Two excellent Compilations I listen to a lot

Usually I don' like compilation CDs that much.
I prefer to buy the complete (or almost complete) work of a band or a musician (e.g. The Byrds or Patti Smith) – and to create my own sampler. Simply for the reason that almost all sampler CDs that I bought were disappointing to me.
Anyway, there are two notable exceptions:

1. Way to Blue – An Introduction to Nick Drake
This is just excellent! A very pleasant listening experience from start till end.
I'm not the greatest Nick Drake fan on earth, but I really enjoy this compilation. This guy only managed to record 3 LPs when he was still alive and in fact I don't like to listen to them very much. The one I like the most is probably "Bryter Layter" produced by the exquisite JOHN CALE. I mean John Cale! You can't go wrong with a John Cale produced record of that era. Just think of the 2nd Nico LP "The Marble Index".
Anyway, I don't like the sparse arrangements on Drakes last album that much.
And now: "Way to Blue" – it's compiled in a way that really surprised me and finally made me a Nick Drake fan. For the first time I really got into his music.

2. Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me?
This one is even better than "Way to Blue".
I've known Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd since I was about twelve. I'm now almost fifty years old and STILL I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan. And I mean HUGE. Don't ask me about collecting bootlegs and books ...
Listening to Barrett's solo works – two records, if you only count the regular ones excluding the outtakes collection "Opel" – was always kind of ... hm ... embarassing, no, not exactly the right word, but you know ... to me. But come on, listening to "The Madcap Laughs" at times can really be quite hard – disturbing. I still can't understand why Gilmour and Waters decided to include the more painful tracks like (especially) "Wouldn't You Miss Me", that simply sound sung wrong. Sketches at best. Turning the pages, stumbeling and stopping after a wrong beginning ... Come on, guys, give me a break!

Barrett was said to be difficult to work with, ask Norman Smith for that one, he often changed songs during the recording process and was fond of improvising. All facts very well known. And on "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" this worked perfect, but one shouldn't forget the producer's job on that band's first album. It would be interesting to listen to some of the unedited stuff of the sessions or to some more outtakes. I think Norman Smith did a great job and "The Piper" surely would have sounded very different with another producer. What I'm trying to say: It's the editing process that is important when you work in a way Pink Floyd and/or Syd Barrett did in the old days. And Waters/Gilmour rellly did not do Syd a favour when they decided to leave all the babbling and confusion and the wrong singing in. 

"The Madcap Laughs" could have been a fantastic record. There are many fantastic songs on it. But sadly it is not – due to Waters' and Gilmour's decision. One of the reasons, why they did this to him, was probably to show in what kind of confused mental state Syd was at that time. But hey – we are listening to a record, not a therapy hour. At least I wish it was so.
The compilation "Wouldn't You Miss Me? – The Best of Syd Barrett" does not include the original version of the title song but gladly the one from "Opel" which is much better and much less painful to listen to. Why didn't Waters and Gilmour choose this version in the first place? I really wonder.

You will find all the great Barrett songs on this compilation, not all are classics, but hey: it's the "solo" Syd Barrett really at his best. "Octopus", "Late Night", "Dominoes", "No Good Trying" – you name it, even "Two of A Kind" from the 1970 BBC session is included. Great choice – without the disturbing unnecessary "mental illness indicating" elements that I dislike so much (which you find on "Madcap") and that really don't do justice to Syd Barrett, musical genius or not. 
The only song that may get hard to listen to on this compilation is in fact "Opel" the title song from the later outtakes collection; and one gets an idea, why that track was left off the album in the first time. The singing voice is not as good as the song itself.
The previously unreleased "Bob Dylan Blues" doesn't do much harm, I could have lived without it, but okay, it's a nice extra to have the opportunity to listen to that song finally.

This is by far the Syd Barrett CD that I listen the most often to – and I always enjoy it very much; and remember: I'm a huge Pink Floyd/Barrett fan!
It took me many years to "understand" the different sounds that Syd made solo in comparison to the ones with his old band, and listening to this compilation I recognized for the first time: Hey, it all is still there, the things that made "Piper" and the first Floyd singles so great: the wit, the psychedelic improvised guitar technique, the oh so cool original lyrics ... Not as different as I thought. Just two years later – and still very fascinating.
I love this compilation. The one Barrett CD that shows all the facets of his music. And it's VERY enjoyable.

RE-UP: HLFP 02 "EMBRYO THOUGHTS"

RE-UP by request of the 2nd HLFP-Sampler,"EMBRYO THOUGHTS - A mind blowing collection of inner and outer space snapshots of different kinds".

Read more about this fabulous Sampler here (original post).

New links here or here or here! (Now with slightly improved artwork. Or get it here! - if you prefer the old artwork.)

RE-UP: HLFP 05: SPACE IS STILL THE PLACE

After the MU-link got killed I had to re-up this one. See the original post here - now with new links.

Enjoy!

HLFP 05: SPACE IS STILL THE PLACE

As announced, here it is: the next homemade-lofi-psych-presents Sampler - HLFP 05 - this time featuring electronic ambient music and space psych for your next inner or outer space travel...

Almost all tracks are recordings exclusively for this sampler, some tracks are from forthcoming albums, some are excerpts from longer songs. You will find more recordings from (almost) all the musicians featured on HLFP 05 on HLFP! So you got absolutely no excuse for not checking them out, if you like what you hear!

Thanks a lot to all contributing musicians!

HLFP 05 is dedicated to SUN RA and all the other space pioneers.

mike-floyd, September 2010

THIS SAMPLER IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR SALE - SHARE FREELY!!!

And of course: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS!

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

Homemade Lofi Psych Presents:

HLFP 05 - Space Is Still The Place

- A musical journey into electronic ambient sounds and space psych -

CD 1

01. Danny Spacecat - The Journey Begins (4.19)

02. Nick Chapman - Let's Get This Mother Outta Here (8.02)

03. Rangers - Xochimilco (4.10)

04. Lunar Testing Lab - UX Tauria (3.59)

05. R.S.P. (Radagast Space Project feat. Heartfieldjohnny) - Dogstar Regions

Episodes 1, 3, 5 & 7 (10.02)

06. Spacefinger - The Silent Guitar (9.57)

07. Taylor Cohan - Old People (2.39)

08. Munfeia - Sternenloch (2.19)

09. T. Kauke - Raum im Raum (8.12)

10. Paneye - Dreams of Ai (4.40)

11. Dani L. Caesar - Space Is Still (The Place) (10.00)

12. Andrew Bland - Winter Solace (1.57)

CD 2

13. Visitor/Recompas - Cosmic Lumberjacks (8.17)

14. Caregiver featuring Peopleperson - Fake Gender (6.08)

15. Stasis - Psi Kitten (Tracksuit Mix) (4.16)

16. Jacques de Villiers - Soliloquies for Lonely Suburbs (2.38)

17. Jewel Yen - B. Visual's Video Feed Inquiry (Taken From The "Hours Of Zion" Case)

(Audio Only Excerpt) (2.48)

18. atelierTheremin & Wolfgang Seidel - Zodiac Exploration

(Live aus dem Zodiac, Berlin, 02-11-2010) (6.31)

19. Devita - Mars Memory/Glass Structures (5.18)

20. Creamy Water Quiz - A Dark Swivel (8.33)

21. Johnnyx Guitar - No Humans (8.02)

22. Maxim Engl - The Sky Is Bleeding (Short Version) (9.16)

23. The Voice of Saturn - Apart Together (10.03)

24. Thickly Painted Walls - Christmas Fuck (In Space She Rots) (6.06)

Get it where??! Down below or here:

CD1:  MF

CD2:  MF

(mp3-zip, @320 or 256 k; 24 tracks, 148:30 min,

344,7 MB, artwork incl.)

If you don't have them already, go and check out the other Volumes!

HLFP 01: RELAX AND FLOAT DOWNSTREAM (ambient/space)

HLFP 02: EMBRYO THOUGHTS (experimental/psychedelic rock)

HLFP 03: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOG (psychedelic rock)

HLFP 04: SOUND EXPLOSIONS (psychedelic rock)

HLFP 04 was also added to the FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE, I'm proud to inform you!

Read more here! Thanks, Jason!

RE-UP: HLFP 01 "RELAX AND FLOAT DOWNSTREAM" (2008)

Homemade LoFi Psych presents HLFP 01:

RELAX AND FLOAT DOWNSTREAM

(mp3 zip, 134,6 MB, 14 tracks, 73 min)

01. Egomania - Mondaufgang - 3.34

(from "Moon", 2001)

02. Orange - Neil's Elevator (introduction/edit) - 5.12

(from " In The Graden Of The Demon King", 1995)

03. Dreamcolour - Experiment # 2: Depths of The Wind Tunnel - 4.42

(from "Listen To Colour", 2008)

04. Maurice Rickard - Music For Dance, Part VIII (desert uke fade) - 5.51

(from "Music for Dance", 2005)

05. We're Late For Class - Set The Controls... (edit/middle section) - 10.00

(from "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun' As Played By Vanilla Fudge Imitating Iron Butterfly When Fudge Were Forced To Open For Butterfly At The Fillmore West After In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Went Top Ten", 2007)

06. True Colour Of Blood - Sisiphus - 8.18

(from "All Of The True Things I'm About To Tell You Are Lies", 2008)

07. CK - Synthespacer - 3.16

(from "CK", no year)

08. Light Seems Dark - Psychedelic Virgin (middle section/edit) - 10.01

(from "Psychedelic Virgin", 1999)

09. Cloud Nine - Sunspots - 7.05

(from "1992", 1992)

10. Anyone's Dreamcolour (feat. Superking) - Electric Hippie Church - 4.45

from " It's So Cold Out here In Space/FfM Bunker", 1995/6)

11. Damaged Tape - Emerald Twilight - 1.44

(from "Electric Ocean", 2004)

12. Szbutä Soröh - Way Home - 2.51

(from "The thing we found amongst the woodsticks", 2007)

13. Catasto Elettrico - 4 (glagolitico) 3.21

(from "Trio", 2007?)

14. Hans Frommer (Mad Magic) - Guitar Tune - 2.11

(from "Mad Magic", 1992)

RE-UP of slightly remastered version, incl. NEW artwork

Get it here!

Various Artists - Nougats: A North Texas Compilation (USA 2010)

Okay, you were digging NUGGETS, were listening to RUBBLE and PEBBLES, now here is something new for you: NOUGATS: A NORTH TEXAS COMPILATION.

The man responsible for it all is BRODERICK YOUNG (see older post here).

"The concept behind Nougats is sort of Nuggets from nowhere (i.e. where I'm from). I got the idea after listening to Nuggets and watching this documentary on Seattle and the whole grunge thing. So yeah. It's supposed to be a compilation of sorts: There's bands that actually existed and there's bands that existed for all of one recording session on there. The ideas of what each song is going for is mostly different too. For example, Dance (by Mr. Madge) was my take on early Madonna. All of the stuff that wasn't made by actual bands was recorded in a span of 3 weeks which I think is the amount of time it took the Ramones and Phil Spector to record End of the Century. We went about a song a day. Thanks to all the people who "compiled" it and everyone who gives it a shot. Enjoy it."

(B. Y.)

Don't let the title fool you: Most of the tracks featured on NOUGATS don't have that typical 60s garage/psych rock or psyche pop sound (that one would expect from the title), but are more in a late 80s/90s alternative rock or folk-rock style – or are just plain fun (e.g. "Jazz Interpretations"). What those aforementioned 60s music collections and NOUGATS do though have in common are the often funny sounding "band" names...

Anyway there are lots of great songs on NOUGATS to discover! And again BRODERICK YOUNG's voice sounds very much like a young LOU REED.

Enjoy!

http://polydactylrecords.blogspot.com/

Favourite track: "Enter the Dog Man" by TORRY FINLEY and "Hello" by LMO

VARIOUS ARTISTS (= BRODERICK YOUNG & Friends):

NOUGATS: A NORTH TEXAS COMPILATION

(mp3-zip, 21 tracks, 67 min, 140 MB, artwork incl.)

Track list:
1. Victory Punch by The Huntsmen
2. Chontelle Waters by The Blues B-Woman Bangers Band
3. One by Julia's Boyfriend and the Cherry Sours
4. Duck Sauce by Coffee Hobos
5. Hello by LMO
6. Slow Motion by Chris Daily
7. Accordion Butterfly by Stylish Headphones, Milady
8. Jazz Interpretations by The Chawntonian Orchestra
9. Leave It Alone by The Saber-Tooth Seersuckers
10. Chontelle Waters (live) by Kahuna and McFleece
11. Dance by Mr. Madge
12. More Than Construction by Dos Twees
13. Enter The Dog Man by Torry Finley
14. Teenage Anti-Comunist American Bossa-nova Defense System by Stylish Headphones, Milady
15. I'm Just A Mops by The Bandit Kings
16. Rainy Day by Los Gigantos
17. Limited Edition Sasquatch Bin by Broderick Young
18. Slo-Mo by Hyphen Nation
19. Wishing by Broderick Young
20. Not My Time by The Robot Brothers
21. Virgin by Nerds Etc...

Compiled by David Chawner, Chris Daily, Julia Greuner, Will McManus, Torry Finley, Lauren Moseley, Corbin Young, and Broderick Young.

Get it here or here or here!

HLFP 04 SOUND EXPLOSIONS

Well, it's been some time since the last Homemade-Lofi-Psych-Sampler... More than a year, to be exact.

Here's the new one, looking back to 2009:

Homemade-Lofi-Psych presents:

HLFP 04: "SOUND EXPLOSIONS"

– New far-out music for a new HEAD generation –

2009 was a very good year for homemade lofi psych. There was a total of 217 posts. Lots of interesting and sometimes even excellent psychedelic, experimental, weird folk and electronic music found its way to yours truly, and it was a real pleasure to listen to it and post it. And this is exactly the reason, why HLFP # 04 soon evolved into a double cd volume sampler, when I started to compile it.

Nevertheless I decided to not include the more experimental, pure electronic and weird folk songs (albeit there were many great ones in each of these sub-genres) and to concentrate on the more "really" psychedelic tinged rock and pop oriented pieces. Of course there are lots of borderline cases, but then: What exactly is your definition of "homemade lofi psychedelic music" anyway? Well, ... Probably some extra volumes of HLFP-Samplers will follow in the (near?) future, that will focus on those mentioned sub-genres not featured this time. Anyway, I'm rather sure that you will enjoy HLFP 04 as much as I do...

But enough talk for now. Sit back – it's time to listen and to surrender to the SOUND EXPLOSIONS!!!

HLFP 04 is especially dedicated to BaM. Thank you!

Comments are of course – as always - welcome.

HOMEMADE LOFI PSYCH HEADS UNITE!

mike-floyd, January 2010

SHARE FREELY! NOT FOR SALE!

Enjoy!

CD 1

01. MANUAL ZOMBIE: Automatic People (5:21)

02. RIDING THE RIFF: Everything Is Alive (4:57)

03. STRANGERS FAMILY BAND: Strange Transmission (7:00)

04. PANEYE: Pasta and Chalk (3:31)

05. THE GOODLUCK BOYS: Shadows 1 (4:48)

06. BRODERICK YOUNG: Ave Godzilla (2:30)

07. THE WHEN McGRUFF WAS KING: Many More Melting (6:00)

08. THE MONKEY EASTERN: The Shoegazing Samurai (2:49)

09. LUNAR TESTING LAB: Topaze Bay (3:16)

10. ENDLESS ENDLESS ENDLESS: Distortions (6:08)

11. THE THREE POTATO 4: Let Yourself Know (3:24)

12. FILE 13: Glowing Smiles (7:56)

13. BLEED STONE: Off To Sleep Arachnid (6:15)

14. THE VERTIGO SWIRL: Baited Breath (7:29)

15. THE BAVARIAN DRUGLORDS: Goldsoul (5:18)

16. RAVER: Solar (2:26)

CD 2

01. NOLO: Fondu (2:46)

02. WOLF BURN: Nature Sounds (3:34)

03. BLANCANUS: All Smiles (3:09)

04. BLACK SAND: Falling Down (3:55)

05. SKY PICNIC: Moons of Jupiter (6:48)

06. SOHO RIOTS: The Day of the Days (5:47)

07. TAD SONIC: First Attack (Chapter Two) (2:04)

08. LEONEL GARCIA: He Donated His Brain To Science (Fiction) (4:02)

09. MANIK MYK THOMPSON: Loose Cannon (5:34)

10. WONDER WHEEL: Future Home (5:06)

11. GLAZE OF CATHEXIS: That Halycon Moment (2:08)

12. THE DIAMOND CENTER: Cap'n Death (5:16)

13. TYLER PARKFORD: Trepanation (3:20)

14. THE HOLYDRUG COUPLE: Ancient Land (5:35)

15. ANOTHER WORLD OF BEASTS: Apokalypsen (7:59)

16. INTERPRETACE: Eq 9 & 9 (6:49)

17. SLEEPING, DREAMING: Dreaming (4:25)

18. JARED FAIRFIELD: Conch (1:14)

(mp3-zip of 2 cds; 34 tracks, 368,4 MB, artwork + info incl.)

Get it

here (CD1) and here (CD2)!

Don't forget to check out the older HLFP-Samplers, if you don't have them already:

HLFP 01: RELAX AND FLOAT DOWNSTREAM

HLFP 02: EMBRYO THOUGHTS

HLFP 03: NEW KIDS ON THE BLOG

RE-UP: HLFP 02 "EMBRYO THOUGHTS"

Welcome back everybody!

RE-UP by request of the 2nd HLFP-Sampler, "EMBRYO THOUGHTS - A mind blowing collection of inner and outer space snapshots of different kinds". Get it here! - (with the old artwork.)

The next HLFP-Sampler (# 4) will be posted soon (hopefully)!

Cellophane Rechordings ~ Sampler # 67

And here it is: The Cellophane Rechordings ~ Sampler # 67!

A fantastic sampler of weird homemade psychedelic music compiled from artists of the Brooklyn based indie label Cellophane Rechordings.

"I have been making psych music since the late 80's of all genres, pop-psych, spacerock , dreamy folk,tape collages, you name it, mostly on 4-track and recently on 8-track reel to reel. I am doing a history of all the recordings I've done on my blog (http://cellophanerechordings.blogspot.com/), along with absurd stories, photos, videos,and music. I'm up to the mid-90's right now. (...)

It's (= Cellophane Rechordings~Sampler # 67) a colorful psych pop mash up of various bands and homemade recordings we've done over the years (20!) interspersed with random gibberish and tape collage edits."

"My name is Jesse Michael Roy and I like recording music with friends and daydreaming. I haven't adjusted to the world around me very well and so I spend my days creating sinewy spiderweb veneers to hide behind in my lair of kaleidoscoptic mirrors. I own some paisley shirts, a broken sitar, a cheshire cat, and have ingested copious amounts of hallucinogens and other such chemical concoctions all in vain. I give to you my gifts of musick, scientifically designed to stimulate the pineal gland to release the rhizofluorescent aether~like fluids up and down the chakras into the astral light, to pull a grin out of a rabbit's hat a mile long to plaster across your face like a porpoise's wet dream.

 Visit http://cellophanerechordings.blogspot.com/ for the unwinding tale of the struggles of a humble D.I.Y. cassette label throughout 20+ winding years of cruel and unusual punishment. Always brought to you with varying hues of humor."

(Jesse Michael Roy)

Links to some of the bands who've rostered our grace:


http://cellophanerechordings.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/strungtogetherwanderlust

http://www.myspace.com/thesingedbirdscage

http://www.myspace.com/tangledchutes

http://www.myspace.com/marvellousstairs

http://www.myspace.com/theamputationappreciationcollective

http://www.myspace.com/cellophanerechordings

http://www.myspace.com/paperhead89

http://www.myspace.com/meltingplasticchildrenscrusade

http://www.myspace.com/happybuoy

http://www.myspace.com/dadfish

Cellophane Rechordings ~ Sampler # 67

(USA 1988-2009)

(mp3-zip, 24 tracks, 61 min, 138,9 MB, artwork incl.)

This is what you'll get (that is: if you dare!):

1. cecil's cellophane ceiling ~ paperhead 1992

2. the entranceway to play ~ the singed birds cage ~ 2005

3. define psychedelic / the planet mongo ~ the 4 lads on WLAD 1989

4. little green circles ~ paperhead 1990

5. 1000 miles below sea level ~ paperhead 1990

6. nature tip ~ WLAD P.S.A. 1989

7. springtime! ~ the singed birds cage 2005

8. mrs. thomas' garden ~ fred driscoll 1991

9. april showers ~ the singed birds cage 2005

10. time 2 spring ~ the singed birds cage 2005

11. the planet mongo ( excerpt) ~ the 4 lads 1988

12. bandulicious ~ strung-together wanderlu$t 2006

13. babies ~ the amputation appreciation collective 2003

14. frayed ~ the amputation appreciation collective 2003

15. the fractal elves ~ the rainbow fireflys 1999

16. rachel's 21st birthday ~ the rainbow fireflys 1999

17. slug beer ~ WLAD commercial 1989

18. cartoon nightmare (exceprt) ~ hashish symphony 2007

19. riding on my bicycle ~ smile 1989

20. cowboy ~ never shake a baby 1995

21. up in the air ~ the rainbow fireflys 1999 (new vocals by Shoval Zohar 2009)

22. octopus ~ lowflyingplanes 2002

23. space patrol ~ never shake a baby 1995

24. rain ~ paperhead 1990

Get this sampler here!