Well, due to freaky early work-related business, I had to miss the big ST37 - Linus Pauling Quartet (#3, 2007) show on Saturday. But since it was just down the block, I dropped in and picked up some merch.
"Monster" side by Linus Pauling Quartet "Lactating Purple" side by ST37
Sure, the new split 7" (more release partying!) - but also a great new Cthulhu shirt, a replacement copy for my lost cd of the debut Immortal Chinese Classics Music (#9, 1995), even a copy of the Druids & Demons handbook. Well, a pamphlet anyway - seems like LP4 have their own authorized fantasy RPG now!
Wish I could have stayed for the show, but it was already late when I arrived, none of the 3 bands had started yet, and Linus was closing the bill. But the 7" is sweet: Linus adding yet another stylistic weapon to their arsenal, ST37 spacing out on a Helios Creed cover, multi-colored silk-screened covers, purple-plus splatter vinyl, and my very own copy now on YouTube!!
In the '90s, guitarist Michael Haaga lead Houston thrash heavies dead horse and assisted Pantera's Phil Anselmo with Superjoint Ritual. In 2004, he released his locally-celebrated solo debut, The Plus and Minus Show - in all honesty, a power-pop juggernaut.
"If and When" from The Plus and Minus Show (2004)
Enlisting a wide range of local heroes, winning a slew of Houston Press Music Awards and a pile of acclaim, Haaga's backing band promptly imploded. Other than a few special events, the man has laid low - but at least we have the evidence.
"Same Old Strings" and "Looking Beyond" from The Plus and Minus Show (2004)
Thus begins the album, pairing the contrasts that would lead Haaga to coin the term "heavy mellow" for his style. "If and When" won the Best Song of the year, but they all rise to about the same level.
"Four Letter Words" from The Plus and Minus Show (2004)
Some with the rock...
"Serious" and "Supernaïve" from The Plus and Minus Show (2004)
... some with a more laid-back style.
"Belong" from The Plus and Minus Show (2004)
With outro lead guitar from Scott Ayers, of Pain Teens, Walking Timebombs, and currently The Exterminating Angels (#17, 2009 Next 10 of Metal). More too where that came from! You can sometimes still find a copy in the local record stores, or maybe Amazon or whatever. (Or Lala, today being the last day of that site...) Check it out!
"Like Asrielle" (dead horse) live by The Plus and Minus Show band
Can't discuss Haaga without a little dead horse, if only indirectly.
"Skin Collision Past" from Skin Collision Past (2010)
Friday before last, a few of us went to see some local acts, celebrating the release of the Wild Moccasins' debut full-length (after an EP last year), Skin Collision Past. There's the title track, and here: live at the record release party that went down last weekend.
The show and the album both lived up to the band's growing reputation for that local brand of indie, H-Pop. I wouldn't say it's better than the EP, which I liked a lot, but maybe so - no real drop in quality though, and there's a bit more to it. If I get deeper, maybe some YouTube clips later.
"Hot Saturday Night" from Summer Exposure comp (2009)
After collecting a few recent local comps with some quality glammy rock from Roky Moon & Bolt, and a growing live rep, I was ready to finally witness them in person. I'd heard they were working on a rock opera, and it ended up that most of the songs sounded a lot alike to me. Unfortunately, it seemed more Meat Loaf than T. Rex. Maybe if I knew more of the songs at all, but it kinda dragged towards the end there...
"Wishing Well" from Mexican Easter EP (2010)
The first act was Giant Princess, who I've seen listed for a lot of live shows I'd missed. Based on one spin of their self-titled, 100% free-to-download debut album (also streaming or download at bandcamp), I wasn't totally psyched for their brand of '90s lo-fi indie. Turned out, they were much more what I was up for, and I picked up their new Mexican Easter cassette EP, which is also streaming at their bandcamp page. Kind of a '90s lo-fi indie-rock heroes thing, like a Sebadoh or a Pavement... even a little Flaming Lips maybe. Something like that, which bodes well for the songcraft - if you like that kinda stuff!
Recently, I picked up a couple of nice vinyl finds - which took me back to those late-'80s salad days. I might have told this story before, but the first time I discovered the Flaming Lips was early 1988, opening for Butthole Surfers, at Numbers. (Also on the bill was the forgotten Declaration of Love...)
"Flame Grape" from A Texas Trip (1987)
I've posted this one previously, but I just recently won an eBay auction for the vinyl LP of A Texas Trip (1987), the Butthole Surfers-curated compilation - released via Caroline as the first Latino Bugger Veil record. It includes Daniel Johnston, Bill Fitch, and Stickmen with Rayguns. One of the Stickmen songs, "Gravecity," was covered by The Exterminating Angels on their #17 album of the 2009 "Metal" Next 10. But "Flame Grape" is a definite highlight of the Buttholes' top-shelf era.
"One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning" from A Beautiful Accident (live Calgary, AB - 8/24/1987)
I also recently found a copy of a Flaming Lips live recording, pressed to vinyl in "Estonia" (yeah, right). Eight songs from a late-1987 show in Calgary. As the classic "One Million Billionth..." shows, the mix is extremely vocal-heavy. Fortunately, this Floydian pysch-punk epic doesn't have a lot of screamin'. I remember Richard English saying in the Staring At Sound book, that he considers this the quintessential Flaming Lips tune - and I can definitely see that! One of the best off my first album from them.
So I was out driving around on the northside recently, and decided to pop into Vinal Edge real quick. Only wanted to check on two specific things, and they had one of them. That's how I ended up getting White Hills' new self-titled cd, White Hills (2010). It's kind of on the mellow end of what I wanted the newest Sylvester Anfang II album to be: groovy space-drone psych, some more rockin', some more mellow.
"Dead" from White Hills (2010)
This track was released on a maxi-single EP thing ahead of the album. Almost picked it up at Waterloo Records last time I was in Austin, but I knew there was a lot of White Hills and wasn't sure what was what. One of a few more rock tunes on the front side.
"Let The Right One In" (Astral edit) from White Hills (2010)
Edited for time, this is missing a couple of minutes at the beginning and some at the end too. I think they do this stuff best, stretched out and in no hurry. Space is a big place after all! Title taken from the Swedish vampire sensation, I do believe.
"We Will Rise" from White Hills (2010)
I wasn't kidding - here's another drifting not-quite-so-epic trancer. I take this one's title as a reverse-Stooges reference.
"Three Quarters" (live 9/10/09) by White Hills
And another heavier track from the album, done live instead... It's good on the album, and I think there's definitely more to get into eslewhere.
"Filament" by Earth "The Forest That Shelters" by Tribes of Neurot
The good folk at Neurot Recordings have repressed a 2007 tour split-7" featuring noise-ambient-collective Tribes of Neurot and guitar-drone psych-kings Earth. I've got a little Tribes, and have briefly included them here once before. I've only ever heard Earth's much-vaunted The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull (2008) - which to be honest didn't do much for me. Perhaps I should try again, because I've been recently enjoying Barn Owl's The Conjurer (2009). I think there are similarities...
I got the clear amber edition (of 500), plus the new ltd-ed Harvestman cd (#162 of 1000), and 3-band Hawkwind tribute comp from US Christmas, Minsk and Harvestman (#5, 2009). Awesome Harvestman European tour poster up now at their website!!
As with all 7"s of Glory, the clip is a recording of my very own vinyl slab o' noise.
After their opening the #4 Live Show of 2009 (for Dungen) and my liking the previous album a lot, it wasn't going to take a Grateful invocation for me to pick up At Echo Lake (2010).
"Blood Dries Darker" from At Echo Lake (2010)
This one's actually the opener, but the one above will apparently be the calling card tune for now.
"Pick Up" from At Echo Lake (2010)
Do a lot of the songs sound like others from Songs of Shame (2009)? Pretty much, but not in a bad way. They're different songs - but clearly in the same vein, the same voice.
"Death Rattles" from At Echo Lake (2010)
Okay, that's a bit of the album. I expect to be enjoying it for the next season, which in Houston will surely involve suffering.
I talked about Ohio's synth-improvisation trio Emeralds in a previous post... I still don't go back to What Happened (2009) very much. But someone finally re-released (on cd) last year's self-titled on from Emeralds, called Emeralds (2009). Since I preferred "Geode," I went ahead and picked it up.
"Overboard (Off the Deep End)" from Emeralds (2009)
The first song sounds more reminiscent of stuff on What Happened - but improved. Burble...
"Geode" from Emeralds (2009)
This was the song I'd heard, from this video - included in the earlier post on the band.
The final song is 18 minutes of mellow drift appropriate for a tune named "Passing Away." New album just relaeased on Editions Mego, CD or 2xLP. Looks cheaper at Boomkat...
I've put up two Black Metal Classics so far, but both have been late period (21st c.) and American. Not very representative: Absu's Tara (2001) and WITTR's Two Hunters (#7, 2007). So, let's go back to the glory days: early-'90s Norway.
This is probably the most iconic true Norwegian Black Metal album, at least culturally. Founding singer Dead had already committed suicide, so Attila Csihar began his extensive career of singing with positively everyone. Hellhammer would also become a serial collaborator as a core BM scene drummer. Guitarist and leader Euronymous would be killed by fill-in bassist Count Grishnakh (Varg Vikernes/Burzum) between recording and release. He was convicted of murder and also of some church-burnings, but found not guilty specifically for the Fantoft Stave Church burning.
"Funeral Fog" from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
Ummm... How do I put this? I had to listen to this album quite a few times before its charms won me over. Mayhem weren't the first, they're not the best, no-one is a virtuoso much. Except for maybe Attila, who lays down so many templates for future BM vocalists later to mine (one apiece). But of course I came to it very very late - so you kind of have to put yourself back into 1994. Then again, one of the great things about the earliness is its clear ties to regular or other metal. More killer riffs and awesome grooves than you'd get once Black Metal orthodoxy had set in.
"Freezing Moon" from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
As coldly and darkly atmospheric as you'd expect in an extreme metal song named "Freezing Moon." An all-time classic on account of that accomplishment... solo!! Then there's "Cursed in Eternity."
"Pagan Fears" from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
Not the classic it should be considered, probably because it's the least distinctly Black Metal in parts. This is your entry point for the uninitiated. "Life Eternal" has some pretty rockin' parts as well.
"From the Dark Past" from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
Brutal. Especially Hellhammer's drumming - as well as on the next track, the shorter and relatively fast "Buried by Time and Dust."
"De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" from De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (1994)
Attila's pseudo-Gregorian vocals in Latin are priceless!! "De Grandae Vus Antiquus Mulum Tristis, Arcanas Mysteria Scriptum" indeed. By the secret rites of Lord Satan!!
Really enjoying the new album from The Alps (#9, 2008), Le voyage (2010). Available for full streaming preview via Soundcloud on its Type Records page. Type has pretty much their entire discography up for streaming...
The Alps' Le voyage (2010)
Also recently up at the label's site, a new awesome-looking podcast mix: "Summer Trips" from The Alps!! Includes some Agitation Free, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, a couple from Ashra, Japanese psych-rock from both Flower Travelin' Band and Les Rallizes Denudes, a Broadcast track, and an "Unknown Song" from The Pink Floyd...
The Alps' "Summer Trips" Typecast (2010)
Download button works for this single-file .mp3 smash-n-grab.
Band quote!
"All three of us are voracious record buyers so this mix could easily have gone in a number of different directions depending on our moods. As it stands, I feel like we’ve hit a good number of the touchstones that connect our tastes and predilections when we get together to make records – 70s psychedelic music from Germany and Japan, Fluxus-era experimentation, Classical Indian music re–interpreted, Spiritual Jazz, pastoral British folk rock, and soundtrack music.
Without discussing it, we did our best not to rely on tracks (of any given genre) that have been overly cited – even amongst ourselves. Not with an obscurist’s mind but in the hope of putting things together in a way that feels fresh and not just rehash."
Here I was, going to do my third in a series of callbacks to recent posts. This time to talk about the exclusive Rough Trade bonus CD for The Time and Space Machine's latest (plus extras). Which ends up leading back to his Set Phazer to Stun blog - lo and behold, he's linked back to me!! Wow, righteous.
As you can also find on TTASM's official site, the Rough Trade bonus CD's tracklist is well worth the effort of picking up that version - still available from Rough Trade.
01. "Tomorrow Never Knows" (edit) – Junior Parker 02. "Fire and Water" – A Time + Space Machine Edit 03. "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" – Rotary Connection 04. "Cedars" – A Time + Space Machine Edit 05. "Tiger" – Brian Auger 06. "Ego Trip" - Ultimate Spinach 07. "Ma Mari Huana" – The Sub
08. "Koi Basti" - Anonymous
09. "Pulsar" – A Time + Space Machine Edit 10. "Stoned Out Of It" - John Fitch and Associates 11. "Hombre" – A Time + Space Machine Edit 12. "Baby I Need You" – Curiosity Shoppe 13. "Road To Nowhere" – Version 14. "A Meditation Mass Pt 1" – Yatha Sidra 15. "Fly" – JK and Co 16. Bernard Fevre – "New From Future" (The Time and Space Machine mix)
Excellent! But that's not all... Back to the blog, and we find even more Time and Space Machine mixes for FREE download!
The Line Of Best Fit Top 10 mixtape (March 19, 2010) is particularly great, and also has the benefit of separated tracks! Even downloadable individually, with right-click Save As... Link to "Download All Tracks as .ZIP" is below song selections & comments by Norris.
Wow! From this blog post, you are lead through a hazy, psychedelic forest to Beats In Space. "DOWNLOAD>" it while it's still there!
1. The Aliens - "The Sunlamp Show" (Disco Bloodbath Remix) I'm not sure that I got this, but O well...
The Time & Space Machine guest mix: 2. Intro 3. Alice In Wonderland Cast Recording - "The Alice Theme" 4. - "Hombre" (A T&SM Edit)
5. Klaus Doldinger - "Sitar Beat"
6. Circus - "Norwegian Wood" 7. - "Big Wheel" (A T&SM vs Cherrystones Edit) 8. Johnny Harris - "Give Peace A Chance" 9. Alan Hawkshaw - "Rumplestiltskin" 10. Captain Beefheart - "Zig Zag Wanderer" 11. The Time & Space Machine - "You Are The One" 12. - "Fire & Water" (A T&SM Edit) 13. - "Jersey Thursday" (A T&SM Edit) 14. The Time & Space Machine - "Trip Sideways" 15. The Time & Space Machine - "Set Phazer To Stun" 16. Doves - "Jetstream" (T&SM Mix)
01. Space – "Carry On, Turn Me On" (Time and Space Machine Mix) 02. Edison – "Dynamite" 03. Ecce – "Control" (Pharao Black Magic Crash Course Mix) 04. Sorcerer – "Chemise" (Time and Space Machine Mix) 05. Severed Heads – "Greater Reward" 06. Lil’ Wolf – "Deliver Me" 07. Cumbia De La Casa – "Crackhouse Cumbia" 07. Sorcerer – "Algorhythms" 08. The Time and Space Machine – "Mushroom Family"
Maybe this month's theme is "two-post follow-up callback mini-updates." Hey, I did it with Belbury Poly [see previous post].
In reading up on what I might be missing from Caribou's new one, Swim, I realized what I was missing was his 3rd album! In review after review, The Milk of Human Kindness (2005) was referred to as heavily kraut-influenced - and you know I love krautrock!!
"A Final Warning" from The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)
Well... yeah. That's pretty definite. Hey, look at this!
"Barnowl" from The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)
It's not all Kraut-y, though. There's a little bit of the hip-hop, crime lounge, even some singer-songwriter quietude:
"Hello Hammerheads" from The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)
Filled in a blank with The Owl's Map (2006), second CD from Belbury Poly (between #4, 2004 and #17, 2009). It's got the usual mix of Belbury radiophonic soundscapes, but "Scarlet Ceremony" is up to something hauntingly different.
"Hocusing for Beginners" from Other Channels (2008)
Since I haven't really covered The Advisory Circle as much, I might come back later with a dedicated post on this, his/their first full album. Consider this a bonus track! (Bonus bonus info: debut EP is reissued on vinyl, and main guy has a blog/podcast...)
Just in case anyone ever wants to catch up on random videos that I've made. 150 at time of posting!
Right now, they're pretty much in order of creation/posting - but I reserve the right to tinker with useful index approaches. Band names, link to post originally featuring, and the song name links to video.
