Lumerians

We aren't sure if they are named after the fabled race of Subterraneans who like the equally legendary Atlanteans are said to live in underground cities many miles below the earths surface and safe from the carnage unfolding above them. What we do know is that the Lumerians are disciples of the Sonic Boom school of spatial psychedelics. Dispensing with the need for guitars and relying solely on organs, synths and vibraphones braided with boy / girl vocals, the Lumerians are a San Francisco based ensemble who on this - their debut - limited to just 500 numbered copies 5 track 12" pressed up on clear vinyl outing (by the way - cheers Chris for sending over a copy) intricately craft what can only be described as an aural Avalon. Swept along by tides of swirling cinematics that deftly dip between sumptuous sheens of cosmically fried lazy eyed spectral ambient mantras themselves pulsing away like exotic mind evaporating montages dispersing delicately hallucinogenic vapours of lounge like down tempo trippiness a la Basil Kirchen (hook up to the hauntingly void like cosmic mirage of the mood terra forming 'Turquoise Towers') and simultaneously at the polar end delving deftly creating monolithic head warping and hypnotic pearls of out there odysseys primed with hypnotic trip switches and coated in florescent glazes - make no bones about it this is a gem of a debut. Utilising the epic and the spectral, each of these cuts seem to take a lifetime to unfurl like some kind of black hole they assume a formidable mass and depth along the way alluding to a wide screen presence all the time freebasing upon cyclical drone structures that whirr deep into your psyche (check the wig flipping and mind bending freeform parting cut 'triskaideka'). 'Orgon Grinder' perhaps the sets centrepiece sounds like its been time tunnelled straight out of the 'summer of love' - imparting a decidedly chilled spiritual resonance its lushly infected with the aura of a seriously laid back My Bloody Valentine mooching across snaking plains of arid nothingness, magnificently blank it elicits a stately demeanour woven by dissipating corteges of ethereal key backdrops. Equally stunning is the overtly textured 'olive alley' - a kind of spellbinding Silver Apples dropped into some primal Aboriginal ceremony. All said and done it's the opening salvo 'corkscrew trepanation' that does it for us - this shade wearing psychotropic babe flashes the kind of grooved poise and unnerving cool that might just make lovers of the Black Angels, the People's Revolutionary Choir and Brian Jonestown Massacre stop abruptly in their tracks to swoon for a spell. Pure class and single of the missive.
- losingtoday.com

A great debut from San Franciscan quartet, Lumerians. The self-titled ep walks freely between pounding krautian rhythms, etherial harmonies and even touches of dub. The band take nods from just about every arena feeding into modern psychedelics; keyboards buzz, drums pound and atmospherics rise into murky clouds of dust. Vocals, when they appear, trade back and forth between male and female voice. The tone is largely dark, breaking stride for a short foray into hope on the female led "Orgon Grinder," but for the most part dystopian synths quaver over an ominous undercurrent of off kilter tension. On the surface the temper remains calm but a sense of unease pervades the entire EP as if the moment you let yourself ease into unawareness some horrible fate will befall you. Really digging this vibe the whole way throughout.

- http://ravensingstheblues.blogspot.com/

Here we've landed this exclusive download from Lumerians, and I still can't give you much more biographical information about them other than San Francisco is their home base and that you may also be able to find this EP in limited pressed vinyl somewhere, and only if you look really hard. But the slight mystery enshrouding the band is apropos given the group's penchant for crafting slow building, crepuscular psychedelia that pulls from the late-'80s/early-'90s era of taking drugs to make music to take drugs to. It's the kind of music that you want to listen to at twilight, or dawn even, when small patches of glowing reds and oranges break through the gray backdrop of the sky. The enigmatic singer's stoned melody in the opening track, "Corkscrew Trepanation," recalls J. Spaceman, as organ and guitar drone through a single chord with the bass being the main source of propulsion. "Turquoise Towers" takes a more atmospheric turn, completely vocal-less as washes of synths and white noise undulate atop a hypnotizing circular rhythm, the sustained notes of the vibraphone making the piece ever more haunting. "Orgon Grinder" continues down the one-organ-chord path of the other songs, but the hues are brighter here, the female singer's airy melody cutting through the shimmering din of gliding vibrato guitars and fuzzy keyboard. There's much to be loved in these five songs by fans of Spacemen 3, Loop and even early Stereolab, not to mention more recent carriers of the psych-torch, like Psychic Ills and San Fran's Wooden Shjips. At the same time, Lumerians have found their own trip, good stuff. [GH] (January 11, 2008) - http://digital.othermusic.com/

Well, it looks like the Wooden Shjips don't have the market cornered on sixties inspired drone drenched psychedelic drug rock after all. The Lumerians offer up their own take on modern psych with their debut ep, 5 songs, all of them looooong and gorgeously tripped out. Where as the Shjips seem to be channeling the Doors, the Lumerians take ? And The Mysterians, mix in some Fuzztones, and filter it through the sound of Spacemen 3 and Loop resulting in a mesmerizing, repetitive organ infused doped up hypnorock.
The second the opening track kicked in we were SOLD. Fuzzy blown organ, pounding simple drum beat, super sixties vibe, buzzy and trippy and druggy and totally divine. The vocals drawling over that relentless beat and that warm thick organ. Wooden Shjips fans will freak, and just might have found a new favorite local band.
The second track is just as cool, but way different, super minimal, almost jazzy, with muted percussion, subtle bass grooves, soft shimmery synths, very spacious (and space-y) and laid back, like a druggier more psychedelic Necks.
The B side is all slow lugubrious organ drenched crawl, shuffling drums, a wall of washed out buzz, with one track introducing some ethereal, blissed out female vocals, drifting weightless above the fuzzy groove, giving that track a serious shoegaze vibe.
Killer stuff. Super limited. Only 500 copies, each pressed on nice thick clear vinyl, housed in a plastic PVC jacket with a thick color cardstock insert, and comes with a code, so you can download MP3's for your iPod as well.

- https://aquariusrecords.org/

I am in love with the Lumerians‘ self-titled debut album. Five potent tracks slowly unfold into succulent psych, with perceptive bass lines and focused percussion layered with the spacey warmth of organ and guitar. The cover art, printed locally at Logos, tenders a visual précis of the music: frozen ice, both rigid and softly rippling, imparts a myriad of subtle shades and patterns that emerge and develop like an intoxicating trip.

It’s a damn fine album that’s miles ahead of anything else you’ve heard lately; the limited pressing of 500 clear vinyl records makes this one you shouldn’t wait to buy. - www.overlap.org