The Oscillation
Monographic

The other night I was listening to one of the greatest albums of all time and definitely a 'must' of psychedelic rock. I'm talking about 'Easter Everywhere,' the second album by the 13th Floor Elevators from Austin, Texas.

The story of this band and its music is somewhat legendary and at the roots of the history and developments of rock 'n' roll music. The band had a brief history. Formed by the legendary Roky Erickson and 'jug' musician Tommy Hall, the 13th Floor Elevators disbanded at the end of the sixties when Hall left the band and Erickson was first arrested for drug possession and later confined for 'schizophrenia' in a psychiatric hospital. Once he got out, he developed a solo career over time, which I find more than interesting and which, although inconsistent, deserves to be told, but this - indeed - would be another story.

As far as psychedelia and the 13th Floor Elevators are concerned, despite all the aforementioned events, they are today a point of reference for the entire neo-psychedelic movement. Artists like Anton Newcombe, the master of keys of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, consider them a fundamental source of inspiration (recently, he recorded a cover of 'Dust,' included in the band's latest mini-album), and the same goes for the Black Angels, who are probably the band that has done the most to revive the popularity of the 13th Floor Elevators. This is also because the Black Angels also come from the city that is now universally considered the capital of psychedelia: Austin, Texas.

Events like the Austin Psych Fest, also known as 'Levitation,' have breathed new life into the genre, and today a lot of bands playing neo-psychedelic music more or less openly draw inspiration from the 13th Floor Elevators. Among these, in my opinion, it is impossible not to mention the Oscillation, the creation of musician and composer Demian Castellanos.

On March 11, the band released its latest album via Hands In The Dark titled 'Monographic.' The album was recorded and produced by Castellanos himself, who plays all the instruments. The mastering is by Carim Clasmann, while the drums are played by Valentina Magaletti, who in the long kraut session of 'Alignment Zone (Extended)' (thirteen minutes!) is accompanied by Tim Garrat.

There are a lot of bands today that, as I was saying, draw inspiration from the 13th Floor Elevators, but in my opinion, none do it as well as the Oscillation. The band's name, after all, is no coincidence. When you listen to this group, it’s the same as with the 13th Floor Elevators: you are inevitably involved, swept away by the vibrant force and those oscillating motions and seismic shocks produced by Roky Erickson's voice, Tommy Hall's electric jug, and Stacy Sutherland's guitar.

I am particularly thinking of a song like 'Earthquake.' You know it, right? You know that sound. It seems as if you can’t hold on anywhere. You are thrown from one side to the other, you are in shock and a victim of a tremor and overwhelmed by the force of a tornado. It's the power of the earthquake. The same strength you can feel in the songs of the Oscillation ('Monographic,' 'Truth In Reverse').

Well, clearly Castellanos doesn't just simply emulate the old sound of bands that are considered among the pioneers of the psychedelic genre but adds something of his own, innovates traditional psychedelic sounds even with elements that then typically and recurrently appear in the contemporary psychedelic scene. I think, for example, of the garage and vibrant sound of 'Another Attack' or the drone session of 'Lonely People,' sounds that possibly bring this band closer to groups like Sonic Jesus or Dead Skeletons.

I'm not particularly good at making comparisons or classifying albums, but I am convinced that although it is still April, 'Monographic' will be among those I will consider the must-have albums of 2016 by the end of the year. I have no doubt about this. How could I, after all, step out of this spatial cocktail shaker?