Here is the title of the compilation: VA - Hofmann’s Kaleidoscope - "Expiation of the Psychedelic Hunters Vol. I". This release came out on November 2012. It is coupled with the limited deluxe edition of issue 14 of Vincebus Eruptum magazine, although it can be purchased as an independent release. In case you wonder who the man is in the colourful, psyched-out cover art, he is the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, who synthetized the lysergic acid, better known as LSD, for the first time in 1938. So this compilation somehow stands out a bit because it is completely devoted to the exploration of the Italian psychedelic scene. This scene is a bit more submerged and even less known than the doom and stoner ones, in spite of the efforts of several true psych experts and lovers among the folks managing the Perkele portal. Well, these people (i.e. Roberto Mattei, Alessandro Zoppo and Eugenio di Giacomantonio of ExLab Records), had the great idea of pairing up with Davide Pansolin, Vincebus Eruptum boss, and creating this awesome psychedelic-only collection. A magic and, yes, happy psychedelic and acid rock trip lead by twelve bands ranging from long-lived legendary to emerging, extinct, brand new, “frozen” in a too-long stand-by, obscure, etc. Or better, as the authors nicely wrote in the press notes, “a unique trip into the murky swamps of the Italian acid rock, a one-way trip with the aim of bringing out both the forgotten gems and the new heroes of the visionary and dilated rock sounds in the Italian scene”. The compilation is monumental length-wise as it will keep you busy for almost 80 minutes.
Here is the tracklist:
01. CLARK NOVA - Gentlemen Start Your Engines
02. ENORMOUS - Fly Low Dragonfly
03. INSIDER - Dark Age
04. MOTOPOLKABLACKSAMBA - Astroblues
05. TRIP HILL - Fever
06. ANUSEYE - Thirst for a Fix
07. OTEHI - Sea Witch
08. EPSTEIN SUPERFLU - The War Inside Darktown
09. PERIZONA EXPERIMENT - Santa Canapa
10. MY BRAND IS GRASS - Dolce ginocchiata (sui denti)
11. ZIZ - ZiZ
12. NO STRANGE – Pogaridade
As you can see, some of these bands, i.e, Insider and Otehi, are not strangers here at Doommantia. I knew about a few other bands, but for me this compilation has been a much enjoyable and haunting experience of discovery. The best thing to do would be to listen to the comp, but I think it is worth spending a few words about each track and especially each band. The compilation is duly opened by the killer track “Gentlemen Start Your Engines” by CLARK NOVA. Clark Nova is a long-lived psych garage rock band from Varese. They started their activity back in 1995 and had their debut album out only in 2006, plus a cool self-titled EP out in 2009 and other appearances like in the 2010 collection Fuzztones Illegitimate Spawn Vol. II. Clark Nova will immediately hook you with their dynamic, fuzz-laden, bass-driven, dense and seducing rock tunes and trippy acid singing, influenced by new wave, and glorious retro garage, hard psych and krautrock. ENORMOUS’ track Fly Low Dragonfly is what made me aware of this cool obscure band devoted to space psychedelia based on improvisation and sonic experimentation. Enormous, now extinct, was a band from Rome active in the 2000s. They apparently released one or two albums and then disappeared. With its propulsory rhythm, track Fly Low Dragonfly is a perfect representative of Enormous’ debut album, impressive “Attentionbahn” (2008), an amazing slab of heavy acid space psychedelia merging heavy psychedelic rock sounds à-la-Hawkwind with modern psychedelia in the vein of White Hills, etc., prog and experimental sounds.
INSIDER, well … Insider, from Pescara, are one of the glories of the Italian heavy psych scene, and, happily, they are musically alive and kicking. All their albums are great, both the old ones dating back in the mid-late 90s and the more recent ones, including the monumental 2012 album Vibrations from the Tapes (read HERE). Dark Age is a long suite from the latter: jazzy pulsating bass, fuzzy distortions, spacey pedal effects dilating the sounds and your perceptions, mind-warping cymbals, hypnotic drumming patterns … a riff-based, lisergic jamming trip inspired by Jimi Hendrix, 13th Floor Elevators, Hawkwind and the krautrock monsters. MOTOPOLKABLACKSAMBA follow with the infectious track Astroblues, taken from their album “El Delirio in Blanco y Negro” (2004). Motopolkablacksamba was/is a cool eclectic band in deep love with blues, jazz, psychedelia, garage rock and experimentations. On the Perkele forum I had spotted a quite effective definition of Motopolkablacksamba: “… as if they were coming out of a jam between Primus and Frank Zappa meeting on Saturn for playing post-psychedelic rock”. Lol … On the band’s official webpage it is possible to download their two albums so far, the one above and Delirio Pintado (2006).
TRIP HILL is represented by the tribal-sounding drony track Fever. Trip Hill is a one-man-band / experimental project started by Fabrizio Cecchi back in 1995. The project is still active, proudly diy and quite prolific. Trip Hill’s music is made of instrumental only, distorted hypnotic, mantric ballads influenced by American psychedelic rock of the 60s and 70s, acid folk, raga rock, krautrock, improvisations, etc.
ANUSEYE is introduced by the killer track Thirst for a Fix. Anuseye, from Bari, is basically the very recent, most welcome reincarnation of one of the coolest Italian hard psych rock acts and stoner forefathers in the 90s, cult bandThat’s All Folks!/Colt.38. Young Anuseye has got blood with memory in their veins. So their powerful sound, nicely developed in their 2011 self-titled album, blends abrasive heavy stoner rock with acid kraut- and grungy psychedelia, desert rock, beefy southern rock, etc., and everything is linked by cool, reverbered vocals on acid.
OTEHI, from Rome, are a young, cool and skilled psych stoner/doom band already known to Doommantia (see HERE)
Their track is new and taken from the split Otehi recently made with US stoner metal trio Sludgebucket from Oakland, California. In the charming track Sea Witch the band develops a strongly psychedelic-oriented sound where experimentations with dilated and reverbered, layered sounds prevail on doom heaviness heard before.
EPSTEIN SUPERFLU is another intriguing discover! Their kickass track The War Inside Darktown is taken from the 2007 eponymous EP, i.e. what seems to be the only release by this meteorite-like Italian-British band, whose members come from previous grindcore/death metal bands! Infectious and massively groovy, heavy psych-bluesy doom/stoner rock lead by some massive riffs and awesome vocals … mmm!
PERIZONA EXPERIMENT is another long-lived band related to Insider. As the long, charming and surreal track Santa Canapa (= Holy Hemp) will show, the band is definitely devoted to experimentations. Melodies may start from retro psychedelia and then move to space metal, progressive rock, noise or towards unpredictable directions. “Real” vocals are replaced by distorted spoken samples nested into the reworked sounds.
MY BRAND IS GRASS is a totally obscure, emerging instrumental, raw psych stoner-blues-garage rock band from Villacidro, on the Sardinia Island (that is, the Duna Jam island …). They don’t even have a proper website, but basically some youtube videos with their rehearsals and live exhibitions at local festivals. Track “Dolce Ginocchiata (sui Denti)” (= sweet blow on your teeth with my knee, ehm) and those videos show how badass these guys are …
The atmospheric, trippy track ZiZ introduces ZIZ, from Pavia, another rather new band involving experienced musicians belonging to various extinct bands, among which doomsters will recognize the heavyweight sludge-doom band Malasangre. Such heavy legacy may probably be found in the heaviness of the distorted riffs occasionally employed by Ziz in their dynamic style where ethereal space-psych soundscapes are dominant. A distinctive retro element is the use of Vocoder. The track Ziz is taken from the new album, “Ever” that was released a few days ago. Band NO STRANGE is left in charge of the closure of this impressive compilation with their psych-ambient track Pogaridade. No Strange, from Torino, is considered among the seminal bands in the international neo-psychedelic scene. They started back in 1980 and were active until 1992. After years of stand-by, the band was reactivated in 2008 and released a new album, Cristalli Sognanti, in 2011. The lysergic track Pogaridade evokes spacey, relaxing visions and sums up No Strange’s experimental attitude in combining cosmic psychedelia, prog rock, ambient, ethnic music and effects. Hence sounds vibrate in waves and crazy colourful sparks and flashes and eventually die out in the silence of a chemical slumber.
Hofmann’s Kaleidoscope, this excellent and substantgial collection devoted to psychedelia can be obtained for a ridiculously low price by contacting Vincebus Eruptum, Perkele or the ExLab Records folks at the links and/or at the following e-mail addresses: davidew@vincebuseruptum.it, roberto_mattei@hotmail.com, ultramagneticglow@gmail.com, eudjex@yahoo.it .
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Below I also add a list with the links to the bands, as they are missing in the cd. This is, for me, the only pitfall of the release. But this does not diminish the awesomeness of it.
Words: Marilena Moroni
Vincebus Eruptum
Perkele.it
ExLab Records
Bands’ links
Clark Nova
http://www.clarknovatheband.com
http://www.myspace.com/clarknovasoyoung
Enormous
http://www.myspace.com/pouritonyourhead
Insider
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Insider-Band-Italy/321353917954909
http://www.insider-dome.it/
Motopolkablacksamba
http://www.motopolkablacksamba.it/
Trip Hill
http://www.myspace.com/triphill
Anuseye
http://www.myspace.com/anuseye
Otehi
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/OTEHI/190206011036730
http://www.myspace.com/otehi
Epstein Superflu
http://www.myspace.com/epsteinsuperflu
Perizona Experiment
http://www.myspace.com/perizona
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5528
My Brand Is Grass -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wfELcn6emI
ZiZ
http://www.facebook.com/zizedelic
http://www.myspace.com/zizedelic
No Strange
http://www.facebook.com/NoStrange
http://www.myspace.com/nostrange