The Legendary Flower Punk: The Great Acid Folk Swindle

Flower Punk Records (FPR 004)

 

This is the second official CD by The Legendary Flower Punk founded by Kamille Sharapodivov, the singer/guitarist/leader of Russian stoner/metal/rock band The Great Astoria. This is a project where Kamille can try out his more experimental, spacey, psychedelic, folky etc. ideas. The first proper CD release was maybe even a bit too experimental for my taste, but this one sounds very, very good. I really like the artwork as well. The Legendary Flower Punk is now a duo and also performs live featuring Kamille and Danila Danilov, who both play a huge array of different instruments like acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, synths, melodica, flutes, keyboards, electronic effects, kazoo and kalimba. There are also a couple of guests on one track each on this CD.

“Initiation” lets us know what the deal is: mystical acoustic guitars and psychedelic space noises plus some tribal percussion and wordless voice. “Morning Dew” is a beautiful acid folk piece with some late 60s/early 70s vibes, and the same goes for “Centralia”. There are also some more modern elements closer to experimental late 90s/early 00s forest folk movement. “The Overloaded Ark” has also electric guitar and rather Spanish styled acoustic guitar and African sounding percussion etc. It’s a weird mix. The rather minimal and repetitive “Planet Waves” is one of my favourites and has nice guitar and piano sounds plus eerie electronics. “Tuva Sunshine” has folky acoustic guitar, sort of throat singing and primitive flutes. “Life Is a Miracle” is more on the classic acid folk vein and I like it very much. This is the longest track on the CD at 8:53 and also quite psychedelic, uplifting stuff. Great! “One More Fripp Nightmare” is a short experimental folk number with weird guitar patterns etc. The final track “Celestial” is another highlight for me. Lovely, hypnotic guitars, ethnic flutes, spacey electronics and wordless human voice create a really otherworldly atmosphere and this is a great way to finish this CD. Warmly recommended!

thelegendaryflowerpunk.bandcamp.com