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First playing together in the winter of 2008, U.K rockers Elephants On Acid promptly began recording independently after just days of jamming in a Hyde Park basement in Leeds, England. Releasing their first of three EP’s in April 2008, the band’s first full length album, From Tusk Til Dawn, hit stores on October 12th.

Elephants on Acid present a collection of 11 songs ranging from classic blues rock reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles and the Doors, to a new age amalgam of funk infused modern progressive rock with a psychedelic twist.

The band’s Myspace, seemingly the only official resource for information on the quartet, emphasizes a carefree, jokingly nonprofessional look at the group, despite their apparent wealth of musical skill. Some band members names are not even fully revealed, citing the bass player who simply goes by “Q”,”Eyeballs” on the keys, “Calvin the Drummer” and guitarist/singer Andrei Nosov. The “Origins of Elephants on Acid” entry spins an elaborately fantasized account of mind controlling vodka and recording five songs in two minutes. In spite of these oddities, their music is engaging, fun, surprising catchy, and they clearly evoke some of the biggest names of rock in their work without ever sounding like a rip-off.

Opening track Elephants Boogie #1 sounds like the beginning of a Beatles record with a barking English accent preceding the music. However, the song quickly turns into a frenetic and psychedelic romp which in fact may quite well illustrate and elephant on acid.

Miss Me When I’m Gone quickly digs into a gritty blues rock jam with tight unison rhythms (a recurring theme throughout the album) screaming guitar breaks. Continuing in a similar vain, Life Overdose incorporates harmonized lead guitar riffs and air tight drum and bass work.

Venturing into jam-band territory, Superstar features hypnotizing layers of fuzzy background chords smoothly washing over, but coming just shy of overpowering the vocals and guitar riffing. Charlie’s Lament is a tight funk rock jam with more tightly stitched unison rhythms, interesting melodies, vocal harmony recalling the Beatles at times and perfectly placed wah-wah guitar solo leading into the outro.

The rest of the album features similar combinations of classic rock, funk and even some reggae influences on Take Me Away, all the while sounding distinctly unique from their predecessors from the integration of these genres. Allright? features Latin percussion with a jazz atmosphere to begin with, before tranistioning into a infectiously catchy pop rock verse and chorus, then taking another drastic turn into a bizarre percussion break with muted guitar and bass picking adding accents. The track circles back to pop rock until the end, completing the enjoyable, but puzzlingly fragmented collection of musical themes packaged into one song. Another example of this nonsensical song structuring tendency is in the 16 minute Frankenstein of an album closer, My Sitar Went to California and Found His Eyeballs On His Feet.

Elephants On Acid are a band overflowing with creative potential. Their affinity for mixing genres, though it makes for an interesting listening experience, can become too fractured at times when too many genres inhabit one song. At that point, it becomes increasingly difficult to look at each song, and in turn, the whole album as a cohesive piece of music following a logical progression. At the end of some of these songs I find myself struggling to remember how the song began because of its sporadic nature. Though the all-genre-encompassing sound of Elephants on Acid is one of their biggest draws, it is also perhaps their biggest downfall on this particular record.

Overall Rating : 8/10

Top Tracks:
Take Me Away
Allright?
Wicked Life
Charlie’s Lament

For Listeners of:
Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Beatles, Cream

www.myspace.com/elephantsonacidnow