stream 3 tracks from heavy psych/proto-metal comp 'Brown Acid 9'

The ninth installment of Brown Acid, RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records‘ Nuggets-like proto-metal/heavy psych compilation, is coming this Halloween (10/31). Brown Acid: The Ninth Trip features songs by White Lightning, Peacepipe, Magi, Fiberglass Vegetables, Erik, Stonewall, Ice (aka Zukus), Space Rock, Buckshot, and 29.9.

Three tracks are streaming now, Fiberglass Vegetables’ “Pain,” Erik’s “Rebel Woman,” and Ice/Zukus’ “Running High.” Here’s background on all three of those, via the liner notes:

Garage Turkeys have long been familiar with the Minnesota-based group The Litter, who have some very collectible 45s and LPs, but the related band, White Lightning, isn’t nearly as well-known. White Lightning released only one single and one LP (under the name Lightning), but they had far more recordings than they released, and “Prelude To Opus IV” is just one of the band’s many outstanding unreleased tracks. White Lightning took the chops the ex-members developed in The Litter and kicked it up a notch in the heaviness department. They were risk-takers and innovators and were the first Power Trio and first to play through Marshall full-stacks in the Upper Midwest. Their guitarist was the first to play a Flying V in the region. They also happened to be named after LSD. Brown Acid material all the way!

Sid Bradley is Erik. Erik is Sid Bradley. And he self-released this 45 on his own Eden imprint back in ’73. “Rebel Woman” is an up-tempo banger that resides where hard rock and prog overlap. Proto-metal heads wouldn’t turn their noses up at this banger, and we sure don’t either! The composition, performance, and recording quality is exceptional. It probably sounds like a magnum opus compared to some of the other stuff we’ve included in this series, but it still fits. By the way, Sid is still writing and recording music, which is not surprising considering how accomplished he is. His recent releases can very easily be found online.

The Zukus 45 has been in the collection for quite some time, and for that amount of time, we’ve been “looking high, looking low” to track down the members of the band. If Zukus were a snake, they would’ve bit us! Right under our noses, Zukus had an online presence unlike any other band we’ve worked with before, but, under a different name: Ice, which is the preferred moniker of Jim Lee’s group. “For some reason,” they used the name Zukus (pronounced zuck-us) for their sole 45 on Toya Records back in 1972. The best part about finding Zukus on Spotify, of all places, is that we licensed the other songs they recorded, but never released back in the day, and they will be released on Riding Easy very soon! For now, pack this organ-driven, break-beat-laden banger in your pipe and smoke it!

You can listen to all three tracks and see the full tracklist below. Pre-orders are available here.

Tracklist
White Lightning – Prelude To Opus IV
1969
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Peacepipe – The Sun Won’t Shine Forever
1969
Los Angeles, California

Magi – Win or Lose
1975
Kalamazoo, Michigan

Fiberglass Vegetables – Pain
1970
New York City, New York

Erik – Rebel Woman
1973
Owensboro, Kentucky

Stonewall – Outer Spaced
1976
New York City, New York

Ice – Running High
1972
Indianapolis, Indiana

Space Rock – Going Away
1975
Warren, Michigan

Buckshot – Bar Star
1976
Houston, Texas

29.9 – Paradiddle Blues
1969
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania