Wooden Shjips

Wooden Shjips - West

Explorative and intoxicating but breaking little new ground

10 Aug 2011

(Thrill Jockey) Any fears that Wooden Shjips’ first trip into a recording studio would compromise the fug of their psych-rock are swiftly allayed by ‘Black Smoke Rise’, the opening track from the San Franciscans’ new long-player. It revokes their…

Eric 'Ripley' Johnson of psych/drone outfit Moon Duo on the benefits of losing your job

The Wooden Shjips guitarist now tours with his partner Sanae Yamada

25 Apr 2011

Fans of their droney psych-rock should probably thank the boss who, two years back, told Eric ‘Ripley’ Johnson his services were no longer required. ‘It was one of those things where I didn’t like my job, but didn’t have the courage to just quit,…

Moon Duo - Mazes

Psych-rock romance from Sanae Yamada and Wooden Shjipper Ripley Johnson

21 Mar 2011

(Souterrain Transmissions) It transpires that psychedelic rock and romance make for intoxicating bedfellows. This mesmeric debut full-length album from Wooden Shjips axe-master Ripley Johnson and his inamorata, Sanae Yamada, is heady with cosmic…

Christmas singles and downloads - December 2010

15 Dec 2010

Message to Corey Taylor of Slipknot: nobody likes a Scrooge in a death mask. ‘You know where to stick those jingle bells’ is not a fitting festive sentiment for your debut solo single, ‘X-M@$’ (Roadrunner). Still, it's preferable to the yuletide…

Wooden Shjips

Stereo, Glasgow, Sat 17 Apr 2010

21 Apr 2010

‘The three Rs: repetition, repetition, repetition’. Wooden Shjips may not sound anything like The Fall, but they’ve taken the words of that curmudgeonly visionary Mark E Smith to heart. When Ripley Johnson’s hairy band of travellers strike up a riff…

Wooden Shjips and Trembling Bells set for Glasgow date

15 Apr 2010

Formed in San Francisco, California in 2003 – once a Mecca of sorts for the chemical adventurers and free-spirited musicians of the 60s/70s – Wooden Shjips are purveyors of droning psychedelica, so mind-bending and caked in searing noise, it plays out…

Wooden Shjips - Vol 2

9 Mar 2010

(Sick Thirst / Forte) San Fran freak-rockers Wooden Shjips are hoary proponents of minimal fuzz-rock, loaded kraut-pop and sun-blitzed psychedelia. Summoning a lost weekend with Hawkwind, Neu!, Loop, Suicide and The Doors, the tranced-out four-piece…

My Bloody Valentine to curate ATP festival in New York

23 Apr 2008

Recently reformed shoegazers My Bloody Valentine are to co-curate an American branch of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival this Autumn. The event, which takes place between 19-21 September, will be at Kutshers Country Club in Monticello, which is in…