Spacerocktober!

Who's that above? Why, YES! It's the triumphant return of The Olivia Tremor Control, the planet's finest Athens, GA, psych-poppers and co-founders of the Elephant 6 collective! Both they and Seattle psych-Americana chanteuse Jesse Sykes (she of the whiskey-stained velvet voice) and her extra-rocking Sweet Hereafter put on incredible better-than-merely-return-to-form shows as they passed through my neck of the woods (when I'm not satellite-bound) last month, so I'm starting off this set in honor of the two of them.

Electronic dream-pop newcomers La Big Vic capture the essence of lysergic dance music, whether 60s "happenings" or 90s raves, updated through various analog instruments and some 21st century digital. It may seem like I can't get enough Bailterspace lately, and this, since only discovering them this year, would probably be true, especially since I'm realizing how truly diverse their back catalog is - from minimal post-punk to angular agit-prop to swirling shoegaze, and beyond - as this foray into motorik rhythms illustrates. Another recent fave of mine, Woodsman also capture a bit of that kosmische forward-momentum and combine it with somewhat more rockist tendencies.

Speaking of the RAWK, let's bring this up a notch or hundred with a new ballistic assault from White Hills, from their Thrill Jockey debut, this track validating their rightful place as leading modern psych monsters. Even acid- rock is making a comeback these days as stoner sludge power trio W.I.T.C.H. aptly demonstrate (some of that inspiration may come from their drummer, one J Mascis, moonlighting from his day job as iconic 90s-era slacker rock guitar mangler and laconically tortured vocalist/songwriter with Dinosaur Jr.). Austin alt-metallers Helms Alee's second album is an even more exploratory affair, as they push all the boundaries of the genre. Long Beach psych-balladeers Crystal Antlers tone down the histrionics just a tad on their latest release, as this ode to SoCal summers tinted through psilocybin sunglasses shows. And speaking of psychedelic ballads (a theme revisited for the last song of this set), MV & EE borrow a heaping spoonful of grinding guitar pathos from their spiritual godfather Neil Young on this epic track.

The next segment of songs is thematic in that it's informed by the tendency among some facets of spacerock to wander aimlessly to a psychedelic mantra only these jammers can feel. Woods (not to be confused with Woodsman, above) trade mostly in fey fragile folk-psych, but at least once per album they include a lengthy excursion into improvisation like the one included here. More than a little Syd Barrett informs Woods' trajectory as this meandering instruMENTAL jam from his post-Pink Floyd daze confirms. The realm of improvi-psych would not be complete without O.G. krautrockers Can, so I've chosen one of their mid-period classics which melds disorienting dub groove to acidic guitar stabs. Related to the Barrett-era Floyd, I've included some material from their contemporaries (and fellow swinging London U.F.O. Club regulars), the jazz-inflected spacerockers Soft Machine, who were somehow left off my previous space jazz installment. Pan-European (Spain, Austria, Germany) "intergalactic psychedelic space jam band" Interkosmos fit right in with this theme, although I don't know much about them really except they must have extensive krautrock collections. And back to the psych ballad concept, Japan's Boris - who released two simultaneous albums this year, one refining their "heavy rocks" side and one exhibiting a hybrid breed of post-shoegaze metal) - bring us a crashing crescendo finale with this recent magnum opus. Whew! This set packs a lot into two hours!

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Hushed By Devotion - Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Marble Son
Holiday Surprise Parts 1, 2 & 3 - The Olivia Tremor Control - Music From The Unrealized Film Script 'Dusk At Cubist Castle'
Mr. Broken Bird - La Big Vic - Actually
D Thing - Bailterspace - Wammo
Insects - Woodsman - Rare Forms
The Condition Of Nothing - White Hills - H-P1
Seer - W.I.T.C.H. - Witch
Epic Adventure Through The Woods (Sucker Punch) - Helms Alee - Weatherhead
Dog Days - Crystal Antlers - Two-Way Mirror
Bedroom Eyes - MV & EE - Barn Nova
Sol Y Sombra - Woods - Sun And Shade
Lanky (Part 1) - Syd Barrett - Octopus
Flow Motion - Can - Flow Motion
A Door Opens And Closes/10:30 Returns To The Bedroom - Soft Machine - Volume Two
Hypnotizer - Interkosmos - s/t
Aileron - Boris - Heavy Rocks



But don't forget, you have the option of spacerock to go:

1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

Back To School (Again)

Okay class, listen up! This month's lesson is on Progressive Rock, or as afficionados affectionately call it, "prog". This term can also be used in the derogative by its detractors. I fall squarely with one foot in each camp: while prog is definitively a subcategory of space rock, it can also be overly intellectual, cold, dry, convoluted and wanky. Therefore I have culled a set to illustrate what good prog can be, even if many of these bands would never categorize themselves as such. It is by no means meant to be comprehensive because, a) these sets almost always adhere to my self-imposed two-hour limit rule (makes for a more digestible podcast), and, b) I've left off the wanky bits, so you won't see any Yes, Rush, ELP, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull or Genesis. Besides, those acts are way too commercial/accessible for my fringe tastes.

An overview, taken with a grain of salt for a few inaccuracies, can be found here.

We begin with Akron/Family, who, in seeming tribute to krautrock collective Amon Duul II (arguably one of Germany's finest prog bands), apparently live in true hippie/rocker communal style. They're practically a cult. They combine elements of Americana, psychedelia and freak folk with their prog, not to mention some serious guitar prodigiousness. But since I've included many of their best tracks in previous sets, I let them open this set with a short burst of Eastern-tinged guitar mantra of a teasing brevity, the better to get you to explore their other work (use the search bar on the top left).

Next up I break one of my own rules again (for maybe the third time) by including a live track, Queen's epic "Brighton Rock". This is one of the rare occurrences where the live version, if not improves, greatly expands on the studio version, in this case via Brian May's guitar explorations which are not only extended, but enhanced by a triple delay effect, going one better than the double delay on the original recording, not to mention Roger Taylor's timpani section (not quite a drum solo - we wouldn't want anything that wanky).

Then we have a truly obscure piece, all but unknown except to the most dedicated Floydophiles. On the second half of Pink Floyd's 1969 double album Umma Gumma, each bandmember contributed one composition of supposedly entirely their own creation. Amid absolute stinkers by his bandmates (save only Roger Waters' pastoral soliloquy "Grantchester Meadows"), it is David Gilmour (of course) who stands heads above the rest with his triptych "The Narrow Way", a piece illustrating the genre's penchant for songs constructed of suites, or multiple parts of developing themes. Have you heard this track before? Aren't you glad you now have?

One of the bands most historians credit with leading the development of space and prog rock was Hawkwind. Despite a touch of wankiness in the guitar work and an overall comic book sci fi silliness to a lot of their material, they definitely had their moments, as this track illustrates. And of course some of the most beloved progsters spent time in King Crimson, from guitar virtuoso Robert Fripp who developed a unique fretboard style enhanced by his self-designed effects known as Frippertronics, to bassist/vocalist Greg Lake (later of ELP), to latter-day heroes drummer Bill Bruford, bassist Tony Levin, and guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew. Instead of the obvious choice of "In The Court Of The Crimson King" I went with the title track of the more obscure, and arguably superior, Lark's Tongues In Aspic album.

Then back to relatively recent times with an coincidentally named (wink wink) track from Sleeping People, an offshoot of the equally abstruse SF indie math rockers Rumah Sakit, both bands sharing a penchant for confounding time signatures and intricate guitar/rhythm section interplay. Continuing in that vein, Battles presents a point of access to such sometimes impenetrable complexity of said genre with an exuberance and zeal that are infectious. And straddling the line between "college rock" (as they once called angular and angsty indie rock artists in the 90s such as Pavement and Archers Of Loaf) and proggy guitar excursions lies Joan Of Arc, and this track (with a title riffing on Ginsberg's Howl) from their most recent release is some of the finest work they've done over their long and prolific career.

Underground circuit guitar collaborator Chris Forsyth put out an eponymous solo release which bristles with improvisational creativity, incorporating Fahey-esque finger picking, avant garde atonalism, psychedelic drone and old-timey back pork porch boogie. Phenomenal album. Portland instrumentalists Grails have dabbled in all aspects of the blanket term space rock including modern post rock and old school prog, with a soundtrack-y quality to most of their work. This track from their latest release conjures grainy 70s avant garde films and smokey vintage psych and krautrock, and amply demonstrates how far they've come over the course of their substantial output. Ostinato (named for the musical term meaning "a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm") also harken back to prog's inception with a timeless sound equal parts 60s British baroque, 70s German motorik and modern American postrock.

And I leave you with a multi-part barnburner from the latest album by the undisputed masters of prog-PUNK, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Smashed instruments, glam and postpunk leanings, and epic ambition make this Austin Texas group the future of prog.

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Fuji I (Global Dub) - Akron/Family - s/t II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT
Brighton Rock - Queen - Live Killers
The Narrow Way Parts 1-3 - Pink Floyd - Umma Gumma
You Know You're Only Dreaming - Hawkwind - In Search Of Space
Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part 2 - King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Fripp For Girls - Sleeping People - s/t
White Electric - Battles - Gloss Drop
I Saw the Messed Blinds of My Generation - Joan Of Arc - Life Like
Paranoid Cat Parts 1-3 - Chris Forsyth - Paranoid Cat
Almost Grew My Hair - Grails - Deep Politics
Goal Of All Believers - Ostinato - Chasing The Form
Strange News From Another Planet - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Tao Of The Dead



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:

1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

Summer Round-Up

Howdy spacerockers! For the August set I've assembled some loose ends and odds 'n' sods to wrap up a lot of the material I've been listening to over the course of the summer - some bands have been featured in previous playlists but I needed to get in a second or third song by these artists cuz I dig 'em so much. Hopefully you do too.

Starting off, a lengthy journey with Stereolab from their first album in a long time that actually sounds fresh, since their last half-dozen or so releases are pretty same-y, basically the same album over and over (hey, if it ain't broke...). The appropriately titled Not Music is worth picking up, as it harkens back to their glory days of Transient Random Noise Bursts through Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Moon Duo, the Wooden Shjips spin-off, have a recent release that's easily on a par with either act's best work, as this scorcher amply illustrates. Another track from The Oscillation further shows what incredibly good taste and influences these cosmic rockers have (and sounding more like Primal Scream than Primal Scream does these days). Pocahauted mix a bit of dub and lo-fi scuzz into their brand of psych, to delicious disorienting effect. Another track from my recent faves The Black Ryder further reveals their blatant Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine worship, which is a fine thing in my book.

Implodes is a strange bird, from the active-verb moniker to the gauzy waves of blissful haze they conjure, seemingly in homage to the sadly AWOL Flying Saucer Attack. Louisville KY math/spazz/post rock vets Parlour return as well, with a more expansive and less claustrophobic track, showing off their diversity and also their more trance-inducing side. A spin-off of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees (and thus Volcano Choir), All Tiny Creatures put out a satisfying collection of low-key psych, coming off a bit like Bon Iver (whose Justin Vernon contributes to one track) jamming with Animal Collective on home-brewed laudanum, or as my friend and fellow music writer Ned Raggett puts it, "breezy, uptempo song(s) that (are) part motorik zone, part kicking it on a relaxed afternoon." Continuing the gentle narcotized state, Damon & Naomi, long ago the rhythm section for Galaxie 500, really hit their stride when they started jamming With Ghost, the namesake Japanese psych collective whose instantly recognizable lead guitarist Michio Kurihara elevates their understated bliss folk to new heights with his stratospheric solos.

Kelley Stoltz, a longtime veteran of the SF psych scene, pays homage to all his heroes from Syd Barrett to Roky Erikson to Echo & The Bunnymen on his albums, yet comes off entirely his own artist, as this tracks shows off his softer space-troubadour side. Although I dearly love his more manic side, this track fits better in the theme we're exploring here, a bit of hammock-hanging summery psychedelic. Continuing into the sea of reverb (and slowly building the mania), Crystal Stilts also wear their influences proudly on their sleeves, from Ennio Morricone to Phil Spector to sinister garage rawk drone. It seems appropriate here to exhibit the spacier side of equally manic absurdist art rocker (and desert denizen), the dear-departed Captain Beefheart and his (aptly named) Magic Band, this track long pre-dating the similarly pointillist impressionism of latterday post rock.

See where we're going now? A bit of panoramic cinematic spaghetti-western twang segues into all-out desert sprawl by way of another track from The Desert Sessions. For those of you not quite familiar with Josh Homme and cohorts' past before these supergroup sessions that I've been featuring I've included a track from his main project Queens Of The Stone Age, as well as that band's previous incarnation as Big Sky sludge metal wizards Kyuss, straight outta Palm Desert CA. Keeping it grungy, True Widow bring a minimalist shoegazing ethos to the maximalist tendencies of psych-metal. And French metalgazer Alcest finishes us off with an epic-length opus re-released from his early daze.

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Silver Sands - Stereolab - Not Music
Fallout - Moon Duo - Mazes
Liquid Memoryman - The Oscillation - Out Of Phase
You Do Voo Doo - Pocahaunted - Make It Real
Let It Go - The Black Ryder - Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
Meadowsland - Implodes - Black Earth
Sea Of Bubbly Goo - Parlour - Simulacrenfield
Glass Bubbles - All Tiny Creatures - Harbors
I Dreamed Of The Caucasus - Damon & Naomi - With Ghost
Mean Marianne - Kelley Stoltz - Antique Glow
Alien Rivers - Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion
Kandy Korn - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Mirror Man
Coward's Way Out - The Desert Sessions - The Desert Sessions, Vol. 1
Better Living Through Chemistry - Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
The Law - Kyuss - Wretch
Doomser - True Widow - As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth
Le Secret - Alcest - Le Secret



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:

1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

Summertime...

...and the livin' is SPACEY!

So why not a rambling, ambling, bRambling summery set? Like lying in the hammock on the front porch at twilight watching the comets and satellites and pondering DEEP SPACE, this set should conjure the bliss of summer and space simultaneously. What better place to start than SF space-folkies The Dodos? Their poly-percussive acoustic-to-fuzz blasts and ethereal harmonies are what summer music is all about. Another stalwart on the SF psych scene, Lumerians bring the drift and sway to your myoclonic hammock, creating passage to the semiconscious state best achieved on warm summer evenings. Altered states are what The Black Ryder are all about, and this track is no exception with its wall of guitar trance and transcendence. And how about "surfgaze" (surf rock + shoegaze)? Can that be a genre? It certainly won't seem far-fetched after you hear this track from the guitar-centric gals in No Joy.

Continuing on from previous playlists, I'm still exploring the oeuvre of Bailterspace, and their unlikely melding of beauty and chaos, thus this track from what many call their finest album. Similarly, Swirlies combine dream pop jangle and sturm-und-drang metallic crunch on this track from what appears to be their career opus. Yet another track from The Psychic Paramount, more monstrous motorik for your pleasure. And the recent self-titled Bardo Pond could be called their best yet, without hypebole. Witness the grandeur of this track.

The strummin' and pickin' of that track (rather uncharacteristic for Bardo Pond, until the distortion storm hits) eases a segue into back-porch heat-lightning acoustica for the rest of the set. Blues Control is just plain WEIRD. Their modus is usually ultra lo-fi meandering with prominent piano and ubiquitous noise, but this track is more of an off-kilter folky rumination. The all-star Desert Sessions make another appearance here (see previous installments) with an aptly named twangy blooz jam. Avant guitarist Chris Forsyth shows us his hip-shakin' side. Gunn-Trusckinski Duo (on guitar and drums, respectively ) continue the theme with their take on acoustic raga. Ben Chasny's Six Organs (he's the lead guitarist for Comets On Fire) excels at such mantric explorations, as is compellingly illustrated here. The UK's answer to John Fahey, James Blackshaw fits right into this set, for obvious reasons. And why not cap it off with the epic somnambulant bliss of Japan's Acid Mother's Temple? Indeed.

Nighty-night!

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Going Under - The Dodos - No Color
Atlanta Brook - Lumerians - Transmalinnia
Gone Without Feeling - The Black Ryder - Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
Hawaii - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Get Lost - Bailterspace - Robot World
San Cristobal De Las Casas - Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World Of The Salons
DDB - The Psychic Paramount - II
Just Once - Bardo Pond - s/t
Glen Fandango - Blues Control - A Full Tank
Creosote - The Desert Sessions - Desert Sessions, Vol. 10
New Pharmacist Boogie (For Jack) - Chris Forsyth - Paranoid Cat
Taksim II - Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Sand City
S/Word & Leviathan - Six Organs Of Admittance - Asleep On The Floodplain
The Elk With Jade Eyes - James Blackshaw- O True Believers
Soleil De Cristal Et Lune d'Argent - Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Univers Zen Ou de Zero a Zero



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:

1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

Moona-inna-Joona...!!!

I wanna sing-ah about the moon-ah in-ah June-ah...! I wanna sing-ah about the moon-ah in-ah June-ah...! Sing a tune-ah...! To La Luna...!!! Or however that lyric goes... We all love the moon in June, but after all this crappy non-springlike terrestrial weather, I think we need some SUN!

Okay! We survived the rapture, or at least the cool kids are still here on earth, so I'm providing some more space rock for your earthly pleasures. If we all succumb to flesh-eating vampire demon zombies, at least we can have a good soundtrack, eh? This installment is meant to be a soothing balm, softer textures and motorik grooves for moving on, and getting our Circadian rhythms back on track after the big debacle of almost losing a summer due to bad weather and even badder religion. This one may even appeal to some of my more weak-hearted listeners who can't take the fever-pitched intensity of a regular SRC set. This is not intentional - I just assembled this set with my usual stream-of-consciousness approach. If I ever offend anyone's delicate sensibilities you've no one but yourself to blame.

We start with the aptly named Maserati, always reliable for sleekly designed transport, maneuverable and speedy enough to blur the landscape. Parking on the tarmac, for the next part of our journey we go airborne with Pete International Airport, the side project of Dandy Warhols guitarist Peter Holstrom. Our voyage then detours into inner space and you crank up the in-flight headphones for newcomers The Oscillation, sounding like a perfect melding of Primal Scream and Spacemen 3. Then it's back in time over desolate land and psilocybin flashbacks with The Desert Sessions, the series of on-again-off-again jams hosted and recorded by Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, and featuring diverse guest stars from across the spectrum (his own band and members of Mondo Generator and The Eagles Of Death Metal, sure... but can you imagine Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Mark Lanegan, Dean Ween, Twiggy Ramirez, Blag Dahlia and P. J. Harvey in the same room?).

The Solar Bears take us straight to the heart of the sun, the Lilys through fields of hallucinogenic pastoral beauty, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik on through a night journey, and Kenseth Thibideau (bassist for Rumah Sakit, Tarentel, Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, Sleeping People, et al., on his first solo venture) delivers us to an address on the moon. For more exotic addresses we can rely on Bailterspace and The Psychic Paramount.

O. G. krautrockers Faust remind us of the influence of Teutonic mindscapes on the psyche of space rock and Disappears continue the travels with a lengthy motorik passage. We get temporarily lost in the improvisational mind-fog of astral travelers Magnog, then are re-routed on our course at juggernaut velocity with Belong. Then The Church take us to the dark side with one of the most ominous tracks of their lengthy and illustrious career.

Swervedriver have always had an aspect of forward momentum, like driving a sooped-up 70s Camaro at reckless pace across the nation's highways. And Sonic Youth adopts this continued theme of movement which we have explored in this set with an epic improv they contributed to the soundtrack for a recent obscure French film, which turns out to be some of their finest work!

Quite a journey, eh? Now... we rest. Until next month... keep listening! This one should last you a while.

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
No More Sages - Maserati- Passages
Repeater - Pete International Airport - s/t
Telepathic Birdman - The Oscillation - Veils
Girl Boy Tom - The Desert Sessions - Desert Sessions, Vol. 1
She Was Coloured In - Lilys - She Was Coloured In
Ertrinken - Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - s/t
Moon 2 - Kenseth Thibideau - Repetition
GA9 - Bailterspace - Capsul
N6- The Psychic Paramount - II
Herbststimmung - Faust - Something Dirty
Revisiting - Disappears - Guider
Lost Landing - Magnog - s/t
Come See - Belong - Common Era
It Could Be Anyone - The Church - Magician Among the Spirits
Never Lose That Feeling/Never Learn - Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Theme D'Alice - Sonic Youth - Simon Werner A Disparu



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:



1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

Apocalypse now?

Yeah, by now we've all seen 'em. The Billboards across the globe naming the date of our doom... too bad for us non-believers and spacerockers... I don't know about you but I have a beer circus to go to on May 22nd. Mighty inconvenient, I must say. Aw, fuck the silly religionistas! You don't get more retarded than that. Their heads may be in the clouds but OURS are in SPACE! Where to go from here, except into the apocalyptica! I've assembled a set loosely based on this theme... whether it's the lyrics, the title, or just a general feeling of apocalyptic dread (especially in the case of instrumentals), the songs in this set should tide you over until your judgment day. As for me, I openly, unapologetically, mock all Xtian 'tards, and I will see you in June! (although if all Xtian 'tards were to be swept off the earth on May 21st I would actually THANK GOD!)

One of my favorite-ever Echo & The Bunnymen tracks (another low-quality mastering job from the early days of CDs so TURN IT UP!) is a fitting place to start - not that it's specifically on-subject, but it certainly conjures the fall of mankind for me. One of the first record reviews that I read which turned me on to the Bunnymen was a single-paragraph brief that concluded "...and there's always a guitar going berserk somewhere in the background." SOLD! And 'Heaven Up Here' is still one of my desert island classics.

The latest Kriedler album is one of their best, and it explores heavier-than-their-usual percussion and ominous atmospherics. Vessels is a new discovery for me, and I dig how they expand on formula post rock by stretching it in unique directions.. math rock, jazz, noise, etc. Caspian, Mono and Explosions In The Sky are more in the trad post rock vein... well, hell! They're also some of the originators, and nobody makes dynamic hellfire-and-damnation instrumental rock drama like they do.

Then we bounce back from that epic and tense post rock segment with a little apocalyptic boogie from SF's Lumerians from their recent full-length debut. Then we pile drive straight to hell with the mantric motorik juggernaut that is The Psychic Paramount (you might even have to turn down a hair at this point...or not - these guys record in the red). And you don't get much darker than the last track on the otherwise 90s-mining debut by the UK's Yuck, as this track delves deep into bleak shoegaze murk.

What set of apocalyptica would be complete without Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'? Except I try to avoid the obvious whenever possible, so I've instead chosen the Flaming Lips version instead - they recorded a song-by-song interpretation of said seminal space rock album with cohorts including their sister Band Stardeath & White Dwarfs, and guest stars like Henry Rollins (?!) and Peaches (?!?!?), and it's by far the best tribute I've heard.

The set lightens up a bit here with a few tracks of acid-damaged neo-hippie post-modern psych/folk/blooz whatchamacallit it from Dead Meadow, Akron/Family and Vietnam, kindred spirits and children of the forest all. Where did they get this disposition? Why from the original krautrock fairy kings of Amon Duul II of course! Who here inject a little self-aware snark into the darkness. Another band influenced by that era of kraut-psych and experimental rock, and probably the most-often included artist here on the Continuum, is Grails, with yet another stellar track from yet another flawless album.

The new self-titled 16th album from Bardo Pond may be their best yet, and this track certainly falls into our category here. I found an appropriately titled monster of a track from one of the various offshoots of the Acid Mother's Temple collective to supply this set's crescendo, and as our denouement, a decidedly out-of-character yet on-subject little ballad from Sonic Youth.

And if on the 21st of this month you should whiff some brimstone, hear the rumble of four horsemen and see the skies rend apart... well, just remember this line from an old Flaming Lips song: "...hell's got all the good bands... anyway."

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Over The Wall - Echo & The Bunnymen- Heaven Up Here
New Earth - Kriedler - Tank
Altered Beast - Vessels - White Fields & Open Devices
Crawlspace - Caspian - The Four Walls
Gone - Mono - Travels In Constants
It's Natural To Be Afraid - Explosions In The Sky- All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Burning Mirrors - Lumerians - Translaminnia
Para5 - The Psychic Paramount - Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural
Rubber - Yuck - s/t
Time/Breathe (Reprise)/The Great Gig In The Sky - The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side Of The Moon
'Til Kingdom Come - Dead Meadow - Old Growth
Another Sky - Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT
Apoc-LA-lypse - Vietnam - The Concrete's Always Grayer On The Other Side Of The Street
Apocalyptic Bore - Amon Düül II - Vive La Trance
Doomsdayer's Holiday - Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday
Don't Know About You - Bardo Pond - s/t
Dark Side of the Apocalypse - Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno - Ominous From the Cosmic Inferno
Do You Believe In Rapture? - Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:



1. Click on the Divshare (oh, looks like it's kadoo now? WTF?!?!?) logo instead of pushing the play button.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

The Crunch and The Swoon

This set is all about two great tastes that go great together: the crunch and the swoon. The Trail Of Dead are certainly known for their crunch, with swooning prog arrangements and the crunch of shattered guitars. Their new album, as represented by this track, doesn't short change. Mogwai, of course, are the undeniable masters of crunching layers of guitar and swooning dynamics, as illustrated by this track off their latest. And krautrock O.G.s Faust (who seem to have splintered into at least two Fausts with different members that are still going strong and releasing albums 40 years later) has gotten crunchier over time as this abstract jam shows.

From there we swerve into the realm where crunch and swoon were most effectively cross-bred: that of SHOEGAZE. For those of you who somehow were and remained so out of touch that you haven't heard the term before, shoegaze refers to rock and pop bands with less stage presence than effects pedals, which they would stare at while strumming innocuous looking chords that sweetly made our ears bleed and minds spin (mostly in the UK, circa late 80s/early 90s). Since I'll be veering between the vintage originators (see parentheses above) and postmodern shoegaze you lucky listeners will have the opportunity to reach for your volume controls at every song start, as the mastering of the old stuff vs. new stuff varies wildly. Have fun with that - wish I could watch (snark). Better yet - just keep the volume at maximum, eh?

Swervedriver put the crunch into a hybrid of 70s American car rock and keening British guitar blast back in the heyday of shoegaze; LA glamsters Gliss crackle with barely restrained angst in their updated take on the genre; long-defunct Curve brought a techno feel to their version of the gaze, all dark tumultuous programmed rhythms and monster guitars; the modern SF gals in No Joy aren't shy with the volume on their take on swirling new gaze; Pale Saints brought an angularity into the staid open chord fuzz of most of the old school; My Bloody Valentine is an obvious choice here, but at least I've supplied you with a somewhat obscure track from the pre-Loveless days; Airiel act like the genre never went away and manage to out-bombast the founders; the relatively obscure Lilys bring the bliss to bliss pop (another overused term along with shoegaze); and Swirlies songs sounded quite convincingly like MBV outtakes circa Feed Me With Your Kiss, but who could bemoan them for that?

Bailterspace weren't strictly shoegaze - they dabbled in everything from Wire-esque minimalism to Swell Maps style deconstructivism to the absurdity of The Fall's Mark E. Smith - but this track emphasizes a foray into both the swoony and the crunchy that we've been discussing. Their progenitors The Gordons hinted at this approach but were also heavily influenced by Sonic Youth-y dissonance and mayhem. Speaking of Sonic Youth, I recently finished the installment of the 33-1/3 series of books discussing the creation of seminal albums which concerned Daydream Nation, so I had to include one of the best songs from that classic (but so many to choose from!) here.

And to wrap up this set, a diptych tribute to the phenomenal, life-changing show I just witnessed on a recent trip to the terra firma: doom mantra duo Om (with Emil Amos from Grails on drums!), and the return, after an eight-year hiatus, of the founding fathers of Montreal instrumental post rock, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Epic, it was. I hope this set is too.

For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
The Fairlight Pendant - ...And You'll Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- Tao Of The Dead
Batcat- Mogwai - Special Moves
Tell The Bitch To Go Home - Faust - Something Dirty
Sci-Flyer - Swervedriver - Raise
Fade Away - Gliss - Love The Virgins
Wish You Dead - Curve - Doppleganger
Ghost Blonde - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Ordeal - Pale Saints - In Ribbons
Honey Power - My Bloody Valentine- Tremolo
You Kids Should Know Better - Airiel - The Battle Of Sealand
Snowblinder - Lilys - In The Presence Of Nothing
Jeremy Parker - Swirlies - Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Tag - Bailter Space - Capsul
Right On Time - The Gordons - s/t
Cross The Breeze - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Thebes - Om - God Is Good
Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.



But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:



1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button.

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.

3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!