Mom

Most Americans between the ages of 15 and 60 have probably had some kind of direct or indirect experience with LSD, acid, and/or other kinds of psychedelic drugs during their lifetimes. A few people seem to love them enough to partake regularly, and often claim that they are a cure for many of the world's (and their own) problems. These people are called hippies, UNT students on academic probation, and Timothy Leary. Other people try them once, have an incredibly bad experience, and don't touch any of them again. Others don't ever try these drugs (even though they kind of want to) because they are afraid, which is a probably a shame in most cases. And then there are people that never have the desire and/or means to tune in and drop out at all, and hence never do. This is probably for the best in most cases. However, the majority of people fall somewhere in between these categories, or have at the very least had a relationship with a person or persons (including fictional characters) that have taken these drugs and lived to tell typically corny tales about religious experiences, visuals and the "oneness of all the creatures on the earth." The point is, even if a majority of Americans never have and never will touch a psychedelic drug, everyone seems to have enough familiarity with what they do to at least imagine what it might be like to take one. Put simply, they have been a part of the collective American psyche since the baby boomers took over, and it seems to have as much to do with culture as it does with chemicals.

The thing thing that you always hear about psychedelics is that they come and go in waves of euphoria and fear, often taking users to the heights of heaven before dropping them down to the gates of hell at a moment's notice. Beauty, enlightenment, mind expansion, fear (and loathing), paranoia, and destruction are all supposedly lurking in the back of one's mind during these experiences, and they all take turns running the show at different points in time. This is this kind of exciting push/pull relationship that Mom's music captures quite well, and I have no idea whether they take drugs or not.

This would normally be the stage in the post where I tell you about the guys in the band, what they do, how they make their music, etc. But my information requests from Mom didn't produce many of these details, so I'll instead give you a little taste of what they told me about their interests:

* Sculptor Andy Goldsworthy click
* Music Boxes click
* Wind Chimes click
* Womb Noises click
* Making what they call "sky music" click

They also live together and record their music at home, but thats about all I know. And while this lack of information can be a little frustrating, listening to their songs reveals how little any of the Behind the Music factoids matter to them. And after a few listens, the band's bio probably won't matter much to you either. Mom's instrumental songs seem to thrive somewhere in this psychedelic realm of twisting emotions and changing states of mind, but their tense and purposeful electronic components separate the music from anything that would normally be labeled "psychedelic." Clean, quiet acoustic guitars playing pretty notes fade in and out throughout the tracks, allowing bits of noise, feedback and glitchy blips to build up, break down and destroy themselves before starting anew in a different and slightly altered place, without ever getting too far away from where they started. The songs are all about contrast, at once beautiful and unnerving, ethereal and precise, they come and go in unexpected waves that combine the synthetic electro noise and organic acoustics in a way that produces tension while remaining completely seamless. They are joyous and sad, destructive and gentle, and yet somehow make complete sense as a cohesive whole. This might sound like a lot of bullshit to you, but I bet if you listen, you'll discover some of the introverted beauty of these songs and the range of emotions that they inspire. You'll also discover, much like I did, that you don't have to give two shits about mushrooms or hippies to appreciate the, um, trip that these songs will take you on. God I hate those baby boomers.

"We Know" MP3 (grab this one first)

" the sound of joy" MP3

Mom plays tonight at J&Js for free.