I had this idea a few months back for a Youtube video clip. I was going to line up hundreds of beer bottles. All would be meticulously filled to appropriate levels, such that when I sprinted passed them with a stick they would sound out The Flight Of The Bumblebee. I was stoked at the idea. I'd even thought of particular circular configurations for the bottles, which would allow me to jump from one section to the next and back again. I'd sorted out the venue for the shoot, started hoarding some bottles etc etc... So you could imagine I was pretty deflated when a friend suggested I watch this.

Lack of ski stocks and rollerblades aside, my idea was still pretty awesome - even though i was beaten to the punch. Now you can bet that as the album reviews begin rolling in for The Black Ryder's Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride, they'll be quick to equate the sound to a myriad of established psychedelic artists. They wont be wrong either. But likewise that doesn't stop the album being thoroughly enjoyable. Having toured with arguably the biggest recent proponent of the artform, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the album is set to fit snugly into the psychedelic canon. You can tell that the bands have clearly done more than swap ICQ details. There's a litany of moments that were clearly inspired by BJM, and indeed Ricky Maymi (original drummer and current guitarist for the Massacre) features on more than a handful of tracks.

The opening track, To Never Know You, starts in a haze perfectly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, but goes on to differ in a pretty significant aspect: audible lyrics. The one thing that right pisses me off about Only Shallow (the blast-in-the-face opener from Loveless) is that the lyrics are totally indecipherable. Not that i don't appreciate the shoegaze movement, but it certainly prevents a hearty grunt-a-long on my weekly lap around the neighbourhood. Thankfully they've kept Aimée Nash's vocals, for the most part at least (see below), in an audible EQ range. She's got a beautifully soothing and gentle pair of lungs which cuts through the grit of the layered guitars perfectly. It's a satisfying contrast that had me racing back through some old Spiderbait albums to hear Janet sweetly chirping over a fuzz onslaught.

The next four songs on the album are strong. Really strong. What's more they are produced to the nines, so they sound pretty amazing. This is their showcase to the listening public. Let It Go has to be my pick for the album, with the overtly contradictory lyrics there's nothing left to give you, except for everything perfectly commensurate with psychedelia's mind-expanding ethos. The other half of the duo Scott Von Ryper gets his sing on by the third track Grass, but his voice really gets borne out later in the album. My only gripe with the first half of the album is the piercing high frequency that accompanies Aimée's vocal lines in Gone Without Feeling. It seems that here they've aimed for that inaudible and uncomfortable shoegazing sound, but her voice just sounds too good natural to warrant such treatment.

The second half of the album is focussed less on production, and more on songsmithing. There's the very bluesy The Greatest Fall which acts as a nice relief from the intensity of the production in the first half. Then there's the gun-slinging, saloon door-swinging Sweet Come Down which could have been recorded in a living room with a dictophone, but after listening to the entire album it's the song that sticks with you. It features a harmonica cameo from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Peter Hayes, with whom they also toured earlier this year. There are also plenty of other musicians featured on the latter half of the album including Graham Bonnar (ex-Swervedriver) and Tim Powels (drummer for The Church).

There are many artists trying to nail down psychedelia, but few put as much thought into it as The Black Ryder. You might have heard the sound before (it's a revivalist artform to be sure), but that doesn't stop it being a completely engaging listen. I'd say that it's through the strength of their vocals that the Black Ryder have done enough to distinguish their branch on the tree. So i guess the challenge is now before me to distinguish myself in the bottle-beating game. Current plan: line them up along a Slip n Slide. Boom. ---JZ