SUNDAY SONG TO DROP ACID TO: LA OTRACINA – “CRYSTAL WIZARDS OF THE COSMIC WEIRD”

I first saw this band play one extremely rainy night last year at a friend’s loft space in Bush-Stuy, Brooklyn (ironically just a couple blocks from where I live now). I was with a spry, pre-bearded yet still venerable Vincent Von Neilshtein, and shit — it was raining so hard that even though we parked right outside the building we still got soaked going in.

At that time, La Otracina had a free jazz-ish style goin on, seemingly random bursts of noise and sound, nothing structured (at least the bits that we caught)…which is why I was so surprised when I caught a recent set of theirs just a few weeks ago and it sounded totally different. The band, led by drummer (and now vocalist) Adam Kriney, played jazzy, stony psych-rock, and the results were pretty f’n alright. The guitarist could wail, and if I’m not mistaken the “bass” player was actually wielding a baritone guitar running through a bass cabinet, which certainly did the trick and offered him a couple more strings to pluck. Adam could stand to polish his between-song banter, but hey, he’s new to the vocalist role and motherfucker can really play those drums…

That particular night was well rounded off by sets from spacey prog-rock juggernaut Titan and old-school metal riffing duo Lapdog of Satan (both members also from an awesome eclectic rock band called Priestbird). You are encouraged to check em all out, if you know what’s good for ya!

NOTE: feel free to replace the aforementioned tab of acid with a healthy dose of mushroom tea, if you are so inclined. As always, have ample fluffy lime green ganja on hand for “the scary parts”.

LA OTRACINA – “Crystal Wizards of the Cosmic Weird”, from The Risk of Gravitation (2008)

-KW