Tonight's band is something of a mystery - and it appears to be intended that way. Toy are a quasi-New Wave/Psych/Alternative band from London who have just released their first single fifteen days ago and who are, right this very minute, on tour around the UK opening for The Horrors. And from what I understand, the press and the crowds have been very warm in their enthusiasm for this new batch of musical upstarts.

Other than press mentions and blogs, there isn't any information. I tried. I checked their website. I checked their record company website (Heavenly Records) and everyone is tight lipped.

So I don't know what to tell you, other than tonights track is the b-side to their debut single. Clock Chime is a nice mix between 90's neo-Psych and Experimental/Alternative. Basically, a good band with an interesting point of view. And if you go to Heavenly Records website you can download the single for free - of if you want to get really crazy about it, go there and order a special limited edition 45 rpm hunk of vinyl.

Either way you can't go wrong.

Continuing our romp through local talent, I ran across the Oohlas from a friend of mine in Spain. Makes perfect sense; you hear about a band located less than a half mile away from you from somebody who lives 5,000 miles away from you. The Oohlas are an L.A. band (proudly proclaiming the Miracle Mile district as home base) and have been around since 2004. Currently releasing material themselves, they have a great EP just out (Chinchilla) from which tonight's track Adventures comes from.

I really think we're past that point in time where the success or failure of a band is predicated on getting a label deal. Several months ago I played a track issued off an earlier ep of their which was issued via the Stolen Transmission label (who were affiliated with Def Jam/Island/Universal: loosely translated: lost in the shuffle) and frankly, their new stuff has better production going into it.

But the caveat with all this newly discovered DIY way of making records is it needs support. And that means going to the Oohlas MySpace page, looking around and seeing that Chinchilla is available via iTunes and popping for the tracks. It also means seeing them when they're playing around town or around your town. Following them on Twitter and basically supporting them any way you can.

It's really about the only way anything new is going to survive. The Oohlas have lucked out in that Small Parts (the track I played a few months ago) wound up in a movie. And for a band that's good news because that means a chunk of change in order to live, eat and record new material. As much as some people piss and moan about bands "selling out" and having their music in Volkswagen commercials - it means they get to eat. If you're going to take yourself seriously as a musician, you have to go where you get the support and doing what you can in order to feed your craft. The garret lifestyle is cute, quaint and romantic and the stuff of bad books and terrible movies - it bears no resemblance to reality.

All that said - here's another band from L.A.

(Soft Machine 1967 - high priests of Psychedelia)

Tonight it's what is considered to be the first psychedelic-era single to be released in England. Recorded in January and issued by Polydor in February of 1967, Love Makes Sweet Music by The Soft Machine pre-dates Pink Floyd's legendary See Emily Play by a month.

Not that it really makes much difference in the bigger picture. It's not a case of who got there first, but who got there at all. Popular music was going through massive changes at the time and there was a lot of resistance to anything as patently bizarre to the average listener as this was. Soft Machine were the tip of the iceberg that transformed the musical landscape in a period of months, almost weeks. Think of it - Soft Machine, quickly followed by Pink Floyd, quickly followed by Jimi Hendrix, and Traffic; all of them literally exploding on to the music scene. It made for some very interesting changes of mind. And frankly, it was one amazing amount of fun.

Before Soft Machine settled into becoming one of the premier Progressive bands in the later 1960s, they were one of the more experimental units to arrive on the scene. This first single, the only one they released for Polydor before linking up with Chas Chandler to produce their landmark first and second albums, was a combination of high energy pop with a flipside (Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin') that was pure psychedelia.

And from that point, there was no going back.

(Before ELO, Jeff Lynne had a little band called Idle Race)

I just noticed Late Night Music Club put up some ELO, and that reminded me of an earlier band Jeff Lynne was in. Idle Race were certainly one of the catchier bands of the psychedelic era, and the bore a strong musical resemblance to another band from the same period, The Move. So much so, that Idle Race actually recorded (or covered as they used to call it)a Move song "Here We Go Round The Lemon Tree". So it would only make sense that Lynne would join The Move in 1970 which would eventually morph into ELO a few short years later.

But for now, here is a track off their first album, Birthday Party issued in 1968 for Liberty Records in the states and the UK, On With The Show - don't let the cartoon music fool you at the intro - it gets down to business in a few seconds.

But Psychedelia was unpredictable that way.