Reptiel – Hobbitozz … A Land That Never Was (Cubby Control Records, 2015)
San Francisco band Reptiel continues the city’s psychedelic music tradition with its fantasy-inspired progressive psychedelic rock. The title of the album includes the word Hobbitt which is a clear reference to one of the races in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The last part of the album’s title makes reference to another land of fantasy, Oz, from the Wizard of Oz.
Reptiel has a clear West Coast flavor, mixing late 60s and early 70s American folk-rock beats and vocal harmonies and psychedelic music. The progressive side of the band appears in the form of occasional ambient electronic music passages and guitar and synth solos.
Hobbitozz … A Land That Never Was is a concept album that tells the story of Forest Boy who wakes up one morning to hear a bird singing to him that he must bury his father who has died in the night and begin a journey through the sylvan landscape of Hobbitozz to face the roots of its demise and discover his destiny.
The lineup on the album includes Alec Way on guitars, keyboards, piano, percussion, lead and backup vocals, and slide/ebow bass/guitar; Brian Weaver on bass, lead & backup vocals, and acoustic guitar; Jason Gonzales on drums, backup vocals, percussion, and electric guitar; Jason Yakich on guitars, backup vocals, and mandolin. Guests: Elton Cunniffe who provided swirling leaves on ‘Leaves Are Falling’ and Greg Turner on woodwinds.