San Francisco’s Mushroom dish out the tastiest psychedelic funk you’re ever likely to encounter. The groove’s the thang as these tasty tracks cruise on Rhodes-driven jazz, ambient beats, surf riffs and post-rock textures. The band brew all these elements into a mixture that travels the outer realms of progressive funk. Like Tortoise jamming with the Grateful Dead or Soft Machine exploring the Funkadelic catalogue, these loose, open-ended excursions raise the art of fusion to a new plateau. While each track works a groove toward heady epiphany, the album as a whole refuses to stay locked into any one genre. Booker T-styled organ gyrations, rock guitar virtuosity, Bootsy Collins funk ups, ambient jazz, electronic beats and Krautrock trance all make a stand, but the bottom line is that this music will move you, and then some.
(InnerSpace)Mushroom
Analog Hi-Fi Surprise
BY Ian DanzigPublished Nov 1, 1999