Okay freaks, this here's the RAWKin'est, heaviest, darkest, most experiMENTAL set I've compiled in a while... and I compiled it months ago, but the tunes add up and I have to get ahead of myself. In fact I've actually had the year's monthly sets all finished for a while now, trying hard not to change anything despite the staggering amount of amazing musix that keeps poppin' up in the latter part of the year. So for what it's worth, I think this set is pretty cohesive as it slides through hard psychedelic, abstruse experimentalism, pigfuck (hey, I didn't coin the term) noise, and droney, face-in-the-carpet hallucinatory whatchamacallit.
The Chemical Brothers, as their name implies, have always dwelt on the psychedelic side of electronic DJ music, and if that wasn't always obvious this track puts it smack in your face, with sitar-saturated block rockin' beats to accompany whatever trip you may be on. The illustrious Earth is, ostensibly, a slowcore metal band that mutated into a dark, heavy, quasi-americana trip, whose plodding pace and tardigrade transitions mirror the gradual yet immense gravitational shift of the planet that we live on... the louder you play them the better. For a precedent of this sludgey/doomy darkcore the next track is from the legendary Black Sabbath, the mother of all dark psych monsters. Another proponent of the genre is, of course, the Philly sludgelords Bardo Pond, who here repurpose a classic Spacemen 3 track to their own ends. Just in case you haven't been bludgeoned to the depths by the previous tracks how about one of Entrance's heaviest explorations into back-bayou voodoo blooz? Get it now?
Okay then... time to WAKE UP! Torche pack some serious wallup into their prog-metal monstrosities, yet somehow manage to bring an uplifting vibe to their heavy venom. Which sets the tone for a bar room brawl courtesy of late 80s obscure Aussie noize punx feedtime. This may inspire you to bang your head (on the low-beamed basement club ceiling, most likely), but watch you don't slip in the slime of the sweat and beer soaked dance floor. Keepin' it weird, Bunny Brains, an equally obscure band of sloppy, lovable miscreants, bring the bad trip that you knew was coming. And just in case you didn't manage to hang on to the bumper as you were dragged across the acid-drenched asphalt, along comes this classic collaboration, the marriage made in hell of psilocybin-soaked weirdos The Butthole Surfers and demonic proto-industrialists Ministry, two great tastes that go great together.
Probably best now to catch your breath, but remain as disoriented as possible, with some abstract absurdity from Finnish who-the-fuck?!?!? motorik experimentalists Siinai who recorded an entire album supposedly inspired by the Olympic Games, from which this track is culled. The DIY lo-fi folk freak who goes by the name Amps For Christ is the next signpost for this voyage to the depths of the inferno, and Austin agit-prop psychesters Indian Jewelry, with equal parts shoegazing and stargazing, open new vistas of wah-wah drone and murk that only The Azusa Plane can find a way out of, if only you're patient enough to hang on... hopefully you'll surface once again.
Finnish motorik weirdos Circle spawned a more metallic spinoff project called Pharoah Overlord that might bring you back if you don't mind traveling strange roads to get home. The Brian Jonestown Massacre always provide a handy detour, but don't expect to see any recognizable road signs or landmarks, just hold on and enjoy the ride. And the aptly-named Disappears expose a distant finish line that shimmers with the desert heat. If you made it through, consider yourselves the lucky ones.
I realize that this set makes for some uneasy listening, but sometimes a dark, strange trip is what you need to figure out where you are, and where you're going. Hopefully I've provided you with a suitable soundtrack.
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the first player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
The Private Psychedelic Reel - The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Ouroboros Is Broken - Earth - Hibernaculum
Electric Funeral - Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Call The Doctor - Bardo Pond - A Tribute To Spacemen 3
Lost In The Dark - Entrance - Prayer Of Death
Snakes Are Charmed - Torche - Harmonicraft
Shovel - feedtime - The Aberrant Years
Onic Outh (Double Pumped Version) - Bunny Brains - Bunny Magick
Jesus Built My Hotrod - Butthole Surfers/Ministry - single
Munich 1972 - Siinai - Olympic Games
Augmented/Demented - Amps For Christ - Every Eleven Seconds
Seventh Heaven - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Death Of A Microphone - The Azusa Plane - Where The Sand Turns To Gold
Laivaus 17 - Pharoah Overlord - #3
Hyperventilation - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Methodrone
Revisiting - Disappears - Guider
But don't forget, you also have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button in the player above.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site (put it on your desktop for easy access).
3. Once downloaded, drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod.
And I must reiterate, this is the way to take your spacerock mix to go! You can DOWNLOAD it! It's YOURS now! It's an mp3 mix that pops right into your iTunes - it couldn't be simpler.
