Massively anticipated new studio album from one of the most consistently killing of the new breed of Tokyo underground psych groups. Pretty much everyone who picked up the live Kawaguchi CD-R on Nyali was blown away and that set works as the perfect teaser for this monolith, featuring inspired studio re-thinks of a buncha tracks from that release complete with a raft of new drug-dazed originals. No one can swallow planets with the same void-gobbling power and emotional force as Kawaguchi and his vocals here are a massive transport to elsewhere, singing in a pained, high-wire style that is totally compulsive. The studio takes on the live material slow the tracks slightly and increases the weight, with a staggering bulldozer rhythm/ragged glory guitar strategy that could almost be primetime Kousokuya. Indeed, the ghost of Jutok Kaneko hovers over the bulk of the set, albeit given a slightly more arranged/studio sound. Alongside the rockers there’s also some fabulously abstract avant blues with Kawaguchi stringing thin webs of pointillist confusion across fractious rhythms and spectral vocals. But it’s the combination of wailing lead guitar (with the group now sporting a dual guitar attack thanks to the presence of second guitarist Hasegawa Yohei) and those incredible vocals that makes this a major stone and one of the definitive documents of this amazing Tokyo psych group, born from the ashes of the whole Broomdusters/LSD March/Miminokoto scene: “The new decade begins with a groovy explosion of sound and colors: Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes The New Rock Syndicate. Band leader Kawaguchi Masami is a veteran of the Tokyo underground scene, being former Miminokoto, Broomdusters and LSD March member, both seminal projects in the development of a certain way to make rock, looking back at the tradition with a new approach, open to psychedelia, noise and free improvisation. As it happens, Masami’s activities soon became the object of a passionate cult among music lovers and record collectors. ‘The Psychedelic Sounds of the New Rock Syndicate‘ is the definitive statement of Masami as songwriter and ferocious guitar player, finding in Kikuchi Akira (bass), Kiyasu (drums) and Hasegawa Yohei (guitar on 'Dazzling Light' and '(Theme From) New Rock Syndicate') the perfect partners in crime for this unbelievable new studio work. The album opens with an almost sabbattesque anthem (‘Why’) where a heavy riffage is accompanied by lamentous vocals; second piece (‘Affected Dance’) is a deconstructed blues jam, with a touch of narcoleptic magic and simply beautiful. Side b is where the miracle actually happens: every single track is a banger, a compendium of 50 years of rock music compressed in 18 minutes of fire on wax. Songs like ‘Repetition’ or ‘Tottemo’ have been rotating nonstop here since when we got the master recording. Every other word is useless: a monument.” – 8MM. Killer full-colour psych exploitation sleeve, edition of only 250 copies, so move it! Highly recommended!