Ashtray Navigations I Before You Play This LP

Probably one of the most playful outings of this long going monniker from Phil Todd.  Going deep into psych, Kosmische Krautrock and everything in between.  It's like a compilation of musical history with traces of Tony Conrad, Manuel Gottsching, Rimarimba turned into one melting plot with  sometracks lurking towards an alternative dancefloor as well.  

Ltd to 250 copies, clear vinyl in pvc sleeve (pvc sleeve got a bit bended at the pressing plant)

Before You Play This is such an unashamedly pleasure-embracing album that it’s hard not to think of it as a kind of psychedelic pop music. Its textures are bright and shiny, its structures – for a band sometimes mistakenly thought of as creating formless, abstract splurges of sound – are concise, catchy, and, on tracks like The Case at least, almost danceable.

Sure, it still feels like your eyeballs are melting and your brain is fizzing, but in a happy way?

Thanks to 2020’s universally acclaimed Greatest Imaginary Hits retrospective, compiled by long-time celebrity fans including Henry Rollins, a new generation of music fans are discovering Ashtray Navigations for the very first time. Before You Play This proves that Ash Nav continues to confound, surprise, and innovate – that this is modern, forward-looking music, forever pointing out possible new futures for sound.