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From attics, basements, flats, and rented rehearsal rooms under the bright California sun, a new sound is taking shape Ð the sound of indie-pop mixed with psychedelic influences. Long, long ago, Los Angeles was of course the breeding ground for Arthur Lee and Love, the Byrds, and the Buffalo Springfield. A scene that took as its point of departure the innovative sounds of The Beatles.

This is Los Angeles circa 2004. Many of the clubs are the same, though the new music happening around town isn't Ð fellow travelers like All Night Radio and Beachwood Sparks fill the Troubadour and the underground indie-pop dance clubs like Par Avion book Shelflife Records favorites Majestic. The influence of the 1960s returns undiluted, drawing further inspiration from the contemporary DIY psychedelia of Olivia Tremor Control, the Minders and other Elephant 6 affiliates.

And then of course, there's The Flower Machine, who recently supported Australian indie-pop stars the Lucksmiths on the Los Angeles portion of their U.S. tour, and will soon be accelerating their live performance schedule in support of their debut full-length, "Chalk Dust Dream of the Tea Cozy Mitten Company", released on Microindie in 2004. The Flower Machine is perhaps close in spirit to the Clientele from London, a band that also exists within the isolated realm of their own musical idealism.

The Flower Machine began as a solo project by long-time Majestic member Peter Quinnell, and over the summer of 2003 became a working group featuring Peter, Jeff Moore, Cody Gorman, and Chris Shulda. The album was recorded the year prior, with assistance from Majestic singer Scott Schulz who mixed and mastered the CD for release.

And what of the music? The Flower Machine mixes indie-pop melodies, acoustic atmospheres, and unhinged electronic psychedelic experimentation, resulting in a collection of diverse sound poems, characterized by Peter's epigrammatic lyrics which variously concern the magical echoes of Spring (In the Glow), the secret world of prehistoric fish (I Am the Coelacanth), and consciousness expansion on an inter-city train (British Rail). "Sounds a bit like the Beatles" is something they hear often. "A slight Syd Barrett influence" was considered a compliment as well.

The cover was created by the Flower Machine's own Jeff Moore, who also created the cover for DJ Nobody's Pacific Drift release on Ubiquity. In fact, it was DJ Nobody who recently debuted The Flower Machine track "How to Fly an Aeroplane" on his KXLU 88.9 psych show "She Comes in Colors".

All in all, The Flower Machine's Chalk Dust Dream of the Tea Cozy Mitten Company is a delightful trip for the senses, moving hearts and minds alike, and capturing nostalgic aftershocks of the summer of love from a distance of 36 years.