The Bevis Frond

Abanamat

Nick Wheeldon

Weedpecker

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THE BEVIS FROND - HORRORFUL HEIGHTS

(CD/2LP from Fire Records; also available as a limited edition 3LP, including HORRORFUL OFFAL, a complete album of outtakes and demos)

Nick Saloman has always been generous when it comes to entertaining us with his Bevis Frond releases. Most of the Frond’s back catalogue is graced with double albums (or the occasional triple as is the case here with a bonus disc of Saloman solo demos and full band outtakes, none of which appear on the regular album, making this special edition essential for fans and completists). So settle back for over two hours of vintage Frond head rattling, catchy, chart-worthy pop, and the always insightful lyrics that actually encourage you to think while listening to his carefully constructed tunes. [A lyric sheet is helpfully included.]

'A Mess Of Stress' leaps out of the gate buoyed by a typically barnstorming solo and melancholia  settles the pace down with the western-tinged 'Best Laid Plans' and 'Momma Bear' featuring charming pedal steel solos from Louis Wigget, a first on a Frond album I believe? I like how 'Square House' picks up the pace with a nasty little toe-dip into grungier territory, six-strings a-blazing. The fast/slow dynamic continues with the appropriately-titled 'Quietly' featuring some prescient lyrics and then we reach out first extended jam session with the album's longest track 'Space Age Eyes.' Plenty of room for Saloman and his sidekick Paul Simmons to flash their soloing skills without getting sloppy or over-indulgent. Fans of "the long ones" will be drooling before we're even halfway through. (Nick's daughter Debbie Wileman's harmony vocals add a tender touch to the bombast.)

There're not many bass solos in the Frond catalogue (Ade Shaw's opening to 'Stoned Train Driver' comes to mind), but his recently deputised replacement Wigget is up to the task as 'Naked Air' opens side 2. I think I hear a little bit of Iggy's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' in the fade out! More fiery solos assure us the Frond has not gone all soft on us!

The title track is all sitars and tablas and patches of patchouli reminiscent of Mr. Harrison seeking enlightenment looking within and without his soul. There's a nice medieval melody tossed in for good measure. 'Draining The Bad Blood Out' and 'That's Your Lot' harken back to the "hit single" territory of 'Lights Are Changing' or any number of selections from New River Head, and 'Simple Pursuit' is a molasses-slow crawl through a bluesy lament bolstered by a Sisyphusian wall-of-guitars uphill climb.

'Romany Blue' is another pop charmer featuring one of Saloman's tenderest vocals (think of 'Where The Old Boys Go' and 'Could You Fly Higher'), but don't drift away just yet, the seven-minute 'Mossbacks' Dream' whips out the string-shredding machine for vintage headbanging bacchanalia. Order is restored for another acoustic ballad 'Buffaloed' with subtle harmonies from Debbie, and 'Silver Insects' has one of those druggy, dreamy Crazy Horse grooves that decorates many of Neil Young's best efforts.

Old age and looking back on a life's fateful decisions feature in a few tracks - 'Sink Estate' with its worry about the decision to move house ("It's not how we want to live/but there's no alternative" - is there a touch of autobiography here?) and most emphatically in 'That's Your Lot': "I don't know how long I've got"), and closer 'King For A Day' goes out like a lion, from Dave Pearce's drum intro through a funky bass strut, and Saloman's rollercoaster melody and self-deprecating lyric. You'll always be more than a king for just a day in our book, Mr. Saloman!

(Jeff Penczak)

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ABANAMAT - ABOMINAT

(LP/CD on Interstellar Smoke Records)

Berlin’s Abanamat plays an irresistible brand of music combining elements of hard psych (or as it was called back in the day, hard rock) and prog. On this not difficult second album, following 2023’s eponymous debut, most of the 41 minutes is instrumental, with occasional vocals by guitarist Max Goetsch meant more to spice things up during breaks than introduce verse-chorus structure. With band members hailing from different parts of the world (Germany, Russia, US, and Portugal), their sound is built around killer dual lead guitarists Goetsch and Dima Zangiev, with a rock-solid rhythm foundation courtesy of drummer Tyler Pesek and bassist Pedro Pinheiro.

The seven tracks are in the five-to-seven-minute range a piece, and allow lots of room for the band, especially Goetsch and Zangiev, to stretch out. The songs all have multiple sections, featuring different tempos and textures, and take the listener on a journey. Did I mention the guitar playing? Goodness gracious, these two fellows shred magnificently, individually and together. Not only do they have incredible technical wizardry, they’re also masters of guitar tones; the studio floor must’ve been a tripping hazard full of pedals, and all of them sound amazing.

For variation, some of the tracks, such as 'Fossil Eyes' and 'Zugzwang' feature hypnotic eastern flavors and tonalities, though still transliterated through heavy rock guitars. My favorite tracks are opener 'The Dream of a Fisherman’s Wife,' full of twists and turns and stellar guitar antics, and 'Saturnine,' where the guitar soloing is so exquisite it puts the listener into either another dimension or galaxy.

Closer and title track 'Abominat' is the most heavy prog affair and features a guest appearance by the great Earthless guitarist Isaiah Mitchell. Mitchell’s contribution is welcome and great, but it’s almost unnecessary, as Messrs. Goetsch and Zangiev handle lead guitar duties over the rest of the album with at least as much chops and flair.

Abanamat overcomes an odd choice of title with a superior album; if you can consistently and correctly differentiate the album title and the band’s name you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din. But this is top flight rock played by guys who clearly know what they’re doing and eat their vitamins. Listen and dig.

(Mark Feingold)

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NICK WHEELDON - TADPOLES

(CD/LP from Le Pop Club)

Wheeldon's schizophrenic career includes over two dozen albums in as many different projects. He also finds time in his hectic schedule to record solo albums backed by "friends" and, most recently The Living Paintings. This, their follow-up to 2024's Waiting For The Piano To Fall was recorded in a week last March in a purpose-built studio/barn in Lüe, France. [The Sheffield native has been based in Pari for the past dozen years.]

One thing you can always expect from Wheeldon is the unexpected. Tadpoles offers intimate soul-searching lyrics that ponder the imponderables of the world we live in (while there's still a world left to live in), heartfelt vocals oozing emotion, hope, and frustration, impeccable accompaniment from the Paintings (Stephane Jach on violin, Sam Roux on piano, Luc Martin on bass, and Nico Brusq on drums), and sensitive brass (sax, mellophone, clarinet) to enhance the impact of the arrangements. There's a laidback, Byrds/Daniel Romano groove to 'Sleeping Dogs' and I suspect Wheeldon has spent a few nights alone with No Other if the title track is any indication.

Break out the tissues for 'Patient Of Desire.' Roux's lengthy heartbreaking piano coda increases the emotional impact of this weeper. There's hope in 'Sooner Or Later": "sooner or later the night reveals the stars" and the lengthy finale 'Summer Prey' is the most improvisational track here, a loose little shuffling jam where the Paintings get to shine and let their freaky jazzy bluesy swagger strut their stuff, playing the Magic Band to Wheeldon's Captain Beefheart!

It's been a long, strange trip for Wheeldon through his various musical guises but the Living Paintings may be his best accomplices yet and we can only hope for more eclectic, electric fun times and surprises to come.

(Jeff Penczak)

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WEEDPECKER - V
(LP/CD/Digital from Heavy Psych Sounds Records)

Poland’s Weedpecker makes some of the most accessible, enjoyable psych-prog music out there, and this release doesn’t disappoint.  The long-form tracks have plenty of breathing space for the band to stretch out and take the listener on a head(phone) journey.  Tracks weave and bob between light and heavy, from the sublime to the sledgehammer, with melody always to the fore.

If you enjoy the flights of fancy taken by bands like Elder and latter-day Opeth, then this is up your street.  Although employed sparingly at times, I enjoy Piotr Dobry’s vocals immensely.  They’re often multi-tracked with harmony, dripping with reverb, and blend into the multi-layered tracks like another instrument rather than taking the lead.

The album starts, appropriately enough, with “Intro,” essentially a two-minute warm-up with just spacey synths.  This leads into the majestic 'Fading Whispers.'  The eleven-minute epic alternates between light and shade, heavyosity balanced with those soothing vocals and even a Mellotron interlude.  Here’s where I need to explain the one thing I’m not enthralled with, though your mileage may vary.  When the band goes heavy on the guitars and drums, it tends to be in a modern metallic vein, with thumping low dun-dun-dun strums and cymbals crashing away, whereas I prefer a little more finesse.  But again, the other bands listed above for comparison do this same thing, so it might be just "old guy reviewer syndrome" rearing its head.

At nine minutes, the next track 'Ash' likewise alternates between dreamy, pretty melody and blazing shock and awe.  What Weedpecker does so well is that it isn’t just see-sawing light and heavy with them.  They excel at setting a groove, sending you down in an inner tube on a musical lazy river.  This groove permeates their songs and is the train track that carries you along on the ride, whether it be drifting downstream or heading over a cliff.

My favorite track is 'In the Dark We Shine.'  It’s so relaxing, mellow and bucolic, with those soothing Piotr Dobry stacked vocals and a thousand helpings of reverb, and a nice 'Riders on the Storm'-like electric piano run.  I don’t think it’s one of those tracks that’s supposed to be your favourite; it’s gossamer light in a stoned hazy interlude.  Just like I don’t think the Floyd meant for 'Us and Them' to be your favorite track on Dark Side of the Moon, but it is mine. But Weedpecker was also sent by the universe to rock your world.

This they do, rather abruptly, as 'In the Dark We Shine' segues into the pounding 'Mirrors.'  But in typical Weedpecker fashion, we have some quiet vocal and Mellotron moments, both flutes and strings,  breaking up the malevolent firestorm.  Closer 'The Last Summer of Youth' has that built-in underlying swaying groove I mentioned above, with a laid-back ear-pleasing dose of Mellotron, even a sitar, and Dobry’s calming vocals ensconced  in reverb.  The band builds onto this with anthemic heavy guitars and synths to create a stunning psychedelic post-rock finale.

Despite the juvenile sounding name, Weedpecker is in front of the pack of modern psych-prog.  They concoct an instantly likeable, full sound.  V is a complete album, with no skippers and no fat.  It’s well-written, played and produced.  I’m already looking forward to VI.