Black Market Karma and Sonic Boom - Wisdom Shifter
Psychedelic pop artist Black Market Karma presents 'Wisdom Shifter', the motorik yet lush B-side from 'The Sour Truth feat. Sonic Boom', out now on 10" vinyl and digitally via London boutique label Flower Power Records. Running on supple and subtle lines, showering cascades of shimmering sonics along the way, 'Wisdom Shifter' is the perfect companion to A-side 'The Sour Truth' - a fab collab with iconic Spacemen 3 and Spectrum founder Sonic Boom (aka Pete Kember).
Black Market Karma mastermind Stanley Belton explains, "The Sour Truth release needed a B-Side and I’d had this new song floating around in my skull for a while, called ‘Wisdom Shifter’, which I felt complimented it perfectly, so I recorded it and here we are.
With Kember as co-producer and on synth and percussion, 'The Sour Truth' is a slice of technicolour psych-pop - a trippy, kaleidoscopic and vibrantly nostalgic feel-good track. With cycling Lo-fi guitars, stacked tremolos, shimmering vocals and sugary winding synths, it is laced with lyrics about the pain of cognitive dissonance after loving a version of someone that turned out to be a facade. “Sick and tired of being sick and tired. It was just a mirage that I admired”.
2023 saw Black Market Karma tour with The Black Angels, remix the The Telescopes' 'Leave Nobody Behind', and release their 11th album 'Friends In Noise' featuring Tess Parks, The Underground Youth, Les Big Byrd, Joakim Ahlund, The Confederate Dead and Ruari Meehan following the 'Aped Flair & Hijacked Ideas' LP.
In a world of artists trying to catch attention by being loud and bombastic, complex and knowingly clever, Black Market Karma shows us another way that is beautiful, rewarding and radiates positivity. Black Market Karma colourizes this world with a carousel of jingle jangle, distorted wobble and flavours of psychedelia, fuzzed out tones and thumping grooves.
About this collaboration, Pete Kember explains, "I heard this and I believe it was recorded during one of the lockdowns on Stan’s BMK Instagram page and I loved the vibe and the song. I think it’s a song most of us can relate to... Hearty stuff for a hungry soul. One of my fave things from the strange past few. Was a pleasure to mix. I wish I'd written it".
Pete Kember founded Spacemen 3 with Jason Pierce in 1982 and the band went onto achieve widespread critical acclaim before going their separate was around 1990. Kember has since embarked on further sonic adventures with Spectrum and E.A.R. (Experimental Audio Research) and solo (both as Sonic Boom and Pete Kember). As a producer, he has also been involved in some quite notable projects involving MGMT, Beach House, Panda Bear and Moon Duo, among others.
'The Sour Truth' and 'Wisdom Shifter' are out now, available everywhere digitally, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp.
