Wooden Shjips

Strap in for travels beyond the galaxy, to tranced-out cosmic bliss! Sick Thirst / Forte presents Vol 2, the second compilation of hard-to-find WoodenShjips tracks.

Wooden Shjips (Omar Ahsanuddin drums, Dusty Jermier bass, Nash Whalen organ, Ripley Johnson guitar) are a vital and refreshingly inspired a trance rock quartet from San Francisco playing with concentrated ferocity,

Vol 2 digs deep to collect the band's Sub Pop and Mexican Summer singles, two self-released European tour singles, and a track from Yeti magazine, for nearly 44 minutes of fuzzed-out psych jams.

Their sound is something akin to the icy garage rock of early Echo & The Bunnymen crossed with the sun-bleached tremolo-punk of the Scientists. There are hints of krautrock, the trance-inducing organ haze of Suicide, Velvets-style dance-drone, classic desert-fried garage psych and the mysterious, obscure Japanese lysergic-rock band Les Rallizes Denudes, all mixed into one explosive whole.

Not just for completists, Vol 2 contains the essential live standards Loose Lips, Death's Not Your Friend (live), and I Hear the Vibrations (the E-Z Version), plus savage covers of Neil Young's Vampire Blues and Serge Gainsbourg's Contact.

In 2010, Wooden Shjips will embark on a March tour of Australia and New Zealand, including appearances at Lost Weekend Festival and Golden Plains Festival (AU). An April tour of the UK and Europe will be followed by festival appearances at ATP curated by Pavement (UK) in May and Roskilde Festival (DK) in July.