SYA019 - SNAKE FLOWER II: 'Turn Back Time'

Snake Flower II was founded by Matthew M. Melton who recently relocated to San Francisco from Memphis, TN. Memphis was his home where he had lived his entire life. He left Memphis to go on tour with the first arrangement of the group, Snake Flower (one), which included notable Los Angeles based conceptual performance artist Bunny Lampert, and Cole Weintraub (Kazalok,The Barbaras).
When Snake Flower "I" fell apart apon the group's arrival in California, Melton reformed the project with Donnelle Malnik (Nervous Breakdowns) and Paula Frazer (Tarnation, Birdman Records) As a young musician, his projects in Memphis included The Break Ups, The River City Tan Lines, and The Bare Wires where he collaborated with Alicja Trout and Jack O Yarber.
The recordings on SYA019 Turn Back Time ep were all written and recorded on a simple 4 track tape machine at an infamous bohemian crash pad in San Francisco belonging to a girl named Frankie, who is also known as Truth Hawk. The place was bizarre and frequented by numerous characters. Melton stayed there initially upon moving to San Francisco from Memphis. Quirky and sincere all of the tracks on the Turn Back Time 7" were surprisingly recorded in one take.

Snake Flower II is the musical vehicle of one Matthew Melton, a San Franciscan transplant from Memphis who has had his name attached to such covert rock'n roll projects such as the Memphis Break-Ups and Bare Wires in recent years, but is just now coming to bear fruit with his own accomplishments in the second incarnation of Snake Flower, appropriately titled Snake Flower 2. This week, they are embarking out on a West Coast tour that drags their unique pop/psyche sound up and down the Pacific seashore, lacing everyone's drinks with angel dust, and reiterating the solid fact that San Francisco is churning out some of the best creative material in the country these days. With slight nuances of Memphis heavy hitters like the subtle twang of the Reigning Sound loosely tied into their pop rockets, they intertwine melodic T.Rex-isms and obscure Electric Prune-ings with post-garage songwriting so well, it's almost creating it's own sub-genre as we speak. Their debut 7" EP on the Italian label, Shake Your Ass Records was a sleeper hit of 2006 and added their name to the top of the list of 'snake' monikered bands previously battled out by A Feast of Snakes, Deadly Snakes, and Charming Snakes, among many others. Just like the original wave of 60s primitives who blew their minds wide open with actual instrumentation and developed clever angles of the original rock'n roll formula, the lineage from Snake Flower's humble beginnings to their current blossoming force of annihilation is short but effectively succinct.

Snake Flower is Matthew Melton, a guy you are already acquainted with even though you might not know it. He was in the Memphis Break-Ups (a band who released a really great CD-R a couple of years ago that deserved some vinyl treatment), did time in the original version of the River City Tanlines and played in the Bare Wires with Alicja and Jack O. (record forthcoming on SSLD). Plus, he took that cover photo for Jay Reatard's solo record that everyone loves so much. Snake Flower at one time included a member of label-mates Kazalok (Snake Flower version I), and version II is Matthew in San Francisco with some different accomplices. Fours songs, that at different times recall T. Rex/Bolan, pre-ambient Eno solo work, Dylan, early Floyd and some other Sixties semi-folky points of reference. Some tripped-put echo-laden psych adventures on the A-Side are complimented well by subtle rock-n-roll moves on the flipside tracks. The understated and ramshackle crooning of "Gypsy Child" is a favorite, along with "The Mind Plays Tricks" and its offhand rocking. A very nice companion piece for those digging the vibe of the Kazalok 12".

....Matthew M. Melton (Memphis Break Ups, River City Tan Lines) was stranded in San Francisco by his bandmates but has managed to peel out the muy groovy reptilian garage punk once more. Let the new acid tests begin....

Saw these guys live and thought the vocalist could have used either dramamine or dexedrine or something pilly to change his facial contortions. Maybe just a shave. Well, this 7” does a damn good job of recreating the things I did like about that show: a twangy minimalism that called to mind Tyrannosaurus Rex, circa their electric move on Beard of Stars (prob the production job there), fused with a modern garage sensibility. If you had said these guys were fresh outta Memphis, I wouldn’t have tossed it back in your face. Since typing that sentence, a search nets me the ex-River City Tan Lines connection and I hook my fingers in my belt loops…yessir! A great slice of Americana 2006, non-New Weird division. Meandering guitar-based garage-psych that will appeal to the enormous consumer’s market heavily invested in Love’s Four Sail LP as well as Big Star’s 3rd.

Snake Flower II is the outcome of Matthew M Melton’s relocation in San Francisco where he settled after leaving Memphis and the first Snake Flower behind – they moved along with Melton to California, but the band broke up short after. “Turn Back Time” is a 4-track vinyl 7” release. This is old school folk’ish psychedelia with a lot of atmosphere and beautiful songs featuring accoustic guitar, minimalistic drum playing on an obscure bohemian crash-pad and genuine tape sound. The songs were recorded to a four-track tape recorder, and the result is very succesful. According to the press sheet it’s furthermore all recorded in one-takes. I really dig this release, and you would probably too, if you’re into this kind of scene – and if can get your hands on this single!

Memphis encore avec Turn Back Time, un EP de Snake Flower, combo qui partage au moins un musicien avec Kazalok et donne également dans la ballade psyché-garagyun peu mollassone mais non dénuée d'âme, voire de poésie. Ils doivent apprécier Arthur Lee. Ne leur reste plus qu'à mettre la main sur la boîte à mélodies magiques...

Etwas ratlos sitze ich hier angesichts der Musik von SNAKE FLOWER II auf ihrer "Turn Back Time"-Single. Minimalistischer garagiger 60s/70s Rock mit Psychedelic-Einflüssen aufgenommen auf einem 4-Track Recorder? Ja, das passt schon. Und ein bisschen muss ich an den "Velvet Goldmine"-Soundtrack denken, wenn es hier natürlich nicht besonders glammig zugeht. Darüber, wie die Bandmitglieder aussehen, hülle ich an dieser Stelle mal den Mantel des Schweigens. Eine irritierende Single, die aber irgendwas hat. (7)

SNAKE FLOWER II, alias Matthew M. Melton, l’artefice della copertina splatter dell’ottimo Blood Visions di Jay Reatard e ancor più “noto” per aver fatto comunella con Alicja Trout, Jack Oblivian e altri scombussolati loser di Memphis. Il suo EP Turn Back Time frulla con stupefacente sensibilità garage il folk dinoccolato di Bob Dylan e la soffice psichedelia dei Love. Roba preistorica e modernissima allo stesso tempo che, se non fosse una bestemmia, potremmo etichettare come “emogarage”: la doppietta Gypsy Child e The Mind Plays Tricks fa scaldare il cuore e lacrimare la vescica, questo è certo.