The sophomore album by Psychic Void, Skeleton Paradise, was released at the end of November 2019 on Vanilla Box. This album follows the Windsor, Ontario four piece’s 2018 album Terminal Vacation. Psychic Void consists of Jesse Knight (vocals), Josh Kaiser (guitar/sythns), Matt Menard (bass) and Sean Carpenter on drums. Peter Garant plays drums on this recording. The sound of Psychic Void is often described as psych punk. The music that they create is punk, but it is also has elements of 80s hardcore, garage and psych music. All of this gets combined with the subversive lyrics sung by Jesse Knight that seep into each track. Recorded, mixed and mastered by guitarist Josh Kaiser, Skeleton Paradise is an album on edge, unnerving, and filled with unease that doesn’t preach to the listener. It just tells it like it is.
“Dirty Hands” opens Skeleton Paradise with a heavy, lurking synthesizer introduction that sounds as if it spawned from an 80s horror movie. As the music comes in, fuzzy bass from bassist Matt Menard drives the track and album forward in between drums and guitar effects. The opening lyrics begin with the words “Fools of illusion/Stuck rats in a maze/Dollar signs expensive wines/They got the good medicine/Such happy smiling people”, which sets the tone for this psych punk track, as lyrically the song delves into addressing the falsities of people with expensive taste that actually reveal that they have no taste at all. When the chorus kicks in with “Numb the beast/Sexual relief/Rinse and repeat/Such dirty hands”, the band propels the point home even further. “Internet Human” picks up the pace in the punk direction as heavy guitar riffs cut deep with Knight’s reverb damaged vocals, driving bass and drums that explore a world of the present. In a recent music video for this song directed by Rob Maslanka, Psychic Void drive to an undisclosed location and destroy old computers with sledgehammers while wearing ski masks and being dressed all black in a Guy Ritchie meets Office Space scenario. This perfectly exemplifies some of the themes not only on this track and Skeleton Paradise, but also in the disconnected situations that are all around us. “Denim Daddy” brings in crunchy riffs ala Keith Morris-era Black Flag that stop and start as the song builds into chaos with lyrics that tap into a mini character study of a denim wearing, cigarette smoking, microdoser.
“Alley Dweller” starts with a combination of trippy synthesizers and guitar effects before fast hardcore punk riffs descend into the listener’s subconscious. With lyrics such as “Don’t go home tonight/Keep your head down” and “I just keep my feet/On the streets/I don’t even bother”, this heavy punk track attacks with a rage and venom for the introspective disaffected, “Sweet Dreams” features heavy garage psych guitar and bass riffs with lyrics such as “We all want something/Us average people with nothing/Kept so many secrets tucked under my bed/Until I was listening to the voices in my head” that are just as heavy in thought, “Boneshaker” rattles with the influence of 80s hardcore punk, while lyrically, the song revels in discord, “Small Talk” is mid-tempo garage punk track with a touch of Motorhead influenced grime featuring stream of consciousness-like lyrics. With words such as “Ya I bet you’re doing great/Ya I bet you’re doing fine/Ya you got married last week/Ya go follow the sheep/I don’t care” and “I don’t think before I speak/You can tell by the weakness in my speech”, “Small Talk” is a song about running into someone from your past at the grocery store that is immersed in their own sense of boring normalcy who won’t stop talking about themselves. All of this is contrasted with the inner dialogue and annoyance of being stuck in this situation, while at the same time looking for a way to escape from it.
“Hazel Eyes” ends Skeleton Paradise with more psych punk dynamics that deliver a blast of reverb-loaded vocals that evoke attitude and intensity. This song seems to end Skeleton Paradise with some sort of redemption to the chaotic, damaged surroundings that are vocalized on this album. However, like many of the songs on this album, it operates on different levels. “Hazel Eyes” also seems to punch holes into an idealized version of happiness that some people can become numb to. It is up to the listener to decide. Throughout Skeleton Paradise, Psychic Void combines a mixture of wit, disdain and anger with their own brand of psych punk music, which, like many of the layered, complex themes that run throughout this album doesn’t easily fit into a defined category. With Skeleton Paradise, Psychic Void shakes the bones of the past while breathing life into the present.
Show 812 (Originally Aired On January 25th, 2020)(Wolf Parade, Dry Cleaning, Clamm, Red Mass, Black Lips, The Sadies):
1. Wolf Parade - Against The Day
2. U.S. Girls - Waiting Room
3. Holy Fuck - No Error
4. Dry Cleaning - New Job
5. Fime - Flores
6. Clamm - Dog
7. Red Mass - Life is a Cabaret
8. Lie - Digging in the Desert
9. Priors - Sunshine
10. XTC - Respectable Street
11. Franz Ferdinand - Shopping for Blood
12. The Pop Group - She is Beyond Good and Evil
13. The Scientists - Nitro
14. Nap Eyes - Mark Zuckerberg
15. Andy Shauf - Neon Skyline
16. The Black Lips - Chainsaw
17. Drive By Truckers - Grievance Merchants
18. Gun Club - Brother and Sister
19. The Sadies - The Most Despicable Man Alive
20. The Beach Boys - Bluebirds Over the Mountain (Live in London 1968)
21. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - They Don't Call Them Chihuahuas Anymore
22. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - Vibrolux Deluxe
23. Lost Patrol - That's Your Style
24. Destination Lonely - Out of Your Head
25. Saba Lou - Cherie Sherabou
26. The Libertines - The Boy Looked At Johnny
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 25.
Show # 811 (Originally Aired On January 18th, 2020)(The Make-Up, Reigning Sound, The Gonks, Psychic Void):
1. The Make-Up - Blue Is Beautiful
2. Reigning Sound - North Cackalacky Girl
3. Bloodshot Bill - Take me for a Ride
4. The Black Lips - Rumbler
5. Sloan - Keep On Thinkin'
6. Pavement - Elevate Me Later
7. Pixies - Mr. Grieves
8. Pixies - Crackity Jones
9. Sonic Youth - Bubblegum
10. Trout - Scaredy Cat
11. Nap Eyes - It's Only Life (Laginappe Session 2018)
12. Neil Young - Don't Cry No Tears
13. Diamond Rugs - Gimme a Beer
14. The Routes - Split Personality
15. The Gonks - I'm a Leaker
16. The Gonks - Hot Sick Vile and Fun
17. Frank Zappa - Hungry Freaks, Daddy
18. Scott Walker - Plastic Palace People
19. Chad VanGaalen - Pine and Clover
20. Corridor - Junior
21. Run Coyote - The Psychic
22. Family Video - Supergiant
23. Psychic Void - Sweet Dreams
24. Trophy Knife - Mano of Action
25. Fruit Tones - Pop My Clogs
26. The Replacements - Stuck In The Middle
27. Fugazi - Public Witness Program
28. The Jim Carroll Band - Catholic Boy
29. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Dynamite Lover
30. The Eyes - Topological Lies
31. Julie & the Wrong Guys - Calm Before the Storm (CJSW Session)
32. David Bowie - John, I'm Only Dancing
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 18.
Show # 810 (Originally Aired On January 11th, 2020)(Nick Cave, Hank Williams Sr. & III, Public Image Limited):
1. Iggy Pop - Success
2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - The Lyre of Orpheus Abbtoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus
3. Captain Beefheart - Dali's Car
4. Starlites - I Can't See You
5 Steely Dan - East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
6. The Bobby Tenderloin Universe - Cow Eyes
7. Psychic Void - Internet Human (CJAM Session)
8. Cellos - Mailroom Blues
9. The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs
10. King James & The Royal Jesters - I Get A Feeling
11. The Painted Ship - Frustration
12. No Museums - Local Cold
13. Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
14. David Bowie - It's No Game (Pt. 2)
15. Adaptors - Trust In Technology
16. Paul Jacobs - Sucking On A Cigarette
17. Hank Williams - My Bucket's Got a Hole in It
18. Hank Williams III - Drinkin' Ain't Hard to Do
19. The Obsidians - Le Fiord
20. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues
21. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - Pirate Love
22. Public Image Ltd. - Bad Night
23. Pottery - Lady Solinas
24. Walrus - Half Smoke
25. Dumb - Slacker Needs Serious Work
26. The Only Ones - City of Fun
27. Roxy Music - Virginia Plain
To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for January 11.
Show 809 was a repeat of a show that aired in October 2019 that also featured an interview with Mark Arm of Mudhoney. Find the download/stream link to this show here and the playlist here.
Show 808 was a repeat of a show that aired in December 2019. You can find a download/stream link to this show here and the playlist here.
No comments:
Post a Comment