Parallel the revival of 1960s-era psychedelic rock is the return of its weirder, international cousin. Inspired by American and British bands like the 13th Floor Elevators, the Pretty Things, and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, bands from around the world—in places as disparate as the Middle East, North Africa, South America, and the Far East—reimagined their traditional musics via a colorful blend of fuzzy guitars, early synths, and Farfisa organs. That music is making a comeback—check out bands like Altin Gün (they’re Dutch, but the music is Turkish), Acid Mothers Temple (Japan), and Forshpil (klezmer, but with a twist)—and in Israel, the pioneers of the local iteration of revivalist psych is Ouzo Bazooka, a band fronted by guitarist, vocalist, and producer, Uri Brauner Kinrot.
Ouzo Bazooka isn’t Brauner Kinrot’s first project. He’s been on the scene for about two decades—he’s done a lot of work with groups like Balkan Beat Box, Firewater, and many others—and outside of Ouzo Bazooka, he’s probably best known as a founding member of the Balkan/Mediterranean surf band, Boom Pam, who’ve been together since 2003. But Ouzo Bazooka was an opportunity to let his hair down, and crank the amps to 11.
“The sound that I had in my mind didn’t really fit with what we were doing with Boom Pam,” Brauner Kinrot says. “I wanted to do something that was more like the music that I was listening to in those years, which was rock music from all over the world, but not from the U.S. or U.K., but all those weird mixtures of rock ’n' roll with any kind of folk music.” From: https://theingathering.substack.com/p/ouzo-bazooka-and-the-international
