Psychederek is an artist who is very local to me- he plays records at a bar just a mile up the road in Stretford called Head, the first Friday of every month, a night called Psychederek's Psycho which promises disco, Balearic, bass, indie dance and Afrobeat, which sounds right up by street (literally and metaphorically). The video for his latest release is also features some very local parts of south Manchester, not least one of the streets around Stretford Arndale and the footbridge over the M60 from Kickety Brook and the Mersey to Stretford Meadows (it all sounds very romantic but don't be fooled. Stretford Meadows is built on top of landfill and rubble dug out to construct the motorway. The tip/ dump/ household waste recycling centre is next door). It's been one of my lockdown walk routes so it's lovely to see it immortalised in song- and not just any old song but a song called Screamadereka...
Clearly you don't call yourself Psychederek and release a song called Screamadereka and then expect to be taken entirely seriously but there's no joking with the song- it's a beautifully pitched, slow motion, blissed out stroll with sonic explosions, looped voices and a vocal that sounds like the sun shining. Screamadereka is out on an EP called Space Arcade, released by Sprechen, the label owned by Chris Massey (also a Stretford resident) and you can get it at Bandcamp. Disappointingly I think I have missed out on the vinyl.
There are two versions/ remixes on the EP by the combined talents of Sean Johnston (as Hardway Bros) and Duncan Gray (as Monkton), the deeply dubbed out cosmic trip of Screamadereka (Hardway Bros Meet Monkton Downtown) taking the original and separating it out even further, finding all the space between the sounds. It's a stunner.
The Screamadereka (Hardway Bros Meets Monkton Disco Dub) does the reverse, pushing the tempo up and landing on the dance floor somewhere far, far away, powered by a very wigged out bassline. On and on it goes, round and round, looping itself out of the atmosphere and escaping.
3 comments:
Downtown dub gotta be a candidate for song of the year. I think if all music were vaguely like this I'd be ok.
Yep, can't disagree with that Jesse
Thanks for this Adam. One of the best I listened to during the last weeks. Great stuff.
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