4 Non Blondes: Bigger, Better, Faster, More! 1992

San Francisco's 4 Non Blondes burst onto the national scene with their massive, neo-hippie anthem

"What's Up" from their debut Bigger, Better, Faster, More? Although they failed to recreate the single's success, the album, as a whole, is a fairly engaging mix of alternative rock, quasi-funk, and blues. 4 Non Blondes formed in San Francisco in 1989. Their lineup comprises Linda Perry (guitars, vocals), Christa Hillhouse (bass), Dawn Richardson (drums) and Roger Rocha (guitar); previously in the band were founding members Shaunna Hall (guitar) and Wanda Day (drums).
                                   

The name of the band came from an experience the group had in the Bay Area with a blonde family.

According to Christa Hillhouse, "Right next to us, there's a trash receptacle with a piece of pizza on top and the kid wanted to pick it up. The mom said, 'No, it's probably dirty, what with the pigeons and people.' And she stared right at us. We were Non Blondes." They said the experience became a symbol that they did not fit the California stereotype. They got their start in the San Francisco bar scene, especially lesbian bars, gaining a significant lesbian following.
                               

The focal point is on lead singer Linda Perry who also plays guitar and was the primary writer of

the material. Perry has a powerful set of pipes akin to Johnette Napolitano, but, unfortunately, she tends to cut loose when a little more restraint would benefit the proceedings. However, "Superfly" is a feel good, funky number and "Spaceman"'s yearning lyrics are delivered over a quiet, martial drum rhythm. A solid debut that got lost in the wake of its mammoth hit. 
                       

The video for "What's Up?" became a smash on MTV, propelling sales of the album to over six

million copies worldwide. "What's Up?" was selected as Best Song by the Bay Area Music Awards; moreover, Perry was chosen as Best Female Vocalist and Bigger, Better, Faster, More? won for Best Album. The group toured with Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and Bob Dylan. The band recorded tunes for the soundtracks to Wayne's World 2 and Airheads. The first single was "Dear Mr. President", which bass player Christa Hillhouse told Songfacts "was about the hierarchy of power and government." 
                            

The second single, "What's Up?", reached No. 1 in several countries and went gold in the United States,

while the album itself went platinum, accumulating sales of 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and 6 million copies worldwide. However, Perry felt that the group had become too pop; consequently, she left 4 Non Blondes. She released her solo debut, In Flight, in 1995. Perry departed from Interscope Records in 1998 and recorded her second full-length, After Hours, for her own label, Rockstar Records. 
                                   

4 Non Blondes – Bigger, Better, Faster, More!
Label:Interscope Records – 7 92112-2, Atlantic – 7 92112-2
Format:CD, Album, Stereo
Country:US
Released:Oct 13, 1992
Genre:Rock
Style:Alternative Rock, Folk Rock, Hard Rock

TRACKS

                          

01. Train    3:47
02. Superfly    4:37
03. What's Up   4:55
Engineer – Mark Hensley, Kent Matcke
04. Pleasantly Blue    2:27
05. Morphine & Chocolate    4:41
06. Spaceman    3:40
07. Old Mr. Heffer    2:16
08. Calling All The People    3:17
09. Dear Mr. President    4:43
10. Drifting    3:30
11. No Place Like Home    3:09

LINE - UP

                      

Linda Perry – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Christa Hillhouse – bass, background vocals
Roger Rocha – lead guitar (credited but joined after the album's completion)
Dawn Richardson – drums

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Shaunna Hall – guitar
Rory Kaplan – Mellotron
Suzie Katayama – cello, accordion
Louis Metoyer – guitar
Dave Rickets – keyboard
Andy James – drums
Laurent Tardy – piano

Flac Size: 280 MB

Psychic Ills: The Early Years

 

When it comes to following the beat of their own drum, New York’s Psychic Ills have exemplified the phrase since their beginnings in 2003. Initially spawned from electronic-centered home recording experiments, they progressed into all-night full-band exploration in a neighborhood where noise wasn’t a

problem. They soon after evolved into a live band seemingly at home within the extended jam, exploring a variety of musical terrain. The early years saw several releases for Social Registry, tons of time on the road, and collaborations with artists as diverse as Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) and Sonic Boom (Spacemen Three/Spectrum). In 2011, their first effort for Sacred Bones, Hazed Dream traded in the synthesizer space-outs and raga rumbles, and delivered  records of sunburned psych pop, awash in warm tones and blues damaged songwriting. 
                       

01. PSYCHIC ILLS - DINS 2005

                          

Dins is the full-length debut of New York City's Psychic Ills; a band known for their squalling live shows that combine post-punk sonics, deafening drones, psychedelic weirdness, rhythmic tribalism, and loose, shambolic, improvisational jams that have everything to do with chaos and intensity. That weird Eastern

tinged mental drug orgy thing that seems so elusive to so many nowadays drenches these proceedings. Check the hand drumming and snaky guitar in "East" for starters. There's that eerie blues thing going on with the modal guitar line, with hypnotic bass lines and hand drums. It's the payoff before the seduction where everything that's delivered in a haunted, wooly sanguine blur was never promised. Who knows what's being sung, and who cares? It's silvery, slithering melodic fabric has no seam, everything lies down together in a psychedelic rock & roll orgy of acid-guzzled, dark-thrummed bliss. Dins does it, over and again. 
                               

Psychic Ills – Dins
Label: The Social Registry – TSR024
Format: Album, Digipak
Country: US
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Ethereal, Electroacoustic, Experimental

TRACKS

01. East    1:39
02. Electric Life    5:26
03. (Untitled)   4:25
Effects [Stereo Parametric Equalizer] – Charles Burst
04. January Rain    5:38
05. Inauration    1:57
06. I Knew My Name    8:33
07.Witchcraft Breaker   2:12
Horns – Jesse Trbovich    
08. Another Day Another Night    8:08

Flac Size: 244 MB 

02.  PSYCHIC ILLS - EARLY VIOLENCE 2006

                              

Early Violence, a 35-minute album with a December 2006 release date, marks the first time that some of

Psychic Ills' pre-Dins recordings have been available on CD. This disc unites the contents of Psychic Ills' first two releases, "Mental Violence I" (a 7" record) and "Mental Violence II" (a 12" record), with two previously unreleased songs: "Highway of Death" and "Diamond City Redux." Although Psychic Ills were still finding their creative way during those first few months, they had an attractive style early on: a spacey and hazy yet distorted, gritty, and rockin' style that drew on influences ranging from shoegazer bands of the '90s and 2000s to '60s and early '70s psychedelic garage rock. 
                   

Psychic Ills – Early Violence
Label: The Social Registry – TSR032
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: Dec 5, 2006
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

01. Vice    2:25
02. Killers    4:25
03. Diamond City    4:01
04. Days    7:09
05. Highway Of Death    3:51
06. 4AM    6:14
07. Red-Split    3:35
08. Diamond City Redux    4:20

NOTES

Tracks 1 & 2 from: Killers 7" single 2003
Tracks 3, 4, 6 & 8 from: Mental Violence 12" single 2005
Track 5 from: Various Artists CD compilation xgLA: Sophistication Meets The Streets (U.S. Pop Life Vol. 19) 2005
Track 7 from: Various Artists 2xCD compilation Every Day Since Sixty Six / Ascension Days (When We Rise) 2005
(Unlisted Track 8 not mentioned on packaging).

Flac Size: 207 MB 

03. PSYCHIC ILLS - LIVE AT LEVITATION 2012 (2022)

                         

The fifth LP in this Live at LEVITATION series features New York psych legends Psychic Ills capturing

the band’s spellbinding performance in 2012."The first thing that grabbed me when I listened to our 2012 performance at Austin Psych Fest is Tres declaring at the start of the recording “It’s good to be back in Texas” because that simple sentiment captured everything we felt in that moment—the nostalgia and privilege of coming back to our home state for such an iconic festival." - Elizabeth Hart (Psychic Ills)
                        

Psychic Ills – Live At Levitation
Label: The Reverberation Appreciation Society – RVRB-053
Series: Live At Levitation 
Format: Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition Sep 30, 2022
Country: Europe
Released: 2012
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

SIDE A.

                   

A1. Midnight Moon    4:19
A2. Mind Daze    3:31
A3. Incense Head    3:58
A4. Ring Finger    4:16
A5. Electriclife    4:02

SIDE B.

             

B1. Meta    3:57
B2. Diamond City    3:41
B3. January Rain    6:32
B4. I'll Follow You Through The Floor    4:35

NOTES

2012 performance at Austin Psych Fest

Flac Size: 219 MB

Psychic Ills: Hazed Dream 2011 + One Track Mind 2013 + Inner Journey Out 2016

 

Over the course of more than 15 years, New York's Psychic Ills matured from a writhing mass of raw, hypnotic noise rock into a more nuanced form of psychedelic songwriting. The group was highly

esteemed in underground circles, working with indie labels like Sacred Bones and Social Registry and collaborating on their songs with members of Royal Trux and Mazzy Star before they were tragically called to a close with the death of founding member Tres Warren in 2020. Initially spawned from electronic-centered home recording experiments, they progressed into all-night full-band exploration in a neighborhood where noise wasn’t a problem. 
                                    

Psychic Ills formed in New York City in 2003, made up of Warren on vocals and guitarist/keyboard player Tom Gluibizzi. Following Mental Violence I, the duo was joined by bassist Elizabeth Hart and drummer Brian Tamborello to record their first proper full-length, 2006's Dins. The album's

cover art is German Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell's painting Three Hairs and Shadow. The Village Voice named Psychic Ills "Best Psych Rock Band" in their 2006 Best of NYC issue.
In early 2008, Psychic Ills performed in Marfa, Texas for the opening of the Hello Meth Lab in the Sun art installation and at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bordeaux France for the IAO festival. In 2009 they released the album Mirror Eye and toured the US with Butthole Surfers. 
                            

Their sound can be seen as a combination of the drones of Shoegazer bands, the psychedelic aspect of 80's and 90's Neo Psychedelic bands, the energetic playing of Punk bands and ambient textures reminiscent to Ambient and Electronic artists as well as many other genres with the same flavor. If you're a fan of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3, Sonic Youth and Bardo Pond and drug-

influenced genres then Psychic Ills won't be out of place in your collection.
Members of Psychic Ills have been involved in various other projects. Elizabeth Hart plays bass with Effi Briest and performs with the improvisational dance and music ensemble Skint. Tres Warren collaborates with visual artist Taketo Shimada as Messages and with Drew McDowall as Compound Eye. Former drummer Brian Tamborello participated in the Boredoms Boadrum projects and played drums on Mike Wexler's record Sun Wheel.
                           

For 2011's Hazed Dream, the band moved to Sacred Bones Records and opted for a more streamlined, accessible approach. In Spring 2013 the band released their fourth album One Track Mind and toured

Europe afterwards. 2013's One Track Mind continued on into even more accessible territory, with production and guest vocals from Royal Trux's Neil Hagerty. Brent Cordero, who had played keyboards with Psychic Ills on tour, became part of their studio crew for the sessions that produced the group's fifth album, 2016's Inner Journey Out. The album also featured a guest appearance from Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star, who contributed vocals to the song "I Don't Mind." Warren died on March 21, 2020 at age 41.
                                            

01.  PSYCHIC ILLS - HAZED DREAM 2011

                           

Psychic Ills' Sacred Bones label debut Hazed Dream doesn’t lie about its intentions: the whole album rolls

along like a fogged-out vision, albeit a very different one from anything the band has crafted before. Instead of the sonic maelstroms of Dins, Hazed Dream is a low-hanging fog, misty and down to earth at the same time. Hazed Dream is the band’s subtlest album as well as its most accessible, and its low-key pleasures reveal themselves over time. 
                   

Psychic Ills – Hazed Dream
Label: Sacred Bones Records – SBR-063CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Oct 18, 2011
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                                     

                                      
01. Midnight Moon    3:49
02. Mind Daze    3:39
03. Incense Head    4:14
04. Mexican Wedding    3:21
05. That's Alright    3:55
06. Ring Finger    4:08
07. Travelin' Man    3:43
08. Sungaze    4:08
09. Dream Repetition    2:01
10. I’ll Follow You Through The Floor    4:47
11. Same Old Song    3:10

LINE - UP

                       

Bass – Elizabeth Hart
Drums, Bongos, Guiro, Maracas – Brian Tamborello
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Slide Guitar, Guitar [Wah], Guitar [E-bow], Keyboards, Vocals, Drum Machine, Sruti Box, Jew's Harp, Synthesizer, Harmonica – Tres Warren
Written-By, Mixed By – Psychic Ills

Flac Size: 236 MB

02.  PSYCHIC ILLS - ONE TRACK MIND 2013

                      

Going from their 2003 inception to fourth album One Track Mind ten years later has been a winding road

for New York's Psychic Ills. The menacing and hypnotic basslines, ghost-town blues, and druggy drifter motifs of the album still have shades of the group's noisy beginnings, but most of the formless doom has been replaced with more traditional expressions of dread. "One Track Mind" kicks things off sounding like a listless sunburned daydream from some imaginary hybrid of the Gun Club and Spacemen 3. 
                              

Psychic Ills – One Track Mind
Label: Sacred Bones Records – SBR-089CD
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2013
Genre: Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock

TRACKS

                        

01. One More Time   3:41
Backing Vocals [Back Up Vocals] – Charles Burst
02. See You There    5:03
03. Might Take A While   3:45
Backing Vocals [Back Up Vocals] – Neil Michael Hagerty    
04. Depot    3:22
05. Tried To Find It    5:18
06. FBI   3:33
Bongos – Charles Burst
07. I Get By   4:19
Guitar – Neil Michael Hagerty
08. City Sun    4:01
09. Western Metaphor    4:56
10. Drop Out    5:24

BONUS TRACK

    
11. Violet Horizon   3:51
Backing Vocals [Back Up Vocals] – Charles Burst

LINE - UP

                            

Bass – Elizabeth Hart
Drums – Chris Millstein
Guitar, Vocals, Organ, Piano, Harmonica – Tres Warren
Illustration [Cover Drawning "True Happiness"], Painting [Inner Sleese "Spacescape"] – Powell St. John
Recorded By [Additional] – Tres Warren
Songwriter [All Songs By] – Psychic Ills

Flac Size: 346 MB
    
03.  PSYCHIC ILLS - INNER JOURNEY OUT 2016

                    

Psychic Ills created one of the truly great "drifting on a cloud of lysergic thought" albums with their

fifth long-player, 2016's Inner Journey Out. Obviously built around the notion that less is more, Inner Journey Out is made up of slow, contemplative numbers that embellish circular guitar and keyboard patterns as the musicians reach out to their hypnotic potential. Inner Journey Out isn't made for all listeners or all purposes, but anyone interested in a journey down a peaceful river of sculpted sound is advised to investigate its properties. 
                             

Psychic Ills – Inner Journey Out
Label: Sacred Bones Records – SBR155CD, Sacred Bones Records – SBR-155
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Jun 3, 2016
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Acoustic, Psychedelic Rock, 

TRACKS

                             

01. Back To You    3:59
Congas, Shaker, Wood Block – Derek James
02. Another Change    5:22
Backing Vocals – Lady Peachena, Nadine Simmons
03. I Don't Mind     4:41
Vocals – Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star)
04. Mixed Up Mind    3:41
05. All Alone    3:34
Backing Vocals – Lady Peachena, Nadine Simmons
06. New Mantra    2:04
Vocals – Lady Peachena, Nadine Simmons
07. Coca-Cola Blues    7:12
08. Baby    4:15
Backing Vocals – Lady Peachena, Nadine Simmons
Tambourine – Thom Monahan
Timpani – Charles Burst
09. Music In My Head    3:28
Acoustic Guitar – Mike Wexler
Bongos – Charles Burst
10. No Worry    3:35
Drums – Charles Burst
11. Hazel Green    5:50
Drums – Charles Burst
12. Confusion (I'm Alright)    3:16
Congas – Derek James
13. Ra Wah Wah    9:12
Chimes – Derek James
14. Fade Me Out    3:55
Other [Glass Bottle] – Derek James

LINE - UP

                       

Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Tres Warren
Bass – Elizabeth Hart
Congas, Shaker, Wood Block – Derek James
Drums – Chris Millstein, Harry Druzd
Organ – Brent Cordero
Backing Vocals – Lady Peachena, Nadine Simmons
Pedal Steel Guitar – Tim Ramsey, Matty McDermott
Vocals – Hope Sandoval
Saxophone – Casey Butler
Written-By – Psychic Ills

Flac Size: 351 MB