Just hand them the damned trophy Psych Lovers. Get it over with quick and easy. The sophomore effort from Italy’s Upupayāma is sublime. And while we are at it lets get the obligatory comparisons to Kikagaku Moyo out of the way. Multi Instrumentalist Alessio Ferrari stands on his own. Combining a touch of Popol Vuh with with modern psych stylings and ethnic instrumentation to cast a dizzying and hypnotic spell on the senses. My only gripe here is the songs are to damn short. I would really like to see him let go on a 15 minute mind bender track. I think what really sets this music apart is the heavy use of flute and the hand percussion which adds allot of texture and feeling. The blending of East and West and old and new is so skillfully done. It’s like a futuristic early kosmische music for the soul. The pacing on the album is also quite varied which makes for a great listen from frenetic, jazzy movement to glacial meditative pieces but the roots are clearly buried deep in the early seventies. There is no filler here each track holds your full attention. Album of the year? It’s probably in the lead but I know a nice slab is on its way here from El Paraiso that might have a shot.
The album kicks of with the quiet acoustic guitar and flute on “Entering The Time of Wilderness” which eventually bust out into a free form psych jam. “Más” which was the first single released trends in a Black Angels meets Kikagaku Moyo direction with a killer bass groove. “Come Here, Noriko” slows things down a bit with a heavy bass riff, lead flute and Sitar. “At the Fairie Bower” is a chance for the hand percussion to shine while the stringed instruments do a bit of a round. “Ergobando” highlights the Sitar to start before entering into a dizzying repetitive jam for all of it’s 1:42. “El Sueño de la Curandera” ebbs and flows between gentle portions punctuated by heavy drums and frenetic jamming. “Sata me Pani” has an interesting pulsating pace to it with some killer guitar layered on top. “Ballad of the Mugho” closes things out on a fairly gentle piece that comes off as a cross between medieval folk music and early Krautrock.
There is still a chance to grab this one. Sold out at Cardinal Fuzz but they do have the CDr version available. Centripetal Force in the USA still has vinyl available and you can bundle it with a nice repress of the first album. I also have seen it listed as coming soon on some pages like Juno.
