Anthroprophh
UFO
(2015)
Cardinal Fuzz
Can Cardinal Fuzz do any wrong? With excellent release after excellent release, this Yorkshire based label at the helm of one Dave Cambridge, is the very thing that acid record collector’s dreams are made of. Each album on the label is obviously crafted with great love, from the aesthetic and quality of the record jacket to the frequent use of inserts and the look and sound of the very disc itself. Of course the contents of each album is of the highest grade as well. You don’t even need to know who the artist is, you can just be sure that your Uncle Dave has provided you with the very finest that acid and psychedelic rock has to offer. Anthroprophh’s UFO is certainly no exception to this.
Given birth by Paul Allen of The Heads and Jesse Webb and Gareth Turner of Big Naturals, (both of which are hard hallucinatory legends in their own right) Anthroprophh is an electric storm that you would want to be struck by. Their music, especially here on UFO, is of the murky, metallic variety of distorted acid rock that is also heavy on atmosphere. At points, their fuzzy trance-inducing jams can be reminiscent of Yah Ho Wha 13 and the heavier moments of both Amon Duul I & II (even the sound of the guitar through most of this record sounds similar to the guitar on the classic AD2 albums). Additionally, there is certainly an entire galaxy of effect peddles at work here, twisting and transforming the droning guitars into something that carries a pulse. As previously mentioned, there’s certainly a presence of Kosmische influences through out, but that alone cannot sum up what is happening and what is so great on UFO. The best albums are those that take the listener on a journey, especially if it’s done without words, and UFO does just that. Much like the title’s namesake, from the mesmerizing ambience of the opening track, “Southend on Sea,” to the primal, skull splattering kick of “Owermoigne”and “Weedon BEC,” the listener is ripped to the furthest reaches of both the inner and outer cosmos.
With walls of howling feedback and whole landscapes of guitar, cyclic rhythms and the occasional strange trickles of haunting synthesizer, this album should be played only through large headphones with either your eyes closed or while watching muted clips of supposed “real” UFO videos on Youtube.
Record Crates United 