Sounds of Liverpool Psych Fest #6: Black Manila

It is a happy time indeed, friends, when psychedelic music is enjoying such popularity, as it is these days. Bacchanals celebrating this favored genre of yours truly are popping up all over the place (most notably in Austin, of course), but such a festival has recently popped up on my radar from across the pond. Obviously, I would love to be in England for the Liverpool Psych Fest (full official fancy name: Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia), but since I can’t be there, these are some of the bands that I find most appealing.

The Londoners of Black Manila have sass, my friends. Sass to spare, even. Heavy with grit and molasses murk, these three make lo-fi garage dive bar psych that is naughty and so very nice. At times the jangle of their guitars calls to mind bands like Orange Juice, which is really just icing on the cake. Mercy, indeed.