Orange Sunshine, Love = Acid Space = Hell (2003)

Talk about a few records dying for reissue. Not that Netherlands-based acid rockers Orange Sunshine haven’t kept up pressings for their three studio full-lengths, 2001’s Homo Erectus, 2003’s Love = Acid Space = Hell and 2006’s Bullseye of Being, through their own Motorwolf imprint, but I’m talking about wide-distro, color-LP, all that do-it-up nonsense that sells out on preorders before anyone’s heard a note. Can’t say the band wouldn’t deserve such fare. As it happens, 2016 marks 15 years since their debut came out, and they’ve been steadily kicking ass all the while, proffering dangerous groove and garage-derived heavy in the spirit of the free-swinging classics. My prevailing memory of them may always be seeing them at Roadburn 2010 (review here) and bearing witness to a set that featured not one, not two, but three Blue Cheer covers. That’s the kind of band Orange Sunshine are. They’re the kind of band who might cover Blue Cheer three times if they feel like doing so.

As an ethos, it’s hard to argue, and whether it’s the harmonica-topped shuffle of “I’m a Man” or the megafuzzed interlude “Population III” — presumably a sequel to the 1969 album from Blue Cheer guitarist Randy Holden, Population II (discussed here) — and subsequent 15-minute closer “Hey Mama,” they live it all over Love = Acid Space = Hell. That finale is a jam worthy of Cactus, which is not praise I deliver lightly, and it comes only after Orange Sunshine have scorched their way through “Ain’t No Way” (which nods at Thin Lizzy‘s “Boys are back in Town”), the freaked-out “H-Theme” and the proto-punk “Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am,” making the vast, vast majority of the retro-stylized heavy rock that’s come out of Europe in the last decade sound positively safe by comparison in terms of songwriting and production. Kids wanna sound like the first Witchcraft record. They should wanna sound like Orange Sunshine.

The last few years have been quiet in terms of studio outings, but in 2013, Who Can You Trust? Records issued a tape called Burnout at Roadburn, and Lay Bare Recordings followed that up in 2014 with Live at Freak Valley (review here), so Orange Sunshine — the power trio of drummer/vocalist Guy Tavares, guitarist Arthur van Berkel and bassist Mehdi Rouchiche — haven’t been completely absent, though any major-scale touring or studio work seems to be on hold as van Berkel has battled Crohn’s Disease. Still, their records, the two live outings and a couple other odds and ends singles are all available for downloading/streaming on Bandcamp, so there’s plenty to dig into either way, whether or not more shows up eventually.

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A snow day today has been much needed and much appreciated. In addition to being able to sneak in a couple extra posts about new Causa Sui and Heavy Psych Sounds stuff, it’s just been good not to have to drive to work and to be able to sit on the couch with The Patient Mrs. with our laptops and the dog, hang out and still be reasonably productive. We’re not supposed to get a foot even, so shoveling shouldn’t be too terrible when the time comes.

I didn’t get that Borderland Fuzz Fiesta mixtape up this week. Should be able to make that happen next Wednesday, so keep an eye out for it. I’ll start putting it together this weekend. Also next week, reviews of Spidergawd and hopefully Rotor, a track premiere from Talmud Beach on Tuesday and videos from The Vintage Caravan and Merlin, along with whatever else should happen into my purview between now and then. Heard a cool demo this week by Brooklyn newcomers River Cult that I’d like to write about. Might be time to resurrect On the Radar since I can’t seem to find time to do a proper post of radio adds. We’ll see.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend, whether you’re snowed in or not. If you need me, I’ll be in my pajamas as much as humanly possible, rounding out the third season of Star Trek (yup again; my greatest fear is that the new series due in 2017 will be a gritty reboot of The Next Generation) and trying not to spend money. See you back here Monday if I can actually go that long without posting something.

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Tags: Den Haag, Leaf Hound Records, Love Acid Space Hell, Motorwolf Records, Orange Sunshine, Orange Sunshine Love Acid Space Hell, The Netherlands

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2016 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.