16:20 Frozen Planet….1969 – Glassblaster (Alternate Take) 20:14 Black Sand – Salutations To The Sun 22:57 Trigona – Petra 30:35 Sons Of Zöku – Yang Yin (Radio Edit) 34:45 Fuzz Meadows – Orange Sunshine 39:13 The Dharma Chain – Shoot Up Love 42:42 Legal Noise – Flashback 45:35 Fortress Europe & Moonflower – Organ Grinder 48:54 Robot God – Valleys of Primordia
