''Brain Cycles'' is the second studio album by American

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band

Radio Moscow Radio Moscow ( rus, Pадио Москва, r=Radio Moskva), also known as Radio Moscow World Service, was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics until 1993. It was reorganized with a new name ...

. Released on April 14, 2009, it was the band's first album to feature bassist Zach Anderson, who replaced Luke McDuff in 2007. Issued by Alive Naturalsound, it was recorded at Sound Farm in Jamaica, Iowa and produced by band members Parker Griggs and Anderson.

Composition and recording

In an interview with ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'', frontman

Griggs Griggs may refer to: Places * Griggs County, North Dakota, U.S. *Mount Griggs (also known as Knife Peak Volcano), Katmai range, Alaska, U.S. Other uses * Griggs (surname) *''Griggs v. Duke Power Co. ''Griggs v. Duke Power Co.'', 401 U.S. 424 (19 ...

explained that "The first album

was written all-

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

, and the singing was just sort of

n afterthought N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

... This album was written more with the vocals in mind." On the subject of self-producing the album, Griggs noted that "I wanted to use the tape again and try to get an old-school sound ... ndthis time around I just tried to give it my all and be more comfortable with that." The frontman also noted that "We recorded this lbumat Sound Farm in Jamaica, owainstead of Ohio this time. We put a lot more time into it and really focused on the mix to give it a kind of classic psychedelic feel. It's still real bluesy but we tried to make it more psychedelic than the last one."

Style and reception

In a press release for the album, Radio Moscow compared ''Brain Cycles'' to such psychedelic artists as

Randy Holden Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall (given name), Randall, Randolf (given name), Randolf, Randolph (given name), Randolph, as well as ...

(of

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...

The Groundhogs Groundhogs are an English blues and rock band founded in late 1963, that toured extensively in the 1960s, achieved prominence in the early 1970s, and continued sporadically into the 21st century. Tony McPhee (guitar and vocals) is the sole ...

, Peter Green (of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the li ...

) and the

Flower Travellin' Band was a Japanese rock band that was formed in 1967. They were connected to Japan's counterculture movement and noted for their mixture of early heavy metal with psychedelic and progressive rock. They received wide acclaim from critics but faile ...

. Writing for music website

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

, critic Mark Deming proposed that "Radio Moscow's second album strongly establishes its

stoner Stoner or stoners may refer to: People * Stoner (bass guitarist) * Alyson Stoner (born 1993), American actress and dancer * Andrew Stoner (born 1960), Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and the Leader of th ...

credentials even before you've given it a listen, and the music doesn't disappoint if you're hoping for a gloriously resinous musical experience." Deming compares ''Brain Cycles'' to psychedelic blues-rock of the 1960s and 1970s, suggesting similarities to the bands

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

and Blue Cheer and noting the latter's album ''

Outsideinside ''Outsideinside'' is the second album by American power trio Blue Cheer. Philips Records released the album in August 1968, only seven months after their debut LP, ''Vincebus Eruptum''. The album was recorded both outdoors and indoors—hence the ...

'' as possible inspiration for the record. Deming's AllMusic review is generally positive, although he does conclude that "''Brain Cycles'' is undercut by songs that aren't as impressive as the band playing them; for every number like the hard boogieing "City Lights" and the frantic wail of "Just Don't Know," there's another that sounds like a tune you'd skip over to get to one of the really good cuts ... They just don't make records like ''Brain Cycles'' anymore, and while most of the album suggests that's too bad, a few cuts demonstrate why folks stopped doing this back in the day." The album has received praise for frontman Griggs's vocal work, the added cohesiveness of the rhythm section, and the more sophisticated songwriting. Many critics have also noted that ''Brain Cycles'' is an improvement on the band's debut album ''Radio Moscow''.

Track listing

Personnel

;Radio Moscow * Parker Griggs –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Zach Anderson –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

, production ;Additional personnel *Justin "Blind Beard" Apple –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

on tracks 2 and 5 *Matt Sepanic –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

*Doug Van Sloun – mastering ;Graphic personnel *Anthony Yankovic –

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

*Patrick Boissel – artwork layout *Allison Cobb –

photography Photography is the visual art, art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It i ...

*Bre Sabatino – photography *Dario Cantatore – photography

References

{{Authority control Radio Moscow (band) albums 2009 albums Alive Naturalsound Records albums