With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

‘Confused OK’ – Soma Crew April 2, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:29 pm
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York’s delightful psychedelic drone noiseniks Soma Crew release a new album ‘Confused OK’ on 3rd April. It is their fifth album and coincidentally the fifth time we have featured them on WJAHOM. The album will be available to purchase via Bandcamp on CD or preferred digital download. The album was written during the latter end of the pandemic and recorded last year. According to the band the album “addresses the turmoil in the caged conditions of lockdown, reflecting on recent years of political unrest, public mistrust and personal mental health“. If you read this before the evening of April 3rd you can catch the band at a launch gig for the album at the Fulford Arms in York. I will be there!

The album opens with “These Careless Lips” which seems to describe anxiety about and fear of those in power. It evokes the finest moments that the Velvet Underground left us with. “Tranquilizer” has a very dark feel and has an eerie almost demonic guitar riff. This track would be an excellent inclusion on the soundtrack of a great British psychological horror film. The reverb effects that underpin the song are phenomenal and the extended close is full-on psychedelic. I sense a cryptic element to “Mirage” is it about the forced confinement of lockdown, is it about oppression or is it about someone fighting with doubt and confusion? I think it covers all three and so much more. It has the usual Soma Crew righteous riffing but the stand out here is a driving hypnotic bass part from Chris Goodhead. If you put Television, Spiritualised and the Stooges in a blender and had the about record a song it might turn out to be “Let It Fall”. The song is about finding hope after deception for me and I love it! Like many of us I have experienced at least a small degree of mental health issues and “This Illusion” describes the way people with mental health are treated by physicians and those around them. This one has a bluesy dreamy (or maybe nightmarish) vibe. The line “there is only I that is me” says so much more than seven words ought to. The long fade is mesmerising and stays with you long after the track has finished.

Who knew that Soma Grew could take glam rock and turn it into an obsidian twisted music fantasy? Well, they have with the magnificent “Another Life”. On hearing “The Sheltering Sky” I wondered if this might be what Jim and William Reid might have sounded like had they ever had the chance to collaborate with Marc Bolan. The first single from the album is also the final track, “Propaganda Now” which is accompanied by a stunning video. This is probably the heaviest track on the album and it rocks like an absolute bastard. This is a tune that Hawkwind would be proud of. Lyrically it is my favourite track, and there is some tough competition. On their YouTube page, the band describes “Propaganda Now” as ” lyrically informed by an awareness of the increased discrepancy between fact and its interpretation through social media. Participation in the dispersion of information is unavoidable in contemporary society, and it is virtually impossible to be sure of the veracity of sources. Visual cues are taken from historical posters where images are used to persuade the viewer of a particular point of view. In these circumstances we are presented with a dichotomy, and our innate circumspection is smothered”. The band is firing on all cylinders and Si Micklethwaite’s vocal delivery is his best on the album. If you have not experienced Soma Crew yet, get this album, you will not be disappointed. I had a CD copy of the album for review and the gatefold sleeve, booklet and the CD itself showcase some beautiful art and concepts. The really wonderful old-school touch of including the lyrics in the booklet gets top marks from me. By all means, download or stream the album, but the CD version is something special to behold.

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‘The Hunmanby Gap Sessions’ – Soma Crew April 6, 2021

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 11:02 pm
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I have loved the resurgence of vinyl as a medium for music again these last few years. It has also given rise to some cottage industry-style releases and label setups. One of the latter is the label created by what is probably the best record shop in Yorkshire, Vinyl Eddie in York. The label, unsurprisingly, is called Vinyl Eddie Records and is preparing two release their next two slabs of vinyl, two collections by York’s laid-back, psyched-out, grungy noiseniks, Soma Crew. Two volumes of rather delightful tunes from this very talented band. The two volumes will be issued under the main title of ‘The Hunmanby Gap Sessions’. Volume 1 is subtitled ‘Out Of Darkness’ and Volume two will be ‘Into Light’. The out-of-darkness and into-light stance may relate to the terrible year we have all been through, but I am not sure all of these tracks were written post-Covid. But either way, there are some fantastic tunes here which will certainly help lift the mood into something more positive. Soma Crew are almost mysterious as there is not much information available about them online. They formed in 2013, and were initially called Muttley Crew Is that a pun on Motley Crue or an homage to Dick Dastardly’s sidekick? . It came about after a few friends got together after regular attendance at open mic nights in York. There seems to have been an array of members over the years (including those featured on the album sleeves). Si Micklethwaite, singer, songwriter, and guitarist has certainly been ever-present and maybe some of the other members have, but the internet is really short on bio data for this rather excellent band.

Volume 1 opens with “Phantom” an intriguingly hypnotic slice of melodic shoegaze with added drone. I love it! Next up “Wishlist” continues the perfectly executed drone rock with a rumbling bass that hits you right in the chest when you play it loud. This one has a nice injection of Velvet Underground style. If Jonathan Richman had joined the aforementioned Velvet Underground I think they might have produced something like “You’re So Cool”. I can imagine this supported by a video-heavy on the use of an oil lamp projector and psychedelic filters. “Half-Life” is majestically chilled, with a steam train drone and some stunning use of organ as it builds towards a huge crescendo of an ending. This track made me think of Spiritualized, which given that Soma Crew state one of their influences as Spaceman 3 I am not surprised. This song made me want to spliff up and lie in a hammock in the sunshine! I have no real idea why, but “Mighty Forces” was reminiscent of John Squire, in a world where Squire was a member of the Grateful Dead. This is probably my favourite track on volume 1. This first disc closes with “Happening” a Soma Crew song you could almost dance to, well at least frug around a bit.

“Hey Sister” kicks off volume 2 and it has a great psyched up 60s Pink Floyd vibe going on, Syd Barrett would have been proud of this one. “There’s A Fire” flies off the blocks like a proper rock bastard and I reckon a Jason Pierce remix of this would be ace. Next up we are treated to the more chilled side of Soma Crew again with “Broken Matches” a really understated tune driven by a rhythm on top form. The band showcase their more electronic sound on the intro to “Machines”, although guitar, bass and drums still feature heavily as the track progresses. I love the distortion on this one, it is an amazing track to listen to on headphones. Simon’s vocal is almost choral in style here. On “Seven” they sound like a warped alt.country band who trespassed into the KLF’s White Room. It definitely crosses the Weirdsville City Limits as it builds into an other worldly anthem. This is potentially my favourite of the whole collection. “Nicotine Drum” certainly owes a debt to Spaceman 3, but it is a great song in its own right. I am so looking forward to getting my hands on both these LPs. I am also looking forward to the opportunity of seeing Soma Crew live sometime soon.

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