More albums, there’s always more albums, the endless parade of new albums and the cherry picking there of. Three more explored, the grand parade of good intentions or endless packaging or informational things grown in strawberry fields…

Guerilla Toss – You’re Weird Now (Sub Pop) – The New York band are actually far less weird than they once were, says here “Guerilla Toss met in 2012, crawling out of the skronky psychedelic punk fairytale that was their Boston DIY scene. Now based in New York, the currently touring and always recording art rock band have fully crystalized their brilliantly unhinged music” and as much as I hate to be one of those people who say oh I’m more into their early stuff, they did kind of straighten it all out and pop it all up or down some time ago now. I guess you could take that as a positive if you like you’re pop easy to digest? I liked them more where they were difficult and hard boiled, these days they sound all sugar sweet pop and maybe still a little devo-ish around the edges.

Guerilla Toss still sound good, they sound all slick and American art pop rock, they sound like they’re for Talking Heads fans, they sound all New York Slick, here it is. I still consider that time they covered Bat of Hell to be one of music’s greatest moments ever, apparently they hang with the guy from Pavement these days. There are still bits here, they are still damn good, When Dogs Bark for instance, I kind of like this like I like 80s Genesis albums, still okay when you’re in the mood but this is no Selling New York By The Pound although Favorite Son could be their Who Dunnit? and Abacab is still a rather decent album… Bandcamp

Meanwhile….

Sons Of Mu – Are You Tired of Being Human? – Front line punk-edged space rock on a direct flight from darkest regions of Nottingham with bits of Can, bits of psychedelia, a touch of Here and Now, a serious amount of Hawkwind, a bit more Hawkwind, lots and lots of Hawkwind, mostly the edgy late 70’s side of Hawkwind, that slight hint of Urban Guerilla menace, that Calvert side of Hawkwind that came along once (a proto) punk had hit West London with all those Pink Fairies and their damned killing jokes. Without doing anything radically different Sons of Mu do bring something of their own the rather decent Hawk-flavoured cocktail they’re serving up as they cook it raw and search for glory (probably with wings made of steel). This is aerospace age warrior music and now they’ve gone all Hawkwind play The Shadows, bit of a Nik Turner’s Allstars vibe, no Sax though, psychedelic keyboard lines that we might politely say are timeless, lines we just might have heard before. Hey, we might have heard most of it a number of times before down at Alice in Wonderland’s or in some squat somewhere but these Sons of Mu do their thing rather well, this is actually a rather fine album… Bandcamp

In The Pines – Sunbeam Dream – This is all rather easy of the ear in the best of ways, a warm mellow easy-going blend of beautifully detailed psychedelia, easy going hints of American prog rock, that relaxed shoegaze thing and maybe just a touch of country flavoured blues. There’s is a timeless sound, a sound decorated with a rich American sonic landscape with lyrics and melodies that could so easily have sounded tired and maybe a touch dated but never ever do. There’s an exuberance here, a refreshing flow, a positive forward looking thing, crafted, mellow, easy, wonderfully so – 

“In The Pines’ central nervous system is located in The Lodge – an old Masonic temple repurposed as a multi-use space across the river from Cincinnati in Dayton, KY. The group occupy a corner of the basement in this sprawling labyrinth where they run and operate Foleytronics – a boutique vintage pro audio repair shop, and one of a handful of like shops in the world that can operate on and repair vintage digital effects. A natural byproduct of this shop is their studio in Peter’s basement, a room full of various vintage effects, tape machines and synthesizers, where they recorded and produced Sunbeam Dream in its entirety. All of the recording equipment used on Sunbeam Dream was salvaged from certain doom, repaired and brought back into working order by the band themselves, who went into recording fully aware of (and excited to exploit) the limitations of these devices. Much like the concept of Oulipo in poetry and mathematics, creativity and problem-solving flow from a clear understanding and constant testing of their limits”.  

Hadn’t read that bit just shared from the press release before the first part of this review was written, it all kind of makes sense, this album sounds beautiful, a real crafted labour of love, deliciously detailed, stars aligned. Oh that’s a good bit there in Hide The Sky, there are so many good bits, it sounds like classic Byrds blended with bits of early Ultravox magic, no really, that good  

“The recording process allowed In the Pines to obsess over the minutiae for the first time – entire days spent on finding the correct acoustic guitar sound only to land on a piece of Scotch tape spread across the strings; hours that would be considered a luxury in other studios focused on trying out various cymbal combinations for a chorus or bridge. Just like they did with their repair shop, the band created a recording space where hyperfocus and attention to detail are not only allowed, but fully embraced….” 

This is just a relatively simple (far from simple), massively enjoyable, beautifully crafted album from the Ohio band.

Bandcamp / inthepines.band (and instrument neds might like their You Tube channel)

And while we’re here and if you’ve been paying full attention to the reviews on this page….