Psychsploitation

Satan’s Pilgrims – Psychsploitation
Reviewed by Sadie O., 8/5/09
Surf/psychedelia/retro instrumentals – first studio release in 10 years from these Portland garage-rockers. 3 tracks have minor bits of vocals, the rest are instrumentals. All good stuff.
1. 3:04 ***somewhat downtempo stroll (reminiscent of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”, as well as bit of Ventures-style guitar.) Nice bit of psychedelic backmasked guitar, too.
2. 2:39 **a bit uptempo jerk with lots of jangly/twangy guitar. Slightly spaghetti western. Nice use of incidental percussion.
3. 2:53 **midtempo farfisa ‘n’ guitars. Kinda sweet and relaxed, actually.
4. 1:54 **acoustic and electric guitars, chugging rhythm guitar, a bit downtempo.
5. 2:05 ***uptempo groovy frug-a-go-go, baby! Even a bit of whammy bar. Everybody in the pool!
6. 2:14 **fuzz and chimes. Slow pyschedelia with tamborine. Really rather odd.
7. 2:58 **REVERB. Crystal Blue Persuasion as done by Spanky and Our Gang (a bit of vocal chorus). Downtempo.
8. 2:37 **electronic wheezes and some chick on acid talking in an echo chamber. Then forceful midtempo psychedelic stomp. Bit of freak out on farfisa.
9. 3:10 **downtempo psychedelic surfer stomp with reverb. Some of the guitar line is a direct lift from the Ventures…
10. 2:22 ***uptempo FUZZ FUZZ FUZZ. Ooh, and freeky reverb!
11. 3:47 **pretty, folky acoustic guitar and electric guitar with the “sitar” settings activated.
12. 3:02 ***fast surf drums, groovy bassline, keyboards. Bass solo! Chorus of “psych-out” – raises the ginchiness bar pretty high!
13. 3:32 ***clockwork with echoes, redolent of “Time” by the Chambers Brothers, big ending. Keen!