June 1, 2013
Feeling June-ish
So what say, after that near-hourlong blast of post-kraut electro-acoustic mayhem from Beak> (featuring Geoff Barrow of Portishead), we start off with a bit of klassic krautrock? I've dabbled with it, but it seems sadly underrepresented on the Spacerock Continuum. First up, experiMENTAL absurdist collective Faust, who manage to simultaneously confound and rock the fuck out, and they're one of the few bands who make it seem effortless (and they're still going strong today, which can't be said for most of their peers). Harmonia was a bigger-than-the-sum-of-its-parts collab between the electronic duo of Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius) and the guitarist from Neu! and early Kraftwerk, Michael Rother. And while we're at it, how about a track from Rother's stellar solo output for good measure? Now you see how influential this stuff is on today's space rockers?
On to the new: my fellow Finns K-X-P owe a huge debt to vintage krautrock as their electro-acoustic material borrows from it heavily, with only a little updating. "Supergroup" Atoms For Peace also derive much of their sound from the motorik vibe of Cluster/Harmonia et al., as their leader Thom Yorke of Radiohead would surely admit (and check out Flea making all subtle and groovy with the understated basslines!).
Indian Jewelry were astounding at the Austin Psych Fest this year, all tribal rhythms, layers of noise and agit-prop lyrics as this manifesto would attest. Icelandic freak collective Dead Skeletons fall somewhere near, and at the Psych Fest they conjured up a storm of pagan fury on polyrhythmic workouts like this mantra. Also playing, nay virtually embodying the essence of Texan psychedelic rock, The Black Angels were heavier, both figuratively (dark!) and literally (RAWK!), than I've ever seen them.
A band I wish had played this year's Psych Fest (they've played it in the past) is Implodes, as their gauzy web of smoke and mirrors would've just increased the already hazy vibe. And here's another track from a contender for the Top Ten this year, Life Coach (aka Phil Manley of Trans Am, The Fucking Champs, et al.), this one shimmering in shoegaze splendor. And The Besnard Lakes are not only also sure to make the Top Ten, they ruled Day One of the Psych Fest (albeit in the direct sunlight of daytime!) with epic sounds like those in this little slab of ecstasy.
Boise, Idaho's Trevor Powers, as the aptly named Youth Lagoon, dabbles in murky sonic waters but aspires to the uplifting grandeur of unbouded adolescent dreams. Ensemble Pearl, a collaborative project by Stephen O'Malley of SunnO))), Atsuo of Boris, Michio Kurihara of Ghost and William Herzog of Jesse Sykes' Sweet Hereafter, with contributions from prolific avant garde violinist Eyvind Kang (talk about a supergroup! Thom Yorke and Flea who?), are the dark to Youth Lagoon's light. Lilacs & Champagne, the sample-based collage creators Emil Amos and Alex Hall (or Portland postrockers Grails), continue their psychedelic hip hop explorations on their sophomore release, taking a cue from DJ Shadow and extending it through ridiculous record collections featuring Danish porn soundtracks, obscure 70s soul and far-out Turkish psych.
Akron/Family, the urban hippie love cult with prog-folk leanings, put out another amazing record this year, as did British revivalists of the equivalent genre from across the pond, Wolf People (so good in fact I had to include two songs here, something I rarely do unless they're connected on record). Thee Oh Sees have such a wealth of amazing material I thought I'd go back a couple years for this track, despite another perfect release this year (next month, I promise!). And we wrap up with the scorching squall known as Purling Hiss, aka the Philly psych scene's Mike Polizze (Birds of Maya, et al.) who has gone from a solo bedroom recording experimentalist augmented to a full-on Crazyhorse-influenced power trio with mindblowing results. More to come from them as well. TTFN!
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:
It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl - Faust - So Far
Walky-Talky - Harmonia - Deluxe
Zyklodrom - Michael Rother - Flammende Herzen
Mehu Moments - K-X-P - s/t
Dropped - Atoms For Peace - Amok
Freak Pride - Indian Jewelry - Peel It
Dead Mantra - Dead Skeletons - Dead Magick
Twisted Light - The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow
Necronomics - Implodes - Recurring Dream
Limitless Possibilities - Life Coach - Alphawaves
46 Satires - The Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Mute - Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
Painting On A Corpse - Ensemble Pearl - s/t
Le Grand - Lilacs & Champagne - Danish & Blue
No-Room - Akron/Family - Sub-Verses
Athol/NRR - Wolf People - Fain
Contraption/Soul Desert - Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Water On Mars - Purling Hiss - Water On Mars
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.
Or could it? Some people prefer Soundcloud:
May 1, 2013
May(be)
Well it had to happen... As many of you may know I compose my monthly playlists well in advance. Basically I build them as I listen to new music and/or rediscover old music. They're carefully plotted in that way, as I choose favorite tracks with abandon then whittle them down to 2-hour sets, with only one track per artist each set, trying to include the new, the old, the classic and the current. With all the music I listen to it's impossible to remember what's in each set. So I had May, June, and a partial July set compiled when... disaster struck! I had to uninstall and reinstall my iTunes (due to an iPhone issue), and all my playlists were deleted. D'oh! Coupled with my terrestrial woes (real estate doesn't exist in space... or does it?), still not resolved at press time, this was yet another blow I was not ready to endure. But nothing lasts forever, eh? Carry on spacerockers!
So then I figured I can be fatalistic about it and just go with the flow, and so, here's an all-new set for the month of May, cobbled together almost on-the-spot, and about as zen a set as can be. No pre-meditation or conceptualization beyond trying to include more tracks from artists that we've been exploring recently. We may have lost out on the perfectly sequenced and finely edited sets that I had compiled previously, but instead we have off-the-cuff spontaneity, as well as a bit of free-associative kismet (Richard Hawley into Richard Bitch, Golden Void into Golden Awesome, etc.). There's something to be said for that. I think it came together quite nicely, actually - I hope it works for you.
Starting with a burst of anthemic power chords and searing leads, British folkie-cum-psych rocker Richard Hawley knows how to make it epic. The next Richard is a different animal entirely: Richard Bitch is a band, not a person, and this acid-damaged (but not necessarily tongue-in-cheek) take on a Van Halen riff takes us on a journey deep into the space within our minds then drops us straight back into the mosh pit to fight the maelstrom for our very survival. In keeping with that frenetic pace old-school scuzzpunk hooligans Metz bring the fury as well as a motorik drive that rivals some of their spacepunk peers The Men's energy and conviction. Also known for their manic stage antics - all costumes, chants and ritualistic dancing - enigmatic Swedish freaks Goat bring some psychedelic shenanigans to their fuzz-bass funk.
Goat were absolutely phenomenal at the Austin Psych Fest which I just attended; so were the next two acts: Icelandic shoegazers Dead Skeletons also have a tribal, pagan element to their sound, as evidenced by this hypnotic mantra, and The Holydrug Couple may have been the sleeper of the entire three-day fest - from Chile, this understated three-piece channels early Pink Floyd via the familial lineage of Tame Impala, Pond, et al. More from the Psych Fest next month!
Next up, Kinski's back! Man, I wish they had played the Psych Fest. Always fun, these Seattle psychsters started off as an explorative instrumental outfit with tendencies toward languid yet dynamic Pink Floyd and Spacemen 3 territories, but have since brought in vocals and turned up the RAWK. The appropriately named Implodes look inward through the gauzy membranes of consciousness. And what better way to introduce another track from the new, long awaited/highly anticipated blah blah blah... thoroughly entertaining yet at times disappointingly mediocre (it's good, but it took 22 years?!?!?) My Bloody Valentine record? And obviously taking their cue, yet making it their own, nu-gazers The Golden Awesome have one of the best band names around, as well as best variations on a classic sound.
Staying Golden but another trip entirely, Golden Void is a supergroup of sorts, comprised of the cream of modern day San Francisco's psych scene, including Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless and Howlin' Rain and Camilla Saufley of Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, and have more in common with Black Sabbath and Hawkwind, finding their gold in face-melting heavy-psych guitar rave ups. Speakinf face melting, Danish instrumental improvisationalists Causa Sui channel everything from prog, blues, psych, jazz and stoner rock to create an awe-inspiring mix of the trance-inducingly repetitive and the catharsis-inducingly dynamic. Also working from a place of repetition and dynamics, German three-piece Colour Haze sound way larger than the sum of their parts, with some tasty nuggets of previous power trios like Hendrix's Experience and Clapton's Cream thrown into their psychedelic whirlwind. In all honesty, these last two acts are my favorite recent discoveries light years beyond anything going on currently. Totally addicting - seek them out!
Arbouretum deals in a neo-classic epic storytelling brand of folk/blues/americana, with a penchant for mind-ending Crazyhorse-esque guitar raveups. Hush Arbors have a similar vibe ("acid country/drifter folk" as the Allmusic Guide aptly puts it), but, as seen here, also dabble in a more modern impressionistic guitar sweep. Six organs Of Admittance had one of the top ten albums last year, as usually solo acoustic guitarist Ben Chasny brought in a full electric band (his old cohorts in Comets On Fire) to prop up his sudden swerve into lead guitar pyrotechnics. Swans, too, turned in one of their best efforts last year and this sprawling masterwork of tension and release attests to that. And the ever-prolific Flaming Lips put together a collection of collaborations in conjunction with International Record Store Day - this track with some ethereal fembot from the mainstream music world (I kid) was one of the most successful, not to mention how it seems to come from a dark and scary place (shades of what's to come with their upcoming album The Terror?), and should leaving you reeling long after it ends. Goodnight!
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
She Brings The Sunlight - Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
Psionic Railways 2 Mars - Richard Bitch - The Really Really Jeff Hair People
Wet Blanket - Metz - s/t
Golden Dawn - Goat - World Music
Om Mani Peme Hung - Dead Skeletons - Dead Magick
Ancient Land - The Holydrug Couple - Ancient Land
A Little Ticker Tape Never Hurt Anybody - Kinski - Cosy Moments
Scattered In The Wind - Implodes - Recurring Dream
In Another Way - My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Autumn - The Golden Awesome - Autumn
The Curve - Golden Void - s/t
Pewt'r Wozniacki - Causa Sui - Pewt'r Sessions
Roses - Colour Haze - Los Sounds De Krauts
Pale Rider Blue - Arboretum - Rites Of Uncovering
Devil Made You High - Hush Arbors - Yankee Reality
Close To The Sky/They Called You Near - Six Organs Of Admittance - Ascent
Lunacy - Swans - The Seer
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - The Flaming Lips and Eriykah Badu - The Flaming Lips And Heady Fwends
But don't forget, you also have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the arrow on the top right instead of pushing the play button in the player above.
2. Click "download" and 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.
April 1, 2013
Seasons change...
Big changes are in the works in my terrestrial life - I hope to be pulling up roots to replant them in the same general proximity, and it's a little unsettling to say the least - but the celestial treasures just keep on coming. No matter where I end up hanging my hat you can always find me here, dishing up the space rock by the platter full. This month's set features a dollop of what we've been tasting recently and a satisfying portion of some new flavors, topped off with a surprise garnish of savory cover songs.
First, a sweet random found freakout for you:
Chills, no?
Okay then. Another track from the Fairies, this one extolling their modus operandi. And another from the Trail of Dead, showing us they can still get manic. Speaking of manic, how about another from Thee Oh Sees, the SRC's band of the year for 2012? Cloud Nothings got all kindsa old school indie cred, updating the 'Our Band Could Be Your Life' early 90s ethos but psyching it the fuck out.
So... MBV. Reactions were mixed, first "album" in 22 years, everything from meh to ecstatic. My opinion on it is right in the middle: not blown away, but happy to have it. Honestly if you want to know where MBV should be now, then listen to Nadja out-bloody the Valentines on this cover. And as long we're getting HEAVY and dropping some cover versions, Kylesa was MADE for this Pink Floyd cover.
We haven't heard from Gravenhurst in a while, but this track makes up for it. Another track from Stacian illustrates their postpunk Spacemen 3 reverence. Lower Dens seem to have the Scandinavian chill-psych thing down - a real pleasure from a very esoteric band. Going back a ways, Laika channeled the polyrhythmic krautrock of Can through a 4AD filer. Miss those guys. Keeping the psych-funk going are Measles Mumps Rubella, a sick dose of nu no wave.
Then we have a seriously mixed-up melting pot of spacey styles: a collaboration between Long Beach solo psycher Sun Araw and partner in crime the avant garde experimentalist M. Geddes Gengras who together conspire with the illustrious roots reggae traditionalists of the Congos, taking lower dub to new heights; throwback postpunk gothrockers Soft Moon bring the sharp and angular while Mugstar brings the nebulous fuzz; then a drifty, droney yet dymanic journey through the soft focus psych of Flavor Crystals, the proto prog-metal of Golden Void (featuring members of Earthless and Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound), the vintage garage-psych daze of Naam, and, ultimately, the slow burn, building to the ecstatic spiraling riffage, of Carlton Melton.
Sorry for the truncated descriptions, but I'm a busy, BUSY spacerocker these days. Just LISTEN, man.
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
Never Never Land - Pink Fairies - Never Never Land
Catatonic - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Chem Farmer - Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Wasted Days - Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
Who Sees You - My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Only Shallow - Nadja - When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV
Set The Control For The Heart Of The Sun - Kylesa - From The Vaults Vol. 1
Circadian - Gravenhurst - The Ghost In Daylight
I Froze - Stacian - Songs For Cadets
Brains/Stem - Lower Dens - Nootropics
44 Robbers - Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon
Hollow Bodies - Measles Mumps Rubella - Fantastic Success
Happy Song - Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras, The Congos - Freakways Vol. 9
Want - Soft Moon - Zeros
Inearth - Mugstar - Axis
Milky Way - Flavor Crystals - On Plastic
Atlantis - Golden Void - s/t
The Starchild - Naam - The Ballad Of The Starchild
Nor'easter - Carlton Melton - Photos of Photos
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.
First, a sweet random found freakout for you:
Chills, no?
Okay then. Another track from the Fairies, this one extolling their modus operandi. And another from the Trail of Dead, showing us they can still get manic. Speaking of manic, how about another from Thee Oh Sees, the SRC's band of the year for 2012? Cloud Nothings got all kindsa old school indie cred, updating the 'Our Band Could Be Your Life' early 90s ethos but psyching it the fuck out.
So... MBV. Reactions were mixed, first "album" in 22 years, everything from meh to ecstatic. My opinion on it is right in the middle: not blown away, but happy to have it. Honestly if you want to know where MBV should be now, then listen to Nadja out-bloody the Valentines on this cover. And as long we're getting HEAVY and dropping some cover versions, Kylesa was MADE for this Pink Floyd cover.
We haven't heard from Gravenhurst in a while, but this track makes up for it. Another track from Stacian illustrates their postpunk Spacemen 3 reverence. Lower Dens seem to have the Scandinavian chill-psych thing down - a real pleasure from a very esoteric band. Going back a ways, Laika channeled the polyrhythmic krautrock of Can through a 4AD filer. Miss those guys. Keeping the psych-funk going are Measles Mumps Rubella, a sick dose of nu no wave.
Then we have a seriously mixed-up melting pot of spacey styles: a collaboration between Long Beach solo psycher Sun Araw and partner in crime the avant garde experimentalist M. Geddes Gengras who together conspire with the illustrious roots reggae traditionalists of the Congos, taking lower dub to new heights; throwback postpunk gothrockers Soft Moon bring the sharp and angular while Mugstar brings the nebulous fuzz; then a drifty, droney yet dymanic journey through the soft focus psych of Flavor Crystals, the proto prog-metal of Golden Void (featuring members of Earthless and Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound), the vintage garage-psych daze of Naam, and, ultimately, the slow burn, building to the ecstatic spiraling riffage, of Carlton Melton.
Sorry for the truncated descriptions, but I'm a busy, BUSY spacerocker these days. Just LISTEN, man.
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
Never Never Land - Pink Fairies - Never Never Land
Catatonic - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Chem Farmer - Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Wasted Days - Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory
Who Sees You - My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Only Shallow - Nadja - When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV
Set The Control For The Heart Of The Sun - Kylesa - From The Vaults Vol. 1
Circadian - Gravenhurst - The Ghost In Daylight
I Froze - Stacian - Songs For Cadets
Brains/Stem - Lower Dens - Nootropics
44 Robbers - Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon
Hollow Bodies - Measles Mumps Rubella - Fantastic Success
Happy Song - Sun Araw, M. Geddes Gengras, The Congos - Freakways Vol. 9
Want - Soft Moon - Zeros
Inearth - Mugstar - Axis
Milky Way - Flavor Crystals - On Plastic
Atlantis - Golden Void - s/t
The Starchild - Naam - The Ballad Of The Starchild
Nor'easter - Carlton Melton - Photos of Photos
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.
March 1, 2013
The Stars in March...
Sweet, ain't it?
But howzabout some modern German psych-jam muthafokkin' BOOOOOM!!! to go with it? I ain't afraid. So before we even get to the playlist try this on for size:
But if that's not enough, this month's set is a fokkin' doozy! The heaviest of the heavy, the headiest of the heady. I'm serious. Hold on to your hats and glasses, this here's gonna be a WILD RIDE! First off, Goat defy any categorization; Swedes channeling monstrous psych guitar and Afrobeat riddims, all the while mythologizing themselves as voodoo shamans, and putting on a frenzied live show accordingly. Love. This. Shit. And of course, the Trail of Dead have always dabbled in serious prog rock, their roots as post-punk deconstructivists be damned.
Then we have some newbies (to me). Naam are some Brooklyn acid casualties who know how to translate the brain-fry into music. Their manifesto? "Disgusted by the lack of heavy psychedelic rock and roll, we deliver our deafening sermon to bring a new dawn for all civilization. The vast seas cannot drown us, the darkest caverns cannot conceal us. We will conquer insurmountable foes. We are war. We are peace. We are time and space. We are infinite. We are Naam." Well... I'll bite.
Causa Sui only came to me via an obscure Facebook post by a friend of a friend who wrote something to the effect of "Scandinavian stoner jam rock" and of course I had to investigate. Not only are they NOT your typical Joshua Tree stoner rock, they actually ARE jammy. Or at least jam (improv) based. But if this is jam rock, as opposed to that noodly hippie-dippie-shake Phish bullshit, then sign me up! These guys have released a prolific quantity of "sessions", all obviously extemporaneous to some degree, and are psychedelic as FARK. Not to mention incredible instruMENTALists. Bot to mention some really long and HEAVY songs. They rank among the most amazing musical discoveries I've had in many many years. Expect much more to come from them in future installments right here.
Back to known quantities, Tame Impala and their sister band Pond are an indefatigable source of Aussie-cum-Floydian psych gems. I may have to get help to get off of them before I just end up including their entire catalog here, they have such a wealth of epic material. Okay, I'll shut up about them now. Back to the garage, eh? Sic Alps were among the loosely-gathered genre affectionately known as shitgaze, a riff on shoegaze with an emphasis on intentionally fucked up lo-fi sound (see Tyvek, Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit, et al.), but these guys have managed to surpass those limitations and become almost Elephant Six quality psych pop with their latest album, as this track attests. As does yet another sweet confection I can't seem to get enough of (and who I somehow overlooked for many years), San Francisco's finest, Thee Oh Sees. And continuing their manic drive (as well as the ethos espoused by their peers in post-post-punk pych freaks, and favorites of the SRC, The Men) we have, ladies and gentlemen, METZ. 'Nuff said.
Okay... taking it down a notch, we have yet another track from the aptly named Flavor Crystals, who, if they were a famous painter, would surely be Monet, with their soft-focus impressionistic leanings. And obscure Finns Joensuu 1685 (featured last month) take the idea of being spiritualized seriously. Speaking of Finns, the UK glam-psychsters Pink Fairies apparently had a momentous tour in Finland in 1971 and even covered this Beatles' psych classic in their own inimitable way. And yet another track showcasing that Finns are freaky (as if Circle hasn't made that fact gospel) we have another track from motorik freaks Siinai.
So on that note, let's get electronic/electronische/kosmische, shall we? Why not not ask Dan Deacon to remix Philip Glass, as long as he makes it psychedelic, eh? Works for me. As long as you're asking, Soft Moon remind me of when Cocteau Twins were a dark-psych 4AD act (check the flanged bass, amiright?). Keeping it weird-tronic is the ever-faithful Black Moth Super Rainbow, who on this track seem to exist as a bizarro-universe T- Rex. Shifting back to the RAWK, but remaining in bizarro world, both Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and Golden Void fill the gap left by a lack of 21st century Black Sabbath (although I've recently gotten wind that Ozzy may be getting the geezers back together, so to speak). And returning to one of the best albums of 2012, Howlin' Rain also channel pitch-perfect bearded American "classic rock" of the 70s with not only a straight face but serious songwriting and chops, the straight-forwardness of which comes with just a little surprise when you're familiar with bandleader Ethan Miller's's time blasting face-melting heavy psych with Comets On Fire (and taking it even further with the recent addition of Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless).
Last month I included a song from my sadly unsung old band of psychedelic warriors Wood & Smoke, just for shits and giggles (in all modesty, we had our moments, and this is one of them), and said I'd post another, so here ya go. Apologies for the demo quality of the mix. But this time I wrap up the set with the inimitable sludge/psych metalgaze of Nadja, whose otherworldly drone-und-drang seems a fitting wrap-up to one of the most frenetic playlists I think I've ever assembled. And what of that? Just what the heck got into me?
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
Goathead - Goat - World Music
Mountain Battle Song - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Lands Unknown - Naam - The Ballad Of The Starchild
Soledad - Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol. 1
Endors Toi - Tame Impala - Lonerism
Dig Brother - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Glyphs - Sic Alps - s/t
Lupine Dominus - Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
Headache - Metz - s/t
Cow In The Meadow - Flavor Crystals - Three
Crystal Light - Joensuu 1685 - s/t
Tomorrow Never Knows - Pink Fairies - Finland Freakout 1971
Marathon - Sinaii - Olympic Games
Alight Spiral Snip - Dan Deacon - Rework: Philip Glass Remixed
Remember The Future - Soft Moon - Zeroes
Windshield Smasher - Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy
13 Candles - Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats - Bloodlust
The Curve - Golden Void - s/t
Phantom In The Valley - Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds
Ballerina - Wood & Smoke - demo
Sky Burial - Nadja - Sky Burial
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.
February 1, 2013
And this is February...
WOW...
Or is it... OW...?
Does staring at the above image inspire feelings of calm and bliss, or is it painful to look at? Because visual art can be polarizing in that way. Thus, obviously, so can aural art. One person's pleasure is another's pain, one person's beauty is just noise to another person. Personally I find beauty in noise, and perhaps vice versa when I think about it. Well that polarization, that attempt at reconciliation between the sublime, the transcendent, and the ugly, the brutal... that's what goes on in the creation of psychedelic and experimental music, of space rock. Well, that's one aspect anyway. On to the music!
This month's installment is a mixed bag of leftovers and odds and sods; many of these tracks continue the list of the Best of 2012 contenders, plus, as ever, some leftfield entries thrown in via free association. Of course the Can reissue of their nominal "Lost Tapes" was monumental, bringing to 2012 tracks that have never seen the light of day since the were recorded in the 60s and 70s. The one that starts this set is one of the best of the collection, showing the band in one of their most intense and expansive grooves. Intense and expansive are also a good way to describe the new Six Organs Of Admittance (with Comets On Fire as the backing band for Ben Chasny's guitar pyrotechnics) and Thee Oh Sees (in this case I chose a song from their previous album to show they've been doing this for a while). Outer Minds bring a revitalization to classic cavern-dwelling garage rawk, replete with tandem harmonies, cheesy Farfisa, searing fuzz guitar, and anthemic rave-ups all cloaked in comforting layers of reverb.
When I included them back in December I called Pink Fairies the UK answer to The MC5, but they obviously had a lot in common with their similarly colored contemporaries in Pink Floyd, as this ethereal track demonstrates. Hearkening from the same era, obscure Italian experimentalists Sensations' Fix were sadly overlooked until last year when various collected works spanning 1971-74 were re-released. At times they remind me of Tame Impala, who I just can't get enough of, and, just as their debut full-length did, you can expect this follow-up to supply multiple tracks in various SRC playlists. Their sophomore album expands their formula to the degree that it's not as immediate as the debut, but it's a real grower, and may be just as good as it gets more seasoned over time. This track is more in line with the Lennon/Wilson/Gilmour flavor of their previous work.
As seen/heard last month, enigmatic Swedes Goat surround themselves with apocryphal back stories (voodoo rites? mythical lands?) but musically they manage to combine acid-prog guitar workouts with afrobeat rhythms and ecstatic ensemble vocal chants, and it really works. Plankton Wat (solo artist Dewey Mahood) is aptly named: plankton for murky oceanic meanderings, wat (a Buddhist temple) for transcendental tendencies. Then continuing this arcane theme is a mystical mantra from monastic minimalists Om, whose leader Al Cisneros (singer/bassplayer) is now accompanied by Grails/Holy Sons multi-instrumentalist Emil Amos in the drummer's seat. IMHO Mr. Amos takes the band to new heights.
And now for some REAL obscurities. I discovered Joensuu1685 after clicking a link from a link from a link from a link... most likely relating to obscure (yet extremely prolific and well-known in the weird music underground) Finnish rockers Circle. Here's what I know: they're also Finnish; Joensuu is a family name (it's a brother band); no idea what the number is for; they're quite the find. They're equal parts languid spiritualized shimmer and face-melting bloody valentine guitargasms, a fairly classic recipe but they add their own spices to the blend (I also don't know why this track cuts off so abruptly, but don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your music player). From there I found out they also did a full-length collab with the incredibly prolific LA shoegazing guitar wizard Brad Laner (Savage Republic, Medicine, Electric Company, Lusk, North Valley Subconscious Orchestra, eponymous solo work, et al.), and if that's not cool enough in itself, check out this track, an unlikely cover version... of a Chicago song!
Speaking of covers, what follows just begs for its own paragraph. Last year the inimitable string manglers of original-lineup Public Image Ltd. reunited... to cheers of joy across the globe from fans of John Lydon (aka the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten)'s seminal post punk absurdists. Keith Levine wouldn't know standard chording or scales if he heard them - his approach to electric guitar is one of a kind and immediately recognizable - and Jah Wobble's avant-dub basslines bring an exotic quality to anything he touches, even if it's a cover of one of the Beatles' most psychedelic songs.
Guess what! Animal Collective are still around. Even though they kinda jumped the shark a few albums back, quite possibly pursuing a larger audience and the festival circuit (their early work was simultaneously smaller and noisier, and way less accessible), their 2012 release was quite enjoyable, as this track can attest. Since Animal Collective relies heavily on sampling, it seems fit to go on an electronic excursion here. Pye Corner Audio borrow from the analog qualities of 70s kraut-tronica/kosmische music (think Cluster, Harmonia, Tangerine Dream) but it sounds anything but dated. This is music for a journey. As is Tycho, aka San Francisco producer Scott Hansen, whose icy instrumentals suggest crossing the frozen tundra on a winter day where the sun never really gets above the horizon. One of the most compelling compilations released last year, in experimental electronica or any genre, was a series of tracks remixing material from the illustrious avant garde composer Philip Glass. Most of the remakes found on this collection are reverent toward the original compositions, but the most successful ones also manage to expand and make the work their own. Case in point, the inimitable Amon Tobin, who must ravage obscure bargain bins extensively searching for the vinyl jazz breaks which he then painstakingly reassembles into very organic and live sounding rhythmic workouts. And why not another track from Siinai (see last October), another Finnish freakshow that manages to conjure both Kluster kosmische and Chariots Of Fire schmaltz?
It was nice to see yet another release from progressive noisemongers ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and this package comes with an illustrated fantasy tale that may or not go with the music. Great album too, if not ranking among their best. While we've got the volume up to HEAVY, time for another monster-psych improv from Portland acidheads Eternal Tapestry! I also can't seem to get enough of Flavor Crystals, and thought this track would show another side to their amorphous bliss-outs due to a nicely flowing motorik beat. And you SRC fans should now be acquainted with Pond, the spinoff/sister band of the aforementioned Tame Impala. But what you may not have heard yet is something from their debut album, and equally impressive release on a par with last year's Beard, Wives, Denim.
And I leave you with something I rarely do: toot my own horn (or those of close friends' bands). But I thought it was time to give sadly defunct and overlooked late 80s/early 90s Los Angeles psych rockers Wood & Smoke their due. Full disclosure: I played bass with them and remain close friends with all the core members. We never got a record label to put anything out, and the demo quality of our recordings lacks a bit, but I think you'll get the idea of what we were up to. There were two lead singer/songwriters, each with their own style, and where they came together with us in the rhythm section, and a passionate fanbase writhing in ecstacy in the audience (or often on stage with us), was a place of magic. This is one of Gary's tracks - next month I'll post one of Lance's.
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
Millionenspiel - Can - The Lost Tapes Box Set
Even If You Knew - Six Organs Of Admittance - Ascent
The Dream - Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
She Calls My Name - Outer Minds - Behind The Mirror
Heavenly Man - Pink Fairies - Neverneverland
Barnhause Effect - Sensations Fix - Music Is Painting In The Air (1974-77)
Apocalypse Dreams - Tame Impala - Lonerism
Diarabi/Goatman - Goat - World Music
Broken Slumber - Plankton Wat - Spirits
State Of Non-Return - Om - Advaitic Songs
Nothingness - Joensuu 1685 - s/t
Feeling Stronger Every Day - Brad Laner/Joensuu 1685 - s/t
Within You Without You - Jah Wobble & Keith Levine - Yin & Yang
Wide Eyed - Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Sleep Games - Pye Corner Audio - Sleep Games
Adrift - Tycho - Dive
Warda's Whorehouse (Inside Out Version) - Amon Tobin - Rework: Philip Glass Remixed
Victory - Siinai - Olympic Games
Flower Card Games - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Wholeodome - Eternal Tapestry - Dawn In 2 Dimensions
Sultan's Orders - Flavor Crystals - Three
Duck And Clover - Pond - Frond
Chains - Wood & Smoke - demo
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.
January 1, 2013
The Very Best of 2012
Ladies and gents, I present to you 2012 in a nutshell:
Just kidding - 2012 was more like this:
And now... here it is, spacerockers! My Top Ten Albums of 2012:
1. The Men - Open Your Heart
2. Tame Impala - Lonerism
3. Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
4. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifier II
5. Six Organs of Admittance - Ascent
6. Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
7. Liars - WIXIW
8. Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds
9. B. Hamilton - Everything I Own Is Broken
10. Diiv- Oshin
Honorable mention:
Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Pontiak - Echo Ono
Flavor Crystals s/t
Swans - The Seer
Torche - Harmonicraft
Maserati - VII
Goat -World Music
Magic Castles s/t
Dan Deacon - America
Guardian Alien - See The World Given To A One Love Entity
Reissues:
Can - The Lost Tapes
Feedtime - The Aberrant Years
The Azusa Plane - Where The Sands Turn To Gold
Sensations' Fix - Music Is Painting In The Air
My Bloody Valentine - EPs 1988 - 1991
But I've got a lot more than that for you, my lovely spacerockers! What follows is four hours of the tastes of 2012! Spiritualized is a no-brainer, of course; every release of theirs is accompanied by an epic-feeling vibe of the everything-just-changed-and-yet-it-remains-the-same variety. Their 2012 release is no exception, as this motorik barn-burner illustrates. Howlin' Rain emerged fully formed from the ashes of Comets On Fire, or at least from the skull of their guitar mangler-in-chief Ethan Miller, who has stripped away some of the lysergic splatter of his former band and revealed an adeptness at classic rawk that it seems obvious that it was there all the time. Classic sound, innovative arrangements, soaring harmonies and extended guitar jams make their third album one of the best of the year. If it wasn't so grounded in the traditional (thus less space than rock) it might have made Number One, although they make me realize what I love about classic 70s radio to begin with. Sleepy Sun lost one of their founding members (and only female vocalist) but they not only weathered the change but seem the better for it. More mature songwriting and continued tightening of dynamics make it a real "grower". Pontiak managed to streamline their sound even further, but the resulting dark minimalism actually makes for greater impact. The songs from this year's release virtually burst out of the speakers like explosive embers. Continuing the trad-rock-tinged-with-psychedelic that seems to to be re-emerging of late (a welcome trend, to be sure), The Young conjure not only namesake Neil, but the legacy of dark psych their hometown of Austin, Texas, is famous for.
The prolific Sean McBean and his Black Mountain managed to squeeze in some soundtrack work this year, and while some of it is the requisite hazy, sketchy instrumentals you'd expect, at least half of it lives up to their best work, as this track can attest. White Hills continued refining their genre-defining space rock and ramped up the acid dosage on their latest. Moon Duo further distinguished themselves from their sister band Wooden Shjips with deeper explorations of moody motorik psych. And Richard Hawley pulled off the sleeper of the year with his leftfield homage to pastoral, yet bombastic, classic British psych-folk.
Dirty Three just get more and more vital, and experimental, over time and their many albums, perhaps due to recent reinvigoration with Nick Cave in his Bad Seeds and Grinderman. The mighty Beachwood Sparks triumphantly returned (hence the title of this song) with some of their best material yet, further chronicling their Flying Burrito Brothers/Byrds country-psych obsession. The modfather Paul Weller continued to prove he's even more prolific, and daring, as he ages with this diverse collection of new material. Another leftfield hat trick was pulled off by obscure Danish trip-poppers Choir Of Young Believers, whose brand of atmospheric post-whatever channels everything from Sigur Ros to Portishead, while sounding like none of them.
Speaking of Comets On Fire (see first paragraph above), can you imagine what they would sound like fronted by singer/shredder Ben Chasny (whose career as Six Organs Of Admittance has been all over the solo guitar map, from Fahey-esque finger-pickin' pastorals to unsettling dronescapes to all-out space-blooz extravaganzas)...?!?!? Well that's exactly what the new full-band Six Organs joint is all about, a marriage made in heaven, definitely a contender for best of the year. Speaking of marriages made in heaven, how about one-upping it to a menage-a-trois made in avant-folk hell? Well, start with the previously mentioned Mr. Six Organs, add one Sir Richard Bishop (leader of the intrepid experimentalists and world music iconoclasts Sun City Girls) and one Chris Corsano (who somehow manages to drum for the decidedly arhythmic free-folk freaks Sunburned Hand Of The Man) and you have the illustrious trio known as Rangda (aptly named for a Javanese demon queen).
Geoff Barrow, the instrumentalist behind Portishead, put out his second installment as Beak>, and it one-ups its precursor in dabbling in motorik, kraut-tronic, experimental and progressive psych with sublimely dark and eerie results. The acoustic psych-folk of Woods also received a beefing-up with a full band and modern studio production, without sacrificing any of their playful precociousness. As heard on previous installments (and you'll be getting plenty more of them in installments to come, because they RULE), Pond, upstart sister band to the band who swept the last couple years of Best Ofs, the illustrious Tame Impala, further honed their own brand of psychedelic pop with embellishments of stone cold soul and swaggering R&B.
Busting out of the garage and into outer space, the massively prolific John Dwyer singlehandedly put the San Francisco neo-garage scene on the map with The Coachwhips and Pink & Brown, but with his latest project Thee Oh Sees he seems on the verge of world domination. With their infusion of kinetic, spastic motorik and frenetic, cathartic post-punk they leave the dry, spent husk of yet another resurgence of garage rock behind. Also ripping themselves free of the constraints of garage orthodoxy, former "shitgazers" Sic Alps put out a stunningly mature collection of a new hybrid genre unto themselves. Lo-fi ramblers White Fence have garage associations but stand heads above the rest due to a healthy dose of early-Pavement snark and Syd Barrett whimsy. B. Hamilton (a band name, not a person) also hail from the SF Bay Area's garage scene (Oakland, specifically) but manage to stand out via massive guitar tone, ballistic rhythms and dang fine songwriting. One of the year's best, if only for how unique their sound is.
Speaking of ballistic, the metal-gaze juggernaut known as Torche set everything they touch on fire with their manic energy and shimmering guitar workouts. Which leads us to... The Men. With an incredibly diverse almost indescribable amalgam of old school SST punk, mantric Spacemen 3 psych, and a somewhat more refined "pigfuck" (Melvins, Jesus Lizard, et al.) aesthetic they put out what is unquestionably THE BEST ALBUM OF 2012. Somewhat in the same vein, obscure Kiwi weirdos feedtime's body of work was collected on a 4-disc reissue this year, and we're all the better for it. And to complete the first HALF of this month's playlist, LA post-post-punk drum and guitar duo Japandroids turned in another fine album and a tasty cover of one of The Gun Club's most seminal tracks.
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
Hey Jane - Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Self Made Man - Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds
Creature - Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
Lions Of Least - Pontiak - Echo Ono
Livin' Free - The Young - Dub Egg
Breathe - Black Mountain - Year Zero Soundtrack
Pads Of Light - White Hills - Frying On This Rock
I Been Gone - Moon Duo - Circles
Standing At The Sky's Edge - Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
That Was Was - Dirty Three - Toward The Low Sun
Sparks Fly Again - Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold
Drifters - Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
Paralyze - Choir Of Young Believers - Rhine Gold
One Thousand Birds - Six Organs Of Admittance - Ascent
Idol's Eye - Rangda - Formerly Extinct
Wulfstan II - Beak> - >>
Bend Beyond - Woods - Bend Beyond
Fantastic Explosion Of Time - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Wax Face - Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
Wake Up, It's Over II - Sic Alps - s/t
Swagger Vets & Double Moon - White Fence - Family Perfume 1 & 2
Me And Margaret Counting Countdowns - B. Hamilton - Everything I Own Is Broken
Letting Go - Torche - Harmonicraft
Ex-Dreams - The Men - Open Your Heart
Dead Crazy - feedtime - The Aberrant Years
For The Love Of Ivy - Japandroids - Celebration Rock
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.
And that was only part ONE. But as I said, this is a double-duty installment, with twice the spacerockin' goodness. Here's part TWO:
I didn't coin the term "metal-gaze" that I used to describe Torche above (as well as a few other bands every now and again) but it's implication should be obvious: a melding of heavy metal's buzzsaw propulsion and shoegaze's undulating textures. It's even more apt to describe France's entry into the genre, Alcest. Their (basically his - the man known as Neige) appropriation of the more grandiose aspects of either genre makes for some majestic, blissful and heady stuff. Speaking of blissful and heady (I'm always speaking of "speaking of", eh?), Flavor Crystals are sweet, sweet head candy: their murky, pointillist, textural psychedelia has forebears in artists like Flying Saucer Attack and Roy Montgomery but they make it all their own, bringing a sense of dynamics to a somewhat static genre. As seen in November's installment, My Best Fiend's pathos-drenched power balladry is not really space rock, but the slow-burn dynamics and fuzzed-out guitar frenzy is total ear candy.
Echo Lake are purveyors of many well-known elements, from reverb-soaked 60s girl band harmonies to classic 80s and 90s bliss pop, but they bring them together so well, another confection for the ears, mind and soul. Ringo Deathstar manage to bridge the blisspop/shoegaze gap on this track, with the verses swaying gently like psychedelic hammocks until instrumental interludes blow a squall of dissonance and feedback at them until we're left spinning (and loving it). Of course, nobody did (does?) it like My Bloody Valentine, and this track from their recently reissued EP collection illustrates both sides perfectly. Who doesn't need a relatively unknown track like this one to remind us of their utter genius (though we shouldn't hold our breath for the endless promise of new material)? Broken Water take a slab of MBV bliss and slather it with early Sonic Youth noise and suddenly it's 1990 again. And how about another track from those youngsters in DIIV who have appropriated choice elements of these genres and end up sounding like some of the best of the era, twenty years gone, that you never heard of?
The enigma known as Liars returned this year with one of their best releases, capturing all the disparate guises the band has taken on, from lurching no wave, to dark experimentalism, to scattershot electronica, and distills it down into a package ranking in our Top Ten this year. Peaking Lights pick up the white kid dub where this Liars track left off, but that's their whole MO: repurposing Lee "Scratch" Perry or the Mad Professor and their ilk for the avant garde set. Their lo-fi yet deep dub riddims are enhanced by nursery rhyme vocals for a soothing accompaniment to your next mescaline trip. As long as we're on the tribal-beat nursery rhymes, Fabulous Diamonds know a ditty or two; although dark motorik is more their style, this track fits right in.
Time to pick up the pace now, which with a Maserati is always furious, bolting down the 25th century autobahn, careening around clifftop corners and narrowly missing plummeting from the precipice of their high-minded driving musick. Continuing at that speed, Dan Deacon takes you from Maserati's cruising of coastal Italian byways to the backroads and superhighways of America, which he explores in a 10-part suite he released this year. Since we're now entirely in electronic mode let's include some stellar new works by O. G. noise-collage absurdists Black Dice, and daft German bad boys Mouse On Mars, both of whom put out amazing albums in 2012. And to bridge this electro-acoustic divide, what better than Tussle's tribalism to tie them both together with analog krautronics and organic instrumentation in equal representation?
The wild card (and another sleeper) of the year is Sweden's Goat, who combine fabricated voodoo mysticism, syncopated afrobeat rhythms, rapturous group chants, and 70s acid guitars to create larger-than-life lore that in no way overshadows their enchanting debut album. A truly unique experience - can't wait for more. Another truly odd bird is Blues Control. About as contrary to their name as possible these avant gardists focus on circular piano figures augmented by anything from stand-up bass to distorted brass to fuzz guitars to electronic loops. How can anything be so head-scratching and so groovy at the same time? Maybe "Jazz Control" would be a better name. Magic Castles also conjure a mystical place and time, more pagan than even the arch-druid Julian Cope himself, at least in sound. They should be right up his alley - wonder if he knows about them...?
By and large one of the current crop bands who should endure the test of time, precisely through their homage to the past and solid foot in the present, Tame Impala's second full-length is every bit as bold a statement as their first, though they've shown signs of growth and divergence (baroque Lennon-esque pop is a somewhat new focus) and, as before, every song is a standout. Like their first, this new one is remarkable from start to finish. Another giant leap forward with roots in the past is Michael Gira's Swans, who on their sprawling new album combine the brutal tribalism of their early work with their recent foray into Nick Cave-style confessional murder ballads and lyrical Americana. And we wrap it up with freaky Finns Pharaoh Overlord, spinoff of long-standing enigmas Circle, and who can tell where one band ends and the other begins... anyway?
So happy New Year! Here's hoping 2013 brings a cornucopia of equal goodness to us all as 2012 has done, both musically and otherwise.
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
Summer's Glory - Alcest - Les Voyages de L'Âme
Broadcaster - Flavor Crystals - Three
Cracking Eggs - My Best Fiend - In Ghostlike Fading
Another Day - Echo Lake - Wild Peace
Tambourine Girl - Ringo Deathstar - Colour Trip
How Do You Do It? - My Bloody Valentine - The EPs 1988-1991
Drown - Broken Water - Tempest
Air Conditioning - DIIV - Oshin
Octagon - Liars - Wixiw
Cosmic Tides - Peaking Lights - Lucifer
Lothario - Fabulous Diamonds - Commercial Music
San Angeles - Maserati - VII
Guilford Avenue Bridge - Dan Deacon - America
Pinball Wizard - Black Dice - Mr. Impossible
Seaqz - Mouse On Mars - Parastrophics
Yumi No Muri - Tussle - Tempest
Golden Dawn - Goat - World Music
Love's A Rondo - Blues Control - Valley Tangents
Ballad Of The Golden Bird - Magic Castles - s/t
Elephant - Tame Impala - Lonerism
Avatar - Swans - The Seer
Rodent - Pharaoh Overlord - Lunar Jetman
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.
Just kidding - 2012 was more like this:
And now... here it is, spacerockers! My Top Ten Albums of 2012:
1. The Men - Open Your Heart
2. Tame Impala - Lonerism
3. Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
4. Thee Oh Sees - Putrifier II
5. Six Organs of Admittance - Ascent
6. Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
7. Liars - WIXIW
8. Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds
9. B. Hamilton - Everything I Own Is Broken
10. Diiv- Oshin
Honorable mention:
Spiritualized - Sweet Heart, Sweet Light
Pontiak - Echo Ono
Flavor Crystals s/t
Swans - The Seer
Torche - Harmonicraft
Maserati - VII
Goat -World Music
Magic Castles s/t
Dan Deacon - America
Guardian Alien - See The World Given To A One Love Entity
Reissues:
Can - The Lost Tapes
Feedtime - The Aberrant Years
The Azusa Plane - Where The Sands Turn To Gold
Sensations' Fix - Music Is Painting In The Air
My Bloody Valentine - EPs 1988 - 1991
But I've got a lot more than that for you, my lovely spacerockers! What follows is four hours of the tastes of 2012! Spiritualized is a no-brainer, of course; every release of theirs is accompanied by an epic-feeling vibe of the everything-just-changed-and-yet-it-remains-the-same variety. Their 2012 release is no exception, as this motorik barn-burner illustrates. Howlin' Rain emerged fully formed from the ashes of Comets On Fire, or at least from the skull of their guitar mangler-in-chief Ethan Miller, who has stripped away some of the lysergic splatter of his former band and revealed an adeptness at classic rawk that it seems obvious that it was there all the time. Classic sound, innovative arrangements, soaring harmonies and extended guitar jams make their third album one of the best of the year. If it wasn't so grounded in the traditional (thus less space than rock) it might have made Number One, although they make me realize what I love about classic 70s radio to begin with. Sleepy Sun lost one of their founding members (and only female vocalist) but they not only weathered the change but seem the better for it. More mature songwriting and continued tightening of dynamics make it a real "grower". Pontiak managed to streamline their sound even further, but the resulting dark minimalism actually makes for greater impact. The songs from this year's release virtually burst out of the speakers like explosive embers. Continuing the trad-rock-tinged-with-psychedelic that seems to to be re-emerging of late (a welcome trend, to be sure), The Young conjure not only namesake Neil, but the legacy of dark psych their hometown of Austin, Texas, is famous for.
The prolific Sean McBean and his Black Mountain managed to squeeze in some soundtrack work this year, and while some of it is the requisite hazy, sketchy instrumentals you'd expect, at least half of it lives up to their best work, as this track can attest. White Hills continued refining their genre-defining space rock and ramped up the acid dosage on their latest. Moon Duo further distinguished themselves from their sister band Wooden Shjips with deeper explorations of moody motorik psych. And Richard Hawley pulled off the sleeper of the year with his leftfield homage to pastoral, yet bombastic, classic British psych-folk.
Dirty Three just get more and more vital, and experimental, over time and their many albums, perhaps due to recent reinvigoration with Nick Cave in his Bad Seeds and Grinderman. The mighty Beachwood Sparks triumphantly returned (hence the title of this song) with some of their best material yet, further chronicling their Flying Burrito Brothers/Byrds country-psych obsession. The modfather Paul Weller continued to prove he's even more prolific, and daring, as he ages with this diverse collection of new material. Another leftfield hat trick was pulled off by obscure Danish trip-poppers Choir Of Young Believers, whose brand of atmospheric post-whatever channels everything from Sigur Ros to Portishead, while sounding like none of them.
Speaking of Comets On Fire (see first paragraph above), can you imagine what they would sound like fronted by singer/shredder Ben Chasny (whose career as Six Organs Of Admittance has been all over the solo guitar map, from Fahey-esque finger-pickin' pastorals to unsettling dronescapes to all-out space-blooz extravaganzas)...?!?!? Well that's exactly what the new full-band Six Organs joint is all about, a marriage made in heaven, definitely a contender for best of the year. Speaking of marriages made in heaven, how about one-upping it to a menage-a-trois made in avant-folk hell? Well, start with the previously mentioned Mr. Six Organs, add one Sir Richard Bishop (leader of the intrepid experimentalists and world music iconoclasts Sun City Girls) and one Chris Corsano (who somehow manages to drum for the decidedly arhythmic free-folk freaks Sunburned Hand Of The Man) and you have the illustrious trio known as Rangda (aptly named for a Javanese demon queen).
Geoff Barrow, the instrumentalist behind Portishead, put out his second installment as Beak>, and it one-ups its precursor in dabbling in motorik, kraut-tronic, experimental and progressive psych with sublimely dark and eerie results. The acoustic psych-folk of Woods also received a beefing-up with a full band and modern studio production, without sacrificing any of their playful precociousness. As heard on previous installments (and you'll be getting plenty more of them in installments to come, because they RULE), Pond, upstart sister band to the band who swept the last couple years of Best Ofs, the illustrious Tame Impala, further honed their own brand of psychedelic pop with embellishments of stone cold soul and swaggering R&B.
Busting out of the garage and into outer space, the massively prolific John Dwyer singlehandedly put the San Francisco neo-garage scene on the map with The Coachwhips and Pink & Brown, but with his latest project Thee Oh Sees he seems on the verge of world domination. With their infusion of kinetic, spastic motorik and frenetic, cathartic post-punk they leave the dry, spent husk of yet another resurgence of garage rock behind. Also ripping themselves free of the constraints of garage orthodoxy, former "shitgazers" Sic Alps put out a stunningly mature collection of a new hybrid genre unto themselves. Lo-fi ramblers White Fence have garage associations but stand heads above the rest due to a healthy dose of early-Pavement snark and Syd Barrett whimsy. B. Hamilton (a band name, not a person) also hail from the SF Bay Area's garage scene (Oakland, specifically) but manage to stand out via massive guitar tone, ballistic rhythms and dang fine songwriting. One of the year's best, if only for how unique their sound is.
Speaking of ballistic, the metal-gaze juggernaut known as Torche set everything they touch on fire with their manic energy and shimmering guitar workouts. Which leads us to... The Men. With an incredibly diverse almost indescribable amalgam of old school SST punk, mantric Spacemen 3 psych, and a somewhat more refined "pigfuck" (Melvins, Jesus Lizard, et al.) aesthetic they put out what is unquestionably THE BEST ALBUM OF 2012. Somewhat in the same vein, obscure Kiwi weirdos feedtime's body of work was collected on a 4-disc reissue this year, and we're all the better for it. And to complete the first HALF of this month's playlist, LA post-post-punk drum and guitar duo Japandroids turned in another fine album and a tasty cover of one of The Gun Club's most seminal tracks.
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
Hey Jane - Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Self Made Man - Howlin' Rain - The Russian Wilds
Creature - Sleepy Sun - Spine Hits
Lions Of Least - Pontiak - Echo Ono
Livin' Free - The Young - Dub Egg
Breathe - Black Mountain - Year Zero Soundtrack
Pads Of Light - White Hills - Frying On This Rock
I Been Gone - Moon Duo - Circles
Standing At The Sky's Edge - Richard Hawley - Standing At The Sky's Edge
That Was Was - Dirty Three - Toward The Low Sun
Sparks Fly Again - Beachwood Sparks - The Tarnished Gold
Drifters - Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
Paralyze - Choir Of Young Believers - Rhine Gold
One Thousand Birds - Six Organs Of Admittance - Ascent
Idol's Eye - Rangda - Formerly Extinct
Wulfstan II - Beak> - >>
Bend Beyond - Woods - Bend Beyond
Fantastic Explosion Of Time - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Wax Face - Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
Wake Up, It's Over II - Sic Alps - s/t
Swagger Vets & Double Moon - White Fence - Family Perfume 1 & 2
Me And Margaret Counting Countdowns - B. Hamilton - Everything I Own Is Broken
Letting Go - Torche - Harmonicraft
Ex-Dreams - The Men - Open Your Heart
Dead Crazy - feedtime - The Aberrant Years
For The Love Of Ivy - Japandroids - Celebration Rock
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.
And that was only part ONE. But as I said, this is a double-duty installment, with twice the spacerockin' goodness. Here's part TWO:
I didn't coin the term "metal-gaze" that I used to describe Torche above (as well as a few other bands every now and again) but it's implication should be obvious: a melding of heavy metal's buzzsaw propulsion and shoegaze's undulating textures. It's even more apt to describe France's entry into the genre, Alcest. Their (basically his - the man known as Neige) appropriation of the more grandiose aspects of either genre makes for some majestic, blissful and heady stuff. Speaking of blissful and heady (I'm always speaking of "speaking of", eh?), Flavor Crystals are sweet, sweet head candy: their murky, pointillist, textural psychedelia has forebears in artists like Flying Saucer Attack and Roy Montgomery but they make it all their own, bringing a sense of dynamics to a somewhat static genre. As seen in November's installment, My Best Fiend's pathos-drenched power balladry is not really space rock, but the slow-burn dynamics and fuzzed-out guitar frenzy is total ear candy.
Echo Lake are purveyors of many well-known elements, from reverb-soaked 60s girl band harmonies to classic 80s and 90s bliss pop, but they bring them together so well, another confection for the ears, mind and soul. Ringo Deathstar manage to bridge the blisspop/shoegaze gap on this track, with the verses swaying gently like psychedelic hammocks until instrumental interludes blow a squall of dissonance and feedback at them until we're left spinning (and loving it). Of course, nobody did (does?) it like My Bloody Valentine, and this track from their recently reissued EP collection illustrates both sides perfectly. Who doesn't need a relatively unknown track like this one to remind us of their utter genius (though we shouldn't hold our breath for the endless promise of new material)? Broken Water take a slab of MBV bliss and slather it with early Sonic Youth noise and suddenly it's 1990 again. And how about another track from those youngsters in DIIV who have appropriated choice elements of these genres and end up sounding like some of the best of the era, twenty years gone, that you never heard of?
The enigma known as Liars returned this year with one of their best releases, capturing all the disparate guises the band has taken on, from lurching no wave, to dark experimentalism, to scattershot electronica, and distills it down into a package ranking in our Top Ten this year. Peaking Lights pick up the white kid dub where this Liars track left off, but that's their whole MO: repurposing Lee "Scratch" Perry or the Mad Professor and their ilk for the avant garde set. Their lo-fi yet deep dub riddims are enhanced by nursery rhyme vocals for a soothing accompaniment to your next mescaline trip. As long as we're on the tribal-beat nursery rhymes, Fabulous Diamonds know a ditty or two; although dark motorik is more their style, this track fits right in.
Time to pick up the pace now, which with a Maserati is always furious, bolting down the 25th century autobahn, careening around clifftop corners and narrowly missing plummeting from the precipice of their high-minded driving musick. Continuing at that speed, Dan Deacon takes you from Maserati's cruising of coastal Italian byways to the backroads and superhighways of America, which he explores in a 10-part suite he released this year. Since we're now entirely in electronic mode let's include some stellar new works by O. G. noise-collage absurdists Black Dice, and daft German bad boys Mouse On Mars, both of whom put out amazing albums in 2012. And to bridge this electro-acoustic divide, what better than Tussle's tribalism to tie them both together with analog krautronics and organic instrumentation in equal representation?
The wild card (and another sleeper) of the year is Sweden's Goat, who combine fabricated voodoo mysticism, syncopated afrobeat rhythms, rapturous group chants, and 70s acid guitars to create larger-than-life lore that in no way overshadows their enchanting debut album. A truly unique experience - can't wait for more. Another truly odd bird is Blues Control. About as contrary to their name as possible these avant gardists focus on circular piano figures augmented by anything from stand-up bass to distorted brass to fuzz guitars to electronic loops. How can anything be so head-scratching and so groovy at the same time? Maybe "Jazz Control" would be a better name. Magic Castles also conjure a mystical place and time, more pagan than even the arch-druid Julian Cope himself, at least in sound. They should be right up his alley - wonder if he knows about them...?
By and large one of the current crop bands who should endure the test of time, precisely through their homage to the past and solid foot in the present, Tame Impala's second full-length is every bit as bold a statement as their first, though they've shown signs of growth and divergence (baroque Lennon-esque pop is a somewhat new focus) and, as before, every song is a standout. Like their first, this new one is remarkable from start to finish. Another giant leap forward with roots in the past is Michael Gira's Swans, who on their sprawling new album combine the brutal tribalism of their early work with their recent foray into Nick Cave-style confessional murder ballads and lyrical Americana. And we wrap it up with freaky Finns Pharaoh Overlord, spinoff of long-standing enigmas Circle, and who can tell where one band ends and the other begins... anyway?
So happy New Year! Here's hoping 2013 brings a cornucopia of equal goodness to us all as 2012 has done, both musically and otherwise.
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
Summer's Glory - Alcest - Les Voyages de L'Âme
Broadcaster - Flavor Crystals - Three
Cracking Eggs - My Best Fiend - In Ghostlike Fading
Another Day - Echo Lake - Wild Peace
Tambourine Girl - Ringo Deathstar - Colour Trip
How Do You Do It? - My Bloody Valentine - The EPs 1988-1991
Drown - Broken Water - Tempest
Air Conditioning - DIIV - Oshin
Octagon - Liars - Wixiw
Cosmic Tides - Peaking Lights - Lucifer
Lothario - Fabulous Diamonds - Commercial Music
San Angeles - Maserati - VII
Guilford Avenue Bridge - Dan Deacon - America
Pinball Wizard - Black Dice - Mr. Impossible
Seaqz - Mouse On Mars - Parastrophics
Yumi No Muri - Tussle - Tempest
Golden Dawn - Goat - World Music
Love's A Rondo - Blues Control - Valley Tangents
Ballad Of The Golden Bird - Magic Castles - s/t
Elephant - Tame Impala - Lonerism
Avatar - Swans - The Seer
Rodent - Pharaoh Overlord - Lunar Jetman
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.
December 1, 2012
December already...?
Another year come and gone, and some amazing musix came our way. Just you wait until the January installment of the Very Best of 2012, a double-length edition! BTW: if you've "liked" the SRC on Facebook or "followed" it on Soundcloud, you already have access to these playlists! Check it out! And this month, December's installment is equally tasty. But first, some spacey snowmen (tra-la-la-la-la...!) .
Okay, we begin with some klassic krautrock, kourtesy of Kan and... (oKay, I'll stop with the Ks). Actually it starts with a kouple kollages... sorry, couple collages by O.G. absurdists Faust (off a 2002 compilation of archival material woven into song suites a la their epic Faust Tapes from 1973), and Can, who released this essential collection of outtakes and obscurities this year (this track features snippets of an alternate take of "Vitamin C" and some obscure soundtrack work). Continuing the reissue theme we have the recent compendium of long lost material from Italy's Sensations' Fix circa 1974-77, and a recent remaster of The Pink Fairies' 1971 debut wherein they position themselves as England's answer to the MC5.
Jumping ahead to 2012 (yet keeping a mind meld with 70s artists like those above) we have The Young, a southern punk-gone-psych outfit; Aussies Tame Impala, yet again dominating another year's best of lists with their Revolver-meets-Obscured By Clouds second full-length; their sister band (it's not fair to call them a spinoff), soul-psychsters Pond, whose core constituents make up 3/5 of Tame Impala's touring band and who, with their own second release, are proving them worthy rivals; and Steve Wynn, who with his Miracle 3 has been, of late, reaching the heights of the dark Velvets-y psych he conjured back in the 80s with The Dream Syndicate, as this motorik monster proves.
Remaining firmly in the 21st century, but still having obvious roots in/reverence for previous eras of experimental music, we have Liars (late 70s no wave), and DIIV, pronounced "dive", (mid 80s bliss pop/shoegaze). Did somebody say SHOEGAZE?!?!? We were blessed with many reissues this year (see first paragraph above), but we My Bloody Valentine fanatics had an early xmas with the repackaging of every single EP they put out (sadly the remastering could have been better).
Heavy guitar rock had a banner year as well. Torche put out what may be their best metallic nu-gaze collection yet. Pharaoh Overlord, proto-metal cousins of long-running Finnish pranksters Circle put out a fantastic album this year as well (although this track is from 2006). Magic Castles can throw down a heavy psych jam with the best of them, but this track shows their softer, more sensitive side where they cobble together a fireside ramble with the mystical woodland creatures. Flavor Crystals put out one of the finest (and lengthiest!) collections of hazily transcendent Flying Saucer-esque guitar-saturated bliss-outs I've heard in a long, LONG while - more to come from them in future installments. And White Fence bring a ramshackle lo-fi aesthetic, along the lines of Guided By Voices or just about any member of the Elephant Six collective - another great recent release.
Did someone say DARK PSYCH?!?!? Actually I'm not sure... did I? No matter - it's here! You know, that know-it-when-you-hear-it genre spanning the gamut from the veritable originators Spacemen 3 to modern practitioners like The Black Angels? Well, The Brian Jonestown Massacre would be one of the longest chapters in that book, one full of ego-tripping, in-fighting, member-changing and brain-frying, with a prolific if uneven catalog, all variations on a theme, this being one of their best. The Heads, lesser known contemporaries of the aforementioned Spacemen 3, can melt faces on a par with any of their peers. And why not cap this set off with a band that I am loath to admit I've overlooked for the entire continuum, the venerable SubArachnoid Space? Less dark psych than the bands above than DARK and PSYCHEDELIC in their own inimitable way. This conclusive track was culled from the benefit/tribute compilation for sadly-passed music writer and uber-fan Lee Jackson who sadly passed this year. It's an exhaustive 94-track abundance for fans of heady musical trips, lovingly compiled by the intrepid connoisseur Ned Raggett. YES, I'm recommending you get it... NOW!
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
A Seventies Event/Nervous - Faust - Patchwork
Dead Pigeon Suite - Can - The Lost Tapes
Left Side Of Green - Sensations Fix - Music Is Painting In The Air
Uncle Harry's Last Freakout - The Pink Fairies - Never Never Land
Captive Chains - The Young - Voyagers Of Legend
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards - Tame Impala - Lonerism
Elegant Design - Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
Resolution - Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3 - Northern Aggression
No. 1 Against The Rush - Liars - WIXIW
Doused - DIIV - Oshin
Instrumental #1 - My Bloody Valentine - The EPs '88-'91
Reverse Inverted - Torche - Harmonicraft
Now We Know - Pharaoh Overlord - #4
Songs Of The Forest - Magic Castles - Songs Of The Forest
Ivan In The Park/Boris In The Pool - Flavor Crystals - Three
It Will Never Be - White Fence - Family Perfume Vol. 1 & 2
Crushed - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Methodrone
Jellystoned Park - The Heads - Relaxing With The Heads
Sound And Memories Remain - SubArachnoid Space - For Lee Jackson In Space
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.
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