...or you'll be lost in SPACE! During the last eight years we have come perilously close to global devastation so unless we WAKE UP we are all FUCKED!!! The only place of refuge will be outer space; in the meantime we can take solace in the bliss of SPACE ROCK! And this month's installment is a heavy one indeed, but as long as it takes you on a journey then I've done my job. I won't say any more about politics except OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!
On to the playlist: we begin with a couple obscure classic epics, "The Width of A Circle" from David Bowie's lost gem from 1972 The Man Who Sold the World (ask Kurt Cobain about that one... oh, wait), and Patti Smith's "Abyssinia" from her least-known (and my personal favorite) album Radio Ethiopia (1976). Acting as a transition track (and filed under WTF?!?!?) is Clipd Beaks with their dying wish, a great idea if you ask me.
We then venture into a segment exploring many aspects of the motorik genre. First invented by the kraut rock pioneers of the early 70's and further explored by diverse modern practitioners, this style's main feature is a forward-rushing momentum (think Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" et al.): we have Clinic from Liverpool, Vivian Girls from Brooklyn, The Early Years from London, and the veritable originators of motorik, Neu!, featuring members of Kraftwerk and Cluster, culminating with Stereolab's expansive "Jenny Ondioline", from their earlier more experiMENTAL years.
Shocking us out of our reverie is a set of the rockier side of shoegaze with Swervedriver, Loop (indebted to the influential Spacemen 3), Singapore Sling and their primary influence The Jesus & Mary Chain, then going off the deep end with Seattle's Hypatia Lake from their epic concept album (can you guess the theme?), and the inimitable wall-of-sound of My Bloody Valentine (I'm still reeling from their reunion show last month) here showing their punkier side, albeit with a crazy time signature.
We conclude this installment with three lengthy tracks: Brooklyn's Oneida with a portion of their recent magnum opus Preteen Weaponry, little-known vintage krautrockers German Oak, also-rans from 1972, and Montreal's post rock classicists Godspeed You! Black Emperor. These three tracks have in common rather, um... apocalyptic military themes, for some reason.
Whew! Hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you on the other side!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Width of a Circle - David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
Abyssinia - Patti Smith - Radio Ethiopia
Smoke Me When I'm Gone - Clipd Beaks - Preyers
Gideon - Clinic - Visitations
Tell the World - Vivian Girls - s/t
All Ones and Zeros - The Early Years - s/t
Lilac Angel - Neu! - Neu! 2
Jenny Ondioline - Stereolab - Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements
99th Dream - Swervedriver - 99th Dream
This Is Where You End - Loop - Fade Out
Overdriver - Singapore Sling - The Curse of Singapore Sling
Catchfire - The Jesus & Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
Joseph and the Divine Intervention - Hypatia Lake - ...And We Shall Call Him Joseph
Feed Me with Your Kiss - My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
Preteen Weaponry 2 - Oneida - Preteen Weaponry
Raid Over Dusseldorf - German Oak - s/t
Motherfucker = Redeemer (Part 2) - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
November 1, 2008
October 1, 2008
Words cannot express...
...my anticipation of the events occurring this month throughout the US and elsewhere, events of such magnitude as to shake the planet loose from its orbit and launch us all into farflung galaxies, exhilarated by the prospect of the long-awaited reunion of one of the most important bands of all time:
The triumphant return of MY BLOODY VALENTINE!!!!! And of course I will be bearing witness to it - will you? In fact, I've decided to catch this epic moment in history at a venue that I have a lot of history with myself, the fabled Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Word on the street is the Concourse Exhibition Center, the site of MBV's San Francisco stop, is a horrible venue for live music - all tinny, echoey sound and horrible sightlines. And besides, the Civic in L.A. is a place where I've attended many history-making rock shows, including the first US tour by Public Image Ltd., in their original lineup, with the flamboyant chaos-inducing fire-breathing Butthole Surfers (among others) as their support. It was the hugest mosh pit I've ever experienced, and if I remember correctly this was probably in '82. I know it was in '89 that I first swooned over My Bloody Valentine - and '91 when I caught their first and only US tour at the Hollywood Palladium. They were absolutely DEVASTATING. In all honesty it took me and my musical peers a bit of time to "get" this monumental band, as it often does with most artists with any longevity. This is the band who forever changed the way guitars could sound and how, when you get to the rudiments of it, pop songs could be written. Their music has stood the test of time; there has never been and will never be another band like them. Yes, I will be bringing ear-plugs - this band is LOUD. I'm drivin' down I-5 tomorrow - wish me luck!
And now to the playlist for October:
Opening the set are a couple motorik juggernauts from New Zealand noise trio Grey Daturas and paisley underground also-rans True West, then we revisit two of the finest of Birdman's Records' recent releases, Pittburgh garage-psych monsters Modey Lemon and Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis (busting out a Mudhoney cover!), in slot 3 and 4 just like last month. From there we launch into a segment of shoegaze and droney psychedelia with the usual suspects (SF's Lumerians, LA's Warlocks, the aforementioned MBV, fellow Paisley undergrounders Green On Red and the Rain Parade, and slipping in jangle-psych classicists the Feelies), before things get really weird. And by weird I mean some truly unclassifiable shit: Clipd Beaks, Crystal Antlers, Liars, Snowman...?! What do you call this stuf? Arty, noisy, punky... inspired. I guess the broader definition of space rock will have to do. And of course none of it would have existed without Nick Cave and Co.'s contributions back in the 80s with The Birthday Party. Also hard to classify is German electronic absurdists Mouse on Mars (with their tribute to O.G. krautrockers Amon Duul?), the mighty Polvo whose reunion last month still rings in my ears, and SF avant-folkies Dodos. Another recent reunion occurred between Brian Eno (Roxy Music et al.) and David Byrne (Talking Heads et al.), but since their new collaboration is merely okay I decided to pop in a track from their first meeting, the seminal My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) in case anyone would like to know what they're really capable of. We then make an awkward (but less so than you'd think) transition into neu-metal realms with the slab-tastic Isis, Torche and Russian Circles, then drift off gently with slo-mo troubadours Brightblack Morning Light and an homage to Pink Floyd's Rick Wright and one of his many indelible contributions to space rock.
And it is here we must make tribute to the sad passing of founding member of Pink Floyd, keyboardist Rick Wright. Although further from the limelight than his cohorts David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Wright was indispensable as a composer, arranger, and foil for the much larger egos in the band. He wrote two of the strongest tracks from the undisputed spacerock epic Dark Side of the Moon, "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them", as well as contributed to some of the group's most transcendent pieces such as "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." The following video is for my personal favorite Rick Wright song, the overlooked chestnut "Summer '68" (although it's only a fan video without live footage, the sentiment is still there):
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Beyond and Into the Ultimate - Grey Daturas - Return to Disruption
I'm Not Here - True West - Hollywood Holiday (Revisited)
The Peacock's Eye - Modey Lemon - Season of Sweets
When Tomorrow Hits - Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis - Indian Giver
Corkscrew Trepanation - Lumerians - s/t
So Paranoid - The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Slipping (Into Something) - The Feelies - The Good Earth
The Blue Parade - Green On Red - Gravity Talks
This Can't Be Today - Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip
We Will Bomb You (We Will) - Clipd Beaks - Hoarse Lords
Parting Song for the Torn Sky - Crystal Antlers - s/t
Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack - Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Our Mother (She Remembers) - Snowman - The Horse, the Rat & the Swan
The Friend Catcher - The Birthday Party - Hee-Haw
Duul - Mouse On Mars - Varcharz
Thermal Treasure - Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles
Jodi - The Dodos - Visiter
Regiment - Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Not in Rivers, But in Drops - Isis - In the Absence of Truth
Fat Waves - Torche - Meanderthal
Harper Lewis - Russian Circles - Station
True Bright Blossom - Brightblack Morning Light - Ala.Cali.Tucky
Remember a Day - Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
PS. Although I'm usually not much for videos (despite the plethora included in this month's post), I thought these were some nifty little nuggets of visual psychedelia to match the tunes (from Portland's enigmatic Au and the file-under-WTF? Ponytail, both featured in last month's playlist). Hope you do too:
The triumphant return of MY BLOODY VALENTINE!!!!! And of course I will be bearing witness to it - will you? In fact, I've decided to catch this epic moment in history at a venue that I have a lot of history with myself, the fabled Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Word on the street is the Concourse Exhibition Center, the site of MBV's San Francisco stop, is a horrible venue for live music - all tinny, echoey sound and horrible sightlines. And besides, the Civic in L.A. is a place where I've attended many history-making rock shows, including the first US tour by Public Image Ltd., in their original lineup, with the flamboyant chaos-inducing fire-breathing Butthole Surfers (among others) as their support. It was the hugest mosh pit I've ever experienced, and if I remember correctly this was probably in '82. I know it was in '89 that I first swooned over My Bloody Valentine - and '91 when I caught their first and only US tour at the Hollywood Palladium. They were absolutely DEVASTATING. In all honesty it took me and my musical peers a bit of time to "get" this monumental band, as it often does with most artists with any longevity. This is the band who forever changed the way guitars could sound and how, when you get to the rudiments of it, pop songs could be written. Their music has stood the test of time; there has never been and will never be another band like them. Yes, I will be bringing ear-plugs - this band is LOUD. I'm drivin' down I-5 tomorrow - wish me luck!
And now to the playlist for October:
Opening the set are a couple motorik juggernauts from New Zealand noise trio Grey Daturas and paisley underground also-rans True West, then we revisit two of the finest of Birdman's Records' recent releases, Pittburgh garage-psych monsters Modey Lemon and Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis (busting out a Mudhoney cover!), in slot 3 and 4 just like last month. From there we launch into a segment of shoegaze and droney psychedelia with the usual suspects (SF's Lumerians, LA's Warlocks, the aforementioned MBV, fellow Paisley undergrounders Green On Red and the Rain Parade, and slipping in jangle-psych classicists the Feelies), before things get really weird. And by weird I mean some truly unclassifiable shit: Clipd Beaks, Crystal Antlers, Liars, Snowman...?! What do you call this stuf? Arty, noisy, punky... inspired. I guess the broader definition of space rock will have to do. And of course none of it would have existed without Nick Cave and Co.'s contributions back in the 80s with The Birthday Party. Also hard to classify is German electronic absurdists Mouse on Mars (with their tribute to O.G. krautrockers Amon Duul?), the mighty Polvo whose reunion last month still rings in my ears, and SF avant-folkies Dodos. Another recent reunion occurred between Brian Eno (Roxy Music et al.) and David Byrne (Talking Heads et al.), but since their new collaboration is merely okay I decided to pop in a track from their first meeting, the seminal My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) in case anyone would like to know what they're really capable of. We then make an awkward (but less so than you'd think) transition into neu-metal realms with the slab-tastic Isis, Torche and Russian Circles, then drift off gently with slo-mo troubadours Brightblack Morning Light and an homage to Pink Floyd's Rick Wright and one of his many indelible contributions to space rock.
And it is here we must make tribute to the sad passing of founding member of Pink Floyd, keyboardist Rick Wright. Although further from the limelight than his cohorts David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Wright was indispensable as a composer, arranger, and foil for the much larger egos in the band. He wrote two of the strongest tracks from the undisputed spacerock epic Dark Side of the Moon, "The Great Gig In The Sky" and "Us And Them", as well as contributed to some of the group's most transcendent pieces such as "Atom Heart Mother," "Echoes" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." The following video is for my personal favorite Rick Wright song, the overlooked chestnut "Summer '68" (although it's only a fan video without live footage, the sentiment is still there):
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Beyond and Into the Ultimate - Grey Daturas - Return to Disruption
I'm Not Here - True West - Hollywood Holiday (Revisited)
The Peacock's Eye - Modey Lemon - Season of Sweets
When Tomorrow Hits - Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis - Indian Giver
Corkscrew Trepanation - Lumerians - s/t
So Paranoid - The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
Only Shallow - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Slipping (Into Something) - The Feelies - The Good Earth
The Blue Parade - Green On Red - Gravity Talks
This Can't Be Today - Rain Parade - Emergency Third Rail Power Trip
We Will Bomb You (We Will) - Clipd Beaks - Hoarse Lords
Parting Song for the Torn Sky - Crystal Antlers - s/t
Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack - Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Our Mother (She Remembers) - Snowman - The Horse, the Rat & the Swan
The Friend Catcher - The Birthday Party - Hee-Haw
Duul - Mouse On Mars - Varcharz
Thermal Treasure - Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles
Jodi - The Dodos - Visiter
Regiment - Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Not in Rivers, But in Drops - Isis - In the Absence of Truth
Fat Waves - Torche - Meanderthal
Harper Lewis - Russian Circles - Station
True Bright Blossom - Brightblack Morning Light - Ala.Cali.Tucky
Remember a Day - Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets
PS. Although I'm usually not much for videos (despite the plethora included in this month's post), I thought these were some nifty little nuggets of visual psychedelia to match the tunes (from Portland's enigmatic Au and the file-under-WTF? Ponytail, both featured in last month's playlist). Hope you do too:
September 1, 2008
The School of Spacerock...
...is now in session! I realize nobody's ready to let go of summer, the lazy hazy daze of hammocks and soothing bodies of water... it just seems too dang soon to go back to school! Well, never fear, because the education provided herein will stimulate the senses and allow you to free your mind and relive your halcyon days under the sun (or in my case, surfin' the slipstream under the stars).
We begin in homage to tomorrow's double-header at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco: the much-anticipated reunion tour by those 90's math rock absurdists from Chapel Hill, NC, the one and only POLVO! And since they'll be supported by everyone's fave techno-RAWKers Trans Am, I've opened the set with one of their most heady epics.
We follow with a duet from the illustrious Birdman Records (Hi Matthew!), with Pittsburgh's garage-psych specialists Modey Lemon, and the collaboration between Spectrum (aka Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3) and legendary producer/provocateur Captain Memphis, which finds them mining Sonic's back catalog as well as the hypnodrone of proto-synthpunks Suicide. Then to scramble the senses while cleansing the palate I've popped in avant-freekjazzist Marc Ribot's (Tom Waits, Lounge Lizards, et al.) desecration of an alltime classic by the Doors.
From there it's an excursion into instruMENTAL post rock with Berlin's Heaven And, Montreal's Do Make Say Think and Glasgow's mighty Mogwai. Then we shift gears into a five-song set of unclassifiable modern music from diverse artists (Au, Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Abe Vigoda and Ponytail) that are tied together by an innocence, a primal joy, a child-like obsession with mantra and manic frenzy, and a penchant for undiscernable vocals meant more for their sound than any precise meaning. It's the equivalent of spiritual ecstasy through the healing powers of "rock" music (using that term in only the loosest sense).
Electro-organic powerhouse the Octopus Project provide a transitional track, then tracks from the most recent, and stunning Portishead release and from late 80's psych duo Opal (Kendra Smith from the Dream Syndicate and Dave Roback from the Rain Parade, pre-Mazzy Star) show a striking resemblance. Continuing in that vein, from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it musical movement of psychedelic classicism centered in 80's Los Angeles known as the paisley underground comes tracks from True West, the Rain Parade, Green On Red and the Dream Syndicate. Taking us for one last leap into the depths of space is a chilling opus from the recent comeback album by L.A. dark-psyche outfit the Warlocks.
Whew! That was exhausting. But pay attention class! Don't be caught napping. There's still a lot more to learn about space rock! After studying this month's installment it might be a good time to review all of our previous lessons in preparation for a surprise pop quiz! Just kidding - school is for fools. All you'll ever need to know is right here in the Spacerock Continuum!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Dark Gift - Trans Am - Red Line
Rock Post Rock - Polvo - Shapes
The Bear Comes Back Down the Mountain - Modey Lemon - Season of Sweets
The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace - Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis - Indian Giver
Break on Through - Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Party Intellectuals
Parade - Heaven And - Sweeter As the Years Roll By
Fredericia - Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn, Country Hymn, Secret Hymn
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong - Mogwai - Rock Action
Sum - Au - Au
Gobbledigook - Sigur Ros - With A Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly
Leaf House - Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Dead City / Waste Wilderness - Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
Beg Waves - Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
An Evening with Rthrtha - The Octopus Project - Hello Avalanche
Small - Portishead - Third
Rocket Machine - Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
Steps to the Door - True West - Hollywood Holiday
No Easy Way Down - The Rain Parade - Explosions in the Glass Palace
Five Easy Pieces - Green On Red - Gravity Talks
The Days of Wine and Roses - The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Moving Mountains - The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
We begin in homage to tomorrow's double-header at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco: the much-anticipated reunion tour by those 90's math rock absurdists from Chapel Hill, NC, the one and only POLVO! And since they'll be supported by everyone's fave techno-RAWKers Trans Am, I've opened the set with one of their most heady epics.
We follow with a duet from the illustrious Birdman Records (Hi Matthew!), with Pittsburgh's garage-psych specialists Modey Lemon, and the collaboration between Spectrum (aka Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3) and legendary producer/provocateur Captain Memphis, which finds them mining Sonic's back catalog as well as the hypnodrone of proto-synthpunks Suicide. Then to scramble the senses while cleansing the palate I've popped in avant-freekjazzist Marc Ribot's (Tom Waits, Lounge Lizards, et al.) desecration of an alltime classic by the Doors.
From there it's an excursion into instruMENTAL post rock with Berlin's Heaven And, Montreal's Do Make Say Think and Glasgow's mighty Mogwai. Then we shift gears into a five-song set of unclassifiable modern music from diverse artists (Au, Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Abe Vigoda and Ponytail) that are tied together by an innocence, a primal joy, a child-like obsession with mantra and manic frenzy, and a penchant for undiscernable vocals meant more for their sound than any precise meaning. It's the equivalent of spiritual ecstasy through the healing powers of "rock" music (using that term in only the loosest sense).
Electro-organic powerhouse the Octopus Project provide a transitional track, then tracks from the most recent, and stunning Portishead release and from late 80's psych duo Opal (Kendra Smith from the Dream Syndicate and Dave Roback from the Rain Parade, pre-Mazzy Star) show a striking resemblance. Continuing in that vein, from the blink-and-you'll-miss-it musical movement of psychedelic classicism centered in 80's Los Angeles known as the paisley underground comes tracks from True West, the Rain Parade, Green On Red and the Dream Syndicate. Taking us for one last leap into the depths of space is a chilling opus from the recent comeback album by L.A. dark-psyche outfit the Warlocks.
Whew! That was exhausting. But pay attention class! Don't be caught napping. There's still a lot more to learn about space rock! After studying this month's installment it might be a good time to review all of our previous lessons in preparation for a surprise pop quiz! Just kidding - school is for fools. All you'll ever need to know is right here in the Spacerock Continuum!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
The Dark Gift - Trans Am - Red Line
Rock Post Rock - Polvo - Shapes
The Bear Comes Back Down the Mountain - Modey Lemon - Season of Sweets
The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace - Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis - Indian Giver
Break on Through - Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - Party Intellectuals
Parade - Heaven And - Sweeter As the Years Roll By
Fredericia - Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn, Country Hymn, Secret Hymn
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong - Mogwai - Rock Action
Sum - Au - Au
Gobbledigook - Sigur Ros - With A Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly
Leaf House - Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Dead City / Waste Wilderness - Abe Vigoda - Skeleton
Beg Waves - Ponytail - Ice Cream Spiritual
An Evening with Rthrtha - The Octopus Project - Hello Avalanche
Small - Portishead - Third
Rocket Machine - Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
Steps to the Door - True West - Hollywood Holiday
No Easy Way Down - The Rain Parade - Explosions in the Glass Palace
Five Easy Pieces - Green On Red - Gravity Talks
The Days of Wine and Roses - The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Moving Mountains - The Warlocks - Heavy Deavy Skull Lover
August 1, 2008
Not all spacerock...
...and not all time. That was the original motto of my previous webcast and it still stands today for this monthly podcast. Just to clarify, spacerock is the blanket term I use to describe the majority of my taste in music, whether it's more accurately described as psychedelic, post rock or just plain trippy shit, THAT's what I like (along with a modicum of straight up rock, pop, jazz and/or electronica), and I hope you do too. This installment is full of hard-to-categorize esoterica that only loosely qualifies as spacerock even under my guidelines, and although it's all over the place I hope it all makes sense together and is sequenced to flow into your cerebral cortex and release it into the stratosphere. As the Beatles once said, "Turn off your mind, relax and float..." into the Spacerock Continuum.
We start with the enigmatic Akron/Family - are they a cult? a commune? well they're definitely more than a band - whose unique take on freak folk takes a cue from the more lysergic moments of said Liverpuddlians (if you're not acquainted with or enamored of free-form noise then I must advise you to please bear with this song past the first minute mark) and then abruptly dropping in on vintage Butthole Surfers in atrack from a 1989 live performance that rips both The Doors' "The End" and Black Sabbath's *cough cough* "Sweet Leaf" a new one. Then in honor of tomorrow night's San Francisco appearance (which yours truly will be attending) a track from mighty Japanese sludge-rawkers BORIS, from their fantastic latest release Smile, which finds them really stretching their own boundaries (there's a Japanese version and an American one which feature different songs, different mixes of the same songs, different titles for the same songs and a different sequence, both of which are indispensable).
From there it's deeper into undefinable esoterica with No Age and Indian Jewelry, two hot young undie rock bands that write their own rules, then a dip into the sublime with Mogwai's subdued take on the Spacemen Three chestnut "Honey" (a rarity included on the new remastered version of Mogwai's seminal Young Team album), followed by the rockier side of shoegaze from Swervedriver and Eric's Trip, one of whom recently reformed and the other who definitely should. The next sequence of tracks really expands the limits of my spacerock definition by dabbling in English electronica (Fourtet), Finnish free-folk (Paavoharju), French pop-tronica (Air) and two groups who have gone so far past blurring the distinction between electronic and organic that I could coin the term post-triphop to describe them (The Notwist from Germany, Portishead from the UK), but I won't.
Next up, some modern psych with roots firmly in the past (The Black Angels, Grails), some forward-looking postrock (Collections of Colonies of Bees, featuring members of the late/great Pele, and Chicago O.G.s Tortoise), some modern kraut-tronica from Cloudland Canyon - think Cluster or Tangerine Dream - and some classic Japanese acid rock influenced by the krautrock school from Acid Mothers Temple - think Amon Duul or Guru Guru - bringing this set full circle. I won't claim it's always an easy listen, but it's not supposed to be. It takes work to free your mind, and I'm always happy to assist!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Moment - Akron/Family - Akron/Family & Angels of Light
Sweatloaf - Butthole Surfers - Double Live
Statement - Boris - Smile
Sleeper Hold - No Age - Nouns
Seventh Heaven - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Honey - Mogwai - Young Team Remastered
Duel - Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Belly - Eric's Trip - Love Tara
Sun Drums and Soil - Fourtet - Everything Ecstatic
Valo Tihkuu Kaiken Läpi - Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää
Surfing On A Rocket - Air - Talkie Walkie
On Planet Off - The Notwist - The Devil, You & Me
We Carry On - Portishead - Third
Never/Ever - The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Take Refuge - Grails - Take Refuge in Clean Living
Untitled - Collections of Colonies of Bees - Fa.ce (a
Gamera - Tortoise - A Lazarus Taxon
Silver-Tongued Sisyphus - Cloudland Canyon - Silver-Tongued Sisyphus
5 Seconds Demon - Acid Mothers Temple & Cosmic Inferno - Demons From Nipples
We start with the enigmatic Akron/Family - are they a cult? a commune? well they're definitely more than a band - whose unique take on freak folk takes a cue from the more lysergic moments of said Liverpuddlians (if you're not acquainted with or enamored of free-form noise then I must advise you to please bear with this song past the first minute mark) and then abruptly dropping in on vintage Butthole Surfers in atrack from a 1989 live performance that rips both The Doors' "The End" and Black Sabbath's *cough cough* "Sweet Leaf" a new one. Then in honor of tomorrow night's San Francisco appearance (which yours truly will be attending) a track from mighty Japanese sludge-rawkers BORIS, from their fantastic latest release Smile, which finds them really stretching their own boundaries (there's a Japanese version and an American one which feature different songs, different mixes of the same songs, different titles for the same songs and a different sequence, both of which are indispensable).
From there it's deeper into undefinable esoterica with No Age and Indian Jewelry, two hot young undie rock bands that write their own rules, then a dip into the sublime with Mogwai's subdued take on the Spacemen Three chestnut "Honey" (a rarity included on the new remastered version of Mogwai's seminal Young Team album), followed by the rockier side of shoegaze from Swervedriver and Eric's Trip, one of whom recently reformed and the other who definitely should. The next sequence of tracks really expands the limits of my spacerock definition by dabbling in English electronica (Fourtet), Finnish free-folk (Paavoharju), French pop-tronica (Air) and two groups who have gone so far past blurring the distinction between electronic and organic that I could coin the term post-triphop to describe them (The Notwist from Germany, Portishead from the UK), but I won't.
Next up, some modern psych with roots firmly in the past (The Black Angels, Grails), some forward-looking postrock (Collections of Colonies of Bees, featuring members of the late/great Pele, and Chicago O.G.s Tortoise), some modern kraut-tronica from Cloudland Canyon - think Cluster or Tangerine Dream - and some classic Japanese acid rock influenced by the krautrock school from Acid Mothers Temple - think Amon Duul or Guru Guru - bringing this set full circle. I won't claim it's always an easy listen, but it's not supposed to be. It takes work to free your mind, and I'm always happy to assist!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Moment - Akron/Family - Akron/Family & Angels of Light
Sweatloaf - Butthole Surfers - Double Live
Statement - Boris - Smile
Sleeper Hold - No Age - Nouns
Seventh Heaven - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Honey - Mogwai - Young Team Remastered
Duel - Swervedriver - Mezcal Head
Belly - Eric's Trip - Love Tara
Sun Drums and Soil - Fourtet - Everything Ecstatic
Valo Tihkuu Kaiken Läpi - Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää
Surfing On A Rocket - Air - Talkie Walkie
On Planet Off - The Notwist - The Devil, You & Me
We Carry On - Portishead - Third
Never/Ever - The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Take Refuge - Grails - Take Refuge in Clean Living
Untitled - Collections of Colonies of Bees - Fa.ce (a
Gamera - Tortoise - A Lazarus Taxon
Silver-Tongued Sisyphus - Cloudland Canyon - Silver-Tongued Sisyphus
5 Seconds Demon - Acid Mothers Temple & Cosmic Inferno - Demons From Nipples
July 4, 2008
Happy In-independence Day!
As the smoke from forest fires and celebratory fireworks clears - and the floods pass and the twisters subside and the disasters of biblical proportions diminish somewhat - did you take the time, earthlings, to ponder the fate of your country on your Independence Day? Or the fate of your world on this upcoming Election Day? The future health of your blue-green planet (which is getting browner all the time) hangs in the balance. Please take the time to educate yourselves and vote accordingly. Meantime, I'll provide a spacerock soundtrack to sooth and inspire!
This episode begins with some mind-altering pummeling (that would be the brown acid) from stalwart weirdos like The Butthole Surfers from a classic '89 live performance, 2-piece newbies No Age channeling a prog-damaged version of vintage SST Records, noise transcendentalists Fuck Buttons, and the arch-drude hisself, Julian Cope, performing his most bombastic tour-de-force ever. Pay especially close attention to the brain-frying Jucifer track from their astoundingly diverse and delicious latest album, one of the best of the year so far (every song is about Marie Antoinette!), and the somewhat stunted yet sincere cover of Pink Floyd's sprawling epic "Echoes" by David Yow's Qui (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard, et al.).
From there we move into some classic/modern psych from the Chameleons (covering the Beatles' spacerockingest song) and Austin's Black Angels, who effortlessly blew minds, mine included, in their Chicago appearance with The Warlocks for which which I beamed down last month. Then into some languid love songs of the lysergic variety from shoegazers Slowdive and M83, as well as... Queen?!?!? Next up, a track from Brad Laner's latest solo album back-to-back with a track from his finest work with nineties noisegazers Medicine, followed for good measure by a track from one of the many collaborations between ambient pioneer Brian Eno and krautronica originators Cluster, circa '78.
The last third of the sets goes from weird to weirder to weird-and-HEAVY, with some esoteric instruMENTALists and the monsters of post rock. Pay particular attention to the tracks from offkilter agitprop primitivists Indian Jewelry and psilocybic psychrockin' Portlandians Grails, whose respective latest albums are among the very best of 2008. Hang on to your hats and glasses kids, it's gonna be a wild ride...!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Behind Every Great Man - Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Teen Creeps - No Age - Nouns
Ribs Out - Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Dum Dum - Butthole Surfers - Double Live
Echoes - Qui - Love's Miracle
Reynard the Fox - Julian Cope - Fried
Tomorrow Never Knows - The Chameleons - Strange Times
Deer-Ree-Shee - The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Some Velvet Morning - Slowdive - Souvlaki
She Makes Me - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Graveyard Girl - M83 - Saturdays = Youth
June Gloom - Brad Laner - Neighbor Singing
Aruca - Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living
The Belldog - Cluster & Eno - After the Heat
Recent Bedroom - Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Carolina Foxtail/Sea Chirp - Cloudland Canyon - Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004
B - Ecstatic Sunshine - Way
Embryo Imbroglio - Thank You - Terrible Two
Too Much Honkytonking - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Death Rides A Horse - Russian Circles - Enter
Stoned at the Taj Again - Grails - Take Refuge in Clean Living
Ex-Cowboy - Mogwai - Come On Die Young
This episode begins with some mind-altering pummeling (that would be the brown acid) from stalwart weirdos like The Butthole Surfers from a classic '89 live performance, 2-piece newbies No Age channeling a prog-damaged version of vintage SST Records, noise transcendentalists Fuck Buttons, and the arch-drude hisself, Julian Cope, performing his most bombastic tour-de-force ever. Pay especially close attention to the brain-frying Jucifer track from their astoundingly diverse and delicious latest album, one of the best of the year so far (every song is about Marie Antoinette!), and the somewhat stunted yet sincere cover of Pink Floyd's sprawling epic "Echoes" by David Yow's Qui (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard, et al.).
From there we move into some classic/modern psych from the Chameleons (covering the Beatles' spacerockingest song) and Austin's Black Angels, who effortlessly blew minds, mine included, in their Chicago appearance with The Warlocks for which which I beamed down last month. Then into some languid love songs of the lysergic variety from shoegazers Slowdive and M83, as well as... Queen?!?!? Next up, a track from Brad Laner's latest solo album back-to-back with a track from his finest work with nineties noisegazers Medicine, followed for good measure by a track from one of the many collaborations between ambient pioneer Brian Eno and krautronica originators Cluster, circa '78.
The last third of the sets goes from weird to weirder to weird-and-HEAVY, with some esoteric instruMENTALists and the monsters of post rock. Pay particular attention to the tracks from offkilter agitprop primitivists Indian Jewelry and psilocybic psychrockin' Portlandians Grails, whose respective latest albums are among the very best of 2008. Hang on to your hats and glasses kids, it's gonna be a wild ride...!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Behind Every Great Man - Jucifer - L'Autrichienne
Teen Creeps - No Age - Nouns
Ribs Out - Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing
Dum Dum - Butthole Surfers - Double Live
Echoes - Qui - Love's Miracle
Reynard the Fox - Julian Cope - Fried
Tomorrow Never Knows - The Chameleons - Strange Times
Deer-Ree-Shee - The Black Angels - Directions To See A Ghost
Some Velvet Morning - Slowdive - Souvlaki
She Makes Me - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Graveyard Girl - M83 - Saturdays = Youth
June Gloom - Brad Laner - Neighbor Singing
Aruca - Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living
The Belldog - Cluster & Eno - After the Heat
Recent Bedroom - Atlas Sound - Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
Carolina Foxtail/Sea Chirp - Cloudland Canyon - Requiems Der Natur 2002-2004
B - Ecstatic Sunshine - Way
Embryo Imbroglio - Thank You - Terrible Two
Too Much Honkytonking - Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
Death Rides A Horse - Russian Circles - Enter
Stoned at the Taj Again - Grails - Take Refuge in Clean Living
Ex-Cowboy - Mogwai - Come On Die Young
June 1, 2008
Summertime...
...and the livin' is easy. I just got back from beamin' myself down to the vineyards and valleys of Sonoma CA to laze about in hammocks with a chilled glass o' earthly (yet heavenly) vino. What a day of fun in the sun... a spacerocker could get used to this. But instead I zapped myself right back to my cold, metallic orbiting satellite to bring YOU some serious spacerock! Cuz it's time for another installment of the Spacerock Continuum, and this set really brings the RAWK!!! From the ballistic motorik juggernauts of Finland's Circle, Japan's Solar Anus and the American sister bands Turing Machine and Maserati (with their irreverent piss-takes on the Synchronicity tracks by... The Police?!?!?) through the neu-metal of The Sword from Austin, Boris from Tokyo and Danava from Portland, and on through some slinky/sinuous American post rock and some classic "unclassifiable" (especially note the track from the always amazing and enigmatic Sun City Girls, from a recently-released collection recorded at the same time as their 1990 epic Torch of the Mystics), culminating in some experiMENTAL electronica from the ancient kraut masters, Cluster and Kraftwerk (80's-style robot rock this is not! So very psychedelic these fine young Teutons once were!). So, pour yourself a cold one, lay back in the sun, and enjoy...
Is it summer where you are?
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Andexelt - Circle - Andexelt
The Extreme North - Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic
Synchronicity III - Turing Machine - Zwei
Synchronicity IV - Maserati - Inventions for the New Season
Next Saturn (My Neighbor Satan) - Boris - Smile
To Take the Black - The Sword - Gods of the Earth
The Emerald Snow of Sleep - Danava - Unonou
Hippies - Tall Firs - Too Old to Die Young
Hanging from the Rafters - Human Bell - s/t
Disco & Haze - Do Make Say Think - The Whole Story of Glory
The Dog's A Vapour - Bauhaus - Go Away White
Drugs - Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Out in the Kitchen - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Wormed by Leonard
100 Pounds of Black Olives - Sun City Girls - You're Never Alone with a Cigarette
Nice Butterfly Mask - Sunburned Hand of the Man - Fire Escape
Hollywood - Cluster - Zuckerzeit
Kling Klang - Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk II
Is it summer where you are?
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Andexelt - Circle - Andexelt
The Extreme North - Solar Anus - Skull Alcoholic
Synchronicity III - Turing Machine - Zwei
Synchronicity IV - Maserati - Inventions for the New Season
Next Saturn (My Neighbor Satan) - Boris - Smile
To Take the Black - The Sword - Gods of the Earth
The Emerald Snow of Sleep - Danava - Unonou
Hippies - Tall Firs - Too Old to Die Young
Hanging from the Rafters - Human Bell - s/t
Disco & Haze - Do Make Say Think - The Whole Story of Glory
The Dog's A Vapour - Bauhaus - Go Away White
Drugs - Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Out in the Kitchen - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Wormed by Leonard
100 Pounds of Black Olives - Sun City Girls - You're Never Alone with a Cigarette
Nice Butterfly Mask - Sunburned Hand of the Man - Fire Escape
Hollywood - Cluster - Zuckerzeit
Kling Klang - Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk II
May 4, 2008
April showers bring May flowers
...but not in SPACE. Out here all you have is vast expanses of distance, the better to fill with the very best in mind-expanding music. This month's installment blasts off scattering red-hot shards of shoegaze, both original-era and 21st century, then careens throughout an asteroid field of psychedelia in all its guises, from underground garage psych to Madchester rave-psych to vintage krautrock and modern motorik... get the idea? If you don't, you will. So just sit back, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and enjoy your journey!
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Need - Pacific UV - Longplay 2
Come In Alone - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Sugar Crystals - Airiel - The Battle of Sealand
Everso - The Telescopes - As Approved by the Committee to Keep Music Evil
Drain Cosmetics - Serena-Maneesh - s/t
Hurricane Heart Attack - The Warlocks - Phoenix LP
That Timothy Leary Shit - The Volta Sound - This Is the Yin and the Yang
Brainstorm Interlude - The Verve - A Northern Soul
The Woods - Tall Firs - s/t
Mars Ascendent - Souvenir's Young America - An Ocean Without Water
Mosquito Lantern - Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Ekranoplan
Forever - Racoo-oo-oon - The Cave of Spirits Forever
Raw Backwards - Sunburned Hand of the Man - Fire Escape
Pulses - White Rainbow - Prism of Eternal Now
We'll Never Make It Out of Here Alive - The Shalabi Effect - Pink Abyss
Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Donkey - Working for a Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts
Don't Mind If I Don't - The Turing Machine - Zwei
Will You Smile Again for Me - And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart
Amboss - Ash Ra Tempel - s/t
The following tracks should appear in the player below:
Need - Pacific UV - Longplay 2
Come In Alone - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Sugar Crystals - Airiel - The Battle of Sealand
Everso - The Telescopes - As Approved by the Committee to Keep Music Evil
Drain Cosmetics - Serena-Maneesh - s/t
Hurricane Heart Attack - The Warlocks - Phoenix LP
That Timothy Leary Shit - The Volta Sound - This Is the Yin and the Yang
Brainstorm Interlude - The Verve - A Northern Soul
The Woods - Tall Firs - s/t
Mars Ascendent - Souvenir's Young America - An Ocean Without Water
Mosquito Lantern - Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound - Ekranoplan
Forever - Racoo-oo-oon - The Cave of Spirits Forever
Raw Backwards - Sunburned Hand of the Man - Fire Escape
Pulses - White Rainbow - Prism of Eternal Now
We'll Never Make It Out of Here Alive - The Shalabi Effect - Pink Abyss
Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Donkey - Working for a Nuclear Free City - Businessmen & Ghosts
Don't Mind If I Don't - The Turing Machine - Zwei
Will You Smile Again for Me - And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart
Amboss - Ash Ra Tempel - s/t
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