Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental band from England. The original lineup met at Glastonbury festival and their name arose from discussions of hypothetical cereal brands. Their first label release was Pungent Effulgent in 1989, which was also re-released in the early 2000s, packaged with Strangeitude . This was followed by Erpland , an album dedicated to Erp, a character which appears on many of the band's album artworks.

Their music is a highly psychedelic mixture of thumping basslines, sound effects and danceable keyboard and guitar work, with a progressive rock sound influenced by Steve Hillage and Gong. A recent lineup features Ed Wynne (guitar, keyboards), "Champignon" a.k.a. John Egan (flute, vocals), Greyum (bass), Ed's wife Brandi Wynne (keyboards) and Metro (drums, percussion). Some members have also formed more electronic music spin offs acts, namely Eat Static, Nodens Ictus, ZubZub (Former Ozrics bassist Zia 's new project) and Moksha.

The band are famous for their live performances, fronted by Champignon, who dances around the stage in a trance-like manner and occasionally plays the flute. He has also been known to blow smoke though it. Many of the Ozrics songs are in unusual time signatures which lead to interesting movements on the dancefloor.

Discography

Cassettes

• Tantric Obstacles (1985)
• Erpsongs (1985)
• There Is Nothing (1986)
• Live Ethereal Cereal (1986)
• Sliding Gliding Worlds (1988)
• The Bits Between the Bits (1989)

Albums

• Pungent Effulgent (1989)
• Erpland (1990)
• Sploosh / Live Throbbe EP (1991)
• Strangeitude (1991)
• Live Underslunky (1992)
• Afterswish (1992)
• Ozric Tentacles (1993)
• Jurassic Shift (1993)
• Arborescence (1994)
• Vitamen Enhanced Box Set (1994) - Their previous cassete works on cd
• Become The Other (1995)
• Curious Corn (1997)
• Spice Doubt (1998)
• Waterfall Cities (1999)
• Floating Seeds (1999)
• The Hidden Step (2000)
• Pyramidion (2000)
• Live at The Pongmasters Ball (2002)
• Spirals in Hyperspace (2004)

External Links

• Official Ozric Tentacles Site
• Official Ozric Tentacles Fan-site