Future Factory by The Society Of Rockets

America is still number one in space and time exploration now that San Francisco’s The Society of Rockets has its fourth album, “Future Factory.” The band’s singer and cosmonaut leader, Joshua Babcock has proclaimed the 21-track psych-pop album as being “designed to function as an hour-long sonic map of utopias that never were and have yet to be.”

On "Future Factory" Babcock’s team of musical chemists includes Adam Dobrer on bass, David Isbister on piano and keyboards, Steve Wertheim on drums, Robin Wageman on guitar, and multi-instrumentalist Lorelei David on theremin, flute, and xylophone. Longtime associate Ben Tinker also joined in, contributing all of the freshly unearthed analog synth tones peppered throughout "Future Factory," the follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed "Our Paths Related."

The lab results for “Future Factory” have tested positive for a kind of Faust (Krautrock) meets Unrest (90s Indie) meets Milton Nascimento (post-Tropicalia samba) concoction. Since the band’s studio is called “The Advanced Institute For Interspacial Harmonic Research,” it comes as no surprise that “Future Factory,” is descanted with gorgeous harmonies – which always makes the biggest blast in a ‘Rockets song. The dense, communal vocals are anchored by the trio of Babcock, Wageman, and Wertheim (with others occasionally joining in), recalling the choral arrangements of both the cocktail sci-fi of Esquivel-by-way-of-Stereolab and the eternal grace of the Beach Boys.

Engineered by Christopher Cline (…Trail of Dead, Scrabbel), Eli Crews (Beulah, Deerhoof, WHY?), and Ben Tinker. Mixing by Cline and the band. Mastering was completed by Gary Hobish (Willie Nelson, Dr. John, Creedence Clearwater Revival).

Reviews for Future Factory

"The Society of Rockets, a psychedelic pop band from San Francisco, have been around since the mid-1990s, quietly building a deep discography while almost entirely removed from the larger indie rock community. Their obscurity is at least somewhat deliberate. In all this time, they have not toured or participated in any typical promotional activity, preferring to pour their creative energy into ambitious studio recordings. The group is led by singer and primary songwriter Joshua Babcock, a man with a seemingly endless appetite for old-school psychedelia, science fiction, and head shop ephemera. Babcock's best compositions blur the lines between many strains of 1960s and 70s pop and exotica, coming together on albums that sound like either an alternate version of the past, or an older version of the future." - Pitchfork - Matthew Perpetua

"The future has of late not been so bright we need shades. Enter this under-known S.F. marvel to paint the sky with ROYGBIV colors as rhumba beats tickle our heels. An inscription on their site observes, “We’ve been thinking a lot about how buildings should be less like caves and more like trees…about how the future looked brighter in the past…Here’s to new beginnings!” Sweet but not syrupy, Future Factory ladles Summer of Love vibes – bright strokes and beatific harmonies – over a thick, cerebral stew – a dish both homey in its immediate satisfaction yet modernly dense." JamBase Album of the Week - Dennis Cook

San Francisco science-fiction retro-futurist rock and roll band

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