’60s | The Decibel Tolls

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Before the Michael Yonkers Band, There was The Mumbles

Published

on September 7, 2009

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michaelandthemumbles Before the Michael Yonkers Band, There was The Mumbles
Michael and the Mumbles. Sure, this group’s moniker features the Christian name of a designated leader, followed by the article “and” and a random plural noun that’s alliterative with the first name – meaning, you can guess where this music’s loyalties lie. It’s pure Nuggets-style ’60s garage rock. But what’s paricularly important about Michael and the Mumbles is that the Michael in question is the eccentric and legendary Michael Motherfuckin’ Yonkers. Before Michael Yonkers Band reinvented how psych music was recorded and enjoyed, Yonkers played it a little more straightforward with the Mumbles.

While on the surface the band employs the same fuzzy guitars, punchy rhythm, infectious melodies, touch of surf, and doo wop stomp that represents the cadence of the time, the Mumbles kept their subject matter pitch black. No flower power or free love on their 1966 eponymous full length – this jam’s about broken dreams, civil strife, walking through your hometown realizing that the whole place has gone bellyup, and how some dumb-ass ho has done M Yonks wrong. And all this was recorded when he was still a teenager!

Yonkers remains somewhat reclusive these days, partly due to medical issues. However, when Sub Pop reissued Microminiature Love in 2003 to wide distribution (the record was originally released vinyl-only on De Stijl), interest was strongly renewed in the niche he carved in the late ’60s. Yonkers has since played live with acts as diverse as Six Organs of Admittance, Wolf Eyes, and Low. With the Mumbles LP, you can hear the very first chapter in an artist’s career that should’ve been much longer.

In all of its remastered glory, Michael and the Mumbles drops on November 3 courtesy of De Stijl and will be available for preorder soon. Vinyl only.

For fans of: Strawberry Alarm Clock, Link Wray, 13th Floor Elevators, The Seeds

MP3 :::
Michael & The Mumbles – Need Your Love
Michael & The Mumbles – Anything

The Missing Link Between Flower Power and Creation – The Folklords

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on July 6, 2009

in Contraband

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51yRK%2Bq5gwL._SS500_ The Missing Link Between Flower Power and Creation - The Folklords

Whoever said you can’t judge a book by its cover is an asshole. I was introduced to The Folklords‘ Release the Sunshine whilst poking around Ear X-Tacy over the weekend. Like magnetism, my eyes locked on this record that was on display in the psych/kraut/experimental section from rather far away. The kaleidoscopic band photo with a Polaroid-washed palette, Indian-inspired hippie chic wardrobes, and the album’s title imposed over a doily-like paisley sun in the upper right hand corner – oh hell yes, this record’s going to be very relevant to my interests. And they’re called the fuckin’ Folklords. You know this is shit’s gonna be rowdy. So I picked it up.

The record sounds exactly as the album art suggests – good vibin’, sunny, spellbinding, lazy and hazy psychedelic electric folk with serious zither and autoharp solos in tow. Originally released in 1968 on Canadian imprint Allied Records, little is known about this Toronto trio and their only album. Their obscurity says nothing about the quality of the music – only that the late ’60s were quite a competitive period for this type of sound. As the liner notes suggest (and I agree), the Folklords, strangely enough, sound closer to the Creation Records groups of the mid ’80s, the British bands emulating the timbre of flower power, than many of their contemporaries in 1968. This is especially pervasive on “Thank You For Your Kindness,” included below. You can extrapolate whatever you will from this sentiment.

Release the Sunshine isn’t anything you haven’t heard before, but it’s exciting nonetheless to find a pretty good document of Canada’s response to the west coast sound – one that was swept under the rug, no less. Fortunately, Lion Productions, who specialize in grabbing obscure psychedelia and craftily remastering their finds, recently released this gem, and its available here.

For fans of: West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Left Banke, Margo Guryan

MP3 :::
The Folklords – Forty Seconds River
The Folklords – Thank You For Your Kindness

Celebrating The United States of America

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on July 3, 2009

in MP3

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usa The United States of America - The American Metaphysical Circus and Heresy

On this holiday celebrating a rather goofy nation, it seemed poignant to post about one of my all-time favorite artists, also somewhat goofy, who happened to adopt a most festive and patriotic namesake – The United States of America. I’m still blown away every time I consider that this album, their one and only eponymous record, was recorded in 1967.

The United States of America was so far ahead of its time that it sounds futuristic even today. “The American Metaphysical Circus” provides a starting point for the marriage of psych pop with soaring melodic choruses, noise flourishes, and electronic structures adopted later by groups like Broadcast, Need New Body, early Stereolab, et al. Also make note of wonderfully drugged out lyrics: “and the price is right, the cost of one admission is your mind.” Word. “Heresy” is a better and more interesting outtake of “Coming Down” off the original release, and almost evokes a very distinct baroque flavor that, despite its major key tendencies, feels somewhat ominous. Hands down one of the most underrated artists of the ’60s.

Have a fun holiday weekend. Beer and fireworks. Be sure to mix the two.

MP3 :::
The United States of America – Heresy
The United States of America – The American Metaphysical Circus

A Side of Marmalade

Published

Kenny Bloggins

on October 27, 2008

in MP3

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marmalade_psych_band A Side of Marmalade

Especially in music, it seems there are a lot of names that most prominently exist as a footnote. I’m sure that’s a peculiar place to find oneself in. You see this often in the quite communal scenes of the late ’60s and early ’70s, the best example being the Beatles and how everyone associated with them gets the distinction of “sixth Beatle,” “seventh Beatle,” and so on. Marmalade is such a group. Most music dorks seem to immediately associate Marmalade as simply the group that did a decent cover of a Beatles song, and that Jimi Hendrix was really stoked on the group in 1967. Continue reading ‘A Side of Marmalade’