Psychic Ills: Hazed Dream

Label: Sacred Bones

Everything about this record is so right-on that I'm getting a contact high just telling you about it. And I haven't even told you about it yet! Psychic Ills are a long-running NYC band dedicated to the unspooled life, how the horizon just keeps going to infinity, and they transmute and transmit this notion into note-perfect narcoticized jams. Hazed Dream is the record that old-school Ills fans have been waiting for: three- and four-minute slices of spare, deep-psych grooves, tightly written and arranged toward the band's strengths -- namely, frontman Tres Warren's assuringly blissed vocals, and the way his simple yet intricate guitar lines amble through the astral hills and shadowy woods spun into existence by the rhythm section of Elizabeth Hart (bass) and Brian Tamborello. And this mellow magic holds form for the entirety of Hazed Dream. Sure, we could single out tunes like "Mind Daze" ("I'm doin' fine / Goin' out of my mind"), "That's Alright" and "Sungaze" as being especially effective in squelching all of your reality-based concerns, but there's not a downer moment to be found on this low-light classic.