"Attention Deficit Fever Dream" by Roosterhead is a Psychedelic Garage Art Rock 3 Year Labor of Love

Last year, LA based Roosterhead, a psychedelic art rock duo, released the ambitious "Attention Deficit Fever Dream" - a 22 song trippy walk into and through fun house mirrors. When you listen to the noise art rock of A Taste of Chokecherry, buried in the dystopian toned sound there is the stare into the sun confluence of Pet Sounds meets the Flaming Lips (circa March of the Rotten Vegetables). Delving into the deep well of abstract art pulls you into many directions and I wouldn't try to decode the poetry amidst the noises that seem to becoming from space or radio waves but instead focus on the emotional tug that lie in the melodies. There is a deep sad streak that runs through Zero Aces (A Cross Section of a Human Brain on a Tuesday Afternoon - Can You Show Me How) as it seems to flirt with loneliness and being overwhelmed by too much internal dialog. There is a touch of folk / garden rock in the spring reverby Crow Flies and lovely hope laden melodies. Even though Budha's Palm has its feet set in a kind of glammy psychedelic rock thing it deconstructs slowly and turns into an almost sock hop punk thing. My Daydream Time Machine is mostly stripped down to a dirty bass and drums and builds it's groove slowly but formidably. Then it starts jamming, love it. 

Time and time again you can feel the tinges of The Flaming Lips but not oppressively so. In Radio Infinity a spacy ode that made me think of Wayne Coyne and David Bowie as the song transformed from novel themes to truly heartfelt ones. The Quadrennial Armored Truck Drag Race feels so inspired. It has proto punk sensibilities in it's free form sound. That proto punk heart beats strongly in Even the Audiophiles Danced. The transient guitar sounds made me think of Wide Streets (R.I.P). The song feels like a fairy tale. 

Inside any massive dreamy album there will be at least one nightmare and the poisoned fruit here is Bad Vibes from the Underground which sounds like one of those ruffled trench coated weirdos spouting commentary though a megaphone. We Must Hate The Future is a fun listen and it rocks. It has a late 70's vibe really, like the Who meets Be Bop Deluxe meets J. Macis (if he was a robot). Neon Tobaggan is a whimsy and lush waltz with lovely melodies. 

Recorded over 3 years, "Attention Deficit Fever Dream" is a big psychedelic bag of marbles. Some are bigger and more shiny than others but they all sparkle. Some experimental albums get so wrapped up in the abstract that the songs lack heart. This isn't the case here as Roosterhead injects a lot of emotional tugs in the melodies that run through the musical hodgepodge. Maybe the most "mainstream" song on the album is The Intergalactic Journey of The Spaceship Eros. It feels like a three act play of love and life. Dynamically rich and catchy it plays like a 90's post rock that shifts and slowly turns into an endearing stroll with your dream boy or girl at sunset.

Roosterhead is: Shawn Her Many Horses (guitar, bass, synth, vocals) and Luke Johnson (drums, bass, synth, vocals) and say that the songs on Attention Deficit Fever Dream are heavily inspired by omnipresent technology and the future of humanity in the age of the Internet. They have been kind enough to offer this entire compelling album for digital download here (how nice is that?):
http://www.roosterheadmusic.com/feverdream/