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Music

You Probably Shouldn't Eat Brown Acid but You Should Definitely Listen to 'Brown Acid'

LA label Riding Easy Records and Permanent Records provide a compilation that's a trip (heh) down memory lane. Listen to some 60s-70s proto-metal and stoner now.

​If you've been a rabid fan of rock 'n' roll any time recently, chances are you operate under the knowledge that the best and most inspired heavy stuff is coming from the underground. Meaning low-budget record labels, bands self-releasing their own records, bands who only have music available on Bandcamp, or bands you hear on streaming services whose riffs would never grace the FM waves in your town because most radio stations these days are owned by people who think we need Bieber. But, simultaneously, chances are the music that got you into the heavy stuff in the first place—if you're like me this means bands like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Yes, and Led Zeppelin—were all churned out by the major labels. Indeed, and I'm sorry to be the one to break it to you, but in reality the bands we continue to listen to from the up-and-coming scenes of yesteryear were (and are) ones the entire world knew about.

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The truth is, before the Internet, if your band didn't hit the big time—like, free-cocaine-on-a-private-jet big time—then you probably didn't get signed at all, and therefore didn't have the means to send your music out into the world, and you disappeared into the ether long before any greasy longhair with a computer could obsess over you.

But now, magically, not only do we have the ability to research these bands, but we also have the ability to dig 'em up and license and press the songs that should have been gracing the airwaves long ago.  Which is precisely what the folks at RidingEasy Records and Permanent Records teamed up to do with Brown Acid: The Third Trip—the third in a series of compilations of 60s and 70s bands Wikipedia doesn't even know about—but absolutely influenced the sound and direction of your favorite doom, heavy psych, stoner, sludge, and straight up, no-frills rock 'n' roll bands, without ever making a dime. From Flash Beverage to Cold Swett, this compilation will transport you to a time when only two things mattered: the music and the mojo.

Kick back and take the trip, but still, don't take the brown acid.