Pablo's Latest Musical Recipe Is A Fully Baked Alternative To Consensus Reality
February, 2011, Los Angeles, CA – Critically-acclaimed Independent music producer & multi-instrumentalist Paul "Pablo" Thomas has created a mind-melting new album called Fully Baked, which he refers to as "a radical musical antidote for popular culture." This is the third Pablo production, following 2003's Pablo and 2008's “stoner classic”(Skunk Magazine) Take Two. Rave reviews for the album, and radio airplay for “Attack of the Mushroom People,” secured Pablo's place as part of the burgeoning New Psychedelia movement.
In addition to exotic instrumentation and rhythmic emphasis, Pablo's ingredients include: several chunks of guitar, a pint of keyboards, select Indian spices, and a slice of old movie and TV cheese. Themes of alienation, heartbreak and twisted social commentaries have been added for flavor, and then mixed in an electric blender. Fully Baked is a more lyrical and vocal affair than Pablo's previous albums, with contributions from Thomas’ perennial collaborator Bobby Moon, from Spellbound. Thomas explains:
"In the late 2000's I noticed that every time I turned on the TV or went online I was subjected to celebrity publicists pushing people like Kanye West, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and their ilk down our throats. Everywhere - celebrity worship gone mad. Local news glorifying murderers and millionaires in one breath. I needed to express some of this through words and vocals and did so on this album.”
Running the gamut, from Blissed-Out Ambient (‘Morning Miss Bliss’) to Acid Rock (‘See-Saw Serenade’) to Psychedelic Folk (the cover of Jerry Garcia’s ‘Bird Song’) to Trance (‘Breaking Out’), Fully Baked represents the most fully realized Pablo vision. Released on the Selfish Recordings imprint, home of Thomas' longtime band Spellbound for the past two decades, it will be available for public consumption on February 7, 2011. Distribution through iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, MP3 and most traditional online services.
"Fully Baked" Reviews:
1) Pablo - Fully Baked (Selfish Recordings)
“Fully Baked” isn’t the best title for any album, but it adds nothing to the summarizing of this one by Pablo, only suggesting to me that “half-baked” might be more accurate (after listening to ONLY the opening tracks, I must add). You can only get casually acquainted with it at first, as it meanders a path that incorporates Zappa homage, ambient electronica, ‘60s retro (a cover of “Psychotic Reaction”, of all things), a song that could have been by Sly and the Family Stone called “Live To Trip (Another Day)”, and if we ignore the mock glam of the first track we still have 10 tracks to cover! Initially, cohesion does not appear to be this band’s strong point, and Pablo is almost a one-man band, named for Paul ‘Pablo’ Thomas, with one Bobby Moon as the other contributor.
None of the above remotely prepares you, though, for the following version of “Got My Mojo Working” which, to Pablo’s great credit, manages to sound unlike any previous cover that has ever gone before. The duo turn this R&B classic into a psyche rock monster of a track, and then the self-penned “Homegrown Gnome” joins it in the same mighty psyche rock groove. I have no idea what “Breaking Dub” could have been spawned by, although it’s actually a cracker of a track, as is “Codi Can’t Chill”, in a similar yet entirely different vein… eh?
More monster psyche comes in the form of “Dumbing Down”, the utterly glorious “Fuzzy”, a brilliant take on The Dead’s psyche folk classic “Bird Song”, two more self-penned sizzlers, together with a cover of Bruce Cockburn’s “Different When It Comes To You”- with added Middle Eastern ‘edge’ - say what?
In the word’s of George Harrison it’s ‘All Too Much’, and if you want the definitive version of what I am trying to say, then go out and get a copy, and it will all make the most perfect sense. Bliss will be yours, and Pablo’s profile will deservedly be raised one more notch. www.myspace.com/psychedelicpablo
Kev A.
- Leicaster Bangs.com (March 2011)
2) Pablo "Fully Baked" (Selfish Recordings)
Los Angeles-based artist and lover of everything psychedelic, Pablo releases his third album - Fully Baked - a true mind bending explosion of style, tone and color, a little akin to the infamous 1960's album White Noise.
Created as 'an alternative to consensus reality,' multi-instrumentalist Paul 'Pablo' Thomas was sickened by the media obsession with celebrity culture. Playing most of the instuments himself - including guitars, sitar, organ, Meinl Helix Bowl and percussion - the album is a roller coaster ride through a gamut of genres, from acid rock and garage through blissed-out ambience and trance, into psychedelic folk (with a cover version of Jerry Garcia's Bird Song). There's even a strangely atmospheric take on 1950's rock n' roll tune Got My Mojo Working.
TWISTING AND TURNING LIKE THE CHANGES PHASES OF AN ACID TRIP, FULLY BAKED OFFERS A COMPLETE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE. HOLD ON TIGHT!
-By Kaz Peet (Soft Secrets - Issue 3/2011)
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