(4 Zero/Royal Potato Family)

www.4zerorecords.com / www.royalpotatofamily.com

Mushroom is one of those acts that's easy to put out of your mind. Not because the band doesn't make memorable music - it most certainly does. But the San Francisco collective takes a long time between albums, and in a constant deluge of information demanding attention, that can hurt. But there's an upside to this musical method: when a new record comes along, it brings with it the pleasure of rediscovery, that moment of "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten just how good these guys really are."

So it is with Naked, Stoned & Stabbed, the twelfth Mushroom album. Bandleader Pat Thomas and his various cohorts continue their exploration of psychedelia in all its forms, this time with an acid folk aesthetic. The band has played with these kinds of acoustic-based motifs before, most significantly on the landmark Glazed Popems, but not so (and this is almost a contradiction in terms) aggressively. The sounds of the psych folk of the late 60s - both the British and American varieties - abounds here, filtered through Mushroom's own psylocibin jazz vision. In other words, don't expect this to sound like Fairport Convention - this is still improvisational instrumental music, but with a distinct Martin guitars-on-LSD flavor and a knowing sense of humor (as indicated by the ridiculous song titles). There's one actual vocal tune - "Singing a Song in the Morning" is a fun little tune, but sticks out like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder.

Thomas knows that folk music isn't confined only to white, English-speaking cultures, folding rhythms and melodies from Indian and African forms into the blend. The band also pays tribute to German electronic music with "Under the Spell" - isn't that Germany's folk music, in a way? Naked, Stoned & Stabbed is no exercise in hippy nostalgia, but a fresh take on old styles - much like the rest of Mushroom's marvelous, creative oeuvre.

Standout Tracks: "All the Guitar Players Around Sean Smith Say He's Got It Coming, But He Gets It While He Can," "Walking Barefoot in Babylon" MICHAEL TOLAND