Hey, look, it's Moon Duo! Whom everyone enjoyed at Austin Psych Fest earlier that same year & at Rudyard's that exact same month (#1 and #7 Live Shows, 2012).
Discounted pre-sale tickets are up for next year's Austin Psych Fest: $120 each HERE - along with an option for the 2012 fest DVD. (The website is crashing a lot - good sign?)
Look at that, will ya! (and Click to embiggen...)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club ~ The Black Angels ~ Deerhunter ~ Tinariwen ~ Clinic ~ Boris ~ Warpaint ~ The King Khan & BBQ Show ~ Black Mountain ~ Spectrum ~ The Growlers ~ Acid Mothers Temple ~ Man or Astro-Man? ~ Quintron & Miss Pussycat ~ White Fence ~ Dead Skeletons ~ The Soft Moon ~ Diiv ~ The Warlocks ~ Viet Nam ~ The Black Ryder ~ Goat ~ Black Bananas ~ Lumerians ~ Elephant Stone ~ Woodsman ~ The Cult of Dom Keller ~ Gary War ~ The Laurels ~ Vinyl Williams ~ Golden Animals ~ Ttotals ~ The Holydrug Couple ~ Dreamtime + more to come in January!!
Killer. Here's a bunch of celebratory videos:
"Stop" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, from Take Them On, On Your Own (2003)
I know a lot of people who dig 'em, but for whatever reason I missed out. Sounds like something I could rock out to.
"Desire Lines" by Deerhunter, from Halcyon Digest (2010)
I think we saw one or two of these guys solo projects at one or the other of the last couple of Psych Fests. Again, another reputable band that I just never followed up on. Artsy, right?
"Tenere Taqqim Tossam" by Tinariwen, from Tassili (2011)
I enjoyed Bombino so much this year, that I'm also looking forward to the original Sarahan Toureg exports.
"Walking with Thee" by Clinic, from Walking with Thee (2002)
Hey, that's a bunch of the major acts that aren't even in the Astral wheelhouse. Howsabout some...
"Rainbow" by Boris with Michio Kurihawa, from Rainbow (2006)
BORIS?! Whoa... Along with Acid Mothers Temple, that'll be TWO legendary Japanese psych-outfits!
"Wucan" by Black Mountain, from In the Future (2008)
Weirdly, I've run into Stephen McBean at the last two fests... In 2011, he was sitting in with The Shine Brothers - and last year, he was performing with Pink Mountaintops. Now it's the real deal: Black Mountain full-on!
Friday 24 August @ Rudyard's 1 am Project Grimm 12 am The Linus Pauling Quartet (playing a couple Mike Gunn songs) 11 pm Dead Mineral 10 pm Hearts of Animals
Doors 9pm, Music 10pm(!!!) 21+ Pay what you can – suggested donation $10
*100% of the door money goes to to The Robert Thomas Carter Irrevocable Trust *100% of the sales made that night of the new LP4 album "Bag of Hammers" will go to The Robert Thomas Carter Irrevocable Trust
Sandy Ewen / Damon Smith – improvised duo Richard Ramirez / Brian Traylor (night at noon) – noise duo FLCON FCKER – live handmade electronics interfaced with laptop A Week of Kindness (Sean E. Matzus) Eric Todd – solo guitar
8pm to 11pm All Ages $5
*100% of the money collected from the door and from the donation jars goes to to The Robert Thomas Carter Irrevocable Trust
Like many kids my age, I watched a lot of television before I could drive. And since my pre-licensed days coincided with the early-'80s, that meant that I watched a lot of Mtv (the "M" once stood for 'music').
So this will be a round-up of what I remember liking about early MTV. Before I discovered punk rock, I basically liked the music played on the channel - such as my Top 40 Top 40 Songs of 1982. I definitely enjoyed the free-format where you never knew what to expect next. Except for a few actual shows that I remember being regularly scheduled.
"Punks & Poseurs: A Journey into the L.A. Underground" (1985)
My main weekly favorite was the "Saturday Night Concert" - check out the intro. I don't remember Punks & Poseurs, but I'm really glad that it exists! The Dickies, GBH, Plain Wrap, The Breakouts, Raw power... Wild.
Metal was much more common. I do remember the AC/DC show (with this intro), but I think GnR 1988 was quite a bit after my time. In fact, I'm surprised they were still showing regular live shows that late (might've been a special though).
"Moving in Stereo" live in Houston, 1984
But the one they showed all the time was The Cars at The Summit (Houston TX, 1984). I remember distinctly because it was originally pretty cool to see a show filmed locally, but the charm was lost after the same concert reappeared every third weekend.
Another show I watched pretty regularly was "Basement Tapes," which was a video competition between unsigned local acts' submissions. It always featured some hilarious terribleness and some occasional hidden gems. Honestly, I don't remember many details.
I think there was some audience voting, with some kind of prize either for each show's winner or eventually. Here's someone's blog post about the show. Actually, the first video there includes the show intro, which explains a bit... Monthly finalists!!
Did Screen Test win the final slot? I have to know... nooooo, Friday wins!
"Paranoid" by Black Sabbath (Mtv Closet Classic, 1972)
At first, "Mtv Closet Classics" were really just individual videos for music from before the MTV era - with a special video-tag to make sure no-one confused it with modern music. I mainly remember Sabbath, but this 1986 VHS tracklist will give you a general idea.
Also, apparently by 1987, they had an actual show. Not sure if I was onboard for that, because I just remember surprise treats in the free-form.
Then of course, there was "120 Minutes" (1986-2000). I don't remember JJ Jackson hosting, but I do remember Alan Hunter (still one of the original VJ's) and Kevin Seal - then a bit later, series creator Dave Kendall.
Not too much video evidence of the early days I'm talking about, and I can't find the hilarious Dave Kendall/Jack Officers SXSW interview (or maybe BHS), so here's Ween in 1995.
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.
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!
New feature!! We've already had an APF5 mega-post, when the original line-up was announced.
From here until the festival, in addition to other ongoing posts, I'm (usually) going to put up something from one band per day - a couple songs/videos, maybe a cool album cover/art, possibly some other stuff. But not too much, just what can be accomplished pretty quick...
"For So Long" from Dos (2009)
First up: Wooden Shjips! Droney psych-outs from San Francisco. A band I considered going to see open for The Black Angels in Austin on this past NYE - didn't happen. When I first gave them a listen, I wasn't blown away, but later I really dug a different song on a Mojo Syd comp. More recently, I've been enjoying the most recent album West (2011) on the great Thrill Jockey.
"Flight" from West (2011)
I've already featured the "Lazy Bones" and "Black Smoke Rise" videos, so there's something more laid back and extended.
[11/29/2011] These two are somewhat 'in there.' In that they don't fit so much with the other 'out there' content (even moreso than Miles Davis)... Also, both are some kind of official videos, which is rare enough with the Astral.
"Vessel" by Zola Jesus, from Conatus (2011)
[10/6/2011] New vid from new album from Souixsish goth majordomo, Zola Jesus... it's just like right now.
"Night" by Zola Jesus, from Stridulum EP (2010)
Did I ever put this on a blog comp yet? I'd meant to. O yeah, it's on Vol. 5... okay.
The other one is Damon Gough, et cetera.
"Oxidising Hexagons" film by Tom Fitzgerald, music by Badly Drawn Boy and Andy Votel, from It's What I'm Thinking (Part One: Photographing Snowflakes) (2010)
[10/15/2011] I'm not so much a fan of Badly Drawn Boy, he's fine for what he does. But this is how to try him out - amidst hauntology concrète and filmloric collage... with Andy Votel, and some brief nudity.
"The Shining" by Badly Drawn Boy, from The Hour of Bewilderbeast (2000)
Adult Swim loves Maserati. They make amazing instrumental pysch rock-ish jams and, like us, are based in Georgia. Their song "Pyramid of the Sun" (from their newest record of the same name) is a key jam, so we decided to make a video for it.
Maserati apparently played the Park It Place Lot in Albuquerque, NM - on April 4th. As part of Adult Swim's Rag Bag of Jollification events. (Best Coast played the Dixie Chicken's at A&M...)
"They'll No More Suffer from Hunger [live]" at Adult Swim Rag Bag of Jollification 2011 (Albuquerque, NM)
Maybe I should just perma-link to Pitchfork's kinda-new sister site, Altered Zones. It's pretty informative and generous, if you like that kinda stuff. In this case, various types of electronics - krauty, Italo Disco, and library/ambient mix (respectively).
Somebody put up the A-side of this 12", which is downloadable from the link.
And here's the B-side to complete the set. Purchase the vinyl at Juno... New Zombi LP is already out, and I'll be posting on it somewhat soon-ish. (I got the "canary yellow" vinyl!)
And we're back!! With a new computer, a new internet, and from Austin Psych Fest... Still getting used to the new keyboard, so I'll gear up with a series of mini-posts. Let's start with the Psych Fest.
Got to see Woodsman, a psychedelic quartet from Denver, Colo. According to this Altered Zones artist profile, they used to be two separate guitar/drum duos - then merged into each other. I was turned on to their mix of avant-experimentation, krauty songcraft and spaced-out jammin', by the .mp3's available at that AZ link, this one and that one. Et cetera...
"When The Morning Comes" from Mystery Tape EP (2010)
Check it out! Pretty cool video, song, vibe - right? That's a little more on the experimental side, I guess.
"Serfer" from Rare Forms (2011)
This one was a big hit with the kids at the fest, which was held in a soon-to-be-demolished power plant. A truly awe-inspiring venue!
"Smells Like Purple" from Mystery Tape EP (2010)
But that was the one I liked most. I think... Not sure how many ultra-mega-jam epics they have, and it was kinda hard to follow at the time.
You can expect a few more like this as I gear up for regular posting once more...
New Grails record drops March 8th!! They were #6 of 2008, #19 of 2010, and probably would have been... say, around #1 of 2007 - if I hadn't avoided repeating any from the previous list.
Grails - Deep Politics (2011)
No new Grails music on the album trailer, but it's in the style of Emil Amos. He's their drummer, is also Holy Sons (more soon), and he collaged together the videos for the Acid Rain dvd (2009).
Edit: Looks like YouTube doesn't want me embedding their version. So I went to get the Vimeo code, and found more awesome info at Brooklyn Vegan! A new .mp3, cover art, and coincidentally Holy Sons info... Check it.
Later edit: The .mp3 ("I Led Three Lives") is awesome! Also, I forgot to mention the album's coming out on Temporary Residence Ltd., a great label. And it gives me an opportunity to link to their own first-ever year-end lists wrap-up. Pretty groovy.
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.
