MICE AND RATS IN THE LOFT

This album is the spiritual grandparent of Devendra's music. Like Banhart, you'll need to hear this. Jan Dukes is the collaboration of Derek Noy, Denis Conlan, and Michael Bairstow. "Mice and Rats" contains some of the purest campfire acid-psych-folk you'll ever set ears on, think of Bolan doing "The Light of the Magical Moon" with Syd Barrett and Jefferson Airplane on acoustic instruments after a few hits of acid and you'll have an idea what this sounds like. "Sun Symphonica" is a side-long epic that starts out like a nice friendly song before taking you to edges of your sanity. The acoustic guitars that are used do not give off the standard "pretty" sounds you expect when you think acoustic, Noy instead attacks the strings in a rough manner sometimes strumming hard enough to give the sound a punkish energy. You will also hear various chamber instruments giving a strange regal opposition to the rather tribal sound of the band members. "Call of the Wild" features some great flute work and a long guitar solo that even manages to slip in a bit of "Three Blind Mice" if you're paying attention. We even get some sax thrown in for good measure adding yet another color. It gets fairly jamming late in the game before succumbing to a nice flute ending. "Mice and Rats" gets more rocking yet as we start to approach sounds that you might have heard in the Haight scene around this time. Lots of wah-wah and echoed vocals produce a trippy though obviously pretty dated sound. While I consider this a good album I don't know that I share the enthusiasm of others for the long term musical experience. It does have it moments and it is a rare, mysterious piece of music that should be heard. But personally it's not something I long to play very often. It's more of an oddity than something which really moves me. I think I admire the counterculture spirit of the album more than the music itself-it certainly has an air of danger about it. You can tell these aren't your standard hippies as they chose to pose with a shotgun of all things. If you're a fan of the "Acid Test" level of strangeness in your music then this comes highly recommended. If you're idea of good folk music is Dylan or Joni this might not be for you. 3 stars.

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