The Garden Of Earthly Delights

Datura4 - Hairy Mountain

We all know that Dom Mariani is a Power Pop God, however his collaboration with You Am I's Greg Hitchcock is a much heavier affair. With Stu Loasby and Warren Hall, the quartet follow up last year's Demon Blues with Hairy Mountain.

This is more Psychedelic and a bit less Blues but there's guitar and plenty of it, riffs and solos. It reminds me a lot of Blue Cheer, very much in the late 60's early 70's department of Rock. Fuzz, Boogie, definitely groovy and when they hit that groove they stay with it. 

It's a more than welcome diversion from the synth pop that keeps coming through at the moment. Everyone wants to be Everything But The Girl if they don't want to be Nada Surf. It's a refreshing change to hear Psychedelic Rock done well, so few are.

The guitars are reaching for 11 and so they should. Heavy Mountain is a real up and at 'em album and all the better for it. You can buy it here and should.

The Wind And The Wave - Happiness Is Not A Place

The Wind And The Wave are Austin Texas's Dwight A. Baker and Patricia Lynn and they've just released this, their second album. It is a thing of beauty, Lynn has a voice that demands that you listen to it and the arrangements are wonderfully different and complement that voice.

The duo had songs in Nashville Season 4, but this is no album of the country variety. Butch Walker, produces and although we love him from his Marvelous 3 days, his productions can be a bit clappy and hey hey. Thankfully he's restrained here and concentrates on the great arrangements and THAT voice. 

Songs like Let's Forget That I Was Even Here are rooted in 60's Dusty Springfield pop, Before The World Explodes has hints of  Amy Winehouse.  Butch Walker can't resist the hand claps on Skin And Bones, a rare irritant on an excellent album. The Orchestration on the opener My Mind Is An Endless Sea and the closer, Everybody Knows is beautifully done and the country acoustic strums are in the right place throughout the album.

At last as a major has got hold of an act that isn't derivative and deserves support. The album is far more polished than the debut, but it a thing of beauty. Great Pop! You can buy it everywhere, but you can find out more about the duo and there are links to buy here.

traumahelikopter - Competition Stripe

traumahelikopter are a Dutch band (the name translates to air ambulance) and the trio are doing a great job of bringing a lighter Garage Rock to the masses. This is the band's third album, their second for Excelsior, the label of our beloved Daryl-Ann.

I'd describe them as a cross between The Strokes and one of the better late 70's New Wave Indie bands, more like the latter. They get a bit psych poppy on the likes of Pull Me Down and the title track is well on the way to Power Pop.

Largely though it's that 70's New Wave have a good time chord strumming, you can imagine them to be great live in some hot and sweaty club. The album certainly impresses, a new discovery that I'm happy to have made. Refreshing to know that the youth know their musical roots.

You can buy the album here, Excelsior are spot on at customer service. You can also buy it as a download at Amazon for £7.99.