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[MUSIC] Maggot Brain (Houston, 1978) – A Soul-Shattering Funk Odyssey by Parliament-Funkadelic

[Live Review] Maggot Brain (Houston, 1978) – A Soul-Shattering Funk Odyssey by Parliament-Funkadelic

There are live performances, and then there are transcendental experiences — and Maggot Brain live in Houston, 1978, delivered by the cosmic collective Parliament-Funkadelic, is firmly in the latter category. Clocking in at over 10 minutes of raw, unfiltered emotion, this performance is not just a concert moment — it’s a spiritual out-of-body trip through the galaxy of funk, soul, and psychedelic rock.

At the heart of it all is Michael Hampton, then only 17 years old, carrying the torch of the late Eddie Hazel with a guitar solo that feels more like a prayer than a performance. His tone is drenched in sorrow, hope, anger, and catharsis — every bend of a note echoes with the kind of emotional weight most players spend lifetimes trying to reach. It’s not just a solo. It’s a sermon.

Visually, the video is steeped in that late-‘70s analog haze — smoky stages, glowing reds and blues, and a sea of mesmerized faces lost in the groove. George Clinton, ever the space-funk ringleader, hovers like a high priest over the sonic ritual, grounding the performance in the group’s signature Afrofuturistic philosophy: liberation through rhythm, elevation through sound.

And then there’s the crowd — the secret ingredient that makes this performance feel immortal. You can feel them breathing with the band, riding every wave of Hampton’s guitar like it’s a shared emotion. There’s a sacred silence when the notes demand reverence, and a rising roar as the solo builds into wailing ecstasy. It’s a communion, not just a concert. The energy in the room doesn’t distract from the music — it deepens it, amplifies it. They’re not just witnessing history; they’re helping shape it, note by note.

What makes this performance so unforgettable is the sheer restraint. In a band known for outlandish costumes and full-throttle energy, Maggot Brain is the eye of the storm — still, contemplative, and emotionally naked. It’s a moment of vulnerability amid the usual chaos, and that contrast makes it all the more powerful.

For fans of guitar heroics, psychedelic soul, or simply witnessing a band in full control of their cosmic powers, Maggot Brain – Houston 1978 is required viewing. It’s a testament to the genius of P-Funk, a snapshot of Black musical innovation at its peak, and one of the greatest live performances ever captured on tape.

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MUSIC: RECTRIX share new album “The Bell That Never Stops Ringing”

“The Bell that Never Stops Ringing” is a terror laden industrial / noise forward plunge into hypnotic soundscapes that will  guarantee the listener be left in fear and abject horror wondering what layer of hell that they have been ever so carefully invited to….

RECTRIX rides the line of beauty and terror on this album “The Bell That Never Stops Ringing” holds a terrifying candle into a thick unknown fog……

In The Bell That Never Stops Ringing, RECTRIX delivers an unforgiving, ritualistic document of sonic intensity that is as much performance as it is protest. Released on the Oakland-based Ratskin Records—this record is a dense, confrontational work that refuses to sit quietly in the background. It’s an invocation, a dirge, and a scream lodged in the circuitry of late-stage collapse.

RECTRIX, the solo project of multi-disciplinary artist and performer Pippi Zornoza, navigates the space between decaying  hardware and body-centered performance. The album feels like it’s being transmitted live from an underground bunker, where RECTRIX channels the energy of resistance through feral vocals, overdriven synths, and shrieking loops. Her voice—central to the record—is not used in a traditional melodic sense, but as a weapon: screeched, howled, stretched, and fragmented until it becomes its own instrument. Think Diamanda Galás, but soaked in rust, filtered through dying tape machines, and buried under layers of found sound and electro-acoustic decay.

The titular “bell” is not always literal. Sometimes it’s a metallic clang echoing across a hollowed-out soundscape; other times, it’s a metaphor—a psychic ringing that never lets the listener rest. Throughout the album, you feel this persistent presence: a mechanical hum, a droning tone, a looped vocal refrain that disturbs rather than soothes. It’s a reminder. It’s a curse. It’s the sound of a warning ignored until it becomes unbearable.

Tracks move like rituals—structured yet chaotic. The physicality of the sound—its grinding textures and high-end shrieks—makes it feel sculptural, like something built out of crushed metal and bone.

This record doesn’t ask for permission. It doesn’t care about genre conventions or comfort zones. It exists in a lineage of transgressive, feminist noise: body-forward, politically aware, and emotionally raw. It feels born from trauma but not consumed by it—an act of survival and sonic rebellion.

The Bell That Never Stops Ringing is not an easy listen—but it’s not supposed to be. It’s the sound of someone refusing silence. Of history clanging through the walls. Of a body in resistance.

Final Thoughts:

RECTRIX have given us an album that’s more experience than entertainment—something between a séance, a riot, and a transmission from a broken future. It’s art that cuts deep, lingers long, and leaves you changed. Preorder now ahead of it’s release 4/18!

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Music

WES TIREY Speaks To Loss and Grief Through New Album “No Winners in the Blues”

“No Winners In The Blues” by Wes Tirey pulls from Americana, blues, folk, and influences from dark, morose string masters like David Berman and Neil Young and even Robert Fripp’s Fripptronics style of guitar playing. A musky, storied and groggled voice tells tales over an exceptionally well played and emotional bed of acoustic guitars. “Something’s in the water, whole world’s upside down, good lord, good lord” as a line, I think sums up well the complexities of themes present on this album, but this is open ended, country./folk music with themes wide enough to get lost in for ones self. Blending both relatable and abstract themes throughout the album, this is perfect winter music for a lonsesome exploration of the self.

“This is honest music for those moments when the night towers over the desert, as the dawn gathers faintly at the horizon: raw blues from the hands of a true master of his craft, now given fresh life with a new edition.”

Dark, weathered strings and undulating, tired but ever present and beautiful voice share stories of loss, grief, confusion and other emotions all too relatable for a world that’s supposed to offer peace and well being. Heavy strings with minimal background electronics create thick and wethered patina for the voice to perfectly cast a fishing line of hope out into a dark and depressed world, even if for a minute. Beautiful, simple music. Highly recommended. Comes out via Full Spectrum Records

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Music

INDIA SKY Reaches Into The Cosmos with “Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon”

Welcome back, and we have a brand new release to share with our avid new readers. First of several reviews we’ll be publishing in February of artists releasing their first albums in 2023. First up is INDIA SKY with “Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon”, a refreshing blend of nuanced electronics, dance, soul and ethereal soundscapes which transported us to spaces of exploration, trust, contemplation and rebirth.

India Sky’s first musical endeavor is due out February 5th. “Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon” dances through musical spaces and emotions like a time machine transporting you somewhere you only dreamed of living in, thriving in. “Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon” takes us there. The album begins with “Dark Symphony” and “Begin Again” – two vocal heavy, ethereal, morose, orchestral feeling pieces, warm and fuzzy sonic textures, singing strings, nuanced vocal hymns and dancing electronic pulses set the time, space, and tone perfectly for “Breakdown” – one of the highest energy tracks from start to finish on the album, and yet it fits in the mix perfectly, something about the third song on an album can be special, I don’t know what it is, but “Breakdown” taps into it. And for a full confession, after the album played through, I ran through “Breakdown” at least three more times on repeat while editing this review, something that never happens. That track hooked me! And it’s not the only one, many of the tracks on “S O T M M” tap into this sort of sonic nostalgia that only certain albums can tap into, and it’s beautiful and comforting in a way. Maybe it’s a drum sound, or a synth line, or maybe it’s just a space created by the artist for us to contemplate in, have we been here before?

Big synthesizers, funky 90’s Prince inspired drums and percussion glide off of Sky’s hauntingly beautiful voice for a vocal performance which is big, intentional and shows off an articulate and refreshing balance of technical and ability and raw emotion, both on “Breakdown” and throughout the album. “Breakdown” carries the album forward into more experimental ambient sections, such as the short but equally interesting “The Moon” which pulls sonic reflections from later classic “Translinear Light” era Alice Coltrane, Wendy Carlos, and contemporaries SPELLLING alike, while crafting sonic worlds yet to be heard or lived.

Photo: Avé-Ameenah Long

“Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon” seamlessly creates sonic spaces for us to enter and exit in nonlinear fashions. The dense, esoteric and warm electronic spaces throughout, seem to connect with the earth, the sky, and universes unexplored. SKY has created a sonic world where we don’t want to leave, and you shouldn’t either. India Sky makes big, powerful, emotional music and we’re here for it. Highly recommended. “Somewhere Over The Mystic Moon”is out Feb5, 2023 on Ratskin Records. You can preorder on Cassette tape, CD, and digital downloads here.