4 out of 5

Label: Flightless

Produced by: Stu Mackenzie (recorded by)

In retrospect, when Fishing for Fishies came out and both of the songs on this single were included, as an American shopping of KGLW music, I cursed not only their prodigious studio output, but also their very fan-servicey above-and-beyond releases, which see tons of unofficial and live shows and etc, put out, which means… draw your own line in the sand of how much of their stuff you want to “collect,” especially if you’re paying overseas shipping fees, and this single (which cost quite a bit for me) was that line.

Also, less an “this only affects me!” grievance: these are not really representative tracks from that album. Quite the opposite. On the one hand: that makes for a great single, as these are both very fun tracks that pair well and also are strong independently. On the other: it got me hyped for an album which ultimately sounded quite different.

But, in non-retrospect, I was hyped for a reason: these songs are a lot of fun, and follow a forever cycle of the band experimenting with their psych shtick in various ways. The A-side, Cyboogie, applies that to – appropriately, given the title – an almost krautrock boogie, and Acarine casts their folk through an electronic haze, which bubbles into full effect towards its conclusion. Amongst the laidback strums of the Fishies album, these tunes are out of place, but recontextualized on their lonesome (with also fitting, electronics-plus-psychedelic-logo artwork), they are incredibly catchy, and merited multiple replays.