Toronto-based psych rock duo Lammping — founding members vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mikhail Galkin and drummer Jay Anderson joined by guitarist Matt Aldred and bassist Scott Hannigan — can trace their origins to a gig where Anderson’s and Galkin’s previously bands shared the bill. The pair connected over their shared tastes, which included a love of an eclectic array of genres and styles, including mid-90s boom-bap, Tropicalia and library music.
Deriving their name from Public Enemy‘s “Cold Lampin’ with Flavor,” the Canadian quartet started as an attempt to bring a multitude of musical influences and ideas together under a psych rock umbrella and expand the sonic possibilities of heavy music.
Since their formation, the Toronto-based psych rock outfit has been busy: 2020 saw the release of their critically applauded full-length debut Bad Boys of Comedy, an effort that featured “Greater Good,” a noise rock meets shoegaze track that seemed inspired by Tropicalia, Turkish psych pop, old-school New York boom bap hip-hop and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Shortly after Bad Boys of Comedy‘s release, the members of Lammping started working on new material that found them pushing the boundaries of psych music in bold, new directions: Flashjacks. While being inspired by Stereolab, De La Soul, Kraftwerk, Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer and Sleep, the Toronto-based psych outfit’s sophomore effort managed to still be rooted in Anderson’s thunderous drumming and Galkin’s melodic riffs. But the material also saw the duo adding sampling, drum machines and a wider variety of instrumentation to their sonic palette.
The band’s forthcoming EP Stars We Lost is slated for a March 4, 2022 release through We Are Busy Bodies. The EP’s material is a collection of 70s space rock-inspired rippers centered around the sort of songwriting that draws from the bandmembers’ rich and diverse history in Toronto’s music scene: Anderson’s contributions to the band’s ouevre is informed by the various rock acts he has played in, including Biblical, Badge Epoque Ensemble, Stonegrass, Marker Starling and Comet Control. Galkin’s background is rather unique. “In my late teens, early 20’s, I had a career as a sample-based beat maker, under the name DJ Alibi,” Galkin explains. “I was signed to Tres Records and put out One Day, and worked with J-Live, People Under The Stairs, Insight and other hip-hop acts.”
Stars We Lost‘s first single “Everlasting Moor” is mesmerizing song featuring a relentless motorik groove bolstered by a forceful backbeat, fuzzy power chords, some easy-going yet muscular Steely Dan meets Black Sabbath-like riffage, and glistening rhythm guitar. Galkin’s surrealistic, stream of consciousness delivered lyrics based on his own experiences as an immigrant to Canada, and a real life observation of something that actually happened ethereally float over the mix. The end result is a song that’s rooted in a fantastical realism while meshing Abbey Road era Beatles, krautrock, 70s yacht rock and space rock into a seamless and trippy freakout.
Discussing the meaning behind the song, Galkin says, “‘Everlasting Moor’ begins with ‘See a man, he’s popping and locking in a parkette gazebo.’ I saw a dude one afternoon doing just that, at a small parkette close to my house, where I bring my daughter to play. He brought a boombox and was just breakdancing by himself in this little gazebo, with no one around. For whatever reason that sparked a stream of consciousness song that was about finding our place in the world, and if unable to, creating a world in your mind you feel at home in. I’ve always wanted to write a song about my own immigrant experience, and after the first line, the words just spilled out.”