Translate

Monday 8 August 2016

NEW PLANET TRAMPOLINE – DARK RIDES AND GRIM VISIONS (Stow House Records 2 x LP, CD, D/L).

It’s been a while……… After an almost 10 year haitus Cleveland PsychHeads New Planet Trampoline have finally completed their double LP Psychedelic Rock opus, Dark Rides And Grim Visions, that they left unfinished back in 2008. Originally breaking out of the Cleveland local Psych scene around the turn of the millennium, the band followed a string of self-released EPs with the Elephant Stone Records released The Curse Of The New Planet Trampoline album in 2004. The band extensively toured the record before taking an extended break to focus on other projects. New Planet Trampoline finally reformed for what was meant to be a one-off performance of Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at a local Halloween show in 2013 and the unexpected, overwhelming reaction to this lead to an invitation to reprise the Piper set at The Committee to Keep Music Evil’s kick-off show for Austin Psych Fest in 2014. Revived and inspired, the group headed into the studio to resume sessions on Dark Rides And Grim Visions, the album they had begun writing back in 2005. Released by Stow House Records, the album is a collision of the West London and West Coast Psychedelic scenes circa 1967/68 and veers between intricate Psych/Pop, raging Garage/Punk and multi-part Prog/Psych epics, packing its 69 minutes with melodic, experimental and lyrically cryptic songs.

Sharing an affinity for British Psychedelic and Progressive rock, New Planet Trampoline take inspiration from Pink Floyd and the late 60s/early 70s Canterbury scene with a sound that is a mixture of swirling, organ-driven drones and spaced-out guitars. Add to this elements of the West Coast sounds of the Doors, Love, The Electric Prunes and the Byrds plus the lysergic pop of newer bands such as the Flaming Lips then you have a pretty potent brew of headswirling, tripped out Psych Rock. Along with the obvious Pink Floyd/Soft Machine/Caravan influences, there are some wonderful far-out acid laced Pop Psych tunes on this record………..it’s kaleidoscopic Neo-Psych passed through a multi-coloured filter of 60s influences as New Planet Trampoline showcase their unique twisted spin on the Psych/Garage genre…….’Confidence Man’ and ‘Nervous Intuition’ pits Arthur Lee’s Love against the fairground swirl of the Doors in epic Psych Rock wig-out’s from the Nuggets stable while the gorgeous harmonies and Acid Folk jangle of ‘This Is the Morning’ evoke the pre-Country Rock Byrds at their best. There is a modern Psychedelia feel of the archetypal 60s Psych influenced bands such as the Black Angels on ‘Dark Ride’, ‘Ex-President’ and ‘Grim Visions’ which are some of the coolest new Psych tunes we have heard this year. New Planet Trampoline are at their best when they stretch out and really explore a tune……clocking in at nearly 10 minutes long ‘Acts of Mania’ is a blissed out meeting of minds between Syd Barrett and Jerry Garcia as the track twists and turns in rarefied air and the multi-part ‘Nearly Finished Face’ is classic Floyd meets proto-Prog Rock as the band show off their BritPsych influences. New Planet Trampoline will no doubt be a band that many of you will not be familiar with, but check them out People as Dark Rides And Grim Visions is an excellent record and one for all you PaisleyHeads out there……….seriously recommended.

Out now, Dark Rides And Grim Visions is available as 2 x vinyl LP, CD and as a digital download. The vinyl can be purchased by your turned on local psychedelic record store or the usual on-line retailers (Amazon etc)…………you can also get yer hands on the LP, CD and download direct from the New Planet Trampoline Bandcamp page here https://newplanettrampoline.bandcamp.com/album/dark-rides-and-grim-visions where you can stream the album.


No comments:

Post a Comment