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psychedelic and/or pop territory. Call it "Prisoners" and "Broken Horse" are Fyes can't quite achieve as sharp a
nostalgia or revisionism, one cannot gorgeous ballads and further demon- focus. The opening "Dream Life" is
P a is le y deny when speaking of the current strations of the Rain Parade's impressively big -wind noises,
movement that (as the Peanut Butter astonishing imagination in the studio - chimes, choral backdrops, et al - and
Conspiracy once sang) it's a happening the production values of this EP and the works rather well, but despite fair
thing. first LP could be fairly said to set a enough songwriting, the punk needed
rutIn some ways the most remarkable of standard by which other independent here is lacking for upbeat tunes like
the new psychedelia bands is L.A.'s The label releases can measure themselves. "Alice."
Rain Parade, who (rather like R.E.M.) The closing seven-minute track, "No Perhaps they just need a bit more
call up ghosts of several musical sour- Easy Way Down," is stunning - an time or money or production guidance.
Explosions in the Glass Palace ces yet seem to avoid and surpass all essentially simple song reverbing into In any case, Turquoise Umbrella has
direct comparisons. Also like R.E.M., the eye of some mystery, where it charm but little substance.
The Rain Parade the Rain Parade creates an oddly spec- finally disappears in a climactic string Produced by neo-psychedelic whim-
Engima Records tral mood, a haunting emotional arrangement that isn't all that short of sy-pop superstar Michael Querico, lead
evasiveness that seems at the same classical and is somehow truly singer for best-band-on-Earth (the
Tales of the Turquoise Umbrella time quintessentially roots-American. plsychedelic as well. Three O'Clock), Game Theory's new
The Eyes of Mind The first album, Emergency Third Rail Once again, this band eludes easy EP Distortion is easily the best of its
T Power Trip, seemed at first just description - what seems at first pret- sort since ... well, since the last Three
Voxx Records another cheerful disco of neo- tily simple gains an inexplicable com- O'Clock record.
psychedelic pop, but it grows more plexity with each listening. I'm not This album is near-perfect vaguely
Distortion complex with every listening. quite sure what rules the Rain Parade retrograde pop, with consumately
Their new five-song EP, Explosions are following, but they're definitely whiny adelescent vocals by Scott Miller
Game Theory in the Glass Palace, is once again making them up themselves. and gorgeous tunes by the same.
Rational Records deceptively simple at a first glance, but Explosions in the Glass Palace is one An unexpected plus is the very
far darker in tone. of the best records of the year so far. smart up-to-the-moment lyrics, which
While the previous album skipped Also sweet-sounding and elaborately place Game Theory a bit outside of
By Denns Harvey through every possible emotional tone produced (though thinner-sounding) is those purer '60s archivists who write
of the psyche-circus, from sweet up- the Eyes of Mind's EP Tales of the primarily about Girls and
Chapter Two of our investigation into tempo melodies ("What She's Done to Turquoise Umbrella. hallucinations.
the new paisley underground moves on Your Mind") to vaguely disturbing Like the title, the music here has a The opener "Sharp Pretty" is a
from garage rock to more purely space-abouts ("Look at Merri"), the sort of whimsical weightlessness - it's thumping must at any party I'd want to
new EP has a consistent atmosphere of charming, but after the last of the six attend, and "Nine Lives to Rigel
melancholy and loss. songs is over it just floats out of Five" matches perfect bump/grind
Indeed, the best comparison that memory. The arrangements are rather lyrics with addictive melody and the
CA Scomes to mind is, surprisingly, the Neil imaginative, with lots of tiny voices and lyrics of the century:
Young of Zuma and Tonight's the Night noises putting in an appearance for
_-in both' its more ballad-and in its trpotvle
W-Pycshfrue - roriented moments Glass Palace has The songs are generally pleasantly Now, Joo proposed we leave our
LP's nd cassettesthat same obsessive power, beauty and melodic/harmonic in the tradition of homes
mysterious tension. fey British (though these blokes, like Like runaway gnomes in the
R AXAPerhaps what the Rain Parade really the Three O'Clock, sound brit by way of -Twilight Zones
has in common with Young (,and with California) late '60s psyche-pop, com- He said, Baby, when you're
R.E.M.) is less a matter of musical plete with the high-tenor male vocalist
specifics than an ability to evoke moods singing about flowers and stuff.
that can't quite be pinned down, a sort I said, Let's get out the Twister
USED IMPORT of aural impressionism that's Drummer Troy Howell actually for- game and get down on allfours.
foreboding yet never exactly med the band after leaving the
T K A 2.99 depressing or self-pitying. Salvation Army;,whose remaining par- "The Red Baron" is a curiously
"You Are My Friend" combines ts went on to form the sublime Three moving ballad-type-thing climaxing in
ALWA YS soaring guitar work and a wonderfully O'Clock, a band that the Eyes of Mind the sob, "Oh please/stay the way I
thick sound (sitar, tambourine, et al) has much superficially in common hate you/can't you?" "Too Late for
with lyrics that are not an affirmation with. Tears" gets the blood circulating as a
of, but a farewell to a friendship. However, while the Three O'Clock closing rave-up ditty, too.
Similarly, "Blue" is melodically writes consistently great songs and
sweeping, yet the lyrics are in- polishes them beyond this writer's Buy this record.
662-1163 terestinly desolate. capacity for gratitude in the studio, the
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