The morning after the Super Bowl was a groggy affair.
After rolling out of bed with a belly full of wings and pizza and about 400 Modelos, I was desperate to escape my bloat and generate some sense of focus while writing articles about tech industry oligarchs and their Trump-era policies (my day job). So I picked out a record I knew wouldn’t disappoint: On by Altın Gün.
On was born from the truest form of vinyl appreciation, a nod to psychedelic music recorded in Turkey throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Based in Amsterdam, the founding members of Altın Gün (“Gold Day” in English) were digging through record stores while touring through Turkey when they unearthed artists who once embodied and led the country’s original psychedelic rock movement.
Some of the music that inspired Altın Gün was recorded by Anatolian rock masters Barış Manço, Erkin Koray, and Selda Bağcan (pictured below).
(^Been listening to this one a lot lately^)
On was written, recorded and pressed to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s label ATO Records and released in 2018.
The instant the needle hits the edge of On, it’s clear how influential the psychedelic sounds of these Anatolian rock icons was for Altın Gün. The music of the past — intricate fuzzed out guitar licks, thick bass lines, even traditional Turkish folk percussion and instrumentals — surge into a new dimension with a range of powerful synthesizers and modern day production elements.
I can’t remember when I bought this record, but the cover art always brings me a pang of joy when I pull it from the shelf — its bright colors paint a trippy tropical vision belonging somewhere beyond the past, present or future. And the music itself centers me; the fast tempos and tight groove-oriented songs weave into one another, inciting a strong internal rhythm.
A perfect record for transcending the daily grind. Enjoy.
