Richard Norris - Mr Norris Changes Brains (Various Artists) Richard Norris

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Bill Brewster and Psychemagik, producer, musician, DJ, writer and more, Richard Norris, takes us on a globetrotting psychedelic journey with this epic 42 track collection. “Throughout all my time as a musician and producer, ever since Jack the Tab, I’ve been focused on developing a single idea: Blending psychedelic sounds and effects with rhythm.” Richard Norris, 'Strange Things Are Happening' [White Rabbit 2024]. For over forty years Richard has played a part in many of the UK’s most important music subcultures. Whether sharing stages with the likes of Tracey Thorn as a pubescent punk in St. Albans, or running freakbeat nights in Liverpool and working at the pioneering psychedelic label Bam Caruso, co-producing the UK's first acid house inspired LP with Throbbing Gristle’s Genesis P. Orridge or riding the wave of creativity that the second summer of love unleashed all the way to the Top of the Pop studios as The Grid, Richard’s career has continually seen him work to expand both his own and the public’s musical horizons. With Mr Norris Changes Brains it’s the most recent part of his mercurial career that he’s focused on. Drawing inspiration from his post 2006 adventures as one half of Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve, alongside Trash’s Erol Alkan, this compilation shows how a more connected world has blown the dust off a paradoxically sometimes straightjacketed scene. The result is a dizzyingly wide-ranging collection that explores the further out there reaches of worldwide psychedelia and dancefloor mayhem. “A lot of these tracks are fairly recent discoveries, things that I’ve discovered from around the time I started working with Erol and going right up to today,” Richard explains. “Whether that’s from going out to play and finding new records in places like Istanbul or just connecting with people online from all around the world. Psych can sometimes be a sort of narrow-minded field, with everything having to sit in its specific niche, but more and more people are open to new sounds and that’s allowed for a much broader selection.” That freedom sees Mr Norris Changes Brains take us on a trip not just through time, with tracks from the 1960’s rubbing up against releases just a few years old, but around the world too. As you’d expect the US is well represented by heady fuzz monsters like Evolmia by Boston’s Banchee and the lysergic rhythms of Forest of Black by Oakland’s The Dirty Filthy Mud, but elsewhere we encounter mind expanding sounds that have emerged everywhere from the valleys of Wales to sweaty Parisian basements, from underground Turkish clubs to Italian film scores and beyond. There’s obscurities aplenty, of course. Many of these recordings have never been officially available outside of their original, often hard to find, releases with some, like Thumbquake and Earthscrew by A to Austr and DAVE’s In My Mind, culled from punishingly rare private press albums. But Richard’s also not too precious to pass over often overlooked b-sides to otherwise big hits with the likes of Rare Bird’s Hammond Organ stomper Devils High Concern or Iron Butterfly’s Iron Butterfly Theme duly making an appearance. Despite their disparate origins what does unite these tracks is that they aren’t just there to zone out to on a bean bag as projections of swirling coloured oils and psychedelic patterns wash over you. Mr Norris may change brains but his DJ sets also move feet, and whether it’s their killer guitar riffs, oscillating synths floor shaking drums or soulful Hammond organs these are all cuts that from festival tents to underground clubs have proven time and time again to get people dancing.