The Psychedelic Freaks take their own wild, whirling dervish-approach to jazz on their debut Passing Through The Doorways Of Your Mind<\/a><\/em>, released on La Sape Records<\/a> June 4. Like their name suggests, there’s a lot of adventurous, freak-out psych trips along a journey of the jazz spectrum. Vocals sound like they’ve bubbled up from deep underwater on the title track, which opens the record with its jubilant, eclectic sound centred around wah guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting of jazz with the tripped-out, mushrooms-and-disco biscuits world of psychedelic rock peaked in the late \u201860s as the same audience for Jimi Hendrix also spun Grateful Dead, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington on vinyl. The genre-melding made sense: neither jazz nor psychedelic rock follows strict rules, both were always open to interpretation, individualisation and liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liberation and freedom in music while respecting its sacred nature is a hallmark of Horatio Luna (a.k.a. Henry Hicks), the Melbourne-based composer, improviser, producer and chief Psychedelic Freak behind this glorious, glimmering musical delivery. Founder of 30\/70 Collective, a hip-hop\/soul community, Hicks decided to move on after six years in late 2018. He’s also had his finger in the pie of multiple live and recorded acts and recordings around Melbourne. He’s restless, prolific, dedicated and – obviously – never short on inspiration and ideas. Also a member of jazz-house band Lush Life<\/a> and collaborating partner to afro-house purveyors Teymori<\/a>, Hicks may also be recognised for his remixes and contributions to numerous jazz\/soul\/hip hop compilations. Last year, his full-length album Boom Boom<\/a><\/em> riffed on the joyful, juicy big beats of house music (titles like “No Words, Big Party” and “Bush Doof” give you an idea).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone creating this kind of fun, funky music in Australia,\u201d says Hicks. \u201cIt\u2019s like a time warp from the 1970s but explored in a new way, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n