It’s fascinating to think of what mind-bending noise could come out of a collaboration between producers Money Mark, Shawn Lee, and Tommy Guerrero. Lock them in a Los Angeles-area studio for two weeks time and the product is Lord Newborn And The Magic Skulls. The self-titled debut is a head-trip through ’70s funk by way of ’60s psychedelia, a mishmash of influences provided by three distinct perspectives.
The risk in making music solely based on instrumentation is that it can be rendered boring, especially when set within the parameters of genres that, more often than not, aren’t taken too seriously. However, the sound that Lord Newborn And The Magic Skulls provides can’t be defined in one word. It’s not just funk, nor just psychedelia, but touches bases across the board, which in turn gives their debut some credibility. “L.I.V.E.” has a sound that’s wild and sexy, combining elements of jazz with a taste of electronica, essentially one of the faster tracks on the album. The same goes for “Disco Loco” which is as enticing as it is haunting with its use of abrupt bursts of noise. Others like “Revenge Of The Fillet o’ Fish” and “Crazy Apartment” are dark, entrancing, with drops of sitar riffs and organ lines that befit them to a mid-sixties acid test.
While at times the tracks on the album do drone on (especially with the opening “A Phase Shift I’m Going Through” on to “Escape from Prism,” where the noise becomes a bit much), as a first taste of what Lord Newborn And The Magic Skulls is capable of, it’s promising.
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