The Non Travellin’ Band – Rest In Peace, Hippie

Hard to figure out where to classify the ‘lost’ release, but as a lost gem I’m letting this one bubble up under the re-released column. Though its likely due to their self-avowed hometown hermitage status, I’m not quite sure how I missed The Non Travellin’ Band the first time around. Featuring members of RSTB circlers that passed through Dead Luke, and Luke himself, the band issued a live cassette on Moon Glyph in 2013 that seems to have escaped my grasp. Aside from a bit of a Soundcloud presence this is the first time that the band has let fully realized works out into the world and, honestly, now seems as good a time as ever for the rise of Rest in Peace, Hippie. Nudie Records gives life to the long lost gem here, a seven-track psych sucker punch that hits harder than its living room roots.

Feeling like early aughts Wooden Wand bandying back and forth between an unlikely stew of Brian Jonestown, Lupine Howl, and Dandy’s covers, the record pushes between overdriven psych float and dry dock acoustic smoke halos. There’s an out of time aura to the record that’s apparent even without the displaced release schedule. This was laid down between the couch cushions in 2017, but even if it was ’93, ’04, or yesterday it would have the same haunted quiver that proves magnetic. The album’s centerpiece is the rippled and fried “A Midnight Ride’ — an eleven minute brain burn that showcases the band’s charms in capsule form, but there’s earworms and acid nodes all over this record, elevating it from bedroom born curio to a truly heady lost gem. Offered up on cassette and digital, I’d recommend snagging this one as soon as possible.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.