CITAZIONE
"ANYWHERE "Pyramids Mirrors" (Valley King / Secret Serpents) 7" 9.98 Local label Valley King are on fire, after singles by local space rockers Carlton Melton, SF psych stoners Golden Void, witchy Swedish rockers Spiders and Sweet Apple, the project of Witch's Dave Sweetapple, comes this, the debut from L.A. supergroup Anywhere, which we have to say, we were a wee bit skeptical about. Not just because of the often bandied about 'supergroup' tag, but also cuz it seemed like a strange hodgepodge member-wise, Cedric Bixler Zavala of The Mars Volta and At The Drive In, Christian Eric Beaulieu of the late great Triclops!, Mike Watt of the Minutemen and fIREHOSE obviously, and finally Rachel Fannan from SF dreampsych combo Sleepy Sun. Weird right?
The label explains how these folks all fell in together, but even then we weren't sure what to expect, but whatever it was, it wasn't this, a weird sort of psychedelic rhythmic acoustic guitar driven dronerock, laced with electronics, and tabla like percussion, a bit proggy and druggy and dreamy, the A side plays out like the first movement of an epic sidelong prog masterpiece, the guitars lush and shimmery, those tabla sound rhythms often run through glitched out effects, the melodies majestic and soaring, some classic sixties psych guitar laid over the top, it's a shame it ends after only 5 minutes, when we had been plotting out the rest of the imagined song in our heads. Needless to say, it was a hugely pleasant surprise and had us hankering for more.
The B side adds vocals to the mix, Fannan's hazy stoned croon, perfectly complimented by the warm, whirling acoustic strum and toy xylophone like percussion, the song ebbing and flowing in soft swells, even more than the first side, sounding like some lost sixties band, all Laurel Canyon, witchy folk flecked psychedelic classic rock, brooding and moody and darkly dreamy. Gorgeous stuff for sure, and here's hoping they can manage a full length! LIMITED TO 500 COPIES! Already sold out, we have the last 20 copies, and then this is gone for good. Like the other Valley King releases, super swank sleeves with striking cover art by artist Alan Forbes, signed and numbered, includes a sticker as well."
"review by justin mcniel AQUARIUS just thought id print the kind words this gentleman said about me and christian's project. scope the mike watt signature on my copy...fucking priceless!" (CBZ)
"im afraid this is my personal copy. watt,fannan,and beaulieu were just over at my loft for an ANYWHERE photo session and we signed these copies. i have a grip of the regular ones but Beaulieu has most of the colored copies on silver print. i only have 2 of these type but about 10 regular ones left over. we are in negotians with ATP records to all the vocal related songs as a vinyl release(fingers crossed) and maybe jim ward(fingers crossed)might release all of it on cd on the tembloroso label he runs. but this early 500 run are over sorry." (CBZ)
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