Gala Drop & Ben Chasny - Broda

Ooh, I like this. What we have here is, as Phil would say, a fusion. Ben Chasny, the soulful psychedelic guitar explorer, has hooked up with the hothouse of creative energy that is Gala Drop, to put together a fairly lengthy 12” EP of searing party groovers with Latin rhythms and wah guitar acrobatics and glacial synths all meshed together for three jazzy workouts. The first side's got a single long jam, 'Positano', which opens with glacial synths and warm Mogwai-esque picked guitar alongside echoey, pulsing drums, lulling the listener into a false sense of security and easing us into our journey of bubbling psychedelic fusion sounds. Before we know it we're swept up in clattering samba beats and swirly Hawkwind whooshes and squelchy synths taking us into a churning hypnagogic soundscape where genre boundaries mean nothing. On the second side there's two tracks. The first is the title track which of all the numbers here is the one that sounds the most like Santana, specifically an extended jam on the breakdown from 'Black Magic Woman'. Very slickly done and it's really making me want to dance but the comparison is unavoidable, and if you're going to do some kind of psychedelic Latin rock/jazz hybrid and never sound a little bit like Santana then you're probably doing it wrong anyway, right? The final track's more of a psychedelic slow burner with an insistent, bubbling bass line, wailing guitars, submerged synth stabs and just full-on summery cosmic vibes. Oh, how I long to hear this blasting out of a window while we bust out a barbeque in the garden. All three tracks on offer here are pretty lengthy and at this price this record is a total bargain. I'm buying one, anyway.