Ya Ho Wa 13 - Savage Sons of Ya Ho Wa LP

Reissued for the first time in 10 years by BlueWind in Italy (previously by the excellent Sacred Bones) - All beefheart like psyche. If you want a record with a story, this has a hell of a tale - One of 9 LP's pressed out 60 plus made by the LA hippie commune the Source Family headed by Jim Baker, Aka Father Yod and later Ya Ho Wa, no I'm not joking.

Jim Baker was a former world judo champ, owner of 60’s celeb LA strip alt-restaurant hotspot the source and war hero who, after knocking off two fellow citizens of Los Angeles (via judo chop) and a jail stint, turned himself over time into a cult leader, went from 1 to 13 wives, renamed himself Father Yod before George Lucas had even dreamed of Star Wars, then convinced himself and his followers he might be god, before realising eventually after moving the gang to Hawaii he maybe wasn’t, so hang-glided off a cliff with no training - resulting, thanks to a “no hospitals” cult rule - with him dead.

He had a Rolls Royce (see LP cover) and also a taste for creativity and musical followers so at one point sent people off to build a pretty solid pair of garage studios which output some decent carefree (read fiercely non commercial psyche records).

This LP has mostly the work of members Octavius, Sunflower, Djinn, and Rhythm collaborating with Electron, as opposed to Jim and is one of the best.

It's easy to be a bit cynical, and certainly there is a lot to be said about Jim himself, but from a musical standpoint it's an incredible free output in a fiercely non-commercial style which is defiantly counter-culture. Super rare originals it goes without saying.