I went on a spree of adding new albums to my queue the other night, and this is one of the albums I added. This album, Field Recordings from the Sun (2002), is the second studio release from the noise rock group from Santa Cruz, California, known as Comets on Fire. The band was primarily active from 1999 until 2008, but they never officially broke up. Comets on Fire has performed together multiple times since 2008, but their last release under the Comets on Fire moniker was in 2006. The group was influenced by different groups like the Butthole Surfers, Hawkwind, and the MC5. One of the guest musicians on the album, who later joined the band, is Ben Chesney, who is the main musician in the folksy, psychedelic, and peaceful project known as Six Organs of Admittance. I’m pretty stoked to check out this album, so with that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Beneath the Iceage” gradually begins fading in the an interesting symphony of wind-chimes and what sound to be pots and pans. Oh wow, I really dig the bongos/congas that gradually join the soundscape. Holy smokes, some distorted guitar drones gradually begin fading in as well. There’s also a really neat sound effect that reminds me of a bouncing sound from a cartoon of sort. Oh wow, everything fades out to silence for a brief moment, and soon a mixture of heavy drums and bass combined with distorted guitar reminiscent of a mixture of punk rock groups like Minutemen combined with the shoegazing qualities of groups like Swervedriver are introduced.
I’m really digging the electric guitar work in this track, especially as one of the guitars adds some far out accentuations. Holy smokes, the synth work has a really sweet and nearly spacey sound that I’m really digging. The energy in this track is palpable. At the moment the soundscape sounds like a punk rock version of Hawkwind, and I’m really enjoying it. Holy smokes, these jams keep building on themselves, which sound currently sound like they’re pulling a train into a station of some sort after one epic journey of a first track. The vocals near the end of the track combine the sounds of Gregorian chants with rally songs from the spectators of a football game. Wow, great track.
Holy smokes, “Return to Heaven” begins with some eerie, dissonant feedback of an electric guitar, creating a haunting tone for the track. Oh wow, some really high energy vocals, drums, and bass all join into the soundscape, which create a spacey punk rock sound that I’m really digging. The reverb on the vocals makes soundscape seem massive. Oh wow, the track relaxes into a high-octane psychedelic rock riff reminiscent of the darker psychedelic rock groups from the 1960s such as Salem Mass, and even The Other Half, a proto-punk psychedelic garage rock group based in Los Angeles. Oh wow, the jams at the end of the track seem to continually build, and come together to form a grand, chaotic structure that wasn’t necessarily obvious at the beginning of the song. Great track.
Holy smokes, “The Unicorn” begins with some really sweet acoustic guitar that reminds me of the psychedelia-influenced British folk revival of the 1960s, and the overall chord progression actually reminds me of “China Doll” by the Grateful Dead. I’m really digging this track, and the album a ton so far. These sweet, earthy textures from the buzzing of the bass strings to the pleasant melody in the high strings somehow gently drift you further into the spacey territory of the previous songs. Oh wow, some really distorted swishing tones from an electric guitar gradually come fading into the soundscape. Oh wow, the distorted feedback sounds gradually overwhelm the acoustic guitar as they continue fading in, and eventually turn into more of a drone as the acoustic guitar exits. Wow, great track.
Holy smokes, “ESP” starts out with tons of high-octane, chaotic, psychedelic energy filled with synths, distorted guitars, feedback, a super strong and fast beat, and a rumbling bass line that all create a very dynamic feeling in the track. The instrumentation almost sounds like the group is conducting a psychedelic train around a mountain at a continually climbing speed. Oh wow, the guitar work nearly mellows out for a moment as the drums and bass somehow make the tune feel like it’s moving even faster. I’m really digging the guitar work in this part of the song, which harkens back to a sort of proto-punk garage rock sound combined with high octane-psychedelic rock. The synths in this track remind me a little of Fifty Foot Hose. Oh wow, I really dig the mellow finish of this track a lot. Great tune.
“The Black Poodle” starts with the sounds of amplifiers turned up to 11, and feedback and some notes gradually starting to come through. Oh wow, I really dig the rising tones at the start of this track. Holy smokes, those rising tones were like the gradually rise up the top of a roller coaster, and then the next movement feels like a long, fast descent down the largest hill of the roller coaster, except you’re traveling forwards, backwards, sideways, and upside-down all at once. Oh wow, the band mellows slightly for a moment, and then launches into another high-octane, chaotic movement. Holy smokes, there’s some normal piano lines in this track that bring some semblance of reality among the heavy psychedelic sounds from the rest of the instrumentation.
Oh wow, the song enters a new movement with a big bass line and big bass drums that bring a nearly primal feel to the soundscape, while the synths and electric guitar gradually wash through the soundscape with far-out, psychedelic melodies. Oh wow, the tune sounds completely deconstructed after a bit, in a manner that reminds me vaguely of the Grateful Dead’s live performances of “Dark Star”, and breaks through to a really groovy flowing movement with the rhythm a bit more spaced-out/looser than earlier in the track. Wow, there’s so much music within this track alone. The track seems to gradually begin winding up as the drums and bass have fallen away and the guitars and synths have become a medley of chaotic feedback and drones. Wow, the jam keeps on giving until the very last moment, and is briefly replaced by a really interesting airy sound to finish the song. Great track, and a great way to end this album.
Holy smokes, this album is pretty sweet. I always dig noise rock whenever I listen, but I haven’t really ventured very far into the genre. The music in the album is full of energy reminiscent of classic punk rock outfits like Minutemen, which is combined with even more energy from psychedelic rock. Overall, I’m reminded of the somewhat dark psychedelic rock groups of 1960s Los Angeles, combined with high energy punk rock of the early 1980s, as well as the sort of grungy-shoegazing from early 1990s groups like Swervedriver. There was also a song that reached into the British folk revival sound from the late 1960s, which made the album and listening experience even more dynamic than it already was. I’m definitely looking forward to listening to more of Comets on Fire’s discography. If you’re into high-octane psychedelic rock/psychedelic garage rock from the 1960s, and are also a fan of early 1990s shoegazing groups like Swervedriver, then you might want to check out this album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, then I sincerely do hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A