In The Pines – Let It Slide
Similar artists: Slowdive, Ride, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Allah-Las
Genre: Americana, Shoegaze, Psychedelic Rock
It’s hard to get a hold of yourself at any one time. It’s also difficult to really lose yourself to anything. Most people spend a fortune and waste away all of their energy trying to do one or the other. While there are plenty of dangerous, exotic ways to go about things, psychedelic music, the kind that In The Pines specialize in, is always there to lend a hand.
Will it work as good as the extravagant meditation getaway that some self-professed wellness guru advertises? If you’re just as committed to the teachings of In The Pines, yes, and perhaps even better. Other benefits include the fact that you can choose to have a solitary experience or a communal one, you won’t be spending too much, and you can turn it off whenever you choose. How’s that for a tailored otherworldly journey?
In The Pines’ “Let It Slide” is music that pays homemade not only to the great shoegaze/psychedelic sounds of the past but also to those bands’ hope of being able to create a world of sound in which full immersion was entirely possible. They do this, as you might expect, through loud, languid guitars, slow grooves, and shamanic singing about everyday life. Better than joining a cult on most days.
Beach Mirage – Evil Mantis
Genre: Surf Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Alternative Rock
The idea of the multiverse has recently enthralled movie audiences, taken center stage in Sci-Fi novels and even impressed naive billionaires so much as to consider it as their veritable religion. For the time being, however, the only way to enjoy these possibilities is through our imagination or through the creativity of others.
Beach Mirage’s blend of noir psychedelia feels like a quick round trip through the multiverse. As it so happens, by the sound of it, most other realities are even more frightening than the one that we are all so anxious to leave. Call it psychodrama if you must, but, as it always has, art has the keys to let us see not just what could be but what might be as well.
Beach Mirage’s “Evil Mantis” is a 60s surf horror movie, a low-budget extravaganza meant to pray on those whose imagination borders on hysteria. It’s the horror of thousands of cartoonishly grotesque images, and, let’s face it, it is also a set of cut-ups assembled at random that let you see what you fear more. It takes a lot of brain power to figure out a way to these distant lands, and, thankfully, beach Mirage are willing to provide you with the map there.
