Mienakunaru - Strato Arcology (2022)

Mienakunaru is a trio with two leading musician of the psych underground, from Japan the guitarist Suzuki Junzo (who sadly is recovering from a very serious accident), and from England the bassist Mike Vest, joined by David Sneddon on drums. If you're familiar with Mike Vest other bands you'll find yourself at home listening to Mienakunaru third albumm Strato Arcology (released by the excellent Riot Seanson Records), otherwise expect two long tracks of heavy psychelic rock, where trippy space rock combine with punk savagery. Powerful stuff! 

The Bandcamp page.

 

Haikai No Ku - Temporary Infinity (2016)

Haikai No Ku formed in 2012 as a "power trio" with Mike Vest (Bong, 11Paranoias, Blown out, etc.) on guitar, Jerome Smith on bass and Sam Booth on drums. Temporary Infinity is something like their fourth or fifth album. It delivers the expected amount of slow and heavy psychedelic rock drowned in feedback and delays. What set it apart from other psychedelic bands is the darker feel, evoking more lovecraftian unspeakable horrors than flower power. We could say it's somewhere between Bong and 11Paranoias with more lead guitars. In fact it would be closer to a nightmarish version of Blown out. Anyway if you're into heavy rock and dark psychedelia this is something you have to listen to. Strong stuff!

The Bandcamp page.

Blown out - Jet black hallucinations & Planetary engineering (2015)

Blown out is one of the band with the guitarist Mike Vest from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) who also plays in 11Paranoias, Bong , Lobster priest, Haikai no ku, etc. In Blown out you'll find the heavy and trippy elements that you find in every Mike Vest bands, taking the form of an instrumental space rock power trio. They released two excellent records in 2015 Jet black hallucinations and Planetary engineering, and I'll do one review for both because basically it's the same stuff. Heavy rock with a lot of psychedelic lead guitar with fuzz working with the drums & bass grooving rhythmic section. On these records Mike Vest shows once again that he's a major player in the heavy psychedelic scene with a strong distinctive style. If you're into heavy psychedelia you needs to listen to this. Stoner space rock at its finest. Strong stuff.

The Blown out Bandcamp page.

Lobster priest - Hallucinatory pagoda (2014)

Lobster priest (with Mike Vest and Mike Smith of Bong) plays what they call "space-puk" and it's sure it's not the pretty flowers kind of psyched music, it's definitely spacey with some trippy layers of heavy noisy and psychedelic lead guitar works all over the place but with some heavy drumming and thick sludgy riffing and harsh drones. a powerfull mixture. their latest release, the aptly titled hallucinatory pagoda tape, is two jam like studio takes on the A side and two live tracks and the B side. if you're into the louder (I mean LOUDER!) and harder side of psychedelia or the more trippy and noisy side of doom this is something you must try. but I warn you, it's addictive stuff..

their bandcamp