Sunday 6 March 2011

Recommended music: '936' by Peaking Lights

Another release on the Not Not Fun label, who also put out the Ensemble Economique records I recommended a couple of weeks ago, Peaking Lights are a duo based in Spring Green, California, who make a blend of lo-fi, dub reggae psychedelia the likes of which you'll never have heard before. For a clue of how good the project's going to be, you just have to look at their names - Aaron Coyes & Indra Dunis - even their initials spell ACID.

The music is engagingly raw - there's no studio trickery in evidence - just simple drum loops, layered with repetitive bass grooves, then topped of with drifting keyboards and guitars, all matched with slightly sleepy vocals from Indra. The effect is as if you've stumbled across some 8-trak recordings that were made in a home studio during the 70s and then left on the shelf for 30 years before being rediscovered - there's a warmth to the sound that makes it feel like you're listening to vinyl even if, like me, you've downloaded the mp3 file.

The album effortlessly takes you to a timeless place and deposits you in a hazy vista where the sun is permanently rising after a blissed-out all night session. Imagine that it's 6 in the morning, you've spent the night in the open air with your best musical buddies playing a mixture of dubplates and late 60's hypercool film soundtracks while slowly getting stoned, and you're now looking down on the city as the world starts to wake up - that's the feeling you get from this album.

Tracks:
  1. Synthy
  2. All The Sun That Shines
  3. Amazing and Wonderful
  4. Birds of Paradise (Dub version)
  5. Hey Sparrow
  6. Tiger Eyes (Laid Back)
  7. Mashmellow Yellow
  8. Summertime

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