Review: Skyjelly - Blank Panthers/ Priest, Expert or Wizard

Skyjelly are a Boston based band who describe their music as "rock ambient arabic avant-garde avant-guard avant-pop experimental experimental rock guitar indie rock" - never has the phrase 'something for everyone been more apt'! After listening to this 2 for 1 album, released on tape via the rather wonderful Doomtrip label, it became evident that the above description (or rather list of appropriate genres) goes someway to express the many influences from which Skyjelly draw. However, the band, comprising of Skyjelly Jones, Scott "Sheik" Levesque, Dave Melanson & Eric Hudson, prove to be a collective who do not produce a hotchpotch of sounds but rather mix and match techniques and approaches to exceptionally good effect.

The 'Blank Panthers' side comprises of just 5 tracks and is the more ostensibly 'psych' side. Right from the get go with 'Sixes' and its funky, jazzy bass and layers of reverb all mixed with an eastern motif running through you know you are about to leave on an epic trip. The rest of 'Blank Panthers' flies by in a flurry of haze. 'Acosta' with its highly infectious rhythms leads into 'Seamagnet' and its ethnic sounding percussion.The standout track, however, must be 'Krilltastica'; a slow burning, moody track which benefits from some fantastic guitar work which brilliantly spans the gap between psychedelic and jazz, accompanied by some soulful, yearning vocals and almost noirish percussion...it's laden with atmosphere and feeling. The side is rounded off with 'Can't take my mind', another melancholic number that defies categorisation - flashes of kraut guitar, shuffling rhythms and layered vocals all mixed to produce a dense melange of colour and sound.

'Priest, Expert or Wizard' is a slightly different kettle of fish but still oozing class throughout. 'Subway Rider' opens this side with some hazy, laconic vibes and the rest of the nine tracks veritably fly by. From the jazzy krautrock workout of 'Attention Spam' via the bass-heavy funky groove of 'Catherine's Rabbi', the exceptional fuzzy psych of 'Watchout' (probably of my fave track of both sides) and the sixties psych tinged post-punk stomp of 'Headphone Jack' until the soulful indie of closer 'That's where the modern is', 'P,E or W' is a wonderfully varied journey through the outer reaches of music.

Two things struck me listening to 'Blank Panthers/ Priest, Expert or Wizard'; one was the exceptional level of musicianship - there are some truly talented guys at work here, and the other was the sheer scope of what is on offer. This is a band completely unafraid to mix and match and to juggle styles and all to great effect. I was trying to think of what 'genre' I would sum things up as, and gave up! There are some wonderfully psych moments, some flashes of krautrock and jazz, some exotic ethnic flourishes, some explosive post-punk and some indie sensibilities: to try to round up all that in one, easy soundbite seems wrong and, I guess, goes against what the band are trying, and indeed succeed, to do. This is really one hell of a trip!

'Blank Panthers/ Priest, Expert or Wizard' is available from the Doomtrip Bandcamp page here in tape ($8) and download ($4) formats. There truly is nothing quite like Skyjelly out there!