Run DMT - Dreams (2012)

Run DMT's Michael Collins seems to be one unlucky guy. A couple of years after a successful debut cassette release in 2009, he completed work on the album that would become Dreams and set about finding a label willing to put it out. Around that time he garnered press attention from such high profile sources as Pitchfork and even the New York Times in a piece about the now defunct DIY concert space known as Silent Barn. Following the closure of Silent Barn and an aborted deal with Jeremy Earl's Woodsist imprint, the album release stalled. Things were further complicated when the Run DMT name which Collins had been using for some years was copyrighted by a Texas Dubstep duo after the release of just one track on a compilation album. Collins decided to regroup and in the process relocated to Baltimore where he set up his own cassette and home video label, Culture Dealer.

Dreams was Culture Dealer's debut release back in 2011 but this amazing album has recently been issued on vinyl for the very first time through German label LebensStrasse Records.

The album alternates between tripped out Kosmiche synth experiments, ambient drones and dreamy psych-pop stylings, all the while displaying a love for, and deep understanding of classic 1960's pop construction. 

'Romantic' is a mournful ballad straddling a reedy bassline and laid back way-wah guitar, the whole thing is enveloped in grainy tape hiss. 'Dreaming' begins with a minute of cyclical guitar drone which then transforms itself into a beautifully lush, gently psychedelic arrangement. 'Cash for Gold' embeds ringing guitar lines in reverberating loops and 'Montana Mountain Groan' is a series of mutated vocal harmonies gradually underpinned by a sparse kick drum and tambourine.

Throughout the album, snippets of dialogue from people recounting their experiences on DMT are used, mostly to hilarious effect. There are various ruminations on such far out topics as dancing to a kaleidoscope, crystals as living beings and a man who now believes in Gypsies after his psychedelic experiences.

This is a truly great find and will most definitely appeal to anyone who has recently fallen in love with Dirty Beaches' Badlands album or has a well-worn copy of Panda Bear's classic Person Pitch lurking in their collection.

As the Culture Dealer website puts it; "The album starts on the shore of a reservoir in MASSACHUSETTS then plunges into oblivion with a taste for tennessee fried DOO WOP for the RAINBOW GATHERING."

Run DMT's first album Bong Voyage is still available as an officially sanctioned free download.

'Montana Mountain Groan' taken from the album Dreams (1012);