Happy Birthday Nick Saloman!

Celebrating Nick's birthday with "Big Black Sky" off his boffo new Bevis Frond album Focus On Nature and more. 

Straight outta Folkestone, it's Oak Acetator – but his mum calls him Robin!

Robin Way's seventh Oak Acetator psych-punk opus Power Trip is out January 15th via Nick Saloman's Blue Matter label. 

Here's the scoop from Blue Matter Records...

Robin Way has been making psychedelic music for decades under the name Oak Acetator. Mostly home recorded, Oak Acetator’s world of sound encompasses an intoxicating mix of psychedelia, punk, space rock and pop, with the emphasis strongly on hallucinogenic psych. 

Power Trip is Robin’s seventh album, his previous six coming out on the hallowed Dig The Fuzz label, though strangely, none of his work appears on Discogs! Robin wrote, produced and played everything on ‘Power Trip’ in his Folkestone attic studio, and it is work of crazed brilliance. Respected musician and writer Louis Wiggett summed it up succinctly when he said of ‘Power Trip’; ‘Oh, that bonkers genius from Folkestone, can’t get enough of it. So good, almost sounds like a cosmic Stooges with synths and deadpan humour. Love it!’

And he’s absolutely right. Robin exudes his unique, very British style from the first moment to the last, sounding at times like Johnny Rotten backed by Hawkwind, but with touches of Gong and Krautrock thrown in for good measure, but really just like himself. It’s a total joy to be able to put this deranged masterpiece out on Blue Matter. We adore it, and we hope you will too. 

Get a copy of Oak Acetator's latest album "Power Trip" right here. And check out Adrian Shaw's new one "A Dark Reflection" also out January 15th via Blue Matter while you're at it. Also, those in East Sussex can check out Oak Acetator's album launch at Platform Two Records (9 London Rd, Bexhill-on-Sea) on Saturday, January 20th with the added bonus of Nick Saloman spinning records!

Bevis Frond releasing Focus On Nature double album in February

The Bevis Frond's much anticipated 19-track Focus On Nature album will be out February 1st. Check out the title track below. 

Here's the scoop from Nick Saloman...

Hi Folks, I should have announced this first thing today, but I spent half the day at EE getting my mobile fixed (new SIM card required). So now, a little belatedly, I can reveal what you probably already know. The estimable Fire Records will be issuing a new studio album by The Bevis Frond early next year. It's a double (of course) called 'Focus On Nature' and it features the full band, plus a couple of guest artistes. I'm really happy with it, and hope that anyone who decides to buy a copy will also think it's pretty good. 

The Bevis Frond – Focus On Nature 

Focus On Nature is the new studio album from celebrated post-psyche singer songwriter Nick Saloman and his band The Bevis Frond. Seventy-five minutes of glorious melodies that span 60s psych, English folk, Seattle art-punks The Wipers, the buzzsaw pop of Dinosaur Jr and Hendrix-esque explorations. There’s always an element of playful Englishness to their music. 

Heavily influencing the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Elliot Smith, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr, the cult icons have produced another off-kilter mix of melodic piano-led melancholy, acoustic ruminations, scratchy garage rock with a punky edge and full-on guitar histrionics. 

Like its much-praised predecessor, ‘Little Eden’, the new record studies the world’s weariness but fills out a bigger canvas; fast food and global warming, broken hearts and long gone nights out, everyday immortality and being God’s gift all share space. It’s like Townshend at his most thematic; Big Star in all their acoustic glory, perfectly balancing the punky garage rock combo who end up running on ‘Empty’ with Gilmour breaks that elevate it all to grandeur. 

You can pre-order a copy of The Bevis Frond's forthcoming album Focus On Nature from your platform of choice right here. Check out the kinder, gentler title track following the fancy trailer. Incidentally,  those who find themselves in Bavaria on this weekend can catch The Bevis Frond at Cairo Jugendkulturhaus in Würzburg, Germany on Saturday, November 25 where the rippin' 2017 performance (below) was captured.  

Toronto psych duo Gadsby & Skol releasing debut on vinyl

Chuck Gadsby and Rick Skol released their long overdue debut in 2001 which is now being reissued by Blue Matter Records.

Here's the scoop from Blue Matter Records...

Back in Toronto in 1970, three young guys, heavily influenced by Blue Cheer & Hendrix, got together to form a band. Featuring Charles Gadsby on guitar and vocals, Rick Skol on drums & vocals and Drew Tjernstrom on bass, the nascent outfit called themselves ‘Gadsby & Skol.’

After much rehearsing they started to play local shows, but soon decide they need to do some more work on their sound. In the end, the project stalled and they went their separate ways. Then in 1995 Charles Gadsby found an old rehearsal tape and contacted the other two guys to suggest that they get back together to record the album they could have made back in 1970, if they’d ever got  a recording deal.

A little while later the recordings you have here are completed, and an album’s worth of material is ready and waiting. The album eventually makes its’ one and only brief CD appearance on Nick Saloman's Woronzow label in 2001.

Now here it is on vinyl for the very first time heavy and raw, just how it was meant to be.

So if you like Thunder & Roses, Blue Cheer, Third Power and hard rocking psych guitar bands, you’re going to love this! That’s as close to a promise as we can make. Get a copy from Blue Matter Records right here. Listen to "Stop!" below. 

Happy Birthday Nick Saloman!

Celebrating Nick's birthday with his performance of two Bevis Frond gems popularized by Mary Lou Lord. 

Happy Birthday Nick Saloman!

Celebrating Nick's birthday with a stellar Bevis Frond performance of Splendid Isolation from 1991.