blown out: new cruiser

Newcastle Trio Blown Out continue on their voyage through deep fuckin' space with New Cruiser. Power-driven, psychedelic rock, New Cruiser is made of two huge tracks of blistering leads, mind-melting brain changes and max fuzz. Influenced tonally by "Peace In Mississippi"/"Crash Landing" third generation cassette culture and tight Grand Funk oblivion rhythm mind chemistry. Blown Out features members of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Khünnt, Bong and HaiKai No Ku. "New Cruiser" dives straight in with some deep, rolling bass, crashing drums and the trademark guitar from Mike Vest. The track rolls and pitches along its way, based, as ever, on repetition (the bass of John-Michael Hedley becomes positively hypnotic) while the guitar weaves heavy, reverb-drenched patterns in the sky. Blown Out have become masters of creating music that is heavy enough to affect the gravitational pull of nearby planets whilst still having the ability to mesmerize. If "Phase II" may sound a tad familiar to some, that's because it is a reworked, longer version of the same on Celestial Sphere (2016). It continues pretty much where "New Cruiser" left off: blistering, fuzzy wah-wah, jackhammer drums and undulating bass all coming together to create an Heironymous Bosch like vision of hell. Vest's guitar positively wails at times like some poor tormented denizen of the underworld. Like "New Cruiser". it is the repetition that holds the power. Given all of the free-wheeling, freak-out guitar, it has a structure and a form to which the rhythm section sticks rigidly. This is the less-than-secret ingredient in the Blown Out recipe - tightness of form that allows a freedom of expression - sounds oxymoronic but without the drums/bass creating a framework, the guitar of Vest would sound chaotic and functionless, but instead it sounds free but purposeful. In all, New Cruiser is another unqualified success, guaranteed to scramble the brains and scare the neighbors. This is what "psychedelic" music is all about. Not flowers and sugar cubes and paeans to long lost pastoral idylls, but music that can transport you. RIYL: Psychedelic rock, spaced-out jams, Acid Mothers Temple, Bong, The Cosmic Dead, Les Rallizes Denudes, Earthless. Includes a download code. Edition of 400.