gary war: new raytheonport

Gary War first surfaced in the original line-up of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, alongside disco madman John Maus. Lo-fi legend has it that the basis of New Raytheonport was penned overnight when the band were left to fulfill tour dates, as best they could, after Pink was refused entry to the UK. Remastered to the satisfaction of the artist, debut album Newraytheonport is perhaps War's most accessible, successfully reimagining '60s psychedelia to progressive rock. But while a cover of "Eye in the Sky" arguably supplants the Alan Parsons Project original, the last track "Edge of Mess" reveals the nascent "incredibly eccentric vision" (The Wire) for which War is now recognized. A murky blend of '60s garage rock, synth-pop, shoegaze and psychedelia -- has a buzzy listlessness, the swamping of it all in reverb and whatever the noun is that comes from "phased-out" making it all seem choked, claustrophobic and airless. It's a funny sort of neo-psychedelia: not colorful but grey, dark, dank. It's incredibly lo-fi, as shackled to the ramshackle as early Ariel Pink. He sounds at war with pop -- why, we have no idea -- but the results are worth hearing. Released on 180 gram vinyl with a perforated acid tab sheet reconfigured as a record sleeve. Limited

Gary War - New Raytheonport LP