Kelley Stoltz is an American songwriter, multi‑instrumentalist, and DIY innovator whose career stretches back to the late 1990s, when he began self‑recording lush, psych‑tinged pop and garage rock in his San Francisco home studio. Born in New York City in 1971, and raised in Michigan, Stoltz has released a remarkable catalog of albums on labels including Sub Pop, Third Man, and Castle Face Records often playing all of the instruments himself and drawing comparisons to the melodic craftsmanship of the major 60’s pop auteurs and the quirkiness of lesser known 80’s power-pop & new wave.

After issuing his 18th album, 'La Fleur' in 2024 to critical notice, he returns in 2026 with his 19th full‑length release, 'If You Don’t Know Me, Buy Now', a collection that continues his long exploration of hook‑laden psych‑pop, introspective lyrics, and richly textured arrangements that both honor his influences and push his sound forward, reinforcing his status as one of the most prolific and singular voices in underground rock. Guests Brigid Dawson of the Osees, Karina Denike of Dance Hall Crashers, Pete Straus of the Dwarves and Allyson Baker Dirty Ghosts and other guests provide backing vocals on several tracks.

TRACK LISTING

1. Competitive Bastard
2. Not Gone
3. Turn The Earth
4. Seventeen Lines
5. Repercussions
6. Daughters Of The Golden West
7. Watts Moon Starr
8. Look Again
9. Come On Spirit
10. Radio Station
11. Queen Of Diamonds
12. The Aches & Pains Of Middle Age
13. Love In Any Language - CD BONUS TRACK
14. Heathers House - CD BONUS TRACK

2026 vinyl repress of Dion Lunadon's (of A Place To Bury Strangers / The D4) debut solo album, on Agitated Record.

The album was recorded over a three-month period in Brooklyn, NY and features Robi Gonzalez (APTBS) on drums and Blaze Bateh from Bambara on select tracks including 'Fire'. "With 'Fire' I wanted wild and heavy guitars with heavy sentiment in the first vocal line to match. Something that grabs you and demands attention. Not background music," Lunadon explains of the track. The album also features mixing by Chris Woodhouse (Mayyors, Ty Segall, The Intelligence, Thee Oh Sees) on select tracks including 'Com/Broke'. From cutting his teeth back home in New Zealand as a member of The D4 to his current role as bassist of Brooklyn-based A Place to Bury Strangers, Dion Lunadon has played in some form of a rock & roll band his entire life. During a short break in touring with APTBS, Lunadon had a rush of inspiration in the form of a Dion Lunadon creative spasm — a neurotic impulse to make a batch of songs and do it right then and right there. What resulted is quite a jump away from his work in APTBS and draws more influence from bands like Toy Love and The Gun Club, as well as New Zealand unknowns such as Gestalt and Supercar.

TRACK LISTING

1. Insurance, Rent And Taxes
2. Reduction Agent
3. Fire
4. Com/Broke
5. Hanging By A Thread
6. Move
7. Eliminator
8. Howl
9. Ripper
10. White Fence
11. No Control

If 'Goodbye, Asshole' was the wild night—tequila-sharp riffs, sticky floors, and last-call chaos howled into the void of a disappearing city—then 'Boone' is the merciless morning after. The sun cracks the blinds. The brain throbs. Every bad decision gleams in the hard light, raw and undeniable.

Fuckwolf’s second album pares their scuzz-wave blitz down to exposed nerves: Eric Park’s basslines stalk like a hangover pulse, Simon Phillips’ drums land like a palm slapping the alarm into silence, and Tomo Yasuda’s guitar wirings spit like diner coffee left to burn on the hotplate. The fog has lifted; the damage is inventoried. These ten tracks are crime scene Polaroids, tales of longing and woe, fresh mystery bruises and eulogies.

There’s no wallowing here, just the tight, terrible beauty of a band that’s stared down the void and come back swinging.

The party’s dead. Long live the reckoning.

TRACK LISTING

1. Plan Ahead
2. Song 2B
3. White Strokes
4. Everything In Its Sweet Time
5. Now
6. Boone
7. Temple Of Doom
8. Heed The Dark Lord
9. Safe House
10. We War

Since forming back in 2007, Straight Arrows have been a force on the Australian indie scene; with 10x 7”s, 3x studio albums, a live LP and countless shows domestically and internationally under their belt, the band have developed a devoted fan-base, and praise from the likes of Henry Rollins and Iggy Pop along the way. Recorded at Marrickville’s Golden Retriever Studios with Nick Franklin (Polish Club, The Buoys), their 4th LP ‘Surface World’ is a whirlwind of fuzzy riffs and infectious hooks.

Thematically, ‘Surface World’, as explained by the band, is a “reflection of the plane of existence we’re all currently trapped upon”, taking an introspective look at modern life and the world around them. “We’ve Been ‘Happening’ on our debut, we’ve been ‘Rising’ on LP two, on our last album we were ‘On Top’, and now we’re sitting at the juncture of the ‘Surface World’. Be it swift manufacture (Fast Product), staring through the window at an outside world (City Ranger, Peakin, Smoke), looking back inside (Walkin’ Thru My Mind, Keep On Cryin, It’s Clear, Summer Skies), suburban fantasy (Car Thief, Don’t Shoot Me), or the Surface World staring back at you (Shop Window). And what’s it sound like? A reverb-laden, fuzzed, pulsating experiment sandwiching popular AND unpopular tunes from the likes of 60s garage and psychedelia, 70s punk and power pop, and 50s-2020s mutant music. It wouldn’t be a Straight Arrows record without throwing a whole pile of eclectic old (and newish) influences into the fuel tank to see what combusts on the other end.”

Mixed by frontman Owen Penglis (who has worked with Royal Headache, Frowning Clouds, Mini Skirt and Palms over the years), the album was recorded over just two days, live to tape. The quick turn-around led to some intense rehearsals ahead of time, resulting in some incredibly tight performances on the record.

“In true budget Straight Arrows fashion, we spent months rehearsing to be able to spend as little time and money in the expensive tracking studio as possible. With trusted engineer Nick Franklin behind the desk, and Owen [Penglis] trying not to micro-manage him, we managed to smash out the whole album, live to tape in two days.

This is also the first Straight Arrows release with some straight up co-writes between Owen and Al - I guess those last few years of apocalyptic world out-view were good for something! Then comes the part after recording where Owen overdubs and warps and changes the whole thing over the next year in his own studio, in between whatever else he’s working on (from punk EPs, 60s reissues, and the Wiggles [!]), messes with the words, and comes out the other end with a shiny-ish, medium fidelity Straight Arrows hot CLASSIC.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: ANOTHER superb indie band from Australia genuinely makes me think they're popping something in the water. Straight arrows mix garage rock energy and punky snarl with blazing percussion and treble-heavy 70's production. It's a hearty, melodic entry into the already legendary catalogue of Australian indie sensations.

Between outside musical projects, pushing past 50 years old and becoming a father for the first time, San Francisco psych-pop legend Kelley Stoltz has spent the past two years steadily writing and recording his 18th album, “La Fleur”. The dazzling 12 song collection will be released in June by Agitated in Europe/UK and Dandy Boy Records in the USA.

“La Fleur'' finds Stoltz once again playing nearly all of the instruments on the album- though a new friendship with pop guru Jason Falkner has led to Falkner appearing on two songs, “Hide In A Song” and “Make Believer” respectively. There’s the requisite 60’s meets 80’s pop rock confections that Stoltz favors with a new focus on out front vocals and perhaps a bit shinier production. Pandemic era blues, politics and fatherhood are lyrical touchstones throughout.

The album’s first single “Reni’s Car” is the jangle rock lead single based on an actual event of Kelley riding around Manchester in the Stone Roses drummer's car. The accompanying music video was shot (partially) on location. “About Time” marries Twin Peaks synths to Fleetwood Mac and Avalon era Roxy Music in a cautionary tale to Stoltz's young daughter. “Human Events” puts revolutionary prose to a Moody Blues strum that floats off into Osees territory …and do I hear a nod to Gershwin in there?

During the 2010’s Kelley played live as a sideman with Rodriguez and Echo & the Bunnymen, as the 2020’s dawned he was invited to support Pavement on their big reunion tour. He’s also been heard playing drums live with Robyn Hitchcock as well as adding sitar to Hitchcock's last two albums. In 2022, Stoltz was championed with a live appearance on Marc Riley’s BBC6 show. As producer, he has recorded the new album by Brigid Dawson formerly of the Ohsees.

In my ears, Stoltz rarely does any wrong, and these comparisons are only just that little fruit to get you curious- he is still one of a kind. An under the radar hero to a few, and still after all these great songs, deserving of more. Climb on the bandwagon - as ever it’s quite pleasing here.

- GEORGE CLOUD San Francisco, CA 2024

TRACK LISTING

1. Human Events
2. Victorian Box
3.Hide In A Song
4. Losing My Wild
5. If You Ask
6. Switch On Switch Off
7. Reni's Car
8. Awake In A Dream
9. About Time
10. The Butterflies
11. Eye To I
12. Make Believer 

Sydney rock outfit The Blamers are a modern band—two modern men, two modern women—with a revolutionary bent. Utilizing the latest cutting-edge stereophonic technology, the group—fueled by an obsession with early garage greats—are at the fore of a sonic campaign to simplify rock back to its basic proto-punk form. With hooky riffs and a healthy dose of tambourine, the group are preparing to release their debut album early-2024 after a string of singles.

The Blamers have shared the stage with Aussie heavy hitters The Chats, Bad Dreems, Pist idiots and blistered clubs around Australia with their no bullshit, beer-soaked sound. It’s a wonder that a band like The Blamers hasn’t come earlier! If you like the hard ass style of 60s punk with the wit of The B52’s and the charm of Devo, here it is.

END OF YEAR BONUS DISC EDITION - BOTH FORMATS INCLUDE A 13 TRACK BONUS CD DISC 'A LIGHT AND A SCREAM'.

Third album from Allentown/PA three-piece Catatonic Suns: their self-released sophomore LP “Saudade” from early '22 was a feat of sonic guitar haze and grunged out pop.

The new album is a step forward in sound for the band, it sees them blend the underground psychedelia of the late 80s / early 90s Pacific Northwest with the shimmering shoegazery of Britain from the same time. Heavy and soft guitars, songs that soar, these new recordings verge on the epic.

For fans of Screaming Trees, Nirvana, The Verve (early), Loop, Slowdive, and Ride.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Catatonic Suns are a psychedelic three-piece hailing from Pennsylvania, USA. Having released a couple of low-key releases (the mini-album ‘Aphelion’ in 2019 and a full length ‘Suadade’ in 2022) they’ve completely blown our minds with their new self-titled album.

Featuring seven original tracks and a raucous amped-up Original Sins cover, ‘Catatonic Suns’ finds the band honing their sound to perfection. Pitched somewhere between the melodic grunge noise of Nirvana and the blissed-out shoegaze of Ride and Swervedriver, the Catatonic Suns have delivered an astonishing album.

From the psych drenched opener “Deadzone” through to the huge eight minute swirling space-rock of “No Stranger” the band have created an epic wall of sound. Tracks like “Failsafe” and “Be As One” showcase the band's melodic side (either of these wouldn’t be out of place on the Verve’s ‘A Storm In Heaven’) whilst “Fell Off” and the aforementioned Original Sins cover “Inside Out” sees lead singer / guitarist Patrick Shields practically shredding his own vocal chords. Throughout all of this the rhythm section of Caleb Strobl (drums) and Jakob Christman (bass) keep things tight allowing the swirling guitar maelstrom to ride off into the sun.

TRACK LISTING

1. Deadzone
2. Slack
3. Failsafe
4. Inside Out (Original Sins Cover)
5. Sublunary
6. Fell Off
7. Be As One
8. No Stranger

Click here for our exclusive EOY bonus disc edition of this album.

Third album from Allentown/PA three-piece Catatonic Suns: their self-released sophomore LP “Saudade” from early '22 was a feat of sonic guitar haze and grunged out pop.

The new album is a step forward in sound for the band, it sees them blend the underground psychedelia of the late 80s / early 90s Pacific Northwest with the shimmering shoegazery of Britain from the same time. Heavy and soft guitars, songs that soar, these new recordings verge on the epic.

For fans of Screaming Trees, Nirvana, The Verve (early), Loop, Slowdive, and Ride.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Wow wow wow! I've no idea how the Catatonic Suns have suddenly developed into this incredible shoegazing grunge noise beast hybrid, but they've blown our minds with their self-titled third album.
Pitched somewhere between the blissed out shoegaze of Ride & Slowdive and the grungy melodic power of Nirvana, it's one huge sonic monster of an album.
Infact this is so good, it's already a certainty for our End Of Year top 10!

TRACK LISTING

1. Deadzone
2. Slack
3. Failsafe
4. Inside Out (Original Sins Cover)
5. Sublunary
6. Fell Off
7. Be As One
8. No Stranger

Northern California psychedelic sorcerers Carlton Melton are brain surfers, mind trippers, … “psychlists,” if you prefer. The band will take your head for a ride, occasionally rushing at superluminal speeds through a wormhole or gliding softly on a gentle breeze in a leafy glade. Sometimes your brain needs to rage, and sometimes it needs to repose.

For a decade and a half, the band has yo-yo’ed, almost schizophrenically, between these two modes: walloping space jams with furious guitar solos in one hemisphere of the brain and ethereal, feather-light splashdowns in the other. Not to mention a track here and there that builds from the latter into the former.

But with two new releases in 2023, the band has evolved. Whether psych rock or ambient trance, their sound remains driving, organic, and flowing. With the addition of Anthony Taibi (White Manna, DDT), however, the group’s metal freak-outs are Hawkwindier and their droning kraut trances are Spacemen 3-er. In January, the quartet released the playfully spacey Resemble Ensemble, recorded in Taibi’s home studio 3D Light. October now sees the band Turn To Earth, a work with scents of Autumn, a season of death and transition. The cover art evokes a vine-covered, electric crucifix. The sound is, well, earthy but also gritty and striving towards change. The album was recorded in Fall 2022 and now harvested in Fall 2023.

Phil Becker (Terry Gross, Pins Of Light) contributed drums and percussion to a few tracks on Turn To Earth, recording the album at El Studio in San Francisco. With Becker at the helm, the synths have become more prominent (“Cosmicity,” “Roboflow,” “Migration”) and the tone heavier on the doom (“Cloudstorming,” “Unlock The Land,” title track): several moments could even serve as background music for epic dark fantasy films like Conan the Barbarian, Fire and Ice, or Heavy Metal.

As exquisite as Turn To Earth is, Melton are best appreciated as a live act: their recordings as well as their gigs are largely improvised – not so much composed as birthed. And yet their most recent tour ended abruptly and perilously. The group had to cancel its final three shows once members were admitted to Arnhem hospital in the Netherlands. Five years later, reinforcements have strengthened the band and restocked its arsenal of great tracks.

After the rockus interruptus of that 2018 tour and the tantric tease of the intervening Covid lockdown, Melton have some unfinished business. An October 2023 tour is poised to set the freshly minted quartet back onto the stages of Europe and within the cerebral folds of its fans.

Turn To Earth, sure … but keep your head in outer space.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: You know where you are with a blast of Carlton Melton. It's slowly growing psych, with sounds twisting and turning and weaving into a psychedelic monolith. 'Turn To Earth' does not disappoint, it too grows into a soaring grooving behemoth, with the help of White Manna's Anthony Taibi, bringing his airy lysergic groove to the mix of standout musicians.

TRACK LISTING

01. Turn To Earth
02. Cloudstorming
03. Vanquished
04. Cosmicity
05. Canned Head
06. Sundering
07. Unlock The Land
08. Roboflow
09. Last Times
10. Migration
11. Mutiny 

Strap yourself in people, we have here the debut full length from Philly’s Laurel Canyon; after some online EP releases, and a (now) sold out 7” with Savage Pencil, Agitated Records is excited to announce the release of their s/t album! Guitars are drenched in an Asheton worshipping haze and pummel, melded alongside a Velvets chug and mid-to-late 80s Pacific Northwest guttural / primal howl... this is American primitive music at its most powerful.

Pigeonholers beware, this album takes its cues from all the most potent places… Funhouse, Loaded, Green River, early Sub Pop, all providing valid reference points. In amongst this over-amped harmonious murk are 10 visceral and catchy pop songs practically screaming for attention, the core members of Serg, Nick, and Dylan have created a beast of a record. Some tracks were recorded with Steve Albini, some with Bryce Goggin and all were mastered by Howie Weinberg.

TRACK LISTING

01. Drop Out
02. A Man About Town
03. Madame Hit The Wire
04. Eczema
05. Victim
06. Daddy's Honey
07. Tangiers
08. Shove
09. Take Your Cut
10. Sade

Carlton Melton, from Northern California, are now a practising fourpiece in the arts of melted-minds psychedelia. With the added kraut-oomph and sike-flutter of fellow Californian Anthony Taibi (whom you may know as being a member of White Manna, and also DDT with Andy) Rich Millman, Andy Duvall, and Clint Golden have now embellished the Carlton Melton sound. Pushing forward as a fourpiece, the band recorded Resemble Ensemble in July 2021 (just before Andy moved back over East!) at Anthony’s home studio, 3D Light in Freshwater, CA. Anthony did all the recording and mixing. The Melton Magick Karpet settled, and our favourite contemporary sikedelic warlods plugged in, amped up and let it flow.. and flow it does. .from the krautrock fuelled pszych-raga of Prescribed Skies, the fluid dronescape of Elsewhere that welcomes you into its arms with a warming tone, almost a missing Spacemen 3 demo at the feast here… So The Story Grows has the drone scraping through a murk of dazzling feedback and pummel, with the fuller sounding Melton giving the genre a proper wobble, hold on to your brains people… High Alert.. whas this? Synth and guitar interplay jambusting, this is the Melton wigging out and almost interweaving 70s high table rock with some odd and downright perverse synthfunkpunk rhythms.. get weird.. or get wired..or both.. easily done here.. Closing out the album with Route Thirteen is the road trip home.. they’ve been, they’ve massaged and mangled your synapses, plug in the satnav and take the higher-route home.. if you get our drift.. Carlton Melton, starting 2023 in a better place than most, soaring high on their synaptic-dazzling magick karpet…

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: San Franciscan trio Carlton Melton have always, and will always be mind melters. Their unique brand of floating psychedelia has both moments of tension and grit as well as soaring, lysergic looseness. Soaring, beautifully rendered and perfectly measured as ever. Classic CM.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prescribed Skies
2. Elsewhere (Need To Be)
3. So The Story Grows
4. High Alert
5. Route Thirteen

The debut album from pre-grunge crunch merchants oldboy:

oldboy formed as a past-time - like golf or knitting - between old friends with a love of having a loud good time. created by Max and Chris in an industrial estate rehearsal room back in 2019, get togethers were few and far between but something was popping - it felt like fun.

Since then, practises were again few and far between but after recruiting an old friend - Ryan - on bass (they didn't want to be a two piece - lightning bolt have that covered) they decided to try a little bit harder and as the world went into reverse they somehow wrote what you have here - their debut album 'bloody'.

Recorded at the Total Refreshment Centre in three days with Jonah Falco (fucked up, chubby and the gang, the chisel) and then mixed in three hours in the basement of rough trade west you get exactly where oldboy are at. it's fast and relentless. it swings in places. It's super raw and the sound of three people having a high ol' time.

Mucho influenced by the prime / premiere cuts of the late 80s / early 90s Chicago / US noise, as once released by Touch and Go, Amphetamine Reptile and Sub Pop.. pummelled home with a British post punk thWACK... it’s pop music, it’s just nasty pop music.

For fans of: Tar, Shellac, Precious Wax Droppings, Helmet, Scratch Acid, Tad....

Play loud…
…and often

TRACK LISTING

1. Proper Son
2. Big Balls
3. Soft To The Touch
4. Fux Been Given
5. Wow
6. Slap On The Wrist
7. Pedestal
8. Brace Yerself
9. Underwater Bats

"The Stylist", Kelley Stoltz's 17th album finds him following up the Third Man Records reissue of his 2001 "Antique Glow", with a collection of 10 new songs. The album was recorded early in 2021, and has been languishing in the vinyl pressing log jam ever since - but luckily Stoltz writes timeless songs, the kind that might've appeared on the fringes of the late 60's or mid 80's. Acoustic guitars, synthesizers, drum machines and strong melodies abound. As with his other classic records "Below the Branches", "Double Exposure" and "Ah! (etc)" Stoltz plays most of the instruments himself and records in his home studio in San Francisco. Kelley says, "I chose the title 'the Stylist' because musically I guess that's what I am... because of the way I write, at my leisure over a period of months at home, I kinda flit around between styles. It's all in the pop-rock vein, but there's usually a wide range of sounds and inspiration from song to song. It sort of fits together in a mix tape kind of way, rather than an exploration of one particular mood. That's always been the case with my albums."

The chorus-y guitar jangle of "Your Name Escapes Me" somehow name checks the New Bomb Turks, while reflecting on familiar if forgotten faces from Stoltz's past. On "My Island" insistent piano and saxophone solos take the listener on a tropical trip to the soft rock radio dial. Stoltz played rhythm guitar in Echo & the Bunnymen for a few years, and "We Grew So Far Apart" clangs like a lost Liverpool 80's classic. Stoltz says, "There's a touch more piano on this record... going back to my Sub Pop days, when I was writing more Beatle-y bits... Harry Nilsson... that kind of thing." Indeed, the piano led "It's a Cold World" plays like a holy union of Todd Rundgren and the Zombies where Stoltz declares, "it's a cold world at times, but I'm not ready to give up the fight."

Thankfully, after 23 years the beat goes on... and no matter what style Stoltz chooses, "The Stylist" is another platter of tuneful delight in the impressive catalog of one of the great songwriters of our time.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Change
We Grew So Far Apart
You Had To Be There
My Wildest Dream
Its A Cold World
Side B
Is There Anything That's Better Than This , Babe?
Your Name Escapes Me
In The Night
Wrong Number
My Island

“I was guzzling wine at my favorite bar in San Francisco, the Rite Spot, and the entertainment that night was some local opera singers singing along with a big video screen showing a collage of various operatic moments with subtitles. One particular subtitle, ‘Ah!-(etc)’ made me laugh, I thought it was a perfect description of life - the joy of existence against the etcetera of it all, the struggle. With a heavy head of rose’ it seemed like ecstatic poetry! I scribbled it on a napkin and thought it might make a good title for something” And so the mystery behind the title of Kelley Stoltz new record is solved. Less of a mystery is the quality contained therein… after 12 self-titled releases and a several more under pseudonyms, Stoltz is the word for “one-man-band-home-recording-pop-songs of idiosyncratic character.” A quick follow up to his more power pop and pub rock LP only “Hard Feelings” offering in the summer, “Ah-(etc)” finds Stoltz returning to his sweet spot, writing songs that never were, but should have been in the 60’s and 80’s.

As with other LPs Stoltz makes virtually every noise on the album which was written and recorded in 2019 at his Electric Duck Studio in. San Francisco. A few friends popped in to play along… Stoltz former bandmate, Echo & the Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant adds electric guitar to “The Quiet Ones” a sort of Scott Walker lyrical take on strangers and neighbors. Karina Denike formerly of Dance Hall Crashers adds gorgeous vocals on the bossanova groover “Moon Shy”, where Sergeant pops up again in a spoken word role on the outro. Allyson Baker of SF’s Dirty Ghosts sings on “She Like Noise”, a song Stoltz wrote for her in celebration of her love of seeing live bands.

The album was mastered by Mikey Young in Australia, Tour dates scheduled for summer 2021.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Kelley Stoltz returns for his newest 'Ah! etc', brimming with the clever riffs and latent sunshine psychedelia we've come to expect. It's a refreshing and beautifully accomplished LP, and will certainly go on to reveal many layers with each subsequent listen. Gorgeous.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Team Earth
2. The Quiet Ones
3. Never Change Enough
4. Dodged A Bullet
5. Cold

SIDE B
6. She Likes Noise
7. Some Other Time
8. Moon Shy
9. Darkness Too
10. Chasing The Light
11. Tomorrow
12. Having Fun

Dinked Edition Bonus 12” EP
A:
Gift Of Days
Peace Together
B:
Pictures Of Me
Casio Life

Agitated is more than pleased to announce the long over-due return to wax (and CD) by Carlton Melton, the new album from San Franciscan / Northern Californian space-trippers is here, and its ready to tune you out and turn you on.

Nestled deep in the forests of Mendocino County in Northern California, huddled under the protective shade of towering redwoods and within earshot of frothy waves crashing against the Pacific coastline, squats a geodesic dome that has served as crucible for the experimental genius of Carlton Melton. Nature and Man operate under different logics. But here, Carlton Melton wholly entrusts this idyllic environment with the task of inspiring and guiding their musical improvisations.

The Dome has been the ideal setting to facilitate their creativity. Without forcing a specific dynamic or theme, the band inhabits its womb-like confines to improvise, explore, dream. Their music draws on psychedelia, stoner metal, krautrock, and ambient atmospherics to convey, above all else, a mood.

A prickly guitar melody will float lazily, a wall of dissonant feedback will resolve into a hypnotic drone, or a colossal riff will exhume the soul of Jimi Hendrix. One hears Hawkwind or Spacemen 3 jamming with Pink Floyd at Pompeii.

Indeed, Carlton Melton have one foot in the ancient world and one tentacle in deep space. They are both the pack of proto-humans drumming with femurs in Kubrick’s 2001 and the film’s inscrutable monolith hinting at the universe’s mysteries. The “Stoned Ape” theory holds that early hominids ingested psychedelic mushrooms that provided an evolutionary boost to their brains, helping them blossom into Homo Sapiens. Imagine such cavemen trippin’ balls, their nightmarish visions sending them into feverish bouts of rage and then gentle moments of introspection. They very well could have heard the music of Carlton Melton rattling inside their skulls, first driving our ancestors mad then upward into a higher realm.

Andy Duvall (drums, guitar), Clint Golden (bass), and Rich Millman (guitar, synths) have yet to play Pompeii, but they have already wowed crowds at European festivals such as the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, Roadburn, and Desertfest Antwerp. Live, they are jaw-dropping. On record, mind-altering.

In fact, with each album, Carlton Melton adds a subtle new element, synapses firing new neural connections. In 2020, they release new full-length Where This Leads, marking ten years of the band’s working relationship with their UK label Agitated Records and five years of recording with Phil Manley in his El Studio in San Francisco. With Where This Leads, the band rewires the listener’s mind. “Smoke Drip Revisited” is a ticklish acid flashback, “Porch Dreams” a dabbling in country psych, and “Closer” a driving, freak-out of guitar heroics.

One senses that the group is conveying a message that cannot be expressed verbally but only suggested through synth sighs, walloping rhythms, and soaring solos. Would Carlton Melton therefore be a group of stoned apes dizzily grasping for meaning or telepathic futurists communicating to us through crude man-made instrumentation?

Well, lower the stylus to find out.
- Eric Bensel, Paris July 2020

TRACK LISTING

1. The Stars Are Dying
2. Butchery
3. Waylay
4. Dezebelle
5. Smoke Drip Revisited
6. Crown Shyness
7. Three Zero Two
8. Porch Dreams
9. Closer