:::::tsun noed:::::

More music for May!
Just barely.
download: Side A
download: Side B

1. "Sprawling Idiot Effigy" by Nero's Day at Disneyland from From Rotting Fantasylands (2009).
Chopped up beats and operea, among other things, merge into a maddening swirl of insanity on From Rotting Fantasylands, soundtracking the wasteland of a post-apocalyptic, suburban America, overrun with melting mutants. Fun for the whole family! For fans of World's End Girlfriend and Kashiwa Daisuke.



2. "Oregon Dreaming" by Eat Skull from Wild & Inside (2009).
The songs that the aforementioned mutants would probably make. More Eat Skull!



3. "Malthusian Love Song" by Girls Of The Gravitron from the Malthusian Love Song 7" (2008).
Shit! The mutants are running toward you and want to dine on your skinny legs! Run in to that gravitron ride over there! Now, strapped down inside the gravitron, safe from the hungry muties, there's a shitty bom box from the mid-eighties blasting some garage-rock band at you at full volume as you spin around at warp speed!



4. "Y Car" by dANA from VVSTVSTA (2008).
Is this Black Dice? It makes me feel funny and I like that. Maybe it's just the fallout changing my cellular structure.





5. "Gigantes" by Tortoise from Beacons of Ancestorship (2009).
I was pretty let down by the snooze-fest that was It's All Around You, Tortoise's last studio effort. Thankfully, here they return to form with what may be their finest album. This is Tortoise at their most diverse and driven.



6. "In Modern Colours with Slim Twig" by The Pink Noise from their Birdland cassette (2008).
This is some nice garbled psych stuff. Sounds like if Snakefinger got together with the Cantina Band on Mos Isley.



7. "Missing You" by Trash80 from the Icarus EP (2008).
Sweet gamboy dance jams! There's a bunch of this stuff available for free on his website. (Hey nerds, the name “Trash80” is a reference to a slang term for the now defunct Tandy / Radio Shack computer model TRS-80. - last.fm)



8. "Silver Tongues, Soft Whispers" by Peaking Lights from Imaginary Falcons (2009).
Indra from Numbers works out some psych-folk drones with Aaron of Rahdunes on this recent album. Mellow and buttery, less aggressive than Numbers.



9. "Call The Incredible" by Seeland from Tomorrow Today (2009).
I've been absorbing this one for a while. I really dig the music, but it's taken me a long time to get into Bainbridge's delivery.
Tim Felton, who was formerly in Broadcast and Billy Bainbridge of Plone have been working as Seeland for a little while now.
It's a little more straightforward than Broadcast, and has Tim's amazing retro ideas, but it's just not as strong as Broadcast.



10. "Paliopedho (The No Good)" by A. Hadzichrístos from Rembetika: Greek Music From The Underground: After Censorship 1937-1947.
A good friend slid me a stack of Rembetika a few months ago and I've been slowly working my way through it. It's basically blues songs sung by Turkish immigrants to Greece. They're singing about how they've run out of hash and that sort of thing.



11. "To the Green Pastures (of the land of the dead)" by Twinsistermoon from The Hollow Mountain (2009).
This is the male half of the French psych-folk-drone-evil band Natural Snow Buildings. It's full of amazing, creepy songs that you might hear in some ancient grove sung by eldritch lesser-gods who would probably slaughter and devour you if they noticed you.



12. "Painted Silver" by Raccoo-oo-oon from Mythos Folkways Vol 3: Divination Night (2007).
Woozy, noisy folk drones. Definitely inspired Pocahaunted to rip off, I mean draw from, Raccoo-oo-oon's brief discography.



13. "Red Rocks Fogg" by Forest Swords from the Fjree Feather EP (2009).
Spacey jams that are reminiscent of The Octopus Project and The Roots of Orchis. Inventive and well executed.



14. "To Connect" by Floating Action from the self-titled 2009 release.
This one's going on my top ten list this year. Beautiful, laid back, island-inspired grooves. There's a good deal of reggae, calypso and Hawaiian influence here, but the clincher (for me, anyway) is the production. Let's go chill at the beach.



15. "Dig In" by Tara Jane O'Neil from A Ways Away (2009).
It's been a while since I heard a TJO album that I really got into, and this one is beautiful. Her production skills are upfront on this one and make it a great headphone album of her trademark sounds. Beautiful guitar work and spacious, layered instrumentation.



16. "Detain" by Suturee from their self-titled 2008 album.
These NYC via Puerto Rico musicians produce intricately constructed mellow jams with soft boy/girl vocals. The tension maintained through their build up is pretty interesting and the lyrics definitely deserve some close attention.


17. "I Lost Something In the Hills" by Sibylle Baier from Color Green (2006).
This is a lost folk treasure from the early 70s that the kind folks at Orange Twin kindly dug up and reissued. Baier was a German actress and singer who gave that life up to be a homemaker. Her voice is sweetly melancholy and world-weary. This song, in particular, I find quite haunting.



18. "On the Rise" by NERVE CITY. from the Hell cassette (2009).
Amazing one man, lo-fi, psych-pop killers.


19. "Dread" by Nate Young from Regression (2009).
Creepsville all the way. Young, a member of eardrum-demolishers Wolf Eyes, steps away from his typical aural assault and delivers some pretty frightening slow burners on this album. The stuff of nightmares. Really awesome ones.



20. "Dark Night Of the Soul" by Sparklehorse from Dark night Of the Soul (2009).
The new collaboration between Mark Linkous and Dangermouse is pretty amazing. There are only a couple of low points, which Sparklehorse albums always seem to have, but they are easily overlooked by the vast majority of superb songs presented here. An interesting aspect of the album is that Linkous only sings on one track, and, while I certainly miss his voice, most of the vocal contributors sound fairly similar to him. Evidently, the EMI is keeping the disc from being released for legal reasons. However, a book of images by David Lynch with a blank CD in the back with which to burn the album onto is going to be available, instead. Go get the songs here.



21. "Brand New Sun" by Jason Lytle from Yours Truly, The Commuter (2009).
I know the cover looks pretty shitty, but don't be fooled, this is another amazing album of strange pop songs by former Grandaddy Lytle, who also appears on two tracks on the new Sparklehorse jam.



22. "Cirrus" by Secret Colors from Reflections (2008).
How awesome is the name Secret Colors?! This album of ambient jams makes me want to take a long walk in the Blue Ridge Mountains on a warm, summer day.

Some albums I was disappointed in were Jarvis Cocker's Further Complications, Graham Coxon's The Spinning Top, and Wilco (The Album). Not to mention the new Noisettes' pile of rubbish, not that I really expected much from them, but they talked a big talk.

Checked out Black Moth Super Rainbow (finally!), School of Seven Bells and locals Follows at the Bottom Lounge last week with my good friend Nick Butcher. Follows is a new band fronted by Mia Clarke, formerly of Electralane. They brought on some sick Sabbath-style jams about evil shit and generally rocked the fuck out. School of Seven Bells reminded Nick of Wilson Phillips and was the loudest shit I've ever heard. I felt like an old man when I had to exit the listening room after 2 and a half, albeit rather boring, songs. Black Moth was sick. The show was dance oriented, complete with dancers on one side of the stage. The Focus was a bunch of weird videos that the band and dancers were situated around. They sound better live than on record, so, if you dig their music, go see them on the current tour.

:::::the neon dust:::::

Finally, warm weather and sunshine. It's time to spend lazy afternoons at the beach and in meadows, soaking up the sun and sounds.
I found so much good music in the past month that I'll probably be posting another mix in a week or two. Open up. . .

Download:
Side A
Side B

1. "Vasilisa Carries A Flaming Sku" by A Hawk and a Hacksaw from Deliverance (2009).
On Deliverance, Mr. Barnes (finally) swerves his vehicle out of the traditional territory he's been traveling recently and drives all of the Eastern European influence he's accumulated headlong, back into his more experimental roots. It's full of fresh ideas and approaches to the sounds of his early days when he had just emerged from Bablicon and Neutral Milk. This is exactly what I was hoping his past few years of exploration would produce.

2. The Trip: The Turn On by Dr. Timothy Leary from Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (1967). This is a recording of the good Doctor guiding us through a trip. A fairly interesting album with some interesting music and musings, as well as some pretty ridiculous statements. Overall, an interesting find. There's a really great sitar instrumental in the middle of the album, too.


3. "Children Laughing" by Wendy & Bonnie from Genesis (1969).
This buried treasure renders some luscious melodies that enhance a warm, sun-lit day with melancholic nostalgia. An album full of beautiful songs lamenting the loss of innocence.

4. "Iron Lemonade" by Black Moth Super Rainbow from Eating Us (2009).
Ah, another weird offering from BMSR. This is their first "studio album," in which Dave Fridmann gets his flaming hands thick in the mix and takes the boys to the next level with his amazing production techniques. Pretty tasty.


5. "Mbiso" by TEEPEE from the Aware 7" (2009).
Drone + Noise + Lo-fi + pop structure = AWESOME.


6. "You Can't Change" by Nervous Patterns from Beautiful Brutal 7" (2005).
This is an old project from Jay Reatard. Great garage rock influenced by early 90's alternative pop a la the Lemonheads/Juliana Hatfield and the like.


7. "This Is Krunktronics!" by The Post Office Gals from Esbeohdes (2006).
Ah, the soothing sounds of grindcore. I think the music is fairly dynamic on this album. The vocals don't really add anything but a sort of flat static for me, but they may have been interesting live.


8. "The Witches Oath" by Haxan from the self titled 2003 7".
More sweet sentiments! "Obey the dark lord!" or something evil like that is, I think, what the message is here. The textures of the music are compelling if you can get past the silly vocal delivery.


9. "Atlas" by Ekkehard Ehlers & Paul Wirkus from Ballads (2009).
Here's a palate cleanser for that last bit of music. Scraping the evil right out of your ears like a sonic q-tip. Ballads, being anything but, is a gorgeous album of exquisite experimental soundscapes. It's different from the majority of its contemporaries in that the pieces are all on the shorter side of things, concentrating the focus of each song on the sounds' relations to each other. Little ambient pop songs.


10. "Can you Travel In the Dark Alone" by Gandalf from the self-titled 1968 release. Was the previous song an "atlas" to the "Dark" referred to in this song? This is a great album of psych from the late 60's.


11. "Phantathsma" by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti from his most recent 7".
More weird nostalgia from Ariel's bizarro world of yester-year.


12. "Boy Toy" by Starfucker from Jupiter (2009). This is a fun ep of Of Montreal-esque electro-dance tunes.


13. "Sleep on the Roof" by Memory Cassette from the Rewind While Sleeping single (2009?). Memory Cassette/Weird Tapes' approach is somewhat of a cross between Ariel Pink and BMSR. Danceable tunes with pitch-shifted vocals, harkening back to optimistic 8o's pop.


14. "Bobble Hats in Summer" by Xela from For Frosty Mornings and Summer Nights (2003).
I scored this reissue from Xela's idm days at a great little record shop in Montréal called Atom Heart, back at the beginning of the month. For the most part, the album consists of the typical, chilled out, ambient glitch type of songs. If any track points to the direction John Twells would be heading in, it's this languid piece that unfolds from ticks and pops to spare, wistful piano.


15. "Beautiful Things" by Quasi from Score! 20 Years Of Merge Records: The Covers! (2009). This is sweet cover of 3D's! There are a slew of other great songs on this disc as well.


16. "Liquid Indian" by Guided By Voices from Do the Collapse (1999).
Wow, it's been ten years since Collapse came out. I recently repurchased this, imho, classic GBV album. This song in particular always stood out to me. The strange angles of the verses, the sublime chorus.


17. "Son and Moon" by Cortney Tidwell from Boys (2009).
Boys is Ms. Tidwell's stunning new album. Each and every track kills. Buy it now.


18. "The Evening Walk" by Helios from Unreleased Vol. 1 (2009).
More acoustic/electronic ambient compositions from Keith Kenniff, this album is better realized than the last. Though I'm still partial to his work as Goldmund, this album is tranquil and interesting.


19. "How Insensitive" by Claudine from The Look of Love (1967).
Claudine's voice has a childlike naiveté that can be off putting at first, but it lends an eeriness to her covers that I find fascinating.

20. "Seven Seventeen" by Wooden Birds from Magnolia (2009).
Kevin Kenny's post American Analog Set project. More songs in his quiet is the new loud style.


21. "Poncho and Lefty" by Steve Earle from Townes (2009).
Earle's most recent album is a collection of covers of his friend/mentor, Townes Van Zandt's songs. "Poncho and Lefty", in particular, is a great track, as well as a nostalgic song for me. When I was a child, my uncle and cousins used to play this song frequently on the porch or gathered around a bonfire, in the mountains of eastern North Carolina.


22. "Hot Water" Line by Circus Devils from Gringo (2009).
Another recent album by Bob Pollard, this one features the Tobias brothers on instrument duty. Out of his albums I've heard this year, this one is the most interesting and sonically diverse.


23. "Summer" by Helvetia from The Acrobats (2008).
This is a fantastic album, released last year, full of lilting pop songs that beg you to spend the day lazing in the summer sun.


24. "Rum Hee" (Oorutaichi Remix) by Shugo Tokumaru from the Rum Hee EP (2009).
It's hard to pick a favorite from Tokumaru's new collection of songs. This remix is definitely the most scattered, but concentrates the feeling of Rum Hee the most effectively.

25. "Tried" by Scott Tuma & Mike Weis from Taradiddle (2009).
Tarradiddle is a collaboration between percussionist Scott Tuma and Zelienople's Mike Weis, both Chicago musicians. The compositions invoke the otherworldliness of Kemialliset Ystävät without the encroaching madness. Vast in scope without being too cluttered, they offer vistas of landscapes that human eyes have yet to see.

Questions with Candy Claws

Here is a little interview I've been doing with Ryan of Candy Claws over the past few weeks. The April Mix is the next post down.

(ratiofarm) Before listening to In the Dream of the Sea Life, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, since you told me that the older album is your DJ set. I can definitely hear pieces from Two Airships/Exploder Falls, but it's got a much gentler vibe about it and I really like how you guys have done that. The textures and layering are very complex and rich. The spacial arrangement shows a definite love of mixing, which so few artists seem to be interested in.

(Ryan) Two Airships / Exploder Falls is made up of songs from my earlier project Airships, which was just me and a computer. I think some of those songs might still be up on myspace, though I haven't checked it for quite a while. Anyway, a couple years ago, Kay and I became best friends, and we both have a creative impulse, so we started Candy Claws, and made Starry Fighter Kite for her high school's annual art/poetry/music compilation. Kay plays violin, guitar, drums, bass, and has the Best Voice Ever. Also, Peter at Peppermill Records asked Airships to be part of a project, so I recorded one last Airships song, and offered Candy Claws for future projects. Our first song for Peppermill was an early version of Lantern Fish. We kept recording off and on, usually writing little melodies and chord changes first. I would write lyrics at work (I work for our town's Natural Areas program), where I had lots of time alone outdoors to put words to our melodies. Sometimes, we would just go for coffee and write words, back and forth, one line at a time, on paper. The words had an ocean theme for some reason, maybe because of its mystery. Then I found Rachel Carson's 1951 book, "The Sea Around Us" at my grandparents' house, and asked to borrow it. Suddenly, the whole album came into focus. Her book is perhaps the most important thing I've ever read. It is non-fiction, written by a scientist, but with such artistry and beauty. Its scope is epic, starting with the formation of the earth itself, and shines throughout with the wonder of a living world. I think that's what our music is about, too - the miracle of a planet with living things all over it.

(RF) How do you approach writing and constructing the songs? Hearing reworked pieces of the older album just makes me curious about that.

(Ryan) We like to write our songs so they would be enjoyable and complete even on a couple acoustic guitars, but our main interest is "the record," the recording, the album. I like the idea that when recorded, the song becomes more than a song - it becomes a Place, complete with depth, atmosphere, foreground and background, temperature, texture, landmarks. I mix in headphones, so I think that's the best way to listen. I try to make the songs into places that are welcoming, generous, thoughtful, vibrant, unpredictable, places where beauty exists just for the sake of beauty, places like nature. Maybe if someone goes into this kind of place they will go back into the world and try to make it a little more like that place (consciously or subconsciously)?
We record parts and pieces for each instrument, then manipulate them on the computer, stringing them together to make a lead, shifting pitch, turning them backwards, vocoding them with other instruments, and other tricks. We record with acoustic and electric guitars, a tiny drum set (some of the best drum parts, like the toms that come in on verse 2 in “Catamaran”, were recorded through the built-in computer mic on my laptop between drum lessons), and a couple toy casios. The actual performances are very simple. The fun part is turning each part into something new and magical on the computer. I suppose you could say we sample our instruments and compose with those pieces. Like, all the cellos you hear in Snowy Shores are one note of Kay's violin line, duplicated and pitch-shifted, faded, stretched, etc. into a cello line.
We went to Italy in June on an art trip with Kay's high school. That's where we recorded the ocean sounds. Also, I visited my extended family in the Philippines in October, and made a couple more recordings of the waves. We wanted to gather our own wave noises for the album, and these two exotic places happened to be the only times we got near an ocean this year.

(RF) I'd love to hear about the background of the band and your influences and everything. Of course, I hear certain things that bring to mind the work of specific bands/musicians, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily the things that are inspiring you as a band.

(Ryan) On Pet Sounds, Brian wanted to create music that made the listener feel loved. Even on songs where the words were about things like a disastrous boat trip (Sloop John B) or songs without words at all (my favorite song ever, Let's Go Away for Awhile), the sounds themselves, the timbre of each instrument and the unique combinations of instruments, make the very sound of love. He is our biggest influence. A couple more modern ones include Kevin Shields and Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. They both have quiet vocals over huge sounds. We've just recently discovered Tim Hecker, but Christian Fennesz is also one of our favorites. Lately we've been really into this album called Music From the 1940's. Amazing 2-minute symphonies, each with a theme, by a bunch of the best composers from the mid-century. Frank Comstock has a really great space-age album full of strings and theremin, which we Love. Also, Goldfrapp's first album and some stuff by Robert Farnon.

(RF) Is the band planning a tour any time soon?

(Ryan) No tour plans right now. Kay is focusing on college. We'd love to, though! Maybe after we get our sea legs playing a bunch of local shows this summer.

Oh, here's a radio show we did on Friday. Our live set starts around the 30 minute mark. We like our live set loud and fast, but hopefully it still resembles the recordings in some ways...Here you go: radio show


Thanks, Ryan, for taking the time to answer my inquiries!

april mix

Fresh for April, here's a sweet batch of songs, new and old. As always, if you like the song, buy the album, support the artist! (And, please artists, if you don't want your music featured on this site, send me and email and I will immediately remove it.)


Download:
Side A
Side B



1. Introduction by Steve Moore from The Henge (2007).
This is one half of the pretty awesome post rock, Italian horror film score-inspired band Zombi (who just put out an excellent, lengthy song on a split with Athens, GA natives Maserati). Moore employs lots of heavy, vintage synths to make unsettling soundscapes. This one is vaguely similar to Wendy Carlos's opening track for The Shining.

2. Starry Fighter Kite by Candy Claws from In the Dream of the Sea Life (2009).
This is the current album that I am totally in love with. In my last mix I posted an older song of theirs. You can hear echoes of it in the new album, but they've definitely taken their sound in a bit different direction. The new album is much more focused and features vocals buried under waves of beautifully crafted sounds. It's a great album to welcome back warm weather and sunny days to, but it's also easy to get lost in the multitudinous layers of sound. You can order a copy of the album directly from them for $10 and your address here:
Candy Claws
3307 Downing Court
Fort Collins, CO
80526
Plus, it comes with a 12 page book of artwork! I've got a sort of interview I did with Ryan, of the band, on the way. . .

3. Headin' Inside by Surf City from their self titled 2007 EP.
And crank it. . . now. Awesome psychedelic surf garage rock from New Zealand that you will almost certainly play several times in a row before moving on.



4.Sea Song by The Super Vacations from their self titled 2009 album. More raunchy garage rock!






5. Safety by Twin Crystals from Separate Birth (2009).
There are some drone and no wave elements going on here, similar to Suicide but more exciting.




6. Jetpack Blues, Sunset Hues by Anamanaguchi from Dawn Metropolis (2009).
Here's another great chiptune band. These NYC'ers mix a little more rock into the sound. Really fun, driving songs, a very solid album.



7. Anarchy Village by The Lift Boys from the Anarchy Village/Anarchy Way EP (2007). This is a side project by Yamatsuka Eye from Boredoms, so you can rest assured that it's pretty intense. Lift Boys is evidently oriented toward more of a tribal dance sound. It definitely works without sounding cheesy, as it easily could.

8. Girl Pop Soda Gay Witch Abortion Maverick (2009). These Lightning Bolt-inspired fiends take a few steps further into the mouth of madness and come rocketing out with a supernova assault upon your poor, unsuspecting ears.



9. I've Covered The Halls, With Glitter And Awe by Fantastic Magic from Witch Choir (2009). Fantasic Magic are the freak-folk cousin of Woods and Wavves. Kind of obnoxious at first, possibly; a lot of fun after a few more listens and beers and stuff.



10. An Elm Skeye by the impossible to google Universal Studios Florida from their self titled 2009 EP.
USF are sort of like Teeth Mountain, but with more of a focus on keyboards. Really nicely layered, synths and beats.


11. Last Night (Remix) by Brael from the self titled 2008 album.
It looks like this album is called Mobeer, but I guess it isn't. Electronics plus acoustics is not usually a combo I go for, but this Connecticut duo is making some extraordinary instrumental music here. Elements of the Books, Boards of Canada and Four Tet.

12. Internal Compass by Infinity Window from the Artificial Midnight Ep (2009). Mmm. . . spaced out drones via old-school keyboards. Very mellow. The scratches and pops from the vinyl rip on this add an extra something nice.



13. Ivan by some band called Sonic Youth? from the Sensational Fix EP (2009). This is not really SY, but actually just Steve Shelley on his own. This song is one of four tracks on an EP (which accompanies a book from an exhibition of their work which ran from October 2008 to January 2009 at Muzion in Bulano, Italy), which showcases a piece preformed solely by each member of the band. I'm not sure if it's intentional or just a screwed up record, but I like the way the song skips ahead in parts. It sounds intentional to me.

14. Barkane by Steven R. Smith from Kohl (2002).
This is an older release by the prolific Smith, of the Jewelled Antler Collective. He's definitely one of my favorite contemporary guitarists in that he explores so many facets of guitar oriented music and sounds.



15. The Black Drop by Mount Vernon Arts Lab from The Seance At Hobs Lane (2007). Like me, these guys are obsessed with Lovecraft and other such eldritch things. Unlike me, they are signed to Ghost Box Records, a small label that puts out consistently excellent, bizarre material. Finding this record recently led me to these chaps. . .

16. Mademoiselle Marionette by Moon Wiring Club from An Audience Of Art Deco Eyes (2007). . . . who are also quite creepy, though a little more on the Adams Family, fun side of things.





17. Old Leader by Naked on the Vague from Blood Pressure Sessions (2008). More sweet sickness from Siltbreeze, these Aussies will make you feel funny in the head. This always makes me feel like I'm falling forward. More no-wave influenced evil.



18 . Dauingene by Elegi from Sistereis (2007). This is a beautiful disk of ambient decay, like sitting still in a Victorian home as it ages a century in a few moments and falls apart around you. Very thoughtfully composed.



19. III by Forestflies from the self titled 2007 album. Forestflies is David Wenngren of Library Tapes. Aesthetically similar to Max Richter, Rachel's and Eluvium, this work is made of field recordings and looped instrumental pieces.



20. Odd by Takeo Toyama from Etudes (2009).
This is a fun, strange album by modern classical composer Toyama, with many influences out side of the "contemporary classical" sphere.





21. You're No Good by Jackie Opelfrom Bajan Soca Classics Vol. 2 (1964). Whoa! This a fantastic lost classic that a friend from Barbados sent me recently. This guy came up with a sound unique to Barbados after messing around in the early ska scene in Jamaica. I love his island-influenced, Sam Cooke style vocals.



22. You Are Lost by Bonnie "Prince" Billy from Beware (2009). Yes. I love the approach of this album, though I feel like more than one of the songs work as nothing more than one-liners, this song is a truly beautiful original.



23. Henry At The Ballgame by Grand Hallway from Peppermill Record's The Box (2008).
A prize to the first person who emails the origin of this song and their mailing address to me.




24.It's All Forgotten Now by The Caretaker from A Stairway to the Stars (2001).
Delicious. Originally inspired by the final scene of The Shining, this is an album of old 20's era songs stretched, echoed and mutated into eerily beautiful atmospheric pieces.



25. Ba by Goldmund from Corduroy Road (2005). This is a collection of off-the-cuff recordings by Keith Kenniff, who is also works as Helios. Personally, I find his Goldmund brand of music to be more interesting and sincere. The way the deeper tones blow out on some of the songs is kind of nice. Very gorgeous, minimal music.

Some great new music came out last month, and I found a lot of older, experimental things (don't worry, people who aren't into experimental crap, I'm saving that stuff for another day). I'm most excited about the new Dan Deacon album, Bromst, if you like "Build Voice" you're definitely going to dig the rest of Deacon's new disc. I highly recommend seeing him live, too, his shows are interactive and basically a giant, insane party.


Download Side A

Download Side B

(as not to confuse you, the Band names below are links to their websites or myspace pages)

1. Belbury Poly - "A Year and A Day" from From An Ancient Star
In my opinion, Belbury is the strangest band on the Ghost Box roster. I find the sound almost off-putting then, somehow, compelling in it's walking the line of genius/irritation. There's obviously great craftsmanship going into the music, there are just some bizarre decisions as far as what sounds are going to be used. I find this band utterly fascinating.



2. Odawas - "The Case Of The Great Irish Elk" from The Blue Depths
Odawas' most recent endeavor I find to be on a similar path as Belbury Poly, with the retro synths. Odawas, however, wash them over you in a wall of sound and melancholy lyricism. This is a new direction for the band and fairly interesting, if not as lush as their previous, more instrumentally arranged psychedelia.



3. Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Dont You Want To Be in a Cult" from the Dont You Want To Be in a Cult w/ Feel the Drip 7"
More luscious, butter-dripping, vintage keyboard psych from Tobacco and Power Pill Fist!





4. Chandeliers - "The Thrush" from The Thrush (2008)
Kraut funk from Chicago luminaries!







5. School of Seven Bells - "Face To Face On High Places" from 2008's Alpinisms
The overall feel of these guys is pretty interesting, even if the cheese-o-meter is edging up on the lyrics. Kind of My Bloody Valentine meets any of the current, up-beat, indie-dance bands. They're currently on tour with Black Moth.




6. Dan Deacon - "Build Voice" from Bromst
DAMN!! This album is so much better than Spiderman of the Rings!!!







7. Candy Claws - "Two Airships" from their self-titled debut
Hot Shit! This is what I hoped Crystal Castles' album would be like. Get this for free from their record label here! There's only one other song, which is even longer and just as great. Be sure to take a look around the site. . .



8. SIsters - "Lust Is Just" from 2008's Everybody
This album is a dream come true for me. Sonic Youth vs. Times New Viking, plus some extra punk rock thrown in for good measure.






9. Soft Shoulder - "Tempe, Bike Rides, 4am" from assorted collection of Soft Shoulder
Great noise rock rooted in punk and free jazz.





10. Tanlines - "New Flowers" from the New Flowers single
Fun dance-rock shit with a kraut-rock bent.







11. Shogun Kunitoki - "Montezuma" from Tasankokaiku, 2006
These guys make kraut rock with commodore processors. Pretty hypnotic.





12. Bat For Lashes - "Daniel" from Two Suns
Oh, god. The lyrics of this album are pretty much a litany of the worst clichés of songwriting, but something cheesy draws me to this song, none the less. I can't recommend Two Suns, unless you enjoyed her first album, or you really enjoy this song. Personally, I gotta play something better to get this processed Fleetwood Mac 'n' Cheese taste outta my ears...




13. Beach House - "Childhood" from their 2006, self titled album
. . .that's what I'm talking about. I'd go for these guys over Bat For Lashes any day.







14. Kashiwa Daisuke - "Requiem" from Dec. 5
I like the way this song starts off and then. . . WHAT?!? This shit cracks me up! It sounds like it would be in a trailer for a Matrix-style vampire film that would have to be a thousand times more hyperactive and ridiculous than The Vampire Effect or Night Watch. Actually, the rest of the album, as well as April 2 are pretty decent, though borderline cheesy.



15. Elm - "Long Winter's Howl" from Woven Into Light, 2008
This is exactly what winter feels like in Chicago. This is one of the guys from San Francisco's Barn Owl and he coincidentally works at my favorite record shop there, Aquarius Records.



16. Swan Lake - "A Hand at Dusk" from Enemy Mine, 2009
Wow. If you enjoyed Swan Lake's debut effort (Bejar from Destroyer and the New Pornographers, Mercer from Frog Eyes, and Krug of Wolf Parade, Frogeyes, and Sunset Rubdown), then you will most likely enjoy this one more. It's much more cohesive and sounds like an actual band instead of three guys plying each other's songs together.



17. Soy un Caballo - "La Bibliothèque" off of 2007's Les heures de raison
Here's some beautiful, chill French (despite the Spanish name) pop. Kind of like Juana Molina or the Kings of Convenience.
A really great album for a warm feeling on a rainy day. I was a little late on this one, I guess.




18. Grizzly Bear - "Foreground" from the upcoming Veckatimest
Another amazing album from Grizzly Bear, this is a continuation of the layered, mellow moods of Yellow House.
It will be interesting to see where they go when they tire of this sound. "Foreground" is the last track on the album, the first one that really stood out to me, but they are all really incredible.



19. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - "This Love Is Fucking Right" - from their self-titled LP.
I don't get what's so great about these guys. Compared to similar bands out there like The Legends and The Radio Dept., these guys have a lot to learn. It just sounds like the same old re-hashed 60's pop to me. Am I missing something?



20. Sleepy Town Manufacture & Unit 21 - Blooming Woods from No Traces
This is really great ambient stuff made from found sounds and reverb soaked instruments by a couple of Russian artists.
So sweet and good.

Moldy Oldies

I grew up in a very strict Southern Baptist school that condemned listening to popular music. They thought only "classical" music and gospel hymns had god's seal of approval. Having begun my schooling with them at the tender age of 4, it was a long time before I questioned their stance on music. I heard pop radio, of course, what ever my dad listened to, but just kind of tuned it out. Probably for the better since it was pop radio.
I first really started paying attention to contemporary music one summer, when I was eleven. I was visiting family in Atlanta, Georgia, and I discovered Atlanta's oldies station. When I returned to my home in Greenville, South Carolina, a few weeks later, I discovered that I could pick up the radio station on my alarm clock radio in my bed room. This was quite a feat, considering that about 150 miles separate Greenville from Atlanta, and I just had a crappy little drugstore alarm clock radio. But, I lived near the top of the only mountain around, so it was pretty much a straight shot for the radio waves, I guess.
I got really into oldies at that point, just loved the structure and melodies and silly themes. A couple of years later I discovered R.E.M. (again while visiting the same family in Atlanta) and pretty much left the oldies in the dust. This had a lot to do with the facts that, (A) I was a kid and didn't have enough money to by albums by any of the artists I was interested in and (B) the freakin' oldies stations play the same damn songs over and over. I mean, there's a lot of music from that era out there and they have a rotation of about a hundred songs. It's something that's always bothered me, especially as I consistently come across more and more old songs I've never heard on the radio. So, here are some great things I've found in the past few years, just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, to freshen up your collection of old songs.

love, the Ratiofarm (Sagittarius)


Click these to Download:
Side A
Side B
Side C


Side A:

1. Basil Kirchin - I Start Counting
I found this one day at Dusty Groove, here in Chicago, on the album Fuzzy Felt Folk. The album was touted as a collection of British Children's Psychedelia from the 60's. Most of the album is pretty interesting, leaning towards the early psyche-folk stylings of David Bowie and the like. There are a few really amazing tracks such as this one and "Folk Guitar" by Claude Vasori.




2. Alice Coltrane - Galaxy Around Olodumare
My buddy Steve Scarborough brought this album over to my place one day with the biggest grin and was going on about how it was blowing his mind. I was amazed that I had never heard of Alice. This is some far-out shit, very similar to David Axelrod's work.




3. Jusjus - Sweet Songs
I got this off the Come Get It, I Got It comp. Hilarious and genius at the same time. Sister Sara Webster Fabio has such a sweet voice. Damn!







4. Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song
How can you not have a good time whilst listening to this?! Tom Waits cops the chorus in Clap Hands on Rain Dogs.












5. Betty Adams - Make It Real (Ride On)
This song is SO FUCKING GOOD, how was it never on the radio?!? Plus, this is the only thing I've been able to find by her, which is unbelievable.







6. Dayton Sidewinders - Slipping Into Darkness
Don't know much about these fellows from Philly, but this is a sweet soul-funk jam.










7. Sixto Rodriguez - Sugarman
Sixto (sees-to) is from Detroit and never really caught on here in the U.S., but he's evidently mad popular in Africa and Oz. Such an erie song and what else sounded like this in 1970?







8. David Axelrod - Urizen
Bet you didn't know that Obama's advisor had a musical career, did you? He didn't. This is some trippy, orchestrated psychedelia from Mr. Axelrod's first LP.







9. Nadas G. (?) - Sárosi Katalin
This is a mysterious track from a postcard-record that Candyleggs found in an antique shop in our neighborhood. Alls I know is that it's from Budapest (the city in the picture). There was no date and I can't read Hungarian. Love the warm scratchyness.





10. The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping
From my favorite Beatles album. I never get tired of this ingeniously crafted psychedelic masterpiece. And you never hear it on the radio!








11. Caetano Veloso - The Empty Boat
The Empty Boat is the first song by Brazilian Caetano Veloso I heard, and was just mesmerized by it. From his first, self-titled album. It reminds me a little of Ravel's Bolero.








12. Van Dyke Parks - Donovan's Colours
I had just gotten really into the madness of Olivia Tremor Control when Greenville friend james Eaton passed Park's first album, Song Cycle, to me. It's an amazing mash-up of all previous styles of American music presented in a very manic fashion. This instrumental piece is the most traditional in structure on the album. There's another track towards the end of the mix, so you can get a taste of the general feel of the album. It really grows on you and is definitely worth owning. Parks famously co-wrote SMiLE with Brian Wilson and orchestrated Joanna Newsom's last album, Y's.





13. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Monkberry Moon Delight
I was first introduced to Mr. Hawkins in a film and video class in high school, in Jim Jarmusch's film Mystery Train.
But that's beside the point. I love how, if you close your eyes when this song comes on, you can see Screamin' Jay's head just come, um, screamin' up out of the darkness! Totally weird, Paul McCartney penned tune. Does this make two songs about cocaine so far? I guess I could throw "I Walk the Line" on, too, but everyone knows that one. Jiffy Squid.






14. The Sonics - Strychnine
These guys are screaming, garage giants. Fucking punkrock, poison drinking berserkers. Such a great influence.











SIde B:

15. Eddie Harris - Turbulence
Cliff Jonez played this for me one summer and I couldn't believe it. The limits of jazz without getting (what some people might call) annoying or boring.








16. Serge Gainsbourg - Black Trombone
Don't kill me, but I could never really get into Comic Strip in its entirety, too much goofyness for me. I was pretty happy when Candyleggs picked Du Jazz Dans Le Ravin up, much more smooth and sexy. I think it really showcases Gainsbourg's voice. His psychedelic stuff is pretty fantastic, too.








17. Charles Trénet - La Mer
Wow, this sounds like the soundtrack to my childhood if it had been spent on the coast of France and not in a Southern Baptist Internment Camp. French is one of my favorite languages to hear in song.








18. Zia Khoja - Classical Uzbek Dutar Piece, Sowt-I Miskin
This is from the compilation Afghanistan Untouched, which I highly recommend. Middle-Eastern music is very mystical and other-worldly and you should most certainly check lots of it out. Go to Radio Darvish to listen to some mind-blowing traditional Persian music. Also, Sublime Frequencies has some fantastic collections of traditional Middle and Far-Eastern and African music, too.






19. Goralska Orkiestra - Nie Smuccie Sie Tatry
From the Secret Museum of Mankind collection, this is a Polish mountain band. The song title translates as "Don't be sad, Tatry," and I believe "Tatry" is the mountain they are from. There's something so bizarrely exuberant about this song, I've loved it since the moment I first heard it.






20. The Village People of Peru - Andina Huayno
The rolling sound that the pipes make on this track sounds like the hum of a wall-mounted electric heater from my childhood made. I always loved that sound. I can't remember where I got this album, but it's all really beautiful. I can't imagine walking
into a village and hearing this sort of thing on the street or in the square.





21. Ravi Shankarr - Dhun
The first time I heard the sitar, I fell in love. What an other worldy, dream-like sound. I can listen to Shankar for hours.









22. Pablo Casals - Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, BWV.1008 - 1: Prélude
Casals' lonely, bittersweet renditions of Bach's Cello Suites are among the most timeless and emotional recordings I've heard. Recorded in 1938.








23. Charlie Patton - Stone Pony Blues
Patton wrote this song in 1910 and was a huge influence on the Blues, writing many of the standards of yesterday and today. The most important American musician of the 20th century? Probably.






24. The Rolling Stones - She Smiled Sweetly
This is from Between the Buttons, the same album that contains "Ruby Tuesday". How many times have you heard that song? I've heard it plenty and somehow still love it, but why never "She Smiled Sweetly"? So gorgeous and heartbreaking, a rare moment of clarity for the Stones.




25. Desmond Dekker & The Aces - You've Got Your Troubles
Of all Dekker's songs, this one sticks with me the most. It sounds like a hot summer day on an island, spent in a hammock on the beach with a cold drink in hand. Just leave me alone.






26. Left Banke - She May Call You Up Tonight
Another song I never tire of hearing is "Walk Away, Renée" by these fellows. But, again, name another song by them.
I picked up their collected discography a few years back and was surprised that it was full (26 songs) of amazing baroque-psyche pop jams. This song, as well as "Renée", were written by the keyboardist about the singer's girlfriend.




27. Them - It's all Over Now, Baby Blue
I think Van Morrison's voice was made specifically to sing this song by Dylan. Start it over and listen to it again. This is a powerful song.







28. Mulatu Astaqé - Tezeta
There is a good deal of amazing Ethiopian jazz, but I think Mulatu is probably the master of the genre. He blends so many distinct styles together and comes out with music that is uniquely his own, transcending the realms of the instruments he uses and the styles he borrows. Just listen to everything going in this track.




Side C

29. Francoise Hardy - La Fin De L Ete
What a sweet voice. So many amazing tunes from Ms. Hardy, just start anywhere, really.








30. Astrud Gilberto - How Insensitive
I first knew this song as the instrumental version "Insensatez" by Antônio Carlos Jobim, which is also a beautiful version. But here, Astrud's cooly indifferent delivery about tossing a lover aside, maybe feeling a little badly about it, takes this song to another level.



31. Waylon Jennings - Crying
This is from Waylon's first album Last Train to Lubbock. He covered this classic Orbison song after barely escaping the plane crash that killed band mate Buddy Holly. I think this version benefits from the lack of Spector's melodramatic touch. Just the simple drums and strumming, Waylon's echoing, mournful voice. There's something wrong with the file, but I think it adds to the erie quality of this rendition.



32. Nobody's Children - Don'tcha Feel Like Cryin'
God I love the crunchy fuzz of the guitars in this song. I think this is the only thing these gents ever did. From the compilation Realistic Patterns







33. Hank Williams - I Can't Escape From You
I didn't really love Hank until I moved to Chicago. His music is pretty ubiquitous in Nashville and it just becomes a sad parody after a while, especially considering the garbage that comes out of the country music machine these days. The first time I heard him in Chicago, it made sense.





34. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Broke and Hungry
The combination of Lemon's voice, guitar technique and the recording quality somehow add up to him being my favorite blues singer. Plus, I can relate to this song most of the time.








35. Geeshie Wiley - Pick Poor Robin Clean
I just love here voice and the harmonies on this song are particularly beautiful. No pictures of Geeshie exist, which is kind of cool.
Find this on American Primitive, Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants (1897-1939).




36. Effisio Melis - Fiorassio
This Sardinian folk song is insane! How does it sound right to anyone? It makes me love it all the more and it's inspired several pieces of art i've made in the past year. Another treasure from the Secret Museum of Mankind collelction.



37. Dezurik (aka Cackle) Sisters - The Arizona Yodeler
This is another one that's so crazy I can't stop listening to it. Their voices are beautiful, but they just get so crazy with the yodeling. From the compilation American Yodeling 1911 - 1946






38. The Carter Family - Are You Lonesome Tonight
Everyone should own the entirety of the Carter's work, there are so many unbelievable songs. They were some interesting folks, too.













39. Edith Piaf - Hymn L'Amour
I've always been moved by the passion of Piaf's voice. She really sang with every ounce of her life. This song encapsulates it for me. Watch the recent movie about her, La Vie en Rose, if you haven't yet. Tragic beauty.








40. John Cale - Paris 1919
The title track from what many consider the former VU member's most accessible album. I discovered this song when I started college, but didn't track down the album until I moved to Chicago. It's full of amazing songs, but this will always be my favorite. Check out other former Velvet Angus Maclise's work, for something completely different.





41. Van Dyke Parks - The Attic
Here's the other Parks track I mentioned earlier. This pretty much sums up the sound of the album.



42. Django Reinhardt - Les Yeux Noirs
It's hard to pick a single track to represent Mr. Reinhradt, all of his music is so great. Well, maybe that makes it easy, actually.








43.Musical Erratum: La Mariee Mise A Nu par ses célibataires, Même (The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even)
- Marcel Duchamp
So, the score for this piece was originally written in 1913 and led to Duchamp's famous artwork of the same name.
He said that it was impossible to play it as he intended, but I think this is a fascinating interpretation. It's made with spinning bowls touching piano strings, evidently. Pretty astounding for the time period, and rarely spoken of today.

Cloudmaking - by Julian Koster (I think)

So, a while back, a friend of mine gave me a homemade CD entitled "Cloudmaking for ___". He claimed that Julian Koster, of the Music Tapes, Chocolate USA, and Major Organ and the Adding Machine, had given it to a friend of his who had lived with him at the time, and that his friend had accidentally left it behind during a move.
I once had a conversation with Julian about things we were working on and he mentioned a film he was planning with another friend (who happened to be sitting right there to verify it). It sounded similar to the content of the Cloudmaking disc, maybe more fleshed out, certainly taking different turns, ultimately pretty fun.
Anyway, I'm trying to find out what exactly this is. I think That Brian Dewan is the narrator, but I'm not positive. Check out his amazing website of electronic musical instruments here.
I think you'll find Cloudmaking interesting if you enjoy children's stories and/or are interested in the goings on of the Elephant 6 collective. If so, download it here.

february mix

Here are some things I've been listening to recently.
I've been vainly searching for some good current pop music, if anyone has any suggestions. . .
Download:
Side A
Side B

1. Lazy Days On Our Hillside by Milieu from Aurora Borealis. Really digging this track specifically from this album. The rest of it is good, too, and sounds fairly similar to Boards of Canada.



2. Harsh Tanz by Teeth Mountain from their self titled album.
This is intense tribal done freakout time. Try it.



3. Good Clues by Gary War from New Raytheonport. This definitely sounds like Ariel Pink to me, maybe better. Fun songs, none the less.



4. The End Of Summer On Bookbinder Road by Cocoanut Groove from The End Of Summer On Bookbinder Road 7". Been jonesing for some Zombies, Left Banke, Belle & Sebastian-style, baroque pop songs? A little fun summer afternoon, a little melancholy nostalgia. Swedish import number 1.



5. I Lost My Colour Vision by Burning Hearts from Aboa Sleeping. More great pop from Sweden. This brings to mind St. Etienne, among other things.



6. My Delerium by Ladyhawke from her self titled album.
I can't get enough of this song, but the rest of the album magically sucks.



7. No Dice by Beirut from March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland. What? This is Beirut?! The new double ep thing is half Mexican that seems like a natural progression of Condon's music / half '70s influenced dance stuff that doesn't work for the most part. But there's this song and Venice that are both pretty great.


8. No Hope Kids by Wavves from the second self titled album. Fuzzed out surf noise rock stuff? Pretty fun and retarded!



9. The Trees Grew Emotions And Died by Cold Cave from The Trees Grew Emotions And Died ep. This feels a little more goth or something than the Painted Nails 7", more focused on laying a groove down.



10. Redlights by SALEM from the FuCKT ep. I'm not sure how to describe this. Maybe it's like Julee Cruise with some gangsta beats instead of the Badalementi.



11. Be Still by The Woods from At Rear House. Ever imagine Menomena as a "rustic folk band"? Voilá!



12. Old Man Playing Boules by Hauschka from Room To Expand. Wow, this guy writes some amazing stuff in a short amount of time. If you enjoy Rachels, Max Richter, Philip Glass and the like, do yourself a favor and and check out all of this guys albums. Beautiful instrumental work without getting too sappy or cinematic.



13. Beach Point Pleasant by Ducktails from the Beach Point Pleasant ep. Gah! Samples of Indonesian radio stations played over each other?! I don't know, but really amazing if you're into Panda Bear, El Guincho, Sun City Girls, indigenous stuff.



14. Mirando (Animal Collective remix) by Ratatat from the Mirando single. This is a great remix, really awesome on headphones.



15. Boneless (remix by Panda Bear) by Notwist from the Boneless single. I've never heard the regular version, but this is Panda's complete reworking and is interesting on it's own.



16. Reading Rainbow by 8bit bEtty from Too Bleep to Blop. I might be alone here, but when I was a kid, my favorite part of Reading Rainbow was the song at the beginning. At least 8bit bEtty agrees with me. This is from a pretty decent album of dance oriented chip-tunes.



17. Music Room by Secret Mommy from Very Rec. Digging this song the most from this album of manipulated field recordings. This lies somewhere in between the Books and Matmos as far as concept and execution goes.




18. Two Twenty by Lineland from Logos For Love. This is similar to Secret Mommy in that Lineland makes the songs from electronic samples, but in a much more pop-minded and possibly cohesive fashion.



19. Chocolate Moon by Tipsy from BuzzzThis band was evidently around for a while and were going to call it quits when Mike Patton asked them to put out an album of their cut-up Exotica. In the vein of Esquivel and definitely the next guy:



20. Seg-Wayfarer by Slink Fingers from Shenanigans in Polyfidelity. I hope you can stick with this all the way through, it's got some amazing moments.

I got to go to the Old Town School of Folk Music last week to check out Lambchop and The Paper Hats. Friend Ryan Norris gave me a pass to see the sometime leviathan Nashville band in a fantastic setting. The OTSFM is like a miniature Ryman, not a bad seat in the house and amazing acoustics. The Paper Hats (William Tyler) opened with his amazing Fahey-esque jams. He closed with one of my favorites from his Desert Canyon Lp, Crystal Palace, Sea of Glass, an epic tune that builds into echo and reverb-soaked sonic bliss. Lambchop laid down their bizarre yet beautiful songs with aplomb to a packed house. It's very hard to describe their music, just go see them if you get a chance. Thanks Ryan!

winter mix tape

So, here are some songs that have been helping
me to cope with the cold Chicago winter.
Click on the red title track to download.
And, may I recommend headphones?


1. The Monastery by Bronnt Industries Kapital from the Häxan soundtrack.
This is from the beautiful, erie soundtrack BIK recently made for the old film about "witch craft from the middle ages."



2. Poison Tree by Grouper from the Split album.
That keyboard loop could play on forever in my head and I would be very happy.



3. Black Pear Tree by the Mountain Goats and Kaki King from their Black Pear Tree ep.
Another song about a scary tree.



4. Sabali by Amadou and Miriam from Welcome to Mali.
This is a pretty amazing song, vaguely reminiscent of Grandaddy in structure. While the rest of the album by this blind couple is pretty standard Afro-Pop, Sabali is a pretty sweet fluke.



5. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective from Merriweather Post Pavilion.
MPP is Animal Collective doing more pop oriented stuff and will probably help them find a broader audience, but I'm sure the next thing they put out will be fucking crazy. Anyway, it's a genius album and this is currently my favorite song, it really helps obliterate the winter clouds.


6. The Drag by Ty Segall from his self-titled album.
It's a dance. I guess. Pretty fun garage-punk.


7. There and Back Again by The Legends from Up Against the Legends.
I guess I got this song off of some music site a while back and forgot about it. The last time I went to New York, a friend gave me the Marie Antoinette soundtrack and the tracks by the Radio Dept. reminded me of this song, which I could not for the life of me recall. A month or two ago, it came up on random and it was like the best present ever.



8. Smile by The Go from Howl on the Haunted Beat You Ride.
The lyrics are kind of silly, but the melodies are great in a nostalgic way.


9. Gliskr by Tom James Scott from Red Deer.
Languid, plaintive guitar work: I have a soft spot for it. An up-beat Luciano Cilio.



10. I'm Appealing by Town and Country from C'mon.
I hope this song doesn't bore the fuck out of you, I find it mesmerizing. These guys are a great, over-looked minimalist group.



11. Méditation des enfants by Alain Goraguer from his soundtrack for Fantastic Planet.
This gives me the chills, like something awful is about to happen.




12. Joutsenkivi Not'Sissa by Avarus from Jättiläisrotta.
Rarely visited territory for these Fins, this track has a meditative, Middle-Eastern feel.



13. Untitled 3 by Vodka Soap from Reactionary Meditations Within the Chandelier of Our Head.
More droney weirdness from this Skaters-related solo project by Spencer Clark.



14. Seigaiha by the Imperial Palace Band from Sprigs of Time: 78s from the EMI Archive.
This is an old, I'm guessing, Japanese song? From 1903. !!!


15. Penitent Runes by Robedoor from Rancor Keeper.
Doomy drones from these guys. In the vein of The Skaters, Yellow Swans and Emeralds.



16. Babylon 4 Eva by Valet from Naked Acid.
Valet is Honey who has played in Jackie-O Motherfucker and Atlas Sound. She makes pretty, psychedelic songs to space out to. Here is one. She's Incredible live, go see her if you have the opportunity.



17. It's Easy by Robert Pollard from The Crawling Distance.
Another offering from Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices fame.




18. Meadowlarks by Fleet Foxes from their self-titled album.
Fleet Foxes sound like Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket to me, but I think this is a really nice tune.



19. Isa Lei by Andi Thakambau of Fiji from The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol.1 Ethnic Music Classics 1925-48.
I've been coming back to this track from The Secret Museum collection for some time, now. It's reassuring and kind. I think I'll hear it as I'm dying.



20. Calm of the Cast-Light Cloud by Eluvium from Talk Amongst the Trees
It's nice to read Murakami or watch the snow falling while this album is playing.

Ratiofarm is Rational Heaven

So, I got the idea for The Ratiofarm back in 1999, taking a train from Amsterdam to Nürnburg. I saw a semi pass in the opposite direction with the word "RatioPharm" on it's side. My mind immediately began to race with ideas of a ratio producing farm and the child-like wonder of such a ridiculous thing. A good start for a strange children's story. Once in Nürnburg, some quick research revealed that RatioPharm was a Dutch pharmaceutical company.
It looks like I'm not the only person to have been inspired by the name, today I found this excerpt on a Dutch website:

The company with the name 'Ratio-Farm' is old and respectable. Though officially founded in 2010, its roots can be traced back in the Google-archives to the 17th century. It started as 1 one female job, introducing the logic 'rationalism' by a priestess named Rene Descartes
(unluckily all photos got lost). In 2010 the name Ratio-farm was patented after a merger of Google, IBM and Microsoft. The resulting 'Ratio-farm'immediately became a world-wide operating leading super-multinational.
The products sold were 'rational-data'-processors in any shape. In the ancient beginnings this Rene Descartes gathered bits of 'rational' information on paper in a notebook (ancient rudimentary computer). She was even said to have visited a surgery session painted by the ancient historical paintress Rembrandt, to make notes (painting was the ancient way of making pictures on paper). Later the thinker Immanuela Kant made analysis 'a la Descartes' accepted. Again centuries later in the 'Google times' computers proved to be very good in storing and retrieving information. By now intelligent analyzing computers even give the impression of making 'rational' decisions. In earlier times big like a house, but since 2384 small enough to be hidden in a ballpoint. Questions rise like: Is Google 'The Rational God'? Later when this question was no item anymore it was replaced by the much more 'spiritual' statement: Ratiofarm is Rational Heaven
There even is a persistent rumor that 23rd century president Dickie D. Tator doesn't make decisions herself, but is dictated by her 'rational' ballpoint. Even vibrators are made intelligent, they 'rationally' decide for themselves how their female owner should reach orgasm in the most 'rational'. They recognize the user and adapt their setting. Having huge databases filled with 'rational' 'sex signatures' they continuously improve themselves. When getting a new user, they only need to load such a smart database. The most recent model 'Wernher von Braun XXX' even is multifunctional, on one side toothbrush/vibrator and next to that usable as 'rationally' guided missile.

Rich Jamz from 2k.8

Holy crap. F the h8ers, y'all, so much good music came out this year. Also, lots of awesome shit happened. Some genius at the Vatican said stem cell research is a sin. Pakistan and India are about to get married. America finally woke up from it's eight-year, narcissistic, fundamentalist, hate-fuck nightmare! That alone is cause enough to celebrate with at least a half-assed Crystal Castles album or, fuck, even some pale, vampire-weakened, feel good afro-pop rip off jam. Get out your paper planes, kids!! It was really hard to whittle down my favorites of the year to a ten album list, so I didn't. And there's still a lot of stuff that I couldn't afford or find for free on the internet, as well as a few things I have that I haven't listened to yet. So, here's a three-sided, double album mix in the order you see here:
Side A 1 - 10
Side B 11 - 20
Side C 21 - 28

The Advisory Circle - Other Channels

Oh my god, The Advisory Circle. I'm still going back to this and hearing new things. Super high quality audio and sounds fucking awesome on a good system. The Circle does a great job of combining creepy and cheesy while presenting interesting compositions made from/inspired by old BBC public service announcements and library records. This shit is so weird, and really hard to stop listening to.



The Alps - III

Put the needle down on this wax. Sit back, and feel your mind expanding out to the edges of the universe, and snapping! This is some beautiful instrumental psychedelia in the vein of Ennio Morricone, David Axelrod and the Verve's early freakout sessions. Whew, intense.



Dungen - 4

These guys just don't let up! More sweet Swede psych rock. I read some pretty luke warm reviews, but I don't know what they were talking about, this album rocks and is a thoughtful improvement/addition to their sound.



Sic Alps - U.S. Ez/Long Way Around To A Shortcut


Much like Times New Viking, Sic Alps are a band I can put on and listen to five times in a row before I start to get antsy. Both of these are essential albums if you like the low-fi stuff, even more so if you enjoy garage-y pop songs and/or Pavement. Good sloppy pop songs and slow jams to drink beer and smoke cigarettes to when you're just driving around with nothing to do. There were some similar bands with albums out this year that were pretty good, too (Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, and Eat Skull to name a few), but Sic Alps stuck out the most in my ears.



The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace
From all the stuff I've heard so far, this is the year's heavy hitter of the noise scene, whatever that's worth. So dense and layered, so fucked up, so good. I still listen to this album in awe. Get ready to hurt, in a good way.



Fag Cop - I'm Fucking Dead 7"
"Guys ready?" This is what Punk has always strived for. Listen to that snotty, sarcastic snarl charge head long into unbridled chaos. What, you can't understand what he's saying? You know what he's saying! They're called Fag Cop for fuck's sake.



Cold Cave - Painted Nails 7"
That's some silly album art, but don't let it fool you, this is some rad shit. Mad Max dance music, Blade Runner Bloghaus, Shitgaze-techno? Their other 7", The Trees Grew Emotions And Died, has garnered more attention, but I promise, this one is where the money is. Like a grittier John Maus. Check them out If you like Wavves, or vice versa.



El Guincho - Alegranza! I think this album got the most notice when I played music for people over the past year, and rightly so. It's fun without being corny and it puts you in a generally good, if not great, mood. It's similar to Person Pitch in approach only. Alegranza! is way more about just fucking off and having fun, the kind of fun made from diced up rythms, guitars and hootin' n hollerin'. Cacophonous, drunken party music.



Anoraak - Nightdrive With You EP Yeah, I think this guy is probably riding M83's coat tails, too (he's even French, as well, jeez), but this is pretty good stuff anyway. The lyrics are kind of goofy, but so is being a teen in the 80's, right? Sweet dance beats and 80's pop synths with D'ntel's sensibilities, cheesy fun. The TrapperKeeper album cover says it all.



M83 - Saturdays = YouthYou either love this or hate it. I can't stand the 5th track, but that's the beauty of iTunes! I can't even remember what it sounds like anymore! This is totally a passionate love letter to growing up surrounded by eighty's pop culture, for better as well as worse.



T.V. on the Radio - Dear ScienceThese gents just get better and better. I've been slowly savoring this album, only listening to it once a week, at most, trying to keep it fresh and exciting with each listen as long as possible. TVOTR's sound is increasingly broad in influence and sonic depth/texture. Science covers all of the bases of contemporary pop song structures, while blasting them out to new levels, and "Dancing Choose" is like a new "It's the End of the World as we Know It," which was maybe needed? I kind of have a crush on Tunde Adebimpe.



YMCK - Family Genesis I heard YMCK a few years back on Nashville's WRVU and I called and asked who they were. The dj told me their name and hat he had purchased the album in Japan and was unable to find there stuff here. I forgot about it after a while, but they lodged in the back of my head and, though I remember it being a bit more on the noise side of things and not quite so jazz influenced, I was really excited to get their new release this year. I feel like I'm in the Mushroom Kingdom when I listen to this stuff. A definite 1-UP.



Tobacco - Fucked Up FriendsTobacco is a part of Black Moth Super Rainbow, one of my favorite analog psyche-pop bands I just can't get enough of. While I enjoyed fellow Moth, Power Pill Fist's 2008 album, Sagadraga, quite a bit, I think Fucked Up Friends is better in that there's more derivation from song to song, though still not as much as there could be. Most of these tracks sound like Black Moth minus vocals. This is all woozy keyboards + fucked up hip hop beats. Aesop Rock shows up for some spittin. Sagadraga and FUF would probably sound dope together. I'm gonna go try that.


Kemialliset Ystävät - Harmaa LaguuniMore of your music, please, chemical friends!! Kemialliset has tapped into a secret dimension deep in the forrests of Finland. This is more of their unrivaled bizarreness. I crave this stuff.



Yellow Swans - At All EndsYellow Swans are one of the few noise bands that manages to incorporate melody into their sound structures. On this and their most recent/final album, they set the bar pretty high for the scene.
The Swans sculpt psychedelic drone dirges that swell into magnificent mushroom clouds of oblivion, from guitars and filters. This would be the perfect soundtrack to surveying our decayed planet a few hundred years after it's been obliterated by waring ideologues.


Ensemble Economique - At the Foot Of Nameless RoadsCreepy drones and industrial sounds, in a theatrical setting. If we knew the names of these roads, we would probably run screaming in the opposite direction if we found ourselves at their feet. This is the magnificent sound of an impending and unfathomable doom.



The Skaters - Physicalities of the Sensibilities of Ingrediential StairwaysOf all the psych-drone-noise-junk I've listened to this year, the Skaters (and the rest of Spencer Clark and James Ferraro's projects) are my favorite. If you need to space out to some weird stuff, these songs will put you in the zone with speed and efficiency. Meditative, murky track of feedback is piled upon meditative, murky track of feedback, until it begins to sound almost like a raga. There's really a lot going on here, it's fun to dig through the layers.



Hevoset - s/tThese insane Finns (Jan Anderzen and Jani Hirvonen, of Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Avarus, Uton, Jeweled Antler, etc) will take you beyond the Mountains of Madness, into the very center of Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos. Remember to pack some lunch.



Times New Viking - Rip It Off/Stay Awake Ep
I don't care what you say, I think TNV are one of the best bands in the world who sing songs about stuff and use instruments.



Elf Power - In A CaveI'm so glad that Elf Power are back in form. I love this album so much, probably my most listened to album of the year. The Cave is a treasure trove of psych-pop gems and a few new, more abstract, sample based songs. At first, I thought it was another mopey album, in the vein of their past few records, but it quickly grew on me. Spiral Stairs, The Demon's Daughter, Softly Through the Void, classic after classic.



The Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree EP So, the songs that make up the body of this ep are typical of John Darnielle's Mountain Goats. They're good, but not his best work. But the book ends, "Black Pear Tree" and (the song on this mix) "Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle," holy shit. "BPT" (sung by King) is desolate and beautiful in it's despair-smotherd hope. "Mario" is one of the best "love songs" I've ever heard, and it's about a little mushroom guy in a video game. The ep is definitely worth it just for these two songs.



Ulaan Khol - ISteven R. Smith is a genius, as long as he's not singing. He makes so much amazing music. Look at the album cover right up there. That is exactly what the album sounds like.



Zomes - s/tThis is Asa Osborne, who was the guitarist of Lungfish. Proving that Daniel Higgs wasn't the only mystic of the group, Zomes is an album of geometrically constructed, meditative mantras. Headphones a must.



Fennesz - Black SeaMy favorite Fennesz album so far. This early xmas gift is what's going to get me through the winter. Warm washes of glitch and guitar fuzz. Oh my god, this is so good.



Philip Jeck/Fennesz - AmorosoMmmm, this is much better than Jeck's solo release this year,Sand, an ultimately disappointing album that relies much to heavily on flange. No, "Plays Charles Matthews" is beautiful. Weird and disquieting, but beautiful.



Wheatie Mattiasich - New WheatsSweet lullabies from a four year old time traveller. You can obtain her cd for $5 by emailing her at wheatiemattiasich@gmail.com.



Grouper - Dragging a Dead Dear Up a HillThis album is a cocoon. My favorite of the year.



Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker - Fantasma-ParastasieBoth of these guys are prolific. Check out Baker's main band, Nadja, for some heavier drone stuff. It's nice to have them together on this ambient-drone work. Perfect for starry, stoned nights.


other good stuff:

Maailma - Noitalauluja
More fun Finnish freakishness.


Bronnt Industries Kapital - Häxan
yikes.

Eluvium - Anything by this guy, but specifically Talk Amongst the Trees, what a gorgeous album. Long, repetitive mantras. Meditations on phrases with ever so subtle shifts in tone and texture. Listening to this is like lying on the beach on the absolute perfect day and letting the warm waves wash over you as the tide ebbs and flows. Feeling the slight change between the temperature of the water and air as they push each other away. Sinking slowly into the sand

Portishead - 3 came out of nowhere, huh? They really out-did themselves.

Bradford Cox - Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/Lotus Plaza blog.
Hey, man, Thanks for posting all the crazy shit you think of. Your ambient pieces are especially amazing.

Bonus video of friends from Nashville, directed by Harmony Korine for British programming:

Black Medicine Music

Holy Crap!!!

If you're into blissed-out droney, psychedelia, listen to this new album Black Medicine Magic by Stag Hare right now. It's melting my mind.

check out their virb page: Stag Hare

An epic Battle of the old H.P. and and Valmar!

E6 show on NPR.com!

Here are some fantastic photos from bellow-mentioned the show.
Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour 2008

The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour

Last night, Carrence and I slid our way down to the Bottom Lounge for the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise shindig. We shuffled into the line that was forming outside and were settling down into the cold when a kind man came up and ushered us inside, making us practically first in line. Jeremy Barnes (A Hawk and a Hacksaw, NMH) walked in right after us and then Julian came out of the listening room. Scott drifted by, his godly, white beard pointing the way to his band mates, and suddenly Jeff appeared. Before our eyes was Neutral Milk Hotel. I felt like a little kid at Christmas! I'm sure at this point I started blathering on to La Renard about my fun times in Athens back at the begining of the decade, trying to ignore the chance that we might get to see an amazing band reunited. We milled, eventually were ushered in and then folks began to set up camp around a movie screen.

Once the show began, we were treated to the long awaited film version of Major Organ and the Adding Machine, a surrealist romp of a children's story. The music was re-arranged and most of the vocals are removed, but it definitely adds to the film, which is basically silent. I was half hoping that Major Organ would perform the album while the film was playing. I saw them do this once at a similar E6 party in Athens back in 1999. Regardless, the film is great, ridiculous fun! after the film, the Major and his band took the stage to play "His Mister's Pet Whistles" and then Circulatory System played and then Olivia Tremor Control played and then the Music Tapes played, Elf Power, the Gerbils (I never thought I'd see that again, though D'Azzo wasn't there), Nana Grizol
Apples in Stereo! They played for hours and every one seemed to be enjoying themselves for the most part. Julian (Music Tapes, NMH) is always so clumsily animated on stage, he's great to watch.

(photo of John Fernandez, Robbie Cucchiaro and Static stolen from Optical Atlas)

Bill Doss and Julian played a couple of beautiful Olivia songs as a duet, Julian playing his saw. Elf Power rocked out with my current favorite, Spiral Stairs. Pete Erchick, Scott and John Fernandez performed a stripped down version of Olivia's "I Have Been Floated" and at the end of the song everyone came out to sing, at which point the crowd nearly spontaneously combusted, because Jeff was on stage.

The highlight of the evening for me was, no, not the last song which was Jeff and Julian playing "Engine" right in front of us, in the crowd. That was beautiful and amazing and it's been a long time since I've heard Jeff sing, so I really enjoyed it. But, no, the best part of the evening for me was Scott Spilane playing this absolutely gorgeous song that I've only ever heard once before at the Flicker Bar in Athens. I asked him a while back if he was ever going to put out a solo album, and he just said he was done with all that. It's a song about growing older and gaining wisdom and how it's "a long road to the top of the hill." As he was playing this song, I could see the past eight years of my life spread out before me, the weird journey I've taken since college. It was spurred by visiting Athens frequently when I was married. My trips there made me realize that I needed to get out into the world and make art and experience life and not be trapped in a cul-de-sac. I felt like I was back in the 40-Watt in my early twenties. The experience transported me back in time for a few hours. It was the best surprise ever.

ugh.

When are we going to move on, people?



so,


and,

(late) August Mixtape

(photo by Molly Landergan at Telegraphic Tree)

I've found myself increasingly drifting away from lyric based music over the past few years. Hence, this mixtape of songs and albums I've been enjoying recently is a little on the instrumental, atmospheric side of things. I think most of the songs are different enough from one another to keep it interesting. Click on the link at the bottom of the blurb, that's the track title.
If you don't want to download each one individually from this page, you can go here: August Mix.



James Blackshaw - Litany of Echoes
The latest release from the prodigious Blackshaw finds him expanding his palate of instruments, and his sound. The themes of mantra-like repetition and cosmic spirituality remain the focus of the music, and are definitely enhanced by these additions.
Gate of Ivory




Grouper- Dragging a Dead Dear Up a Hill
I'm totally in love with this album. Multi-layered hazy shoe-gaze lullabies from honey-voiced Liz Harris. This would be the ideal soundtrack for lying on your back on an open boat, floating down a river on a warm-ish, late-summer night, a little fog rising off of the water, watching the stars float past over head. (You might want to turn the volume up on this one. Press "command + I" to go to "song info" in iTunes and adjust the volume under "options")
Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping




The Walkmen - You & Me
The Walkmen step back to revisit the more minimal sounds of their debut on You & Me. I appreciate this, I liked Everyone... more than Bows + Arrows. Hamilton Leithauser's writing has gotten consistently better with each album and he seems a little less bitter here, maybe resigned.
New Country




The Advisory Circle - Other Channels
Some pretty fantastic music here, made and inspired by British Library recordings and PSAs from the 60's and 70's. Really great melodies that get downright bizarre and creepy sometimes. Really enthralling! This is what I've been listening to the most consistently for the past few months.
Sundial




Hevoset - s/t
This is the main guy from Kemialliset Ystävät (Jan Anderzen) and Uton (aka Jani Hirvonen). Here, they concoct a perfect, disturbing world, blending Uton's atmospherics and Anderzen's unearthly squalls. This is what I like best about the sounds of Kem-Yst, made into perfect-length soundscapes.
It makes me feel like I've awoken in a dark chamber, deep under the earth, or possibly in another dimension. I've some how managed to escape the cell, only to find myself in a completely unfamiliar landscape. I'm trying to elude recapture by hideous, amorphous, tendriled demons, while navigating terrain filled with carnivorous flora and razor-like underbrush. Against the back-drop of a crimson sky, primordial creatures swirl overhead and devour each other, unnameable beasts stalk around me through the trees, gibbering, gurbling and releasing bone-chilling shrieks, and thousands of unseen eyes follow me as I try to figure out how in the hell I'm going to make it safely back to my room to start this album over again.
Untitled




Portishead - 3
I didn't really care about this at first, but several friends told me that it was pretty good, so I picked it up and I have to say that I'm definitely into Portishead again. The lyrics and style are the same, but the music has vastly improved, rich with some interesting references to groups like the Silver Apples.
We Carry On




Blur - The Great Escape
I recently re-purchased this mid eighties britpop gem. I remember finding these songs really weird when I first got the album, but they're definitely ingrained in my subconscious now. It was like a college reunion of memories when I put it on the other day, for the first time in I don't know how long. The Great Escape is like a more subtle pre-OK Computer-OK Computer. All the themes of overwhelming isolation in a new world of technological communication and dealing with society's newly inspired ills are there, but in a shiny, pop package. Initially, the majority of the songs seem upbeat, you could throw half of them on at a party and no one would stop dancing. But when you dig in, you realize that Albarn is singing from the same cave that Thom Yorke's about to stumble into. It's carnival-esque and reminds me of the Las Vegas experience, in all it's melancholy psychedelia.
The Universal




The Paper Hats - Desert Canyon
This is a solo project from Nashville's William Tyler. William's involved in seminal bands such as Lambchop and the Silver Jews. As the Paper Hats, he graces our ears with his beautiful Fahey/Blackshaw-esque guitar work. There's some great layering and/or multi tracking that broadens the scope of what he's doing. A fantastic collection of inspired instrumental pieces.
The Sleeping Prophet
visit William here




Sun City Girls - Dulce
I think this might be my favorite SSG album so far. Definitely the strangest I've heard, and one of their more cohesive albums. It was a soundtrack for a film by one of the Aum Shinrikyo members. The film was never released, but I'm guessing it was creepy.
I've also been listening to their s/t to Harmony Korine's new film, Mr. Lonely. It's split with some mostly fluffy crap by Jason "Spaceman" from Spiritualized. Worth buying the SCG's tracks from iTunes, if you're interested.
Bobbing the Bloody Vats




Tickley Feather - Tickley Feather/Serpents of Wisdom split 7"
The other songs on this seven inch are mediocre. This song, Natural Natural, is the last one and hopefully an indication of the direction she'll be heading in.
Natural Natural




Sic Alps - U.S. Ez
These guys are the grown-up version of Eat Skull. Great, sloppy songs with perfect timing and delivery. The previous collection of 7 inches, A Long Way Around To a Shortcut is also worth picking up, if you enjoy this. These songs sound like Oldies if Oldies were about things more interesting than high school romance. This is one of those albums that just repeats and repeats when I listen to it in the car.
SIng Song Waitress




Eat Skull - Sick To Death
Snide, noisy rawk in the vein of TNV or Psychedelic Horseshit. Fun, brief songs that beat the shit out of No Age.
Shredders On Fry




The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace
This a psychedelic/noise masterpiece. It's hard to describe the waves and washes of distorted sounds that are happening here. There's a bit of garage influence in the vocal delivery, and some pretty good lines when you can make them out. Definitely one of my favorite albums so far this year.
BPPV




Kemialliset Ystävät - Harmaa Laguuni
Another wonderful offering from Kemialliset Ystävät! All of their albums are amazing, buy them all!
Tervehdys, Roskasakki!




Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
This is another bizarre new release from the Finish Fonal label. Merging contemporary pop ideas with the acid drenched sounds of Lau Nau, Islaja, and Kem-Yst, plus some "lo-fi" sounding atmospherics, some times this album works brilliantly and sometimes it sounds incredibly pretentious and over-wrought.
Salainen Huone




Eleanoora Rosenholm - Vainajan muotokuva (Portrait of the Deceased)
I picked this up having heard nothing about it because it was a new release from Fonal, the kind, Finish label that brings us things like Kemialliset Ystävät, Paavoharju and Lau Nau. And, wow, This is some weird shit. I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. It's not bad, and I think it's definitely hard to get the full effect with out a knowledge of the native tongue, which isn't usually a deterrent for me. They're mostly singing about a housewife serial killer. The music has a kind of eighties new wave goth-pop feel, but it's maybe a little more goofy, with silly staccato notes. But sometimes it's gorgeous. Loads of synth happening here, in a Dead Can Dance kind of way. The lady who is charged with delivering the vocals to our ears kind of sounds like a more subdued Kate Bush or an eight year old Björk. I think the second song is about Michael Jackson, they keep repeating his name. (Oh, here's what they're saying: "wakitsasi wakitsasi wakitsasi wakitsasisai!" It's about meeting a samurai. wtfuck?)
I don't know, this a weird album. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but I'll probably listen to it a few more times?
Maailmanloppu




The Focus Group - We Are All Pan's People
This group is related to the Advisory Circle and also out on Ghost Box records. It hasn't held my interest quite as much as the Advisory Circle, but it's still a good listen. WAAPP seems like it's trying to create creepy little worlds from the source material without lingering long enough to get a good feel of each one. I purchased both of these records directly from Ghost Box in the UK and they were pretty pricey (over $50 for both). The up-side of that is that they came with fantastic album art work by the guy who does the artwork for Broadcast and has done Stereolab covers (Julian House, who is the Focus Group) and each month you get some free downloads from the label. If you want to save some money, though, the albums are also available on Bleep here:
http://www.bleep.com/?label=Ghost+Box for $10 a piece.
Soho>St.Ives>Tangier




The Garden of Forking Paths - A compilation curated by James Blackshaw in which he brings a few of his favorite stringed instrumentalists along for a cohesive, meditative journey.
Spiral Wave, by Chieko Mori




Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
This is the guy that did the Molten Light song/video below. There are some kind of interesting things going on on this album, I think the strongest work is at the end, begining with Molten Light. A lot of his lyricism seems to be going for the surreal, but ends up pretty predictable and just not there yet. This song is very pretty, though. Kind of reminds me of Neutral Milk or the Decemberists.
Rabid Bits of Time



xNO BARBEQUEx - Sunshine of Your Love
Minimal guitar/drums, recorded in the typical Siltbreeze style. Angular and sharp, post-post-no-wave?
Sorry, there's no mp3 for this one. I wish Siltbreeze would do the free-mp3s-with-purchase-of-record thing

Bernie DeChant

Really digging this guy's photography!

I'll find you and I'll kill you

Give Me Some R. Stevie Moore.

A friend in Nashville turned me on to this genius back in junetime.
Evidently, Mr. Moore is a big hero of Ariel Pink, one of my favorite weirdos.
He's been doing this crap FOREVER and has loads of self produced albums.

I think about these songs every day, at least 5.37 times.

Many more of his videos are available on Youtube.
Tell some people.

Here's an amazingly awful Ariel Pink video:

Back in the middle of June, Leggs and I went, with much anticipation, to the Lakeshore Theater to see the remaining members of the Sun City Girls, the brothers Bishop. The tour was touted as a traveling wake for their deceased drummer, Charles Gocher (1952 - 2007). Alan and Richard showed some of Gocher's "experimental films" and played a set of his songs. The Girls are known for their confrontational shows, and I had no idea what to expect. The first part of the show was spent viewing the aforementioned expy films. It was nice to see what Gocher did in his spare time, and there were certainly some interesting parts, but the quality of the body of work was on par with that of first year video student. Pans across still lifes of silly objects from around the world. A band Charles made by filming himself in front of a tv playing a video of himself in front of a tv playing more footage of himself plus a few more layers of that. Unfortunately, much of the footage was accompanied by Mr. Gocher's juvenile poetry. Fortunately, much of the footage was accompanied by Mr. Gocher's music. It was like looking through someone's sketchbooks. The next set had Alan and Richard playing the songs of Charles. Girls of Sun City, photo by Soda
These were mostly composed of horrible, sophmoric, beat poems dealing with fucking and murder, and "shocking ideas" about consumer culture. I felt like I was in high school, listening to the anarcho-punk kid blather on about The Man. At one point, Alan started lecturing the crowd about how we only wanted to hear pretty songs because that's what the music industry feeds us. Really? Everyone in the audience was there specifically to see one of the greatest unsung bands of the past quarter century. Specifically. And we get a lecture about the irrelevant music industry?! Ugh. At the end of the set, one of the two guys came out and scattered "Gocher's ashes" on the audience, which, I thought, was a nice touch. Then they had a short comedic scene, compiled of one liners and Bukowski-esque bar stories. That kind of sums up the theme of the middle set, juvenile wannabe beat poems, set to music. Like 15 year olds who have just discovered Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski and try to emulate them, but lack the subtlety of Waits or the experience of either. Which is weird, because the Girls have been touring the globe for thirty years and masterfully blending the musical genres they've been exposed to, while managing not to sound like "World Music." It was lost on us and we were both pretty pissed off at how lousy the set was. Alan and Richard said they were going to take a smoke break and when they got back that they would play some completely different stuff. We decided to leave.
Fuck. Fuck! A thousand times, FUCK!
When they came back, they played the majority of one of their best albums, Torch of the Mystics.

Next time, Bishops!

Went to the saturday set of Pitchfork a couple of weeks ago. Not as big of a cluster fuck as I expected. A Hawk and A Hacksaw was one of the first acts, and I've been dying to see them for years now. La Renard went with me and we got in a little late due to the entry line, but, fortunately, AHAAH was running a little late, too, and they started just after we found a good spot infront of the stage. When Jeremy Barnes (Bablicon, Neutral Milk Hotel) first started AHAAH (back in 2000, I think), it was a one-man-band, of which I have heard tales fantastic. A couple of years ago he picked up Heather Trost on the violin. At P4K, the two of them were additionally accompanied by two horn players from Hungary. They put on a pretty amazing show, playing Barnes' blend of eastern European and insane, silent film music. They started playing my favorite recent song as La Renard and I were walking away to see Caribou. I stood watching Caribou for a minute and then decided to go watch the rest of the AHAAH set.
They only played two more songs, but they were so good.
Caught the rest of Caribou, which was interesting, but all of the songs sounded pretty samey. Lots of extended jams that all sounded alike. The same rhythm in almost every song. Got some beer, chilled out for a while and went to check out Elf Power.
They delivered, as always. Another good, straight up rock set. I was hoping they'd have more folks with them, since it's a festival and all, but it was just the current (fucking awesome) line up of Andrew Rieger, Jimmy Hughes (also of Folklore),
Derek Almstead (Of Montreal and M Coast) and Eric Harris (what Athens band has he not been involved with?) with Laura Carter making a few appearances.
La Renard went to check out Ol' Dizzy Rascal while I went to peruse the record tent. Picked up the most recent Summer Hymns album, which is pretty mellow and beautiful in a Luna kind of way. Ran into a few friends there, exited for Atlas Sound. I think I heard Bruce Springsteen playing on one of the stages. Bad, eighties-era Springsteen, not like Nebraska or the Ghost of Tom Joad. Holy shit! Wayfarers any one? I don't know what the deal with the choice of post-ironic/entry level alt/boring as shit sun glassses was, but at least everyone's eyes were protected from those effin' UV rays. Kinda makes you understand why the grandparents over at AdBusters are so up set with scenesters, I mean "hipsters." They are so totally the death of culture, fucking assholes.

Some more bands played. They were boring and sounded like Steely Dan. I think I heard the Strokes covering that Paul Simon album that was all African influenced. I didn't know the Strokes were even at the festival. Then Jarvis Cocker (remember Pulp?) stepped off of his private jet and showed us how we really don't know much about Chicago's history (and, thusly, I'm assuming, the history of the United Places of America, or whatever it's called) but HE KNEW because of Wikipedia (you're welcome, Jarvis) and had a good point about people saying that Wikipedia's a load of crap because anyone can write whatever they want, but how many people normally write books? One? Right. And you have to back up what you're saying on Wiki and anyone can prove you wrong and change the entry if you are, so take that, Tom. Jarvis knows what he's talking about because he's British and they're smart. Anyways, Jarvis played and taught me a few new dance moves and I really enjoyed watching him perform, but his new songs are pretty weak compared to his writing with Pulp. They were just too silly and the music sounded like he sat in a studio with some session musicians and a producer and said, "Okay, this is a 'Blues Song,' I need some blusey sounding music. This is a 'Meaningful-core Song,' have you heard the band Death Cabin for A Cutie? I need something that sounds like that guy."
But, it was enjoyable. He knows some really good dance moves, for realz. Then he played an encore. A cover of some old Chicago house song by CMJ and he OWNED THAT SHIT. It was incredible.
So, Jarvis was done and you could hear No Age still up to their antics over at the Balance stage as Animal Collective was starting up. What the fuck, No Age? You need to put down your weapons and come take some notes from the AC boys. Pay attention, dammit! The Collective started things off with Panda Bear's "Comfy in Nautica" which was so rad! I was hoping they would play "Bros," too, and "Reverend Green" for that matter, but they still got insane with a whole set of songs. The downside was that it was not even an hour long set. In fact, they stopped when they still had six minutes left. They could have squeezed a "We Tigers" or something into that time. Whatever, they were phenomenal as usual.
I think the lesson I learned from this experience is that it's fine to see snippets of some good bands throughout the day for 30 bucks, but it's way better to pay $5 and see two or three of yr favorite bands right in front of your face with whiskey that you brought from home, in a tiny warehouse space.


Last sunday I went to the Empty Bottle with Tree and his amazing spouse to see local noise stalwarts, Panicsville. We sat through four boring bands that sounded like whatever town's you live in (is that correct grammar?) local mediocre noisenics.
Okay, one of them made me feel like I was on a Cylon ship and had to have a bm really bad, so that was at least an interesting viseral experience, but I'm a dork so, let's not talk about that. The last guy was on, boring the wax out of our ears and Tree got up and said, "Did you see the sign on the door that Panicsville cancelled?" That's when I realized that I'm blind. We all left.
Then last week, Tree dragged La Renard, Leggs and myself to the Grand Manor to hang out with the kidz and see the Pine Hill Haints, who were pretty great southern gothic rockabilly, or something to that effect.

Douchebag the President

Tipsy the Clown

Behold. A video by mastermind and surreptitious Ruler of the Universe, Dr. Andrew Davis.

A Bird In the Hand

Just a little while ago, a pigeon was at the door of my shop. I grabbed a towel to pick it up. It was at the door, soundlessly opening it's mouth. I opened the door and it walked in and flew behind the counter. It continued opening it's mouth and then it's head began to loll from side to side, it's eyes slowly opening and closing. Picking it up carefully, I took it out side while it shuttered and tried meagerly to escape. As I tried to find a good place to lay it down, it opened it's mouth and died. Walking out of the apartment complex to the house next door, I found a shaded spot behind a shrub, the undergrowth still wet with dew.
I placed it gently on the ground and admired it laying there, somehow perfectly arranged.
That's the first time anything has ever died in my hands.

neon intervention

Okay, I meant to post this about a month and a half ago...



Ah, Nashville! The hot buttered biscuit of my soul. After spending last week in Music City I feel refreshed and invigorated (lock up your children, Chicago). Upon our arrival sunday night, Leggs and I were greeted by a nomadic band of booze pushers who had holed up in an abandoned villa on Belmont, beside the infamous Bastille Day Party house (the pool of which is, coincidentally, where I spent the humid afternoons, and late, muggy nights). Along with Sally's friend Carrie, Lex Diamonds and Ms. Dubroc and their entourage helped us drink to "good to be home." Evenings occurred in this fashion all week long, keeping us up much later than sane, but the thick morning air shoved us out of bed at least by nine. The second evening was spend having a dinner party at the aforementioned Masion de Bastille, as the proprietor was headed off for a lengthy Moroccan holiday the following day.


We began monday by visiting my friends at Woodland Wine & Spirits in East Nashville. It's a pretty badass store if you like wine, high-end beer and/or top shelf liquor. For the next two days we ran around visiting with people hither and yon. On wednesday, Lex took us on an excursion to Grundy County to swim at some falls the inimitable Ms. Laura Lester turned her on to. Greeter falls proved to be a pretty amazing forest spot, complete with lots of cliffs, a spiral staircase and Japanese Garden-esque landscapes in the middle of the river. We hung out there for a while, sunbathing and slipping into the water on algae covered rocks.
Damn, thursday we went to the Springwater to see the Paper Hats and Lord of the Yum Yum. The Paper Hats is friend and Nashvillian William Tyler, who also plays in Lambchop and the Silver Jews. His solo show as the Paper Hats is pretty mind blowing as he rips out the licks like a modern day Fahey, using effects pedals and loops to create expansive, american landscapes. Lord of the Yum Yum is something that can't really be described and needs to be seen live, as opposed to heard on record or seen on video. Hilarious musical performance art. Definitely see him if he stops in your town and you enjoy being entertained.
Friday we ran around and ended up going to see your buddy Joseph Giordano's three-part play, Religion and Rubber Ducks. The first act was an intentionally repetitive story of new love growing old. It reminded me vaguely of Vaklav Havel's play the Garden Party. The second act was the story of two emotionally disturbed people out on their first date at a restaurant their therapists recommended. They're abused by the waiter and each other as they try to figure out who they are and wether or not they sould be together. The third act, and by far the best, was the hysterical tale of God trying to convince Jesus to go to earth as a PR guy to make God seem like not so much of a bad guy. Very well thought out and acted. The night ended at Rumors East with Carrie, Lex, Lisa and some other revelers. We spent the majority of saturday afternoon and night driving back to Chicago via Indiana's rural highways, avoiding floods.