Lavatone

Spooky desert psych soundscapes from Amarillo, Texas. Originally self-released in the nineties, now reissued by Andrew Weathers’s Full Spectrum label. It’s fried and lo-fi, experimental in more of a “this is messing with my head” way than an academic way, but also not aggressively intense. From Hayden Pedigo’s liner notes: “like warped New Age music after a complete nuclear war.” A precursor to the deep end of ~2010 lo-fi psych tapes, when KZSU had a cassette blog (cassettes.kzsu.fm). RIYL the last episode of Twin Peaks: The Return, bent VHS dubs, stuff former KZSU DJs Brick or HYPRK would play, Not Not Fun, Sun Araw or early James Ferraro or Julian Lynch. Favorites: 2, 4, 5, 7. Mostly no words, no FCCs detected.

1. (1:33)—Wobbly tape. Deep, distant drums.
2. *(6:37)—Slow drums, soft cymbal. Deep, tape-warped tones from a guitar. It’s a rock setup but doesn’t sound like it at all. Turns into fuzzed out bathwater psych.
3. (6:01)—Deep plodding drumbeat. Clanking sounds. Like someone moving a big cart across a dusty farm.
4. *(4:54)—Tone-warped bells. Voice! Shells or grains filtered through hands.
5. *(5:08)—Mid-tempo hand drums, scratching noise, thick low end. Has kind of a destroyed sci-fi dub feel.
6. (3:40)—Really gets going halfway in. Simply steel drum-like loop. Reversed tape.
7. *(3:36)—Loud bells and drums. Surprisingly heavy for a bit. Feels more recognizable as plodding psych rock. Pink Floyd at Pompeii, with the big gong.
8. (8:08)—Mouth harp. Slow polyrhythms, like some ritual cowboy caravan.