Manik Myk Thompson - Manik Digressions (USA 1991-1995) RE-UP

WOW!!! 

It's recordings like this, why I love running this blog and why I think it's worth it after all, worth all the work I put into it and time I spend on it... Because – this is what it's all about: HOMEMADE LO-FI PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC!!!
Where else would one have the opportunity to find little psych jewels like Manik Digressions by MANIK MYK THOMPSON, if not on HLFP, that is: unless you are so lucky to know that guy personally – as BRIAN ANDREW MAREK does, who compiled this brilliant song collection.

Here is a very talented guy, who just explodes with anarchic creativity and does exactly what he wants to do, records exactly the weirdness, the voices, the guitar storms and tape manupilations and whatever else – the way he likes it – lo-fi and rough and simply great...
I really love that stuff! Strongly recommended to every serious psych head!

"I heard "Manik" Myk Thompson before I met him. An ex-girlfriend of mine had a brief relationship with him shortly after ours, and it was through her that I got a copy of his 1994 cassette "Beyond Dysfunctional". His works were intriguing enough to overcome my natural aversion to an ex's new boyfriend, and I soon drafted him into my latest project, initiating an occasional working relationship and a friendship that continues to this day.

Myk also started to make me jealous in a way that has nothing to do with girls. Like me, he was making strange, funny, smart home four-track creations, but unlike me (and like another influential friend, Andrew "File 13/Full Dimensional" Aldrich), he had the drive and vision to compile entire cassettes of this material, package them and give them out to people. I just sat and hoarded mine, too unsatisfied and self-conscious to share, waiting for some undetermined day in the future when I could professionally record and release my music. For several years in the nineties, Thompson was releasing a new 60 minute album every year, and it is from these that this compilation derives.

While Myk is best known in the open mic night circle that he still haunts for laugh-out-loud folk songs of the political and observational stripe, I have intentionally eschewed this material in favor of his more esoteric efforts. Tape manipulation, samples, skewed poetry, cosmic humor and his always outrageous guitars come together to produce a sound world that is uniquely "Manik". There's even a few bona fide (if slightly left of center) songs.

Myk asked me to compile this, and I'm glad he did - it gave me the opportunity to pay tribute to the lesser known side of a talented friend. So sit back, relax and enjoy nearly eighty minutes of Mykadelia!"

(Brian Andrew Marek, who compiled this great song collection - Thanks a lot, BaM!!!)

Favourite tracks: there are many, but probably most of all: She's My Favorite Color, Crossroads, City, I Want You, Room 222, Pleasantly Confused ...

Enjoy! 

 

Manik Myk Thompson - Manik Digressions
(1991-1995)
(mp3-zip, 33 tracks, 79:53 min, 184,1 MB, artwork incl.)
Get it here! New Link 01-2022

Check out more of Manik Myk's music here:

 https://manikmykthompson.bandcamp.com/

Paneye - Remote Summer Clouds (AUSTRALIA 2014)

Anyone who's been following HLFP for the last few years surely knows that I'm a big fan of PANEYE.

Here is good news for all you guys that also enjoy his electronic dreamscapes as much as I do.
Will contacted me and asked me to feature his latest work on HLFP. It's a pleasure for me to do so.

I think his music is rather special and I really hope that someday he will get the recognition for his work that he deserves.

http://thebutterpeople.blogspot.ae/2014/09/paneye-remote-summer-clouds.html

Tracklist

1. Dimensions

2. Living And Gone

3. I Was The One

4. A Slender Loneliness

5. Moon Boy

6. Before

7. Shadowy Joy

8. Into The Gray

9. At The End Of A Dream

10. World Of Infinity

11. Neon Angst

12. Wayward

13. Inwardness

14. There Is Another Happiness

15. A Marriage Of Caves

16. Under Lakes

17. Leading To All The Living Things

18. Sleep In Parks

19. Sometimes Life

20. Corridors

21. Gray Eyes

22. Remote Summer Clouds

Get it here!

RE-UP: The Holydrug Couple - Psychedelic Laboratory EP (CHI 2009)

THE HOLYDRUG COUPLE are from Santiago de Chile.

Excellent psychedelic rock band that you really should check out!

The Couple is

Ives Sepulveda : Guitars, voice, keyboard

Manuel Parra: Drums and percussion.

"These songs were recorded on Friday 21 of August. We recorded and mixed and mastered on the same rainy day. We did it with a compaq notebook, with two condenser mics, a couple of guitar amps and lots of reverb and delay and phasers. A drummer friend, from another friend band, did the recording stuff. Manuel recorded the drum first and I (Ives) recorded the guitars and voices and keyboards. -- We have no official releases. -- Our first gig was in November of 2008, in a very small place with a few friends. Our last gig in August was in a lot of bigger place with a lot of more people. --

Our influences goes from the sixties garage rock, progressive rock, the sixties counterculture in general (hippies, Vietnam war ..), psychedelic bands, Acid rock, krautrock too, and LSD and psylocibine of course, ahhh, and some Chilean psychedelic bands form the sixties like Los Jaivas, Los Blops or Los vidrios quebrados, they're very important." (I. S.)

http://www.myspace.com/holydrug

http://www.facebook.com/theholydrugcouple

THE HOLYDRUG COUPLE - PSYCHEDELIC LABORATORY 

EP (CHI 2009)

(mp3-zip, 2 tracks, 11:28 min, 16 MB, artwork incl.)

1. Ancient Land - 5.32

2. Now it's the time - 5.52

Get it here!

RE-POST: Paneye - Wilt and Loom (AUSTRALIA 2009)

 "Wilt and Loom" is a fantastic record!!!

The man behind the one-man project PANEYE is Will Treffry, and he is from Summer Hill near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PANEYE's music could be described as a mixture of electronic, ambient, psych folk and indie dream pop.

Regular blog readers will certainly already be familiar with Will Treffry's music recorded under the name PANEYE as well as BRIRSTLES ON THE CARAPACE. In fact he is one of my favourite musicians featured here on HLFP. 

http://www.myspace.com/paneye

http://thebutterpeople.blogspot.com/

http://www.secretstationrecords.com/

Dive into his dreamscapes and enjoy!

PANEYE - Wilt and Loom 

(AUSTRALIA 2009)
(mp3 zip, 14 tracks, 46 min, artwork incl., 66,4 MB)
Get it here!

RE-POST: The Vertigo Swirl (USA 2009)

BRIAN ANDREW MAREK's first release by his psychedelic project with the name THE VERTIGO SWIRL from 2009. A great album!
Grab it now, if you missed it the first time around!

BaM: "Well, here it is - the first product of my new psychedelic project, THE VERTIGO SWIRL. Three songs and two instrumentals, all recorded by my lonesome in December and these first days of January. Thank you to Mike Floyd and all the artists on the homemade lofi psych blog for inspiring me to get off my butt and do some new experimental recordings."

The three tracks in song format presented here are nice explorations in psych pop, but the real treat are the two instrumental tracks: "Baited Breath" is a very far out soundscape psych song complete with backward guitars and sitar like sounds that (except for the drum sound) could easily come from a 1967 album. This is the kind of song I could listen endlessly... The second instrumental track, the title song "The Vertigo Swirl", is another, more krauty, psychedelic masterpiece, that comes along as a mixture of the echo-ey guitar sounds of early 70s experimental German guitar player ACHIM REICHEL ("Die grüne Reise") or MANUEL GÖTTSCHING's mid-70s ASH RA ("Inventions for Electric Guitar") and CAPTAIN BEEFHEART's early rhythmic experimentations ("Mirror Man Sessions"). With 22.47 minutes not one second too long! GREAT!

All we can say is: Wham bam, thank you BaM!

You'll also find one very psychedelic track by BRIAN ANDREW on the HLFP-Sampler (# 03): 
"NEW KIDS ON THE BLOG".

The Vertigo Swirl (2009)

(mp3-zip, 5 tracks, 93.1 MB, 43 min, artwork incl.)

Get it here!

RE-UP: Light Seems Dark - Psychedelic Virgin (GER. 1999)

LIGHT SEEMS DARK - Psychedelic Virgin

(1999, 4 track demo)

(mp3 zip, 4 tracks, 49 min, 68,8 MB, cover included)

1. Between The Clouds (4.51)

2. Mind In Cage (6.51)

3. Callings From The Distance (7.48)

4. Psychedelic Virgin (28.58)

Get it here!

• This is a fine piece of organ dominated psychedelic rock by two guys in the Rhein-Main-Area, Germany, in 1999. I had the pleasure to do the engineering and mixing work (this time a REAL homemade recording on 4-track analog) and I have to say, that I still like this songs very much. In that time those two were still very young and I think considering their age, they did quite an impressive job. Especially when you think of the primitive recording situation. Most tracks were recorded live with only very little overdubs ... 
  
• 
  
• The music is quite pleasant, relaxing – just one long flow, very much in the style of Pink Floyd in their Atom Heart Mother / Meddle period, but completely without lead guitar (as I said before: the keyboards is very up front). So if you like early PF and keyboard, this may be for you. 
  
• 
  
• LIGHT SEEMS DARK recorded only one more thing, the soundtrack of some trashy no budget movie, called "Affekt" in the same year and then quitt to pursue other musical aims. (If you wish I can post that soundtrack as well.)
• Enjoy!

RE-POST: Orange - In The Garden Of The Demon King (GER. 1995)

ORANGE - In the Garden of the Demon King (1995)

(Second Demo, Frankfurt a. M, Bunker, GER., 07-09/1995 - CK master/mix version)

1. Brown - 5.51

2. Tryin' To be A Good Human - 6.02

3. In the Garden of the Demon King - 8.29

4. Love in the Suffer Room - 3.13

5. Neil's Elevator (incl. Souldrive) - 30.55

BONUS TRACK:

6. Soul Drive (edit) - 3.31

Get it here!

"Never draw conclusions about a garden from the way a person looks – and especially don't do so about the inside of the arbour from the way the garden looks." 
This kid on the cover artwork at any rate looks like straight out of a Stephen King novel...


This is the 2nd demo-recording of the german psychedelic band ORANGE, based in Frankfurt a. M., from 1995. For more info check out the older entry here at HLFP.


The original ORANGE existed from 1993 until 1995. In those years the band released two demo tapes and was very active, playing many festivals in Germany (Rhein-Main area and south Germany) as well as a lot of solo performances, especially in Frankfurt and Wiesbaden.


This 2nd demo called "IN THE GARDEN OF THE DEMON KING" (as a kind of homage to KING CRIMSON) was recorded in true home recording spirit on a Fostex 4-track tape machine in their reheasal place in Frankfurt (an old WW II bunker). The band played and recorded the backing tracks in first takes on two days and then overdubbed vocals, guitar parts and assorted other instruments, noises and tape effects. This probably explains the somehow tinny overall sound, but nevertheless this recording definitly has its moments, especially on the 30 min psychedelic-experimental masterpiece "NEIL'S ELEVATOR". This track builds up quite slowly, starting with wind sounds and a long, slow guitar solo (kind of UFO-Flying-style), before rushing into the post punk indie instrumental main theme, with lots of different parts following, culminating probably in a bizarre, surrealistic druggy story told (in german) by singer Sue Boildice (about some pigs that don't like her green, new shoes because they remind them of the green grass... and more strange things happening) – very far out. Especially because Sue's voice of the backing track shimmers through and so creates a spooky, heavily disturbing overall atmosphere. After that you can listen to some kind of hobbits' freak-out party... (They even make an attempt of singing "Rosies" from the 1st demo...). The second (slow) theme follows, with Sue quoting some familiar lyrics above a PINK-FLOYD-Echoes-like backing... And this is just halfway thru the song! A heavy psychedelic roller-coaster/elevator ride indeed! Not to be missed!


In comparison with "Neil's Elevator" (by the way: also a live killer track!) the remaining songs (usually with Sue's PATTI SMITH like vocals to the front), though not bad, surely look a little pale. "Brown" and "Love in the Suffer Room" offer some kind of post grunge/indie sound, while the title track "In the Garden Of The Demon King" (formly known as "Orange" – remember "Red" by KING CRIMSON?) shows the band again in a more progressive mood. 
I added "Soul Drive", usually part of "N.E.", as a single track, 'cause it is quite a good song in its own right.


Again: Only around 8o tapes were originally sold at concerts or given away to friends. So this is a true rarity.
Should be listened to on headphones!

Enjoy!

RE-UP: Endless Endless Endless – Black Talisman (USA 2009)

RE-UP by request:

Black Talisman' - the debut by the New York/Jersey post-noise duo ENDLESS ENDLESS ENDLESS.

Truely amazing, quite unique piece of music! Spacy guitar accompanied by gameboyDS electronic sounds – very comfortable and relaxing listening experience, though there's lots of distortion...

Strongly recommended! (Original post here!)

http://www.endlessendlessendless.com/?p=56

ENDLESS ENDLESS ENDLESS - Black Talisman

(USA 2009)

(mp3-zip, 5 tracks, 32 min, 62,4 MB)

Get it here!

(New link March 2012, still working in 2022)

RE-POST: Rangers - Homemade Cassette Collages (USA)

Re-up of RANGERS first Homemade Cassette Collages by request.

One of my all time favourite artists on HLFP!

http://www.myspace.com/rangerzz

Read the original info here.

Get it here!

If you like RANGERS' stuff, you should check out (= buy) his "official release" Suburban Tours. It's great.

That is - if you can find it!

Jack Jeffery - Passage to Agadir (USA 2006-2010)

JACK JEFFERY's album Passage to Agadir is a record of many different moods. It contains a variety of musical styles, ranging from acoustic folk (Acoustic Mojo) to FLOYDian space psych (Interstellar Echoes on the Dark Side, Passage to Agadir), from TALKING HEADS-style Wave-funk (Build it Up) and ENO-like pop-psych (Whiskey Burns) to more electronic and/or ambient music (Overture for Galaxies and Stars, Where's the Ambient Jam?).

A fantastic "compelling musical journey" (Indie Music Digest) indeed!

The arrangements are always tasteful, playing and recording are excellent. I especially like the occasional Gilmour-like guitar playing (Being Myself, Mind Horizon ...)

Recommended listening for psych heads!

Q: Where exactly are you from?

A: Washington DC area (northern Virginia)

Q: Do you want your real name mentioned? If so: What is your real name?

A: Sure. Jack Jeffery.

Q: How recorded?

A: The "Passage to Agadir" album was recorded in my home studio using the following gear: Martin HD-28 acoustic guitar, Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar, Marshall amp, Roland SH-201 synthesizer, Studio Projects B-1 large diaphragm condenser microphones, Shure SM-57 dynamic microphones, Adobe Audition 3.0 (digital audio workstation).

Q: When recorded?

A: At various times from 2006 to 2010. The title track "Passage to Agadir," for example, was recorded in early 2006, but "I Will Be There For You" (also on the album) was recorded in mid-2010.

Q: Who involved? Who played what?

A: This was a solo project in every sense of the word. I played every instrument, sang the vocals, and programmed some synthesizer, percussion, and special effects. I also produced and mastered the album, and designed the artwork for the CD itself.

Q: Any more releases?

A: Not yet, but am working on material for my next album. Hard to say when it will be released since still early in the process of writing songs.

Q: Since when does this project exist/are you into music?

A: Started recording in 2006, but have been playing music for over 20 years.

Q: Any previous bands worth mentioning?

A: Not really. Before this project, just played informally for fun (solo or with friends).

Q: How'd you "label" your music? (I know... nobody wants to get labeled... bla bla bla...)

A: Progressive/Psychedelic rock; Ambient. (But some Folk -- even Americana -- on the album!)

Q: Influences?

A: Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, Brian Eno, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Roger Waters, Syd Barrett, David Gilmour, Kraftwerk, Procol Harum, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Nick Drake, Ash Ra Tempel, Manuel Göttsching, Tangerine Dream, John Lennon, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Stephen Stills, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, Yes, Rush

Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about...

A: Just to say that it was great fun putting this project together, and I hope that you and your listeners enjoy it. The tracks on the album are sequenced to transport the listener on a trip seamlessly through ambient, psychedelic, electronic, acoustic, and folk rock soundscapes. Headphones highly recommended! Just hit play on your CD player and enjoy the journey! :-)

Lastly, on a philosophical note, the internet is the greatest thing to happen to the music industry in a long, long time. The landscape for all musicians now -- indie or otherwise -- is simply unlimited. For indie artists like myself, coverage on sites like yours makes all the difference -- we need your feedback and respect your opinions. Thanks for providing that valuble service to indie musicians.

http://www.myspace.com/jackjeffery

http:/www.ilike.com/artist/Jack+Jeffery

“Passage to Agadir” is available from CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jjeffery, iTunes, Amazon.com, and other online music outlets.

IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR, PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTIST!

Favourite tracks: Interstellar Echoes on the Dark Side, Parsonian Segue

JACK JEFFERY: Passage to Agadir (USA 2006-2010)

(mp3-zip, 13 tracks, 69 min, 78,4 MB)

Link is dead; re-upload by request.

Bird From The Abyss - III (FINL. 2010)

In March 2009 I posted the extraordinary first ep album by BIRD FROM THE ABYSS from Finland (get it here!).

This here is already the 3rd release. It is (was?) also available as a limited run on 3" cd-r.

So expect some more fuzz and ritualistic sounds,

"ancient arts of primive wizards and shamans combined to modern sound of the fuzz guitar..."

(from BFTA website)

Enjoy!

http://www.birdfromtheabyss.com/

http://birdfromtheabyss.bandcamp.com/

http://www.archive.org/details/BirdFromTheAbyss-Iii

BIRD FROM THE ABYSS: III (EP 2010)

(mp3-zip, 3 track, 22 min, 49,9 MB)

Get it here or here!

This Love Is Deadly - Misery (EP) (GER. 2010)

THIS LOVE IS DEADLY is a much promising band from Berlin, Germany, that is heavily influenced by shoegazing gods MY BLOODY VALENTINE (aswell as, say DINOSAUR JR.) and also reminds me – especially regarding Lisa's vocals – of PATTI SMITH and PJ HARVEY.

Misery is their first EP. And it is excellent!

Grab this monster!

Q: Do you want your real names mentioned? If so: What are your real names?

Louis: Sure! Our names are Lisa & Louis. Our drummer wants to be called H.D.

Q: Who involved? Who played what?

Louis: Lisa on bass and vocals, me on guitar and vocals and H.D. on drums.

Q: Where exactly are you from?

Lisa: I was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up all over the world.

Louis: I originate from Italy. H.D. grew up on a farm near the border to Holland.

Q: Since when are you into recording music?

Lisa : I guess, like probably every ambitous young musician, who starts to write own songs, we all had our first dilettante tries at recording music in our teen years on old-school cassette players. I remember, at one point having this really shitty and defect head phone set that my father'd given to me because he had no use for it, and it came together with this computer program to record voice samples and stuff like that. I recall how excited I was about its overdub option, which allowed you to record over your first take. That's how I did my vocal harmonies, after having recorded the guitar together with the lead vocals. The program even had a special effects section, enabling you to reverse a take...it felt like heaven to me back then! However, about five years ago Louis and I started to build up a home studio where the first tlid recordings were recorded. Everything was still very amateurish and low-fi, it still is actually! We sort of made a virtue out of necessity and have adopted this style to our overall band sound. But it was a great way to gain experience and since then especially Louis has become quite skilled at the art of recording, mixing and producing.

Q: Any previous bands/side projects that you've been involved in worth mentioning?

Louis: I played with a band called the amber light before, H.D. played with EL*KE and Lisa's currently got a solo project under the name Amour Fou.

Q: How'd you "label" your music?

Louis: I dunno, maybe Alternative, Psychedelic, Pop, Punk, Grunge...

Lisa: I always find it difficult to categorize ones own music... Motor.de recently wrote a review about us describing our music with german words such as "Edelgrunge" and "Rauschrock", which sort of appealed to us.

Q: What's your favourite track on this ep? Why?

Louis: We love 'em all equally. I think Midiverb stands out for it's uniqueness in terms of sound.

Q: How do you write your songs? What comes first, words or music?

Louis: Music always comes first then we write the lyrics. We write mostly on acoustic guitars.

Lisa: Yeah, when the music and the idea of a song is there, we play around with a melody...sometimes the melody inspires the lyrics...certainly the feeling of the song does. Rarely do we have a distinct idea of what exactly the lyrics should express... it's more a mood, a general feeling. The first idea of lyrics are mostly improvised and we often experiment with the phonetics of words, the sound of a word can be very inspiring. It's sort of an unconscious process, a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing. We might not understand it while in the process of creation, and often it only makes sense after completion.

Q: What’s the best song you’ve ever written?

Louis: I believe it's Wasting Time.

Q: Favourite line from a song you've written?

Lisa: Hm...I don't know. Our lyrics can be quite trivial and insignificant. If a song of ours carries a message, I believe it's more of an emotional than an intellectual nature. Perhaps that is the reason why our vocals are more often than not very low in the mix. Due to the fact that we mostly utilize the voices as instruments, it's more important to us that the melody or the way something is sung carries a certain feeling and thus contributes to the whole atmosphere of a song.

Q: How do you record your albums?

Louis: Mostly we record demos at home first on which the final recordings are based upon. Then we go into a studio and overdub the drums, preferably on tape.. We end up using a lot of tracks from the demos because of their feel. It's always a mix between lo-fi and hi-end.

Q: Any plans for live gigs?

Louis: We wanna play live as much as possible.

Q: What are your main musical influences? Do I hear a MY BLOODY VALENTINE influence or is that by chance?

Louis: Sure, MBV is a key-influence. But so is much of the music I think they were also influenced by, like sonic youth, dinosaur jr. the velvet underground, ramones, stooges, jesus and mary chain, hendrix, neil young...etc.

Q: Favourite band at the moment?

Lisa: Scott Walker is much adored at present.

Louis: I agree, I might have said Neil Young a few weeks ago. His latest record is a masterpiece.

Q: What was the first record that really blew your mind?

Louis: In Utero, Nirvana

Lisa: Nirvana, In Utero

Q: The last five records you bought/downloaded?

1. Neil Young - Le Noise

2. Tocotronic - Schall und Wahn

3. Air - Love 2

4. Portishead - Third

5. PJ Harvey - White Chalk

Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about...

Lisa: Our MISERY EP is now available as a FREE DOWNLOAD! Via this link: http://www.thisloveisdeadly.com/ThisLoveIsDeadly-MiseryEP.zip

(or you may - of course - use the links below (m-f))

Q: Website?

A: http://www.thisloveisdeadly.com

Favourite track: Wasting Time, but every track is a winner!

http://www.myspace.com/thisloveisdeadlyband

 

THIS LOVE IS DEADLY: Misery (GER 2010)

(mp3-zip, 4 tracks, 13 min, 18 MB)

Wasting Time

Everything Is Nothing

Misery To You

Midiverb

Get it here!