Not all spacerock, and not all the time. A compendium of artful noise brought to you monthly by your favorite aficionado of the spacier side of rock music, BeeDub.
1. Primal Scream 'More Light'
2. The Besnard Lakes 'Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO'
3. Jagwar Ma 'Howlin'
4. Life Coach 'Alpha Waves'
5. Polvo 'Siberia'
6. Parquet Courts 'Light Up Gold'
7. Wolf People 'Fain'
8. Yamantaka/Sonic Titan 'Uzu'
9. Heliotropes 'A Constant Sea'
10. Dawn Of Midi 'Dysnomia'
Honorable mention:
My Bloody Valentine 'MBV'
No Joy 'Wait To Pleasure'
Toy 'Join The Dots'
Washed Out 'Paracosm'
Unknown Mortal Orchestra 'II'
Chelsea Light Moving s/t
Savages 'Silence Yourself'
Volcano Choir 'Repave'
Hookworms 'Pearl Mystic'
Pond 'Hobo Rocket'
File under pure Garage/Psychedelia:
The Oscillation 'From Tomorrow'
Thee Oh Sees 'Floating Coffin'
The Cult Of Dom Keller s/t
Night Beats 'Sonic Bloom'
Lorelle Meets The Obsolete 'Corruptible Faces'
Another banner year for some absolutely stunning space rock, psychedelic and experiMENTAL musix! And I got SIX HOURS of it for you! That, my friends, qualifies as a shit ton of space rock.
This is the first installment - the remaining three hours will be broadcast to you in February. And there's a very good chance this site will go on indefinite hiatus after that. Yeah, boo hoo. Suck it up and put on your big kid headphones, spacerockers. I know I've been saying this for a while, but, you see, the problem isn't SPACE, it's TIME. Go ahead, talk me down.
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
Sunrise/Alphawaves - Life Coach - Alphawaves
2013 - Primal Scream - More Light
The Throw - Jagwar Ma - Howlin'
Join The Dots - Toy- Join The Dots
Teardrop Guitar - Crocodiles - Crimes Of Passion
One At A Time -Unknown Mortal Orchestra -II
Hamburgers & Tangerines - Lilacs & Champagne - Danish & Blue
The Red Wing - Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
Atlas - Dawn Of Midi - Dysnomia
C'mon Stimmung - No Age - An Object
Burroughs - Chelsea Light Moving - s/t
We Think She's A Nurse - Kinski- Cozy Moments
Changed - Polvo - Siberia
Earthen Gate -Fuzz -s/t Giant Tortoise -Pond -Hobo Rocket
And Time Will Act Upon Them - Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Corruptible Faces
Confidence - The Dodos - Carrier
Tide Rays - Volcano Choir - Repave
All I Know - Washed Out - Paracosm
If They Move, Shoot 'Em - The Flaming Lips - Peace Sword
Dream Drug - Brad Laner - Nearest Suns
Heavy Moon - Elephant Stone- Acid Killed My Rock 'N' Roll
Colour Yr Lights In - The Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Waking Dream -Bleeding Rainbow -Yeah Right
Holy Crimes - Medicine - To The Happy Few
New You - My Bloody Valentine - MBV
Counting Sailboats - The Holydrug Couple - Noctuary
Unreal - Hebronix - Unreal
Lolita - Purling Hiss - Water On Mars
Supermoon - The Men- New Moon
Chance - Bardo Pond - Peace On Venus
Antarctic Handshake -Palms -s/t
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.
And I will! And I will conquer TIME as well. For I have been remiss, for the past few months, in writing my usual descriptions of the artists included in the playlists. I hope to go back and write the ones I skipped sometime in the Near Future. Time is of the essence but as we busy spacerockers know, time can be the Enemy as well. In the meantime what matters is the MUSIC, is it not?
For now I offer up the last set of the year, packed to the hilt with sonic Transcendence, the stuff of which we wouldn't be able to exist without. Please take this powerful Nourishment for now, let it sustain you until the Best of 2013 playlist(s) coming in the New Year (currently clocking in at over FIVE HOURS of musix!)...
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
Atalanta/Whalesong - Yamantaka/Sonic Titan - UZU
Gasmask Rabbit - Bo Ningen - s/t
Corridor Parts 1 & 2 - The Oscillation - From Tomorrow
Mirrors - Crocodiles- Sleep Forever
A Silent Moment - Elephant Stone - Acid Killed My Rock And Roll
Loose Sutures -Fuzz -s/t
Sonic Bloom - Night Beats - Sonic Bloom
Where You Head Goes - Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread
I Want You Right Now - Spacemen 3 - Forged Prescriptions
Always Lie - Tape Deck Mountain - Sway
Confusion - Red Temple Spirits - If Tomorrow I Were Leaving For Lhasa, I Wouldn't Stay A Minute More...
Halo - Disappears- Guider
Bow Your Head - Far-Out Fangtooth - Borrowed Time
Blues Is Loss -Polvo -Siberia Our Father The Monster -Wooden Wand & The World War IV -s/t
Solar Motel Part III - Chris Forsyth - Solar Motel
Brigitte's Trip (White Light/White Jazz) - Cave - Pure Moods
Violence Of The Red Sea - Earthless - From The Ages
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.
Another set featuring some previous subjects and some new additions, an ever evolving series of modern spacerock playlists rounding out the year. For your head candy pleasure.
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
Forever In Space (Enlightened) - White Hills - So You Are... So You'll Be
Xanman - Pond - Hobo Rocket
Sally Go Round The Sun - Elephant Stone - Acid Killed My Rock And Roll
My Surfing Lucifer - Crocodiles- Endless Flowers
Hibernation Sickness - Disappears - Pre Language
Final Flight -Destruction Unit -Deep Trip
Eraser - No Age - Nouns
Melted- Ty Segall - Melted
Sunshine, No Shoes - Spacin' - Deep Thuds
Brain Dead - Eric Copeland - Car Alarm
Smokies Tangle - Lumerians - The High Frontier
Daylight - Medicine- To The Happy Few
Krimson - Warpaint - Exquisite Corpse
Closer -Traveling Circle -Escape From Black Cloud Follow In Your Dreams -Vinyl Williams - Lemniscate
Comrade - Volcano Choir - Repave
Post Hohkai - Bo Ningen - s/t
Maker - Pontiak - Maker
Form And Function/In Our Time - Hookworms - Pearl Mystic
Stalker - Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
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.
...that need no explanation. More tracks from some of the same artists as last month, cuz you need to hear them, and some new ones too. So listen up!
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
Away/Towards - Hookworms- Pearl Mystic
So You Are... So You'll Be - White Hills - So You Are... So You'll Be
32 Kaiten - Bo Ningen - Line The Wall
High Frontier - Lumerians- The High Frontier
Heaven By The Sun - Wall Of Death - Main Obsession
Thank God For Sinners -Ty Segall -Twins
I Am Not A Game - Ty Segall and White Fence - Hair
White Cat - White Fence - Cyclops Reap
Replicate - Disappears - Pre Language
Bumpy Road - Destruction Unit - Deep Trip
Nailhouse - Pop. 1280 - Imps Of Perversion
Cockroach - Crocodiles- Crimes Of Passion
Inner Space - Vinyl Williams - Lemniscate
Ego-Go -Spacin' -Deep Thuds
Elephants - Warpaint - Exquisite Corpse
Cake - Loftus - s/t
Almanac - Volcano Choir - Repave
Unliving - Hebronix - Unreal
Swim Into The Sun - Kandodo - K2O
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.
Another supernova of a set for September. Self-explanatory, really. Which is why I've offered no descriptions this month (nor last). These explorations need no explanation - they are meant to be experienced and enjoyed for what they are, like staring at a starry sky... and just BEING.
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
Forever In Space (Enlightened) - White Hills- So You Are... So You'll Be
Henkan - Bo Ningen - Line The Wall
Drawing Down The Moon - Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark
Native Dreams - Rose Windows- The Sun Dogs
Moonlite - Heliotropes - A Constant Sea
Prodigy -No Joy -Wait To Pleasure
Long As The Sun - Medicine - To The Happy Few
City's Full - Savages - Silence Yourself
Dirge - Deconstruction - s/t
Mission Sunset - Palms - s/t
Taken - Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - On Welfare
Mirage Hall - Dirty Beaches- Drifters / Love Is The Devil
Oh, Man - Spacin' - Deep Thuds
The Hearse -Wampire -Curiosity Higher Worlds - Vinyl Williams - Lemniscate
Garden - Hebronix - Unreal
Aloneaflameaflower - Pond - Hobo Rocket
Brennisteinn - Sigur Ros - Kveikur
Kandy Rock Mountain - Kandodo - K2O
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.
Whew! That was a monster! More from them near the end of this set.
Yes, how about a nice summery set for August?
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
Worlds - The Cult Of Dom Keller- s/t
Marble Blues - Wall Of Death - Main Obsession
No Spell - Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
Traveler - Lorelle Meets The Obsolete- On Welfare
I Dream In Neon - Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love Is The Devil
The Other Side -Night Beats -s/t
Brainfreeze - Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
I'll Wait Forever More - Amnesia - Lingus Blind - Pacific UV - s/t
Twelve Miles Of Fiction - Glaciers - And The Sea Won The Battle
Kveikur - Sigur Ros - Kveikur
America - Deconstruction- s/t
Psalms - Heliotropes - A Constant Sea
The Eldritch Dark -Blood Ceremony -The Eldritch Dark Mt. Abraxas - Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Mind Control
Daikasei Parts 1, 2 & 3 - Bo Ningen - Line The Wall
All At Once, The Turning Weather - Arbouretum - Coming Out Of The Fog
Night Riding The Skyline - Date Palms - The Dusted Sessions
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.
Let's get this shindig started! Bursting out of the gate with Life Coach's rawkist revisionism seems a good way to start, the Trans Am singer/guitarist Phil Manley's second solo effort is a heady affair, alternately mind-expanding and head-banging. Then let's keep the momentum going with a track from the long-awaited new Primal Scream album, a triumphant return-to-form most resembling their Madchester heyday of the Screamadelica era. More from them in installments to come, a sure-fire placement in the year's top ten. Also evoking the psychedelic funk of late 80s Manchester, England, are newcomers Jagwar Ma, a duo from Sydney, Australia, that NPR sums up thusly: "(their debut album) references Stone Roses one minute and space disco the next, and neither approach feels the least bit forced." Continuing the motorik undercurrents of these bands, Finnish electro-rockers K-X-P know about about said space disco, adding a wash of spiritualized shimmer and soar to their anthemic epics. And Unknown Mortal Orchestra, while falling more into an angular abstruse indie rock classification, have been known to explore the edges of psych-funk in their own inimitable way.
UMO's garage-y tendencies make for the next transition, to warped and merry juggernaut that is Thee Oh Sees (who obviously I cannot get enough of), to their peers, in style and locale (San Francisco), in the Ty Segall Band, to Night Beats (described on Wikipedia as "an American psychedelic, garage and soul group based out of Seattle, Washington), who were a sleeper I only caught a glimpse of at the recent Austin Psych Fest. Then we're off to Guadalajara, Mexico, as likely a place as any to find the eccentric male-female duo Lorelle Meets The Obsolete practicing their own brand of dark psych experimentalism.
Continuing with a couple more bands I sadly overlooked at the Austin Psych Fest: first, the majestic bombast of Wall Of Death (not to be confused with the Portuguese death metal band nor the mosh pit action they're named for). Since I'm being lazy and quoting other sources in this installment, let the Austin Chronicle tell you about them: "Drawing on a foundation of psychedelia and prog-rock, augmented by gothic and spaghetti western flourishes, the Parisian trio's special du jour was slow, swaying grooves that shifted into explosive, flanged-out climaxes." Okay then. And a blast of raw lysergic energy from The Cult Of Dom Keller, enigmatically named droney blooz-psychsters from Nottingham, England.
Stepping into the past, let's pull up some key tracks from overlooked artists like Shady, aka David Baker, the original lead singer of Mercury Rev, whose solo material demonstrates the weirder side that band shrugged off when guitarist Jonathan Donahue took the helm. Amnesia, one of many solo vehicles for Medicine songwriter-guitarist Brad Laner. And Deconstruction, whose one-album career nearly rivals the transcendant grandeur of singer-bassist Eric Avery's and guitarist Dave Navarro's former gig... need I name them...? psst!*ahem* Jane's Addiction! Speaking of the past, isn't "post rock" long dead?!?!? Well, as recently as this 2009 track (and apparently they have a new one coming out) San Francisco/Oakland's Glaciers were still flogging a dead horse... er, worshipfully rendering the template of stippled guitar shimmer and sudden dynamics (or as they call it "loud louds and quiet quiets") set in stone by the likes of Explosions In The Sky and God Is An Astronaut. Why not? If it ain't broke...
We come now to the conundrum of 2013, one of my favorite bands of all time, the prolific and shape-shifting Flaming Lips put out an album that was thoroughly... meh. Imagine my surprise, after the written previews describing The Terror as a devastating and relentlessly dark album of in-your-face anthems exploring the evils of humanism in all its facets, and finding it less terrifying and more... terrible. I will explore it some more at length to see if maybe I overlooked something, but so far I'm unimpressed, especially with the instrumentation and arrangement... where's the freakin' GUITAR?!?!? Sometimes break-up albums can be more whimper than bang, I guess. Surely it will be the first year with the release of a Lips album that it doesn't even make it into the Best Of playlist. But I've included one of the better tracks. You decide.
Portland, Oregon, stalwarts Pacific UV have been quietly and consistently (if sporadically) exploring their own version of the sonics employed by Spacemen 3/Spectrum/Spiritualized for some time now, with subtle morphing from one album to the next but never straying far from their original vision. No Joy also borrow from an existing template, that of dream pop/shoegaze, but claim their own unique take on it - after witnessing them live at the Austin Psych Fest I have to say these young ladies have a monster of a sound all their own. Female-led Philly trio Bleeding Rainbow (formerly Reading Rainbow, but by force ending up with a much better moniker) are a self-described "rock and roll w/psychedelic and punk influences, okay?" powerhouse that sounds much bigger than the sum of its parts. Suuns were also a key set to catch at the Austin Psych Fest, and what sounds like a darker and woozier version of Clinic on record proved to be an hypnotic motorik feast for the senses.
Rejoice! Young Brit-prog revivalists Wolf People have returned with their third installment and it's just as much a heady trip as their previous work, all baroque arrangements and biting guitar work. Arbouretum explores a similar realm of majesty and magic, as their track I posted in May attests; here's a lengthy track from a previous album, and you can count on a track from their 2013 album to appear in the year's Best Of. And Kurt Vile, he of the languid-yet-motorik-driven country-psych tendencies, offers up a long psilocybin sprawl from his most recent album to conclude this month's journey on an uplifting note.
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
Fireball - Life Coach - Alphawaves
Turn Each Other Inside Out - Primal Scream - More Light
What Love - Jagwar Ma - Howlin
18 Hours (Of Love) -K-X-P -s/t No Need For A Leader - Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster - Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin Death - Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse Ain't Dumbo - Night Beats - s/t
The Lonely - Lorelle Meets The Obsolete - Corruptible Faces
Tears Of Rainbow - Wall Of Death- Main Obsession
Swamp Heron - The Cult Of Dom Keller - s/t
Narcotic Candy -Shady -World
Undergarden Song - Amnesia - Cherry Flavored Night Time
One - Deconstruction - s/t
Southern Passage - The Glaciers - And The Sea Won The Battle
Look... The Sun Is Rising - The Flaming Lips - The Terror
Baby Blue - Pacific UV- Weekends
You Girls Smoke Cigarettes? - No Joy - Ghost Blonde
Drift Away -Bleeding Rainbow -Yeah Right
Sunspot - Suuns - Images Du Futur
When The Fire Is Dead In The Grate - Wolf People - Fain
All That Will Be Has Begun, All That Has Come Isn't Gone - Arbouretum - Long Live The Well-Doer
Wakin' On A Pretty Day - Kurt Vile - Wakin' On A Pretty Day
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.
