The last Kandodo release, K3 (review here), came out in 2019, which was before any number of world events took place, among them the Fall 2022 kinda-disbanding of what up till then might’ve been called Simon Price‘s main band, The Heads. That record featured Price and The Heads bandmates Hugh Owen Morgan (bass) and Wayne Maskell (drums), as well as a collaboration with guitarist John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy, and so on), and was duly oddball and tripped out. Kandodo‘s upcoming long-player, theendisinpsych, finds Price on his own, living a few hours north of Bristol, self-recording and pushing into even weirder grounds. Hell yes.

The album has four tracks and the first to be unveiled is “chamba7,” for which there’s a video streaming at the bottom of this post. The record is out Sept. 13 through Rooster Records, and the single heralds much weirdness and dug-in experimentalism to come, but you never know until you hear it, and in Kandodo‘s case, even that’s not always a tell for what’s really happening under the surface.

One to look forward to:

Announcing new Kandodo album, theendisinpsych

Solo project of Simon Price of legendary Bristol psychedelic rock band The Heads shares new single/video “chamba7”

The Heads’ Simon Price returns to his kandodo project with ‘theendisinpsych’; “primitive pieces of psychedelic tuneage+years of wasted time=43 minutes of headphone bliss.”

It’s the follow up to the 2019 collaboration with Wayne Maskell and Hugo Morgan, Kandodo 3 – K3, but this time back in solo-mode. He is now relocated in Northumbria, and has recorded the album himself in his home studio, drawing on his wide collection of music/instruments and the rural environment for inspiration.

The new album fizzes and crackles with a verve that will activate the “turn on, tune in, drop out” sense in all listeners…

Simon explained the album in a focused/out of focus track by track way… is this Price’s paean to his obsession with Bowie?

chamba7 – octave mandolin through fuzz, tambo beat, in praise of Bowie compilations. chamba is malawian weed

theendisinpsych – bought a reel to reel tape off ebay in 2005, (‘Bowie radio interview tape, USA, 1970, 3 minutes?’) then bought a machine to play it on in 2015. Heard the words and laid them onto a fuzzy break bed. Thought it all too relevant to today, prophetic David from his ‘hippy’ days (not a prophet or a stone age man)

fuzzy oceans – played on 1 string spamjo, bouncing echo over 70’s drum machine, ‘we’ve fucked the oceans’

freefalling – rolling cello and hissing cymbals with vocoder dreams

comes with african/stationtostation artwork stylings for the sleeve.. pre-apocalypse blues (and pinks), the world isn’t going a good way
a sumptuous 4 course sonic supper, tuck in.

Kandodo
theendisinpsych
Rooster Records
Release Date: 13th September 2024

Tracklist:
1. chamba7
2. theendisinpsych
3. fuzzy oceans
4. freefalling

—

Known as the singer/guitarist of The Heads. Price was raised in Zambia and Malawi, which left an indelible mark on him personally, and is manifest in the song titles, artwork, and name of the project; named after a Malawian supermarket that he used to shop in back in the late ’80’s. The influence is less obvious on his instrumental music, but Simon says that if there were lyrics, they’d be about animist religions, hyenas, sharks and dusty drives. Along the way, Simon touches on influences as diverse as Kraftwerk, Neu!, Eno, Morricone, Stooges, Loop, and Spacemen 3.

kandodo is for Price an exploration of tones, chords, and textures that evoke a very particular emotional response, a sense of yearning. These instrumental pieces are lyrical and evocative soundtracks with an elongated and elegant song structure. Describing them himself as “fuzzy lullabies”, Simon’s pieces undulate as delicate layers are built and removed, easing the listener along a thread of melodies. This is immersive music meant to be listened to at a loud volume or in the space between headphones.

https://www.facebook.com/Kandodo-168305819900725/
https://kandodo.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/The-Heads-282801075465/4
https://www.instagram.com/theheadsrock/
https://theheads1.bandcamp.com/

Kandodo, “chamba7” official video