Panning For White Manna

One band unashamed of their squalling psych explosions is White Manna, whose fourth album Pan came out on Cardinal Fuzz yesterday. It reminds me of a harder edged Wooden Shjips - less interested in a lysergic motorik dirge though and more in a sandblasted fuzz storm. The title track confirms that the Californian five-piece haven't changed tack at all, a blistering intensity that revels in its circular devastation - a hurricane wail. The duo 'Dunes I' and 'Dunes II' ups the insanity, the former a hazed wall of desperation, the latter a narcolpetic drift through the aftermath - but not even the comedown can stop the propulsive jams that kick in at the half way mark. 'Evil' is the shortest track at five minutes flat, and is about as punk as these guys will get - The Stooges on Quaaludes. It's a killer track. 'Beta Travellers' floats into the cosmic either, evoking motorik tensions and howled epiphanies, while the epic closer 'Eshra' (they are all pretty epic, but this gets the title due to its twelve minute running time) starts with crashing waves, tremolo-ing into your cerebral vortex, fusing nature with fission, a chugging rhythm rising like the tide, a psych warrior's eternal dream.

Make sure you grab Pan now with its crazy limited edition vinyl, seen above.