God there are some cool yet borderline shit band names that reference ace films out there. Back To The Future: The Ride is right up there on the tightrope, as is Police Academy 6. Lucky for them they have pulled out a gem that will push any debate over the moniker aside. 'The Chills', featuring Raw Moans (which I really like as a band name, by the by) steps up from their previous forays into the dreaded chillwave/glo-fi wastelands and offers something much more - well, wholesome. Which is where many of the chillwave acolytes fall down - they dont hold the inherent likeability of the 'pioneers' of the sound - something I think this deliberately tricksy band are trying to capture, which can only be a good thing.
Oh and they did a song with Lester Brown on their EP last year. Lester Brown is one half of Mickey Brown, the project paried with resident SM fave and sonic weirdo Mickey Mickey Rourke, so that tips the boat then.
Where do you even start? Those scorched airwave rapscallions otherwise known as Mickey Mickey Rourke and Lester Brown have joined forces again, Voltron style, to become Mickey Brown. Their last effort, last year's Vision Quest, was a warped carousel of sonic acrobatics. Now they are hitting us with their follow up, Soul Glo. Its easily as frenetic and schizophrenic as its predecessor, loop heavy, distortion laden, and weird as fuck, but it also offers a few new curveballs - the dreamy carnivale chill of 'Mojo Jojo' shows a natural progression, whilst 'Melt Me' is a earnest if candy-coloured rnb hip hop treat, albiet in the shape of a throbbing penis. Its incessantly weird, but Mickey Brown insist that they cant not have fun - and you will be pulled along in their swirling, fucked-up wake.
Yep, a week barely goes by before Mickey Mickey Rourke/Mickey Brown drops a release at our doorstep. I threw on 'Never Cry', from Mickey Brown's forthcoming release Soul Glo, whilst eating a salmon and cream cheese roll. If a happier moment has ever hit me, Ive not known it. Now hurry up and do some live oddities, your fans are braying! Soul Glo is out soon - probably sooner than we expect, Id imagine...
Fuck me, how does he do it? The enigmatic transcendental being known as Mickey Mickey Rourke has ANOTHER release for your appraisal, under his other collaboration Mickey Brown. "What?" you say? "Didnt these crazy cats release an album earlier this year?" Yes they did, just last month as a matter of fact, and Vision Quest is still a favourite here at Sonic Masala. Yet rather rest on their laurels - or not knowing how to - they are prepping Soul Glo, and here is the first track off it. Its decidedly...well, what you'd expect from these guys, and that is a very good thing. You can download this track from the bandcamp site too - they are a gift that keeps on giving...
Mickey Mickey Rourke is a busy busy boy. I only just spoke of upcoming album Inner Gazing, and already Im listening to it. Its an interesting piece, as is anything from MMR's oeuvre. It is dedicated to his grandfather who passed away this year, and as such is a 'concept' album about looking into the soul, a meditation, a spiritual journey. It didnt start out this way, but the tracks - their uniform wont to defy uniformity, no rhythm or melody in place, guest vocals from the likes of Cast Spells and regular collaborator Lester Brown on some of them - creates an overall otherworldy sound that does actually allow you to delve into yourself, or to drift away into your own subconsciousness. Or (as MMR readily admits) Inner Gazing might just be the ticket for trippin', or zoning out. Either way, this album is a perfect example of hallucinogenic ethereal ambient jammage.
And to further the notion that Mickey Mickey Rourke is a seemingly bottomless font of spacey dreamscape viscera, here is a new track from ANOTHER forthcoming album, Magic User, which is said to be a natural flow on from Inner Gazing.
Wow, what a week. Sorry about our complacency. I fully intend to get back up and running at a daily rate. As you can see Paul is now once again on board, and what a change! Time to get re-invigorated...
And first cab off the rank is Los Angeles' Mickey Mickey Rourke (AKA Neon Navajo's Miller Rodriguez). New EP Inner Gazing (his 3rd release this year, following Festive Bummer and MMR) is freshly off the press, and it continues the languid ambient jams that the trop/psych kids will lap up. As do I - this stuff is very impressive, and is some of the best of its kind you can lay your mitts on. The success of Inner Gazing is in the essence of these tracks, that they coalesce around you before solidifying, trapping you in amber.
Secondly is a collaboration that Mr Rourke made with Canada's Lester Brown, appropriately monikered Mickey Brown. They released Vision Quest, a 12-track ectoplasmic entity that takes chillwave and eschews the common tropes - something like Cold Cave stuck in a prism created by The Books... Blending tropical with psychedelic, harbouring a kernel of inherent fun in each song, Vision Quest has clawed its way to the top of my playlist in no short order - alongside Inner Gazing, funnily enough. The reason why these two release are a cut above the rest is because they engage the listener in a way that most other artists of their ilk are loathe to do. Some - Forest Swords for example - hold their own in their aloof frostiness, but Mickey Mickey Rourke/Mickey Brown truly come from Magic Mountain. Hope the magic continues.
