The Trip

San Francisco-based producer Al Lover has spent the last several years evolving an approach to psychedelic reworks of rock ‘n roll in its various inflections. Though they share some common structures, his solo LP debut Sacred Drugs is a thick distillation compared to older remixes or the heady mixtapes he’s curated for Austin Psych Fest, each its own primer on garage and psych in the corresponding year. Sacred Drugs stands out in Al’s discography, though some of its character and more transcendant qualities are hinted at in his collaborations, with GOAT, and particularly on the single “Snake Hands” recorded with White Fence. The elaborate treatments on his 2011 digital album Distorted Reverberations (of Reverberating Distortion): Psychedelic Reinterpretations of Contemporary Rock ‘n Roll offer the most obvious antecedant for Sacred Drugs, but clearly as a collection it lacks the same scope. 

Listening to Sacred Drugs is as transformative an experience as Al’s own style of composition. Songs are a deliberate associative enterprise, paralleling both the contextualization that takes place as part of any conscious “hearing” and the abstract notion of self-development. Texture and tone combine to lead the listener inward, with hypnogogic beats that evoke the sense of ritual awakening when it was still a communal undertaking. In that way Sacred Drugs offers a measured take on reality, a tool for perceiving the outlines of your own interconnectedness… like the eponymous entheogens, Sacred Drugs is intended as a companion for self-discovery.

Al Lover - A Shaman's Hand Is Infinite

I wrote this album in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, I was melting out of my mind sitting at home and I would just day dream about traveling again. I was thinking about so much that at a certain point I even just wanted to be stuck waiting at airport terminal because my flight was delayed. I love flying and I love how every trip changes me little makes me feel different. 

I wrote this album because I missed that feeling. The tracks are vibes that I've felt while traveling. Some are bouncy and some are just weird and have a whole vibe of a story to tell. When you get to the Terminal tracks, strap in because your going to be in that track for a while.

Now sit back, put your seatbelts on, put your tray table up and hop in for a long listen. https://multinationalsynthcorp.com/

Coffee Like Object

Hang Five! The Best Of The Lively Ones

Surf Rider

Triangulum Australe

Trip Inside This House

Elephant Stone

Sally Go Round The Sun

Music researcher looking for ways to actually feel something again and hoping that writing music will help me on this journey. I'm inspired by so much but have a fondness for electronica of 90's, experimental music and cinematic & classical pieces. 

if you like what you hear follow and leave a comment I really do appreciate it!

Coffee Like Object

Multinational Synth Corporation