Farfisa start with a drawn out intro of spacey noise which sounds quite languid. When the instruments kick in, it sounds like Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs', before disappearing down the cosmic space rock highway like a less heavy Slift. Imagine the jam side of stoner rock such as 'Sky Valley's more freeform moments or maybe Nebula. One track starts off interestingly with tribal drumming and what sounds like a dial up modem or a ZX Spectrum loading. Another track is psychedelic funk rock and lays down a pretty tight groove. They incorporate quite a bit of analogue electronics into their sound which probably sets them more in the psych rock camp. The closing track is a bit more direct yet still has the time to circle around the sun a couple of times. Pretty good.
My friend asked me what I was expecting before The Telescopes came on on stage. I answered that it could be hypnotic or boring. The opening track does little to answer which of those it is, as it is slow and sluggish with barely there vocals yet the Valium laden opioid groove is still hypnotic. The second track increases the tempo but the drumming seems a little out of time which snaps me out of the trance. When they hit their stride, they are mesmerising but at other times they are far too lethargic. A harmonica led dirge just drags. A druggy, slowed down take on the blues has enough groove to engage, meaning that they probably stay on the right side of hypnotic. When The Telescopes are good, they're tremendous. They just don't always hit those heights.
The Telescopes ***
Farfisa ***
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