It’s Valentine’s week, and in between eating an entire box of Little Debbie Valentines cakes and crafting cute things with toddlers, I’m grieving a band who gave me one perfect album and then promptly ghosted me. So here’s my love letter to Greer, Big Smile, and my pattern of loving powerpop one-album wonders. Greer released Big Smile last year and it is undoubtedly one of the best albums of the decade for me. But then, just as quickly as they came back into my life, they were gone. No messy sophomore slump. No gradual decline. Just one immaculate full-length and a breakup post on Instagram. Let’s rewind. It’s July 2020.…
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Newsletter #9
Seventeen new singles from the psychedelic-shoegaze-garage rock underground. Discover new music released with-in the last several months from around the globe!
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Death Dial: Endtimes at WCSB
On World College Radio Day, five decades of student-run airwaves were silenced. Friday, October 3, 2025: 89.3, WCSB broadcast its final breath. Now, this once underground stalwart is truly underground. On that October morning, Cleveland State University (CSU) trumpetted a unanimous approval of a new agreement with Ideastream Public Media. The new contract gave all programming authority to Ideastream. Despite their monopoly on classical music — they have two redundant stations, Ideastream wanted a broadcast home for their “smooth” JazzNEO format. Ideastream, the Northeastern Ohio platform for NPR and PBS, killed Cleveland State’s radio station. WCSB was dead. There was no warning. Still, some WCSB associate producers noticed a seeming tech…
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Psychedelicatessen Review #2
Psychic Ills – Hazed Dream (2011) Opening on a jaw harp solo, this album follows a downtempo trend, featuring a plethora of unexpected and interesting elements. Beyond the jaw harp, you can hear an organ, a cabasa or wooden sounder, something similar to an alarm tone, and a shruti box. These elements add interesting tonal variation to the songs off of this EP and create an interesting sonic contrast to the guitars and bass that form a large portion of the soundscape. Facebook, Bandcamp, and Apple Music pages of Psychic Ills The Out Key Hole – Dreams in a Waking State (2010) The debut record of The Out Key Hole…
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Lorelle Meets the Obsolete | Corporal
The seventh album from Lorelle Meets the Obsolete is a great blend of dark wave and very heady “in the mix” moments. “Regresar / Recordar” starts with a backwards intro. A Deconstructing Dreamgaze mix, starting off in the deep end. The drums kick in when it starts to get too ‘heady,’ with a dark dance vibe to get the audience going. Hushed vocals in Spanish, as well as glimmers of synth light, shine through a dark-scape dream mix. Arpeggiator melodies abound to make Vangelis jealous. One finds themselves running through the night in a direction unknown, and one knows they must get out of the forest before sunset or be…
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Thee Parkside 6.28.25 | Hangtown | The Green Door | The Love Dimension
San Francisco is always busy with events the last week of June. From birthday parties to street festivals, to Pride activities and parades, there is a lot going on. The fog either rolls in at a certain time or burns off in the afternoon, creating that classic San Francisco “Hills and Clouds” environment. With everything going on though, this double album release show was the premiere psych event of the week. It was very fitting for this picture-perfect San Francisco summer day, as the sun gave a golden glow over Potrero Hill, with the fog encircling Twin Peaks in the distance like a giant cloud fortress. People lounged in the…
