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Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Album Review

Various Artists:
The Psychedelic Sounds of The Sonic Cathedral Sonic Cathedral Records

Article written by Ged M - Jun 7, 2010

Various Artists: The Psychedelic Sounds of The Sonic Cathedral

All the bands on Sonic Cathedral’s worthy tribute to Roky and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators subscribe to the Elevators’ credo that “you’ve got to open up your mind and let everything come through” (‘Roller Coaster’). The wild, unbounded live version of that song by Austin’s Black Angels backing Roky himself is one of the best songs here, the Angels being the true inheritors of the Elevators’ spooky sound. Dead Meadow’s supremely opiated version of ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ dissolves into fizzing, phasing effects while ‘Dr Doom’ by Hush Arbors treats the finest of late-period Elevator music to a lush fuzz coating. There are outings for Kevin Shields on Le Volume Courbe’s gentle treatment of ‘I Love the Living You’ and Sonic Boom on Cheval Sombre’s blisspop ‘You Don’t Love Me Yet’ but the really musically jawdropping track is by Sarabeth Tucek. ‘Splash 1 (Now I’m Home)’ is possibly Roky’s great legacy song (the Left Outsides also do a fine cover) and this version takes Sarabeth’s sweet voice and backs it with effects I can only describe as Meek-esque: bloopy organ and throbbing guitars that have a compelling psychedelic effect, leaving you feeling quite alien.

There was an Elevators tribute in 1991 (Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye) but there’s little overlap between the songs chosen. Both are worth hearing but the Sonic Cathedral album feels like the truest to the spirit of the Elevators and the calibre of bands involved says much about the status of the Elevators as psychedelic originators. Coming on the heels of Roky’s first new album proper since 1995, and a year after Paul Drummond’s brilliant biography, this is a perfect way to overload your senses with Elevators music. And once you learn that label and bands have committed to donate artist royalties to the Roky Erickson Trust, buying this should be a no-brainer.

Links:
http://www.soniccathedral.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/rokyerickson