Diagonals: Valley of the Cyclops

Ever wonder what kind of music is playing inside the head of a hippie Cyclops? Well, if that question ever kept you up at night, the Diagonals from Austin, Texas have provided your strange query with an appropriate answer in the form of their explosive debut album. Taking their cues from Sticky Fingers-era Stones, Sonic Youth and, their most direct influence, the 13th Floor Elevators, this ragtag group of young Austin upstarts, featuring filmmaker Richard Linklater’s boy wonder Wiley Wiggins, star of such indie classics as Dazed and Confused and Waking Life, on organ, blurs the line separating the last 40 years of underground rock across eight epic tracks with titles like “Clown Fucker” and “Neil Diamond Blues”. And if you ever wanted to know what a hippie Cyclops looks like, look no further than this album’s ultracool digipak.