Trip Lava - 2025 - Otherworlds

(36:05; Trip Lava)

Multi-instrumentalist Joel Lee may not be the most prolific artist out there, as it has taken him seven years to release the follow-up to ‘Ounds’, but given that took eight years from ‘Octaroid’ possibly that means he is getting faster? When one then realises his debut album was called ‘Oddball in the Corner Pocket’ one understands Lee has a somewhat unhealthy fascination with the letter ‘O’ (every song on the last album also started with that letter) – maybe I should introduce him to Matt Deacon of The Bob Lazar Story as he has an unhealthy fascination with foodstools, and they could write some wonderful odes together.

This album is all Joel, and as there are elements of krautrock, Canterbury scene, psychedelia, space rock, RIO, avant garde and eclectic material all combined with various sound clips, one can understand why it takes so long to pull recordings together as if his brain is anything like this music then it is chaos, and all happening at the same time. Yes, there is a lot of humour contained, but it adds to the music, does not detract from it, in a far more light-hearted and definitely more surreal manner than the likes of the Bonzo’s, and I can imagine Frank Zappa listening to this with a gentle smile on his face.

It is an album which can be listened to on many levels, as one can let this swiftly go past as ear candy, not really paying much attention, or one can attempt to get through all the levels to understand what is going on at a conscious level, but just don’t expect to get everything the first few times of playing it. 

I really enjoyed Joel’s last album, and while this will definitely not be to everyone’s tastes it is certainly worth seeing out as it is far from the mainstream and definitely better for that. 

Kev Rowland, November 2025

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