Bella Union Vinilo y CD

Review: There have been so many peculiar releases from Wayne Coyne and his merry men in the last few years that it comes as something of a relief to not only be confronted with their new album proper but to discover that it follows in the fearlessly experimental style that they embarked on with their last two trips to neverland. This ris testimony to a band still firmly intent on transcending the everyday with heartfelt emotion to spare. 'Oczy Mlody' may be sonically adventurous and otherworldly, yet like all of this band's finest works, its sense of wonder is more commonly down to melody and songcraft than sonic trickery or head-spinning psychedelia.

Review: There have been so many peculiar releases from Wayne Coyne and his merry men in the last few years that it comes as something of a relief to not only be confronted with their new album proper but to discover that it follows in the fearlessly experimental style that they embarked on with their last two trips to neverland. This ris testimony to a band still firmly intent on transcending the everyday with heartfelt emotion to spare. 'Oczy Mlody' may be sonically adventurous and otherworldly, yet like all of this band's finest works, its sense of wonder is more commonly down to melody and songcraft than sonic trickery or head-spinning psychedelia.

Review: There have been so many peculiar releases from Wayne Coyne and his merry men in the last few years that it comes as something of a relief to not only be confronted with their new album proper but to discover that it follows in the fearlessly experimental style that they embarked on with their last two trips to neverland. This ris testimony to a band still firmly intent on transcending the everyday with heartfelt emotion to spare. 'Oczy Mlody' may be sonically adventurous and otherworldly, yet like all of this band's finest works, its sense of wonder is more commonly down to melody and songcraft than sonic trickery or head-spinning psychedelia.

Review: It's hard not to see this offering from hallucinogenic and highly visual psych-rockers The Flaming Lips as a "here's what you could have won" release. And that's "here's what you could have won had you been able to attend this performance of one of our most treasured albums in one of the world's most aesthetically astounding venues". FOMO abounds, Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a proper bucket list muso haunt, setting gigs halfway up a Colorado mountain. Throw in live orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, and you've got yourself a truly life-affirming evening. Even on record, there's a tangible difference between the sonics here and the original, still it's an incredibly beautiful and grand album. Perhaps most pronounced during the heart-rendering string sweep of opener "Race For The Prize" (expect shivers), tracks such as "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton" and, of course, "Waitin' For A Superman" feel as though they have finally found their home.

Review: Whatever criticisms can be levelled at The Flaming Lips, one could never accuse them of lacking balls. Few bands would attempt a full-length remake of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, and fewer still would do so by throwing as much gloriously nightmarish psychedelic experimentation as they can muster at these much-loved songs, and then by getting Miley Cyrus in for a guest appearance. Yet the fact that Wayne Coyne and his henchmen have done just that is testimony to the beauty of his longstanding freakshow, and the fact that this irreverent, haphazard and mercurial piece of work manages to be a treat in its own right all the more so. A kaleidoscopic triumph against considerable odds.

Review: Introducing the new psychedelic solo project of Paul Alexander, the bass player of Bella Union's mainstay signing Midlake. In a recent interview, Alexander said: "I'd always wanted Midlake to experiment more with the arrangements, or to get more into psychedelic textures," and this is obviously where he's gone to achieve such a sound. The album takes in breezes of shoegaze with psych-rock and the overall feel that comes out the other side is something closer to futuristic country & western space folk. Album highlights include "An Eye For An I" and album opener "SF" that should appeal to fans of Whitest Boy Alive, Father John Misty to Pink Floyd and '80s synth.

Review: Introducing the new psychedelic solo project of Paul Alexander, the bass player of Bella Union's mainstay signing Midlake. In a recent interview, Alexander said: "I'd always wanted Midlake to experiment more with the arrangements, or to get more into psychedelic textures," and this is obviously where he's gone to achieve such a sound. The album takes in breezes of shoegaze with psych-rock and the overall feel that comes out the other side is something closer to futuristic country & western space folk. Album highlights include "An Eye For An I" and album opener "SF" that should appeal to fans of Whitest Boy Alive, Father John Misty to Pink Floyd and '80s synth.