50 trips around the sun

Well hello again. It's looking like the Spacerock Continuum is going to be quarterly from now on. Not from a dearth of amazing musix, just from a lack of my personal time. And speaking of TIME, I turned FIFTY YEARS OLD this month!



Los Angelenos Wand come fully formed as a unit comprised of local psych/garage vets and their debut shows a maturity and sophistication that many established bands wish they could achieve. Stardeath and White Dwarfs are back with yet another mindfuck of an album that exhibits its relationship with The Flaming Lips (the singer is Wayne Coyne from the Lips' nephew) while still maintaining their own identity. Speaking of the Lips, their de facto musical leader (after Coyne's apparent abdication) Steven Drozd has a solo project, Electric Wurm, where he delves even deeper into the depths of dark psychedelia and prog, to great effect (but it's still not the Lips by a long shot).

The Lushes (great double entendre, no?) are a two piece from Brooklyn that are both minimal and HUGE at the same time. A little retro-modern Liars, a little vintage downtown NYC no wave, and some serious stoner rock heaviness. Eagles Gift were a highlight of this year's Austin Psych fest (we met them downtown the night before their set and they convinced us to come check them out, and we're glad we did). In their own words (pardon the all caps): "EAGLES GIFT IS A PSYCHEDELIC BAND BASED IN ANGERS, FRANCE. THEY UNITE THEIR SOULS IN A STRANGE KIND OF TRIBE -SOMEWHERE BETWEEN INDIANS AND COWBOYS- TO CREATE SOME MYSTIC DARK ENERGY. THE LIGHT WHICH THEY RADIATE, HAS A HEALING INFLUENCE, IT IS THE SPIRITUAL PEACE OF THE HIGHER ATTUNED SPIRIT."   Okay then. The Black Angels need no introduction here, but the Austinites have come up with something quite different with their current album. More light and accessible, more vintage garage-y... more pop, dare I say? Still rawkin' though.

Then things get WEIRD. Tonstartssbandht (tone-start-bandit) are a two-brother experimental duo that veers from kraut-stoned freak jams to dark forest Animal Collective-esque campfire songs, all lo-fi and deliberately abstruse. It makes sense to them, and if you let yourself fall into a suspension of disbelief you'll find yourself not only "getting it", but lost in it. They are my favorite discovery of the last year and it came about totally by accident. Quilt are a bit more traditional; youngsters born well after the Summer of Love but evoking a trip through Haight-Ashbury back in its heyday, all headspinning energy and melodic harmonizing (children of the Jefferson Airplane?). The Skygreen Leopards also harken to the sounds of 60s freak folk but filter it through a post-modern fracture and then reassembling it to end up sounding timeless. Wooden Wand (aka James Jackson Toth) has always had one foot in freak folk and the other in cosmic Americana (a bit of the original "psychedelic cowboy" Gram Parsons). This lengthy jam also has a kraut-rocky motorik rhythm that showcases Toth's genre-bending abilities.

Temples, speaking of arriving fully formed, are the UK's greatest contenders for a bright psych-pop sound that can reach audiences far and wide. Accessible and familiar-sounding enough to play stadiums yet textural and nuanced enough that a dark subterranean club would also suit their sound. Their debut is one of the most mature-sounding first albums I've heard since Tame Impala. The Brian Jonestown Massacre just keep on truckin', lately from figurehead Anton Newcombe's adopted home of Berlin. Sounds like standard BJM, just a bit more more diverse and better-produced than in the past. Les Big Byrd is a Swedish kraut-psych outfit "discovered" by BJM's Newcombe and their debut brings a propulsive dance element to their retro-modern space rock.

Kikagaku Moyo carry on the tradition of Japanese psychedelia forged by their brethren Acid Mother's Temple, but are less acid-fried and monstrous, favoring a jammy bonfire party under the psilocybin stars vibe, not far from the Amon Duul collective. Bo Ningen are also Japanese but ecstatically frenetic in their approach with pummeling rhythms and soaring guitars, like their peers in Boris, minus the metal, but with equal affinity for theatrics. King Tuff is one Kyle Thomas (of Witch, among others), plus a rhythm section, tapping Syd Barrett as his muse for a his take on modern garage a la Thee Oh Sees or Ty Segall. Amps for Christ is one Henry Barnes (of Man Is The Bastard), a reclusive and elusive freak folkist who makes his own instruments and conjures his own folklore from them. And speaking of nu-garage rocker Ty Segall (featured here plenty of times in the past), what can I say but... album of the year?

Mirror Travel, two gals and a guy from Austin Texas, love their motorik as much as the next neu-kraut rockers, and churn out a palpably kinetic variation on psychedelia. Trans Am are veterans of retro-futuristic kraut rock, combining driving motorik rhythms and proggy guitar workouts. Their aptly-named tenth album finds them focusing on analog synths and sequencers, honoring bands like Cluster instead of their previous influences like Neu! The Nothing and Cheatahs also honor past trends in mind-altering music; the former, from Philly, bring the semi-retired (but resurrected frequently, of late) term dream pop to mind, while the latter might fit more in the modern shoegaze (new gaze?) genre. Both favor hypnotic drifts that burst into ecstatic noise and back again, and they do it well (I admit it: I've always been a sucker for dynamics).

Dagha Bloom have got their own thing going. Their closest reference would be bands like Spacemen 3, The Heads, etc. But even with three bassists, drums and vox they could very well be the definition of space RAWK. And believe it or not they're from behind the Orange Curtain, in Fullerton CA (Orange County, south of Los Angeles, the oft-maligned suburban enclave that has actually produced more great music than LA proper, IMO). The Holy Mountain are Glaswegian "psychedelia smiths" who blend trad psych and stoner sludge for a seemless sound, or as their website puts it: "Fast as fuck, fleein' all the time, running through the forest, traveling through time." And finally, Watter is a bit of a supergroup (to my mind), in that it features Zak Riles, guitarist of Grails, and Britt Walford, former Slint drummer, and well... it sounds like it. Soundtracks for psychedelic dreams, wandering the stars, seeking nirvana.

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
Send/Receive (Mind) - Wand - Ganglion Reef
The Chrome Children - Stardeath and White Dwarfs - Wastoid
Transform! - Electric Wurm - Musik, Die Schwer Zu Twerk
Dead Girls- The Lushes - What Am I Doing
My Siberian - Eagles Gift - s/t
The Flop - The Black Angels - Clear Lake Forest 
Shot To La Parc - Tonstartssbandht - Now I Am Become
Tired And Buttered - Quilt - Held In Splendor
Crying Green And Purple - The Skygreen Leopards - Family Crimes
Port Of Call - Wooden Wand - Farmer's Corner
Sand Dance - Temples - Sun Structures
Duck And Cover - The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Revelation
Tinnitus Aeternum - Les Big Byrd - They Worshipped Cats
Streets Of Calcutta - Kikagaku Moyo - Forest Of Lost Children
Slider - Bo Ningen - III
Lazer Beam - King Tuff - Was Dead
All Messed Up - Amps For Christ - Canyons, Cars And Crows
It's Over - Ty Segall - Manipulator
I Want You To Know - Mirror Travel - Mexico
Night Shift - Trans Am - Volume X
Hymn To The Pillory - The Nothing - Guilty Of Everything
Kenworth - Cheatahs - s/t
Wampum/Rotted Man - Dagha Bloom - No Curtains
Ancient Astronauts - The Holy Mountain - Ancient Astronauts
Sea Water - Watter - This World



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.

Extra plus special bonus mix for Desert Stars!!!

The Desert Stars Fest is in its 8th year, and at this year's Austin Psych Fest I was introduced to its creator, a very nice gentleman who insisted I come to his festival. Held annually in October at Pappy and Harriet's roadhouse in Pioneertown, near Joshua Tree, in Southern California's mighty Mojave Desert, it especially intrigued me not just for its great lineup of artists, but because it was such a very mystical place I explored in my misspent youth. I miss the high desert, with its "plants and birds and rocks and things..." Joshua Tree is where Gram Parsons, the original psychedelic cowboy, lived and died, and only those have experienced it, from the glory of its springtime wildflower bloom, to the stoic sentinels of the joshua trees themselves, to watching the full moon rise to a chorus of howling coyotes while sitting around a campfire in altered state, can appreciate its MAGIC. I can't wait to be back. Plus, it's my birthday! ROAD TRIP!

Playlist as follows:

The Spacerock Continuum Theme - bRambles
Leave Them All Behind - Ride - Going Blank Again
Tambourine Girl - Ringo Deathstar - Colour Trip
Everso - The Telescopes - Singles Compilation 1989-1991
Boys Better - The Dandy Warhols - Come Down
Starting Over - LSD And The Search For God - s/t
Spacement - Daydream Machine - Twin Idols
Songs Of The Forest - Magic Castles - s/t
Hide It - Drinking Flowers - Sanity Restored 1972
Young Men Dead - The Black Angels - Passover
Need Your Fire - The Spyrals - Out Of Sight
Seeing Ghosts - The Bixby Knolls - Near And Under
Radium Girls - Stripmall Achitecture - The Exotic Sounds Of Stripmall Architecture
Yes - Joel Gion And The Primary Colours - Apple Bonkers
Ocean Song - Slow White - single
Jumping Someone Else's Train - Lemon Sun - single
Surf Hell - Little Barrie - King Of The Waves
Swimming With Sharks - The Shivas - White Out
Kundalini Express - Love And Rockets - Express
 

Desert Stars Mix by Thespacerockcontinuum on Mixcloud

A spacerock sunburst for Summertime!

And... we're back! Miss us? it hasn't been that long.

Let's just say this "hiatus" will be sporadic. You didn't think we could go away forever, did you? There's just too much space rock goodness to be shared, so I thought maybe we could do this quarterly... semi-annually... not quite monthly... very more-than occasionally... What do you think?

This summery set starts off with a track from one of the very best albums of the year. And you know what's strange about this, is it's not even space rock! Not really, although ya'll know by know we have a very loose and adaptable definition of space rock around here ("not all space rock and not all the time" is our tagline for a reason). But The War On Drugs bring to what could nominally be called americana a definitive motorik beat (incongruously vintage krautrock) and a lush Eno-esque palette of textures (certainly somewhat psychedelic). Plus, it's good. So it's in. By now you must know Sleepy Sun quite well, if you've been paying attention to this blogcast anyway. The SF by-way-of Santa Cruz Psych rockers continue to evolve, and with this release have come up with some of their most consistent and least derivative material, and if the sets they played recently in SF and Austin are any indicator, they are likely to be with us for a long while. And you're probably not familiar with Boogarins, most likely because they're from Brazil. But they also appeared at Austin Psych Fest this year and what a pleasant surprise they were - mid-period Floyd tendencies filtered through South American sensibilities and the Portuguese language! What's not to like?

Temples were another highlight of this year's Psych Fest - this band comes fully formed as a Beatles-and-Byrds-esque baroque pop bombshell. With only one album (but one with zero filler!) under their belt, these British kids have already played multiple high profile gigs with some of the masters of classic brit pop, but they totally out-psych any of those tired old hacks (should we name names?). Speaking of the Byrds, Beachwood Sparks have long channeled the languid Laurel Canyon daze and they just keep on truckin' with that space cowboy sound. Also jangle-addled and harmony-soaked, Quilt (we were so bummed to miss them at Psych Fest!) evoke the halcyon Haight-Ashbury summers of love perfectly for a bunch of 21st century kids. Speaking of summoning the past, the post-post-post-post 60s garage revival (not sure which one we're on currently) has brought us many treasures that avoid the hackneyed cliches (think Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall...), and White Fence (a sprinkle of Syd) and King Tuff (a massive dose of Roky) number among them.

Speaking of garage rock and Thee Oh Sees, multi-armed bandleader Jon Dwyer (also of Pink & Brown, The Coachwhips et al. - to call him prolific would be vastly understating it) has yet another project up and running, this one is known as Damaged Bug and it's his chance to mess around with vintage analog electronic devices. And surprisingly (or not), it suits him. Sticking with the electronic slant, Liars have always included keyboards and samplers and various non-rock instrumentation to create a sound all their own that continually evolves from album to album, from the third-gen no wave of their first album to the dark disco bad trip psychedelia of their current one. Also astute at combining electronic and acoustic instruments, German postrockers The Notwist have always thrown a myriad of seemingly incompatible musical genres into a blender, and this year's release finds them in fine form. And what can be said about Pure X? Impossible to pigeonhole stylistically, these Austinites take 70s yacht rock and puree it in a blender of synths, samplers and sequencers until smooth (I also enjoyed the NME's description: ("Pure X used to be a drone-rock band. On their new album, they reinvented themselves into bringers of cascading, heart-shaped soft rock"). Also on the experimental/art rock tip are the Brooklyn duo The Lushes, who would be quite difficult to compare to anyone out there: damaged 70s downtown NYC scene revivalists (akin to Liars, above)? Syncopated post-rock jazzbos a la Chicago's Thrill Jockey-ists? Slash-and-burn nihilistic absurdists from the Birthday Party/Swell Maps school? They've got it all.

Pink Mountaintops need no introduction... or do they? Black Mountain has been featured all over this blogcast, but leader Stephen McBean's other project Pink Mountaintops have been somewhat neglected by comparison. This would likely be because of the focus being on his higher profile group, but now McBean has released another Pink Mountaintops collection and has piqued our interests in the viability of their material (and they were fantastic at Psych Fest this year). Great stuff, similar to Black Mountain but completely unfettered by genre so they happily keep us guessing. Also appearing Psych Fest 2014, Mirror Travel combine propellant motorik beats with fuzzed-out Spacemen 3 guitars and Cocteau Twins/Pale Saints shoegazing atmospherics that puts them at the forefront of the vital Austin psych scene. What's the first band that comes to mind after hearing 12 bars or so of this Cheatahs song? If you didn't say Swervedriver then we're not on the same wavelength. Not that there's anything wrong with that - we wouldn't say they're derivative as much as tasteful in their influences, and we can't fault them for that. One of them is British, after all. The other three hail from Canada, California and Germany so that's where that similarity ends. Next punny animal band name up? Fellow Brits Eagulls pull some of their monstrous and textural guitar sound from the shoegazers, but their singer's approach is look-you-in-the-eye confrontational, mantric chanting along the line's of Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman. Eh, if 21st century bands find it safe to mine the 80s, at least they're listening to the right stuff.

Speaking of raptors (although Eagulls brings to mind the noble raptor Eagle mixed with the shrieking scavenger Seagull), Eagle's Gift conjure a dark and tribal psychedelia of a shamanic bent that's so native American it belies their French origin. Far-Out Fangtooth remind us of what Sonic Youth might sound like if they had been taking goth lessons from (Peter Murphy?) and were contractually obligated to play through flanger effects. The rural brotherhood that is Pontiak (yes the trio are brothers who live on a farm in the rural American south) has been featured many a time on the SRC - we can't get enough of them, and their recent album is one of their finest. On record, Orange County self-described "motokraut" five-piece Dagha Bloom have a manic/shamanic energy with tribal rhythms and hypnotic repetition (reminding us a bit of Swedish psych collective Goat, a highlight from last year's Psych Fest), but during their set at Psych Fest one realized they all played sitting down (and aside from the singer and drummer they all played bass!), letting the music carry the audience for the ride.

Ostensibly metal bands, ? Helms Alee, Pelican and Alcest also bring psych and space rocks tendencies to double kick drums and shredding guitar arpeggios. Seattleites Helms Alee have a pointillist and impressionistic approach, Chicagoans Pelican indulge in instrumental math and post rock excursions, and Frenchman Neige (aka Alcest) crosses genres to create a shimmering yet doom-laden metal-gaze hybrid (that's actually become a genre in itself with a number of similar practitioners). The Nothing (or just plain Nothing) also hail from Philly and might be called darkgaze (or something), with the undulating cosmic waves associated with shoegaze, but of a decidedly darker, minor key variety, And last up, Black Submarine (fomerly Black Ships, in case you need to know) is the project of former Verve members Nick McCabe and Simon Jones, along with a revolving cast of guest stars, who draw from diverse influences, from trip hop (think latter-day Massive Attack) and wall-of-sound ensemble psychedelia (think Warlocks).

And that's it... for now. See ya when we see ya.

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
Under The Pressure - The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
The Lane - Sleepy Sun - Maui Tears
Lucifernandis - Boogarins - As Plantas Que Curam
Sun Structures- Temples - Sun Structures
This Is What It Feels Like - Beachwood Sparks - Desert Skies
Mary Mountain - Quilt - Held In Splendor 
Pink Gorilla - White Fence - Cyclops Reap
Sun Medallion - King Tuff - Was Dead
Sic Bay Surprise - Damaged Bug - Hubba Bubba
Pro Anti Anti - Liars - Mess
7-Hour Drive - The Notwist - Close To The Glass
Never Alone - Pure X - Crawling Up The Stairs
One Right Word - The Lushes - What Am I Doing
Shakedown - The Pink Mountaintops - Get Back
Pinholes - Mirror Travel - Mexico
The Swan  - Cheatahs - s/t
Soulless Youth - Eagulls - s/t
Supernatural NZ - Eagles Gift  - s/t
Green Hands - Far-Out Fangtooth - Borrowed Time
Beings Of The Rarest - Pontiak - Innocence
Zuu Zuu - Dagha Bloom - No Curtains
Slow Beef - Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Deny The Absolute - Pelican - Forever Becoming
Shelter - Alcest - Shelter 
Dig - The Nothing - Guilty Of Everything
Here So Rain - The Black Submarine - New Shores

ENDGAME...

...or at least, time for a BREATHER. As mentioned/threatened previously, The Spacerock Continuum is going on indefinite HIATUS. Don't go away mad - there's always the chance of the occasional random drive-by post and/or playlist (also check Soundcloud), when and if the mood (and TIME) strikes me. Be Excellent.

A quote to leave you with (THIS IS TRUTH!): "Euphoria should always be a byproduct of good psychedelic music; if it's missing, you should check the dosage." - some music writer

At least for this installment I'm going to write some descriptive passages - I owe my dedicated followers that much at least:

Chicagoans Cave has always been a fun workout, whether they're blasting raw-fuzz acid rock or trancing the hypno-motorik highways, or doing a whole lot of both, they set the bar high and never fail to accomplish what they set out to do. Austinites White Denim are an odd bird, offering up a unique blend of nerdy math rock, classic americana and spastic jam band hysteria, and they take the prize for most idiosyncratic. Leeds-based Vessels work within a well-defined instrumental post rock regimen, but are consummate over-achievers in that category.

Speaking of odd, the female Asian-Canadian duo leading Yamantaka//Sonic Titan are a post-prog rock juggernaut, and their performance at this year's Austin Psych Fest (yes, that happened again, back in May, and it was glorious... in case you wondered where we've been keeping ourselves) was once of the highlights, where complex and heavy multi-part song-suites meet Butoh-inspired performance art. Torontoans Blood Ceremony also tap the prog rock vein, with sprinklings dark mystical folk, taking their influence from some of the classic '70s progressive geniuses like Amon Duul, Yes and even Jethro Tull. Pleasure Forever is another cross-genre treasure, evolving from a thorny post-punk outfit to include melodramatic glam and goth with proggy arrangements - a captivating concoction that has gone undeservedly undiscovered since the turn of the millennium.

Traveling Circle are an SF-based band that actually solicited The Spacerock Continuum, and we're awfully glad they did! As evidenced by them having been included in the last half-dozen (give or take) playlists on the basis of only one album, we sure like what they're doing in the trippy, dreamy psychedelic realm. Portlandian solo artist Dewey Mahood, operating as Plankton Wat, is a former member of Eternal Tapestry now delving deep into instrumental guitar workouts that is more counterpart to his earler work rather than a departure from it. Thee ever-evolving Silver Mt. Zion collective (aka A Silver Mt. Zion aka Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra And Tra-La-La Band) has done it again, with what may be one of the top ten albums of 2014. With moniker and personnel changes from album to album, Montrealite mainstays Efrem Menuck and Sophie Trudeau travel a similar path to sister collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with complex and epic-length operatic post rock paeans to pathos that span the extremes of dynamics from the valleys of misery to the peaks of ecstasy.

Borrowing The Allmusic Guide's description, not merely out of sheer laziness but out of spot-on aptness, "London's Toy borrow from shoegaze, krautrock and classic psychedelia to make pulsating, hypnotic music." Okay, that description may be a bit dull, but the band is anything but. Ironically-named Hebronix is one half of Yuck... and how often does one see a sentence like that? In actuality they're led by one half of the songwriting duo that formed young Londoners known as Yuck (now sadly defunct), but instead of that band's noisy '90s indie tendencies (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., et al.) they explore extended guitar explorations more akin to Television and Crazy Horse. All-female Canadian quartet No Joy have evolved from fairly rote shoegaze homage to a sound of their own that references those influences without imitating them.

Australia's manic experimentalists Blank Realm embrace gritty NYC dissonance as well as trance-y motorik groove for a sound unlike any other. Well that's not entirely true: Magik Markers, from Hartford Connecticut of all places, are cut from similar, if not the same, art-punk cloth. Speaking of left field, when's the last time you saw former Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus in a space rock playlist? We here's here this time because of his ever-increasing penchant for extended and epic guitar jams, and the arrangement of this song betrays his absorption of prog and kraut rock as influences.

The Warlocks need no introduction, do they? With dozens of band members in various rotations, and a proclivity for guitar-heavy Spacemen 3/Heads/Loop-style wall-of-sound space rock and psychedelia rivaling kindred spirits like Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the LA-based collective, around since the '90s, is as prolific and consistent as any fellow practitioners, or more so. Side note: did you know that the name Warlocks was used by both The Velvet Underground and The Grateful Dead in their early incarnations? As the new standard bearers of a modern psychedelia that brings progenitors like Pink Floyd into the 21st century, SF-by-way-of-Santa-Cruz head fuckers Sleepy Sun (also a highlight of this year's Psych Fest) just keep getting better with each album. It would appear they will be here for some time to come, as they continue to evolve as most classic bands do, and could one day be looked upon with the same reverence as their forebears. And finally, the contenders for heaviest sludge masters of deep dark doom-y (and stoney) psychedelia, DC's finest, Dead Meadow, also reinvent the past for space-age sensibilities, and we're all the richer for it.

That's it for now. Who knows when we'll be back, so DIVE IN.

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 Headband - Cave - Threace

Burnished/At The Farm - White Denim - D

Altered Beast - Vessels - White Fields And Open Devices

Crystal Fortress Over The Sea Of Trees - Yamataka/Sonic Titan - Yt//St

The Magician - Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark

King Cobra In The Guts Of Valhalla - Pleasure Forever- Bodies Need Rest

The Willow Tree Fair - Traveling Circle - Escape From Black Cloud

Changing Winds - Plankton Wat - Drifter's Temple

Austerity Blues - Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off And Get Free, We Pour Light On Everything

Conductor - Toy - Join The Dots

Garden - Hebronix - Unreal

E - No Joy - Wait To Pleasure

Acting Strange - Blank Realm - Go Easy

Don't Talk In Your Sleep - Magic Markers - Balf Quarry

Surreal Teenagers - Stephen Malkmus - Wig Out At Jagbags

Dead Generation  - The Warlocks - Skull Worship

11:32 - Sleepy Sun - Maui Tears

This Song Is Over - Dead Meadow - Warble Womb

The very best of 2013 part two

Okay, round two of the very best of last year's cornucopia of spacerockin' goodness. Enjoy all three hours of it (and go back and listen to January's three hours as well). And let it be known, that the aforementioned (and oft-threatened) HIATUS is nigh upon us. Let it be known that THIS is the PENULTIMATE (that means there will be one more after this) Spacerock Continuum for the foreseeable future. This is not the END, merely a time to refocus my energies elsewhere. I'll never EVER quit listenin' to the space rock, and neither should YOU.

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
One - Yamantaka//Sonic Titan - Uzu
Quatto - The Heliotropes - A Constant Sea
Strife - Savages - Silence Yourself
Last Boss - No Joy - Pastel And Pass Out
American Sphinx Face - Magik Markers - Surrender To The Fantasy
Ex Mass - Implodes - Recurring Dream
Mirror Mirror - Suuns - Images Du Futur 
Pelican Man - Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
Casino Lisboa - Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love Is The Devil
Black Isn't Black - The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow
In Your Room - White Hills - So You Are... So You'll Be
No Place To Go - The Oscillation - From Tomorrow
The Seven Poison Wonders - Night Beats - Sonic Bloom
The Man Man - Ty Segall - Sleeper
Nowhere To Land New - The Cult Of Dom Keller - s/t
Preservation - Hookworms - Pearl Mystic
Equus October  - Earthless - From The Ages
The Candlelight Sways - Traveling Circle - Escape From Black Cloud
Someday This Child Will Die - Wooden Wand & The World War IV  - s/t
World Split Open - Arbouretum - Coming Out Of The Fog
This Shroud - Rose Windows - The Sun Dogs
Witchwood - Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark
Deficit - Russian Circles - Memorial
All Returns - Wolf People - Fain
Sand Talk - Akron/Family - Sub Verses 
Maze Fancier - Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
Stoned And Starving - Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
Dogon Genesis - Lumerians - The High Frontier
Ruins - Wooden Shjips - Back To Land
Sweaty Fingers - Cave - Threace
Harmonie Du Soir - Rhys Chatham - Harmony Du Soir

The very best of 2013 part one

Here it is - the LIST!

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.

A resolution for the coming new year

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.