Heady Ideas (Joakim Åhlund Remix) by Black Market Karma

London psychedelic pop artist Black Market Karma presents 'Heady Ideas', a fan favorite, sonically reshaped by Swedish cosmic mastermind Joakim Åhlund of Les Big Byrd and also known for his work with Caesars, Smile and Teddy Bears.

FOR FANS OF: The Charlatans, Spacemen 3, Jesus & Mary Chain, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Spiritualized

Packed with slamming breakbeats, analogue filters and krauty synths, this track is on the band's eleventh full-length album 'Friends In Noise', a collaborative album rooted in friendship. Following 2022's ‘Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas' LP, the new record was recorded over nine years and released via London boutique label Flower Power Records.

Revolving around songwriter Stanley Belton, Black Market Karma colorized this world with a carousel of jingle jangle and distorted wobble with flavors of psychedelia, fuzzed out tones and thumping grooves. With a thick and colorful sound channeled through vintage equipment, their music is rooted in 60's guitar and pop music, other influences include folk, blues, lo-fi electronica, alt pop and soul.

“This remix is one of the earlier contributions to Friends In Noise. We’d just returned from a short tour of Ireland alongside Jocke’s (Joakim Ahlund) band Les Big Byrd when he dropped me a message one night saying “fancy a remix? My answer was an immediate yes because I knew he’d do something cosmic to it,” says Stanley Belton.

"He was digging the then brand new ‘Heady Ideas’ (sort of a BMK classic these days) so I sent him the audio files and he sent me back this absolutely slammin’ remix with a heavy break beat and these arpeggiating synths. I dug it big time and in return I did my own remix of their song ‘War In The Streets’, which also ended up on the record".

Earlier, Black Market Karma released 'The Sky Was All Diseased' with iconic vocalist Tess Parks and 'Aping Flair' with Ruari Meehan (Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe and Belakiss). This album also involves The Underground Youth and The Confederate Dead. More recently, Stan completed a collaboration with Pete Kember (a.k.a. Sonic Boom) of Spacemen 3, which will be released in spring 2023.

“I loved that tune from the first time I heard it. Reminds me of a Tibetan death chant. Same chord all the way through and that nice droney vocal. I put some quite heavy, almost military marching band drums on it and then put it all through an anologue filter I had back then but lost when I moved studios. Wish I still had that, sounds pretty brilliant to me. That fast arpeggio is a Juno 60. Nice," says Joakim Åhlund.

'Friends In Noise' is out now everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.