Day of the dead: How much must we lose to man-made storms? The tide has come in.

As seen from my perch in OUTER SPACE: Above, three storms converge. In the next photo below, FRANKENSTORM, the confluence of undeniably man-made climate change. Any questions?

'Nuff said. Moving along, this is absolutely one of the greatest things I've ever seen and heard:



Thai traditional space rock?!?!? Whatever it is, it rules.

Now on to the music, a set designed to sooth your frazzled nerves, the calm your troubled soul, to make you forget the scary things in life, like Frankenstorms, Halloween and baseball.

First off, from Portland OR, the one-man enigma known as Au has always had an impressionistic streak, but on this aptly named track he uses an almost pointillist method (think Seurat or Pissarro) and translates it to sound. SF trad-proggers Crime In Choir have a way of making vintage sounds new again and a celebratory catharsis to their own epics. My Best Fiend conjure Pink Floyd's Roger Waters at his most Wall-era tortured, and splice that into a hypnotic mantra-like tapestries. And of course, the Modfather Paul Weller has always dabbled in a bit of psych with his post-Jam "heavy soul" solo releases.

Exploring the late 80s paisley underground one can unearth a continuous flow of obscure gems, here represented by Steve Wynn, who has recently made a return-to-form of his Dream Syndicate era (his Miracle 3 are the closest he's come in assembling similarly-minded musicians), with a track that might likely be an ode to those halcyon days. And we then go back to the very days themselves with his former bandmate Kendra Smith (sadly AWOL for a very long time now) who demonstrated her own formidable psychedelic talents with her partner in ex-Rain Parader David Roback when they formed Opal (which would morph into Mazzy Star when Kendra was replaced by Hope Sandoval).

Full disclosure: the talented and under-exposed husband/wife team of Gary Williams and Liana Dutton Williams, who comprise the singing, songwriting and instrumental core of Honeyslide, are dear friends of mine, and I dare anyone with a soft spot for chill-inducing harmonies and breathtaking dynamics not to be moved by this track. And I think they share the ability of the Santa Cruz psych-folksters in Sleepy Sun of melding historic sounds with "modern" production values, yet another example of making the old new again.

To that end, the following artists seem very traditional indeed, yet all are 21st century pioneers of vintage-sounding but forward-looking psyche-fucking-delic RAWK: Pond, the spinoff band of last year's accolade-accumulating aussies Tame Impala exhibit their own unique take on the genre, with equal doses of Syd Barrett and Sly & The Family Stone. And what was once Entrance (and has since become the Entrance Band) has gone from solo folkie troubadour to full-on psych-blooz guitar mangler and allstar band, surpassing in instrumental extravagance and lyrical imagery even his own freak-folk peer, the cult of personality known as Devendra Banhart.

Then, as I often am wont to do, it's time to take it down a notch with the ethereal enchantment of the seminal psych circuit regulars, and also husband/wife duo, Charalambides (in a theme with Honeyslide above, but in a more nebulous/nonlinear format, for Tom And Christina Carter have rarely come close traditional songwriting in their prolific career). Shifting back in time again, the sadly overlooked and underrated Tom Rapp, the principle in Pearls Before Swine, stirred baroque British folk and abrasive proto-garage psych in the same pot, which resulted in an obscure stew that only those in the know have sampled. And the legacy of Galaxie 500 can never be underestimated in the canon of transcendent guitar music, with their subtle slow-burn ebbs and flows laying down the template for many to follow (Dean was the guitarist/leader but when bassist Naomi - later of Damon & Naomi, Galaxie's solo-going rhythm section - sang, it was impossible to not be utterly enthralled and entranced). This track ranks among their very best.

A feint to continue the acoustic/folkish portion of this set results in the dynamic heavy 21st century worshipers of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. known as Broken Water. It's like you've heard it before but it's still FRESH. White Fence runs the gamut of psych-pop scenemakers, yet another solo artist (Tim Presley) bringing the very best aspects of Guided By Voices and The Jesus & Mary Chain to a postmodern sensibility. Sharing the Woodsist label and its penchant for pastoral freak-folk meltdowns, Woods (featured many a time before here, and many a time to come, this time from a split with itinerant woodsy weirdo Amps For Christ) intersperse their backwoods Neil-Young-meets-the-Flaming-Lips swampy ditties with the occasional long meandering instruMENTAL workout, one of which I've included here. Again. (I can't stop)

Where to go from here? Howzabout some lengthy trance-inducing jams from Finnish freaks Circle's spinoff band Pharaoh Overlord, Nick Cave's Bad Seed compatriots in their guise as Dirty Three,who can bring a violin/guitar/drums format  to spacerockin' heights, and the only band I know that can be minimal... dark... twangy (in an almost country-western way)... and HEAVY at the same time, the aptly named (they really do mimic the rotation of the spheres) Earth? Works for me. Enjoy.

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
Epic- Au - Both Lights
Didomonico - Crime In Choir - The Hoop
Odvip - My Best Fiend - In Ghostlike Fading
Dragonfly - Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
Topanga Canyon Freaks - Steve Wynn - Here Come The Miracles
Supernova - Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
Leaves And Threads - Honeyslide - Holding Out Hope
Deep War - Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
Moth Wings - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Grim Reaper Blues - Entrance - Prayer Of Death
Feather In The Air - Charalambides - Likeness
I Shall Not Care - Pearls Before Swine - One Nation Underground
Listen, The Snow Is Falling - Galaxie 500 - The Portable Galaxie 500
When You Said - Broken Water - Tempest
Upstart Girls - White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1 & 2
September Saturn - Woods - Amps For Christ & Woods
Skyline - Pharaoh Overlord - #2
Indian Love Song - Dirty Three - s/t
Plague Of Angels - Earth - Hibernaculum
 


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



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

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access).

3. Once downloaded, drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod.

And I must reiterate, this is the way to take your spacerock mix to go! You can DOWNLOAD it! It's YOURS now! It's an mp3 mix that pops right into your iTunes - it couldn't be simpler.

RAWK-tober!

Okay freaks, this here's the RAWKin'est, heaviest, darkest, most experiMENTAL set I've compiled in a while... and I compiled it months ago, but the tunes add up and I have to get ahead of myself. In fact I've actually had the year's monthly sets all finished for a while now, trying hard not to change anything despite the staggering amount of amazing musix that keeps poppin' up in the latter part of the year. So for what it's worth, I think this set is pretty cohesive as it slides through hard psychedelic, abstruse experimentalism, pigfuck (hey, I didn't coin the term) noise, and droney, face-in-the-carpet hallucinatory whatchamacallit.

The Chemical Brothers, as their name implies, have always dwelt on the psychedelic side of electronic DJ music, and if that wasn't always obvious this track puts it smack in your face, with sitar-saturated block rockin' beats to accompany whatever trip you may be on. The illustrious Earth is, ostensibly, a slowcore metal band that mutated into a dark, heavy, quasi-americana trip, whose plodding pace and tardigrade transitions mirror the gradual yet immense gravitational shift of the planet that we live on... the louder you play them the better. For a precedent of this sludgey/doomy darkcore the next track is from the legendary Black Sabbath, the mother of all dark psych monsters. Another proponent of the genre is, of course, the Philly sludgelords Bardo Pond, who here repurpose a classic Spacemen 3 track to their own ends. Just in case you haven't been bludgeoned to the depths by the previous tracks how about one of Entrance's heaviest explorations into back-bayou voodoo blooz? Get it now?

Okay then... time to WAKE UP! Torche pack some serious wallup into their prog-metal monstrosities, yet somehow manage to bring an uplifting vibe to their heavy venom. Which sets the tone for a bar room brawl courtesy of late 80s obscure Aussie noize punx feedtime. This may inspire you to bang your head (on the low-beamed basement club ceiling, most likely), but watch you don't slip in the slime of the sweat and beer soaked dance floor. Keepin' it weird, Bunny Brains, an equally obscure band of sloppy, lovable miscreants, bring the bad trip that you knew was coming. And just in case you didn't manage to hang on to the bumper as you were dragged across the acid-drenched asphalt, along comes this classic collaboration, the marriage made in hell of psilocybin-soaked weirdos The Butthole Surfers and demonic proto-industrialists Ministry, two great tastes that go great together.

Probably best now to catch your breath, but remain as disoriented as possible, with some abstract absurdity from Finnish who-the-fuck?!?!? motorik experimentalists Siinai who recorded an entire album supposedly inspired by the Olympic Games, from which this track is culled. The DIY lo-fi folk freak who goes by the name Amps For Christ is the next signpost for this voyage to the depths of the inferno, and Austin agit-prop psychesters Indian Jewelry, with equal parts shoegazing and stargazing, open new vistas of wah-wah drone and murk that only The Azusa Plane can find a way out of, if only you're patient enough to hang on... hopefully you'll surface once again.

Finnish motorik weirdos Circle spawned a more metallic spinoff project called Pharoah Overlord that might bring you back if you don't mind traveling strange roads to get home. The Brian Jonestown Massacre always provide a handy detour, but don't expect to see any recognizable road signs or landmarks, just hold on and enjoy the ride. And the aptly-named Disappears expose a distant finish line that shimmers with the desert heat. If you made it through, consider yourselves the lucky ones.

I realize that this set makes for some uneasy listening, but sometimes a dark, strange trip is what you need to figure out where you are, and where you're going. Hopefully I've provided you with a suitable soundtrack.

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
The Private Psychedelic Reel - The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Ouroboros Is Broken - Earth - Hibernaculum
Electric Funeral - Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Call The Doctor - Bardo Pond - A Tribute To Spacemen 3
Lost In The Dark - Entrance - Prayer Of Death
Snakes Are Charmed - Torche - Harmonicraft
Shovel - feedtime - The Aberrant Years
Onic Outh (Double Pumped Version) - Bunny Brains - Bunny Magick
Jesus Built My Hotrod - Butthole Surfers/Ministry - single
Munich 1972 - Siinai - Olympic Games
Augmented/Demented - Amps For Christ - Every Eleven Seconds
Seventh Heaven - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Death Of A Microphone - The Azusa Plane - Where The Sand Turns To Gold
Laivaus 17 - Pharoah Overlord - #3
Hyperventilation - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Methodrone
Revisiting - Disappears - Guider



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



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

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access).

3. Once downloaded, drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod.

And I must reiterate, this is the way to take your spacerock mix to go! You can DOWNLOAD it! It's YOURS now! It's an mp3 mix that pops right into your iTunes - it couldn't be simpler.

We're BAA-AACK...!

And why not start off with some vintage Brazilian psych? Os Mutantes bring the psilocybin to the samba! And in keeping with the vintage theme (60s specifically) I culled some tasty nuggets for you, from The Electric Prunes to Todd Rundgren's Nazz to a piece from Jimi's most lysergic album. And The Amboy Dukes, featuring a young Ted Nugent (!) on lead guitar took all things pychedelic quite literally. In keeping with that sound I yank you back to the 21st century with Tame Impala spinoff Pond who conjure Syd Barrett from beyond the grave, then remind you how acid-damaged The Butthole Surfers were with their take on one of Donovan's signature tunes.

I know I've said it all before, but where would spacerock be without Spacemen 3 and their legacy? Trip hoppers Bowery Electric offer their tribute to the mighty 3 with this tasty cover version. Spiritualized's latest album, one of the best of the year, continues their Spacemen 3 lineage in fine form. Spacemen 3 acolytes and supposed rivals The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols trade fire in their feud to see which band is the most sincere imitation. And The Men, whose latest entry will most likely top my Best Of 2012 list, and who dabble in everything from brutal noise rock to cathartic post-hardcore, here show their lingering Spacemen 3 damage.

Shifting gears into some modern shoegaze, I Break Horses and Ringo Deathstar show us what dreampop is made of. The Chemical Brothers have always had a dreamy psychedelic side to their block-rockin' beats, and this tune is one of the best examples of it (the obvious pilferage of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" drum beat and Noel Gallagher's vox notwithstanding). 120 Days summon the motorik side of krautrock to a very modern setting. Sleepy Sun and Pontiak have a dark americana take on psychedelic music and both came out with stellar releases this year. Steve Wynn, with his Miracle Three, gets back to his roots (The Velvet Underground by way of his 80s-era Paisley Underground unit The Dream Syndicate).

So howzabout an acid-drenched scorcher from the recent White Hills joint, one of their finest releases of face-melting space rock? Or an obscure Black Mountain barnburner extracted from some recent film soundtrack work they did, which ranks up with their very best album material? And why not a trip to the recent past with a definitive Galaxie 500 track? Or the song that put Built To Spill on the extended psych guitar workout map? And why not wrap up with probably the best track (also from a film soundtrack, lest I need remind you of Singles, which was set in the burgeoning 90s Seattle grunge scene) The Smashing Pumpkins ever did (bring on the feedback symphony!)...?

Yeah, why the fuck not? Cuz... we're back!

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
Panis Et Circenses (Bread and Circuses) - Os Mutantes - The Best of Os Mutantes
I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night - The Electric Prunes - Nuggets Vol. 1
Open My Eyes - The Nazz - Nuggets Vol. 1
Journey To The Center Of The Mind - The Amboy Dukes - Journey To The Center Of The Mind
1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
Fantastic Explosion Of Time - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
The Hurdy Gurdy Man - The Butthole Surfers - Pioughed
Things'll Never Be The Same - Bowery Electric - A Tribute To Spacemen 3
Headin' For The Top Now - Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Geezers - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - And This Is Our Music
Wasp In The Lotus - The Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols
Presence - The Men - Open Your Heart
Hearts - I Break Horses - Hearts
Chloe - Ringo Deathstar - Colour Trip
Setting Sun- The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Spacedoubt - 120 Days - II
Martyr's Mantra - Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
Royal Colors - Pontiak - Echo Ono
Here Come The Miracles - Steve Wynn - Here Come The Miracles
You Dream You See - White Hills- Frying On This Rock
Mary Lou - Black Mountain - Year Zero soundtrack
Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste - Galaxie 500 - The Portable Galaxie 500
Randy Described Eternity - Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On
Drown - Smashing Pumpkins - Singles soundtrack
 

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



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

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access).

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

And I must reiterate, this is the way to take your spacerock mix to go! You can DOWNLOAD it! It's YOURS now! It's an mp3 mix that pops right into your iTunes - it couldn't be simpler.

The Who Psychedelic Mix!

As in, Who knew?!?!? I was tipped off to The Who's "Armenia City In The Sky" as "one of their finest psychedelic pop songs," or some such blather and I thought, as much as I adore the Who (Quadrophenia especially), I've never considered them even remotely psychedelic. Then I checked out the album from which said anomaly comes, and it turns out it's not the only one. I knew of The Who Sell Out as a concept album predating Tommy (the concept is mock advertising jingles and radio banter interspersed throughout the "real" songs), and of course knew the single "I Can See For Miles" (okay, maybe vaguely psych), but there are some real obscure treasures on there, as well as some prototypes for recurring instrumental themes/leitmotifs on Tommy. So I made a remix of my favorite tracks from the album for you, to hold you over until the next official SRC installment in September (another TEASER for you, my beloved spacerockers!). If you've never heard this stuff before you're likely to have the same reaction I did: The Who... TRIP OUT!

The tracks are as follows:
Armenia City In The Sky 
Melancholia
Jaguar
Early Morning Cold Taxi
Hall Of The Mountain King
Sunrise
Rael 1
Rael 2
I Can See For Miles

Teaser

Hello? Anybody listening? Okay... hiatus will soon be over, by not-so-popular demand. I can't quit you, babes.

For now, enjoy September's podcast/mp3 in advance... WITHOUT A TRACK LISTING! You'll have to wait for September to get that, but meanwhile... RAWK! This one's a freakin' doozy (if I do say so m'self)! See how many artists you can name and in September you'll find out if you're right. The SRC is comin' back in STYLE!



Oh, and... R.I.P. Bill Doss... what a loss...

May(be)

To be or not to be...



Okay, folks. The time has come for me to ponder... HIATUS. Please realize that this podcast/blog is merely a labor of love for me. I've often considered trying to reach more people, or (dare I say it?) monetize it. But why? It's not about that. It takes a lot of work compiling, writing, uploading and publishing, and I do all this for the fun of it. But sometimes I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Not many people on this planet share my tastes in music - truth be told I would never subject guests in my home to this kind of gawdawful NOISE (except spacerockin' guests, of course - you know who you are). Most of it reaches me through the safe, insulated conduit of headphones. Plus... I'm often so busy with LIFE in the outside world (believe it or not) that it's hard to find the time. So I may take an indefinite break after this installment. Go ahead... talk me out of it.

This brief-ish set is the polar opposite of last month's lengthy "esoteric, obscure, even downright absurd" set list. Herein the connoisseur and the layman alike will easily identify some run-of-the-spacerock-mill nearly household names, some not uncommon artists and titles, and some not-so-very-obscure artists covering even less obscure titles, so as to say, this is right-out-in-the-open, every day space rock. It lurks in plain sight, even right under your feet, not just in the stratosphere above. Space rock is ALL AROUND YOU.


Taking their gaze from their shoes to the open road, Ride literally leaves their peers behind on this motorik monster from their last great album, and Swervedriver of course always had a fetish for the American highway as evidenced by this homage to their vehicle of choice. The Heads and The Brian Jonestown Massacre drive us back to the psychedelic garage for a decadent acid party. Loop evolved into Main, and you can hear the connection as they emulated their peers (or merely coincided with) Spacemen 3 (then refined it into their own sound) who in turn themselves evolved into Spiritualized and Spectrum. Chapterhouse brought a bit of Cocteau Twins-esque dreaminess and dance rhythms to shoegaze, while Seefeel merged it with experimental electronica, and Slowdive here offer up a sublime interpretation of the Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra chestnut. And thus we enter the cover versions segment of the set: postpunks Siouxsie and The Chameleons both cover the Beatles, The Lips cover The Floyd, the Huskers cover The Byrds, and The Dream Syndicate cover Neil Young and Buffalo Springfield. And, speaking of The Byrds, how's this last little ditty as an apt coda for The Spacerock Continuum? See you on the other side...

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
Leave Them All Behind - Ride - Going Blank Again
Son Of Mustang Ford - Swervedriver - Raise
Coogan's Bluff - The Heads - Relaxing With The Heads
That Girl Suicide - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Methodrone
Vapour - Loop - A Gilded Eternity
Cypher - Main - Dry Stone Feed
Take Me To The Other Side - Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
Run - Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies
Sweet Running Water -Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine)
Autosleeper - Chapterhouse - Whirlpool
More Like Space - Seefeel - Polyfusia
Some Velvet Morning - Slowdive - Singles & Rarities
Helter Skelter - Siouxsie And The Banshees - The Scream
Tomorrow Never Knows - The Chameleons - Strange Times
Us And Them/Any Color You Like - The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Eight Miles High - Husker Du - single
Mr. Soul - The Dream Syndicate - The Days Before Wine And Roses
Mr. Spaceman - The Byrds - Fifth Dimension



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



1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button in the player above. 2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access). 3. Once downloaded, drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!

This is what I'm talkin' about...

And this:

Flaming Lips "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" from FutureHeart on Vimeo.

This is what floats my boat. Esoteric, obscure, even downright absurd. No April Fools about it.

This month's installment starts wandering through yet more examples of the experimental americana/traditional genre, staggers through some heavy psych, and ends up floating off through the inner/outer space of mantric drone. My apologies in advance for so many AMG quotes in the text, but I'm wearying of inventing new descriptions when somebody else can do it for me.

Directions In Music is a supergroup of sorts, featuring, according to the Allmusic Guide, "bassist Bundy K. Brown (an alumnus of Gastr del Sol and Tortoise), drummer Doug Scharin (also of H.I.M., Rex and June of '44) and guitarist James Warden (a member of 40k)", that takes the post rock aesthetic and expresses it in a very organic, symbiotic improvisational way. I'm not sure exactly why, since it doesn't really have elements of country western or bluegrass to it, but it nonetheless feels like true American music. Again quoting the AMG, because they're mostly credible on these things, if not the go-to source they were hoping to be (I can say that - I used to write for them - see the sideline on the right of this page), "experimental acoustic duo Human Bell began in 1999 when Dave Heumann, leader of Arbouretum, and Nathan Bell, bassist for Lungfish, began playing music together." So it's a pun on their names! Get it? But I dig 'em for pretty much the same reasons as I dig Directions In Music - something very geographic about their music. Sconnie multi-instrumentalist Michael Jantz (banjo, guitar, field recordings, electronics) records as Black Eagle Child and his meandering pastoral instrumentals conjure idyllic childhoods of running through misty forests and burbling creeks. And minimalist Texan duo Tom and Christina Carter have a very prolific catalog as Charalambides, a minimalist and mystifying body of work that are all somewhat variations on a theme, but it's a theme that has myriad captivating forms. The very definition of freak folk.

Fellow Chicagoans and Thrill Jockey alumni along with Directions in Music, Califone bring swampy blues and country twang to post rock experimentation. And if you have a hard time telling the difference between them and Red Red Meat, that's because they're basically the same band, fronted by intrepid leader Tim Rutilli. Drawing on anglo saxon folk but definitely NOT American, Aussie trio Dirty Three (violinist Warren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White) paint elaborate instrumental soundscapes and storming sea chanties, often exploiting a slow build formula that starts in tentative noodling and closes in furious crescendo. It doesn't hurt that their other gig is as three of The Bad Seeds backing Nick Cave. And experimental extemporaneous desert (aka "stoner") rockers, the three brothers, actually from rural Blue Ridge Virginia, of Pontiak explore the vast expanse of the American southwest as envisioned by peyote-tripping biker gangs.

What to say about the controlled chaos of splattercore freaks U.S. Maple that I haven't already? Their deceptively disjointed everybody-play-whatever-at-once cacophony must be actually tightly scripted - they'd have to be or they'd fall apart (along the lines of Beefheart, Polvo, Thinking Fellers, etc.). I keep imagining them as fitting into loosely into the americana genre but then when I spend some time listening to them I realize it's probably only their name that makes me think that (U.S. for obvious reasons, maple for the neck of an all-American Fender guitar neck?). But as such they make a nice transition here. The hypnotic maxi-minimalist pysch of the Roky-Erickson-meets-Phil-Spector-in-a-60s-exploitation-flick Brits in Clinic has strangely never appeared on the SRC before. Problem solved. Velvets-y garage psychsters Royal Baths, strangely, had to move from the very fruitful SF psychedelic scene to find some NYC grit and produce this Bo Diddlyesque stomp from their very enjoyable second album. Their fellow New Yawk scenesters, the hypno-groovers Psychic Ills have cultivated a sound derived directly from their heady lineage. And how about another track from one of my favorite discoveries of late, spacerocking postpunks The Men? This one emphasizing the Spacemen 3 guitar and motorik rhythm fetishes lurking within the heart this noisy beast.

A side project from half of Portland's Grails (featured many a time here on the SRC - hello Emil!), Lilacs & Champagne explore the members' obscure listening habits, ranging from Turkish psych of the 60s to German film soundtracks of the 70s, from the craziest kitsch to the headspinningest mindfucks, all tied together with sampled beats that wouldn't sound out of place on a D.J. Shadow joint. Speaking of Germans, the O.G. kraut-tronic duo Cluster are obviously one of the previous-mentioned's influences, so a track from them follows. Continuing in this quasi-electronic vein, the cheeky J-pop-tronic kitsch of sadly defunct punky lo-fi SF weirdos ICU (aka IQU), were one helluva fun live act to see - I caught an in-store at the Haight Street Amoeba Records back in the mid 90s - and they will be missed. Again, to quote the AMG (am I getting lazy?): "(with) standup bass, analog organ, oscillators, turntables, drum loops, samples, theremin and guitar... ICU (pronounced ee-koo) lays down its eerie hybrid in the twilight zone between DIY rock's raw edginess and drum'n'bass's trance-inducing netherworld. It's Squarepusher meets Charlie Mingus at King Tubby's studio." And Italian electro-acoustic outfit Port-Royal create swooning instrumentals with standard instruments and mostly analog synths, landing halfway between M83 and Mogwai. Still being lazy (after all, these are pretty obscure artists), the AMG sez "The Azusa Plane was the experimental drone rock alias of guitarist Jason DiEmilio, begun in 1995." Pretty out there and just plain pretty, his guitar work, augmented by a few samples and some multi-tracking, is the very definition of space rock, without the rock, perhaps, and his frequent Terrastock appearances attest to that.

So, I know I've always attempted to never repeat the same artist in any given playlist (unless it happens to be two tracks that blend into one another but are digitally separate mp3s), but here's where I make an exception: a BONUS TRACK from Charalambides! Since the previous track showcased Tom Carter's heady guitar improvisation, and fit nicely with the americana section, here I include a more drone-oriented track better highlighting Christina Carter's heavenly vocalizing, and embellished by Reichian guitar phasing . Because of their extensive catalog and the fact that I've only included them twice before, I believe Charalambides deserve a double play, don't you?

The former rhythm section for Galaxie 500 (who themselves have been done a disservice by not being included on any SRC playlist, hopefully soon to be rectified), guitarist Carl Hultgren and bassist Windy Weber have taken the subtle route of droney, mantric space jams as, simply, Windy & Carl (see the Terrastock link above - they're always favorites there). And to round out this theme we have the majesty of Mountains, "experimental ambient duo (who gather) comparisons to Fennesz, Brian Eno, and Popol Vuh... an ethereal hybrid of electronic and acoustic instrumentation recorded in real time with a small handful of overdubs" (AMG again - I'm running out of adjectives. G'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
Untitled #1 - Directions In Music - s/t
A Change In Fortunes - Human Bell - s/t
The Quarry Slide - Black Eagle Child - Lobelia
Take The Pointing Finger For The Moon - Charalambides - Our Bed Is Green
Trout Silk - Califone - Roomsound
Rosewood, Stax, Volts & Glitter - Red Red Meat - Bunny Gets Paid
Dirty Equation - Dirty Three - s/t
Shell Skull - Pontiak - Sun On Sun
The State Is Bad - U.S. Maple - Long Hair In Three Stages
Gideon - Clinic - Visitations
Burned - Royal Baths - Better Luck Next Life
I'll Follow You Through The Floor - Psychic Ills - Hazed Dream
Oscillation - The Men - Open Your Heart
Everywhere, Everyone - Lilacs & Champagne - s/t
Halwa - Cluster - Sowiesoso
Aluet - ICU - Chotto Matte A Moment!
Spetsnaz - Port-Royal - Flares
Beyond Infinite - The Azusa Plane - Where The Sands Turn To Gold
Do You Believe? - Charalambides - Glowing Raw
Nature Of Memory - Windy & Carl - We Will Always Be
Choral - Mountains - Choral



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



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

2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access).

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