It’s in the ever-expanding reaches of psychedelic rock that we can always rely on finding new acts that are doing everything from the same shit that we got back in the 70s, or even before, to challenging what the scene can encapsulate by bringing unprecedented imagination and musical prowess to push that boundary even further. When it comes to Karkara, the needle falls somewhere in the middle which is often where the best acts come from. While it was their debut, “Crystal Gazer”, that flew right under my radar last year, it’s the follow-up of “Nowhere Land” that has made a crash into the scene that is no less than outstanding.

This is one of those fantastic styles that can take the form of many different sounds with an even greater variety in theme and it takes an equally great imagination in order to really grab ahold of one topic and can make it work with your music, then the potential is truly limitless in its own right. With a Middle Eastern flair that does nothing but justice for all seven tracks that make up “Nowhere Land”, there isn’t a single second that’s on display for the entirety of this release that isn’t the exact sort of trippy excellence with a heavy dosage of undeniable riffage that many psych-rock fans are always clamoring for no matter what day or even decade it is. There is very little about what Karkara brings forth here that is strictly typical of what many people think of psychedelic rock as a whole when considering the whole style, but it’s every passing inch of “Nowhere Land” that we can see Karkara challenging themselves in every department in order to become something that they, and everyone else, can look upon and be stunned by what’s been laid before them. It’s through exploring how the fronting voice directs the wandering strings that are constantly coupled with the dissonant but very forward drumming that this album has been able to climate in something that I feel many bands of this style are always striving for whether they know it or not.

I cannot help but feel that Karkara is keenly aware of what they’ve done on their sophomore record for it’s dripping with both confidence and anxious trepidation for a still very fresh band trying to do their best, and we cannot sit here and wonder if “Nowhere Land” is the band’s best, but it is irresistible to consider what heights Karkara are capable of after producing work as tantalizing as this. In every way, “Nowhere Land” demands to be hailed as an album more than worth hearing for all fans of all kinds.

LISTEN to “Nowhere Land” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Karkara on Facebook here.