Residual Echoes was formed by Adam Payne after he moved to Santa Cruz and met Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) who both encouraged him to strike out on his own. The band makes a vibrant collage of everything that has ever happened in music, all deftly manipulated and manicured by Mr. Payne into some of the most farfreaking- out jams ever heard. Santa Cruz, California-- known for abandoned military bases where rumors persist of strange mind control experiments a la Montauk-- is an area that was at one time the "serial killer capitol of the world." I know, I missed that sign, too. Anyway, you've got these mountains full of getting- away-from-the-city-type cults and communes rife with pure magical evil and ritual sacrifices. Whoa, Maury Terry; hold on there, Preston Nichols-- what's this got do with a high-energy psychedelic rock band? Have you heard about these experimental drugs that afflict enemy soldiers with intense halitosis, or cause their hair fall out, or the one that makes everyone super-horny? This album is like a really small dose of that kind of drug.