mind fair: s/t

Mind Fair are Dean Meredith (Chicken Lips, Goat Dance) and Ben Shenton. Over the last few years they have had a slew of 12"s out on Golf Channel, International Feel and their own imprint, Rogue Cat Sounds, but are only now dropping this, their long-awaited debut LP. It is a bluesy folk-funk swamp techno barnyard stomp of an album. It takes in influences from Krautrock to English psych through to classic Detroit techno, Chicago house and the (Italo) disco that inspired it. It somehow unifies these diverse threads and drags them into 2014 via a rave in the countryside. We go dancing on a hay bale at 10am in the sunshine in a pair of dungarees before collapsing on a friend's sofa and skinning up amidst friends jamming with acoustic guitars and bongos. Through it all marches the distinctive sounds that are Dean and Ben's hallmarks: chugging analog bass and deeply funky drums. All this is set to a loose concept of a night out at the quintessential English traveling fair manned by psychedelic freaks -- the fair of the mind. The vocal talents of Clover Ray feature, alongside other regular contributors Karl "Akuko" Miller (percussion & vocals), Tim Silver (ukelele!), Sadie Shenton Jones (vocals) and James Flanagan (vocals). Sumptuous artwork comes from Thomas Bullock aka Tom Of England of Rub N Tug/Map Of Africa fame.