The Psychic Paramount

Following the end of Laddio Bolocko, guitarist Drew St. Ivany and bassist Ben Armstrong sought new musical outlets and launched the avant-garde, post-rock psych outfit the Psychic Paramount in 2002. Operating out of New York, the duo first experimented with acoustic material before hastily organizing a European tour soon after the group’s formation. Drummer Tatsuya Nakatani was enlisted for those concerts, and the trek proved fruitful: it sharpened the band’s abilities and yielded a live recording upon their return. Issued in 2005 on Bewilderment and Illumination as Live 2002: The Franco-Italian Tour, the set also incorporated Super 8 footage and stood as the Psychic Paramount’s initial declaration of purpose, even though Origins and Primitives, Vol. 1 had already appeared. Nakatani departed shortly after the European dates and was succeeded by Sabers drummer Jeff Conaway. With the revised lineup, the band tracked Gamelan into the Mink Supernatural, which No Quarter released in 2005. The same label followed in 2006 by reissuing the Origins and Primitives material with a newly added volume 2, available on both vinyl and CD. During 2007 the Psychic Paramount joined fellow avant-rockers Trans Am for a United States tour.