Psych-rock-- that really works!

Leave it to Hoppy Kamiyama and Otomo Yoshihide to form a band that would make the first psych-rock album I can really appreciate: Optical*8 with their debut, 1994's Bug. Hoppy is a creative, talented keyboardist whose work I'm just beginning to explore; Otomo is a guitarist and experimental turntablist to whom I've been listening for some time, but who has a very large discography, of which I have barely scratched the surface. Together, with a heavy and talented bassist and drummer, they create a heavy and psychedelic album that dives into psych-rock-funk-jam cliche while sounding fresh in all the ways I like my Japanese fringe to sound. Rich turntable texture from Otomo (no scratching) and Hoppy's unique MIDI/SNES-esque synth palette contribute to a generally beastly, often goofy sound with a heavily saturated mix. I may not ever listen to Blue Cheer or Atomic Rooster, but I can now count a bit of psych-rock amongst my friends.

As part of my job, I'm reading a ton of mp3 and music blogs, and I find that mine is much more of a personal blog than most "music blogs," a suspicion I had which is now confirmed. The music and mp3 blogosphere is filled with intimidating, frequently updated and exceedingly well-informed sources. I feel okay not really being a part of it. I'm not a tastemaker, anyhow, just someone with taste. Plus, I'm not in New York. The New York music scene makes me a bit more sick every day, and only because of how overwhelmingly influential it is, and only also because of how much I still hate Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. (I still love Sufjan, but I stubbornly, and unfairly, set him apart.)