Les fleurs du mental

Name: Aqua Nebula Oscillator

Where They’re From: Paris, France

Genre: Stoner/Psych/Kraut/Space Rock

When They Started: 2000

Most Like: Acid Mother’s Temple, Black Angels, Kadavar

Sounds Like: Filthy, vicious psychedelia for getting dragged through the Parisian sewer system by warlocks on motorcycles.

For about a decade now, a mad man named David Sphaèr’os has been refining a warped and cerebral approach to psychedelic garage rock from his dank cave in Paris. He claims it’s a cave, anyway, and we believe him because that sounds about right and the press photos are very convincing.

His band, Aqua Nebula Oscillator, specializes in churning, propulsive stoner rock with occult overtones, a calling that has earned them the affection of discerning metal heads across Europe. The quartet excels at acid-fueled overdrive, but they’re far from a one trick cave beast. In fact, they’re at their most deliciously ghoulish when they slow it down and really get unhinged. “Incandescence,” one of the down-tempo jams off their recently released album Third, sounds like The Beatles were brainwashed into becoming Satanic French monks. We think you’ll like the way it makes the your hair stand on end just a little.

ANO’s discography embraces droning Kraut-rock influenced jams, garage punk freak outs and most things in between, but it never loses the nasty sonics or the signature weird-dudes-in-the-catacombs je ne sais quoi that sets them apart from other noisemakers. Even when they prog out, as they do in this live clip, they keep it pretty darn dank: