Say Psych: Album Review – Space Jungle Mantra by Lay Llamas


The Lay Llamas had something of a delayed impact on me last year. I bought the Rocket Recordings album ‘Ostro’ but it remained on the shelf largely unplayed for several months. When I did get it out again I really wondered why it had not clicked with me before, I loved it to such an extent that it made the Psych Insight Essential albums list for 2014, and it continues to be on regular rotation…especially when the sun is shining.

Lay Llamas at Liverpool PsychFest 2014. Photo by Simon Delic
Lay Llamas at Liverpool PsychFest 2014. Photo by Simon Delic

Having got into the album I was really looking forward to seeing the band at the Liverpool PsychFest, and they really blew me away. Playing a set which was as much about the beats as the the psych, as much about the African rhythms as the space rock; they delivered a mesmeric performance that really was beyond genre.

Around the same time the Lay Llamas went on a short UK supporting Swedish psych world music collective Goat, and a recording of the former’s Roundhouse set on that tour has now been released on very limited cd and download on 4 Zero Records. The set on this release really takes me back to that night in Liverpool and is a really great recording which really captures what the Lay Llamas are about live on stage, comprising tracks from ‘Ostro’ and some previously unreleased tracks.

 

Nicola Giunta of Lay Llamas at Liverpool PsychFest 2014. Photo by Simon Delic
Nicola Giunta of Lay Llamas at Liverpool PsychFest 2014. Photo by Simon Delic

Were that not enough there is also a very fine, and unique to this release, prismatic remix of ‘The Place Where We Come From is the Place Where We’re Going To’ by SILENT PANDA | DEADLY PANDA. Together with the live set this is a highly recommended release both for those who are familiar with the Lay Llamas’ work, and those who would like to hear some unique and very immediate music.

‘Space Jungle Mantra – Live at London Roundhouse’, will be released by 4 Zero Records on 21st June. The CD comes in a vinyl style gatefold sleeve with unique artwork by West Coast rock poster designer and artist, Stacie Willoughby.

Tracklisting:
  1. Overmind / Beyond The Time And The Space
  2. Archaic Revival
  3. Spiritual Expedition / Something Wrong
  4. We Are You
  5. The Place Where We Come From Is The Place Where We’re Going To
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