Quick follow-up to last year’s debut, Have a Nice Trip hews to the local power trio’s modus operandi: acid grunge, space-tripping lyrics, and a general aura of extradimensional haze. Opener “Space Kitten” gains in texture from increased use of keyboards behind a blunt riff seemingly inspired by Mick Ronson’s tenure with the Spiders From Mars. “Aren’t You Experienced?” playfully tweaks Jimi Hendrix down to its backward guitar latticework. Bandleader Steve Marsh of revived Austin post-punks Terminal Mind revisits his old NYC band Miracle Room, plucking “Open Heart” from a long-gone cassette and staying faithful to its delay-soaked pound. He then throws everything – psych rock frenzy, electronic condiments, sly humor – at closing track “Apparition,” taking the album home in epic style. Have a Nice Trip delivers exactly that.

***.5

This article appears in July 27 • 2018.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.