***Finally out—Sweet Sister—this mighty masterpiece of dark and wild psychedelia from the Japanese three-piece legends! Fuzz and reverb drenched jamming sounds from the basements of Hamamatsu evoking the always welcomed ghosts of Amon Düül and Les Rallizes Denudes . "Tokyo psych monsters Up-Tight come out of the classically wasted/drug-damaged school of excessive fuzz and reverb, giving the nod to the endless jam style of Les Rallizes Denudes while spiking their sound with dark downer ballads that owe as much to The Jacks as they do to The Velvet Underground . If you can picture Spacemen 3 circa The Perfect Prescription produced by Ghost circa Temple Stone then you're close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here. Tomoyuki's guitar tone has to be heard to be believed, with tactile garage punk crunch put to the service of endlessly euphoric orbits of three droning chords. Up-Tight have been responsible for a buncha the most memorable releases to come out of the post-PSF underground but this has to be their recorded pinnacle, the perfect balance of two chord Velvet downers and strung-out post-Rallizes string violence. One of our records of the year so far—You need to hear this, Highly recommended!"—Volcanic Tongue
LP $32.75
TBD
***Originally released via Steve Krakow 's Galactic Zoo Dosier Label on CDr. "Flattening new release from one of the greatest live psych groups in the world. Anyone who witnessed their monolithically powerful set at Instal 2005 needs this incredible disc, one of the most epic and dynamically damaged post-Velvets acid rock re-thinks in recent memory. The addition of Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Makoto Kawabata brings an even darker/more elegantly fucked sensibility, with the result that every track feels like it could explode into narcotic chaos at any moment. Aoki's vocals strike the perfect post- Reed/Verlaine/Hell level of decadent damage and the songs are just beautifully rendered, with the group stretching mantric rock forms into whole new zones of affirmative electric beauty. Fuck. Highest recommendation..."—Volcanic Tongue
2XLP $49.25
TBD