19 November 2023

JEFFREY ALEXANDER + THE HEAVY LIDDERS – New Earth Seed (2023, LP Arrowhawk Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Arrowhawk Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Baby Blue Vinyl (direct-to-fan + indie store exclusive), (comes with a full color printed inner sleeve)

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Black Vinyl (comes with a full color printed inner sleeve)

Release Date: 22 Sep 2023

I think there’s no need to introduce to you that multi-talented persona/artist who goes by the name Jeffrey Alexander, all regular readers (or listeners through our radio show) at some point or another, have read/listened to that name, of course mostly because of this incredible band called Dire Wolves (lately known as Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band). Well, Jeffrey has moved from Frisco to Philly and since 2020 he simultaneously run another project/vehicle, The Heavy Lidders! (Be my guest and check a couple of previous reviews I did, 2021’s “Jeffrey Alexander and the Heavy Lidders” and also 2021’s “Elixor of Life”)

Let’s have a look at the informative text note from their Bandcamp page: “Jeffrey Alexander and his associated groups reach back to that magical Terrastock era of the ’90s: booking fests and shows, sharing stages, studios and vans with the (should be) most venerated and celebrated of those more pure years: Tom Rapp, Ghost (Japan), Marissa Nadler, Bridget St. John, Flying Saucer Attack, and too many more to mention. Alexander has been a member of Jackie-O Motherfucker, The Iditarod, and Black Forest/Black Sea, among others.
His recent, mainly SF-based group Dire Wolves’ sail caught wind and drew his ship back into the higher waters, to the delight of heads, initiated and otherwise. 2020 scattered the DWLVS to varied lands, and Alexander’s move east to Philadelphia brings us to the Heavy Lidders Times.
This multi-headed combo features stalwarts such as Scott Verrastro (Kohoutek, Bardo Pond, Bitter Wish) on drums and the unbrothers Elkhorn: Jesse Sheppard on low-end groove, and Drew Gardner, cast as Alexander’s electric guitar foil”…

“New Earth Seed” contains 4 tracks on the first side and 2 tracks on the second side of the LP album. The album starts with “Counting Up And Down”, a hot slow-burned hard Blues rocker, imbued with some early 70s Heavy “White” Blues… “Departure” is a short slow piece of an acoustic guitar while “Lift Off” is another hot Blues rocker, even hotter than the opening track, and even harder I must say, an instro with a “burning” electric guitar sound, a track that rages within the framework of improvisation, quite Heavylicious with a pinch of Psych floating in the air… The scenery changes rapidly on “Mind Down”, a goodbye to Heavy Blues, a welcome Psych! This is a slow, experimental, and quite improvisational track with a cool soundscape that is filled with some ambient guitar playing, some free jazz clarinet, and some avant-garde percussion, dream-a-like lysergic lyrics, a Psych jam anthem that can really blow your Mynd, a trip to Delos through White Rabbit’s hole, a window to another dimension has just been opened… Side ‘B’ opens with “Star Power”, there’s a trippy hallucinogenic slow beat that flirts with Cosmic Psych while slowly diving deep into jammy psychedelic late 60s of the West Coast, acting as an improvised soft kind of a balladesque tune with warm vocals, of course, the electric guitar is leading the way, this is a good example of how the New Philly Underground Sound could be! (is there such a sound? hmmm…) The album closes with “Aquanoise”, the track starts under an amount of guitar-psych experimental sounds, the background is hypnotically improvisational, and at least 2 guitars (maybe there are more) are trying to create/form a path for the rest of the band to follow, the weird soundings at the back are getting more avant-garde-ish and eerie in a way, the sound by now is more esoteric and more Heady, and yes, this is the New Philly-Psych sound (Jerry would be proud by the way), in other words, this is a Mind-bending fantastic piece of improvised PSYCH music! In conclusion, if you’re into some other kind of Psych, a different kind of Psych, a jammy, improvised, experimental, and Heady one, then this is the stuff you need, “New Earth Seed” is your album, “New Earth Seed” is one of the best PSYCH albums of 2023. I couldn’t wait less for Jeffrey and his Philly Gang!!! TimeLord Michalis