Sonic Flower – Me And My Bell Bottom Blues
Sonic Flower – Me And My Bell Bottom Blues
Heavy Psych Sounds
Release Date: 30/09/22
Running Time: 45:23
Review by Dark Juan
10/10
Greetings, all you disaffected types out there. I am Dark Juan and you are all my people. I want the bullied, the abused, the wall-eyed and insane. I want the trans community and the homosexuals and the asexual and the intersex. I want you under my protective wing and to feel safe. Dark Juan does not promote hatred. Dark Juan promotes love and respect for all. Every human on this world bleeds the same colour and we are ALL brothers and sisters, irrespective of the colour of our skin, which God or other deity we choose to follow (or not) and what creed we respond to. There is too much hatred on this little blue spot in the infinite cosmos and it is time the world began to change, because it’s the only fucking one we have. It is time for love to conquer all, like it is supposed to. I have become increasingly aware of late that due to situations of despots invading other countries than their own, and the British (for this is where I have dropped roots again) government proving singularly inept, that I have started to become politicised. While I fall on the side of right in all cases, I do not wish to have my life turned upside down by the actions of thugs and thickheads in suits and by entrenched viewpoints perpetrated by old people trying to justify their ancient hatreds.
I stand with the women of Iran, currently fighting religious despotism in their country, and their right to wear whatever the fuck they like on their heads, against a regime of old men used to telling others what to so in the name of god.
I stand with the people of Ukraine, fighting against an illegal invasion by a bullying former ruler who wishes to turn the clock back to a Soviet past.
I stand with oppressed people all over the world. They all have a friend in Dark Juan, and anyone who reads this shit I write and requires a friend only needs to get in touch and I will be there for them. Such is true power, and such is love.
Enough proselytising. Instead, let me discuss the merits of Japan’s Sonic Flower, being a side project of half of Church Of Misery in the first instance, and now of three quarters of it. “Me And My Bell Bottom Blues” represents songs that have been sitting in the Sonic Flower vaults for some fifteen years, after the band went on an extended hiatus due to day jobs interfering with the righteous power of the groove and the previous guitarist becoming inconveniently pregnant and being a parent interfering with the righteous power of the groove.
Sonic Flower are the embodiment of the righteous power of the groove. Yes, folks, we are in Psychedelic Blues Rock heaven again. The year is 1973, Dark Juan has long straight hair with a sweatband and is riding in a Volkswagen Type 1 bus with a bunch of hippies and is tripping so hard on several kinds of LSD, that he is simultaneously viewing the world through his third eye, his pineal gland and from three dimensions away from normal reality. This is mildly confusing as Dark Juan cannot tell what is a person and what is a telegraph pole at the moment… The soundtrack to this journey through the senses and what passes for my subconscious is fuelled by the music of Cactus and Sir Lord Baltimore and Savoy Brown and their ilk and this is what Sonic Flower sounds like. Bluesy, swirling, majestic riffs and drawn out, wailing blues guitar solos are the order of the day here in an unapologetic homage to the bedrock of the formation of Heavy Metal. Yes, without this form of music, there would be no Metal at all. So, you really should pay attention to the older bands.
Opening with ‘Swineherd’, this listener was kicked in the arse straight away by the immediacy of Sonic Flower’s sound – a masterful mix by Yukito Okazaki (THE Japanese Doom guru, according the PR blurb), bringing out a depth and richness in sound that is both unusual and essential for bluesy, Psychedelic Doom. Everything is absolutely in a perfect place in the mix and it’s absurdly easy to hear everything with extraordinary clarity. The guitars are by turns sharp and predatory, or warm and intimate, the bass throbbing and penetrating (fnarr fnarr!) and the drums powerful and concussive throughout. It’s all a resonant and vibratory audio-hallucinatory trip through your own mind…
‘Love Like Rubber’ showcases the talents of frontman Kazuhiro Asaeda, the man having a medium pitched, slightly raspy delivery that’s fucking perfect for this kind of music, not unlike Free’s Paul Rodgers in places. This should not be a surprise considering that he is a former frontman of Church Of Misery. This album is bloody magnificent.
I’m on my knees, salaaming piously at the Altar of Grooviness here. Sonic Flower have taken me on an expansive trip through the magic of Psychedelia and the Blues and the riffs and the sheer groove of the band cannot be denied. Within seven seconds of the first song starting, I was being told off by Mrs Dark Juan for gyrating wildly round the lounge, accidentally damaging the printer and upsetting the Smellhounds, both of whom were peacefully slumbering next to her while she makes a giant head, that due to the colour choices of her fabrics, LOOKS LIKE IT HAS BEEN FLAYED. Mrs Dark Juan merely stated that she thought it looked cute. I despair and wonder if she has some form of problem in recognising what cute is due to a lifetime of horror films… ‘Quicksand Planet’ ups the drug-fuelled musicianship by having a strange, kind of sitar influenced opening before the gloriously fuzzy guitar kicks in and the ultrafuzz bigmuff bass boots you in your psilocybin flooded head. It’s impossible to not dance to this, even my arse-cheeks are doing their own thing while I am seated upon them. Sitting with my eyes closed, I am just letting the Blues-fuelled trippiness wash over me in a gloriously warm and rainbow-hued flood and by god I want more. More Sonic Flower. There are no other bands, there is only Sonic Flower…
The closing track is also called ‘Sonic Flower’ and it’s a terrific, rumbling behemoth of everything that is great about Doom and Psychedelia – massive, MASSIVE riffs, an impassioned and well performed vocal and so much groovetastic grooviness Dark Juan’s sex wee tanks have burst and there’s environmental warnings in place for the North of England because of this rather amazing Japanese band. If you are fans of the likes of Wolfmother, Sir Lord Baltimore, Lucid Sins, Red Spektor and the like, I can confidently predict that you are going to fucking ADORE Sonic Flower as much as Dark Juan does. Although, I should say that the quality of their song-writing and their musicianship and their prowess means that they should be taken seriously by everyone into heavy music.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (特許取得済みの Dark Juan 血しぶき評価システム) awards Sonic Flower a full-on groovy 10/10 for their absolutely stunning take on old school Bluesy Psychedelic Rock.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Swineherd
02. Love Like Rubber
03. Black Sheep
04. Captain Frost
05. Quicksand Planet
06. Poor Girl
07. Sonic Flower
LINE-UP:
Tatsu Mikami – Bass
Kazuhiro Asaeda – Vocals
Fumiya Hattori — Guitar
Toshiaki Umemura – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
