Friendly Psychics Music - albums
Bitter Grin
Stream Album
Upstate
Sleeping Cup
Upstate
FPM's Compilation Vol. 1 featured three original Upstate songs not included on the first release, motivating the band to finish three more and call it a mini-album. "Bitter Grin" is also stylistically similar to, but tighter than, the first EP and features more songwriting contributions from Dan Miller and James Focht.
White Nuns on Red Wine
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Wicked Immigrant
Veranda Myth
Wicked Immigrant
"White Nuns on Red Wine" pares down Wicked Immigrant's sound to its sharpest points. With more lyrical purpose, instrumental variety and improved production, the band explores broader horizons in a smaller vehicle, stopping along the way to catalog the nurses, nuns, priests and assorted alcoholics that dot the roadsides between Dayton and Denver. Clocking in at just over a half hour, "White Nuns on Red Wine" is an undeniable step forward for this long-distance band.
Dry Night Riverbed
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Dishwater Psychics
Dixie Velvet
Dishwater Psychics
"Dry Night Riverbed" marks the return of founding member Dan Miller and his multi-instrumentalist approach. Layering keyboards, slide guitar, and harmony vocals over John's spiky music and Chris's demented lyrics and bass, Dan interweaves a crisp and much-needed dynamic into the already hallucinogenic landscapes
If I Ever Disintegrate
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Dishwater Psychics
Jerome, Arizona
Dishwater Psychics
Dishwater Psychics took a long hiatus in 2001 but returned in 2006 with "If I Ever Disintegrate," an album written and recorded over a couple weekends. Employing a drum machine and lots of distortion, the album returned to the roots of 2000's "Blueprint" by busting out a dozen chunky nuggets in the members' spare time, and coming up with some of the best stuff they've ever released.
Missing: The Soundtrack
Stream Album
Upstate
Falling Missiles
Upstate
The first Upstate release was inspired by the band's involvement with the indie film "Missing," which yielded six songs of dark, acoustic-tinged melody dealing with Midwestern decay, orange clouds, and other popular topics at homes for the mentally ill.
Brainswarm
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Brainswarm
Weirdo Hero
Friendly Psychics Music
Like the lumbering ghost of damaged '80s rock stalking a young, unmarried couple in a trailer park, Brainswarm comes at you with a fistful of riffs, broken-glass melodies and enough rusty beats to blow the lips off a robot.
Re-uniting members of such FPM bands as Dishwater Psychics and Bullet Gastino, Brainswarm features the surreal throwback vocals of FPM newcomer Tim Donovan, the distinctively churning guitar of Ken Clark, Chris Jones' creepy, steady bass, and Dan Miller's loping drums.
Brainswarm is the only FPM band in which every member lives in the same state, so it's no surprise they betray a decidedly strong Ohio influence. It's easy to see how the cracked pavement, gray skies, rural vistas and suffocating winters of that region influenced the twisted lyrics and melodies. What's surprising is how quickly they beg for repeat listens, and the way you'll find yourself humming them long after the headphones get kicked behind the burning La-Z-Boy.
An Arm and a Legacy
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The Circuit Riders
Rollaway Bed
Friendly Psychics Music
Yep, they're getting the band back together. The Circuit Riders, a weirdo indie-folk group partially responsible for the formation of Friendly Psychics Music, have gotten back together for the first time in seven years. Their forthcoming album "An Arm and a Legacy" contains all the tried and true acoustic guitars and fantastical, tongue-twisting lyrics and vocals, but adds bass, piano, and inifinitely higher production values than the band's boombox-recorded past. Songs like "Smashed Laps," "Language as a Second English" and "Treble Tape" prove that the band, which has contained over 50 members in the past, still has the weirdly catchy indie-folk vibe down pat. And no, they're not a gospel-country act from Alabama, regardless of what the voices in your head are telling you. All the members contribute lyrics and titles, but for the most part the same roles hold true as they have over the Circuit Riders dozens of other releases. Featuring members of Dishwater Psychics, Bullet Gastino and Wicked Immigrant.
Grave Country Fondle
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Dishwater Psychics
Braised on a Sunset Lie
Friendly Psychics Music
Indie rock from Dayton & Denver...
Dropped at 10,000 Feet
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Derecho
The Zoo Outside the Zoo
Friendly Psychics Music
It's been a long time coming, but Friendly Psychics Music principal and in- house producer Dan Miller has finally released his first project under the name Derecho. If you can guess what the name means, you get a gold star and ride on the missile-equipped weather balloon. "Dropped at 10,000 Feet" bears some resemblance to other FPM releases -- think burning slabs of guitar and bass, crisp percussion, dark Midwestern imagery -- but moves in a different direction with Miller's layered production and unique melodies. Pink Floyd, Flaming Lips, ELO and Tobin Sprout all form reference points, as does that empty bottle of Crown in the corner of the Germantown police station.