M. Ross Perkins

M. Ross Perkins

SofaBurn

Perkins plays authentic California hippie psych, with nasty lyrics of the type John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, or Marty Balin and Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane would write.

It's a sound that is not British, nor beholden to critics' bands like the Velvet Underground, Love, the Stooges, and so on. As great as those bands are, they are so played out that California psych like the Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and The Mamas and the Papas sounds really underrated. It's all part of Perkins’ sound.

Never mind what the Airplane became, when Balin was with the band they were one of the best, cynical as anything, and when he left, the band promptly turned to dust. The Dead were gentle, and sometimes not so gentle, objectively critiquing psych with a hint that things may not be so great.

I also hear the Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and the Monkees in here. The Prefab Four could sing, and eventually play, and their film Head also critiques the counterculture, as much as being part of it in their own pop way. And crits are what Perkins specializes in, from "Local Showcase" to "Project 63 Online," to give a couple examples.

That Perkins was able to fashion a sound like this at all is a testament to how good he is. You can turn on with him, and while I don’t know what this would sound like stoned, it does seem like a great trip nevertheless. You can drop out with him, too, and absolutely tune him in. If you do, you’ll get a good idea how great the 60s really were, and how innovative. He carries on with that sound on a really fine album.     

Andrea Weiss