WatchOut! – Flashbacker (2014) review
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WatchOut! “Flashbacker” (Permanent Records, 2014)
In my continuing adventures exploring the Chilean psych
scene we come to one of the coolest bands I’ve wandered across in
sometime. WatchOut! Sound like they fell
straight out of the summer of love.
Sitars abound on the title track “Latinarabia” which builds from a
lurching dirge to a Beatles-esque garage pop affair with dripping vocals and
strings vying for space in the tripped out tribal landscape effortlessly
sounding like it’s 1969and they’re discovering psychedelics for the first time. There’s a certain element of experimental
folk melodies that drive the thing, like the scales on the belly of a snake
propelling the melody for almost seven minutes leading into the much more
straight out and up-beat “South Sun”.
The fuzzy, reverb drenched guitars rave and subside behind an
infectiously catchy lead melody that’s repeated through out, tasty little fills
and leads smattered through out. “Die”
slows the melody a bit, pitting accordion against the vocals, joined only by
some light tambourine work and what sounds like a bit of organ in there
somewhere. The sparse landscape is a
wonderful compliment to the rest of the album, giving you a little breathing
room, gearing up slowly as it progresses with some dual vocal lines fading into
“WishYouKnow” which is a dead ahead rocker.
The fuzzy riffage explodes out of the speakers from minute one of what
is the fourth track and kind of signals a movement into the latter half of the
album. While retaining the whimsical pop
melodies of earlier tracks, “WishYouKnow” kicks things into high gear and takes
the energy to the next level. The gnarly
bass line just bumps on this one, I was afraid it was going to kick the tone
arm of the record player around! The
organs begin to dual against absolutely blown-out and distorted guitars in an
all out battle to the death in huge instrumental breaks, of all the tracks on
this album this is one of the strand-outs to be sure. The toe-tapping melody is perfectly teamed
with just the right amount of radical revolutionary aggression steeped with the
love and patchouli of the hippie culture; this song deserves to be blasted in a
tricked out van with shag carpeting damn it!
“Space So Near” is of the “Southern Sun” vein, more refrained and
perhaps a bit more refined, tight rhythm work paving the way for inlets of lead
guitar and feedback breaks. “Space So
Near” though, takes the palette of sounds that have been introduced in the
first half of the album and adds them to the mix, blending and building on
their sound like the Lego maniacs of psych that they are! The twelve-minute and some-odd second title
track “Flashbacker” is next up and it’s a doozy… Incorporating avant-garde acoustic guitar
before melting into some more Eastern sounding string work “Flashbacker” is one
of those polarizing moments in the album for me, the point where most people
are either nodding their heads and really starting to get in to it or they’ve
decided the ride is too much and the need to get off. The organ starts softly in the din of a heavy
drone building and growing more and more erratic before morphing into looped
feedback and electronic whimsy dancing behind the melody of the song and
eventually sputter and fade into near silence once more. At about seven minutes into the song the
guitars start to grow a bit more prevalent, finally peeking their heads out and
tossing some serious distortion and fretwork around growing more and frenzied
before leading the song back into a smooth droning direction like a pied-piper
of LSD. The last minute or two of the
song bring the organ back into the mix heavily, adding the strings and building
into a single channel of feedback that starts the final track “Mystic
River”. “Mystic River” is a perfect way
to finish the album, heavily tremolo causing the vocals to shimmer and ripple
across the rhythm section, an organ heavy hook that really kicks. The organs give way to some dissonant flute
work before slipping back into the tremolo-drenched hook. The tribal element of the album is probably
most apparent on “Mystic River” as well, the song ending with simple hand drums
and a sparse organ melody. Virtually
impossible to get in the US before now, Permanent Records has once again come
to the rescue with a pressing of this sick album. Limited to only 300 copies this is a must
have for seriously Chilean-psych heads, tribal or garage pop junkies; I ain’t
joking, this is essential listening for just about anyone whose into real
psychedelic music. Don’t sleep on this
because it’s going to be gone before you know it and nobody likes supporting
flippers, do they?
scene we come to one of the coolest bands I’ve wandered across in
sometime. WatchOut! Sound like they fell
straight out of the summer of love.
Sitars abound on the title track “Latinarabia” which builds from a
lurching dirge to a Beatles-esque garage pop affair with dripping vocals and
strings vying for space in the tripped out tribal landscape effortlessly
sounding like it’s 1969and they’re discovering psychedelics for the first time. There’s a certain element of experimental
folk melodies that drive the thing, like the scales on the belly of a snake
propelling the melody for almost seven minutes leading into the much more
straight out and up-beat “South Sun”.
The fuzzy, reverb drenched guitars rave and subside behind an
infectiously catchy lead melody that’s repeated through out, tasty little fills
and leads smattered through out. “Die”
slows the melody a bit, pitting accordion against the vocals, joined only by
some light tambourine work and what sounds like a bit of organ in there
somewhere. The sparse landscape is a
wonderful compliment to the rest of the album, giving you a little breathing
room, gearing up slowly as it progresses with some dual vocal lines fading into
“WishYouKnow” which is a dead ahead rocker.
The fuzzy riffage explodes out of the speakers from minute one of what
is the fourth track and kind of signals a movement into the latter half of the
album. While retaining the whimsical pop
melodies of earlier tracks, “WishYouKnow” kicks things into high gear and takes
the energy to the next level. The gnarly
bass line just bumps on this one, I was afraid it was going to kick the tone
arm of the record player around! The
organs begin to dual against absolutely blown-out and distorted guitars in an
all out battle to the death in huge instrumental breaks, of all the tracks on
this album this is one of the strand-outs to be sure. The toe-tapping melody is perfectly teamed
with just the right amount of radical revolutionary aggression steeped with the
love and patchouli of the hippie culture; this song deserves to be blasted in a
tricked out van with shag carpeting damn it!
“Space So Near” is of the “Southern Sun” vein, more refrained and
perhaps a bit more refined, tight rhythm work paving the way for inlets of lead
guitar and feedback breaks. “Space So
Near” though, takes the palette of sounds that have been introduced in the
first half of the album and adds them to the mix, blending and building on
their sound like the Lego maniacs of psych that they are! The twelve-minute and some-odd second title
track “Flashbacker” is next up and it’s a doozy… Incorporating avant-garde acoustic guitar
before melting into some more Eastern sounding string work “Flashbacker” is one
of those polarizing moments in the album for me, the point where most people
are either nodding their heads and really starting to get in to it or they’ve
decided the ride is too much and the need to get off. The organ starts softly in the din of a heavy
drone building and growing more and more erratic before morphing into looped
feedback and electronic whimsy dancing behind the melody of the song and
eventually sputter and fade into near silence once more. At about seven minutes into the song the
guitars start to grow a bit more prevalent, finally peeking their heads out and
tossing some serious distortion and fretwork around growing more and frenzied
before leading the song back into a smooth droning direction like a pied-piper
of LSD. The last minute or two of the
song bring the organ back into the mix heavily, adding the strings and building
into a single channel of feedback that starts the final track “Mystic
River”. “Mystic River” is a perfect way
to finish the album, heavily tremolo causing the vocals to shimmer and ripple
across the rhythm section, an organ heavy hook that really kicks. The organs give way to some dissonant flute
work before slipping back into the tremolo-drenched hook. The tribal element of the album is probably
most apparent on “Mystic River” as well, the song ending with simple hand drums
and a sparse organ melody. Virtually
impossible to get in the US before now, Permanent Records has once again come
to the rescue with a pressing of this sick album. Limited to only 300 copies this is a must
have for seriously Chilean-psych heads, tribal or garage pop junkies; I ain’t
joking, this is essential listening for just about anyone whose into real
psychedelic music. Don’t sleep on this
because it’s going to be gone before you know it and nobody likes supporting
flippers, do they?
Review made by Roman Rathert/2014
© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2014
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