The Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground

Billed as BJM's most avant-garde statement to date, My Bloody Underground delivers psychedelic thrills in spades, together with some of Anton Newcombe's most challenging compositions yet. Recorded in one take under a reassuringly heavy narcotic fug, the classic droning BJM sound is here augmented with subtle looping passages and programmed algorithms which give the songs an even more hallucinatory feel. Entirely free of modern production tics, this is an album that will baffle the indie flock and provide much sustenance to the listener who craves an authentically original listening experience. Ostensibly a 'video album', each track has an accompanying short film which adds further potency to the package, the highlight being the bombastic Golden Frost, which features artist Jón Sæmundur Audarson addressing Satan in Icelandic whilst superimposed against hypnotic images of pop cultural Armageddon. This is one of BJM's most surprising curveballs to date and a reminder of how lucky we are to still have them around. [Jay Shukla]