Norwegian band The Dipsomaniacs have been active since about 1997, devastating all in their wake with a particularly right-on take on the classics codes and curlicues of 60s psychedelic pop. Along with the Green Pajamas, we think that these guys are the best practitioners of the genre operating today. From it's base in Trondheim, the band has recorded and released a masterful series of three albums and numerous singles, starting with the raw four-track cassette recordings that became 1997's "Bumblebee Eyes", which had echoes of everything from Lennon to Gram Parsons to Guided By Voices. This was followed in the same year by the wonderful "Subterfuge" EP, consolidating on material, style, and recording technique. 1n 1998, the band signed with the local label Progress Records, and released the widely acclaimed "Reverb No Hollowness" LP and CD. The record showed increased confidence vocally and instrumentally, and was recorded on eight-track - resulting in a deal more layering and punch to the sound. 

In 1999, an expanding line up took in a fourth member, Thomas Henriksen, on keyboards and harmony vocal duties, and by late summer Holm had written all the songs that were to become the Dipsomaniacs next album. Main-man Øyvind takes up the story: "The new music was recorded in Thomas's own Tricycle Studios, and mixed in Brygga Studios by Lars Lien. During the recordings, a lot of effort went into recreating all those little weird sounds and arrangements I had heard in my head while writing. The boys really had to twist their brains around hard to get the most out of their eight-track tape machine. Recording the same song twice with different instrumentation, then joining all 16 tracks during mix-down in Brygga Studios, was just one way around the limitations of the old Fostex. Everything capable of giving off sound was sampled and looped. Guest musicians were also brought in to add such instruments as horns, saxophone & violins." The "Braid of Knees" LP was intended by Holm to be symphony for turntable and headphones, and it succeeds beyond all expectations, being one of the finest psych LPs of the past 10 years.

The three tracks on this new Camera Obscura 7" shows that the Dipsomaniacs are going to continue on and up from the brilliance of "Braid of Knees" with no end in sight to their ascent. We hope that we can bring their sound to a wider audience outside of Europe and a scattered handful of fanatics, because stuff like this belongs to the world.