About
When Beachwood Sparks disbanded, the cosmic cowboys from Silverlake, Calif., went in four different directions. Singer Chris Gunst formed the Mystic Chords Of Memory with Jen Cohen, bass player Brent Rademaker joined his brother Darren's band--Rough Trade recording artists the Tyde (before forming Frausdots with Michelle Loiselle), while the other (more psychedelic) two birthed All Night Radio. Fronted by the soft-spoken multi-instrumentalist and jack-of-all-trades "Farmer" Dave Scher and drummer extraordinaire Jimi Hey, All Night Radio perform as a duo but sound like an orchestra of Merry Pranksters who went back to school and graduated with master's degrees in Lysergic Analogue Songcraft & Teleportation. While there are subtle vestiges of Beachwood Sparks' twee-touched cosmic American musical vision seeping into All Night Radio, it's refreshing to hear their myriad inspirational reference points coming at you full throttle, all at once. You might be able to spot fractions of songs that sound like Beck, the Left Banke, Syd Barrett, Flaming Lips and experimental-era Beach Boys, but the moment you recognize these roots, the tree has already grown, blossomed and yielded the most delicious forbidden fruit ever tasted by the human senses. England's Mojo magazine perhaps summed it up best with its one-sentence write-up about the band: "Finally, the cowboys are taking acid."
- Eric Shea
