Sad Eyed Beatniks

Reviews

Sad Eyed Beatniks Ten Brocades LP

I happened to put this record on for the first time on a Sunday morning, which worked out well as this is perfect Sunday morning music. Ten Brocades by SAD EYED BEATNIKS is a fantastic bunching of easygoing, slightly whimsical pop psych tunes that could only come out of the San Francisco area. These sunny, lo-fi tunes call to mind the past sounds of WHITE FENCE or the mellower side of the Elephant 6 collective, while also sitting perfectly side by side with a more contemporary reference in APRIL MAGAZINE (was not surprised to find there is some member overlap there). This may be a collection of songs written over the last couple years, but it still feels very cohesive in its flow with songs calmly washing over the listener from start to finish. Press play right when you wake up, and by the time you get to “Passing Melody,” you’ll be ready for its slightly more VELVET UNDERGROUND “I’m Waiting for My Man” street gallop. Great stuff.

Sad Eyed Beatniks Claudia’s Ethereal Weaver LP

Dreamy, soft focus guitar strum from multi-instrumentalist Kevin Linn, also known as the label head at Paisley Shirt Records. Paisley Shirt has been a major player in the emergent San Francisco “fog pop” scene, and SAD EYED BEATNIKS fits perfectly alongside other lo-fi bedroom acts like FLOWERTOWN and APRIL MAGAZINE (members of both bands play in the live incarnation of SAD EYED BEATNIKS). Claudia’s Ethereal Weaver feels looser, more experimental than its predecessor, 2020’s Places of Interest. There’s some interesting, knowingly unpolished guitar work here that occasionally approaches noise (“Aristoteles Crater,” “Hysterical Rooters”), and many of the tracks meander with no particular purpose (“Free Composition Number 6,” “Oh Hallo”). I wouldn’t call this a downer record but it certainly inspires the kind of wistful melancholy I enjoy indulging in from time to time (read: nearly all of the time). While I’m reminded of GALAXIE 500 or such classic idiosyncratic DIY acts as the TELEVISION PERSONALITIES or CLEANERS FROM VENUS, Claudia’s Ethereal Weaver stands on its own as a representation of a unique and compelling modern scene.

Sad Eyed Beatniks Places of Interest cassette

Dreamy DIY ’60s pop reimagined through an ’80s post-punk/indie lens. The influences are blatant, and they bleed out of the tape, which is part of SAD EYED BEATNIKS’ charm. Places of Interest is just as much Saturday afternoon record shop in-store as it is face paint and bubbles in the park filmed with a grainy 16mm thrift store camera. Guitars are supremely damaged and off, but they stay in the background while K Linn (yeah, another one-person project) pushes things awkwardly forward with ramshackle drums and innocently-off vocals. A release that listens like a soundtrack to a short film that you desperately want to exist is a good release…I can see the shots that accompany the songs, because they’re already in my mind.