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Rating: “The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid...Again”
The latest in a string of new Californian garage bands, produced by one of the scene's gurus, Ty Segall, the Los Angeles-based Wand, in truth, does not quite fit the garage label. They are the kind of band for whom the garage label is at least a couple of sizes too small.
“Ganglion Reef” is, just to clarify, one of the best examples of psychedelia condensed into 3 minutes; with moreover a striking noise attitude. Perhaps this is why their sound is associated with garage, but more due to sonic proximity (and lexical convenience) than actual similarity. Of the garage, they indeed have one fundamental characteristic: conciseness. 10 tracks for 35 minutes, in which both the acid visions of the '60s and the hypnotic pounding of the early Flaming Lips are blended together. Indeed, it is perhaps the first wild and uncompromising incarnation of Wayne Coyne's Lips that is the most fitting comparison for the four Wand.
A record conceived in a blatant altered state of consciousness, songs that are emblazoned with “written under the influence of..:" in bold letters, which throw the listener here and there, yet always remain accessible, never descending into purposeless goofing. Take for example “Clearer”, a psychedelic pop pill in the style of early Floyd, with plenty of spatial effects, yet with a robust and distorted punch as required by the '00s. And even when the melodic side seems to take over, as in “Strange Inertia (Ctrl Alt Death)” and “Broken Candle”, the psychedelic Cheshire Cat is always around the corner to tickle the synapses of the more perceptive. The summa of this dual psych-garage vision is “Flying Golem”, a small gem that in 3 minutes and change, blends folk intro, fuzz bass, freakbeat acidic guitar, and bagpipe-like intermezzo.
Our friends do even better in the mini-suite “Fire On The Mountain”, which in 5 minutes teases your neurons with a recipe based on distortions, Wayne Coyne-like voice, and a high-class psychedelic tail. The old Flaming Lips would be proud.
Along with Morgan Delt among the best of the 2014 psych releases.
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