ODDBALL IN THE CORNER POCKET

3.5 stars. TRIP LAVA is the one man project of Joel Lee. He's obviously a fan of progressive and experimental music. Drums and guitar are prominanat but we also get loops, drones, samples and other sounds. We get 13 shortish (is that a word ?) tracks with some blending into each other. I must say I found this quite enjoyable, especially this morning as I drove into work on this warm and hazy day. It's all instrumental.

We get a beat fairly quickly on the opening track "Hit Single" as processed guitar makes some noise. It gets pretty intense after 3 minutes. Cool ending as it sounds like a whistle from a train. "Hi Hat" features guitar and cymbals before the drums come in. "Glass Disco" is intense throughout and it ends with glass breaking all over the place. "Flying Tremolo" is mostly drums and guitar while "Gallop Light" has this cool beat with the focus on the drums. It settles 2 1/2 minutes in then it sounds like a jet taking off. "Flange Rock" has a good rhythm as other sounds join in. "Kung Fu" is the shortest tune at less than a minute.

"Floating" has this beat with spacey sounds. Guitar comes in then this pulsating hum takes over. "Sirens" is a good one with so much going on.The guitar is good too. Low drones end it. "Glass Disco Pt.2" sounds like a lot of drums and percussion, probably electronics too. "Gallop" has some prominant drumming in it as the guitar comes in making noise. "Squish" is all about the beat. Sounds like bass too. Sirens come in after 4 minutes as the beat stops. "Electro Glass Climax Pt.2" opens with drums and there's lots going on. Guitar comes in at 1 1/2 minutes. This is excellent. My favourite track. It settles before 3 minutes.The sound then goes from speaker to speaker, faster and faster. A pretty cool way to end it.

Fans of Psychedelic music should check this "oddball" out.