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“Bad Ideas” by Psychomagic

“Bad Ideas” by Psychomagic

Psychomagic-BadIdeas_FULLPsychomagic’s sophomore release Bad Ideas has a fuller sound and tighter execution of instrumentation. They are focused, but have a lot of fun. Vocalist Steven Fusco is still lackadaisical, delivering even the moodiest of concerns with carefree rants. He’s got amazing enunciation, baby talking love and sunshine and “our heads were hazy but our tongues were sharp” on “Flowers In The Sun,” then singing a sad melodic ballad about faded time on “Sun Song.” The title track “Bad Idea” has him transforming for a monster mash delivery about being scared of strange love. Often, the band chimes in for completely unrestrained choruses of “Lalalalala.” Songs seem to rise and fall with shifts in tempo, such as “Waste My Time,” which focuses on slow rhythms and mini-guitar solos, only to pick up speed and unravel into a finale of crashing rock obscurity. Wasting time is a recurring theme for this album, it’s mentioned again after the warped carnival intro of “Gumball.”

There is a lot of hilarious, real, storytelling and candor. “EBT” is somewhat angry (it can’t buy love. Or beer. Or dogfood), and “Go Go” is a shimmying song about amazon dancers from space that jams with guitar riffs and chemical noise. Still experimenting, they up the distortion on “Lover” to create a thick, somewhat crude track. With swelling guitars, tight drums, organ, silly stories, and real feels, it’s a release of energetic, imaginative rock hitting all of the sweet spots: punk, vintage surf tones, ’60s lounge music, and a lot of freak. »

– Brandy Crowe