Announcing - Psychic Temple - HoTH
We are happy to announce the release of Psychic Temple's epic 20 song, double LP, Houses of the Holy.
Behind it all is Chris Schlarb, mastermind and grand architect of Houses of the Holy. To construct this opus double album, while trying to dispel the myth that all double albums contain fluff, Chris decided to lead four existing bands into the realm of Psychic Temple.
Each side of this gorgeous vinyl platter evokes a slogan of emotion. Beginning with (side A) Cherry Glazerr Songs of Love! Tenderness! Madness! Suicide!; flipped to (side B) Chicago Underground Trio Songs of Family! Music! Poverty! Dreams!; and new disc (side C) The Dream Syndicate Songs of Rebellion! Isolation! Hope! Escape!; to euphoric orchestral closer (side D) Xololanxinxo Songs of Spirit! Triumph! Unity! Reflection!.
The album is available on Digital, 2xLP Black Vinyl, and limited VIP edition (350 hand-numbered copies on beautiful pink and vintage yellow vinyl with heavy black splatter). Vinyl is packaged in a deluxe gatefold spot-printed jacket.
First single and available now: "Why Should I Wait?" featuring The Dream Syndicate. STREAM the single here.
Pre-Order Here!
2xLP Black Vinyl
Digital
All pre-orders come with first single "Why Should I Wait?" feat. The Dream Syndicate instant digital download.
FULL BIO:
Psychic Temple mastermind Chris Schlarb believes that “there is no double album that would not be improved by removing its worst songs and making it a single album.” But with his new 2xLP release, Houses of the Holy, Schlarb sets out to prove himself wrong.
In 2016, Schlarb opened BIG EGO, a commercial recording studio in the same Long Beach neighborhood where he grew up. There he produced everyone from Terry Reid and James Gadson to Swamp Dogg and Jim Keltner. A year later, he began work on Houses of the Holy: his own attempt at solving the double album puzzle.
In the modern history of rock music, the double album stands as the ultimate creative indulgence, a moment for an artist to make their grand statement amid the excess of four sides of vinyl. And yet, there is not one double LP that escapes the curse of filler: “Wah-Wah” on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass; “Night Flight” on Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti; “Piggies” on The Beatles’ White Album; “Angel” on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk.
Schlarb’s solution: take four existing bands and lead them into the realm of Psychic Temple.
Side A, recorded in the Joshua Tree desert with Cherry Glazerr, is five whiskey-fueled songs of love, madness, and suicide. Side B delivers the legendary Chicago Underground Trio, reunited after nearly 20 years, who wrap their unmistakable sound around songs written by Schlarb, Jerry David DeCicca and James Jackson Toth.
On the precipice of entering their fourth decade as one the world's great rock bands, The Dream Syndicate explode when plugged into the Psychic Temple Universe, evidenced on Side C. As euphoric closer, the words of Side D is a euphoric closer, featuring the words of cosmic street poet Xololanxinxo, supported by the album's largest ensemble: full orchestra, double rhythm section, and gospel choir.
To hear Schlarb tell it, these four sides are the only Houses of the Holy that one ever need visit.
