So I know I’ve been sluggish this year with Optimistic Underground. I relish being able to share the music enriching my life with you. I hope to rectify this laziness starting now, with The Psychic Paramount and their (hopeful) breakthrough album II.
I had this whole through-line about jet engines and surgical instruments and LSD and This Heat and Les Rallizes Dénudés and Miles Davis and cathartic volume levels… but I got caught up, slack-jawed and blasting this album again. It’s almost like a psychedelic brillo pad, carving clear my thought channels and surrendering my body to oblivion. A therapeutic breakdown of cogent narrative, this thing blasts away the outside world and disconnects me, sets me free in a way only the most blissed out Lovesliescrushing or hard droning Boris album can. It strikes an unknown sweet spot, defying gravity while splaying my brain with crushing heft. Crucial to this power is the flawless production, zooming in on every microscopic detail yet capturing the panoramic magnitude these songs inhabit. A dizzying high wire act of wide-eyed clarity, this album satisfied me in places only a fellow Swans or John Coltrane or Fennesz fan would recognize.
Second track DDB, opening with one of the more gentle passages on II, grows like marshmallows in the microwave, devouring 9 minutes in a wild-fire.
While I’m dropping names, I should mention that if you like Boredoms, Eternal Tapestry, Lightning Bolt, Fushitsusha, or anything within orbit of those bands, you will find yourself punch drunk and melting to this album.
[Released by No Quarter, the album is available at the label’s page for only $11 on cd or vinyl. So get it there. Listen to the free stream while you wait.]
Optimistic Underground 
So you decided to go in another direction entirely. Fair enough. Stay true. Like the new facelift. Christmas!
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Well the Christmas lights are a sort of placeholder for now, I just needed a large enough image – have to keep those with higher resolution in mind! I’m thinking I’ll stumble across the ‘perfect’ one soon enough. And another direction? As opposed to Eye Contact, right? I’ll share that soon.. needed to clear my thoughts on it.
This album is magnificent by the way. I couldn’t stress enough how delicate and ornate it is despite the considerable volume and noise.
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Yeah, the Christmas theme was a bit confusing with us entering summer here shortly :) And yes, as opposed to you going straight to Eye Contact. Speaking of which I think my own early thoughts were a bit premature, but were what I was feeling from first impressions. As for this album I really will have to give it a full go, as I only listened to DDB. Overall I am more or less unfamiliar with most of the bands you mentioned in this post besides Boredoms & Boris so once again thanks for the enlightenment. Will you be sharing your thoughts with us of Goblin as well?
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I’ve found some images so expect to see this different again asap..
You must see the 4ad live set for GGD, I’ll be sharing it on here if I can find a source to stream on wp. 15 minute “Mindkilla” indeed.
As for this album, the impact of that song is blunted by the low fidelity of youtube – I listened in comparison and couldn’t hear half the details that make this stuff so good… oh and if you’re not familiar with This Heat, by all means get their second and most known album Deceit – it was sold to me as post punk but it’s just so much more than that, one of my favorite 80s albums!
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Oh yeah, and as for Goblin.. I dunno. I just don’t feel strongly enough about it one way or another, at least right now. I’ve been listening to everything Odd Future since later last year and although several tracks on Bastard stuck out very high, it wasn’t nearly my favorite album of the bunch. Yonkers just blew me away and I do like a few others on the new one so maybe.
MellowHype is more my thing
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Yes! I’ve been trying to get on the 4ad website for days since I saw the link on Pitchfork for it, but their site hasn’t been working…hopefully soon. And…downloading The Heat right now and looking forward to it. Cheers
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I love these little bone fragments that seem to magical and yet grounded!
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