The Future, LSD, DMT, THC, MDMA, Psychedelia, Surrealism, Mystical Powers, Sci-Fi, Freaky Shit, "Happenings", Cheap Electronics, Toy Instruments, Pirates, The Ghetto, Martial Arts, Fresh Ass Asian Gangsters, Video Games, Ambient-Punk, Sonic Boom, Channing Hansen, Julian Woolsey,Beck, Naut Humon, Neu!, Can, Rev/Vega, Moebius + Roedelius, Morton Subotonick, Joe Meek, Martin Denny, Cerrone, Goblin, Tomita, Silver Apples, The White Noise/Delia Derbyshire, The Telescopes, Loop, Moonshake, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips, Th' Faith Healers, Mary Hansen, Joe Dilworth, Greg Shaw, Leslie Satterfield, Lancellot Link & The Evolution Revolution, Tyrone Timezone...
Sounds Like
San Francisco's IMAJINARY FRIENDS,mercurial pranksters of soundscape and pop,continue to turn in the unexpected with their unique brand of original and uncompromising music.
THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS are a somewhat mysterious collective. They released their debut album "Lunchtime In Infinity" on the mighty Bomp label and in their time have been known to contain ex-SWERVEDRIVER and BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE members amongst their numbers.
Fitting perfectly into Space Age ethos, they create a bizarre world of electronic experimentalism coupled with a gnawing sense of tension that often explodes into an overdriven chaos. Throughout their five tracks on this album, they cram idea after idea into their work, discordant and intoxicating revelling in their wanton refusal to accept anything close to the ordinary. Take "Cheap Thrills", all crackled sample loops and lilting pianos - disturbing yet somehow deeply affecting the sound of a burned out life set to an insane backing track. Or "Syndrome" - an explosive breakbeat fuelled affair which rips out at you with a breath-taking force.
THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS know the power of going just that bit further than most, and here they do it so well that it hurts.
There can be no doubt that THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS have so much to offer to us all and this album exemplifies all that is sublime about this genre, encompassing a million sounds and a million ideas and leaving us all transfixed by both its beauty and it’s wild insanity.
Imajinary or not, these friends have produced an album of rare splendour and an album which should show the world that the art of pushing boundaries is far from dead.THE BIG TAKEOVER:
Psychedelia is not dead. Never mind the San Francisco "shoegaze" scene this quintet emanates from--they even sport ex-Swervedriver drummer Graham Bonnar--Lunchtime isn't adrift in dreamy tones and delay-ridden textures. No, I mean the original late-60s trippy stuff. Vocals so buried in effects it's like a damaged subway platform speaker. Guitars that spatter fuzzed drones and damaged, fractured sounds, and a repetitive bass that turns this into a hazy, humid sputter. Like the static of a five-dollar transistor radio, this is raspy aural adventure without the original psychedelic pop structures or attitude, like the more freaked-out side of the Electric Prunes. It's just truly trippy mind-blowing.
THE CHART:
Just in time for the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11, the Imajinary Friends sound like they've been on the moon since 1969 trying to get our attention with their twisted transmissions. It's part space rock, part trance, part ambient, but all weird! When vocals show up they sound like Buzz Aldrin with the worst space hangover ever, filtered through a Captain Video walkie-talkie. The rest is soundscape straight from the surface of the moon! Definitely not for MTV, but could go over big at NASA! BLAST OFF!!
ANTHROPOMORPHIC .8:
Whoa! Who slipped the acid into my CD player? Lots of guitar feedback and sonic treatments thrown into the pot, with a shrieker above it all. Play this with your headphones on, and you'll enter another realm--wild shit awaits!
FLIPSIDE:
Pretty way out stuff that floats around enough while being sort of hypnotic drawing the listener in. This is probably great drug taking music (though I wouldn't call myself an expert on the subject) with its heavy '60s psychedelic bent akin to recent contemporaries like Spacemen 3 and Helios Creed. I would highly recommend this release and that says a lot considering I'd like to see your average stoner as soilent green
FLIPSIDE .92:
Hmmmm. From S.F., huh? These guys have gotta be weirdo loner stoners who must fucking hate everything about "new music" as we know it. From the heart of the city that has brought you the worst in political correctness comes a bizarre psychedelic surprise from the Imajinary Friends. But don't panic, this ain't no hokey Grateful Dead hug a tree shit. On the rather blah looking sleeve and band name alone, I'd normally have passed this by, but Bomp has earned my respect enough times over to at least grant a listen to whatever they put out.. It was worth the effort. Trippy and experimental (like Spacemen 3) meets gloomy (early Floyd/Bauhaus). Sounds like dosed aliens at the controls sending futuristic love vibes to feeble Earthlings. Not so much songs as telephatic brain waves with heartbeats cranked to 10. I got scared more than once during this. For real. I mean, you wanna drive your neighbors absolutely fucking bonkers, this'll do the job. I want ten of what these guys are on. There's something to be said for carving a niche this strange even if the kids can't dance to it. Nifty.
Formed out of the original line-up of THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
in Summer of 1993 with Travis Threlkel, Rick Maymi and Graham Bonnar of
SWERVEDRIVER. Matt Hollywood of THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
and Tim Digulla, later of TIPSY also came into the picture...Excited about
the new band, Greg Shaw of Bomp Records cut them a check to make the
record without ever hearing a note or seeing the band (who hadn't even
played live yet..(!) THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS debut "Lunchtime In Infinity"
was released on Bomp records in 1994.The follow up,"Come Out To Play"
was released in the UK in 1999 by Space Age Recordings as a split EP
with SONIC BOOM of SPACEMEN 3's band SPECTRUM. Matt was fully
comitted to THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE by this point and Jeremy
Davies, the man famous for being Jeff Davies' brother, had taken his
place. In 2000 the band appeared on the Space Age Recordings
compilation "Interface" along with SPECTRUM, SKYRAY, MAGNÉTOPHONE,
EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO RESEARCH, THE LAND OF NOD and LONGSTONE.
In 2001 the band appeared on the Japanese label,Contact Record's comp cd "Looking For The Perfect Glass"-U.S. Pop Life Volume 11" along with HER SPACE HOLIDAY, !!!, TRISTEZA, TARENTEL, TIMONIUM and many other fine bands. In 2006 The Imajinary Friends appeared on "A Mind Expansion Compilation" on Randall Nieman's Mind Expansion Records along with THE TELESCOPES, UNISEX, DEAN WAREHAM & BRITTA PHILLIPS, FREELOVEBABIES, SPACEMEN 3, MARTIN REV, PIANO MAGIC, BARDO POND, FÜXA and MAZARIN among many other brilliant bands...Most recently in 2008 "A Mind Expansion Compilation 2" also featured The Imajinary Friends along with MERCURY REV, FAUST, SPOONFED HYBRID, SCALA, JESSAMINE, ECTOGRAM, many others mentioned above along with new, lesser-known artists...
Rick Maymi is once again a full-time member of THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE and has performed with many artists including SONIC BOOM'S SPECTRUM, STEVE KILBEY of THE CHURCH, THE BLACK RYDER, LSD & THE SEARCH FOR GOD, FREELOVEBABIES, THE KOOLAID ELECTRIC COMPANY, THE PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY CHOIR, MARK GARDENER of RIDE, THE TRIFFIDS, THE CHURCH, MARTY WILLSON-PIPER of THE CHURCH, THE CLEAN, THE CLIENTELE, TWINK of the PINK FAIRIES, THE KNITTLES, BROOM, PANDA, THE DEL VELUM, JEAN-JEAQUE PERRY, STEVEN ROBACK of THE RAIN PARADE, ON BEYOND and MELLOW DRUNK. Rick Maymi has also been recording with Liverpool's THE WILD SWANS and Melbourne, Australia's GB3 (GLENN BENNIE of THE UNDERGROUND LOVERS) as well as STEVE KILBEY, KOOLAID ELECTRIC COMPANY, THE BLACK RYDER and LSD & THE SEARCH FOR GOD...
Travis Threlkel joined TIPSY with Tim Digulla.
Matt Hollywood has his own band, THE REBEL DRONES from Portland Oregon. He also released two CDs with THE OUT-CROWD from Portland,OR. He is prominantly featured in the film "DIG" from when he was in THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE for the second-time-around (i.e. after he was in THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS)
Graham Bonnar, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland now lives back in London. He's worked with THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, CREEPER LAGOON and many others.He also does session work and is an event promoter. Jeremy Davies is currently a Marine Biologist in Corta Madera.
THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS are looking forward to working together again at some point and releasing an album of new material at some point in the near future!!!
We ride together...We party together..We beat these bitches ass together...We get money together...We shop together! And I Love you sis, without you, theres no me! Keep this going you have to send to as many sisters as you can! Show them that you appreciate them being in your life"
Thank you for the blessed friendship and connection! Please hit me with some feedback about the good works! All the best for you in Jah blessings for 2009! One love! Brent Free Rasta Graphics!
