Stated in short, the Psychic Ills are one of the best psychedelic bands in the country, achieving a riveting blend of raga to ferocious guitar rock. Their greatly underappreciated 2005 album Dins was a splash of murky moods, middle-eastern colors and tepid, jangle filled pop. It was an impressive, multi-layered recording, the assessment of which might have bordered on the hyperbolic "astounding realization" or "Syd Barrett-esque." More than any of these, it threatened the dangerously congratulatory definition of "classic."
Now New York's Psychic Ills have reached into their back catalog and re-issued a pair of their formative EP's (Mental Violence I and II) on one recording Early Violence. Both of these recordings were vinyl only works, rare in the original, now complete on a more compact format. They offer fans a chance to hear where this unique blend of madness all began. It is unmistakably the forerunner to Dins: guitar heavy, filled with bewitching tones, and invariably effusive of the idea that it is part of a larger, unpredictable storm. The Ills seem to have an effortless hold on themselves in the studio -- their sound is loose, non-confrontational, but at the same time, mind altering. Take "Red-Split" a seemingly benevolent track that is both bouncy and blue at the same time, that being for most bands, an impossible contraction. Both "Diamond City" tracks are fantastic throw backs, and in another time and place they would be capable singles (there is a "hidden" Redux). Here they are one of the many mind boggling abstractions.
The body of the work so far is scant, but the Psychic Ills are doing a lot of what many mainstream alternative artists are falling short of: recording exciting, unpretentious music. The hope is that Early Violence is a glance back before launching forward. |