Ears to The Ground

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…

Watermelon Slim and his band The Workers are tireless blues musicians, just like the masters who came before them. Their lot is to play small blues clubs, and bars and restaurants across the continent, bringing the blues to hungry ears. Once you’ve heard or seen Slim you’ll never forget it. And if you see him…you’ll hear him…I guarantee it! At a gig in Hamilton a couple of years ago, the opening act Steve Strongman (no slouch himself on blues guitar, and certainly no stranger to volume) had to wear earplugs during The Workers’ set! We, in the first row, had no earplugs so went home with ears ringing from the Mississippi rhythms and stinging lead guitar. Not a bad way to go.

The new full length effort from West Virginia's own Brimstone Coven on Metal Blade Records. Ten tracks of dark occult rock. Echoing the eerie reverberations of hard rock heavyweights such as Black Sabbath and Pentagram, mixed with the Classic Rock style of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Brimstone Coven has created a Vintage sound and style all their own…

It is a hefty box in every sense: 13 CDs, supplemented with two DVDs, accompanied by a gorgeous hardcover book and a variety of tchotchkes, including a poster that traces the twisted family trees and time lines of the band and, just as helpfully, replicas of legal documents that explain why the group didn't retain rights to its recordings for years…