Saturday, December 31, 2011

Lilacs & Champagne

Lilacs & Champagne - Everywhere, Everyone by Mexican Summer
Pre-Order

As the producing-team behind’Grails, Alex Hall and Emil Amos have hybridized and warped various culture’s versions of psych music over the past decade. With their new project Lilacs and Champagne, they’ve created another umbrella under which to tweak hip-hop, tape-collage and the darkest creases of 70′s film-soundtracks with their lysergic and perverse style of head-music. The project’s name and imagery evoke a strange thrift-store mystery LP you might come across, unsure if you’ve discovered an exotic dub record, a flowery Bacharach AM radio classic or something by an obscure duo of Swedish avant-techno producers.

The record began under the influence of Madlib’s production style….which had suggested that writing songs using an Akai MPC sampler would force the two to stretch their legs and explode any expectations created by records they’ve made in the past. But rather than sampling the funk and soul canon of traditional hip hop, they pulled from disparate sources such as Polish private press hippie records, indistinguishable radio noise or the chopped and reversed sounds of Jayne Mansfield’s head being decapitated. Layers of instruments and found sound were then painted over the original samples until entirely new directions were created and taken to their logical conclusion… creating something simultaneously alien and familiar… something like the sound of Nurse with Wound collaborating with J-Dilla.

Zora


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The Italian dark progressive group Antonius Rex 1977 release Zora. Filled with odd 70's synth bits, coming right out of 70's horror films, funk bass lines, blissed out Kraut psychedelic guitar, and tape loops, Zora is an experimental album that probably gave influence to bands such as Grails. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Snake People


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Among the great musical acts coming out of Houston, Texas currently, Balaclavas latest album Snake People on Dull knife has brought them to the top of the food chain. Their highly stylized combination of dub punk/droning psych with goth beat continues to mature leaving Roman Holiday in the dust, fine tuning their complex sound even further. Highly recommended, enjoy!

Symphony For Improvisers


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Don Cherry's 1966 Blue Note release, Symphony For Improvisers, featuring Cherry on cornet, Gato Barbieri on tenor, Pharoah Sanders (my man) on piccolo, Karl Berger on vibes, Henry Grimes on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums. Consisting of two 20 minute improved gems, could prove to be Cherry's finest blue note moment. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Soul Explosion


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From Desco Records Afrobeat series, The Daktaris' grooving Afro-funk record Soul Explosion. This 1999 record hits like Fela Kuti & James Brown did a record together with heavy percussion and guitar throughout, sounding like it came right out of Nigeria in the '70's. Enjoy!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Birthday Party Peel Sessions


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Essential collective recordings of The Birthday Party's classic John Peel Sessions. Enjoy!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Kopernikus Hortoilee Näkinkengässä


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Finish super duo, Rättö ja Lehtisalo (members of Circle) 2011 release Kopernikus Hortoilee Näkinkengässä. With present influence of Cluster and Neu, Kopernikus Hortoilee Näkinkengässä is a kraut-pop sensation with catchy hooks, grooving psychedelic breaks and all around weirdness, this is an album I highly recommend checking out. Enjoy!


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Top Albums of 2011 (Revised)

1. Tim Hecker-Ravedeath 1972/Dropped Pianos (Kranky)
2. Grails-Deep Politics (Temporary Residence)
3. Cult of Youth-Cult of Youth (Sacred Bones)
4. Tom Waits-Bad As Me (Anti)
5. Alvarius B-Baroque Primitiva (Abduction)
6. Psychic Paramount-II (No Quarter)
7. Steve Hauschildt-Tragedy & Geometry (Kranky)
8. A Winged Victory for the Sullen-S/T (Kranky)
9. Glenn Jones-The Wanting (Thrill Jockey)
10. Puerto Rico Flowers-7 (Fan Death)
11. Barn Owl-Lost In A Glare (Thrill Jockey)
12. Aram Shelton Arrive-There Was (Clean Feed)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Kepler


Death Chants, Breakdowns, & Military Waltzes


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Vol. 2 Death Chants, Breakdowns, & Military Waltzes, the second album by non other than John Fahey on his own Takoma label. Vol. 2 picks up right where Vol. 1 Blind Joe Death leaves off, delivering classic primitive guitar classics like Sunflower River Blues (which appeared on Jack Roses's Kensington Blues album) and America. Enjoy!

"Blind Joe never sang. He had no voice. He had been struck blind and dumb at the age of three by a local member of the NAACP, for not complying with the organization's demand to learn bar chords and diminished augmented sevenths, so that he might disassociate himself from the myth of the Negro past. Here, thanks to the intensely personal stubborness of an old man who refused to bow to the dictates of crass commercialism and political interfuge, sat John Fahey at the feet of this old man, listening and waiting for his hands to be big enough to play the surrogate kithera as did his mentor. For in Blind Joe's music, the young white boy could discern a way in which he could express the intensely personal, bitter-sweet, biting, soul-stirring volk poetry of the harsh, elemental, but above all human life of the downtrodden Takoma Park people ."

Friday, December 2, 2011

Replica


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Oneohtrix Point Never's 2011 full-length Replica out on Mexican Summer.

"Replica is an electronic song cycle based around audio procured from TV ad compilations. These sample-based meditations are as lyrical as they are ecological, featuring re-purposed “ghost vocals” which serve as narration for Lopatin’s signature amorphous, ambient passages. Lopatin’s Juno-60 is still prominent, but Returnal’s placid, synthetic surroundings are accelerated through darker, more unpredictable terrains via Lopatin’s use of samplers, analog filtering, tape-op, piano, plate reverb and sub-bass. The result is a heightened sense of music as part and parcel of an overall sonic terrain."

Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica by Mexican Summer

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Sophisticated Beggar


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Roy Harper's 1966 debut album Sophisticated Beggar. Hats off and enjoy!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Tragedy & Geometry


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Buy
Steve Hauschildt of Emeralds, new release on Kranky, Tragedy & Geometry. A beautiful account of modern day of post-kosmische. Ending the year with a bang! Highly recommended, enjoy!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Die Grune Reise


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Possibly one of the most overlooked bands in Kraut rock, A.R. & the Machines tripped out masterpiece debut Die Grune Reise. A highly recommend journey! Enjoy.

Friday, November 18, 2011

And their refinement of the Decline


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Buy
Austin's Stars of the Lid 2007, and possibly final album, And their Refinement of the Decline. Let slow drones of guitar, strings, horns and piano float you through space and time. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

A Winged Victory for the Sullen


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Buy
Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid and Dustin O'Halloran, Berlin-based pianist/composer and member of the dream pop band Devics, highly anticipated droned, soundscape beauty A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Composed with droning strings, melodic piano, and swelling of guitar, A Winged Victory for the Sullen composes a solace, that in my opinion drone has been missing since the demise of Stars of the Lid. Highly recommended for a long night drive. Enjoy!

A side note, Kranky is on fire in 2011!

Exile


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Buy
Houston, Texas's own Charalambides, 2011 Kranky release Exile. Marking their 20 year anniversary, Enjoy!

"Deeply imbued with the full historical spectrum of American folk and blues song form, Exile is a tapestry of suppliant invocations directed at the heart of the unseen spiritual forces surrounding us. Dense arrangements and thickly-overdubbed tracks sit side-by-side with material that ranks among the sparest and most skeletal the group has recorded, giving Exile the psychic scope of their classic Market Square album while building on the refinements of the more recent Likeness and A Vintage Burden releases."-Kranky

Get Lost


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Buy
Mark McGuire of Emeralds, 2011 release, Get Lost. Glorious synthy/ambient kraut influenced pop-songs, possibly McGuire's strongest release to date. Enjoy!

Dropped Pianos


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Buy
Tim Hecker's Dropped Pianos consists of sketch pieces recorded in 2010 in preparation for what would become the Ravedeath, 1972 album. All of the compositions are piano driven and minimal in nature. Enjoy!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Ósvör


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"New Zealand's God Destroyer release yet another EP, containing three overwhelmingly atmospheric and drastically different drone pieces. Wayuu (Ósvör's final track) shows a darker side to God Destroyer, replacing the usual choir-like reverb with doom-filled chords and an obvious feeling of depression."-Exp Etc.

Enjoy!

Destination Out!


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Jackie Mclean's 1963 Blue Note classic Destination Out! featuring Grachan Monchur III on trombone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Larry Ridley on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Enjoy!



Sunday, November 6, 2011

Church of Anthrax


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John Cale & Terry Riley's 1971 collaboration, Church of Anthrax. Enjoy!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Venus in Cancer


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Robbie Basho's 1969 classic Takoma album Venus in Cancer. American primitive guitar at its finest. From Appalachian folk to Indian ragas, Basho's fret work and technique deliver a part spiritual, part cosmic, and part frightening dissonance of beauty. A pioneer in the free folk/drone sound today, Basho stands among the best beside Rose and Fahey,. Enjoy!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Live in Tasmania


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John Fahey Live in Tasmania in 1981, knocking out some of his classics in perfect form. Enjoy!

Gotham White


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NYC's Italian Horn, featuring Anthony Pappalardo, six song EP Gotham White. Washed out, dream pop, layered with synth and subtle muddled noise woven to created soundscaped pop songs. Debut album to be release on Dais records in the near future. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Voice of Chuck


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The Lounge Lizards 1989, "tongue and cheek" jazz album Voice of Chuck. Enjoy!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Holly


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Buy
New James Blackshaw EP Holly, out on important records. Two beautifully composed twelve-string guitar pieces backed with shades of piano, sax, clarinet, and flute by Charlotte Glasson. The A-sides title track Holly, delivers a sound of French impressionalism, where the B-side appeals to his Takoma roots, all with their own James Blackshaw delivery. As a composer, James Blackshaw only continues to progress, creating more and more beautiful compositions and style.

The Dance Of Death And Other Plantation Favorites


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John Fahey's Vol. 3: The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Bad as Me (anticipation)


With Tom Wait's first album in 7 years right around the corner, I thought I'd share some enthusiasm. Here are the first two singles from Bad As Me. Enjoy!

Tom Waits - Bad As Me by antirecords

Tom Waits - Back In The Crowd by antirecords

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death


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John Fahey's 1965 release The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death. With the famous cover, showcased in Stanley Kubrick's A Clock Work Orange, the album showcases some of Fahey's finest songs collectively. Highly recommended, enjoy!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Wanting


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The along awaited new Glenn Jones 2xlp, The Wanting on Thrill Jockey records. With his own style of open tunings and finger picking, Glenn Jones is possibly the best “American Primitive” or “Takoma school” guitarists around today after the passing of Jack Rose.

The Wanting explores some of the possibilities of open tunings. (I stopped playing in standard tuning more than 25 years ago now.) I’m always digging under rocks and looking for something new, unfamiliar, unknown. I can’t help it. The discovery of new tunings inevitably leads to new compositions, the composition being, for me, a way of navigating a new and unfamiliar terrain. The more I learn about a tuning, however, the more bored I become by it, and this boredom sends me scurrying, again, for something else. This is why almost every one of my compositions is in its own tuning. I invent a tuning, find a way to get from Point A to Point Z in it, and move on.”

The final track, “The Orca Grande Cement Factory at Victorville”, a 17 minute track in dedication to John Fahey, also sees Chris Corsano with a guest appearance on drums. The Wanting serves as Glenn Jones best outing yet. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Lost in the Glare


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Buy
The third Barn Owl album in the past year, Lost in the Glare. These psychedelic desert droners, continue to pump out records, which each time are better the the last. This album brings back some heaviness that the last few albums had gone away from previously, which makes a great mix between their desert drone and heavy psych sound. Enjoy!

"Past records have been all about the dusty deserty twang, the slow burn, the smoldering ambience, and while all of that is still present, the band seem supercharged. "Turiya" finds the duo stomping on the fuzz box and unfurling peals of thick distorted guitar that almost sounds like Neil Young at times, gorgeous streaks of melody suspended over an Earth like dirge, it's a potent combo and definitely has the band sounding aggressive and HEAVY."-Aquarius


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

SYR 8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth


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The 8th edition of the SYR series includes Sonic Youth, Merzbow, and ,Scandinavian sax player Mats Gustafsson. SYR 8: Andre Sider Af Sonic Youth was recorded as a improvised live performance from the 2005 Roskilde Festival in Denmark. If you are familiar with any of these players, you know you are in for some free noise in the best way possible. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Dual Pleasure


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Buy
Paal Nilssen-Love & Ken Vandermark duo album Dual Pleasure. Highly recommended!

"Their musical expression results from the influence of several traditions, both geographic and historical. In this duo, Vandermark and Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking."

Enjoy!

Dead Man


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Neil Young's eerie score from Jim Jarmusch's western film Dead Man. Western themed, reverb drenched guitar, improvised in the studio while watching the final cut of the film. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Last Eyes


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Paul Flaherty (alto sax) & Chris Corsano (drums) duo's first release Last Eyes. Free as can be and highly recommended! Enjoy.

The Seal of the Blue Lotus


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Robbie Basho's Takoma debut album The Seal of the Blue Lotus. Robbie Basho was a pioneer of the acoustic steel string guitar in America, along with John Fahey. Highly influenced by Indian guitar players, Basho's vision was to see the steel string as a concert instrument and to create a raga system for America. The Seal of the Blue Lotus is where Basho begins. For fans of John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Glenn Jones. Enjoy!

Monday, September 5, 2011

O True Believers


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Buy
James Blackshaw's 2006, Important Records release, O True Believers. Enjoy!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Meaningless Leaning Mess


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Buy
Bone Awl's hard hitting , Meaningless Leaning Mess LP on Nuclear War Now! Productions. Raw lo-fi, black metal almost leaning more towards D-beat, Brainbombs vibes. Highly recommended! Enjoy!


The Devil's Coals


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Buy
Latest 7" from Cult of You, The Devil's Coals. Two awesome tracks that only expand COY progressing sound. Enjoy!


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Batholith


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Buy
Bardo Pond's 2008 LP, Batholith.

"Collection of six tracks that are near and dear to bardo pond but, for some reason or another, have never previously been released. that one-sentence description might lead one to think that these tracks are "outtakes" or cutting-room floor type material - neither conclusion could be further from the truth. the tracks included on batholith range from previous live staples ("a tune," one made 'famous' by opening bardo's set at terrastock II in san francisco as joined by roy montgomery [and a recording of which was featured on the KFJC compilation live from the devil's triangle, volume 2]) to tracks the band recorded in john peel sessions. Collected as a whole, these tracks form a fluid and cohesive album. Batholith is not just an exciting moment for long time bardo pond fans, but a great jumping on point for folks who are relatively new to their craft."-Three Lobed Recordings. Enjoy!


Common Era


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Yet another gem released by Kranky records. Belong's second album Common Era and very different from their first as a drone/noise act. Common Era is a washed out, dark pop album with tones of Shoegaze, new wave, and grainy reverb drenched layers of bliss. Highly recommended! Enjoy!


Thursday, August 25, 2011

An Imaginary Country


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Buy
Tim Hecker's 2009 Kranky release, An Imaginary Country, picks up right where Harmony in Ultraviolet leaves off. Tim Hecker employs strings, guitars, synths, pianos, etc. creating a mist of drenched sound. Opening the record with 100 Years, finding Borderlands in the middle, and ending with 200 Years, An Imaginary Country is a piece of contemporary gold. Enjoy!


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Under the Shadows of Trees


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Buy
Tor Lundval's summer themed album Under the Shadows of Trees from The Seasons Unfold. Just like Ice & Mist, Lundvall captures a ghostly ambient of the season at hand. This may be my favorite of the four. Purchase the whole Seasons Unfold boxset from Dais Records. Enjoy!


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

God Destroyer


I
II
God Destroyer is a drone/noise project out of Christchurch, New Zealand. With two free self-release, I & II, God Destroyer delivers two very solid blissed out drone experiences. Excited to see what this band can do with a full-length opportunity. For fans of Stars of the Lid and Thje, Enjoy!

Ajshbka


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New Zealand's, Thje 2010 release Ajshbka. Ambient/folk drone similar to Natural Snow Buildings or Twinsistermoon. Highly recommended, enjoy!


Thursday, August 18, 2011

Ashes Against the Grain


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I get shit for liking this band, but Agalloch's Ashes Against the Grain is a solid album combining many styles I enjoy from black metal to post-rock to even neo-folk influence at time. Hailing from Portland Oregon, Ashes Against the Grain captures the feeling of the woods with catchy melodic guitar hooks, black metal vocals with the occasional sung chorus and lengthy songs bringing an epic feel to the record. Not re-eventing the wheel or anything but Ashes Against the Grain is certainly an album I enjoy, hope you do too.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Mothers & Fathers &


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Frode Gjerstad is one of the most important characters in the Scandinavian jazz scene. The Frode Gjerstad trio consists of Frode on alto sax, Øyvind Storesund on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. The trio manages to create a "very free and spacious environment, yet with a strong unity, focus and internal logic, with sufficient variation, changes of tempo and high energy." Mothers & Fathers & is a solid example of the continuing modern free jazz scene. Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Small Craft on a Milk Sea


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Brian Eno's 2010 release Small Craft on a Milk Sea on Warp records, brings back an Eno style similar to Ambient 1 & 2 and Music for Films, in which many of the songs on the album were intended for film scores as well as some heavy hitting heavy electronic beat and Kraut vibes. Eno creates yet another beautiful soundscape that he is known to deliver. Enjoy!


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Sterile


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Buy
Philadelphia's exciting hardcore outfit Leather 7" release on Jade Tree Records, Sterile. A second 7" is coming later this month on Fan Death Records called Wretch. Think a grittier, drugged out, Cro-Mag's that only Philly would provide. Four ripping songs clocking in under 10 minutes with awesome album art. Highly recommend the purchase.

"With only a hard to find cassette demo, one sold out 7”, a smattering of blog posts and some messageboard banter in their wake, Philadelphia’s Leather have just begun to emerge from an existence unknown to all but those “in the know.” Sterile is surely not the first adjective that crosses one’s mind when confronted with the noisy hardcore on this 4 song EP, aptly described by compatriot and Clockcleaner frontman John Sharkey as the likely result “...if Tad Doyle had owned Age Of Quarrel and actually listened to it.” It’s safe to say that picking up this vinyl will mean reliving these ten minutes hundreds of times over while waiting for the next recorded dose or a chance to witness a live show (likely to be in a dilapidated warehouse or a basement as grimy as their sound)."-Jade Tree. Enjoy!


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