Amorphous Core

Following on from their legendary and award winning (MOJO magazine compilation of the year) "A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble (Exploding In Your Mind)" DJ series, The Amorphous Androgynous have started a parallel series called Monstrou Bubble Soundtracks which aims to explore groovy sub genres of the MPB concept, but rather than DJ/compile, they write and produce all the material themselves in a classic soundtrack vein. The first one is The Cartel which is a study of psychsploitation (where psychedelia meets blaxploitation) and traces the lineage from Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Curtis Mayfield, John Barry, Ennio Morricone through to Oceans 12.
Aided and abetted by a stellar cast including Noel Gallagher himself on bass and guitar plus Raven Bush (of fast upcoming Canterbury folk psych band Syd Arthur) on violin plus the Amorphous Androgynous themselves…

Us and Us Only picks up where Tellin' Stories left off and twists that album's virtues around. Where that record was essentially a stripped-down, straight-ahead collection, Us and Us Only dresses up the band's continually impressive songcraft in a moody atmosphere, borrowed in equal parts from Blonde on Blonde, Beggars Banquet, and the Chemical Brothers. The album unfolds in a haze of keyboards and subdued beats, and this murky veil never really lifts throughout the record, even as harmonics and acoustic guitars break through the mist every once and a while. Consequently, the album can initially seem a little amorphous, albeit intriguingly amorphous, filled with deep grooves and tantalizing sonic textures. Repeated plays reveal that Us and Us Only is merely a step below their previous high point of Tellin' Stories. If nothing is as immediately grabbing as "North Country Boy" or "One to Another," that's not a problem, since nearly every song works its charms with subtle grace and considerable muscle. "Forever" soon reveals itself as a minor masterpiece of swirling menace and swagger, while the Dylan inflections of "A House Is Not a Home" and "My Beautiful Friend" seem natural instead of grandstanding.