Hey groovers on an inner plane….
Is there’s any good music after 1968 ?
Don’t think so anyway whatever….
Anyways here a track that kicks off the latest album….. you may just wanna get up and dance to this !
The influences I have stretch back to the late 60’s with bands like the Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Doors, The Zombies, 13th Floor Elevators (English and West Coast American Psychedelia) and through the 70’s and 80’s with The Damned, The Buzzcocks, Electric Light Orchestra. In the 80’s some of the shoe gazers like Primal Scream, House of Love and The Church etc….
Very pleased to get this great review from Joe Whyte ‘Louder than war’ ….
Click here to read the review in LOUDER THAN WAR 8/4/16
Jason proves that classic psychedelic pop doesn’t necessarily begin and end at the borders of Haight – Ashbury or Syd Barrett’s whimsical flights of fancy! Whilst this collection positively throbs with an appropriately lysergic glow, you’ll find well toned musical muscles lurking like coiled snakes beneath the flamboyant finery.
Buffed to distinctly 21st century sheen, Jason’s strident tunes blend the jarring Major chords of Arthur Lee’s Love with uplifting Monkees-style choruses, underpinned by the Stone Roses stoned stomp that echoes through See Judy Smile’s loping beats.
Click here to listen to SEE JUDY SMILE (SUZI MIX)
The falsetto vocal harmonies weaving through the urgent rocker Into Your Arms recall the signature sound of 2011 Mercury Prize nominated Mancunian indie popsters Everything Everything, proving that Jason’s contemporary psych influences extend beyond the long lost golden Summer of Love.
Psych’s more fanciful or twee elements are sidestepped in favour of a punchy lean sound that goes for the jugular from the off. This is modern power pop garnished with a knowing eye on classic psych, driven by Jason’s knack for stirring in an unexpected harmonic twist or sudden and gravity defying hook.
Whether you’re into Kaftans and beads or Converse and 10 Deep, one of the great things about contemporary psych pop is that there are no rules.
We dare you to ride this musical roller coaster that poises the listener tantalizingly on the brink before plunging down a foaming torrent of crunchy guitars and soaring squadrons of vocal harmonies.
Hop aboard and enjoy this headlong rush into contemporary psych pop… you’ll definitely enjoy this trip!
If you’re not familiar with the music of Jason How, now is a very good time to find out.
Seven albums deep and a firm favourite of critics (Vive Le Rock, Louder Than War and many others have glowingly reviewed all of them!), How is one of the country’s best-kept secrets and a musical treasure trove of discovery. Guys like Jason don’t seem to exist very much in the modern world nowadays; that is, people who value songs with choruses and lyrics and clever arrangements with 12 string guitars and jangling, water-falling chords and that bear no real relation to the stuff you’ll hear on mainstream radio. If you remember the first time you heard Robyn Hitchcock or XTC or The Jam or Syd Barrett with fondness, Jason how is very much the musician you want to hear. The classic English eccentric is something that’s been lost to the music world in recent times and it’s massively refreshing to hear a set of songs that are as carefree, lovelorn and downright timeless as some of Jason How’s releases. There are hints of Brit-psychedelia, pop classicism, new wave quirk and punky energy although the signature song writing craft remains a constant.
As head honcho at Rotosound Music Strings, Jason runs one of the U.K.’s longest established companies; hisfather James set the company up in the late fifties and provided strings for all of the major players in British music and continue to do so to this day; The Who, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Queen right through to The Damned and The Jam in the late seventies used and endorsed Rotosound. In modern times, Duff McKagen of GNR, the Seattle grunge scene up to Paul Allender (Cradle Of Filth) and Mikey Demus (Skindred) are all Rotosound players. The company goes from strength to strength and remains steadfastly a most British institution.
Joe Whyte (Vive Le Rock magazine)
Jason How 2014