LILITH Archives - Guerssen Records

Black Merda (Clear Beer)

GuerssenAdmin — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Hailing from late-’60s Detroit, Black Merda (pronounced “Murder”) were both aesthetically and musically way ahead of their time. When most black groups (including Parliament/ Funkadelic) were still sporting suits, singing about love and using a horn section, Black Merda had already become a tight guitar-heavy freak-funk four piece. By weaving guitar rock and psychedelia into soul and R&B they were the gods of the underground “black rock” movement which fell somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Parliament and MC5. But it wasn’t just about the music, the message was just as important.

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Psychonaut (LP+CD)

GuerssenAdmin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:00:00 +0000

1972’s Psychonaut, by the Swiss-based Brainticket, is early seventies space rock at its finest. While the band’s debut album, 1971’s Cottonwoodhill, was a heavily acid-laden affair dominated by droning organ, disturbing vocals and a collection of cacophonic sound effects (causing it to carry a warning label and be banned in several countries) for their second effort, band-founder Joël Vandroogenbroeck brought in a completely new line-up and changed the band’s sound dramatically.

While Psychonaut still takes listeners into the realm of altered consciousness–making heavy use of a droning Hammond, sitar, tablas, etc.–this time the vocals are more melodic and the music itself is more song-oriented. This is by far Brainticket’s most accessible album, and perhaps their most timeless. Fully remastered from the original master tapes!

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Cottonwoodhill (LP+CD)

GuerssenAdmin — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Being as LSD was first developed in a laboratory in Basel, it is perhaps no coincidence that one of the most “far out” albums of all time was made by this Swiss band (no small feat, given the competition!).

Brainticket’s 1971 debut, Cottonwoodhill, begins normally enough with two fine psychedelic / kraut rock-influenced tracks, but the remainder of the album plays like an acid trip with a soundtrack, dominated by Joel Vandroogenbroeck’s endless droning organ, a variety of musique concrète-type sound effects and vocalist Dawn Muir’s trippy vocals.
The album, banned in several countries, even came with this self-imposed warning: “After Listening to this Record, your friends may not know you anymore.” / “Only listen to this once a day, your brain might be destroyed!”.

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