May(be)

To be or not to be...



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

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


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

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

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



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



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