Up-Tight - The Night Is Yours FLAC download

Up-Tight are a three-piece from Tokyo who, from the evidence of this LP, play ponderous, overblown psych rock, of which this record contains five examples. Opener 'Blow Away' fades in with some insistent, repetitive bass and drums (the bass tone on this track is really enviably nasty) and then a load of noisy, squalling guitar over the top taking us to some pretty far-out places before everything fades out and we're onto the next song, 'She's So Heavy'. No, this isn't a Beatles cover, it's actually a really quiet and mysterious piece where the lead vocal is largely backed by chanting, with really minimal bass and keyboards adding a little depth, it's quite blissful and hypnotic, this one, but towards the end it gradually gets overtaken by all manner of strange noises...I was expecting it to be building into another freakout like the first track but actually it's gone in the exact opposite direction! 'After My Dream' is a totally restrained and beautiful ballad. Man, I don't know if it's my weird love of people singing in foreign accents or what but the Japanese totally know how to do ballads. There's even a dead tasteful guitar solo here. The second side is almost entirely taken up by a giant piece called 'So Alone'. Once again we're treated to that pummelling bass tone I loved so much in the first track, but this one's slower and more coherent. The rhythm section is totally locked into a slow, pounding, Melvins-esque groove while guitarist Aoki Tomoyuki gets another chance to explore. He's got some totally searing tones in his arsenal, too. I love how this band's tone palette is so organic. We've had so much synth-heavy stuff coming through here lately that it's great to hear a band that sounds like a bunch of guys battering the fuck out of some wood and wire, '70s style. As the aforementioned Fab Four used to say, "All you need is gain". I'm pretty sure that's what they said. Once that riff marathon is over there's just time for one spooky little ballad, 'The Night Is Yours', which sees everything stripped back to really minimal strummed acoustic guitar, practically inaudible bass, and a vocal line that's got so much reverb on it that every note sticks around for a good second or two after it's sung. I'm totally impressed with this whole record, and if you like your rock slow and psychedelic I don't see why you wouldn't be too.