Whatever drop city loaded up for This Heavenly Machine, Sidewinder just doubled the dose. Cue backwards guitars, echoing beats, bubbling bass, extreme FX panning, one inevitable sitar and solemn intonations along the lines of "I’ve got a feeling / it’s gonna be OK / Somewhere on the other side of light."
Given that psychedelia isn’t dead - it just, uh, always exists in a parallel dimension - there’s very little Tangerine can do to revitalise it. But the pay-off in terms of authenticity is pretty spectacular. "God" seems to be a paisley-flared rejoinder to "Evil Eye"; "Here She Comes Again" is exactly the kind of acid flashback of spiralling guitars that Drop City have been targeting with mixed success for two albums.
Of the up tempo numbers, the Blackrock selection "Titanic Days" proves hard to beat, a dive-bombing stomper of a tune that rides between exhilaration and total chaos from its dry-retching opening riff to glorious multi-tracked chorus trick. "What I See What I Saw" manages a riff of similar promise but loses its way almost immediately. "Intensify" and "Mummy / Daddy" attempt loop breakbeats, and while there’s some way cool space ambience to be had in the latter, Sidewinder’s grooves aren’t as effective as their songs, no matter how much they turn up the lava lamp. The droning bore-off "Mad Woman of the Universe" is the most lamentable example of experimentation getting the better of them.
Still, a kooky arrangement can be the difference between an average tune and a master-stroke, as in the fragile weirdness of "It’s About Us". And headphones aside, the warped acoustic numbers "Way Back Home" and "Sunshine In A Pocket" prove there’s nuts and bolts of an interesting enough hue to warrant all the window dressing. Overall, an occasionally flaky structure with a hell of a paint job.
