Joshua Powell’s 2018 release is a trip taken at the neighborhood pool or country lake on a warm summer day. Shimmering and bright, with a few gentle shadows that occasionally drift by from passing fluffy clouds. In one review they noted that the press release came with the claim that the record is “acid trip for the whole family.” The title Pyschotropic is absolutely an accurate description of the record’s sound. My top track is “Spirit of the Trailer Park” which has an anthemic vibe, but gently-so. Also great are “Arrowheads or Worse” which epitomizes the psych-dream vibe with a bit of jangle, the alt-pop flavor of “Bliss is a Flak Jacket” and “Ascension” which leans Americana/country with some harmonica and hints of twang in the acoustic guitar. A really excellent spin from start to finish for a lazy late summer afternoon.

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Formed in 2022 in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. by 7 music school nerds, DOOM GONG has made a name for themselves internationally with their own home-baked genre, Denim Psych – a hodgepodge of psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, bedroom pop, lo-fi, contemporary classical music, as well as blood, sweat, and a lot of denim.

Having only released their first two LP’s in 2023 (DOOM GONG and Dream Behemoth), DOOM GONG has quickly become a mainstay of the psych scene in the U.S. and abroad, performing their enigmatic and seamless live shows alongside the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers, The Black Angels, BADBADNOTGOOD, Allah Las, King Buffalo, Bass Drum of Death, Death Valley Girls, HOLY WAVE, Gustaf, Ron Gallo…In 2024, DOOM GONG launched their international presence, completing two summer tours consisting of 24 shows across the eastern United States and Canada with immense reception. Soon after, the denim assemblage partnered with Romanus Records to produce vinyl of their debut album – all presses were sold out within an hour of its release. [ed note: I have a copy, just haven’t featured it here yet]

Side A of Megagong is heavy on the dreamy: synth-drenched and swirly, see especially “The Perilous Rise.’ Side B is distinctively heavier: one of my favorites on Megagong is not all dreamy (though it has moments): the single “Annihilator” which was released before the LP and currently the only track with any kind of link (I’m guessing until tomorrow) is mostly hard hard heavy prog synth with glimpses of Motörhead and Sabbath.  As the title suggests “Spiral Dance of Imminent Doom” is another hard and heavy rocker (with proggy synths!) which is also supremely ass-shakey. Slightly less heavy and profoundly more frenetic is the excellent title track “Megagong.” Brilliant and otherworldly.

Doom Gong is currently on tour (not in the upper Midwest unfortunately, but I begged them to put Milwaukee on their circuit next time ’round) – this is one of those bands that you must see live to fully experience the intelligent insanity of their music.

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The band itself seems to view their record through a prog-rock lens that’s got 50ish years of blurry goo smeared on it, never cleaned from back in the era of the 70’s epic concept album. From an article on Nuvo, frontman Corey Standifer says of the plot of Lady of Many Faces (inspired by keyboardist Brooke Rice’s dream of a three-faced woman), “There’s the Wizard, who is unfortunately in his own prison. He’s pure, but he doesn’t know it yet. Same with the ‘Hidden Hermit of the Hills.’ He’s a total nomad of sorts, who lives by his own book. But the Lady [of Many Faces] needs him in order to fulfill this prophecy of good and spreading your true potential. The ‘Doom Tomb Giant,’ however, is wanting to take that away from them. The song ‘Phantom Erasion’ is essentially the concept of wiping away all the negative forces within your life and really trying to tackle that as best as you can. The Lady has many faces, so [that equates to] many characters and many concepts. But she represents really digging inside of your inner self and exploiting your selfless soul.”

Here’s the entire album, performed in order at their record release show in Indy in November 2024.

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*The Romanus label does not appear anywhere on the record, cover or lyric insert. However I got the LP directly from the Romanus label so I know they manufactured and distributed it. Not sure why Frankie didn’t include it as the label for this release; his previous solo release Turning from 2021 does sport the Romanus label.

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From Romanus Records

“Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, revealing the universe’s vastness and complexity. Giovanni Rotondo’s music explores these celestial mysteries, transporting listeners to the outer edges of the cosmos…This album came to us via our MFG side of our business. However, the concept and the music was so unique and cool we asked, “why don’t you just let us release it?” Through covid delays & label releases we waited but we couldn’t be happier to share this dreamy space piano concept with you…Giovanni Rotondo is a London-based Italian composer known for his emotional and technically skilled music. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Giovanni’s work spans feature films, TV series, and documentaries, earning him praise and a loyal following. His compositions, such as a symphony blending Neapolitan folk music with orchestral arrangements, have been performed by the Teatro San Carlo Orchestra. He also has done a bunch in the Video game music community which we thoroughly enjoy.”

From Rotondo

I decided to create a space-themed piano solo album. My main goal was to search deep within myself and find a style that wasn’t dictated by what was popular or in demand. I was determined to let my instinct guide the writing 100%. So, I sat at my piano and started playing. After a few minutes, the music started to flow effortlessly from my fingers, and to my ears, it sounded new and exciting. I could describe Exoplanets as a post-modern piano solo album, or call it neo-classical, minimalistic, or new-objectivistic. But to me, Exoplanets is simply the musical reflection of my soul. Each of the 12 pieces was inspired by a unique exoplanet—planets that orbit suns other than our own. Once the writing was complete, I knew I had something special. But it wasn’t until the incredible Romanus Records picked it up for release that I truly felt I had done something right.

I’m not sure I can choose a top pick (and there is nothing rocking nor ass-shaking on the entire LP) but it’s quite lovely, dreamy and super-relaxing and so I can link at least one or two songs, I’ll choose my favorite track names: Track 1 on Sector A (side A) “Proxima B – The Nigh” and Track 7 on Sector B (side B) “PSRR B1257+2 B Poltergeist” (the latter does have a bit of pep to it!).

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Other show highlights included one of their newer songs, “Pop Song,” and the epically thundering “Welcome to Cashville” (Eleot’s drum prowess is always beyond!) from their 2021 debut Cashville. Both tracks are on Towards the Setting Sun: “Pop Song” recorded at Three Links Deep Ellum in Dallas (Chris threatens to go Dee Synder on the crowd’s “mother-fucking asses,” I’m not sure why!) and “Cashville” at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach.

But far and away the afternoon’s highlight was their performance of the Ray Wylie Hubbard cover “Snake Farm.” It was so nice, they played it twice! Once midway through the main set and then again as part of the encore. The crowd was equally as enthusiastic both times, with a crowd sing along and dancing (well, really one dude doing a skank/pogo hybrid thing, the rest of us doing the stand-in-one-place head-nod/ass-shake). I think this is also when Chris did a guitar solo, strolling down the bar. On Towards the Setting Sun that track was recorded at the Swan Dive in Austin, Texas. (I bet they didn’t get to hear it twice)

I didn’t record any video on Sunday, but here’s a relatively recent performance of “Snake Farm” from a show at Mortimers in Minneapolis (2023); it’s been fun to see how this song has evolved at their shows over the past few years – each time it’s different, sometimes more punk and sometimes a bit psychedelic (like in this video):

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