May(be) is here~

MAYbe there will be live music again soon. MAYbe we can go back to living in relative harmony with one another rather than in FEAR. MAYbe we can all hug each other jump in unison together and rock in SPACE. MAYbe we won't die - MAYbe will all LIVE!

But there's no MAYbe in the music. There's no doubt that the spacerock continuum CONTINUES to flow with abundance. New discoveries of old music, new music generated under lockdown, the music is eternal. And I have a particular fondness for the euphoric rising drone explosion inherent in some psych and space rock that I can only think of calling the "Ecstatic Hey" (as opposed to the "Monolithic Undertow" explored in a recent book of the same name). As in the cathartic "heeeeeeyyyyyy...!" build up that elevates a song skyward. Hard to describe, but you'll know it instantly and inherently when you hear it. Consider the opening songs by the late great (and mostly unsung) Weekend, and by Mogwai, Hooveriii (pronounced Hoover 3), Astronoid (not so much in this cover song but in many of their others), and even the proggier dynamics of Amplifier, who are a recent strangely obscure discovery of mine. Among many others - Jane's Addiction, Smashing Pumpkins, many post rock bands, and even the heavenly psychedelia of relatively unknowns Yume Bitsu - it can be vocal, instrumental, or both. Listen, dig, and explore, and see if you get what I mean.

In this playlist list we also have some surprising shifts in sound, from the unusually psychedelic guitar workouts of Lou Barlow's (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, etc.) "NEW" Folk Implosion, incendiary jamming from the usually subdued freak-folky Devendra Banhart, and a dub-cum-noise freakout by postrock balladeers The Dears.

We have more dub/psych from the Berliners Camera, Saharan motifs from prolific Aussies King Gizzard, blazing motorik psych from Chileans Astromelia, tribal experiMENTALism from Londoners Gum Takes Tooth, dark drone from Portuguese 10,000 Russos and The Oscillation from the UK, psychedelic space exploration from Valencians Here The Captain Speaking, Arcane Allies (also Berliners), and Moon Goose from Hay On Wye UK, culminating in the kind of heady improvs that Swedes Kungens Man proliferate. I sincerely hope you enjoy the JOURNEY. May-be?

The following tracks are included in the player below:

Spacerock Continuum Intro - bRambles
Coma Summer - Weekend - Sports
Ceiling Granny - Mogwai - As The Love Continues
Bird On A Wire - Hooveriii - s/t

Only Shallow (My Bloody Valentine cover) - Astronoid - single
Airborne - Amplifier - s/t
Brand Of Skin - The New Folk Implosion - s/t
Rats - Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be
Postcard From Purgatory - The Dears - No Cities Left

Bajo La Sombra - Astromelia - s/t
Alar Alar - Camera - Prosthuman

Ataraxia - King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - L.W.
The Arrow - Gum Takes Tooth - Arrow
UsVsUs - 10,000 Russos - s/t

Truth In Reverse - The Oscillation - Monographic
Lithium Sturm - Here The Captain Speaking, The Captain Is Dead - Flux Capacitor

State Of Hypnosis - Arcane Allies - Saraswati
Fist Fight At The Bingo - Moon Goose - Source Code

Third War Three - Kungens Man - Branna Tid