The Buddha speaks to Norman

Ooh, this one's right up my street. On here the mysterious Buddha On The Moon bust out two side-long jams with elements of drone and psychedelic rock, which seem to be based around simple echo-laden bass guitar melodies alongside processing and programming and ethereal washed out background vocals which are blended with synth drones to fascinating effect. The simple, repetitive, slooooooow bassline that anchors everything on the first side is totally hypnotic and when the cautiously understated, primal drums start to emerge from the fug about halfway through it has a total ritualistic Master Musicians Of Bukkake feel going on that I know a lot of you will appreciate. The second side, 'Emergence', is far more of an ambient drone trip, with less bassy and more shimmering drones gradually shifting and morphing for a refreshing tone bath. There's totally immersive atmospheres here, but it's too busy to really call drone, especially on the first side. It's more of a slowed down, submerged psych drift with a nod to the post-dubby snail-like pacing of Sun Araw and the semi-musical psychedelic texturing of Expo 70. Sonic Oyster's output tends to be pretty consistent but I think this is my favourite thing I've heard from them yet. Great job lads! (Norman Records)