Electronic music artist William Sanford based in Crownpoint, US dropped an eclectic and creative psychedelic album of 10 tracks on the first of October, called ‘Boomer Vibe Sessions.’’ Earlier in his musical journey, as Sanford was trying to find a category in which he can describe his music genre, a blogger told him it’s best described as Pscydelia, but not in a ‘dinosaur’ kind of way. This made Sandford question the concept of time. He asked himself what it means to make psychedelic music that matches today’s definition of this musical genre as opposed to what he grew up listening to. From this idea, the album emerged to grace us with a rich and unique listening experience. His inspirations come from Downtempo, IDM, ambient, and art rock. Some of his unique musical qualities include fragments, bits, and pieces of soundtracks, and video games that completely transform the musical pieces he creates.
Sanford’s expression of his current situation as a forty-plus person in an ever-changing postmodern world is what constitutes this album, embracing both the progressive beauty of today’s musical nature and the longing for the nostalgia of earlier sounds. This album is literally a time machine into a glimpse of the past and futuristic electronic sounds. The album introduces a certain kind of character, Mr.Gramaphone, who leads us into the trippy story of music and nostalgic yet extremely modernized sound. The overall sound is a real treat, something tasteful and totally new. The music is generally really chill and groovy, combining the 70’s and 80’s psychedelic rock bands’ sound with synth wave and space ambient sound. The rhythm of most of the tracks is medium-paced. Nothing too fast or too slow, just perfect to just lay back and enjoy. The musical arrangements are highly complex, with an abundance of instruments and sound effects. There is a lot of mellow piano, upbeat disco music sounds, xylophones, synth waves, early 2000s electronic sound, groovy melodies, and even horror ambient sounds! Sandford was able to blend old and new sounds of psychedelia and art rock records into a sweet portrayal of how the new and old age can co-exist together, and not the other way round. Every track tells a story with a different sound. The very notable special effect sounds of these tracks are the soundtracks of old advertisements, radio announcements, and old Tv sounds that really soak you up with nostalgic vibes.
The order of the songs is brilliant because it takes you from Mr.Grampphone’s nostalgic records and sends you into a disengaged spacey sound and imagination of the merging of the old and new worlds, starting with ‘Florals with Mr gramophone’’, with a lot of percussion instruments inspired from rock band rhythms, ambient sound with a horn’s sound effect, ‘Space race’, which starts with a radio piece, lots of drums and soft synthy sounds, and ‘Pluto will always be a planet in a boomer’s heart’’, which is a really revealing name since pluto has been ruled out of the planetary system in the 2000s. It has a lot of played-with vocals, and jazzy 70’s sounds with distorted psychedelic guitar and a darker vibe. We then descend to earth and the reality of a boomer who wants to be relevant now yet still holding on to who they really are. Songs Like ‘Boomers got a gramophone’’,’’ We may be old but our brains still dance’’, and ‘ghosts be vibin’’ show us that, to the last track, that’s asking you to meditate and relax, after this intense journey. I really recommend this album, it is highly creative and original. You simply cannot miss this rich musical experience.