Howdy spacerockers! For the August set I've assembled some loose ends and odds 'n' sods to wrap up a lot of the material I've been listening to over the course of the summer - some bands have been featured in previous playlists but I needed to get in a second or third song by these artists cuz I dig 'em so much. Hopefully you do too.
Starting off, a lengthy journey with Stereolab from their first album in a long time that actually sounds fresh, since their last half-dozen or so releases are pretty same-y, basically the same album over and over (hey, if it ain't broke...). The appropriately titled Not Music is worth picking up, as it harkens back to their glory days of Transient Random Noise Bursts through Emperor Tomato Ketchup. Moon Duo, the Wooden Shjips spin-off, have a recent release that's easily on a par with either act's best work, as this scorcher amply illustrates. Another track from The Oscillation further shows what incredibly good taste and influences these cosmic rockers have (and sounding more like Primal Scream than Primal Scream does these days). Pocahauted mix a bit of dub and lo-fi scuzz into their brand of psych, to delicious disorienting effect. Another track from my recent faves The Black Ryder further reveals their blatant Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine worship, which is a fine thing in my book.
Implodes is a strange bird, from the active-verb moniker to the gauzy waves of blissful haze they conjure, seemingly in homage to the sadly AWOL Flying Saucer Attack. Louisville KY math/spazz/post rock vets Parlour return as well, with a more expansive and less claustrophobic track, showing off their diversity and also their more trance-inducing side. A spin-off of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees (and thus Volcano Choir), All Tiny Creatures put out a satisfying collection of low-key psych, coming off a bit like Bon Iver (whose Justin Vernon contributes to one track) jamming with Animal Collective on home-brewed laudanum, or as my friend and fellow music writer Ned Raggett puts it, "breezy, uptempo song(s) that (are) part motorik zone, part kicking it on a relaxed afternoon." Continuing the gentle narcotized state, Damon & Naomi, long ago the rhythm section for Galaxie 500, really hit their stride when they started jamming With Ghost, the namesake Japanese psych collective whose instantly recognizable lead guitarist Michio Kurihara elevates their understated bliss folk to new heights with his stratospheric solos.
Kelley Stoltz, a longtime veteran of the SF psych scene, pays homage to all his heroes from Syd Barrett to Roky Erikson to Echo & The Bunnymen on his albums, yet comes off entirely his own artist, as this tracks shows off his softer space-troubadour side. Although I dearly love his more manic side, this track fits better in the theme we're exploring here, a bit of hammock-hanging summery psychedelic. Continuing into the sea of reverb (and slowly building the mania), Crystal Stilts also wear their influences proudly on their sleeves, from Ennio Morricone to Phil Spector to sinister garage rawk drone. It seems appropriate here to exhibit the spacier side of equally manic absurdist art rocker (and desert denizen), the dear-departed Captain Beefheart and his (aptly named) Magic Band, this track long pre-dating the similarly pointillist impressionism of latterday post rock.
See where we're going now? A bit of panoramic cinematic spaghetti-western twang segues into all-out desert sprawl by way of another track from The Desert Sessions. For those of you not quite familiar with Josh Homme and cohorts' past before these supergroup sessions that I've been featuring I've included a track from his main project Queens Of The Stone Age, as well as that band's previous incarnation as Big Sky sludge metal wizards Kyuss, straight outta Palm Desert CA. Keeping it grungy, True Widow bring a minimalist shoegazing ethos to the maximalist tendencies of psych-metal. And French metalgazer Alcest finishes us off with an epic-length opus re-released from his early daze.
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
Silver Sands - Stereolab - Not Music
Fallout - Moon Duo - Mazes
Liquid Memoryman - The Oscillation - Out Of Phase
You Do Voo Doo - Pocahaunted - Make It Real
Let It Go - The Black Ryder - Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
Meadowsland - Implodes - Black Earth
Sea Of Bubbly Goo - Parlour - Simulacrenfield
Glass Bubbles - All Tiny Creatures - Harbors
I Dreamed Of The Caucasus - Damon & Naomi - With Ghost
Mean Marianne - Kelley Stoltz - Antique Glow
Alien Rivers - Crystal Stilts - In Love With Oblivion
Kandy Korn - Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Mirror Man
Coward's Way Out - The Desert Sessions - The Desert Sessions, Vol. 1
Better Living Through Chemistry - Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
The Law - Kyuss - Wretch
Doomser - True Widow - As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth
Le Secret - Alcest - Le Secret
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
August 1, 2011
July 1, 2011
Summertime...
...and the livin' is SPACEY!
So why not a rambling, ambling, bRambling summery set? Like lying in the hammock on the front porch at twilight watching the comets and satellites and pondering DEEP SPACE, this set should conjure the bliss of summer and space simultaneously. What better place to start than SF space-folkies The Dodos? Their poly-percussive acoustic-to-fuzz blasts and ethereal harmonies are what summer music is all about. Another stalwart on the SF psych scene, Lumerians bring the drift and sway to your myoclonic hammock, creating passage to the semiconscious state best achieved on warm summer evenings. Altered states are what The Black Ryder are all about, and this track is no exception with its wall of guitar trance and transcendence. And how about "surfgaze" (surf rock + shoegaze)? Can that be a genre? It certainly won't seem far-fetched after you hear this track from the guitar-centric gals in No Joy.
Continuing on from previous playlists, I'm still exploring the oeuvre of Bailterspace, and their unlikely melding of beauty and chaos, thus this track from what many call their finest album. Similarly, Swirlies combine dream pop jangle and sturm-und-drang metallic crunch on this track from what appears to be their career opus. Yet another track from The Psychic Paramount, more monstrous motorik for your pleasure. And the recent self-titled Bardo Pond could be called their best yet, without hypebole. Witness the grandeur of this track.
The strummin' and pickin' of that track (rather uncharacteristic for Bardo Pond, until the distortion storm hits) eases a segue into back-porch heat-lightning acoustica for the rest of the set. Blues Control is just plain WEIRD. Their modus is usually ultra lo-fi meandering with prominent piano and ubiquitous noise, but this track is more of an off-kilter folky rumination. The all-star Desert Sessions make another appearance here (see previous installments) with an aptly named twangy blooz jam. Avant guitarist Chris Forsyth shows us his hip-shakin' side. Gunn-Trusckinski Duo (on guitar and drums, respectively ) continue the theme with their take on acoustic raga. Ben Chasny's Six Organs (he's the lead guitarist for Comets On Fire) excels at such mantric explorations, as is compellingly illustrated here. The UK's answer to John Fahey, James Blackshaw fits right into this set, for obvious reasons. And why not cap it off with the epic somnambulant bliss of Japan's Acid Mother's Temple? Indeed.
Nighty-night!
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
Going Under - The Dodos - No Color
Atlanta Brook - Lumerians - Transmalinnia
Gone Without Feeling - The Black Ryder - Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride
Hawaii - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Get Lost - Bailterspace - Robot World
San Cristobal De Las Casas - Swirlies - They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days In The Glittering World Of The Salons
DDB - The Psychic Paramount - II
Just Once - Bardo Pond - s/t
Glen Fandango - Blues Control - A Full Tank
Creosote - The Desert Sessions - Desert Sessions, Vol. 10
New Pharmacist Boogie (For Jack) - Chris Forsyth - Paranoid Cat
Taksim II - Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Sand City
S/Word & Leviathan - Six Organs Of Admittance - Asleep On The Floodplain
The Elk With Jade Eyes - James Blackshaw- O True Believers
Soleil De Cristal Et Lune d'Argent - Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Univers Zen Ou de Zero a Zero
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button in the player below.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
June 1, 2011
Moona-inna-Joona...!!!
I wanna sing-ah about the moon-ah in-ah June-ah...! I wanna sing-ah about the moon-ah in-ah June-ah...! Sing a tune-ah...! To La Luna...!!! Or however that lyric goes... We all love the moon in June, but after all this crappy non-springlike terrestrial weather, I think we need some SUN!
Okay! We survived the rapture, or at least the cool kids are still here on earth, so I'm providing some more space rock for your earthly pleasures. If we all succumb to flesh-eating vampire demon zombies, at least we can have a good soundtrack, eh? This installment is meant to be a soothing balm, softer textures and motorik grooves for moving on, and getting our Circadian rhythms back on track after the big debacle of almost losing a summer due to bad weather and even badder religion. This one may even appeal to some of my more weak-hearted listeners who can't take the fever-pitched intensity of a regular SRC set. This is not intentional - I just assembled this set with my usual stream-of-consciousness approach. If I ever offend anyone's delicate sensibilities you've no one but yourself to blame.
We start with the aptly named Maserati, always reliable for sleekly designed transport, maneuverable and speedy enough to blur the landscape. Parking on the tarmac, for the next part of our journey we go airborne with Pete International Airport, the side project of Dandy Warhols guitarist Peter Holstrom. Our voyage then detours into inner space and you crank up the in-flight headphones for newcomers The Oscillation, sounding like a perfect melding of Primal Scream and Spacemen 3. Then it's back in time over desolate land and psilocybin flashbacks with The Desert Sessions, the series of on-again-off-again jams hosted and recorded by Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme, and featuring diverse guest stars from across the spectrum (his own band and members of Mondo Generator and The Eagles Of Death Metal, sure... but can you imagine Chris Goss, Alain Johannes, Mark Lanegan, Dean Ween, Twiggy Ramirez, Blag Dahlia and P. J. Harvey in the same room?).
The Solar Bears take us straight to the heart of the sun, the Lilys through fields of hallucinogenic pastoral beauty, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik on through a night journey, and Kenseth Thibideau (bassist for Rumah Sakit, Tarentel, Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, Sleeping People, et al., on his first solo venture) delivers us to an address on the moon. For more exotic addresses we can rely on Bailterspace and The Psychic Paramount.
O. G. krautrockers Faust remind us of the influence of Teutonic mindscapes on the psyche of space rock and Disappears continue the travels with a lengthy motorik passage. We get temporarily lost in the improvisational mind-fog of astral travelers Magnog, then are re-routed on our course at juggernaut velocity with Belong. Then The Church take us to the dark side with one of the most ominous tracks of their lengthy and illustrious career.
Swervedriver have always had an aspect of forward momentum, like driving a sooped-up 70s Camaro at reckless pace across the nation's highways. And Sonic Youth adopts this continued theme of movement which we have explored in this set with an epic improv they contributed to the soundtrack for a recent obscure French film, which turns out to be some of their finest work!
Quite a journey, eh? Now... we rest. Until next month... keep listening! This one should last you a while.
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
No More Sages - Maserati- Passages
Repeater - Pete International Airport - s/t
Telepathic Birdman - The Oscillation - Veils
Girl Boy Tom - The Desert Sessions - Desert Sessions, Vol. 1
She Was Coloured In - Lilys - She Was Coloured In
Ertrinken - Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - s/t
Moon 2 - Kenseth Thibideau - Repetition
GA9 - Bailterspace - Capsul
N6- The Psychic Paramount - II
Herbststimmung - Faust - Something Dirty
Revisiting - Disappears - Guider
Lost Landing - Magnog - s/t
Come See - Belong - Common Era
It Could Be Anyone - The Church - Magician Among the Spirits
Never Lose That Feeling/Never Learn - Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Theme D'Alice - Sonic Youth - Simon Werner A Disparu
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Kadoo logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
May 1, 2011
Apocalypse now?
Yeah, by now we've all seen 'em. The Billboards across the globe naming the date of our doom... too bad for us non-believers and spacerockers... I don't know about you but I have a beer circus to go to on May 22nd. Mighty inconvenient, I must say. Aw, fuck the silly religionistas! You don't get more retarded than that. Their heads may be in the clouds but OURS are in SPACE! Where to go from here, except into the apocalyptica! I've assembled a set loosely based on this theme... whether it's the lyrics, the title, or just a general feeling of apocalyptic dread (especially in the case of instrumentals), the songs in this set should tide you over until your judgment day. As for me, I openly, unapologetically, mock all Xtian 'tards, and I will see you in June! (although if all Xtian 'tards were to be swept off the earth on May 21st I would actually THANK GOD!)
One of my favorite-ever Echo & The Bunnymen tracks (another low-quality mastering job from the early days of CDs so TURN IT UP!) is a fitting place to start - not that it's specifically on-subject, but it certainly conjures the fall of mankind for me. One of the first record reviews that I read which turned me on to the Bunnymen was a single-paragraph brief that concluded "...and there's always a guitar going berserk somewhere in the background." SOLD! And 'Heaven Up Here' is still one of my desert island classics.
The latest Kriedler album is one of their best, and it explores heavier-than-their-usual percussion and ominous atmospherics. Vessels is a new discovery for me, and I dig how they expand on formula post rock by stretching it in unique directions.. math rock, jazz, noise, etc. Caspian, Mono and Explosions In The Sky are more in the trad post rock vein... well, hell! They're also some of the originators, and nobody makes dynamic hellfire-and-damnation instrumental rock drama like they do.
Then we bounce back from that epic and tense post rock segment with a little apocalyptic boogie from SF's Lumerians from their recent full-length debut. Then we pile drive straight to hell with the mantric motorik juggernaut that is The Psychic Paramount (you might even have to turn down a hair at this point...or not - these guys record in the red). And you don't get much darker than the last track on the otherwise 90s-mining debut by the UK's Yuck, as this track delves deep into bleak shoegaze murk.
What set of apocalyptica would be complete without Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'? Except I try to avoid the obvious whenever possible, so I've instead chosen the Flaming Lips version instead - they recorded a song-by-song interpretation of said seminal space rock album with cohorts including their sister Band Stardeath & White Dwarfs, and guest stars like Henry Rollins (?!) and Peaches (?!?!?), and it's by far the best tribute I've heard.
The set lightens up a bit here with a few tracks of acid-damaged neo-hippie post-modern psych/folk/blooz whatchamacallit it from Dead Meadow, Akron/Family and Vietnam, kindred spirits and children of the forest all. Where did they get this disposition? Why from the original krautrock fairy kings of Amon Duul II of course! Who here inject a little self-aware snark into the darkness. Another band influenced by that era of kraut-psych and experimental rock, and probably the most-often included artist here on the Continuum, is Grails, with yet another stellar track from yet another flawless album.
The new self-titled 16th album from Bardo Pond may be their best yet, and this track certainly falls into our category here. I found an appropriately titled monster of a track from one of the various offshoots of the Acid Mother's Temple collective to supply this set's crescendo, and as our denouement, a decidedly out-of-character yet on-subject little ballad from Sonic Youth.
And if on the 21st of this month you should whiff some brimstone, hear the rumble of four horsemen and see the skies rend apart... well, just remember this line from an old Flaming Lips song: "...hell's got all the good bands... anyway."
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Over The Wall - Echo & The Bunnymen- Heaven Up Here
New Earth - Kriedler - Tank
Altered Beast - Vessels - White Fields & Open Devices
Crawlspace - Caspian - The Four Walls
Gone - Mono - Travels In Constants
It's Natural To Be Afraid - Explosions In The Sky- All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Burning Mirrors - Lumerians - Translaminnia
Para5 - The Psychic Paramount - Gamelan Into the Mink Supernatural
Rubber - Yuck - s/t
Time/Breathe (Reprise)/The Great Gig In The Sky - The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side Of The Moon
'Til Kingdom Come - Dead Meadow - Old Growth
Another Sky - Akron/Family - S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT
Apoc-LA-lypse - Vietnam - The Concrete's Always Grayer On The Other Side Of The Street
Apocalyptic Bore - Amon Düül II - Vive La Trance
Doomsdayer's Holiday - Grails - Doomsdayer's Holiday
Don't Know About You - Bardo Pond - s/t
Dark Side of the Apocalypse - Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno - Ominous From the Cosmic Inferno
Do You Believe In Rapture? - Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Divshare (oh, looks like it's kadoo now? WTF?!?!?) logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
April 1, 2011
The Crunch and The Swoon
This set is all about two great tastes that go great together: the crunch and the swoon. The Trail Of Dead are certainly known for their crunch, with swooning prog arrangements and the crunch of shattered guitars. Their new album, as represented by this track, doesn't short change. Mogwai, of course, are the undeniable masters of crunching layers of guitar and swooning dynamics, as illustrated by this track off their latest. And krautrock O.G.s Faust (who seem to have splintered into at least two Fausts with different members that are still going strong and releasing albums 40 years later) has gotten crunchier over time as this abstract jam shows.
From there we swerve into the realm where crunch and swoon were most effectively cross-bred: that of SHOEGAZE. For those of you who somehow were and remained so out of touch that you haven't heard the term before, shoegaze refers to rock and pop bands with less stage presence than effects pedals, which they would stare at while strumming innocuous looking chords that sweetly made our ears bleed and minds spin (mostly in the UK, circa late 80s/early 90s). Since I'll be veering between the vintage originators (see parentheses above) and postmodern shoegaze you lucky listeners will have the opportunity to reach for your volume controls at every song start, as the mastering of the old stuff vs. new stuff varies wildly. Have fun with that - wish I could watch (snark). Better yet - just keep the volume at maximum, eh?
Swervedriver put the crunch into a hybrid of 70s American car rock and keening British guitar blast back in the heyday of shoegaze; LA glamsters Gliss crackle with barely restrained angst in their updated take on the genre; long-defunct Curve brought a techno feel to their version of the gaze, all dark tumultuous programmed rhythms and monster guitars; the modern SF gals in No Joy aren't shy with the volume on their take on swirling new gaze; Pale Saints brought an angularity into the staid open chord fuzz of most of the old school; My Bloody Valentine is an obvious choice here, but at least I've supplied you with a somewhat obscure track from the pre-Loveless days; Airiel act like the genre never went away and manage to out-bombast the founders; the relatively obscure Lilys bring the bliss to bliss pop (another overused term along with shoegaze); and Swirlies songs sounded quite convincingly like MBV outtakes circa Feed Me With Your Kiss, but who could bemoan them for that?
Bailterspace weren't strictly shoegaze - they dabbled in everything from Wire-esque minimalism to Swell Maps style deconstructivism to the absurdity of The Fall's Mark E. Smith - but this track emphasizes a foray into both the swoony and the crunchy that we've been discussing. Their progenitors The Gordons hinted at this approach but were also heavily influenced by Sonic Youth-y dissonance and mayhem. Speaking of Sonic Youth, I recently finished the installment of the 33-1/3 series of books discussing the creation of seminal albums which concerned Daydream Nation, so I had to include one of the best songs from that classic (but so many to choose from!) here.
And to wrap up this set, a diptych tribute to the phenomenal, life-changing show I just witnessed on a recent trip to the terra firma: doom mantra duo Om (with Emil Amos from Grails on drums!), and the return, after an eight-year hiatus, of the founding fathers of Montreal instrumental post rock, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Epic, it was. I hope this set is too.
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
The Fairlight Pendant - ...And You'll Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- Tao Of The Dead
Batcat- Mogwai - Special Moves
Tell The Bitch To Go Home - Faust - Something Dirty
Sci-Flyer - Swervedriver - Raise
Fade Away - Gliss - Love The Virgins
Wish You Dead - Curve - Doppleganger
Ghost Blonde - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Ordeal - Pale Saints - In Ribbons
Honey Power - My Bloody Valentine- Tremolo
You Kids Should Know Better - Airiel - The Battle Of Sealand
Snowblinder - Lilys - In The Presence Of Nothing
Jeremy Parker - Swirlies - Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Tag - Bailter Space - Capsul
Right On Time - The Gordons - s/t
Cross The Breeze - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Thebes - Om - God Is Good
Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
From there we swerve into the realm where crunch and swoon were most effectively cross-bred: that of SHOEGAZE. For those of you who somehow were and remained so out of touch that you haven't heard the term before, shoegaze refers to rock and pop bands with less stage presence than effects pedals, which they would stare at while strumming innocuous looking chords that sweetly made our ears bleed and minds spin (mostly in the UK, circa late 80s/early 90s). Since I'll be veering between the vintage originators (see parentheses above) and postmodern shoegaze you lucky listeners will have the opportunity to reach for your volume controls at every song start, as the mastering of the old stuff vs. new stuff varies wildly. Have fun with that - wish I could watch (snark). Better yet - just keep the volume at maximum, eh?
Swervedriver put the crunch into a hybrid of 70s American car rock and keening British guitar blast back in the heyday of shoegaze; LA glamsters Gliss crackle with barely restrained angst in their updated take on the genre; long-defunct Curve brought a techno feel to their version of the gaze, all dark tumultuous programmed rhythms and monster guitars; the modern SF gals in No Joy aren't shy with the volume on their take on swirling new gaze; Pale Saints brought an angularity into the staid open chord fuzz of most of the old school; My Bloody Valentine is an obvious choice here, but at least I've supplied you with a somewhat obscure track from the pre-Loveless days; Airiel act like the genre never went away and manage to out-bombast the founders; the relatively obscure Lilys bring the bliss to bliss pop (another overused term along with shoegaze); and Swirlies songs sounded quite convincingly like MBV outtakes circa Feed Me With Your Kiss, but who could bemoan them for that?
Bailterspace weren't strictly shoegaze - they dabbled in everything from Wire-esque minimalism to Swell Maps style deconstructivism to the absurdity of The Fall's Mark E. Smith - but this track emphasizes a foray into both the swoony and the crunchy that we've been discussing. Their progenitors The Gordons hinted at this approach but were also heavily influenced by Sonic Youth-y dissonance and mayhem. Speaking of Sonic Youth, I recently finished the installment of the 33-1/3 series of books discussing the creation of seminal albums which concerned Daydream Nation, so I had to include one of the best songs from that classic (but so many to choose from!) here.
And to wrap up this set, a diptych tribute to the phenomenal, life-changing show I just witnessed on a recent trip to the terra firma: doom mantra duo Om (with Emil Amos from Grails on drums!), and the return, after an eight-year hiatus, of the founding fathers of Montreal instrumental post rock, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Epic, it was. I hope this set is too.
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
The Fairlight Pendant - ...And You'll Know Us By The Trail Of Dead- Tao Of The Dead
Batcat- Mogwai - Special Moves
Tell The Bitch To Go Home - Faust - Something Dirty
Sci-Flyer - Swervedriver - Raise
Fade Away - Gliss - Love The Virgins
Wish You Dead - Curve - Doppleganger
Ghost Blonde - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Ordeal - Pale Saints - In Ribbons
Honey Power - My Bloody Valentine- Tremolo
You Kids Should Know Better - Airiel - The Battle Of Sealand
Snowblinder - Lilys - In The Presence Of Nothing
Jeremy Parker - Swirlies - Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Tag - Bailter Space - Capsul
Right On Time - The Gordons - s/t
Cross The Breeze - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Thebes - Om - God Is Good
Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
March 1, 2011
Motorik and more...
This is an accidental set, pure happenstance, in which I somehow, for cryptic, subconscious, free-associative reasons, collected examples of the myriad forms of the krautrock modus known as motorik. I've written of it many times before, how, from Neu! to Kraftwerk to Stereolab to Circle, the forward momentum rush of travel-by-thought, incarnate as sound, as music, as rock 'n' roll, informs so many aspects of non-blues derived modern music (possible only since the postwar industrial age inspired art to reflect technology). It's one of those things... you know it when you hear it. And without getting into another academic discussion of what it MEANS, this set comprises a number of songs/styles in accordance with the ethos. Then we diverge, or perhaps more accurately, MERGE, into avant motorik jazztronica (with a vocal and song oriented slant), then culminate with a finishing flourish of experimental/instruMENTAL electro-psych-jazz. Sssshhh... just listen...
Soft Circle is Hisham Baroocha, formerly a noisemonger with Black Dice, now exploring mantra-as-motif, and on this latest one even getting a little dancefloor-friendly. Holy Fuck are a juggernaut of a live four-piece who dare anyone to sit still while they play. Woodsman came out of left field (Denver?!?!?) to surprise us with ebbing and flowing psychedelia like Animal Collective channeling vintage krautrock. Mogwai finally admit how much they listen to Neu! The arch druid Julian Cope has admitted it all along. The Church offer up an atypical track from an obscure and sadly overlooked mid-career album. Phil Manley breaks out of Trans Am and The Fucking Champs and busts some Klusterish kraut-homage. Jackie-O Motherfucker drop one of their most cohesive improvs ever, sounding more freight train propulsion than their usual ramshackle clamor. Swell Maps got the voodooooooooo...
Then...The Phantom Band have always incorporated motorik in their Scotch balladeering, but in a subtle way. LCD Soundsystem sound more like Eno on their latest than Eno does. And Talk Talk are mostly known for a couple cliche' 80s pop hits, but put out three albums of atmospheric avant vocal-jazz explorations that only critics and collectors seem to know about, from which this track has been culled. Which provides a nice transition for...
...a diversion into the realm of experimental jazztronica... sometimes difficult, not so accessible, but rewarding for those with the patience. So don't give up: if you like being transported to other worlds via the vehicle of space rock (and if you're here, you must), these tracks from Radian, Trapist, Supersilent and The Necks have the same principles and properties. Go with it... you'll be glad you did.
For you traditionalists who don't mind streaming from this site, the following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Bonzer - Soft Circle- Shore Obsessed
Super Inuit- Holy Fuck - LP
Dikembe Mutombo - Woodsman - Collages
Mexican Grand Prix - Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Kolly Kibber's Birthday - Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
Angelica - The Church - Sometime Anywhere
Night Vision - Phil Manley - Life Coach
The Cryin' Sea - Jackie-O Motherfucker - Ballads Of The Revolution
Full Moon In My Pocket/Blam!!! - Swell Maps - A Trip To Marineville
The None Of One - The Phantom Band - The Wants
All I Want - LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
Desire - Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
Feedbackmikro/City Lights - Radian - Chimeric
Time Axis (Part 2) - Trapist - Ballroom
11.4 - Supersilent - 11
Fatal - The Necks - Chemist
But don't forget, you now have the option of spacerock to go:
1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
February 1, 2011
Space Rock To Go!
Here it is folks (finally!): by overwhelming popular demand, it's The Great Spacerock Continuum Podcast Experiment! New! Improved! Transportable! The deluxe take-it-with-you version of this month's "podcast" is ready for the busy spacerockers on the go. Remember: this isn't a true podcast, just an mp3 that you can download:1. Click on the Divshare logo instead of pushing the play button.
2. Click "download" when redirected to the Divshare site.
3. Once downloaded drag it to yer iTunes and sync it with yer pod - simple!
Unfortunately you'll still need to refer to this blog's text to know what song yer on, but hey... baby steps. Let me know what you think!
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