My personal odyssey, initially posted to my Chromaticism Facebook page… (each bold text is a link to the band or to a video by the band)…

The Seraphim bestrode the Elysium Fields of Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia last weekend, which sensationally kicked off with Purple Heart Parade… http://youtu.be/vFj4Q01XsQ4.

Formes were new to me, absolutely loved their unique, doom tinged set… http://youtu.be/cSeLjCTz3iU.

Pete Bassman was up next, here is a clip from Manchester… http://youtu.be/YFtvN5tKpCs.

SUDAKISTAN on PNKSLM Recordings were one of my highest highlights… http://youtu.be/TlCBuKfJgu0.

Was really looking forward to seeing Les Big Byrd, again on PNKSLM Recordings – an epic set and Bagarmossen live was bouncetastic… http://youtu.be/X9HfTstqDMM.

Next up was Barberos – super stuff… http://youtu.be/MXn4OYVJrik.

Had picked up the joint release from Thought Forms & Esben and the Witch, so was really looking forward to seeing Thought Forms – bloody brilliant, one of my favourites… http://youtu.be/Evt6YsnPxbE.

I’d been longing to see Black Bombaim since Dave at Cardinal Fuzz turned me on to their Far Out LP – another huge highlight for me… http://youtu.be/SJBgOqR4Gw4.

Younghusband were up next… http://youtu.be/2KDyBdFM5C8.

My penultimate band of Friday night was the fantastic and previously unheard POW! – so infectious I just had to buy the LP… http://www.spin.com/articles/pow-hi-tech-boom-video/.

Finally rounding off a long Friday, with the travelling and all, for me was the most excellent The Besnard Lakes… http://youtu.be/4y6nmLt50sg.

It was great to catch up sporadically at Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia with friend, and fellow apocaloptimist-utopian Pomponette.
Bought a copy of her Money Mix CD which featured recently on Soundcloud.
Was also delighted to hear new recordings are underway in her guise as MDME SPKR, which so fantastically helped lyrically define Reich by Sonic Jesus… https://soundcloud.com/p-o-m-p-o-n-e-t-t-e/ntsradiomoney, http://youtu.be/3mYQ9TJYUPo, http://youtu.be/XJRojHiSzuM.

The vinyl haul from the Piccadilly Records Pop-Up Shop…

Ok, resuming my Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia countdown, Saturday commenced with “In The Cockpit With Rocket Recordings“, which was a nice 45 minute history lesson on what makes the label tick with Chris Reeder and Jimmy Martin from Teeth Of The Sea.
This was followed by “A Journey Through Cosmic Sweden”, which gave great insight from Jocke Åhlund of Les Big Byrd and Luke Reilly of PNKSLM Recordings on why and what was going on sonically in Sweden right now.
I was particularly taken by Jocke’s observation, “that if you live somewhere shit, it’s up to you to change it”, food for thought for me currently residing in the outer reaches of Belfast..

Musically, Saturday got underway with Whistlejacket – I had been looking forward to seeing them ever since I’d first heard this song… http://youtu.be/LWw-H08mBtE.

Next up were The Janitors, these guys hit every mark I could name and for me, were one of the reasons I made this gig in the first place… http://youtu.be/GrtNan21wEI.

The first and last time all weekend I tried to catch all three stages concurrently, coincided with The Lucid Dream, Cheval Sombre and the Bonnacons of Doom. The appearance of three Kodo drummers sealed the Bonnacons for me, and what a fantastic set it was!

The next four hours belonged to the Rocket Recordings roster, kicking off with Lay Llamas – who I’d been lucky enough to see earlier this year at Eindhoven Psych Lab… http://youtu.be/NzLZHXA5ZF0.

I was also lucky enough to have seen Anthroprophh at Eindhoven Psych Lab and sure enough they nailed it again… http://youtu.be/tDd8Jm-ZzD8.

All of this was building nicely.
The only disappointment at Eindhoven Psych Lab was Teeth Of The Sea breaking down on the way to, and missing the gig!
Saturday night’s breath-taking, spell-binding, only band I saw playing a trumpet, performance at Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia was a scorcher… http://youtu.be/SJCdQSXqKwA.

Up next and in a zone apart in every sense of the word were Gnod.
As with Eindhoven Psych Lab, they owned Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia, such is the uniqueness of their performance… http://youtu.be/Wdi2tuz_SM4.

There was an all too brief but welcome taste of Gnod & WHITE HILLS performing part of their outstanding Dropout collaboration.
By now though, the cumulative delays meant that I had to bail before the end to go and stake a place at the Furnace stage for Goat…

Goat had been the ultimate lure for me in coming to Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia.
Some bands give you a sense that if you don’t see them now, they will become so massive that you may never have the chance to share an “intimate” gig with them again – I think Goat are one of those bands… http://youtu.be/eAsa8xcQkQ8.

“There is a Creole expression, ‘to walk together.’ Where life is hard, people depend upon and help each other so that man may pray together to praise the same moral principles and together reaffirm them.”
Sadly, this part of Goat‘s message was a little lost in the “enthusiasm” of a certain section of the crowd.
For a time, the affirmation was solely that of the selfish mosh-pit mentality.
One of the very few downsides to a weekend celebration of the spirit and the soul…