I’m not going to waste space telling you about the Bay’s history of psychedelia – you likely already know all about it. There are multitudes of articles, films, and books by smarmy white guys out there on it, and they take up a frankly undue amount of space in the recorded history of American rock and roll.
That’s what makes Orchestra Gold such a welcome addition to the canon. Their third album, Medicine, releases this Friday, and it’s a fuzzy trip full of hypnotic vocals and grinding guitars. Based in Oakland, Orchestra Gold is fronted by Marian Diakite, who blends those old psych conventions with Malian musical tradition. Though it folds two styles into one another, single “Koniya” emerges pretty squarely as rock and roll. If the rest follows in its footsteps, we’re in for a heavy, head-spinning album.
