Mayo Thompson-Corky's Debt to His Father (1969)

"Although this, to put it mildly, is not a record for mainstream tastes, it nevertheless may be more palatable to pop ears than any of Thompson's numerous Red Krayola records. With a folkier bent than his group projects, Thompson projects himself as a lovable oddball of sorts, stringing together free-associative, non-sequitur lyrics against chord progressions and time signatures that, as is his wont, refuse to adhere to accepted norms. Much of it's rather catchy (if not hummable), though, with a whimsical sense of fun that makes it impossible to dismiss as pretentious artsiness."

Whoa. Folksy, off-kilter, quirky psychedelic blues. Take Red Krayola's awkwardness, Beefheart's weirdness, a real love for John Fahey with some very Jack Bruce-like vocals and you get this incredible concoction. Not to be missed.

Venus in the morning

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band-It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper (1972/2008)

"The high-def vinyl, 2-LP set that is It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper was, in its original form, the blues-on-blues followup to Don Van Vliet and his mangy merrie men’s Safe as Milk debut. What it wound up as, in 1968, was the gutted-not-gutbucket Strictly Personal – a much despised item that got noodled and re-edited by Blue Thumb (Beef’s then label) to include cutesy psychedelic sound FX and other clichéd oddities.

Don’t get me wrong. As it stands, Strictly Personal is downright creepy. Not Trout Mask Replica odd/majestic; filled with mean gnarly blues and fragrant angled instrumentation (to say nothing of Beefheart’s Dada lyricism and crusty howl) it’s almost what the Captain ordered.

But what Beefheart really wanted as his second album was what fills the inside of this Sundazed package, featuring stunning cover art from Zappa/Straight Records house painter/collage maven Cal Schenkel. Here is the unadorned by echo-phase-outs and pop-psychedelic panning raw powered purity (if being swampy and skuzzy has that essence) of “Gimme Dat Harp Boy” and the menacing free “Beatle Bones ’n’ Smokin' Stones Pt. 1 & 2.” While the rangier of versions of “Safe as Milk” here outshine the Magic Band’s first crack at lyrics like “Yesterday’s paper headlines approach rain gutter teasing rusty cat sneezing/ Soppin wet hammer dusty and wheezing,” hearing Beefheart tear holes into the lustful “Big Black Baby Shoes” and a frightening “Trust Us” is worth the new price of admission."

If "Strictly Personal" sounds a little too tinny and flanged out to you, this is your calling. Fat and bluesy, it's everything I love about early Beefheart. And that harmonica playing! Goddamn. This serves as a pretty good introduction if you're uninitiated but it's not his best. But that doesn't really matter. I mean, it's Beefheart.Those of who who gobble this stuff up should know what to do.

Trust us

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band-The Mirror Man Sessions (1967/1971/1999)

"Originally, Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band's second album was intended to be a double-album set called "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper." Although 1968's Strictly Personal has the same artwork that was mooted for the double album, it's a single disc. As part of the same post-Trout Mask Replica closet-cleaning that led to Buddah (the parent company of Blue Thumb Records, which released Strictly Personal) reissuing Safe As Milk as Dropout Boogie in the U.K. in 1970, the label released Mirror Man, the second disc that was intended for the Plain Brown Wrapper release. Recorded in November 1967 (an odd misprint on the sleeve claims it was recorded in 1965, when the band barely existed), the four lengthy tracks on Mirror Man are even more simplistic and primal than those on Strictly Personal. All four are worthwhile, but the key tracks are "Tarotplane Blues," a free-form jam in which Beefheart jumbles together the lyrics of at least half a dozen blues standards into a stream-of-consciousness ramble (adding musette and harmonica for good measure) as the Magic Band vamps on a slide guitar-based, two-chord groove for over 19 minutes, and the similarly expansive "Mirror Man," one of the key tracks of Beefheart's entire career. Probably the catchiest tune Beefheart ever wrote, "Mirror Man" has an almost funky, hip-swaying groove, and there's a playful lightness to the way Beefheart chants the simplistic lyrics that prefigures the flights of fancy on Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals off, Baby. The remaining two tracks, "25th Century Quaker" and "Kandy Korn," are less essential but interesting enough. The revitalized and properly spelled Buddha Records reissued an expanded version of this album in 1999 as The Mirror Man Sessions, adding five alternate takes of songs that later appeared on Strictly Personal. "

Beefheart's output between his debut "Safe as Milk" (probably my favorite album and available HERE courtesy of Alex over at Glowing Raw-RECOMMENDED) and the landmark insanity of Trout Mask Replica causes mass confusion. When "It Comes to You in a Brown Paper Bag" was scrapped by the label, many of the tracks disappeared while some ended up on the subsequent album "Strictly Personal," which feature strange phaser effects that Beefheart did not want and were added without his knowledge. Which brings us back the Mirror Man sessions. Essentially, all tracks are the original "Brown Paper Bag" takes before some of the songs ended up on "Strictly Personal."And let me tell you, it's that fat blues production you would totally want it to have and not the thin weak-kneed phased out junk in comparison. All you need to know is that these are some grooving weirdo blues like only Captain Beefheart himself can deliver. His backing band is amazing. Great fucking record.

Mirror Man!

MV/EE & the Bummer Road-Green Blues (2006)

"

I must confess to temporarily losing contact with the complex universe of Matt Valentine, perhaps our decade’s greatest American vernacular artist, about a year ago: swamped by the (admittedly unrelentingly powerful) wave of solo and duo acoustic guitar CD-Rs he was releasing, I put my hands up in the air and stood back to breathe. Consequently, records such as Green Blues and its predecessor Mother of Thousands, both performed with constant foil Erika Elder and their rural pick-up gang The Bummer Road, hit like a sucker-punch. For one, MV & EE have focused their occasional prolix tendencies while maintaining their fondness for destabilizing psychotropic song forms. Secondly, these records represent a great squaring-off of Valentine’s interests: multi-limbed guitar improvisations; soaring post-Buckley freedom melody, best exemplified by MV’s Space Chanteys album from years back; and loose-arm group-sound that swallows American Primitive threads such as free jazz, early 20th century blues and the rustic melancholy of the Grateful Dead circa American Beauty.

Green Blues is one of the first records released by a newly energized Ecstatic Peace!, Thurston Moore’s imprint, who’ve hooked up an M&D deal with Fontana/Universal. It’s appropriate that Green Blues appears on first blush to be MV & EE’s most coherent recording, the first half of the set tackling C21 campfire songs that nonetheless still carry within their DNA the intensely fucked structural liberties that are part and parcel of Valentine’s song writing. Opener “East Mountain Joint,” floating out on humming mellotron supplied by J Mascis, is a celebratory flash, but it’s tracks like the following “Drive Is That I Love You,” which smear hypnotic acoustic guitar mantras with black-tar electric guitar fuzz as wasted as Royal Trux’s self-titled debut album, that carry the most weight. Most songs on the set are built from simple acoustic guitar, around which collect waves of distortion, floated flute and violin and purring tambura and dulcimer, sediment and grit that pulls the focus out on the aperture. By the closing two songs, “Grassthighs” and “Solar Hill," MV & EE have dropped most of the overt structure and let The Bummer Road fill in the gaps with fractal detail.

MV & EE have been the primary instigators and aesthetic anarchists in the American underground for some time now, and Green Blues is another kick to the solar plexus from the duo and their extended family. Luminous yet dense with foliage, filmed through a haze of smoke and fog, it’s their strongest collection of songs to date."

Like Neil Young, Tim Buckley, and the Velvet Underground thrown into the Psych Folk blender...so interesting and so good


Green Blues

Beyond the Wizards Sleeve-Ark 1 (Re-up)

My album of the year 2008.


No matter what, this album is perfect for any situation. Lounging, tripping, driving, whatever, it moves at such a perfect pace that it's just impossible not to get into it.

For example, we popped on Alice and Wonderland with this album in an attempt to sync it up while under the influence. Not only did us time travelers love it, but my drunk roommates also enjoyed it as well. To me, that's the sign of a completely compatible album. Everyone I've played it for really digs it, regardless of genre preferences.

So what is it? I guess if I had to describe it, I would say it is the Girl Talk of old school Psych, Krautrock, Freak Beat, etc. None of the music is original but goddamn if it isn't perfectly reinterpreted and overall enjoyable. The guys are two premier London DJs with an affinity for Psych and so there you go. If you missed it the first time around, don't this time. If any music makes Zoltar joyous, then it has supernatural powers without a doubt. Get it.

New link

P.S. This is for you Shevrin. No code to enter. Bwahaha.

Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve Are Awesome

First, let me say thanks to Tednindi for posting/putting all of these in one convenient place

I've talked about them before and I will indeed talk about them again. Erol Alkan and Richard Norris, two London DJs who are apparently very highly regarded, cut up and remix 60s/70s Psych Rock tunes, some familiar and some very obscure. I'm not really into Dance/Club music so I do not know much about them but goddamn this stuff is so much fun! They're starting to get some press attention as well since they have just released a "Re-animation" album of tracks by Franz Ferdinand, Chemical Brothers, and Peter, Bjorn, & John. Not so much my cup of tea but the debut full length was posted here (Twice actually) which you can find HERE and is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. On top of that, there are two completely bad ass club mixes (look at those setlists!) and a short radio mash up. Gotta love "Hey Bulldog" in there. I'm telling you, they're like Girl Talk for Psych nerds. Who knew that all these bands needed was some groovy drum beats to become music you dance to at a club?

Live at the G-Mex, Manchester, 2007

Beyond Space - Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve
Battlescars (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Demo Re-Animation) - The Chemical Brothers
Words - Unknown (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Edit)
You Can Talk To Me - The Beatles (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Edit)
My White Bicycle - Tomorrow
Open My Eyes - The Nazz
Bubble Burst - The Small Faces (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Edit)
Uptight - Reggie Cravens Quartet
The Horror Scope - Unknown (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Edit)
Just Dropped In - Kenny Rodgers and The First Edition
Love Buzz - Shocking Blue
Young Folk (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Re Animation) - Peter Bjorn & John
A House Is Not A Motel - Love (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Edit)
The Witch - The Rattles
Save My Soul - Wimple Winch
See Emily Play - Pink Floyd
Once You Understand - Encounter
Banana Splits Theme - Richie Adams and Mark Barkan

Live at the Zodiac, March 2008

Electric Banana (BTWS Edit) - Electric Prunes
Battlescars (BTWS Re-Animation) - The Chemical Brothers
Be There (A BTWS Announcement)
Million Grains Of Sand - Freak Scene
Granny Takes A Trip - The Purple Gang
Mr Pleasant - The Kinks
She’s About A Mover - Sir Douglas Quartet
Kickabout - Teenage Fanclub
Beyond Space - Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve
Time Of The Season - The Zombies
Losing The Will To Survive (BTWS Re-Animation) - Findlay Brown
Happiness (BTWS Re-Animation) - Goldfrapp
Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream
The Bears Are Coming (BTWS Re-Animation) - Late Of The Pier
Hey Bulldog (BTWS Edit) - The Beatles
Paint It Black - The Love Sitars
Number 1 High (A BTWS Annoncement)
I’m A Man - Wynder K. Frog
Gemini - (A BTWS Annoncement)
Talk Talk - The Music Machine
Colour My Love - Petula Clark
Sunshine Superman - Wynder K. Frog
Aquarius - The Fifth Dimension

Akron/Family-Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free (2009)

Lucky enough to stumble upon this baby last night. They are freaking awesome.

You know what to do...

Syd Barrett-The Madcap Laughs (1969)

"Wisely, The Madcap Laughs doesn't even try to sound like a consistent record. Half the album was recorded by Barrett's former bandmates Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour, and the other half by Harvest Records head Malcolm Jones. Surprisingly, Jones' tracks are song for song much stronger than the more-lauded Floyd entries. The opening "Terrapin" seems to go on three times as long as its five-minute length, creating a hypnotic effect through Barrett's simple, repetitive guitar figure and stream of consciousness lyrics. The much bouncier "Love You" sounds like a sunny little Carnaby Street pop song along the lines of an early Move single, complete with music hall piano, until the listener tries to parse the lyrics and realizes that they make no sense at all. The downright Kinksy"Here I Go" is in the same style, although it's both more lyrically direct and musically freaky, speeding up and slowing down seemingly at random. Like many of the "band" tracks, "Here I Go" is a Barrett solo performance with overdubs by Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper, and Robert Wyatt of the Soft Machine; the combination doesn't always particularly work, as the Softs' jazzy, improvisational style is hemmed in by having to follow Barrett's predetermined lead, so on several tracks, like "No Good Trying," they content themselves with simply making weird noises in the background. The solo tracks are what made the album's reputation, though, particularly the horrifying "Dark Globe," a first-person portrait of schizophrenia that's seemingly the most self-aware song this normally whimsical songwriter ever created. Honestly, however, the other solo tracks are the album's weakest tracks, with the exception of the plain gorgeous "Golden Hair," a musical setting of a James Joyce poem that's simply spellbinding. The album falls apart with the appalling "Feel." Frankly, the inclusion of false starts and studio chatter, not to mention some simply horrible off-key singing by Barrett, makes this already marginal track feel disgustingly exploitative. But for that misstep, however, The Madcap Laughs is a surprisingly effective record that holds up better than its "ooh, lookit the scary crazy person" reputation suggests. "

It's unfortunate that Syd Barrett gets overlooked all the time because his songs with Pink Floyd were awesome and while this record is uneven, Barrett just knew how to make captivating music regardless. So, as always, take a listen.

Hardy har har

Sparklehorse-It's a Wonderful Life (2001)

Because I'm having a shitty day, here's some shitty day music.

Many thanks to Radiobutt over at Radiobutt.blogspot.com

"Well, is it a wonderful life?

It's mighty suspicious when a melancholic figure like Mark Linkous, the creative force behind Sparklehorse, christens his third album It's A Wonderful Life. Thankfully, he hasn't abandoned his idiosyncratic brand of surreal Southern Gothic futurism to turn his frown upside down. Nor is he peddling cheap irony, as in "It's a wonderful life, wink wink, I want to kill myself, ha ha ha." As with many of the delights on this record, the meaning is much subtler.

The lyrics of the leadoff track do indeed declare life wonderful, but this statement is surrounded by baroque, hallucinatory images of ghostly bees, bloody roosters that fly like doves, and swamps filled with poisoned frogs. It seems that life is full of wonders, sadness, mixed blessings — sometimes dread — but it's a strange enough place that it's worth sticking around and exploring.

Life lacks some Sparklehorse staples. It's less stylistically eclectic than previous outings. It has a narrower dynamic range, less of a country-folk flavor, and no irresistible anthem co-penned by David Lowery ("Rainmaker" and "Sick Of Goodbyes" on the first and second records, respectively). Instead, It's A Wondeful Life is a cohesive, atmospheric listen that rides along on mid-tempo drum-machine grooves, layers of keyboards and strings and Linkous' brittle voice narrating his haunted ballads.

The mood is broken up in a few places, notably the scorching full-tilt rocker "King Of Nails" and the itchy plod-stomp of Tom Waits' cameo "Dog Door," which would find happier company on an actual Waits album. More felicitous contributions by Polly Jean Harvey and Cardigans chanteuse Nina Persson add harmony without diverting the path of the 'Horse.

The overall result is similar to an Eels album, with imagistic lyricism — skeleton kisses, diamond rain, babies on the sun — substituted for bittersweet vignettes and an air of mystery in place of cosmic punch lines. The songs' cinematic texture provides a soundtrack that seems to suspend the world around the listener in poignant slo-mo. Strange, sublime and beautiful, the wonders of Life reward patience and repeated listens."

Everything's so goddamn wonderful

password: radiobutt.blogspot.com

Album of the Year 2008

I'd make a list but I'm far too lazy. I've posted a bunch of stuff from 2008 that would make up the potential list anyway. In fact, my album of the year is an earlier post but on the heels of a wonderful trip into the nether regions of the mind, I figured it couldn't hurt posting it again. No matter what, this album is perfect for any situation. Lounging, tripping, driving, whatever, it moves at such a perfect pace that it's just impossible not to get into it.

For example, we popped on Alice and Wonderland with this album in an attempt to sync it up while under the influence. Not only did us time travelers love it, but my drunk roommates also enjoyed it as well. To me, that's the sign of a completely compatible album. Everyone I've played it for really digs it, regardless of genre preferences.

So what is it? I guess if I had to describe it, I would say it is the Girl Talk of old school Psych, Krautrock, Freak Beat, etc. None of the music is original but goddamn if it isn't perfectly reinterpreted and overall enjoyable. The guys are two premier London DJs with an affinity for Psych and so there you go. If you missed it the first time around, don't this time. If any music makes Zoltar joyous, then it has supernatural powers without a doubt. Get it.

A very happy new year to all. 2009, here we are.




Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve-Ark 1 (2008)

Wooden Shjips-2 Albums

Wooden Shjips-Vol. I (2008)

"Vol. 1 is a collection of Wooden Shjips’ vinyl singles. The Shrinking Moon for You 10” has been long sold out after its run of 300 was given out for free (and now fetch $100 plus on EBay). The song – maybe the band’s best – features a Kraut-cum-hips groove and guitar oscillating between blistering squeal and low-frequency breakup, reminiscent of legendary Japan psychsters Les Rallizes Denudes. “Dance, California (Radio Edit)” from the 7” of the same name is another highlight, built out of a Steppenwolf-style riff and Middle Eastern-vibing staccato soloing. The “SOL ’07” 7” is the final component. It’s title track mixes it up with some heavily echoed vocals and trumpet, but at 10 minutes is overlong for a song built from a single phrase.

In a sort of paradox, Vol. 1, as a collection of singles, showcases the band’s best work, but finds itself limited as an LP statement. Little figurative license need be taken to say that Wooden Shjips are a one-note act (“Death’s Not Your Friend” contains the only real chord progression on the record). As individual tracks, these distill infectious psych bliss. But the record lacks the range of gears its length requires. This is great as a catch-all for one of today’s most exciting psych-rock acts, but we’ll probably have to wait for the next studio full-length to see just how much of that promise will be realized."

Sail 1


Wooden Shjips-Wooden Shjips (2007)

"On their self-titled full-length debut, the Shjips drop five tracks of throbbing hypno-groove that weds influences as divergent as Suicide and Hawkwind into a mass that manages to soothe and shred.

“We Ask You to Ride” is the most overtly ’60s sounding track here, with a three-note organ lick and spoken/sung vocals that sound like a particularly tuned-in Jim Morrison. Meaty-fingered bass lines, metronomic drumming and simple organ motifs get the proceedings swaying before in-the-red guitars – turned just a touch too high – kick things into overdrive.

“Losin’ Time” moves at a pace that could almost be called lively, though without sacrificing any of the spell-casting repetition of the opener. “Lucy’s Ride” is heavy rock haze played loud and hard with vocals groaning through a mask of echo. “Blue Sky Bends” features an appropriately epic roundhouse blues riff played to rattle teeth. Everything is steeped in reverb and blown-out speaker hum except the bass, which lumbers on as thick and warm as drying blood.

The album ends with “Shine Like Suns,” 10-minutes of kraut bliss that plays like the soundtrack for a road trip straight into the heart of an overdose.

Whatever their potion, Wooden Shjips have hit upon a sound that distills psychedelic rock influences from the Summer of Love onward into the rarest of brews: originality."

Sail 2

Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo-Uganda

"Unbelievable 1972 Japanese underground rarity featuring acid guitar god Kimio Mizutani on planet-bombing wah-wah/distorto form backed by a thunder of African rhythms. Miuztani is best known for killer prog/psych sides like Love Live Life +1 and A Path Through Haze but this features some of the most spirit-flaying six string sorcery he ever laid in stone, over a shrifting back line that feels as cosmos-bound as Billy TK’s all-Maori Powerhouse orchestra or those never-realised Miles/Hendrix third-stone jams. Too fucking much.Highly recommended."

That about says it all. Been listening to it nonstop lately. Aside from the killer guitar and drum work, the bassist is fucking nasty as well. Totally essential.

Take me to Uganda