Wooden Shjips Announce New Single

One of the most trippy, psych four pieces around today are back in December with the 'Oh Tannenbaum / Auld Lang Syne 12”'

This will coincide with a number of dates they will be playing in December over England, which we over here at Boop are very much looking forward to.


Oh Tannenbaum

Auld Lang Syne

Moon Duo – ‘Escape’ (Woodsist)

Formed just last year in San Francisco, primarily as a side project by Wooden Shjips’ Ripley Johnson along with Sanae Yamada, the aptly titled Moon Duo have since then released a Single, EP and have now come up with another piece of Psych-Doom gold in the form of an LP simply titled ‘Escape’. With the record consisting of only 4 tracks clocking in at 28 minutes, you may be mistaken for thinking we have another Extended Play here, but with a very effective use of repetition and riffs, it certainly has a feel of a very consistent album.

Each of the four tracks consists of a continuous drumbeat which gives ‘Escape’ a Krautrock edge to your standard piece of Doom Rock. The first composition we come across is called ‘Motorcycle, I Love You’ which starts with the base of a looped drum sound and guitar backing track that continues to get layered with keyboards, heavily distorted guitar riffs and mumbling vocals that is almost completely drowned in a wall of sound and noise. It has very much an improvised feel to it yet it leaves the listener with a unique dilemma to either lie in a darkened room with the music blaring through the headphones or dance around with the speakers cranked up full volume.

The remaining 3 tracks continue with this formula of rhythm and guitar loops, but with each track varying in tempo. ‘In The Trees’ again features dreamy guitar riffs but adds a more Psychedelic and drone feel. The closer you listen the more gorgeous the track sounds, with the build-up of textures combining to create a piece of blissful noise. ‘Stumbling on 22nd St’ has a more melodic essence to the previous two tracks with Yamada’s keyboard sounding more prominent. The vocals also sound clearer and it’s not until Johnson’s singing stops when the added guitars begin to wail out of the track.

The fourth and final number is the title track. Displaying a lighter approach with the backing track, Moon Duo continues to indulge us with layer upon layer of guitars but drenched with a divine use of Tremolo. What you get with ‘Escape’ as a song AND as a full album is a successful blend of riffs, noise and an energy that is driven without a weak note in hearing. Sure, you’ll find influences of the likes of Suicide, 13th Floor Elevators, Silver Apples and Faust but Johnson and Yamada have cleverly chosen the right elements to make this record the sound extremely fitting with the Psych sound of 2010, but one that is most certainly a gem like no other.

Words: Freddy Rothman.

Thee Oh Sees - Warm Slime (In The Red)

This Bay Area four piece are gearing up for the release of an album that could well excel these guys to the heights they deserve. It just feels like the right time to be coming out with a record like 'Warm Slime,' It's dirty, scuzzy and loud. The sort of relief that's needed as the lo-fi scene is simmering down somewhat and people are wanting more than just echoed nonchalant vocals and jangly guitar lines. Thee Oh Sees aren't new on the block, this will actually be their eleventh album but with a ton of bands such as Wooden Shjips careering this sort of desert psych noise with great success (having just supported Pavement)and heads have been turning for a little while now. With a prolific performance at last week's ATP to which anyone who was there will argue was one of the highlights of an excellent weekend, by the time Thee Oh Sees head over to these shores in June people will be talking about the next step for the Lo-Fi band and this could very well be it.

screeching guitars are played over bluesy bass lines and space age synth noises which, mixed together creates a sound that is as awkwardly pleasing to the ear. Warm Slime is a bold statement if nothing else, about how confident this band are, you only have to look as far as the opening title track, a fourteen minute groovy psych frenzy to realise what they are capable of. We're let off the hook a little with the next track 'I Was Denied' a much more palatable affair still ripe with fuzz before John Dwyer and his twelve string beast get into full swing for 'Flash Bats' with feedback more piercing than a Sonic Youth concert and 'Mega-Feast' which is indeed a tasty feast of noise.

The more I listen to Thee Oh Sees the more I start to think how easily this album could end up in my top ten for the year, it improves with every listen.

I Was Denied

Words : GR

Wooden Shjips – Vol 2 (Sick Thirst Records)

Wooden Shjips originally formed in 2003 when Ripley Johnson had the idea to make psychedelic noise with musicians playing unfamiliar instruments and in some cases people who didn’t play instruments at all. A few albums on and things got a little more serious, they gained a vast number of devoted followers with members of Pavement and the Arctic Monkeys both devoting their love for the band, they have albums out via Sub Pop and are just about to embark on a tour with some dates supporting Pavement at Brixton Academy.

In keeping with their long tradition of doing things just that little differently we have the second edition of their compilation of hard to find Wooden Shjips material featuring two self released European tour singles as well as covers of Neil Young’s Vampire Blues and Serge Gainsbourg’s ‘Contact.’ Compilation albums have a tendency to be fairly poor at best, the kind of B-sides and rarities that were left off of the album for a reason but with Vol 2 it is quite the opposite, Wooden Shjips groove their way through this warped seven song stunner.

Their music creates a trance inducing state of euphoria that you rarely find with most bands and somewhere in the middle of the meandering, repetitive beats, scuzzy distorted guitars, old school organ and droney, mumbling vocals you have here one of the best psych rock albums to be released in years. Their covers don’t just pay homage to the great men that originally wrote the songs, they take them to places that just weren’t possible until these four acid casualties got their hands on them.

All of the old tricks are in place here, there’s lots of wah and fuzzboxes but this San Fran four piece deliver these seven tracks in such an unrelenting fashion that you just can’t stop listening. I was instantly hooked.

Words : Gordon Reid