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LP
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FTR 759LP
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Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are present the latest hazy fried sounds of New York State's Ambassador Hazy (aka Sterling Deweese) and Leaving Here. Leaving Here is hallucinatory lightning in a bottle -- it is the sound of sunny summer days passing by and old friends coming and going, and psychedelics slipping in and out of your mind in vast quantities. Each song is an acid-soaked rabbit hole which sucks you in and leaves you immersed in an unusual sonic world projected before you in brilliant technicolor. Musically each song veers between bright sunshine fuzzy soaked pop and dark warping druggy-tinged nightmares that is the USA in 2024. It quickly becomes clear that Ambassador Hazy is an artist driven by an expansive musical vision; one which feels as sumptuous as it is otherworldly. Immaculately bright and infectiously catchy psych pop gems packed full of odd detours and abrupt freakish left turns. The songs here are far too densely packed with way too many ideas for them to ever sound uninteresting or bland, each passage is a triumph of an expansive musical vision; one which feels as sumptuous as it is otherworldly. Leaving Here expands upon what Ambassador Hazy has experimented upon their previous releases, that sense of wonder and outlandish that leaves you immersed in a wonderful landscape of hypnotic, transcendental sounds and surrealistic lyrics. On the surface, Leaving Here is a psych pop album, but when you peel back the outer layers, you're left with something that feels far beyond this world. Think all your favorite fuzzy bands on a nice, big, psychedelic drug cocktail. Leaving Here is presented in a 350gsm laminated outer sleeve with insert and adorned with the eye-catching artwork by Greg Gangemi. Pressed on clear vinyl.
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LP
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FTR 714LP
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Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records make available the debut release by Ambassador Hazy, Glacial Erratics, previously releases as a private press edition in 2020. Ambassador Hazy is a solo recording project by Sterling DeWeese who was previously in a slew of obscure bands including Heavy Hands, Dirty Rainbow, Terrapin Gun, Madison Electric, and Black Fantastic. Glacial Erratics is really a comeback record as Sterling had totally stopped playing for seven or eight years after he got married and started a family and the business of life took over -- but the calling was always there and as his youngest began to grow -- the time became available for Sterling to answer the call. First though he needed to get his ½" reel-to-reel 8-track back in working order and set up a studio space and fit it out with gear. Soon he was playing again with some local musicians and recording some of those performances live to tape but the hassle of getting everyone together at the same time was hard, so in the downtime Sterling began focusing on recording on his own. Thus, the name Glacial Erratics was born, as it was all a bit of a hodge podge (i.e. erratic) and ended up being done over several years (i.e. glacial). Once there was enough material finished, between band tracks and solo tracks Sterling compiled them. The resulting album is a kaleidoscope of contagious hooks and artfully crafted songs, laid to tape and brought to life in brilliant color. "Black Smoke Rising" is a blur of fuzz guitar and stuttering snare hits as Sterling says "I believe in the future -- don't take it away" and over 14 tracks you are treated to artfully crafted acid pop gems that are riddled with potholes and weird left turns, with hooks that seem to bubble out of nowhere before receding into themselves. The lo-fi aesthetic works perfectly, with the songs benefiting from the warm fuzz tones of the instruments and vocals recorded onto that now fully functioning ½" tape machine. Sterling eventually self-released Glacial Erratics after seeking advice from his good friend Josh (Travelling Circle, Lime Eyelid) who had recently self-released his LP -- the record eventually reached John Westhaver (TBWNIS).
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LP
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FTR 713LP
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Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records present the new Ambassador Hazy LP, The Door Between. Following 2002's much loved and long sold out The Traveler, Ambassador Hazy is back with The Door Between (the title taken from an old detective novel) which is a perfect metaphor for album's explorations into consciousness and perception, seeing the connectedness between all things while also embracing one's solitude and separation from others. Themes that were amplified as the record was recorded alone in a basement during a pandemic. With some new mics and toys featuring on this recording, Sterling experiments a bit more with recording techniques and different sounds which bring about a more overtly psychedelic sound than on The Traveler and with a few songs being more explicitly drug related (and or induced). The Door Between is about being an outsider, or at least that feeling of being outside of things and the ways one might find connection be that through drugs, music, love. So while "Orange Halos" starts the proceedings the overtly upbeat and infectious melodies we have come to know and love from Ambassador Hazy -- by the time you reach "Going Down" you are dropped into Martin Rev/Suicide synth/drum machine head trip. So, join Ambassador Hazy -- maybe crack open a beer, smoke a joint, take a tab or just sit in your favorite chair -- drop the needle on The Door Between and let it transport you to that other place.
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