Tuesday 27 September 2016

Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell – Tranquonauts (Album Review)


Release date: September 2016. Label: Blown Music / Lay Bare Recordings. Format: Vinyl

Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell – Tranquonauts – Tracklisting

Side A – The Vanishing Earth
Side B – King of the Lepers

Band Members:

Isaiah Mitchell – Guitar, Vibraphone, Toy Piano
Lex Waterreus – Guitar, samples
Mark Sibson – Drums
Paul Crick – Bass
Matt Murphy – Keyboards

Review:

Two worlds collide with Tranquonauts. The unexpected collaboration between Aussie Psych Stoners – Seedy Jeezus and Isaiah Mitchell from Psych Rock Legends – Earthless. Tranquonauts has spaced out psychedelic sound that you associate with both artists but still offering something daring original and exciting on its own terms. The album has two epic twenty minute tracks that allows Tranquonauts create heavy spaced out psychedelic riffs that incorporate jam based grooves with elements of Psych, Stoner, Fuzz and Doom.

It’s purely instrumental as vocals would have easily spoilt the addictive mood held on the album.

Opening track – The Vanishing Earth – is a song that will be enjoyed by any serious music fan. The song is mainly a jam based affair held together by a series of musical chapters that allows the band members to create their own identity on the album. It has a jazzy progressive nature with the Psych Rock influences being the main attraction here. If you’re a fan of both Seedy Jeezus and Earthless then you know what to expect. It’s quite a bold song at times as Tranquonauts incorporate quite a few different musical instruments such as Keyboards and Organs that gives the album a sixties/seventies psych rock organic sound.

Second track – King Of The Lepers – follows the same path as The Vanishing Earth but with a more crazier and experimental sound. This is perhaps the standout track on the album as it has a broader musical scope with the music being more structured than the opening track. The mood of the entire album becomes extremely loud at times as Tranquonauts only have this song to impress you with. Doomish guitars merged with the Space Rock sounds bring back memories of early-ear Earthless at times. This song has quite a seedy atmosphere especially with the opening soundclip that will leave you in a bleak mood. It’s a slow-paced affair but give the band time as they will soon be back to expanding your mind with their cosmic rhythms and riffs.

I’ve heard rumours that Tranquonauts is meant to be a one-off collaboration. I hope this isn’t the case as these guys may have created one of the finest collaborations within the Stoner/Psych Rock world over the last few years or so. Both artists could be onto something special here. Let’s hope that Tranquonauts decide to continue as I would love to hear more from them in the years to come. If that’s not meant to be then they’ve left behind an incredible record.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Lay Bare Recordings for the promo. Tranquonauts (Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell) is available on Vinyl now from Lay Bare Recordings and Seedy Jeezus.

Seedy Jeezus Links:


Isaiah Mitchell Links:


Earthless Links: