Okay, back to the Space Rock! This one's about EVOLUTION: the evolutionary transitions bands make and the influence they have on other areas of musical evolution. Starting with the modern hipster shoegaze of the Dandy Warhols and the post-krautrocking haze of Psychic Ills, to vintage Loop, sounding like a sum of their influences from Spacemen 3 on down to J&MC, then a track from Main, the stripped-down project into which Loop devolved. Then it's personal fave Grails (Hey Emil!), sounding so much like mid-period Floyd that, well, I just had to back them up with mid-period Floyd, from their stellar soundtrack to the obscure French film 'The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)' that is so freekin' awesome that it stands on its own as one of their greatest albums, albeit one most people haven't heard.
Then we venture deep into the realm of the near-kitsch, the almost-but-not-really tongue-in-cheek world of vintage PROG, and, dare I say, Classic Schlock, with Queen, Hawkwind, BOC, King Crimson and... The James Gang!!! Yes, that's Joe Walsh's first band - remember "Funk #49"?!?!? This track slays, with a dubby Noel Redding-style bassline and spacey delayed slide guitar of a David Gilmour bent. But I'm not spoofing when I say I dearly love all of these bands (especially Queen, whose early material is ridiculously underrated). However, I draw the line at Yes or Rush, so don't even ask. Ech...
Then it gets... WEIRD. From the atonal avant rock of the Velvet underground, to vintage (and very, VERY obscure) Eno, to modern practitioners of WTF?!?!?-rock like Health and Shit & Shine. Then we delve deep into epic, cinematic post rock with Germany's Daturah, and finish up with pure STONED improv from O.G. "Philladelic" maestros Bardo Pond. I "highly" recommend some sort of mood-altering substance for this, one of my most hardcore mindfuck sets, even just a small afternoon or late night toke or two...? You've got two hours... what you do with them is up to YOU.
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Nietzche - The Dandy Warhols - 13 Tales from Urban Bohemia
I Knew My Name - Psychic Ills - Dins
Straight to Your Heart - Loop - Wold Flow (The Peel Sessions)
Flame Tracer - Main - Hydra-Calm
Acid Rain - Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday
Mudmen - Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds
The Bomber - The James Gang - Rides Again
Psychedelic Warlords - Hawkwind - Psychedelic Warlords
7 Screaming Diz-Busters - Blue Oyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation
21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
European Son - The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Juju Space Jazz - Brian Eno - My Squelchy Life
Triceratops - Health - s/t
The Germans Call it A Swimming Head - Shit and Shine - Kuss Mich, Meine Liebe
Shoal - Daturah - s/t
Lomand - Bardo Pond - Selections Vol. 1-4
