'Psychedelic' Bands // p 2 of 4

Gold Celeste

Norwegian psych pop blending an animated sonic palate of refreshing guitars, nimble drums, frisky bass, bursting organs, and earnest, lyrical vocals.

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is an independent alternative/dream pop band composed of Hope Sandoval from the band Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. Their first studio album, Bavarian Fruit Bread, was released on October 23, 2001. Alan Browne, from Irish band Dirt Blue Gene, played bass and co-wrote several songs on the album. Through the Devil Softly was released on September 29, 2009, and was recorded with Dirt Blue Gene. Their third album, Until the Hunter, was released on November 4, 2016. Its first single, "Isn't It True", was released on 7" vinyl as part of Record Store Day 2016. A second single, "Let Me Get There" featuring Kurt Vile, was released on September 23.

In a 2016 interview with Consequence of Sound, Ó Cíosóig explained how the musical composition differed from his and Hope's other bands, "It’s not that our other bands have restrictions, but there's a certain sound in those bands. Hope and I have a sound, but it's always changing and morphing into different things while still carrying a similar thread."

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Israel Nash

Texas’ genre-bending rock ‘n’ roller Israel Nash presents his latest long play, Lifted. It is a modern day hippie-spiritual, a tonic for those needing to put aside the mess of the daily grind. With luscious beds of strings, horns and well adorned towering walls of sound, Lifted finds Nash continuing his tradition of creating a sonic experience of feeling that is at once both vast and intimate - soaring and untamed at times, placid and sincerely personal at others.

Originally from the Ozarks of Missouri, Israel Nash has made his home in Dripping Springs, Texas for the greater part of a decade. There, on his ranch with sweeping views of the Texas Hill Country, the tall, hirsute mountain man

built his own studio; a Quonset hut structure he’s dubbed Plum Creek Sound. The studio became a sanctuary, a creative outlet where Nash reached a meditative state of escapism, which ultimately became the inspiration behind Lifted. The creative process of writing, recording and producing Lifted allowed Nash to leave his own downhearted feelings about the political landscape of the recent elections and the deeper queries of purpose and life that supersede the material world. Nash wrote and recorded Lifted with the intention of achieving a sonic experience that will elevate the listener - that the feeling of peace, love and happiness which saturates the words and music can provide the same escape he achieved while creating the LP.

Being able to finally use Plum Creek Sound to its utmost, Nash incorporated found sounds and field recordings from his Texas ranch to create a setting of the sounds that represent his Hill Country life. Drums played in rain collection tanks, water rushing against the limestone, frogs and crickets in their habitats, and even a curious, yet guarded rattlesnake, all appear throughout the record. Inspired by methods pioneered by John Cage, Nash also randomized sounds and music and rearranged them according to the I Ching (The Book of Changes). Utilizing these recording and tracking techniques help create a sonic and very present picture of Nash’s home and his life. Accompanied by his longtime band, with arrangements by Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake), horns by members of Austin’s cumbia/funk compadre’s Grupo Fantasma, and strings from Kelsey Wilson and Sadie Wolf of indie pop’s Wild Child, Nash, alongside co- producer and engineer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones), presents an album that soars as a masterwork of American roots songs, meticulously crafted and gently sprinkled with life meaning and multi-hued rock and psychedelia.

“It’s all about finding, searching for little sparks of inspiration. It may be a sound, a groove, a color, or even an object. Old things are inspiring. Whatever it is, when you find it, it spreads like a conflagration that is out of your control. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a record or living your life, find these inspirations with a vigil eye and watch them change both you and your world.”

Lifted opens with an extended instrumental introduction, preparing the listener to get comfortable and settle in for the journey ahead, before blossoming into “Rolling On.” It’s a manifesto, a hearty breath of rock goodness, clean air for all that follows. A sing-along anthem of urgency, encouraging one to let go of yesterday and spring from the traps of worry in order to move onward and upward - rolling on, right here and right now.

“It was a simple message to myself, to not get stuck in thinking and the past. It’s too easy for us to worry about pretty much everything. I had been down and low for a bit and really had to sing and write those feelings away, give them to the moment and find a better self in the end.”

What follows is an Americana-bred opus without equal. From the familial harmonies of “Sweet Springs,” recalling the Beach Boys at their most joyous (almost all performed by Nash himself), to the country rock riffage of “Lucky Ones” and “SpiritFalls” conjuring up that much needed healing, to the album ending “Golden Fleeces,” a sunshine laden song offering up sweet relief from those troubles and tying the preceding up with a sense of lightness and much needed joy.

By immersing oneself in Lifted, one can see Nash succeeds in a way that’s exquisite yet spiritually satisfying. Nash welcomes you to join him on his uplifting path - one he’s taken throughout his career, now continuing on a higher, imaginative plane. May your ears be blessed and may your soul be lifted.

^{Source IsraelNash.com}

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His mainstream career lasted only four years, but he is widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in history and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".

Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army and trained as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division, but he was discharged the following year. He moved to Clarksville, Tennessee soon after and began playing gigs on the Chitlin' Circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after being discovered by Linda Keith, who interested bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals in becoming his first manager. Within months, Hendrix earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and his third and final studio album Electric Ladyland reached number one in the US in 1968; it was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number-one album. He was the world's highest-paid performer, and he headlined the Woodstock festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. He died from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at age 27.

Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone writes: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."

In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted Hendrix the Pop Musician of the Year, and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year in 1968. Disc and Music Echo magazine honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969, and Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year in 1970. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and ranked Hendrix the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.

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Joel Jerome

JOEL JEROME'S hometown of Hawthorne is where you'll find nearby beaches, a tireless working class and a rich musical history. This combination of SoCal casual cool and an intense, dedicated work ethic is infused in some of the prolific and important artists of the area, such as, Brian Wilson/Beach Boys, Black Flag, Red Kross and Emmit Rhodes. It's this tradition that JOEL JEROME has fiercely embraced and maintained throughout his musical career. Signed in the early 00's to Startime (an imprint of Columbia/Sony), Joel's group DIOS was a timely convergence of dreamy pop and brash, urban toughness. Since then Joel has reinvigorated his dedication to the studio arts, much of the time to engineering and production. While writing, performing and recording his own music he also spends time nurturing up-and-coming L.A. bands who have recently begun coming to him to help them maneuver through their musical explorations like an old spirit guide. His production has been on numerous local releases as well as making its way to YSL runway shows in Paris.

^{Source amoeba.com}

John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942), also known as "Mahavishnu John", is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz, combined with elements of rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. He is one of the pioneering figures in fusion.

After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.

McLaughlin's solo on "Miles Beyond" from his album Live at Ronnie Scott's won the 2018 Grammy Award for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo. He has been awarded multiple "Guitarist of the Year" and "Best Jazz Guitarist" awards from magazines such as DownBeat and Guitar Player based on reader polls. In 2003, he was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2009, DownBeat included McLaughlin in its unranked list of "75 Great Guitarists", in the "Modern Jazz Maestros" category. In 2012, Guitar World magazine ranked him 63rd on its top 100 list. In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin "the best guitarist alive," and Pat Metheny has also described him as the world's greatest guitarist.

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Jonathan Wilson

Wilson was born on December 30, 1974 in Forest City, North Carolina and raised in nearby Spindale, North Carolina. His father was a bandleader of a rock group for 35 years and his grandfather a Baptist pastor whose services Wilson was often invited to play at. Wilson has cited his upbringing in North Carolina and the state's rich musical heritage as an early influence.

Wilson founded the band Muscadine with Benji Hughes in 1995. The band released their debut album, The Ballad of Hope Nicholls, on Sire Records in 1998.

Wilson currently maintains his recording studio, Fivestar Studios, in Echo Park, Los Angeles, which he relocated from its original location in Laurel Canyon in 2009. The space is renowned for its sound and analog recording equipment.

Over several months in 2013 and 2014, Wilson produced and played on Conor Oberst's new album Upside Down Mountain released on Nonesuch Records in May 2014. The album was recorded at Wilson's Fivestar Studios in Los Angeles and Blackbird Studios in Nashville.

In 2013 Wilson produced "Jubilee", the fifth album from Canadian band, The Deep Dark Woods in Alberta, Canada.

In 2012, Wilson co-produced and played on Roy Harper's latest album, Man and Myth (Bella Union, 2013) at Fivestar Studios. In the same year, Wilson produced a Glen Campbell session at Fivestar Studios for Daytrotter.

In 2011, Wilson co-produced and played on the debut Father John Misty record, Fear Fun released on Sub Pop, at Fivestar Studios.

In 2010, Wilson produced and collaborated with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on a series of songs for release on Spiritual Pajamas Records, a boutique 7" label associated with Folk Yeah Presents. Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' debut album, North Hills, at his Laurel Canyon studio. That same year, Wilson recorded and produced Dawes' second album, Nothing Is Wrong, at Five Star Studio.

As part of Wilson's project, What You Need Is What You Have, The Songs of Roy Harper, Wilson has produced songs performed by Will Oldham, Andy Cabic, Chris Robinson, Benji Hughes, Dawes, Jenny O., Johnathan Rice, Josh Tillman, and others. Wilson also produced Jason Boesel's album, Hustler's Son, Mia Doi Todd's album Cosmic Ocean Ship and mixed Goodnight Lenin's debut album, In The Fullness Of Time, due for release in late 2014. Wilson has also recorded and/or produced many other artists in his studio, including Gerald Johnson, James Gadson, and Josh Tillman.

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Kaleo

Icelandic rock band KALEO – led by frontman/songwriter JJ Julius Son - quickly rose to the upper ranks of contemporary alternative rock with the global success of their 2016 breakthrough album, A/B - which went on to be certified Gold in the U.S. with its trio of hit singles - the chart-topping, 2x Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go,” Gold-certified follow-up “All The Pretty Girls”, and Grammy-nominated “No Good”. Known for their electrifying live performances, KALEO completely sold out their first U.S. headline tour and was a standout at Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo. Amassing over 1 Billion global streams, 39 international certifications, and countless sold-out headline shows spanning from London to Moscow, KALEO has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon. 

^{Source officialkaleo.com}

Kid Congo Powers

Brian Tristan (born March 27, 1959) better known by his stage name Kid Congo Powers , is an American rock guitarist and singer, best known as a member of The Gun Club, the Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He has also played with the Divine Horsemen, the Angels of Light, Die Haut, and Knoxville Girls.

As of January 2015, Powers' primary musical project is the band The Pink Monkey Birds.

Early life

Born in La Puente, California, Powers is a second generation Mexican American. His earliest childhood influences were the Southern California Chicano rock band Thee Midniters. In 1976, he was president of The Ramones fan club, then ran a fanzine for The Screamers.

Music

1979–1987: The Gun Club and The Cramps
After traveling to London and New York City he returned to L.A. and in 1979 met Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Pierce taught him to play guitar using open tuning, and they formed The Creeping Ritual, which became The Gun Club. Powers left that group before their recording debut, instead joining New York-based band The Cramps in December 1980.

Powers rejoined the Gun Club briefly in 1983, touring with Pierce's band in Australia the following year, and then again between 1985 and 1988.

1986–1996: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and The Gun Club
Powers joined Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Berlin, Germany, September 1986 for several albums and corresponding tours. Powers recorded the Tender Prey and The Good Son albums with Cave and his band, and he said in early 2015 that he "loved" the "primaeval element of rock'n'roll" that they had a firm grasp of. During April 1990, it was amicably decided with Nick Cave that he leave The Bad Seeds and concentrate on The Gun Club band that he had reconvened with Jeffery Lee Pierce during downtime in 1989.

1997–2009: JLP tribute albums, The Pink Monkey Birds and Dracula Boots
For his next project, The Pink Monkey Birds, Powers initially collaborated with New York City guitarist Jack Martin, who he has also collaborated with for the Congo Norvell and Knoxville Girls projects. Then, in 2009, Powers recruited Kiki Solis on bass, Ron Miller on drums, and Jesse Roberts on guitar and keyboards. The band moved to In The Red Records and released the much acclaimed debut studio album, Dracula Boots, which was called a "return to form."

Dracula Boots was coproduced by Jason Ward and recorded in a former high school gymnasium in Harveyville, Kansas, which is now an artists' retreat called "The Harveyville Project." Dracula Boots consists of numerous genres, including southern soul, 60s Chicano rock, and psychedelic imagery. British magazine N.M.E. wrote: "In short, on Dracula Boots Kid Congo Powers has once again found the juicy jugular of soul-fired, funked-up rock'n'roll. You'd be foolish not to take a bite."

2010–present: Gorilla Rose
In 2011, Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds released their second album, Gorilla Rose, which was also on the In The Red Records label. Eamon Carr of The Dublin Evening Herald said of Gorilla Rose, "Having a working band is paying off. Gorilla Rose elevates seedy go-go weirdness to the level of high art."

Powers returned to Australia for the first time in 25 years—when he toured with Cave's Bad Seeds project—at the end of January 2015. The band played at Melbourne's "Summersalt Festival" and the Sydney Festival. In a promotional interview for the Australian shows, Powers spoke in regard to his new band:

"I think the Pink Monkey Birds conjures up all the best aspects of primal rock'n'roll ... Lyrically, I'm speaking in images, and from a very skewed viewpoint, whatever the subject may be. I still have the passion and the incentive to make music that's different, but still within the confines of a punk rock language people will know and understand."

The Pink Monkey Birds, whose name Kid credits to inspiration from David Bowie, has been an evolving unit since their earliest albums, and as of 2016 the touring members are bassist Kiki Solis, drummer Ron Miller, and guitarist Mark Cisneros.

Kid Congo Powers was profiled by Vogue in late April 2016 while promoting their fourth album, where he was noted for his iconic sense of punk style. In his Vogue interview he mentions the aesthetic importance of tying the look of the band to match the music.

"For me, the whole art of being a band—and I do think it's an art—is to create a whole world, a whole language, that is every aspect. The Gun Club, we kind of made it up as we went along, but what I learned from The Cramps and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds is that they created a whole uncompromising world, and it's all kind of sprung out of that. You want to communicate with people, and I think through all aesthetics—artwork, the look, and music—you get to keep your world, and you get to let people enter your world and live in your world with you."

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King Khan

Arish Ahmad Khan (born January 24, 1977), better known by his stage name King Khan, is a Canadian musician/producer/artist/writer. He is best known as the frontman of King Khan and the Shrines and for being one half of The King Khan & BBQ Show.

Career

Khan was born in Montreal to an Indo-Canadian family. Since 2005, he resides in Berlin, Germany with his wife and two daughters.

King Khan was a member of a number of Canadian garage bands including the Spaceshits, a frantic garage punk outfit formed in mid-1995. As his circle of fellow troublemaker musicians grew, in 1999, he helped create a "death cult" of such musicians, originally known as the "Kukamongas" with identifying tattoos and a love for real rock n' roll. He used the Blacksnake moniker while in the Spaceshits whose two full-length albums were released on Sympathy for the Record Industry. He has spent a considerable amount of time in collaboration with former Spaceshits bandmate Mark Sultan in the two-man band, The King Khan & BBQ Show. Since 1999, King Khan has performed as leader and front man of King Khan and the Shrines, a psychedelic soul nine member band. They signed to Vice Records in 2008 and Merge Records in 2013. In early 2009, King Khan collaborated with Mark Sultan and the four members of the Black Lips to form a gospel supergroup called Almighty Defenders. Their debut album was released on Vice Records on September 22, 2009.

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Lapdog

What is a Lapdog? Who is a Lapdog? Why is a Lapdog here and not there? I know just as little as everyone else so it's best not to ask and not to tell.

"From scrum to scram this rat has seen the scene. Dodging the darts, up and down, corner to corner, fast as fate and swift like salt." That's the story of a project of this website. The life and times of Lapdog.

Lapdog is most likely a rock n roll band from SLC with frequently changing members and styles. You want in? Come join but then leave after if you want to. Lapdog is mostly a recording project actually. Not much to say other than that. . .

Lots of love to the friends who come and record and play it live with us in our basement.

^{Source lapdogband.com}

Lee Rafugee

Lee Rafugee is a four piece Rock n' Roll band based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The band started in 2020 during covid as a way to "break on through" during such an ambivalent time.
The sounds of Lee Rafugee range between the despondencies of the old soul singers to the loose and unconfined presence of the

Band of Gypsys or Gary Clark Jr. With Sarah DeGraw on guitar and vocals, Aidan Triantafillou on guitar and vocals, Cael Sorenson on bass, and Ethan Shaw on percussion, the best way to sum up the sounds and feeling of Lee Rafugee is unpredictable.

^{Source soundcloud.com}

Lord Vox

Lord Vox = Radiohead + The Black Keys
From slow, dramatic builds to head-pounding riffage that blows my hair back, Lord Vox’s self-titled release is a soulful rock EP that has everything I wanted and more. As a debut release, I honestly couldn’t be more impressed. The mixing is excellent, I can clearly hear the intricacies of each instrument, and the band’s use of dynamics turn each song into a rollercoaster of thick, fuzzy energy. This EP contains five songs, and each one is full of groove and soul. If you’re a fan of no-nonsense rock ’n roll, I can wholeheartedly recommend that you pick up Lord Vox.

I’ve been to a few Lord Vox gigs in the past, so I knew I was going to love this release. I was still blown away by how closely the band’s live sound compares to this EP. The reverb is so convincing that if I close my eyes, I can see the three-piece band standing around me, each member communing through their instrument as though guided by a higher power. Lord Vox have a mystical aspect to their music. Sometimes they’re throwing down psychedelic guitar licks ala Jefferson Airplane, and other times stripping down to just the bare essentials. Take “Sonic Load,” for example. The song begins with a morose, listless melody that swims through stringy guitar strumming until it explodes into a thick groove that surrounds me in a warm wash of guitars and pining vocals. In fact, lead singer Nahum Reyes pours so much soul into his vocals that I’m pretty sure a divine glow started coming out of my speakers while I was listening to this record.

Washy jamming and twangy melodies make this debut release from Lord Vox well worth your attention. You can catch the whole album on Spotify, or check out Lord Vox’s SoundCloud. Of course, Lord Vox are always tearing it up at local venues, so keep your eyes open for them around town, too! –Alex Blackburn

^{Source slugmag.com}

Maggie Björklund

Margrethe "Maggie" Björklund is a Danish guitarist and singer-songwriter who composes, plays, and sings music in the folk and alternative country genres. She began her career playing electric guitar in the female band The Darleens and briefly for the experimental pop band Miss B Haven. Björklund then started playing pedal steel guitar as a studio musician and has released two solo recordings.

Early life
Maggie Björklund was born in Denmark and grew up near Copenhagen. She took piano lessons, but switched to guitar as soon as she could. She moved to Hollywood and attended the Musicians Institute, where she was introduced to country music. She returned to Denmark after a year.

Career
Back in Denmark, she formed the all-female country band Darleens, and they recorded three albums for Sony Records. After Darleens split up, she took pedal steel guitar lessons from Jeff Newman in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her 2011 debut Coming Home was produced by Johnny Sangster (The Tripwires). The record featured members of Calexico, and guest vocalists Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), Jon Auer (The Posies), and Rachel Flotard (Visqueen).

After the album's release, she played pedal steel with Jack White's all-female backing band, the Peacocks. In 2011 and 2012 she performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. She also toured with John Doe and with Exene Cervenka from the band X.

For her sophomore album Shaken, released in 2014, she enlisted John Convertino (Calexico), Barb Hunter (Afghan Whigs), and Jim Barr (Portishead). John Parish (producer for Sparklehorse) was producer, and Kurt Wagner (Lambchop) provided a guest vocal. The songs reflected the impact of the death of her mother.

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