(Photoshop by John Ambrosio, images via Psychic TV, Psychic Twin)
Ok, give me your hands and I’ll read your mind. Hmmm. Interesting. You don’t know the difference between Psychic Twin and Psychic TV? That’s understandable, really—their names are pretty close, and they both have new material out and upcoming shows. I don’t know why you put this shortcoming in the “deepest shame box” in your subconscious, but I do know that the latest installment of Bands Apart can help you get it out of there.
SOUNDS LIKE…
Psychic Twin is the dreamy, synth-infused pop project of Brooklyn-based Erin Fein. Along with drummer Rosana Caban, Psychic Twin makes personal, often sad songs about loss, loneliness, and starting over again that demonstrate a strong sense of the conventions of popular and dance music.
Psychic TV is a music/video/art collective that was formed in England in 1982 and has been pumping out experimental, post-punkish music at a steady pace ever since. Led by downtown demigod Genesis P-Orridge, the band’s sound is hard to pin down. It has changed drastically as dozens of songwriters and musicians have collaborated with the band at different points in its history, but mostly leans toward psych and industrial.
NEW MATERIAL
Psychic Twin is about to release her debut album, Strange Diary, which comes out on Polyvinyl on September 9. The lead single, “Lose Myself” (which is embedded above) is available to stream.
Psychic TV is well known for churning out a mind-bogglingly huge volume of music—in fact, the band holds the Guinness World Record for the most albums released in a single year. Unsurprisingly, they have a new album, Alienist, which comes out September 16 on Angry Love Productions.
ROOTS
Psychic Twin was started by Fein in Illinois while her marriage was falling apart. Since the project began, Fein and her husband have divorced, allowing Fein to move to Brooklyn to continue writing and polishing her songs over the course of four years.
Psychic TV was started in 1981 by P-Orridge and video director Peter Christopherson after their previous group, the legendary post-punk/industrial band Throbbing Gristle, broke up. Since then, the group has gone through dozens of members and made a staggering amount of music, including a series of 17 live albums (of a planned total of 23).
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Psychic Twin‘s music is described in promotional copy as “infused with an ineffable longing for escape, for the unattainable, like the impossible desire to make music with one’s own double.” In other words, Fein is looking for her own Psychic Twin.
Psychic TV was originally the “propaganda arm” of Thee Temple of Psychick Youth, an organization that promoted the occult and various other forms of misanthropy via unsettling underground videos and even a Psychick Bible. The TV part was either a carryover from Alex Fergusson’s previous band, Alternative TV, or a nod to the band’s visual focus, or both.
WHERE TO SEE THEM
Psychic Twin is playing at National Sawdust, in Williamsburg, on September 24.
Psychic TVÂ is playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 16.