MARCH-ing Forward!

 

NOTHING CAN STOP THE SPACE ROCK!!!

Onwards to less green pastures. Soon this will be the last time I see this view. Heading to my permanent home in the HIGH Desert, Joshua Tree CA, from the northern climes I've called home for 30 years. The times are a-changin', and Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere. Going to join my love, and nurse my soul, but I'ma keep on rockin' the Continuum from my new location.

So anyway, here's some toonz to help YOU March along with me. No theme, just a random selection of new and old spacerock. I'm a busy boy, so more words next month. Also: new Spiritualized and Loop!!! And be sure to check out the song from my friend's Portland-based band Lost Echoes!!!

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Mainline - Spiritualized - Everything Was Beautiful
Halo - Loop - Sonancy

Second Foot Stomp - Clinic - Internal Wrangler

Tangerine - Electric Eye - Pick Up, Lift Off, Space Time

Nectarine Dreams - Tibetan Miracle Seeds - Inca Missiles

Acheron - King Buffalo - Acheron
Not - Big Thief - Two Hands

Most My Time - Golden Animals - Here Eye Go
Dreaming - Lost Echoes - Stars

We Are Drugs - Throw Down Bones - Two

Сон (instrumental) - Menk - II

Bulls - All Them Witches - Sleeping Through The War

Waning - Dead Otter - Bridge Of Weird
VI-IV - Papir - VI

Eldorado - The Sun Or The Moon - Cosmic
Glen Plays Moses - Mildred Maude - Sleepover

But wait, there's more! The Very Best of 2021 Part 2

What? The 3-1/2 hours of The Very Best of 2021 Part 1 back in January (see previous post) wasn't enough? You're in luck! I've got 3 more hours of amazing spacerock musix for you! YOU CAN'T "BEET" THIS! The beet has always been a symbol of power for me, of inner strength and resilience, be it my Northern European heritage (BORSCHT!), or my love of Tom Robbin's "Jitterbug Perfume", a novel where the great god Pan delivers beets to the protagonists to create the elixir of infinity.

21 songs this time, ranging from the psychedelic to shoegaze to Kraurock/motorik to experiMENTAL rock and instruMENTAL post rock. This mix spans the gamut, and winds in up with 5 of the tracks well over the 10 minute mark for some lengthy explorations into SPACE! What space, you ask? Well it could be outer space, the stratosphere of otherworldly expeditions. Or it could be INNER space - the space between your ears. It's a place to get lost... then find yourself again. Last year's lockdown, as I've said before, showed no decline in musical productivity. The opposite in fact: artists the world over got busy with their newly found free time, an unexpected benefit of a worldwide pandemic that locked us up for yet another year, but somehow inspired endless creativity. So my spacerock hat is off to the wonders to be found in last year's offerings I hope you find this music as inspiring as I do. There's not much more to say other than... LISTEN.

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Hypnopaedia - Modern Stars - Psychindustrial
Om Ganesh - La Era De Acuario - s/t

Last Call At The Infinity Pool - Electric Eye - Horizons

God's Electric Fence - Polite Society - s/t

O.N.E. - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - L.W.
Clarified Budder - Possum - Lunar Gardens

Exit Strategy To Myself - The Notwist - Vertigo Days
Flock Of Swans - Mountain Movers - World What World

Dawn Patrol - Rose City Band - Earth Trip
Delving - Delving - Hirschbrunnen

To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth - Mogwai - As The Love Continues

The Inner Void - The Oscillation - Untold Futures
Last King Of Hell - Cult Of Dom Keller - They Carried The Dead In a U.F.O.

Runes - Diagonal - s/t

Space Race (Breaking The Atmosphere) - Tren Go! Sound System and Ornamental - Assessment

This Is Us - Throw Down Bones - Two

Basfällan - Kungens Man - Den Nya Skiven

Nexus - Elara Sunstreak Band - Vostok 1
17.01.2020 #3 - Papir - Jams

Shrinks The Day - Ryley Walker And Kikagaku Moyo - Deep Fried Grandeur
Government Came - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - God's Pee At State's End

The Very Best of 2021 Part 1

Okay, here goes nuthin'. Although all of this musix falls amongst my faves of the year, I always have to make a Top 10 list. And it's so fucking hard to limit it to just ten! So I allowed a few "runners up" because they deserved it. With apologies for omissions, impulsiveness, controversies, and periodic changes of heart, this... is... IT:

1. Low - HEY WHAT

2. Papir - Jams

3. King Buffalo - Acheron/The Burden Of Restlessness (two album tie)

4. Tibetan Miracle Seeds - Inca Missiles

5. Electric Eye - Horizons

6. Mythic Sunship - Wildfire

7. Black Heart Death Cult - Sonic Mantras

8. The Sun Or The Moon - Cosmic 

9. Jack Harlon And The Dead Crows - The Magnetic Ridge

10. Hooveriii - Water For The Frogs

Honorable mention:

Menk. - II

Mildred Maude - Sleepover

Polite Society - s/t

Tonstartssbandht - Petunia

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - God's Pee At State's End!

Trees Speak - Post Human

So... WHAT THE FUCK, 2021?!?!? Longest year of our lives! But somehow musicians the world over managed to safely record pandemic music in prolific amounts! Maybe isolation lockdown can contribute to inspiration, determination, and a soul-deep desire to say Damn The Torpedos, we're going to RAWK! Who knows what 2022 will hold, but I have SIX AND A HALF FUCKING HOURS that says 2021 was life-affirming from the perspective of the musix that keeps us alive and thriving in the face of adversity. This will be divided between my January and February playlists but I hope you'll listen... dig DEEP, and trip through the never-ending Spacerock Continuum with me!

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Days Like These - Low - Hey What
Time To Live - Blankenberge - Everything

Trevena - Mildred Maude - Sleepover
Olympia - Mythic Sunship - Wildfire

Inca Missiles - Tibetan Miracle Seeds - Inca Missiles
Glitter Bug - Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound

Control - Hooveriii - Water For The Frogs
Kartoffelstampf - Camera - Prosthuman

BBQ - Acid Dad - Take it From The Dead
Honey - The Kundalini Genie - Half In, Half Out

Hex - The Third Sound - First Light

Глаза - Menk - II

Blackened Soul - The Kings Of Frog Island - VII
Seven Kingdoms - White Canyon And The Fifth Dimension - Spectral Illusion

Stereofuzz - Acid Rooster - Irrlichter

I Might Have - A Place To Bury Strangers - Hologram

Hebetation - King Buffalo - The Burden Of Restlessness

Langolier - Jack Harlon And The Dead Crows - The Magnetic Ridge

Queen Of The Underground - Goat - Headsoup
Teenage Daydream - Plankton Wat - Future Times

Trippin' On Mars - The Sun Or The Moon - Cosmic
Punk Product #4 - Dummy - Mandatory Enjoyment

Hall Of Death - Matt Sweeney And Bonnie Prince Billy - Superwolves
Pass Away - Tonstartssbandht - Petunia

Hopsa-japapé - Upupayama - s/t

Gas - Zement - Schleifen

The Calling - Maragda - s/t
Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal - The Hologram People - Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal

The Moral Compass Of A Self Driving Car - Yoo Doo Right - Don't Thing You Can Escape Your Purpose
Sonic Dhoom - The Black Heart Death Cult - Sonic Mantras

Mexicali/Calexico - 10,000 Russos - Superinertia
Tap End - Foam Giant - Acetate Parade

Oscured - The Oscillation - Untold Purpose
From Deep Within - Elder And Cadaver - ELDOVAR - A Story Of Darkness And Light

This one goes to infinity!!!

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!

There is light in darkness. There is darkness in light. The eternal ouroboros swallows its tail as the cycle continues, dark light dark light dark light... like the seasons. As December is the darkest month, I gathered some choonz that encompass darkness and light, sometimes within the same song. Cuz without Yin there is no Yang, and vice versa. And this playlist is all over the fucking spectrum so prepare for a wild ride!

Starting with a couple borderline glowstick-waving trance-edelic tracks, Zement and Throw Down Bones bridge the gap between rave (Goa? you either know or don't) and krauty motorik. Then shit gets really weird.

Low have long been known to produce insular claustrophobic lo-fi slowcore, but their last couple albums have culminated in one of the most groundbreaking "rock" albums of all time: "HEY WHAT". Using the studio as an instrument they utterly deconstruct what could be relatively straightforward indie rock pieces, made from nothing but guitar, drums, and incredible, impeccable vocal harmonies, then shattering it through the looking glass with digital noise and manipulation. I haven't heard an album as "important" than this since early Eno. ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

Then an adventure into the ecstatic, with noisemongers in love with sound for sound's sake Mildred Maude, Mythic Sunship who take psych rock to Sun Ra freak jazz proportions, poly-tonalists King Gizzard from New Zealand, and millifluous guitar/drums duo of brothers Tonstartssbandht from Florida, pastoral-gone-ritual frenzy from Upupayama, and desert-fried reverence from Sisters Of Your Sunshine Vapor. The Nova Saints top it off with the cathartic sugar high of early ecstasy culture.

Then to counter all that light we get dark with Jesu's cinematic shoegaze, A Place To Bury Strangers latest and earliest (Skywave is Oliver Ackerman's pre-APTBS project), and 10,000 Russos' metronomic drive.

Then we're back the psychedelic catharsis of Menk and Papir, largely improvisational outfits, culminating in a lengthy tension-and-release workout from Hey Colossus.

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Goa - Zement - Rohstoff
No-Fi - Throw Down Bones - Two

More - Low - Hey What
Chemo Brain - Mildred Maude - Sleepover
Going Up - Mythic Sunship - Wildfire

Black Hot Soup - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - Butterfly 3000
Falloff - Tonstartssbandht - Petunia

Hopsa-Japape - Upupayama - s/t
Desert Brain - Sisters Of Your Sunshine Vapour - Desert Brain

Sugar Coated - The Nova Saints - Newfoundland
Alone - Jesu - Terminus

End Of The Night - A Place To Bury Strangers - Hologram

Over And Over - Skywave - Killerrocknroll

Super Inertia - 10,000 Russos - Superinertia
Coh (instrumental) - Menk - II

VI - Papir - V
A Trembling Rose - Hey Colossus - Dances/Curses

A multicolored life

 

Rainbow hills! Whether real or imagined, it's the same. It's all in how you SEE it.

And HEAR it!

This playlist is literally multicolored, all over the board, every piece a star player in the game. We start with an unusual track on the fringes of the space rock realm... space jazz? This track is a standalone anomaly from the Lounge Lizards, denizens of the bowels of NYC, and differs from their avant garde freejazz/punk skronk by lightyears. I had to add it after reading the memoirs of their fearless leader, the illustrious wizard John Lurie. What a story, what a man, what a band! What a SONG.

We then return to our regularly scheduled programming with some down and dirty psych/blooz, with Jack Harlon And The Dead Crows (Melbourne, Australia), King Buffalo (Rochester, New York), and All Them Witches (Nashville, Tennessee).

Following that we have some modern psych par excellence with The Nova Saints (Bristol, UK), Hologram People (UK), and Upupayama (Parma, Italy).

Then maybe some motorik madness with Zement (Wurzberg, Germany) and Mugstar (Liverpool, UK)? Some gritty psych traditionalists with The Third Sound (Berlin, Germany), Dead Radio (Newcastle, Australia), and Acid Dad (Queens, New York)? Some shoegaze-adjacent jams from Chatham Rise (Minneapolis, Minnesota) and The Horrors (London, UK)?

Then off the deep end into the experimental post-punk of Liars (Australia). And we wrap up the set with some impossible to classify weirdness from Acid Baby Jesus (Athens, Greece), Domiciles (Scotland), Yoo Doo Right (Montreal, Quebec), Menk (St. Petersburg, Russia), and 3AM (Lima, Peru).

It's like a grab bag of leftover Halloween candy, close your eyes and dig in. You never know what sweet confections await you. Chances are you'll get lucky and grab the psilocybin-infused ones. Those are the BEST! And the parenthetical points of origin yet again illustrate the fact that spacerock is EVERYWHERE!

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
A Paper Bag And The Sun - Lounge Lizards - Voice of Chunk
The Tale Of The Magnetic Ridge - Jack Harlon And The Dead Crows - The Magnetic Ridge

The Knock - King Buffalo - The Burden Of Restlessness
Alabaster - All Them Witches - Sleeping Through The War
The Draft - The Nova Saints - Newfoundland

Pray To The Maypole Witch - The Hologram People - Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal
The Blue Magician's Fantasy - Upupayama - s/t

Soil - Zement - Rohstoff
Star Cage - Mugstar - Graft

Tokoloshe - Dead Radio - Callisto
RC Driver - Acid Dad - Take It From The Dead

Hummingbird - Chatham Rise - Meadowsweet

Dive In - The Horrors - Skying

From What The Never Was - Liars - The Apple Drop
Untitled - Sisters Of Your Sunshine Vapour - Spectra Spirit

Diogenes - Acid Baby Jesus - Selected Recordings
Six Degrees of Separation - Domiciles - This Is Not A Zen Garden

Marche De Vivants - Yoo Doo Right - Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose

Volni - Menk - Lopasti Buddy

UHF - 3AM - Transmissions

I'm back! Well, sort of...

Hello dear spacerockers. I am deeply sorry to have missed my September installment, but your fearless leader has been recuperating from a "mystery illness" (NOT Covid) and convalescing in isolation, too weak to even sit at the computer to write, much less make a mix. My condition is improving but it may be a long road. My deepest sympathies to anyone affected or afflicted by this plague - my own malaise has given me deeper perspective ("too MUCH fucking perspective") as to the world's many ills. One of our only consolations is that MUSIC will get us through. It always does. So SLOW DOWN, be mindful, appreciate what we have, and give this playlist, two months in the making, a good contemplative head spin. You'll be glad you did.

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Can't Stand - 3AM - UFO Blues Tapes
Cato - Mugstar - Graft

At Heaven's Gate - The Third Sound - s/t
Tehb - Menk - II
Maankind- The Haands - We Aare The Monsters

Burning - King Buffalo - The Burden Of Restlessness
Heatstroke #2 - Automatism - Immersion

Make Worry For Me - Matt Sweeney and Bonnie 'Prince Billy - Superwolves
Big Wheels In Shanty Town - Rain Tree Crow - s/t

A Certain Sense Of Disenchantment - Yoo Doo Right - Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose

Lord Shiva's Mothership - The Hologram People - Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal
Wait And See - Delving - Hirschbrunnen

Sand - Zement - Schleifen

Bridge Of Weird - Dead Otter - Bridge Of Weird
17.01.2020 #1 - Papir - Jams

Haunted Houses In The High Desert

Ever get the feeling there's a mysterious presence in your SPACE? In your house, in your room, in your bed... in your HEAD? The spirit will be benign as long as you acknowledge its presence, allow it to be a part of you, absorb its essence - this is an opportunity to align with the STARS. Don't deny it, accept it and be calm in the universe, and be at peace. The triumvirate of songs leading off this set are for YOU. Band Of Horses, The Confederate Dead, and the notorious Butthole Surfers appear to be asking the same question in their own inimitable ways.

After a rough take off with an obscure Swell Maps outtake, the Deliverous Mistale (mistake?), we then launch into the HEAVENS with Sun Dial, Karkara, Purple Heart Parade, and Pretty Lightning. Then comes the inevitable come down, soothed by the ever-dependable Warlocks. Then it's time to get off yer ass and space boogie with Penza Penza, and two Loves, both Dimension and Explosion.

Then OG shoegazers Ride live up to their name and takes us on a journey on the back of The Grasshopper! And the voyage to The Outskirts Of Reality continues with Papir, Mote, Yuri Gagarin, Weites Luftmeer, and crashing back down into inner space with Dadamah. I know this playlist is a little all-over-the-place, but sometimes that's the way I like it. And the SPIRIT does too.

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Is There A Ghost? - Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
I Feel It (Do You Feel It Too?) - The Confederate Dead - Infinite Expansion
Who Was In My Room Last Night? - Butthole Surfers - Independent Worm Saloon

Deliverous Mistale - Swell Maps - Mayday Signals
Fire From Heaven - Sun Dial - Mind Control
Proxima Centaury - Karkara - Crystal Gazer
Lonestar - Purple Heart Parade - Lonestar
Greyhound - Pretty Lightning - Jangle Bowls

I'm Not Good Enough / Party Like We Used To - The Warlocks - The Chain
Wunder City - Penza Penza - Beware Of Penza Penza

Fire - The Love Explosion - Own Your Mind Business

Outer Space - The Love Dimension - Tree In The Seed
Grasshopper - Ride - Grasshopper

20.01.2020 #1 - Papir - Jams

Samalas - Mote - Samalas
The Outskirts Of Reality - Yuri Gagarin - The Outskirts Of Reality
Couche Tard - Weites Luftmeer - Couch Tard

Limbo Swing - Dadamah - This Is Not A Dream