Podcast 2024.19 So Dig This Big Crux

October 4, 2024

Las Cobras

#Electronica #Experimental #LatinPsychedelia #Psychedelic #PsychedelicRock

Las Cobras is psychedelic rock band with latin roots, formed in the summer of 2016, just to play, at nights, when the sun goes down, and then up.
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Cárcavas?
Las Cobras: Our surroundings played a huge role in shaping Cárcavas. The album is very much a reflection of our environment, both physically and emotionally. The landscapes of Uruguay, the isolation, and a bit of the mystique that comes from living in such a quiet place really seeped into the sound. Cárcavas came from a place of searching, both musically and personally. At the time, we felt a bit lost compositionally—there were fragments, ideas, and moods, but nothing felt cohesive. It wasn’t until we started working with James Aparicio that we realized these songs could transform into a full album. His guidance helped us shape the raw material into something more cohesive, giving us the confidence to push forward.
TMODM: What record(s) changed your lives?
Las Cobras: Screamadelica by Primal Scream—that’s a record that showed us how psychedelic music could take on new forms, blending rock, dub, house, and more, while never losing its rawness or edge. It’s that balance between chaos and structure that we’re always chasing.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Las Cobras: We’ve been experimenting more with electronic elements, so that could definitely come through in future releases. We also want to play more live shows internationally.

October 25, 2024

野流 / Yaryu

#Ambient #Improvisation #Psychedelic #Spiritual

The new shape of Japanese Psych. Formed in 2022, Yaryu is led by Hyozo, keyboardist for the now defunct De Lorians (Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records) and includes contributions from Dhidalah, Acid Mothers Temple, and Sundays & Cybele. And much like their psychedelic forebearers of the early 1970s, Yaryu shifts the musical focus from a rock based approach to a sound rooted in improvisational jazz, New Age, and traditional Japanese folk. If you’re familiar with Japanese psych and prog, it’s a similar musical path that Osamu Kitajima and Fumio Miyashita (Far Out, Far East Family Band) travelled in the 1970s. Bought to you by Centripetal Force (North America), Cardinal Fuzz (UK), and Ramble Records (AUS).
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on For Damage?
Hyozo (Keyboard/Autoharp): It is difficult to focus on any particular piece as this is a comprehensive statement of our musical careers as players and listeners. The Coltrane couple, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra’s various works, 70s psychedelic/prog, OPN’s epic electronic music, Fishmans’ Long Season,
and anyway, all extreme attempts to take the listener to a higher dimension through music and The struggle between the commerciality of the music and the extreme attempts to take the listener to a higher level through the music formed this work.
We were also conscious of continuing what Acid Mothers Temple and Kikagaku Moyo had pioneered.
Kosuke Sasaki (Koto/Guitar): Psychedelic rock, spiritual jazz, ambient, electronic… It’s difficult because there are many musicians freely expressing their favorite music genres. If I had to say, I think it’s like a free-flowing system that allows performers to play as they wish.
Shota Mizuno (Bass/Maxmsp): In terms of sound, I am influenced by various jazz, funk, rock, and ambient influences, but in terms of musicality I am very much influenced by Comme des Garçons (a Japanese brand) in the way they make their clothes.
Every season, they break my stereotypes and give me new perspectives.
TMODM: What record changed your life?
Hyozo: Soft Machine “Third”
Can “Future Days”
Henry Cow “Legend”
Kosuke Sasaki: Bill Evans “Alone”
This record became the starting point for me to begin improvising on the koto.
Shota Mizuno: Area / Arbeit Macht Frei
Lula Cortes e Ze Ramalho / Paebiru
Dercio Marques / Segredos Vegetais
There are many more, but I feel that the music of this area has influenced the current sound of Yaryu.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Hyozo: With a good agent, I would like to tour in areas where the record response is strong. I am very creative now and would like to create a new piece every month.
Kosuke Sasaki: I would like to perform overseas.
Shota Mizuno: Now that more people are joining us,
I would like to try new musical experiments.

October 18, 2024

Black Doldrums

#Alternative #GarageRock #Post-punk #PsychedelicRock #Shoegaze

Black Doldrums, London, UK. Kevin Gibbard and Sophie Landers produce a dark psych, contemporary form of gothic post-punk under the name Black Doldrums.
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on In Limerence?
Black Doldrums: I would say we draw from many influences as a band ranging from film, art and literature, but as an album we would have to say The Cure, New Order and Joy Division. The icy, isolated sound of Joy Division, goth pop jangle of The Cure and the electronic feel of New Order. We’ve had three releases so far and this is our second album, however, this time around we really feel it’s our best work and wanted it to sound and feel very clear and direct. I write songs and treat them all as independent pieces of work but as the songs came together it was apparent that there were common themes running throughout. A strong influence for this album was also The Beatles’ Revolver in the sense of having an album of all individual songs but they somehow all complement each other. You’ll hear for every song there is a part two or another song to mirror it. This helps give the album a cohesive feel that I feel is hard to achieve. So you could say that my personal inspiration is to improve on what we have done before. So everything we do and create informs the next piece of work.
TMODM: What record changed your life?
Kev
Definitely Maybe by Oasis was a turning point. I was still in school and I had Morning Glory that I was talking about all the time. I was so young I’m not sure I even knew who Oasis were but that album was so huge I think everyone had it. I had a school friend who played his Dad’s drum kit and I used to go round and play the only two chords I knew and muck about with him. He bought me a copy of Definitely Maybe which I didn’t know existed at that time but I remember putting it on and thinking straight away that’s even better than Morning Glory. Very important album for me as it taught me that if they can do it we can too and music is accessible to everyone. We’ve been reading Lol Tolhurst’s book “goth” and he tells the story of Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook seeing the Sex Pistols and immediately forming a band. For me Oasis was the same thing. That first spark.


Sophie
I have 2 albums that stick out to me, one was an Adam and the Ants hits cd I bought in The Works for £4 when I was 15. I’d seen someone do Prince Charming on stars in their eyes which brought back memories of seeing the actual video on VH1 at my nanny’s house when I was 10 or 11, because she had cable and we didn’t I just sat and obsessively watched VH1 when I visited. So this was the closest thing I could find to an album at the time. I was completely taken over by it, it was like nothing I’d heard before. I mentioned it to my art teacher at school the following week, not sure how I shoehorned that into conversation but I have a special talent for bringing up my latest obsession without much prompting. Turns out my art teacher was an ant person in the 80s and was so ecstatic that I was into Adam Ant that she brought in all her records for me the next day. She had singles and albums in there and my grandad who had a rather sophisticated recording deck copied all the vinyl onto tape for me. I also used to draw the covers from the singles, from Young Parisians and Whip in my Valise. From there I got really into punk then goth and then my next important album was when I was loaned substance, joy division when I was 18. I took it back to London, listening to it on a cd Walkman and it was like it’d come from out of space. It transported me emotionally to a different place, I remember just sitting on a London bus staring out the window listening to shadowplay and just being completely in a joy division zone. At that age I don’t think you break music down the way you do when you’re older and I didn’t play any instruments back then but looking back it’s strange how both of these bands find themselves in the music we make and with my drumming style.


Daniel
I’d say for me, hearing Transformer by Lou Reed when I was 17 was a total game changer in how I thought rock and roll could look and sound, in terms of instrumentation, production, songwriting…the lyrics full of those caustic Reed inflections yet full of pomp (Vicious, Hangin’ Round) side by side with more tender moments such Satellite of Love. Then you’ve got Mick Ronson doing all the stinging guitars, Bowie’s backing vocals…I mean It’s the total package for a transformative experience and how one sees the craft in all the dark hearted rock and roll bands that came after such as Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and Jesus and Mary Chain. I think our band follows that direct lineage, for sure.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Black Doldrums: The album is out on the 18th October and one more single will be released with another video, we then have our album launch show on the 1st November at Moth Club and straight onto a U.K. tour throughout November. Then we have our EU tour in March 2025.

September 6, 2024

Cult of Dom Keller

#Alternative #Experimental #GothicRock #PsychedelicRock #Weird

Since 2007 these DIY sonic alchemists have been creating whacked out soundscapes and songs that appear to have been born from another universe, all from the confines of their sonic bunker. As of now, 2024, currently finishing recording their sixth album.
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Extinction EP?
Cult of Dom Keller: Extinction Mass was actually a track we had been working on BEFORE we started writing demos for the latest album.
Its a track about mankind’s transition in to the Anthropocene as we fight and fuck each other over and degrade our planet.
No one wants to take responsibility anymore.
Werner Herzog said it best:
“Civilisation is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness”
The Extinction Mass EP was designed to tell a story.
Extinction Mass is the sound of destruction.
Extinction Drone is the aftermath.
Extinction Screams is the realisation it’s too late.
TMODM: Why won’t these tracks be on your new album?
Cult of Dom Keller: These tracks will not be on the album simply because they are their own story.
Brontosaurus went extinct 50 million years before the T-Rex.
Just because they’re both dinosaurs people assume they walked the earth at the same time.
50 million years….those numbers are unfathomable to our human brains.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Cult of Dom Keller: We’re currently finishing the new album and if the idea of something completely different to anything we’ve ever done before piques your interest then stay tuned.

May 17, 2024

Mountain Movers

#Electronica #Experimental #AvantGarde #Drone #IndieRock #OtherMusic #Psych

The Mountain Movers are an underground rock band from New Haven, CT. Dan Greene: guitars, vocals, percussion, keyboards, harmonica, autoharp Rick Omonte: bass, percussion, drum machine
 Kryssi Battalene: guitars, vocals, synthesizer, keyboards, drum machine
 Ross Menze: percussion, guitars, synthesizer, sampler


TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Walking After Dark?
Mountain Movers: Definitely the pandemic– for different reasons. First, was. the impact to the music. There were no gigs or tours so we were free to explore making new music weekly at our practice space. We experimented by playing different instruments we don’t usually play. Kryssi plays a lot of guitar but also plays a lot of synths. Rick plays a lot of bass but also plays percussion and drum machines. Ross left his drum kit, and played percussion, synths, and samplers. I played some keyboards and instruments I don’t usually play along with guitar. Second, instead of going out at night, I would just take long walks around town and check out what was going on in the streets. That gave the record a lyrical direction and its nocturnal vibe. Mostly though it was the time and space– free from social life– that allowed us to take our music to new places.
TMODM: What record(s) changed your lives?
Mountain Movers: We always get together and listen to new records that we scored recently. Rick and Kryssi both have amazing radio shows so I always get new intel on crucial music happening regionally and internationally. Rick also DJs out and about as DJ Shaki and has an unbelievable record collection. Kryssi has the pulse of current underground releases as well as the history of Japanese psych. bands. Ross has knowledge of underground and dance records. I try to learn as much from them about records worth checking out coming out in 2024 and the past. We all have such varied tastes in music– and I think that has a positive impact on the sound of our band– that the records that influenced us individually would all be different. But there is also crossover in many international psychedelic bands. I will just answer for myself. My taste in music continued to evolve as I got older, but these records influenced me when I was in high school. I wasn’t in a band, but I wanted to be.
Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime” (1984) This record dragged me into the musical and cultural underground when I was starting high school. I immediately bought every punk record, zine, VHS I could find and went weekly to punk shows around New England.
The Feelies: The Good Earth (1986) Seeing them live on this tour made me realize I could be in a band.
Spacemen 3: Perfect Prescription (1987) This record made me realize what kind of band I could be in.
Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) made me fall in love with hip-hop (again). Lyrically and musically inspiring. Also, in the future I gravitated to international musicians who were also fighting to be free politically and artistically.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Mountain Movers: We had a fun tour this summer across the midwest and have been playing lots of weekend gigs in the fall. The future looks like more of the same of what we do– hang out as friends, get together all the time, work on new songs and jams at our practice space every week, play cool gigs, do some more recording, and get back on the road.

November 4, 2024

Longheads

#GarageRock #Psychedelic

Longheads are a mind altering heavy psych band from Norfolk. Now based in South London the boys specialise in brain bending, fuzz fuelled jams and high energy psychedelic performances. Their trademark sound fuses elements of contemporary psych and kraut rock with heavy guitar riffs and blazing solos akin to 70s rock and metal.
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Layers Of Wax?
Longheads: The songs were written in a couple of batches, at slightly different times so came from different places. I remember us all being at Desertfest one year and catching Electric Wizzards set. A couple of tunes off the album definitely came shortly after that.
TMODM: What are you working on now?
Longheads: We’ve been busy writing a follow up to LoW this summer.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Longheads: The album is out this November so lots of shows in support of the album is definitely the next thing in the works.

September 27, 2024

the Man from Atlantis

#Experimental #IndianClassicalMusic #Psychedelic #AcidFolk #AmericanPrimitive #Devotional #FreakFolk #Outsider #Spiritual

the Man from Atlantis is a Melbourne musician using folk, country, blues, punk American primitive guitar, Indian classical, psych and free jazz as a reference to traverse the sonic space ways. Previously making unpopular music as a member of ’90s art prog noised-based project: Ray of Creation and krautrock duo Imperial Leatherman
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Spirits Align?
the Man from Atlantis: I was strongly influenced by a combination of Indian classical music, namely my teacher Manish Pingle and early 70s psych.
TMODM: What record changed your life?
the Man from Atlantis: Many records had an impact on me at different stages of my life: Hendrix ‘Are you Experienced’, ‘Axis’’ and ‘Electric Ladyland’, the Stooges ‘Funhouse’, ‘Ramones S/T’, Black Flag ‘Damaged’, Bad Brains ‘Rock for Light’, Radio Birdman ‘Radios Appear’, first four Sabbath, Fugazi ’13 Songs’; Beefheart ‘Safe as Milk’, Zappa ‘Freak Out’ and ‘Hot Rats’, Mahavishnu Orchestra ‘the Inner Mountain Flame’ and ‘Birds OF Fire’, Blind Willie Johnson ‘the Complete Columbia Recordings’, Mississippi Fred McDowell ‘The Alan Lomax Recordings’, Robert Pete Williams ‘Free Again’, Robert Johnson ‘ Robert Johnson ‘The Complete Recordings’, Dylan’s, ‘Highway ’61, ‘Blood on the Tracks’, ‘Desire’, Butthole Surfers ‘Locust Abortion Technician’, the Sun City Girls ‘Torch of the Mystics’, Sonic Youth ‘ Daydream Nation’, The Melvins ‘Bullhead’, Dinosaur Jnr. ‘ You’re Living all Over Me’, Sleep ‘Jerusalem”, Kyuss ‘…and the Circus Leaves Town’, Can ‘Egg Bamyasi’ and ‘Tago Mago’, Kraftwerk’s first five records, Ash Ra Tempel S/T and ‘Schwingungen’, and The Saints ‘I’m Stranded’, Mles Davis ‘ On the Corner’, Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’, Coleman’s ‘Free Jazz’, Pharoah Sanders ‘Karma and Thembi, James Blood Ulmer’s ‘Tales of Captain Black’, Ayler’s ‘Love Cry’ and ‘Spirits’, Sonny Sharrock’s ‘Black Women’, Archie Shepp’s ‘Blasé’, Sun Ra’s ‘Space is the Place’, King Crimson’s ‘Red’, ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’, Neil Young’s ‘On the Beach’, Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, Gene Clarke’s ‘No Other’ and Skip Spence’s ‘Oar’. Apologies, if I over-indulged.
TMODM: What’s next for you?
the Man from Atlantis: I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the follow up to 2021 release Vol 1, a collaboration with US musician Lake Mary is also in progress and several heavier psyched out the Man from Atlantis and the Moon of Deliverance / Cosmic Freedom Ensemble recordings that I’ve been sitting on for several years should see the light of day.

August 9, 2024

Free Ride

#Surf #GarageRock #Grunge #Heavy #PsychedelicRock #StonerRock

Free Ride is a heavy psych power trio from Madrid with rock influences from the 70s, early stoner and punk rock. The band was started playing during generator parties in the isolated alcarrian plateau on the outskirts of Madrid, where they come from. Free Ride channels the spirit of the ’70s with their raw, unapologetic approach to rock music. Influenced by the likes of Hendrix, The Stooges and Black Sabbath, the band’s sound is a sonic tapestry of fuzzed-out riffs, pulsating rhythms, and lysergic solos that transport listeners to the outer reaches of the cosmos.
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Acido y Puto?
Free Ride: Hendrix, The Stooges and Black Sabbath
TMODM: What record(s) changed your lives?
Free Ride: The first 4 Black Sabbath albums, Nevermind (Nirvana), Rage Against The Machine (self-titled album) and Smash (The Offspring).
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Free Ride: Tour to present Acido y Puto and record a new album sometime in 2025.

June 14, 2024

Dead Neanderthals

#ConsoulingSounds #Experimental #Grindcore #Instrumental #Noise

Embers Beget the Divine was recorded live at Roadburn Festival 2022. Omar Kleiss: guitar and vocals Mink Koops: guitar Otto Kokke: synth Rene Aquarius: drums
TMODM: What had the strongest influence on Embers Beget the Divine?
Dead Neanderthals: That’s very hard to tell. We’d say the record is the perfect combination of both bands. So the influences go from Krautrock to Folk and from Black Metal to Jazz. It’s all in there somewhere, but some influences are easier to spot than others.
TMODM: What record changed your life?
Dead Neanderthals: So many! From the top of my head we’d say Ultralyd’s Inertiadrome and Terry Riley’s Shri Camel. Not that you’d hear exactly, but that’s how inspiration works, right?
TMODM: What’s next for you?
Dead Neanderthals: our collaborative record with Aidan Baker called Cast Down and Hunted which will be released on LP by Moving Funiture Records September 13 2024.
Solar Temple: Solar Temple just released another album on Consouling Sounds entitled A Gift That Should Have Been Reserved For The Great Lights