 |
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
Mushroom: Naked, Stoned, & Stabbed
|
4 Zero Records (FZ007)
 The latest release on English 4 Zero Records is a splendid disc by the groovy San Francisco-based psych/kraut/Canterbury/funk/acid jazz collective called Mushroom. I have been following the band’s activities pretty intensively since their Analog Hi-Fi Surprise debut over ten years back. Their new album Naked, Stoned, & Stabbed was recorded over one weekend and includes 12 new originals and a cover version of the Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett collaboration entitled ”Singing a Song in the Morning”. The music that was pretty much created spontaneously has been inspired by artists like Sandy Bull, Alice Coltrane, Davy Graham, Eno and Fela Kuti. On this almost instrumental album the guys also get a bit more folky, which is great.
The album begins with the under two-minute-long, beautiful folk styled intro ”Infatuation” that has acoustic guitar and flute. The laid-back ”Celebration at Big Sur (The Sound of the Gulls Outside of Room 124)” continues the album in a great way and in quite similar moods. The bit more groovy going begins in “Jerry Rubin: He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” that includes for example a hypnotic bass pattern, percussions, organ and violin. The album’s longest track is the over eight-minute-long ”All the Guitar Players Around Sean Smith Say He’s Got It Coming, But He Gets It While He Can” that has a wonderful, a bit apractic but very pleasant atmosphere that somehow brings to mind early morning mist. This track has no percussion at all and it is thoroughly pretty peaceful stuff. The funk influences are set loose on the track called “Take off Your Face and Recover from That Trip You’ve Been on”. The going is still quite relaxed. “The Freak Folk Walk By Dressed Up for Each Other” is a short piece with acoustic and flute and then comes the amazing ”Tariq Ali” that starts off with electric sitar and is the most mystical and ethnic moment on the album. The laid-back ”Though You’re Where You Want to Be, You’re not Where You Belong” includes mainly just bass and violin and I’m a bit reminded of North American folk music. “Indulgence” is quite small-scale, funk-spirited jamming, ”Under the Spell” very serene, orchestrated soundscapes. ”Walking Barefoot in Babylon” is an experimental and psychedelic, soft but groovy free jazz number and ”I’ll Give You Everything I’ve Got for a Little Piece of Mind” a short, peaceful piece. The most rocking track and the only one with vocals (both male and female) is a really nice version of the song ”Singing a Song in the Morning”. Josh Pollock also does some megaphone stuff on this one. This track is a really good ending for this marvelous album.
www.myspace.com/mushroomoakland |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
if you're interested in
getting your records reviewed and played at out club, please
contact:
psychotropiczone(at)gmail.com |
|
|
|
 |
