The Garcia Peoples are one of my favorite groups that I’ve first listened to this year. They’re a psychedelic jam band of sorts, and have a unique sound about them. The band is from New Jersey, and started up around 2016. I’ve listened to a couple of their albums, but am glad to finally take the time and write about them, and with a brand new album as well. With that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Gliding Through” starts out with some massive drums that get the band swinging into this strange dissonant melody that sort of squishes down and resolves super flavorfully. The vocals come on and the instrumentation seems to glide from one movement to another. I really dig this sort of dark exploration the band gets into. All of the instrumentation really flows from one part to the next super well. I really dig the drums setting up a super groovy platform that holds up the heavy jams from the stringed instruments really nicely. There’s even a violin or something I think, which really adds a nice dimension to the soundscape. Oh wow, this jam is super tasty. The band is going at full steam ahead while other instruments come in and accentuate the tune, really adding a lot of flavor to this cohesive piece. Great tune.
“Wasted Time” starts out with some meandering dream-like sounds from the chime-like keyboards and the gently moving guitar piece. Oh wow, this tune really a super groovy sound, going for a bit of a downtempo feel from the beginning at first, and then evolving to a quicker breakdown for a bit. This is one super groovy, far out tune that keeps on giving. There seems to be a ton of music packed into this tune, and I really dig it. Oh wow, the guitars have some great tone as they go back and forth with each other. This song is so full of music that I am going to need to listen to it at least once more to truly appreciate it and pick up on more of the instrumentation a bit better, I feel. Super awesome tune.
“Altered Place” jumps right into things with a super tasty, weaving jam from the guitars and keyboard, which seems to harken back to some ‘traditional’ 1960s psychedelic rock, with this somewhat shamanic sounding tune. Oh wow, I really dig the different movements in this tune – it really changes up quite nicely and feels like it resolves some tension I didn’t know had even been built up. Oh wow, the guitars are incredibly tight and interwoven super nicely. Great tune.
“Fire of the Now” has a super tasty introduction with the guitars, and gradually the tune becomes quite exploratory and seemingly introspective with the strange, clean, interwoven psychedelia of the different instruments and vocals that nearly take on a droning quality at times, which only further serves this psychedelic tune super nicely. Oh wow, this tune keeps on evolving, at times seemingly teasing a resolution before getting a bit strange again – I really dig it. Really sweet tune.
“Painting a Vision That Carries” starts out with some super tasty, nearly cowboy sounding acoustic guitar and drums that really set up the soundscape for a super interesting extended jam. I really dig the crashing cymbals creating an airiness in the soundscape too. Oh wow, the distorted electric guitars come on and the tune becomes that much more epic in sound. The vocals have a sort of relaxed drone to them in the middle of this super tasty, upbeat soundscape. Holy smokes, these guitar parts sound incredibly fresh and absolutely groovy. Oh wow, every time those distorted guitars come on the soundscape is flooded with flavor, and the rest of the instrumentation seems to provide a musical boat which is coaxed through this flood of flavor by the vocals. The different instruments seem to both gallop and glide right into one another, creating a very dynamic soundscape that flows incredibly well. The acoustic guitar seems to keep the soundscape grounded to some degree while being stretched further and further in a super awesome way. Absolutely epic tune.
“One at a Time” starts out with some super tasty tremelo guitar and is quickly joined by some drums, as the guitars seem to sort of feel out the different parts they’re playing in the tune. After the epic levels that the previous song reached, it almost seems like the band keeps in a somewhat relaxed whirl while giving you a moment to breathe, though the band is quickly tightening back up and keeping this groovy tune rolling along. Oh wow, those synthesizers bring a super interesting flavor to the mix. Oh wow (again), the band breaks through to a relatively heavily distorted jam for a moment that is full of flavor – awesome. Great tune.
“(Our Life Could Be Your Van)” segues right into things immediately from the previous tune, and seems to get a bit introspective again with instruments that seem to ring out and meander through the soundscape, and percussion that nearly sounds like a mixture of a heartbeat and a tabla. Oh wow, this tune falls right into a tight jam seemingly out of nowhere, which only seems to deepen the introspection while bringing the tune further out with this flavorful instrumental jam. Oh wow, this tune keeps on giving with different movements that keep the soundscape incredibly dynamic. Great jam tune.
“Crown of Thought” starts extremely well from the previous track, with the final melody of the previous track echoed in the background at the introduction of this one. Oh wow, those cheesy guitar lines have some super great flavor, especially in contrasting the drippingly clean tone of the other guitar(s). This tune is sweet – it seems have a marching and climbing feeling at times, with the band jamming out around you at other times which only adds to the epic flavor present in this one. Oh wow, the band seems to drop most of the song structure as the synthesizer comes into play and seemingly washes and reverberates through the soundscape in utter strange deliciousness as the rest of the band rebuilds up a jam around it. Holy smokes, this tune is sweet. Oh wow, this tune has somehow worked its way around to what I think seems to be the initial melody of the tune. Those guitar parts are absolutely sweet, and the drums really adds an exclamation point to each note of the guitar with this extremely interconnected style. Holy smokes this is absolutely awesome.
“(Sound Controls Time)” segues right into things from the previous track, and brings the extended jam from the past few songs into relatively abstract territory with feedback and chimes as the band seems to be tying things up to some degree at the moment.
“A Reckoning” picks right up from the previous tune with some super tasty acoustic guitars to seemingly tie up the whole jam section in this album in a completely different dimension from the previous track. Oh wow, some clean electric guitars come on and ring through the soundscape nicely with some heavy, folksy kick drums and some super folksy reverberated vocals seemingly beckoning the multidimensional soundscape concocted throughout the album back to planet earth. Absolutely awesome. The intricate guitar lines really keep pulling my ear closer to the soundscape. Really sweet tune.
“(Litmus)” comes on hot as the band has worked up slowly to a mountainous crescendo of cymbals and wah’d guitars with some feedback that take this tune in for a landing. Great tune to wrap up that jam.
“Shadow” starts out with a very gentle acoustic, innocent soundscape as the massive jam section from the previous few tunes were wrapped up. This seems to be the band wrapping things up with a final, super pleasant sounding tune. The band really has a super nice and steady gallop in this one with the acoustic instrumentation and nearly church-like reverberation of different vocals and instrumentation in the tune. Oh wow, these otherworldly vocals seem to come down from the sky near the end of the tune – awesome. Really sweet tune to wrap this album up.
Wow, this album was awesome. The album is nearly 50 minutes in duration, but it feels like only 20 have passed by while at the same time feeling like there was 2 hours worth of music packed into this album. I could definitely hear some jam band and psychedelic rock influences throughout this very unique psychedelic rock album. I heard flashes of Grateful Dead, Phish, XTC, Pink Floyd, Proxima Parada, 1960s southern California psychedelic rock groups, some folk rock groups, and even bands like Coldplay at times. I’m not even sure how many of these or which of these groups or genres influenced the band, but it was a super sweet musical experience to hear influences from all of those types of groups in a super unique sounding psychedelic jam band type package. If that sounds enticing at all to you, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this one a listen, I sincerely do hope that you enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A