16 August 2024

SCHIZO FUN ADDICT – Psychedelic (2024, 7” Hypnotic Bridge Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Hypnotic Bridge Records

Format: 7” Vinyl, 45rpm, Black Vinyl, 300 copies

Release Date: 28 June 2024

I may have said it before but I love repeating it by any chance, Schizo Fun Addict adorns a list I made with the coolest band names ever! Also, Schizo Fun Addict has the privilege to be the first release of one of the coolest independent labels in the world, Fruits de Mer Records. Speaking of labels, there’s another COOL label from “Across the Pond”, devoted to the 7-inch, vinyl, 45-rpm format, the L.A.-based Hypnotic Bridge Records (a regular label to TimeMaZine reviews) that released the new 7-inch vinyl by Schizo Fun Addict, and you can tell how excited they are by simply reading label’s press release:

“HYP-044

Schizo Fun Addict

Formed by Jet Wintzer and Jayne Gabriel in a motorway motel in Taunton, England on the first day of the new millennium, Schizo Fun Addict’s first recording began with a demo in the shower stall, recorded with a primitive laptop and micro-cassette Dictaphone. Combining ultra-lo-fi vocals drenched in natural reverb with digital effects and beats, the sound was described by Paul Johnson in Uncut as invoking Brian Wilson writing for the Jesus and Mary Chain, “teetering on the knife edge between cohesion and collapse.”

Multiple glowing reviews in UK music magazines followed, including write-ups in NME, Mojo, Shindig!, Uncut, and Prog. In 2008, SFA were invited to be the first release on the now-legendary Fruits de Mer Records. The 7-inch single scored a key review by Ian McCann in Record Collector, which helped establish FDM as one of the premier vinyl labels of our time.

Ilona Virostek has been singing, writing, and playing with SFA since 2008. Her Nico vibes have now expanded, combining with Jayne’s to invoke Shangri-Las drama with Brasil ‘66 cool beach vibes.

Daniel Boivin handles percussion and drums by mixing his driving live kit with analog beats, birthing intoxicating indie dance grooves.

Since 2018, SFA has been blessed with the legendary, iconic soaring guitars of Rex John Shelverton, who was signed to SubPop and RCA Records with VUE before co-founding TAMARYN and reinventing the shoegaze genre with his patented West Coast wall-of-ocean sound. His revolutionary production techniques bring SFA’s vision of a whole new genre to life in pastel romantic Technicolor.

We are honored, humbled & thrilled to join the psychedelic standard of the Hypnotic Bridge Records family”…

So, let’s see what we have here… “Elevation Versus Sabotage” is a pounding full of energy & power electrically charged Neo-Psych Rock track with rather euphoric vocals and a tremendous ‘Pop 80s guitar’ aura all over the song! Instant elevating joy! Superb! (HYP: “Elevation is not accidental; it’s a choice. Never sabotage joy. Ascend ever upwards. Sabotage too is an option. Don’t choose it. You are in control. You are the master. Reject all despair. “Is it a mirage? Elevation versus sabotage.”) “Coming To You” is quite an uplifting tune, totally filled with groovy tropical summer vibes, some pinches of Psych here and there, under a big addictive shoegaze prism that conquers everything in its path! An absolutely, summer-a-delic and groove-a-licious magical ‘High’ track! Grab it now! TimeLord Michalis