Austin Psych Fest Preview: Moon Duo

It is quite uncanny how Moon Duo has hit upon the perfect psychedelic frequency. The crunching guitar and propulsive keyboard combine to form an undulating wave that has been seemingly designed to wash away all the chatter in my head and replace it with a renewed sense of possibility and desire. With mind controlling abilities clearly at their disposal, a band with these transformative powers could be dangerous. I can only hope that they are not as nefarious as they sometimes sound for under their spell I could see myself being compelled to abandon any sense of morality I thought I possessed and do their diabolical bidding. It only takes about five minutes with them in my ear and I’m poised to have everything I thought I knew about the world subverted. If you were going to start a cult, these guys would make a great house band.

But would I travel to the moon to see them? Yes, if they told me to. I would have no choice. Good thing for now, I’ll just have to go as far as Austin.

Moon Duo is Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Sanae Yamada. Here they are playing at KEXP, the best radio station in the world.

Here’s a track off their latest album “Mazes” (Sacred Bones, 2011). Buy it anywhere but at Amazon.

Moon Duo – When You Cut – MP3