My favorite sub-genre of psychedelic music by far is referred to as “Monster.” Yes, it’s a ridiculously hyperbolic explanation of the heavier and stranger side of an already bizarro sound, yet the term is befitting of exactly what the music is trying to produce: paranoid and chilling sensations; gloom; harsh and terrifying landscapes; attempts at summoning shadowy forces; sinister atmospheres. [Photo by Johannes Schebler.]
Often, the best examples of Monster only appear at the climax of a song; the moment when it’s no longer apparent whether you are chasing the beast or if the beast is chasing you. But somehow, every instant of Sylvester Anfang 2’s jams appropriately personify exactly what I’m searching for in obscure, 40-year-old songs. There it is, all spread out before me: the nightmarish terrains, the endless drone and raga groove, the vague notion the record might grow fangs and eat me…
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.