FESTIVAL REPORT: Love Potion Psych Fest 2023
The older I get and the more I explore, the more my musical journey leads me into the Finnish psych scene, thanks to great opportunities like Kosmos Festival and Helsinki Psych Fest (and their Love Potion Clubs). This year, while Helsinki Psych Fest didn’t happen, instead they hosted a slightly smaller but just as fun mini-festival called Love Potion Psych Fest at Playhouse Bar. This took place over November 10th and 11th, 2023, so you know I had to be there.
Friday, November 10th, 2023
The doors were scheduled to open at 18.00 and the first band was set for 20.30, which meant that Playhouse Bar was perfectly okay allowing attendees to arrive and have a few drinks before the music began. The first act of the night was the Emola-Hatsina String Band, who began their set with one member running a screwdriver, and later a violin bow, across an electric guitar as synth players fiddled with knobs. The music was long-form, progressive, and rather spacey, in a psychedelic sort of way. However, the immediate first highlight of the night was when one of them picked up the absolutely massive sitar that was sitting on the small catwalk, adding a distinctly Indian flavor to the sound. The first song lasted the better part of half an hour, before they greeted the crowd and and spoke a little about themselves and introduced either an album or the second song to be “Hobo Sapiens.” This track shifted away from the heavy synth sound, focusing more directly on the sitar and guitar, with the other band member leaving the stage. This second song was only a few minutes long and wrapped up their set, showing off an intriguing sample of sounds!
Buko Shane quickly piqued our interests already during the stage changeover, as they brought out some more traditional rock band gear and… an antique sewing machine. Their set started at 20.20 with the promise of some blues rock from the vocalist. The sewing machine was immediately put to use like a simplified hurdy-gurdy, creating droning sounds, while the vocal sound was astonishingly similar to proper classic American country music. The beat then got stompin’ (indeed, not stomping, but stompin’) as they continued. I had never expected to hear a blend of country and psych rock, with Jon Lord (Deep Purple)-styled organs and all, but I may have loved it. After some upbeat bangers, they spent some time doing atmospheric soundscapes, using the sewing machine again. The band had announced a new song, “Father, You’re a Star,” in October, which I’m quite sure they shared with us, which leaned further to the psychedelic side and away from the country-blues influence. The material was a pretty eclectic collection, and well-executed – I certainly enjoyed them!
Next up was The Fertility Cült and the name of their game was heavy stoner rock, but without the tendency to repeat riffs for extended periods of time. Keeping things rather punchy with the Sabbath-y low end, they had some interesting guitar grooves. The saxophone was another immediate allure, though it was a bit hard to recognize in the mix at first, as the backing music and guitar were a bit overwhelming in the mix. The sitar player made another appearance during their set, though again, he was unfortunately overpowered by the rest of the music (though the saxophone had become very audible by then, at least!). They had some groovy, even jazzy moments, as well, making for an intriguing set that surely requires further listening in the future!
The only familiar band of the night beforehand was From Grotto, who just released a fantastic album, “Monuments of Our Time,” earlier this fall. Their set was, naturally, mostly made up of their new material, opening with “Turso,” “Shigir,” and “I Remember Summer,” meaning it was finally time for the hippies in the crowd to get the chance to dance. “Dandelion Tea” boasted an absolutely wild ride, instrumentally, with a special shout-out to the bassist for knocking my socks off. Some of the solo-jams were pretty spectacular and more than a few people were rocking out at the front – some of whom I’m starting to recognize from this band’s other shows by now. The first track from their album, “Wildfire,” was the last song on their setlist making for a very strong finale, especially with those drums, day-umn! I left their set quite satisfied and wanting more!
And finally, at midnight, hailing from all the way over from Denmark, was the Øresund Space Collective. Though they were unfamiliar to me, they seem to have a fairly well-known name about them, having been around for nigh two decades by now. Every band was whipping out something unique on this night, and these guys boasted an electric violin* amongst their ranks. If one were to keep their eyes closed, you might think you were hearing a guitar-driven groove-out jam from that deceptive violin, which was actually in the lead. I even noted the violinist plucking along in some parts, and in other songs, the effects made it sound like a saxophone. The set also included a slow reggae drop, with spacey synths and guitar string manipulation; they had a theremin at their disposal too! The feeling in the crowd was more akin to chill, relaxed swaying along than dancing, and made for a mellow and enjoyable last act.
Saturday, November 11th, 2023
The doors opened at the same time, but the shows started earlier than on Friday, with the first artist, Mother Joonas, beginning his set on the floor next to a synth board, making sounds that vaguely invoked the water temple from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The music was far more atmospheric than melodic, with some sounds very reminiscent of the videos you can find online of people hooking up synthesizers to mushrooms (which sounds like psychedelic space music, if you’ve never heard it). I could have done without the person next to me chatting louder than the music (which, to be honest, really says something), but otherwise, Mother Joonas, put on an interesting set that I would gladly use as background music for playing certain games, like Liminal Space.
The stage changed over for Klara Lafleur, who appeared in rock band form with the usual guitar-bass-drums setup. It took me a full minute to gather myself as I was quite sure that I immediately recognized Oceanhoarse’s Oskari Niemi take position behind the drum kit! I was certainly not expecting to see him—a very proficient heavy metal drummer—in a psychedelic hippy rock band, so color me pleasantly surprised. As such, it was therefore no surprise that the drumming was pretty stylish in a chill psychedelic rock sound that oftentimes has rather simplified drum beats; it almost looked like an effort in restraint to play so relaxedly. Alongside fantastic drums, they had some Havana flavor in one track, complete with rolling bass lines, while other tracks had cosmic guitars. They put on a nice and varied act: mellow, psychedelic, and fun.
The stage changeover suggested that we would be getting another rock-oriented band with Joss Cope and The Beautiful Animal. I had secretly hoped that their drummer would be dressed up like an attractive Muppet, but alas, the band name was not alluding to Animal, the Muppet drummer. Josh Cope himself seems to be an English fellow who lives locally, making music not unlike that of bands from the era of The Byrds and their ilk. Joss introduced many of the songs in the interims, like one about the seven deadly sins, or another one with great bass lines called “Healed,” or a song about staring into space: “Large Larry’s Telescope,” complete with doot-doos. He told stories of becoming a father and raising a child, and of trips to Bangkok (“Suzie Walking Street”). They were a little more upbeat and bouncy than the act that preceded them, while maintaining a hint of trippy-ness, making the overall flow of bands work to increase the energy and flow in the crowd. And since I like giving shout-outs for groovy basslines, these guys may also take a bonus point from my books. Overall, they had a very fun set and I would love to see more of them!
This evening’s foreign pick came in the form of the Polish-Japanese psych band, Acidsitter, whose merch encouraged everyone to “make acid great again” (likely referring to the halts put on substance research during the War on Drugs). I gathered, from their Instagram, that they’ve been on a Make Acid Great Again Tour in support of an album of the same name, with this event being the final stop on the tour. They certainly kicked the energy up a notch, with a heavy psych rock sound, paired with heavily radio-distorted vocals, and again, much to my delight, delightfully fiddly basslines. The guitarist waved a plastic banana across the mic, the singer introduced some song themes, including a song about racing for the end of the world. Everything wasn’t crushingly upbeat though; there was a nice ebb and flow to their song selection, allowing for necessary rests – it’s a shame the Finnish crowds are so shy, as I’m sure these guys are used to getting their crowds really moving. Here, they at least were able to get some folks to move up closer before they started. Fortunately, Joss Cope and his crew got up and starting to boogie, which encouraged a few more people up front to get moving. They also had one of the most animated performances, with the two guitarists going wonderfully crazy at every possible opportunity. The Finns gave them a good cheer when one of the guitarists started passing a bottle of salmiakki around the stage too – a drink only for the visiting brave! They were great performers – I’d love to see them on stage with The Mosfets someday!
We first heard about The UFO Cult at last year’s Helsinki Psych Fest, so we were intrigued to see that this year, they were screening a short horror film that they had made, Lov666erboi – A Folk Horror Tale Short Film, at the event. A good-sized projection screen was brought out for their slot, which displayed scenes that looked as though they were filmed in forests and possibly in part at Suomenlinna. We quickly recognized vocalist Satu Hellburg was recognizable in the role of the witch. The film was a little over 15 minutes in length, fitting the post-Halloween atmosphere well. If you had been so inclined, you would have also come across Satu sitting at the merch table and saying hello to anyone who popped by!
The Chiefs were a pretty hard rockin’ group from the start, as if one was making George Thorogood shout and wail in massive distress. The singer was flailing around in very small swim trunks, as though the barrier between the stage and the audience was an affront to his sensibilities that needed to be torn down, as he didn’t stay limited to the catwalk. The ’60s swim trunks interestingly matched the amazing cosmic onesie and heels that one of the guitarists was wearing, at least era-wise. Loud and proud, they had hefty electric guitars, with a hint of that old surfer flow at times, and a lot of raucous jamming out. They definitely injected a solid dose of wild and weird into the night’s energy. Acidsitter’s guitarist paid the dance-support from Joss Cope forward as well, being front and center to encourage more dancers to get moving. I spent a good chunk of their set trying to recall who the singer was reminding me of, until I realized that it was Drunk Santa from Classless Act’s Christmas single. This set most certainly shook things up and my group felt well-rocked by the end of it!
At the ripe hour of midnight, Octopie began to wrap up the night. For this day, they were the only familiar act, whom I had seen alongside Friday’s From Grotto back in March 2022, and found them to be bizarrely eclectic and delightful, so I was excited for the opportunity to see them again. They certainly did not disappoint, as they had the same wonderfully groovy instrumentals (though, no trumpet this time, if I recall correctly), as well as those truly wild vocals that knocked us out of our shoes the last time. Though there was a lot of guitar feedback at first, they got through it and put on a vibrant set of strange wailing psychedelic music that danced through jazz, blues, funk, soul, psych rock… the whole progressive spectrum, really. The singer’s high notes once again invoked a similar feeling to that of Leprous’ Einar Solberg… just, not metal. They also stood out for having the only keyboardist of the weekend, and the fellow behind them was adding some wonderful melodies to their tunes. Towards the end of the set, the bassist/vocalist put down the bass in order to go full Disney-princess falsetto in something that I can only describe as octopying, because real words can’t describe how wild and wonderful of an experience they are. It was another fabulous show and I encourage all lovers of prog to put them on your watch list!
Psych festivals are so much fun to attend, regardless of size, because of the usually warm and welcoming environments, as well as the massive spectrum of genres that the psych scene covers. Having a nice collection of interesting artists is almost an added bonus. These two nights were filled with smiles, dancing, surprises, psychedelia, and our jaws on the floor, looking forward to what they come up with next.
The Love Potion Club puts on shows at Playhouse Bar monthly, so we’ll definitely have to try to make it out to see who they’ve got on display next as soon as possible. I, for one, really enjoy these opportunities to go out and see what the psych scene has to offer!
