TEENBEAT !

Credited solely to musician Henri Tical, the mysterious and lucid Distortions from 1971 is the only known album by Blue Phantom. Henri had also pressed an abstract sound record in the same year for Italian imprint Vedette, but this appears to be his first venture into psychedelic rock. Distortions languished in obscurity for years, until just recently getting a vinyl reissue in 2008. “Diodo” right out of the gate, is a heavy rock gem with proggy tendencies. Forgive the fact that they cribbed the riff from “I Wanna Be Your Dog” to make “Microchaos”, or that “Equilibrium” sounds like an interesting take on “Breathe”. In fact, on the latter, the crying guitar (a la Can’s “Deadlock”) fits in perfectly with the syncopated rhythm and seemingly endless wah-wah’s. “Psycho-nebulous” closes the album, sounding like the soundtrack to a confusing, neverending nightmare. This record is a picture-perfect bad trip from beginning to end.