2013 - year of the new psychedelia

Reviewing the year of stats on the most popular posts here at The Garage we'll always remember 2013 as the year of the new psychedelia.
This year there's been more bands and individual artists from all over the globe coming on line with their own exploration into a genre that from it's formative year in 1966 is nearly 50 years old. Maybe it's the wretched state of conformity in modern music and life that's brought the new artists to explore their imagination and create the music that can escape from this 24:7 rolling horror show of war mongering, money grabbing, disaster ridden, mind numbing exploitative reality.
So if the words of Timothy Leary in 1965, "Turn on, tune in, drop out" might be the preferred option for many then the hits registered here show that's precisely what is happening.
Also amongst these new tripsters there's the appropriate entries from two of the 60's originals - Hendrix and Yoko Ono. All good then.
There should also be mention that Record Label of the year has to be Fruits De Mer who continue to not only put out a dazzling display of contemporary psyche on vinyl but have begun to organise their own one dayer festivals (see post).
Plus radio programme of the year is from the ever vigilant Valis with Trip Inside This House) at KDHX radio who has given airtime to so many of the new psyche bands.

Here's the 2013 top 10 -

1. Wooden-Shjips (US) see post

2. Truckfighters (Sweden) see post

3 Samsara Blues Experiment (Germany) see post

4. Polska Radio One (Poland) see post

5. Doug Tuttle / Morgan Delt (US) see post

6. Liverpool Psyche Festival (UK) see post

7. Hendrix documentary (US) see post

8. Yoko Ono (Japan/US) see post

9. Uncle Acid and The Dead Beats (UK) see post

10. Me and My Kites (Sweden) see post

polska radio one will blow your mind..

It gets cold in Yekaterinburg, Russia.. yeah really really cold, and for half the year. So how are you going to warm yourself up? Get a band together and play some full on psychedelia of course because that's what Polska Radio One have been doing. They've just released their first self titled album and it's an absolute killer.
It's a sound as dynamic and powerfully driven as their influences were, there's touches of Hawkwind, early Pink Floyd, early Can, etc etc. and that is not said lightly.
All superbly recorded and played with intent and control. They lean towards mainly instrumental compositions with some phased and effect vocals that fit the power of the sometimes dark themes they use them on. Their obviously not afraid of improvisation and jam style extended sections none of which fall into indulgence. The themes never get lost in how they approach the tracks. A really great drummer piles the driving beats for the space out to be built on. And it is a space out of the finest, none of which detracts from the quality of these players.
Keyboards, lead, wah fuzz and tremolo guitars, deep tone bass and sound effects create an audio impact that's as good and better as anything around in the new psychedelia today. Guess you've figured we love what they're doing. Jeez they should be playing the Liverpool International Psyche Festival in September at least.
But here's the thing, they're Russian right, so no one has bloody heard of them in the west, reflected by criminally few listens on their YouTube and SoundCloud channels. So lets fix that right now and give them some right?
To add to the general excellence Polska Radio One are giving you a free download of the new album via BandCamp here or via the widget below.
They describe themselves "Somewhere between sixties-style british rock, modern fuzz-guitar psychedelia and traditional german kraut you can find a frequency of this radio station".
You bet guys, we're tuned in. And please, don't ask how you pronounce the titles. What ever they're putting in the Vodka in Yekaterinburg we want some.
Here's the album, for fuk sake play it through you won't be disappointed. Below that their first single 'New Space'.