Massuchusetts Dreaming

"All the leaves are brown (the leaves are brown)/And the Quilt is grey (and the Quilt is greeeeeeeEEEEEEEY!)"

I know that this came out last year, and my friend Si sent it over back then, but I have only gotten it now. The pastoral, shimmering psych that is steeped in boy/girl acid harmonies, Mamas/Papas regions that Massachusetts band Quilt proffers is something I didn't like at first (I think I was heavily intoxicated on The Men and Total Control at that stage), but this self titled LP on Mexican Summer is killing me today. It also has some of that Woodsman style of warped, languid psych, like a bubbling brook of crystal-clear LSD. These are actual songs, with actual singing too, so to take me into the astral tundra with my buffalo totem pole there is only one album I would take on my spiritual awakening...

Combining with Mount Carmel, it would appear that I would love to be in the late 60s/early 70s of America right about now. And incredibly fucking high. I really need to get out of the office...

This isn't a 2012 album, but who cares? Get Quilts right now. RIGHT. NOW. It's amazing.

Quilt - Penobska Oakwalk
Quilt - Cowboys In The Void
Quilt - Milo

Woodsman Swings Back In Time For Our Benefit

Woodsman is a band that is unrepentent if their psych sojourns come off as pretentious, as it is for them to expand their own horizons and see what takes shape. Their past releases have all been good (especially their earlier, lo-fi productions), and it's not likely to change. A giant jam session that goes wherever it goes, nothing can be taken for granted. The two truest examples of this are on two of those earlier releases, the Humdrum and Indoor Days EPs. Now reissued on the band's own Fire Talk Records, it's exciting to think that these sessions were done in home studios, and if they take these meanderings back on board, truly merging them with their newer approaches, their new LP should be mighty exciting. Listen to both EPs below, and take 'Supernal Radionics' with you.

Woodsman - Supernal Radionics

Mystical Specs Never Change With Woodsman

I don't know how Denver spaceniks Woodsman do it. They have a new release, an EP called Mystic Places (once again through Fire Talk), and somehow it maintains the excellent quality that they have been pumping out the past few years. Even more heartening is that they find new and unusual ways to keep these tracks tight yet languid and free-form - so much so that on 'Specdrum' it feels that twice as much time has passed, you have slipped so deep into its trance. Then when you realise the song is over, and so little time has passed, you immediately put it on and jump into their slipstream once more. Its a Herculean feat, but one Woodsman seem to be able to achieve on a whim. Furthermore, what with the recent addition of vocals (very Jason Simon of Dead Meadow in tonality and usage), it shows that the boundaries are continually shifted by these adventurous folk.


Mystic Places is out now - get it here. My big call for the day (other than Matt Kennedy of Kitchens Floor possibly becoming an icon - that one was pretty huge)? This EP is miles better than their Rare Forms album of earlier in the year. This is what I wished that album was. It is amazing.

Woodsman - Specdrum