Vinyl Me, Please Unboxed – Neon Indan ‘Psychic Chasms’

Vinyl me please

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via our links, We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See the disclosure for more info.

Good things comes in 12 inch packages. Delivering limited edition vinyl pressings of new and classic albums directly to your doorstep, VMP operates under a simple philosophy: The Album Lives! With a carefully curated catalog of new and hard to find releases, the subscription service is more than just a record club, it’s a lifestyle choice for folks who wish Record Store Day could happen every month … in their living room.

Here’s how it works. You send Vinyl Me, Please some of your hard-earned money and they send you one carefully selected album they feel is Essential to any record collection. Yes, it truly is as easy as it sounds. You even get FREE SHIPPING. Each custom pressing (often on colored vinyl!) also comes with killer extras like original artwork and informative listening companion booklet.

You’ll have membership privileges in the VMP store too, which means you can grab a copy of previous VMP selections from the archives – including thier recent reissue of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic Willy and The Poor Boys – or choose from a slate of super-limited releases pressed exclusively for Vinyl Me, Please. The store is open, and Team VMP are dropping fresh new selections every week. Do not miss out.

Word to the wise, while the store is open to the public, subscribers are privy to reduced “Members Pricing” as well, so joining the club definitely has its rewards. If you’re peckish about relinquishing control of your record collection to complete strangers, know that VMP’s Swaps Program is in full effect. That means you can flip any VMP pick you’re not interested in for a past featured album from any track (including Essentials, Jazz Blues Funk and Soul, and Hip-Hop). My advice? Don’t overthink it. Do your turntable a favor and sign up today.

As for what was in this month's box, none other than an indie electronic marvel celebrating its 15th Anniversary. Here's a look.

Vinyl me, please
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

For The Love Of Vinyl, Please DO NOT BEND

Don't look now, but after serveral months of swapping, I'm now on a two-in-a-row streak with the Vinyl Me, Please Essentials Track. And with Broadcast's Tender Buttons on deck, I'm totally set to make it a three-peat. But before we get to Broadcast's moody little masterpiece, we'll first need to take a look at VMP's stunning 10th Anniversary reissue of Neon Indian's chillwave marvel Psychic Chasms.

Before I go any further, I should go probably cop to the fact that I had never heard a single track from Neon Indian before VMP tabbed Psychich Chasms as their latest Essentials pick. As such, I was seriously tempted to dial this 2009 release up on Spotify and give it a listen before this month's box arrived. In the end, I was feeling a little adventurous this month, so I abstained from the streaming for the sole purpose of making my first vinyl spin of Psychic Chasms my first ever time hearing the album, as this debut release from Mr. Alan Palomo satisfied on every front.

Yes, at the time of Psychic Chasms' release, Palomo was essentially the sole member of Neon Indian, wroting, producing, recording, singing, and playing almost everything you hear on Psychic Chasms, with Richard Gierhart contributing guitars to a pair of tracks in “Terminally Chill” and “Ephemeral Artery.” While those are legit standout numbers among the 12 that make up Psychic Chasms‘ almost 31-minute runtime, they are far from the only ones in the lineup. Throughout my first listen of this VMP pressing, there was not a single track I felt the urge to skip over.

In fact, there were quite a few that I instantly wanted to replay, though the vinyl format is, obviously, not so conducive to jumping back to the beginning of a song. Anyway, a case could be made that jumping back and forth between tracks might be counterintuitive to the immersive nature of the album. And yes, it is all too easy to get lost in the vibes here, with Palomo crafting a mesmerizing sonic soundscape that borrows heavily from the likes of Animal Collective, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and any number of other purveyors of psychadelic electronica, but somehow always sounds wholly original in both concept and execution.

In terms of execution, the songs here are tight, and immaculately produced, with each delivering a soulful resonance that never fails to illicit an emotional, introspective response — even if that response is merely to just kick your feet back, close your eyes and grin as you nod your head in time. I spent much of my first spin of Psychic Chasms doing just that. And I'd wager that most who pick up this pressing of Neon Indian's stunningly assured debut album will find themselves doing so too.

Cover Matters

If album covers are generally meant to reflect the overall vibes of the music contained threin, it's safe to say the explosive colors of this angular abstract more than capture the sonic spirit Neon Indian sought to convey with Psychic Chasms.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

Yes, it's a gatefold sleeve, and inside you'll find a full lyrics sheet, as well as production credits. There's even a list of artists Neon Indian sampled in the making of Psychic Chasms.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

And, of course, you will always find the requisite VMP logo in the bottom corner there, signyifying this pressing of Psychic Chasms is very much a Vinyl Me, Please production.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

As with every Vinyl Me, Please release, an informative little OBI strip is cradling the sleeve of Psychic Chasms just out of the box. On it, you'll find a few vital stats confirming what maks this pressing of the album the definitive pressing of the album.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

You'll also find an album-inspired art print from Alicia Scartetta. It's basically just an oversized version of the album cover. But if you love this Neon Indian release, that'll come as a legitimate thrill.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

There's also an offical Vinyl Me, Please magazine in the box, which features oodles of information about current and upcoming VMP selections. In case I wasn't clear enough earlier, Broadcast's Tender Buttons is indeed on tap for Essentials. If you aren't already excited about that, the feature article in Issue #4 is sure to get you riled up. Likewise, the clue on the back page would seem to confirm an album from Ahnoni is also in the works.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews
Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

As for the vinyl, it comes safeguarded by an official Vinyl Me, Please archival quality sleeve … which is nice.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

And I have to admit that the oh-so psychedelic “Mind Drip” vinyl is far and away the coolest colorway the folks at Vinyl Me, Please have delivered in a while.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

I can only assume there's not a deck on planet Earth it won't look good on.

Geek insider, geekinsider, geekinsider. Com,, vinyl me, please unboxed - neon indan 'psychic chasms', entertainment, reviews

Give Vinyl Me Please a Spin

How's it sound? Like you dropped acid and rode around Los Angeles all night listening to shimmering pop music on the radio … not that I've ever actually done that. Anyway, I cannot thank the folks at Vinyl Me, Please enough for sending this album my way, in no small part because it somehow slipped under my radar when Neon Indian first released it into the world back in 2009. As it stands, Psychic Chasms is very much one of those “better late than never” releases for me. And it's one that's sure to spend plenty of time on my deck moving forward, if only because I enjoy looking at it as much as I've enjoyed listnening to it.

A big THANK YOU to our friends at Vinyl Me, Please for sponsoring this subscription. Don’t forget to check out the Vinyl Me, Please website and sign up to get some choice wax delivered right to your door every month! Be sure to check back next month to see what vinyl treasure Team VMP sends our way!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *