Planes Of Satori ‘Son Of A Gun / Dichotomies’ 7″ 2014

Planes Of Satori’s new 7″ for Who Can You Trust? Records is the real deal: a quality release by an exciting band on a fantastic label. Their sound is made up of various heavy-lidded touchstones, and when a full album drops, you can expect to be greeted with even more. Nowadays, ‘acid rock’, a tag Planes Of Satori give themselves, could mean just about anything.

Their sound is pitched somewhere between Can’s dreamy Krautrock and Echo & The Bunnymen’s floral post-punk, and has a pronounced rhythmic quality showcased on opener ‘Son of a Gun’. It’s a surprising, often hypnotic number, and Planes Of Satori make it look easy.

Unhinged guitar squalls and dense drum patterns unfold over ‘Son of a Gun’s three all-too-short minutes. It’s a sound that could easily be called ‘psychedelic’ as ‘gothic’ if this were 1982: the pounding drums and piercing guitar tone are a dead ringer for the more creative end of post-punk, found on ‘Heaven Up Here’ and ‘The Scream’. But don’t let that put you off (why would it?) if you’re not inclined toward bouffants and eyeliner: the ghost of acid rock past still looms large in the Doors-y desert-dry atmosphere.

Second track ‘Dichotomies’ is an even more pronounced synthesis of Ian McCullough’s baritone vocal trappings and Jaki Liebezeit’s rubbery groove on tracks like ‘Oh Yeah’. Pronounced influences aren’t a bad thing, especially when the influences are either ‘fashionable’ or ‘classic’. There’s plenty of competition out there for bands using krautrock tropes to construct completely unique soundscapes, and Planes of Satori obviously have an ear for a beat listeners can get lost in.

Fans of any of the bands I’ve mentioned would do well to look this up – it’s not often that records like this crop up in the ‘metal’ community, and there really should be many more, especially considering Loop’s much-anticipated headlining slot at Roadburn easily being the biggest announcement for this upcoming summer’s festivities.

It’s a great little sample for the big things to come from Planes of Satori – and it’s another stellar addition to an already-brilliant catalogue at Who Can You Trust?, which is a label worth monitoring if you’re into the fuzzy end of rock and roll. Their catalogue has sterling releases by Hot Lunch, Aqua Nebula Oscillator and Scottish cosmos-explorers The Cosmic Dead, and records like this only enhance their reputation for quality.

Label: Who Can You Trust? Records
Band Links: Facebook | Soundcloud

Scribed by: Ross Horton