Ambassador Hazy – The Traveler

 Hazy House / Cardinal Fuzz (HH01 / CFL0224)

The Traveler is the second album by Sterling DeWeese's solo project Ambassador Hazy. You might have read my review of his debut album Glacial Erratics last year. This new album was released together with (Sterling's?) Hazy House label in the US and UK's Cardinal Fuzz so it should be pretty easily available, at least until the limited pressing of 250 copies is gone everywhere. Cardinal Fuzz no longer have this available on their Bandcamp, though. There is also a limited Sam Giles CD-R edition.

On The Traveler Sterling continues his dreamy, trippy travels into home-cooked, lo-fi psychedelia and garage rock. There are also beautiful acid folk (check out "All We Wanted", for example) and some more experimental moments in there for great balance. His vocals somehow remind me of Lemmy during his Sam Gobal times which is not a bad thing. "Gone to My Head" has a cool, more pop oriented vibe, but there are also darker things. I think I prefer the fuzzy, 13th Floor Elevator styled rockers, but there is a lot to love here. Give it a try and locate a copy if you can!

ambassadorhazy.bandcamp.com/

The Terrapin Gun – Relax Your Mind

 Infinite Spin (ISR 10001110101)

 

I received this very limited LP from Sterling DeWeese from Cold Spring, New York. The guy previously sent me his first Ambassador Hazy LP for review last year. Terrapin Gun started as a duo with his soul brother Scott over 20 years ago on the East Coats of USA. These recordings were finished when some other members had joined in but never released until now.

Terrapin Gun played a weird, psychedelic mix of Spacemen 3 and Brian Jonestown Massacre and 60s bands like The Byrds, The Dead, Velvet Undergound and The Fugs. The album has a lot of acoustic guitars too to give it a flowing, West Coast folky blues feel at times. The recording techinique must have been pretty primitive at the time, but the sound is still good and very enjoyable. There are 12 rather short songs on the album and I got to say I like them all. You could consider this as a time capsule from 20 years ago or just as a great, timeless underground psych rock/folk/blues album with a lot of feelings and atmospheres. Check it out and hurry up if you want a copy, since there are only 125 of these beauties in existence.

www.facebook.com/sterling.deweese

infinitespinrecords.bandcamp.com/releases