Member Since: 12/16/2004
Band Members:
Travis Threlkel
Rick Maymi
Tim Digulla
Graham Bonnar
Jeremy Davies
Matt Hollywood
Influences: The Future, LSD, DMT, THC, MDMA, Psychedelia, Surrealism, Mystical Powers, Sci-Fi, Freaky Shit, "Happenings", Cheap Electronics, Toy Instruments, Pirates, The Ghetto, Martial Arts, Fresh Ass Asian Gangsters, Video Games, Ambient-Punk, Sonic Boom, Channing Hansen, Julian Woolsey,Beck, Naut Humon, Neu!, Can, Rev/Vega, Moebius + Roedelius, Morton Subotonick, Joe Meek, Martin Denny, Cerrone, Goblin, Tomita, Silver Apples, The White Noise/Delia Derbyshire, The Telescopes, Loop, Moonshake, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips, Th' Faith Healers, Mary Hansen, Joe Dilworth, Greg Shaw, Leslie Satterfield, Lancellot Link & The Evolution Revolution, Tyrone Timezone...
Sounds Like: San Francisco's IMAJINARY FRIENDS,mercurial pranksters of soundscape and pop,continue to turn in the unexpected with their unique brand of original and uncompromising music.THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS are a somewhat mysterious collective, but within their ranks they contain Tim Digulla, a man best known for his work with TIPSY - the avant pop outfit signed to Asphodel Records (home of DJ SPOOKY, etc). They released their debut album "Lunchtime In Infinity" on the mighty Bomp label and in their time have been known to contain ex-SWERVEDRIVER members amongst their numbers.Fitting perfectly into the Space Age ethos, they create a bizarre world of electronic experimentalism coupled with a gnawing sense of tension that often explodes into an overdriven chaos. Throughout their five tracks on this album, they cram idea after idea into their work, discordant and intoxicating revelling in their wanton refusal to accept anything close to the ordinary. Take "Cheap Thrills", all crackled sample loops and lilting pianos - disturbing yet somehow deeply affecting the sound of a burned out life set to an insane backing track. Or "Syndrome" - an explosive breakbeat fuelled affair which rips out at you with a breath-taking force.THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS know the power of going just that bit further than most, and here they do it so well that it hurts.There can be no doubt that THE IMAJINARY FRIENDS have so much to offer to us all and this album exemplifies all that is sublime about this genre, encompassing a million sounds and a million ideas and leaving us all transfixed by both its beauty and it’s wild insanity.Imajinary or not, these friends have produced an album of rare splendour and an album which should show the world that the art of pushing boundaries is far from dead.THE BIG TAKEOVER:Psychedelia is not dead. Never mind the San Francisco "shoegaze" scene this quintet emanates from--they even sport ex-Swervedriver drummer Graham Bonnar--Lunchtime isn't adrift in dreamy tones and delay-ridden textures. No, I mean the original late-60s trippy stuff. Vocals so buried in effects it's like a damaged subway platform speaker. Guitars that spatter fuzzed drones and damaged, fractured sounds, and a repetitive bass that turns this into a hazy, humid sputter. Like the static of a five-dollar transistor radio, this is raspy aural adventure without the original psychedelic pop structures or attitude, like the more freaked-out side of the Electric Prunes. It's just truly trippy mind-blowing.THE CHART:Just in time for the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11, the Imajinary Friends sound like they've been on the moon since 1969 trying to get our attention with their twisted transmissions. It's part space rock, part trance, part ambient, but all weird! When vocals show up they sound like Buzz Aldrin with the worst space hangover ever, filtered through a Captain Video walkie-talkie. The rest is soundscape straight from the surface of the moon! Definitely not for MTV, but could go over big at NASA! BLAST OFF!!ANTHROPOMORPHIC .8:Whoa! Who slipped the acid into my CD player? Lots of guitar feedback and sonic treatments thrown into the pot, with a shrieker above it all. Play this with your headphones on, and you'll enter another realm--wild shit awaits!FLIPSIDE:Pretty way out stuff that floats around enough while being sort of hypnotic drawing the listener in. This is probably great drug taking music (though I wouldn't call myself an expert on the subject) with its heavy '60s psychedelic bent akin to recent contemporaries like Spacemen 3 and Helios Creed. I would highly recommend this release and that says a lot considering I'd like to see your average stoner as soilent greenFLIPSIDE .92:Hmmmm. From S.F., huh? These guys have gotta be weirdo loner stoners who must fucking hate everything about "new music" as we know it. From the heart of the city that has brought you the worst in political correctness comes a bizarre psychedelic surprise from the Imajinary Friends. But don't panic, this ain't no hokey Grateful Dead hug a tree shit. On the rather blah looking sleeve and band name alone, I'd normally have passed this by, but Bomp has earned my respect enough times over to at least grant a listen to whatever they put out.. It was worth the effort. Trippy and experimental (like Spacemen 3) meets gloomy (early Floyd/Bauhaus). Sounds like dosed aliens at the controls sending futuristic love vibes to feeble Earthlings. Not so much songs as telephatic brain waves with heartbeats cranked to 10. I got scared more than once during this. For real. I mean, you wanna drive your neighbors absolutely fucking bonkers, this'll do the job. I want ten of what these guys are on. There's something to be said for carving a niche this strange even if the kids can't dance to it. Nifty.
Record Label: Bomp/Space Age/Mind Expansion/Contact(Japan)
Type of Label: Indie