GOAT

Goat (Rocket)

If you’re not already familiar with mystical/mysterious masked psych collective Goat, or only came across them recently via the soundtrack to Shane Meadows’ The Gallows Pole, then the Swedish shamanic street preachers’ self-titled sixth outing is as good a place to start as any. While the likes of WITCH soaked up Western rock influences and fused them with familiar African styles, Goat are proof that it can be a two-way street.

Opener One More Death rides a delicious desert blues groove, while the cyclical death-rattle funk of Goatbrain and Frisco Beaver borrows liberally and productively from Afrobeat. At times, admittedly, Goat come across like hippy-dippy Glastonbury veterans spangled off their gourds on magic mushrooms – most obviously on birdsong-backed instrumental The All Is One – but you have to admire their commitment to the general aesthetic, and overall Goat is mercifully more Gong bath than gong bath. 

words BEN WOOLHEAD