Texas Atari & Music

Check out the free MP3 downloads from Sinkhole Texas Inc., a College Station indie label. That's where I went to university! (You can also view directly at the label Bandcamp...)



"Robotic Music Video" by Atarimatt

Includes Atarimatt, a C.S. electronics guy who makes music with the original 2600 game system. According to his MySpace, influences include:

Pong, Bad Brains, Micromusic, AEM, Cherubs, Atari 2600, Karp, Space Invaders, Six Finger Satellite, Flash Gordon, The Locust, Pac Man, Ed Hall, Hi-Score, Donkey Kong, Glass Eye, The Fucking Champs, Pinball, The Jesus Lizard, Black Kight 2000, The Eagles of Deathmetal, Malignus Youth, Joysticks the Movie, Nomeansno, Wizard of War, The Nipple 5, Missile Command...

Not sure if Pong is the great Austin band and/or the original videogame, but I am on board so far!



Here's a Space City Rock review of I Was A Teenage Metalhead (2008), a split-release with Great Unwashed Luminaries - and one of the free MP3 albums available.



Atarimatt, live 08/28/2009, at Revolutions - Bryan, TX

That's what a live show looks like. Been pretty Texas-centric here recently, I'll start re-expanding again soon. But first...



Speaking of Space City Rock and Texas avant-electronics (two things that I do not associate), I just today saw this new album review for The Illegal Wiretaps - a Katy synth duo with several upcoming shows. Very weird that I should stumble across this on the very day I had a free-weirdo-minimalist-sequencer-noise-downloads-from-Unusual,-TX post linked within Space City Rock.



Check out various Name-Your-Price releases from Bandcamp, follow on FaceBook, or at upcoming regional shows listed at their blog.

Apes of the Sea of the Dead of the Bandcamp

I'm absolutely gutted to have forgotten to post this in time. It's the Dead Sea Apes - on Bandcamp, with a blog, and on compilations!



"Rückstoß Gondoliere" [edit] from Head Music (2012)

I'd intended to post before the mid-April release of this Krautrock covers comp from Fruits de Mer Records, on which DSA handle a proto-Kraftwerk tune. Per the blog, Head Music "is sold out and going for moderately silly prices on eBay, but ... it’s on the CD included with the new issue of Prog magazine."

They also did a Skip Spence cover too, for a different FdM compilation.



Dead Sea Apes will have the honor of opening for Agitation Free at Manchester, UK in November... Wow! Agitation Free!! Love that band, maybe they'll come to America one day.



"Pharmakon" from LUPUS (2012)

And DSA have got their own thing too, out earlier this year from Deep Water Acres - and this one's still available (also from Bandcamp). You can also preview some it on the SoundCloud.



"Astral House" [demo] from 2011

How could I not include Astral House EP (2012)? Now available on CD since my original draft! [Ltd. ed. of 100 copies.]

This Thing's Stuck on ON

The new Pong records are here! The new PONG records are here!!



"Interpol" from Live at The Continental Club (2012)

PONG (#1 Live Shows of 2010, #3 of 2010, #1 of 2005) are finally on vinyl & finally with a live album. Recorded live at the Continental Club (thus the title) on November 14, 2009 - it's the bootleg that my actual bootlegs have never lived up to...

ORDER HERE!!

By the way, that song "Interpol" originally appeard on Pong's long-OOP debut CD, Killer Lifestyle (# ???, 2002)... I'm happy to report that some CD's are still available at Amazon, including new copies for under $10!



Really sweet packaging for the limited-edition vinyl, with Soviet space concept art, including the glossy inner sleeve. Also comes with a handy CD inserted as well (+2 tracks). First 50 copies are autographed with customized artistic expressions - of which bonus is radical for super-fans.

I'm real happy!

Full tracklist:

"Rocket Fuel"
"Killer Lifestyle"
"Laika"
"Secret Meat"
"Suicide Cat"
"Interpol" [above]
"Superwrong"
"Click O.K." [CD]
"Applesauce" [CD]
"Bubble City" (f.k.a. "The Owl")
"Sunshine"
"Finally"

"We Are All Still Here" live in Austin - March 24, 2012

Extra bonus: An unreleased recent song, performed live in the oddest Pong venue I've heard of - this one's not on the new live record nor any previous studio ones. I like it, just hadn't yet found an opportunity to post it up.

What's Next in Adverts?

Back when VW used Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" in their much-hyped Cabrio ad (apparently 1999), I thought that was pretty cool that a multinational car company was doing so. Although I mainly knew the song through the cover by Sebadoh (#7, 1993)... that sure would have been interesting.



"Pink Moon" by Sebadoh, from Sebadoh vs. Helmet EP (1992)

Nowadays, similar scenarios are more likely make me wonder about what I have to look forward to in my declining years. Jackass using "Corona" probably kicked this off (c. 2000). I didn't ever watch the show, and initially I was happy for the band to be getting some recognition. But now I get the vibe that a great song has attached to kind of a dumb tv show, and overall it probably didn't expand the Minutemen's audience significantly.



"O Superman (For Massenet)" by Laurie Anderson, from Home of the Brave (1982)

Recently, I ran across this new T-mobile skydiving commercial, and was very surprised to hear "O Superman" played in the background. Never one of my favorites - a bit too artsy-fartsy & before-my-time together - but unique & memorable. It immediately made me want to check out the YouTube comments, to gauge the reaction.



That's how commercials work on me anymore. So like this... consecutive comments: "This has got to be the most annoying song of all time. I hope anyone that has an HTC breaks their phone", vs. "Thank you HTC for giving a new generation a chance to listen to this." Ladies and gentlemen, the internet!!



"Bees" by Caribou, from The Milk of Human Kindness (2005)

So there I was, during Thursday's Miami Heat-Indiana Pacers playoff game (that's pro basketball), when I went far beyond surprised - like hoping the DVR caught it, switching inputs, and rolling back to confirm what I heard... The Samsung Galaxy Note tabphone was soundtracked by Caribou (#4, 2007) - the song "Bees" from his dedicated Krautrock nod, definitely one of my tunes! Now this was simply bonkers, and I was more confused than anything else. What is going on??

And this Note ad uses a song by Air: "Alone in Kyoto." Although I have driven VW's for awhile (pre-'99), you're not getting me to buy your smartphone by licensing hip Canadian or French electronic acts for your adverts - but that's just me.



"Shit from an Old Notebook" by Minutemen, from Double Nickels On The Dime (1984)

In the future, tv advertisements will probably be customized for the audience, maybe cross-referencing your holo-music-library, like how internet commercials are calculated from Facebook or Google algorithms. I just hope there's a 'don't-piss-me-off' setting - where you can indicate you don't want your musical faves imported into YouMercials. Because interesting and novel or not, I absolutely want to continue auto-filing ads into my mental spam folder, without commercial breaks replicating a Shuffle-All mix on my own iPod.

Lyrics:

let the products sell themselves fuck advertising, commercial psychology psychological methods to sell should be destroyed because of their own blind involvement in their own conditioned minds the unit bonded together morals, ideals, awareness, progress let yourself be heard!

Smartphones... yeah.

The Linus Show(s)

Hey! on Saturday night, we went out and caught yet another in a series of frequent shows leading up to the new release from Linus Pauling Quartet (#3, 2007), Bag of Hammers - and also a new multi-disc retrospective (both expected 2012).



"Victory Gin" live at Walters, 05/12/2012

This new song, from the forthcoming Bag, seems to have settled into the keep-it-rolling 2nd song slot. Better get out while you can. Linus continued pulling out new old tunes, this time returning "Cannonball" from C6H8O6 (2003). Follow the news over at their current blog.

Next up...



Velvet Underground "hoot" night at The Continental Club, Saturday 5/26!! Along with Future Blondes (Domokos from Rusted Shut), etc...



"Sister Ray" live at The Boston Tea Party, 03/15/1969

So yeah - see ya there!

Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads

At Austin Psych Fest, I bought a ltd-ed Spindrift CDr called Songs Born of The West: Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads (2012). One of 100 copies.



It's mostly covers of (very) old-school western songs, along with a couple of apparent originals. Here are some of the original versions, because none of the Spindrift material is on the web (yet)...



"Cool Water" by Vaughn Monroe & The Sons of The Pioneers (1948)

Spindrift credits someone different than YouTube - the songwriter, Bob Dolan.



"Wanderers of the Wasteland" by Gene Autrey (1937)

Probably my grandma's favorite singers there - Spindrift recognizes Johnny Bond on this one (not the songwriter).



"The Ballad of Paladin" by Johnny Western (1957)

Even I know this one, from the tv show "Have Gun - Will Travel." What I didn't know was that Gene Roddenberry wrote for the show.



"They're Hanging Me Tonight" by Marty Robbins (1959)

From the same album as both "Big Iron" and "El Paso" - plus a cover of Bob Dolan's "Cool Water" too!



"Navajo Trail" by Frankie Laine (1961)

Frankie Laine did a few of these tunes, plus the theme to "Rawhide" - Wikipedia info.



"Cowpoke" by Johnny Western (1961)

Johnny Western has a great name for this kinda material, don't you think? Don Walser also played this tune!



"The Wayward Wind" by Tex Ritter (1956)

John Ritter's dad no less! Anyway, the Spindrift versions are pretty respectful, with a minimum of hip modernity. Different, at least...

BJTM, Live in Austin

It's not the whole set, but I stumbled across this 10-minute / 2-song Brian Jonestown Massacre recording from Austin Psych Fest. It's these two songs...



"Got My Eye on You" live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

Found that video on a pretty sweet APF5 YouTube playlist.



"Anemone" live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

Here's the full setlist - lemme know if you find any full recordings from the fest online... was a really good show!



Also, I was able to pick up the new BJTM album, Aufheben (2012) - digging it so far. Here are some samples for instance.



"Stairway to the Best Party" from Aufheben (2012)



"Face Down on the Moon" from Aufheben (2012)

Yeah, a lot of Arabesque Near-Easternisms, but still cool.

Record Store Day 2012: The Return

I guess I forgot to post last year, but I did for RSD 2010. Nothing too original on deck at the moment, so I'll tell you what I got... mostly 7" singles.



"Do It!" featuring Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Bland, from Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends (2012)

Of course I had to get the new double-album of guest stars from The Flaming Lips (#1 of 1995, All-Time Discography). In order of collaboration: Ke$ha + Biz Markie, Bon Iver, Edward Sharpe + Magnetic Zeros, Prefuse 73, Tame Impala, Jim James (MMJ), Nick Cave, Lightning Bolt, Yoko, Neon Indian, Erykah Badu (doin' Flack!), Chris Martin (Coldplay), and before that... here's the VERY NSFW official video with New Fumes.



"Dark Star" [excerpt/jam] from Olympia Theatre, Paris, 05/04/1972

After a few stores and 4 days, I finally found copies of the Grateful Dead's (#1, 1972) 4,200-edition Dark Star, Paris '72 LP. Woohoo!! Looks to be just under 40 minutes of classic European "Dark Star." Rotterdam '72 is probably my favorite version (and supposedly the actual longest of all time), but I'll give this one a chance too.



"Watch Out Boy" from RSD 7" (2012)

And that's it for the full-lengths. I got the new psychedelic-orangish-yellow-vinyl single from The Black Angels (#3, 2006). Seems fairly mellow & poppy for them, but still full-'60s style(s). Here's the B-side.



"El Hombre" from RSD 7"

I bought this single from The Baseball Project mostly because of the nice 3-D tilt-action cover.



A-side about Pujols, B-side is "Harvey Haddix." Supergroup about baseball stuff, includes Scott MCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows), Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), and Linda Pitmon (ZuZu's Petals).



"Inspiration Information" by Shuggie Otis, from Inspiration Information (1974)

From here on, it's mostly just re-releases on 7" - so plenty of info about all these people, if you don't already know...



"You Be Illin'" by Carolina Chocolate Drops, from RSD 7"

WB/Nonesuch original/cover RSD split-7" series.



"London Calling" by The Clash, from London Calling (1979)

2012 mix and instrumental B-side. Hey! I never did my Clash Discography post...

Not the greatest haul of all time, but pretty decent I guess.

Upcoming Studies

News via Café Kaput... Ghost Box heroes mutual-covers split-7". Study Series 08, coming June 15th!



Previous Study Series entries have been my #9 of 2010 and then #19 of 2011. But this will be the heaviest-hitting pair-up so far - featuring the label co-heads' acts covering tunes from one another.


Here are some preview samples:

Belbury Poly and The Advisory Circle - Study Series 08 by Ghost Box

I think the appropriate embeddements should be quite obvious: the originals!



"Now Ends The Beginning" by The Advisory Circle, from As the Crow Flies (2011)

That's pretty nice (including the video). I need to order up some recent Ghost Box, hopefully before mid-June.



"Wildspot" by Belbury Poly, from The Willows (2004)

Love that album: #4, 2004! That's the opening track...

No official announcement yet on the new Study Series(es) at either the Ghost Box site or their online shoppe. So it might be two discs again this time.

Bandcamp for The Underground Youth

A friend clued me into The Underground Youth and their streaming Mancunian shoegaze freak-out over at Bandcamp. Nothing free, but worth a listen!



It's some droney, trippy garage psych of the type that a certain Austin Fest often trades in. Maybe a little on the mellower end of things, which can be a nice place too...



"Morning Sun" from Sadovaya (2010)

A few of their videos are paired up with some primo arthouse cinema (Bergman!), while some provide more original - but still arty - visuals.



"Hedonism" from Mademoiselle (2010)

This was the specific album that I got recommended. With a very Exploding Plastic Inevitable video treatment on that one!



So much for year before the last, they've also released 2 in the last year (nothing so far in 2012). Keep up on news, upcoming live shows (UK), or reach other channels, from their official website.



"Delirium" from Delirium (2011)

This record's still available in a numbered ltd-ed of 500, 180g clear-vinyl - for the collector scum amongst us.



"Addiction" from Long Slow Needle EP (2011)

Slooow, indeeed.

Return the Wizards Sleeve

New upcoming original material from Beyond The Wizards Sleeve (#1, 2008), on May 28th!!



"Black Noise" b/w "Door to Tomorrow" 12" single, according to Juno Plus. I don't have much to go on, but seems like this will be Phase III of BTWS. First, they made unauthorized re-edits of freakbeat and other classics; then, there came the specifically-commissioned remixes; I'm guessing this will be more like "original" cuts. Since it's on Tirk, you might be able to find it at Forced Exposure (US) or at Boomkat (UK)... possibly for pre-order at some point.



"I Swim Around" from Spring EP (2006)

There's some old school BTWS...



"Roscoe" by Midlake, from Re-Animations, Vol. 1 (2009)

And a somewhat more recent remix... I think that's the last we've actually heard from them.



Taste the Lazer (2012), by The Time & Space Machine

Well, unless you count Erol Alkan guesting on guitar for the lead-off track from Richard Norris' newest TTASM album, "Hiding in the Light." I'm on the fence due to being just one tune, but am still digging through the record.

Finally, looks like Beyond the Wizards Sleeve now have their own official website. Whoa.

Sensory Overload

Between recuperating from Austin Psych Fest and then catching a cold, I'm late returning.



Between Record Store Day, big sales at AllThatIsHeavy and Boomkat, Austin Psych Fest shopping, the Ad Hoc comp from Kickstarter, and random purchases, I think I'm set for awhile...
But what to start with?!



"Adounia" by Bombino, live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

Psych Fest was really, really excellent. The best was seeing some band I expected to be good, and having them blow out those expectations by a lot. Bombino was king of that. The floor was only about half-full when they took the stage, but Emo's had filled up by the end of their set. People were just blown away! I would also add Moon Duo, Quest for Fire, Entrance Band, Woods, Meat Puppets and The Brian Jonestown Massacre to that list - all exceeded fairly high expectations.



"Hero" by Federale, live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

Federale was probably the best out-of-nowhere surprise of the festival. They were true Spaghetti Western players (even more than Spindrift), with the whistling, trumpet, percussion tricks, and the whole vibe. Really good sounding, with a ton of people on the (small) stage - including guest stars.



"Sloop John B" by Meat Puppets, live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

Then there were the surprise covers. Meat Puppets were one of only a couple of bands to take it into full space-out territory, out of which they shocked me with a Beach Boys cover. Apparently, it's something they do, but I hadn't been keeping up with recent Puppets bootlegs, I guess. Entrance Band also got all abstract some, and then covered Love's "A House Is Not A Motel." In addition to their award-winning (at least on this blog) psych-folk indie-pop, Woods also went deep-space like 3 times, which was certainly beyond the call of duty.



"Straight Up and Down" by The Brian Jonestown Massacre, live at Austin Psych Fest 2012

That video was shot from right in front of me, and that's how the whole fest ended. BJTM played an epic show, including several extended rants from Anton. Afterwards, while trying to find a taxi, I saw the "Spokesman for the Revolution" heading towards me on the Riverside sidewalk. I told him good show, then turned to see Anton being shoved into the cab we just missed, surrounded by various shouts from adoring fans. It was nice getting to at least say hi to lots of the musicians - including the drummer for Bombino, Stephen McBean, Paz from Entrance, a couple of dudes from Quest for Fire, the 12-string player from Brian Jonestown, etc...

Really good time!! For the record, a full list of the bands we caught:

Moon Duo, Acid Baby Jesus, Disappears, Sleep ∞ Over, Sun Araw, The Black Angels; Quest for Fire, Spindrift, Entrance Band, Pink Mountaintops, Pure X, Woods; Wooden Shjips, Bombino, Federale, Meat Puppets, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.