MOOON – III (2024, LP/CD Excelsior Recordings/Soundflat Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Excelsior Recordings/Soundflat Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Black Vinyl (Soundflat Records version, tracklist: different order than Excelsior Recordings version)

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Smokey Vinyl (Excelsior Recordings version, tracklist: different order than Soundflat Records version)

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Bloody Mary Vinyl (Excelsior Recordings version, tracklist: different order than Soundflat Records version)

Format: CD, Album (Excelsior Recordings)

Release Date: 23 Feb 2024

Mooon is a three-piece band hailing from the Netherlands, and since 2013 they have released two 7-inch vinyl singles and two albums, “Mooon’s Brew” (2017, Excelsior Recordings) and “Safari” (2019, Bickerton Records). They’re making sixties pop, psychedelic, and beat music. Mooon is a kind of a “family affair” band, consisting of two brothers and their nephew, Timo van Lierop (guitars, vocals, percussion), Tom de Jong (bass guitar, vocals), and Gijs de Jong (drums, vocals, keys, percussion, flute, harmonica). “III” is their 3rd (obviously) album and 2 record labels collaborated on this release, Excelsior Recordings from the Netherlands and Soundflat Records from Germany. Let’s have a look at their Bandcamp note:

“For their third full length studio album III, Dutch time travelers MOOON decided to do things a little different: record it all by themselves.

With 12 fresh new songs and a completely new studio, built by Tom de Jong, they set out to record their best work so far on a 1 inch 16 track.

The band spared no effort and spent countless hours making this album sound the way it does. Utilizing Clavioline, cello and reverse tape effects next to their usual arsenal of guitars, drums, bass and the occasional keys, they took their psychedelic sound to another level.

Now, after endlessly refining their material, we finally get to hear what those strange minds were up to all this time.

Delivering a diverse collection of songs, which includes rockers like ‘Richard Has a Racecar’ and ‘I Will Get To You’ but also trips out with ‘Living In The Night’ and ‘You Can Not Know’, MOOON has crafted a record that fans of psychedelic music and rock-n-roll alike will love”….

“III” is recorded, produced, arranged & mixed by MOOON. It contains 12 songs and I’m reviewing the Soundflat Records LP version… The album kicks off with “Rainbow Flowers”, a 2-min fresh nugget, literally forgotten by time, there’s an intense sense/feeling of a recording coming straight out of the ‘68-’69 glory days of the British Freak-Psych-Beat underground while bands like Tintern Abbey or The Mandrake Paddle Steamer come instantly to mind! The next one is called “Richard Has A Racecar”, this is late 60s British Psych in full technicolor glory! A beautiful track that combines the lovely vocal harmonies of the Small Faces, Tomorrow’s energy, and The Open Mind’s Freakbeat psychness… Wow! “Mr. Abelicity” is another song that defies the laws of modern songwriting, it has an incredibly 60s sounding that you can easily be mistaken that this is about an unreleased song by a 60s unknown band… “How You Really Are” is a crazy frenzy danceable psych-stomper, 60s influenced (of course), just imagine what if The Open Mind were Brian Auger’s backing band instead of The Trinity… Yes, that cool! “You Cannot Know” is kind of dark n’ slow, a cool jazzy 60s inspired rhythm b’ bluesy Mod-ish track, an amazing tune with short repetitive rhythm alternations and a drum solo “thing” coming out of nowhere, while the song ends in a rather mellow folkie way… Cool! Side ‘B’ opens with “Hurtin’ My Heart” a groovy mid-tempo fuzz-a-delic track that blinks an eye to the ‘66 Garage scene of the West Coast, a lovely and catchy tune that reminds the coolness of ? And The Mysterians… With “I Will Get To You”, we return to the British R n’ B Psych scene, a fine blend of the late ‘66 Yardbirds, the early ‘67 Who, and 68’s Tomorrow, outstanding! “Living In The Night” is another cool track drawing inspiration from the 60s British Psych, a song with fantastic vocal harmonies, and I’m sure I can detect a strong “flirt” with the late ‘67 L.A. Psychedelic scene, and then there’s this middle section of the track, a dive into a colorful ocean of psychedelics giving you the sense of The Yardbirds with members of The Byrds on Fillmore’s stage, wow! “Buy Me A Smile” is a rather “strange” track, a fuzzy but also laid-back tune, weirdly orchestrated, fast, slow, happy, sad, trippy, poppy, all in just under 3 minutes, can’t ask for more… “If Only I Knew” is a soft balladesque tune, with a nostalgic feel, musically speaking it dangerously flirts with late ‘69 Beatles, and I think this one could easily fit in any of the 4 Fabs’ solo albums in the 70s, for some unexplained reason I’m getting a tremendous “WINGS” feel… Superb! “GAS” is another cooler, just imagine what if The Nazz were a London group… Eventually, the album comes to an end with the ASTONISHING “Toy Gun”, a totally drenched-into-LSD track, full of British Psychedelia, a Freakbeat oddity, an unbelievably fantastic piece of psychedelic music that I could play endless times! So, Mooon on their 3rd album successfully managed to approach in a wonderful artistic way one of the best eras in musical history, the late 60s British Psychedelic scene, and that’s a hard accomplishment to make… So, yes… We’re definitely talking about one of the best albums of 2024! Dig! TimeLord Michalis    

Tracklist

Links:

Listen / Buy through MOOON Bandcamp 

Visit MOOON official Web 

Check MOOON Facebook