Artist: Levitation Room
Title: Minds of Our Own
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
2015
EP
Sounds Like: Temples
Favorite Track: Loved
Available as: Download and cassette (Burger)
I could probably make this blog entirely about the stuff Burger Records (and their DIY subsidiary Wiener Records) puts out. They're one of those labels that don't release that much bad stuff. There are certainly exceptions and they have put out things that I haven't liked, but in general their output is fantastic. While I've heard the claim that everything they put out sounds alike, and I can understand where that's coming from, their releases have enough variety to refute that stereotype.
Levitation Room is one of those bands that I really know next to nothing about. I found out about them by listening to Burger's Soundcloud feed. I don't remember what track they put up (it might have been "Loved" but I'm really not sure), but it immediately caught my ear. Amid all the lo-fi garage rock on Burger's feed, Levitation Room stands out - the EP is really well produced and clean. While I like the lo-fi aesthetic, it can sometimes serve to cover up the fact that a band doesn't really play all that well. Sometimes that's part of the fun, especially with punk rock. It can give the music a raw quality that often really fits. However, when you have songs that are as well-produced as these are, there's nowhere to hide, so bands have to be on the top of their game. In this case, they really succeed.
While I'm sure this band will probably take criticism for being a derivative of England's psych-pop superstars Temples, and there certainly are similarities in the vocals, playful melodies, and clean aesthetic, Levitation Room really is a different animal. While Temples tends to go all-out on bombastic wall-of-sound production and weird guitar effects, Levitation Room actually stays truer to their 60s psychedelic roots by eschewing electronic effects for simple fuzz and reverb. They also make direct reference to their influences in a lyrical tribute to Jimi Hendrix (their lyric "if six equals to nine" in "Visions of My Mind" is a reference to Jimi's "If 6 Was 9").
In today's neo-psychedelic scene, there's sometimes a conflict on how much weirdness is enough and when it becomes too much. It's really a matter of taste, honestly, but as far as I'm concerned, some bands go way over the top and end up making songs that just sound nasty. However, with this tape, Levitation Room enters the pantheon of fantastic modern psych, alongside Temples and Humbug-era Arctic Monkeys. I hope they release a full-length album soon - I need my fix!
