NYEPLAK

The High Llamas Here Come the Rattling Trees Reviewed by Mark Winkelmann Setting off on a blustery March Saturday to cycle to town while playing "Here Come the Rattling Trees" with no pre-conceptions beyond "Its another High Llamas album" and more of that anon, presents an intriguing variation on their usual pattern. Theres some kind of structure and similarity here, all of the songs are short musical sketches followed by character studies of individuals. Is this some form of concept album? It certainly seems a little more lyrically focused, albeit on some daydreamy characters. Even the music is ...well lets be honest its not rocking, but maybe a bit more precise, with nylon strung guitars and harpsichords foregrounded and less echoey exotica and orchestral arrangements. A little more Brian Wilson and a little less Burt Bacharach. So is it a concept album? Well, not as such. It is described by the High Llamas as both "a musical narrative" and the soundtrac...

The Bleu Forest A Thousand Trees Deep 1968 us tremendous garage psychedelia 2016 reissue In late 1965, drummer Jack Caviness was recruited by guitarists and vocalists Michael Cullen and Gary Heuer. All were from the same small town, Moorpark, CA. The three of us worked on original songs written by Michael for 6 months. At that point we added Ed Steele on bass guitar and spent time bringing him into the fold. When ready we began playing small gigs around Moor parkand surrounding areas and received a good reception on the original music. Then we were booked into an open mic night at the Troubadour in Hollywood. That is where we were discovered by future music icon Jimmy Haskell. Mr. Haskell immediately scheduled us to record a demo at his home studio which we did. We could never have believed what happened next. Both Gary and Michael were drafted were drafted into the armed service as Vietnam war was going strong. Both evacuated themselves to Canada, they were there several months prior ...