Like drugs and lovers, ’60s psych pop groups were all about sharing songs. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band delighted in celebrating the work of their peers with a variety of covers that appeared on Volume One. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, the more tuneful and pop-oriented response to Andy Warhol’s and the VU’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable, dabbled in many genres: lo-fi garage sounds, baroque pop compositions, rollicking vocal harmonies, sunshine psych pop, and general sonic fuckin’ around. Their original songs were catchy, trippy, and fun, but it was when West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band covered a similar band, often yielding something better than the original version, that the group showcased a more unique, remarkable representation of the free decade of love and sharing.

Unfortunately, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band was short-lived, and the members went on to pursue some pretty uncool careers. I won’t name names, but one of ‘em joined Three Dog Night. Nice.

I have lots of fun comparing and contrasting covers with originals or other covers. Have fun with me, won’t you?

“She May Call You Up Tonight” was originally written by Michael Brown of The Left Banke. Though there’s not much of a discernible different, the polyphonic vocal harmony gives West Coast’s version a more expansive feel. Like with many covers of Bob Dylan songs, their version of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” is closer to the 13th Floor Elevators’ raspy ballad take on the song. West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band dusts the dirge off and gives it a new electric life.

Find West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s Volume One, from the reissue saviors themselves Sundazed, here and the 13th Floor Elevator’s Easter Everywhere here. The Left Banke’s There’s Gonna Be a Storm: Complete Recordings 1966-1969, which documents everything Michael Brown did with the Banke (and some things that he didn’t), is hard to find, but you can buy the album as an MP3 here.

MP3 :::
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – She May Call You Up Tonight
The Left Banke – She May Call You Up Tonight
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
13th Floor Elevators – Baby Blue

Sweet sassy molassey! I had no clue that Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators‘ mastermind and D.A.R.E. role model by example, is performing with the Black Angels next week. And I found this out from, get this, a pay-per-click advert on FaCeBoO!klol. My lameness has reached critical mass.

Having just returned from a quick east coast jaunt, Roky got his permission slip signed again and is heading back out, starting October 4th in Dallas and moving westward like the Oregon Trail. The Black Angels will play an opening set for Roky, then serve as his backing band. The two Texas reverb purveyors are also in the studio to work on some old Erickson-penned songs, as well as to collaborate on new material (possibly the follow up to Directions to See a Ghost). I love Roky. I love the Black Angels. I feel total damage for not being able to attend these shows. But let me know how they go – vibes, set list, whatever. Dates after the jump.

10.04.08 – Dallas, TX – The Granada Theatre
10.28.08 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox at The Market
10.29.08 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
10.31.08 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey
11.01.08 – San Francisco, CA – The Great American Music Hall
11.02.08 – San Francisco, CA – The Great American Music Hall

MP3 :::
13th Floor Elevators – Nobody to Love
13th Floor Elevators – Till Then
The Black Angels – Snake in the Grass (full 16 minute version)
The Black Angels – Dee-Ree-Shee

Whereas Mr. Beast was good, but not as remarkable as their earlier efforts, Mogwai is shaping up to release something really special next month if “Batcat” and “Devil Rides” are any indication.

I was totally psyched when I heard that the the mighty Roky Erickson, legendary psychedelic cult hero, was going to appear on the new Mogwai jam hive The Hawk is Howling, already notorious for its most triumphant track listing and flea market-worthy cover art. It’s quite amazing that Roky is not only still alive, but making music today (though most of it is only a shadow of the 13th Floor Elevators’ reach). I mean, how many languages can you say “fuck yeah” in? I can only say it in one, and that’s English, so I will commence into cheering a loud “fuck yeah” for (probably) the most important duet since Michael Jackson and Eddie Murphy’s “Whatzupwitu.”

At first, I wasn’t too sure of “Devil Rides,” a somber, spacey four-minute forlorn canticle. I felt it suffered from the same issue as their collaboration with Gruff Rhys on “Dail: Revenge” from Rock Action, in that Mogwai is such a musically complex group that any vocal contribution becomes more distracting than interesting. The composition itself is actually kinda similar to “Dial: Revenge” – slow, syrupy, packed with strings swells, absolutely gorgeous. Upon repeated listens, however, I’ve grown to be quite affected by “Devil Rides,” if for no other reason than tangential associations. Though Roky seems to have lost a little melodic quality to his voice, hearing this LSD-casualty (named “the man who got too high” by The Guardian) sing with such a pained demeanor, thinking about how this man has been through hell and back as documented by You’re Gonna Miss Me, really provokes an immense, beautiful sadness. I really love the sense of paranoia “Devil Rides” exudes as well, like you’re hangin’ out in the Panopticon. Needless to say, the Mogwai-Roky collaboration will probably not be a #1 summer jam.

Not much to say about the another new Mogwai song I have, “Batcat,” other than it’s another excellent stoner metal nickel in the jar, continuing Mogwai’s new economical, compact, harmonics-saturated, unapologetically sinister direction in the vein Mr. Beast’s “Glasgow Mega Snake.” This cut is heavier than most naval ships.

If you pre-order the album directly the Matador, you receive $1 plus a free poster. I appreciate how Matador consistently tries to hook you up. It’s good for business.

While we’re on this subject, it’s as good of time as any to express my love for the Elevators and post a jam or two. The 13th Floor Elevators continue to be one of my favorite groups, and I feel I get a new listening experience each time I pump them on the ol’ ghetto blaster. As with the often-fabled Alexander Skip Spence and Syd Barrett, Erickson’s batshit-craziness (including his writing of a notarized document proclaiming his secession from Earth, legally declaring himself an extraterrestrial – see below) adds a certain mystique to their repertoire that many of their contemporaries just can’t reproduce.

“Till Then” is one of my favorites, and also one of the last songs Roky recorded with the group before he was arrested in 1969 on trumped-up drug charges, then later institutionalized. “May the Circle Remain Unbroken,” so very very different from “Till Then,” is the 13th Floor Elevators at their most haunting. “Batcat” actually makes a rather astounding companion to “Circle,” being similar in its unsettling, elegiac mood – bridging a 40 year gap of music from a troubled yet revolutionary songwriter.

MP3 :::
Mogwai – Devil Rides
Mogwai – Batcat
13th Floor Elevators – Till Then
13th Floor Elevators – May the Circle Remain Unbroken