Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The psychedelic sound produced some of the most stimulating and remarkable music to have come from either side of the Atlantic in a reign of enlightenment that stretched but a few short years on initial contact, but which has inspired greatly, definably, over the decades since; and whilst memories of Grace Slick, early Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, and even the exotic poetry of Jim Morrison pervade across Time, the genre in some form has survived, even flourished…perhaps just not where you expect, and not in the manner that the Summer of Love would believe.
Liverpool’s The Bordellos burst out in The Lo-Fi Psych Sounds of The Bordellos in a way that is expected, but utterly dramatic, beguilingly raw, and with a thrill of the effect that comes from the experience of knowing exactly just how the band operate, how the motivation to enjoy the breed of Lo-Fi they have brought to the attention, and in The Lo-Fi Psych Sounds of The Bordellos that element of Punk ethic, of the home produced exterior, sits with precision as they pay homage to psych and the far off beat.
Through tracks such as the opener Tastes Like Summer and Signomi Arketa, The Bordellos bring an impulsiveness that is to die for to the listener’s appreciation, and beyond into pleasure beaters as Nina Simone, Crying Over Spilt Coffee, Hallucinations, and The Eye Of The Storm the sense of the mastery of the time may not be what you thought of the period, but it is the best definition maintained by the times, the sheer dogma and lunacy in which we place our trust, to which The Bordello’s have keenly applied themselves to bare their own thoughts and lo-fi to.
As ever you take The Bordellos on that trust, on their own eye and sound, and whilst Grace Slick may not be concerned, Sid Barrett would no doubt have raised an eyebrow or two in the indebted response, of the gratitude for keeping the dream alive of the short song framing a generation.
Turn on, tune in…press play and let the music and Bordellos’ truth make your day.
Ian D. Hall