Max Bell once smoked blue flowers with Doctor Octagon.
Make it new. Ezra Pound’s ethos still goes. Pioneer 11, formerly known as Red Ferguson understand. The lysergic L.A. duo have, in the parlance of our times, #rebranded. The group’s new moniker is an homage to NASA’s 1973 robotic space probe of the same name. Their first official offering is the Paul White produced Phosphorous Philosophers EP.
The last known communication with Pioneer 11, the space probe, was in 1995. The three tracks on Phosphorous Philosophers are transmissions from cosmic coordinates where the spacecraft is adrift. The psychedelia of the era in which the probe was launched is preserved in hazy, languid guitar riffs. The beats are direct from the scene that’s explored the ether from Lincoln Heights since the mid-aughts. If you’ve ever wondered what Darkside would sound like with the addition of Dilla literate beat masons, look no further.
Today we’re premiering the video for “Good Ole Urns.” Created by visual artist NoJay, the video is a reminder that synesthesia is really real. Warm colors shift and shape, floating like the wax in a lava lamp before fizzling out against wondrous black. It’s a metaphor or something, a fitting optical approximation for a suite that ends with the shimmer of stars. It’s perfect for passing time while you’re waiting for the Metro or waiting for lift off.
