Jim Guittard - Rise (USA 2010)

JIM GUITTARD should be no stranger to you, since I already posted a couple of his albums on HLFP in May (look here).

"Rise" is his latest musical adventure and again a very fine album, 60's inspired psych-folk with some more or less political statements interspersed giving you something to think about... And of course you'll also hear those late sixties experimental BYRDS vibes again. Probably JIM's finest album - until now.

Recommended!

"The "Rise" album is a set of songs, that I hope, capture the times in which we live. At the heart of it all is the message to stay true and be happy amongst the chaos in the world that is often pushed at us through the propaganda lense of the media. - The songs were done in a rough do-it-yourself lo-fi Psychedelic folk-freak way because this is what I do. Some of the songs were rather improvised especially with the lyric.

"Rise Up America" was written just about the time of the G20 summit in Pittsburg in September 2009. It is meant to be a sort of wake up call for Americans and also people around the world. It has already been recorded by an artist in Italy.

http://www.archive.org/details/RiseUpItalia

The album was recorded on my 8-Track Tascam machine in Portland, Oregon, Dallas, Texas, and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Credits:

Jim Guittard: Lead and background vocals, electric lead and rhythm guitars, acoustic 12-string guitar, bass, shakers, percussion, drums, keyboard, and effects.

My wife helped out on the vocal for Roller Coaster Ride."

(J. G.)

Favourite track: Hit the Sky, Independence

http://jimguittard.com/

http://www.myspace.com/guittard

JIM GUITTARD: Rise (USA 2010)

(mp3-zip, 12 tracks, 34 min, 52,7 MB, VBR 192k)

Get it here or here or here!

Tadpoles - Use With Headphones Late At Night (Best of 1990-2000) (USA - EXCERPT!))

As announced: Here is an excerpt of the TADPOLES' Best of-Album "Use With Headphones Late At Night". Thanks, Todd!

Fuzzy psych-rock at its best! The band was from New York and released quite a couple of albums in the 90's.

All of the Tadpoles albums are available to be heard in their entirely streaming:

http://tadpoles.bandcamp.com/

Read the excellent Pitchfork-review here:

http://tadpoles.bandcamp.com/album/use-with-headphones-late-at-night-best-of-1990-2000

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

TADPOLES: Use With Headphones Late At Night

(Best of 1990-2000)

(USA) EXCERPT = 6 tracks

Snapper; The Ride; Ride The World Around The Sun; Know Your Ghosts; Whirlaway; Sunrise Ocean Bender

(mp3-zip, 6 tracks, 27 min, 49,7 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

Todd Parker and the Witches - disconnect (Video)

TODD PARKER (who was a member of the NY psych band TADPOLES in the 1990's) informed me about this excellent, quite psychedelic video, that an anonymous fan put together for the song Disconnect from his new album.

Don't forget to check out "Greetings From the Star Chamber" - the new album by TODD PARKER AND THE WITCHES!!!

For a limited time, Pay what you want (or Free) Download of entire album available exclusively at Bandcamp.com! http://toddparkerandthewitches.bandcamp.com/

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

Fantastic album!

http://www.toddparkerandthewitches.com/

Also Todd gave me his ok to post some TADPOLES songs for free download for you blog readers.

Coming soon. Don't miss!

Full Dimensional - Ambiguous (USA 1999)

"A moody rumination full of growling guitars and hallucinogenic weirdness from Full Dimensional's main man Andrew Aldrich. With heavy tracks like "Self Destructing", "Wit's End", "Bummer Trip" and "Embracing Death", you know this is no sunshine pop."

(BaM)

More punk than psych this time.

Favourite track: Not Like Before, Bummer Trip, The Backward Path

FULL DIMENSIONAL: Ambiguous (USA 1999)

(mp3-zip, 14 tracks, 114,2 MB, 49 min artwork incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

Full Dimensional - Auxiliary Subsidiary (USA 1999)

"New clarity and punch came to the sonic world of Andrew Aldrich with the release of Full Dimensional's first CD-R, including the dark psych pop of "Dust on My Bible", the slide guitar sludgefest "Spring Song" and the epic "Moodshifter" medley. Includes lyric sheet."

(BaM)

Favourite track: the very far out "moodshifter - jesus says - into another - the congregation of extinction"-medley (18.31) of course; another masterpiece of homemade-lofi-psych!

FULL DIMENSIONAL: Auxiliary Subsidiary (USA 1999)

(mp3-zip, 10 tracks, 60 min, 138,7 MB, artwork and lyrics incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

Full Dimensional - Audio Apparition Scene (USA 1998)

As you may know, if you followed this blog for the past months, I'm a big fan of FULL DIMENSIONAL.

Really love that kind of lo-fi psych-indie-punk music! Can anyone today still think of recording only 4 tracks on a cassette? Do the kids of today even know what a cassette is? Well, those were surely different times - and it shows me once more what an old guy I am already... Sniff!

"The last Full Dimensional rip to come from a humble cassette, Audio Apparition Scene features Andrew Aldrich's blend of catchily aggressive guitar pop ("It's Really Nothing"), melancholy psychedelic beauty ("Photobook") and all stops in between. Includes lyric sheet."

(BaM)

Read more here!

Thanks, BaM, one more time for the quality rip!

Freak out! More FULL DIMENSIONAL to come.

Favourite track: Spin Cycle and Fragmentia Obscura and ...

FULL DIMENSIONAL: Audio Apparition Scene

(USA 1998)

(mp3-zip, 12 tracks, 53 min, 121 MB, artwork + lyrics incl.)

Get it here or here or here!

Comments - as always - very welcome!

Moonwood - Aubade (CAN 2009)

MOONWOOD is an acid folk project by Canadian Jakob Rehlinger, who is also a member of the experimental noise trio NEW YAKI.

Aubade is a very fine improvised instrumental loose psychedelic folk record that creates an atmosphere of awe and mysticism.

Excellent!

Q: Where exactly are you from?

A: I am from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. But now I live in Toronto.

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

A: My real name is Jakob Rehlinger.

Q: How recorded?

A: This album was recorded on a 16 track digital recorder in my living room. Though I suppose a lot of the actual "recording" was done within a looper pedal. Also because I was using the looper pedal to layer improviations live, each song only uses maybe four or five of the recorder's 16 tracks.

Q: When recorded?

A: Late spring of 2009, I believe.

Q: Who involved? Who played what?

A: I played all the instruments. This album is pretty acoustic guitar heavy.

Q: Any more releases? Any "official" releases?

A: I recorded 11 Moonwood CDs under the name Babel in 2007. The best of that material is collected on a Moonwood CD called "Forest Ghosts". That's also available through my label Arachnidiscs.

Q: Since when does this project exist?

A: This project evolved out of one of my other projects, Babel which I'd be working on since 1999. Babel started out as a sound-collage project with elements of minimalist composition. Eventually my interest in improvised psyche music started bleeding into that project until I decided a name change was in order to reflect the change in direction. Then Moonwood was born somewhere in 2008/09. - Ironically there's a new Babel CD coming out in the next month.

Q: Any previous bands worth mentioning?

A: Not previous bands but I'm currently in a trio called New Yaki with Stephen Wolf (Partli Cloudi) and Andrew MacGregor (Gown/The Bark Haze). Though we live in three distant cities and that makes it hard to be productive. A few different labels have put out cassettes by New Yaki.

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

A: Psyche, free-psyche, improv, acid-folk. All the usual labels that apply to this kind of thing.

Q: Influences?

A: I have to admit I hear a lot of Six Organs of Admittance in this one. Though I'm not sure I'd ever say he's a a direct influence. The really early Pink Floyd (pre-Piper at the Gates of Dawn) is a big influence on everything I do. As is King Crimson. I suppose Espers, Pocahaunted, all the usual suspects. I really like a lot of the stuff on Digitalis.

Q: Website, Myspace?

A: http://www.reverbnation.com/moonwood - http://www.myspace.com/heavymoon - http:/www.arachnidiscs.wordpress.com

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

A: There's a new Moonwood album called "Coal Aberrations" which is almost ready. It features several other people for the first time. Ameen from Healthy Animal, Stephen and Andrew again. Cellos, horns and flutes, oh my. I'm pretty excited about it. It's the whole being greater than the sum of the parts thing. I'm fairly proud of "Aubade", but I think the new album is that much better because of everyone else's contributions.

Here is a video for hey judas, don't let me down from the new album "Coal Abberations":

- Oh one more thing: The physical release of "Aubade" comes with a DVD of Moonwood films.

MOONWOOD: Aubade (CAN 2009)

(mp3-zip, 6 tracks, 50 min, 69,8 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

What's up?

The DAILY BROTHERS have just released a fine new album - listen first and then download here: http://thedailybrothers.blogspot.com/

From listening to it I may assure you, it's well worth it! Pleasant melodies, sometimes the vocals even remind me of late 70's 10 CC (whose records - at least some of them, surprise, surprise! - I like quite a lot).

Also GLAZE OF CATHEXIS – already featured very often on HLFP and so should be no stranger to you – has an album out for free download, called Underground Sound.

It's another journey into neo psychedelia, always interesting songs with a pop sensibility, well played and recorded. My personal favourite track is: Launch and Blues For a Red Planet. I always like it when the Dr. rocks! Good guitar work, by the way.

You may find it here: http://psychedelicobscurities.blogspot.com!

Older recordings you may want to check out here!

WONDER WHEEL played KXLU in Los Angeles recently (August 20th).

The complete video is available on:

http://mywonderwheel.blogspot.com/

You may also want to download the excellent audio, approximate running time: 27 minutes, (for free) there.

Great stuff!

Alex Gray from DEEP MAGIC informed me that three new deep tapes to float to (by: DEREK ROGERS, DEEP MAGIC SPLIT, GKFOES VJGOAF) are now available. Look here for more info:

http://deeptapes.com/products-page/

I don't know if anyone around here remembers TODD PARKER or his former rock/space band TADPOLES based in NYC and Hoboken, NJ in the 90's. I have to admit I didn't know either, but anyway, TODD PARKER AND THE WITCHES have a new album out, called Greetings From The Star Chamber, and what I heard so far is absolutely stellar music! Every track's a winner – neo-psychedelia somewhere between early 70's PINK FLOYD, CHROME and mid-80's indie rock with a slight metal influence! This one is a digital-download-only release and available at http://toddparkerandthewitches.bandcamp.com/

Listen before you buy/download!

Here's an appetizer track from that album. If you like it, go and support the artists and buy that thing!

Todd: here or here or here (opening track Squigs).

http://www.toddparkerandthewitches.com/

Carrie Oakley is a guy who runs an internet course: "Novice to Slash: 100 Free Resources for Teaching Yourself Guitar". If that sounds interesting to you, you may have a look here: http://www.onlinecolleges.org/novice-to-slash-100-free-resources-for-teaching-yourself-guitar/

Far as I understand it, it's free. (Maybe you can teach him some English in exchange...)

If you happen to live or to spend some time in Berlin, Germany, this month, you will surely be interested in the next "Psychedelic Cinema" event, presented by neo-krautrocker band ATELIERtHEREMIN:

Date: Friday, 10 September 2010 , 8 pm

Location: Kantine am Berghain, Am Wriezener Bahnhof, 10243 Berlin-Friedrichshain / S-Ostbahnhof

Psychedelic Cinema Berlin 2010: atelierTheremin live & underground films

Following up on their successful series of events at the Babylon-Mitte movie theater in Berlin in 2007, atelierTheremin will resume the concept of combining live music with movies which are mainly SCREENED WITHOUT SOUND.

atelierTheremin, Berlins well known electronic Neo-Krautrockers, will add sound to some of the most prized gems of the 60s underground film genre, such as "Towers Open Fire" by William S. Burroughs and Anthony Balch (UK/USA 1963 - don't worry; Burroughs will be heard speaking...) and "Brain Damage" by Ira Cohen (USA 1968/2006).

This time the upcoming event takes place on the occasion of the UNERHÖRT! film festival in cooperation with ClubSpreeBerlin @ BERLIN MUSIC WEEK 2010.

Doors open 8:00pm

Admission: 8,- EUR

http://www.psychedelic-cinema.com/

http://www.ateliertheremin.org/

http://www.unerhoert-filmfest.de/index.php/site/events

Psychedelic Bob over at http://mokshamusic.blogspot.com/ has posted some ultra rare ORANGE live stuff from 1994, including an interesting version of PINK FLOYD's Astronomy Domine as well as a 14 minutes plus version of one of the band's live masterpieces Draw Down the Distance.

Bob also reposted ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR's weird acid trip recording "Acid Daze". from 1992. Thanks, Bob!

Rob Jacobs - So Many Eyes! (USA 2009)

Reminding me somehow of the DIRTY PROJECTORS and MARC BOLAN (only regarding the vocals) 21 years old multi-instrumentalist ROB JACOBS from Illinois delivers one amazing, highly inventive work.

It all was done in single takes with no edits (an exception being the precussion); written, recorded an performed by Rob Jacobs. Clarinet performed by Lars Heemskirk.

The songs are mainly based on acoustic guitar playing, vocals and some percussion. All songs are full of twists and never fail to surprise the listener.

Recommended!

Q - Where exactly are you from?

A - I am currently living in carbondale illinois. i grew up in the state of maine.

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

A - Rob Jacobs is my real name.

Q - How recorded?

A - So Many Eyes was recorded in a basement in urbana illinois. i used audacity (free software) and a very shitty computer. i also had a small alesis mixer that i used for an interface. the microphone was an AKG wide diaphram.

Q - When recorded?

A - April-May 2009.

Q - Who involved? Who played what?

A - I played and recorded everything except for the clarinet which was performed by Lars Heemskirk.

Q - Any more releases? Any "official" releases (label?)?

A - I have a bunch of albums but only one other is currently available online: http://cllct.com/release/tomfoolerytourfulllength2009

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

A - I have been recording since i was in highschool and i started performing around 2007 or so. My first tour was just last march.

Q - Any previous bands worth mentioning?

A - Not really, i played classical violin before this.

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

A - ...

Q - Influences?

A - Lata Mangeshkar, Sun Ra, Federico Garcia Lorca, Federico Fellini, Ethiopian music, Gamelan, Caetano Veloso, Erykah Badu, Aaliyah, Thayagaraja, Ali Farka Toure, harry partch, alot more....

Q - Website, Myspace?

A - http://myspace.com/robjacobsisquadulant

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

A - Ancient cultures seemed to know how to saturate themselves in beauty that has been forgotten.

Favourite track: difficult to single out any specific song - they are all excellent.

ROB JACOBS: So Many Eyes! (USA 2009)

(mp3-zip, 11 tracks, 40 min, 89,9 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

Richard There - Who touched my bones (EP, "There" 2010) + OK, I'll do all that again (Compilation album, 2010)

RICHARD THERE is a guy from "There", who is into music since 2005. "Who touched my bones" is Richard's second regular release, recorded in February 2010.

Not an easy task to describe RICHARD THERE's music. One probably could call it dark experimental folk. Arrangements are rather sparse most of the time. The voice is very much to the fore, giving the tracks almost the quality of a poetry reading. The lyrics are sometimes personal, sometimes abstract, sometimes provoking...

Interesting piece of music!

"I'm making music since 2005 but never made an album until 2008. This first album contains the songs I made without instruments (because I didn´t have any intruments in that time but really want to make music).

... The first one is called "How many times I´ll have to die?" and can be heard here:

http://www.lastfm.de/music/Richard+there/How+many+times+I%C2%B4ll+have+to+die%3F - In my last.fm page you can also find another two releases. One called "B-sides" which was released now in 2010 and one with Cover songs released in 2009. ... I have a website where I put draws and comics I make: http://richardthere.blogspot.com/ - I think the draws and comics are pretty related with my music. There you can also find a review about the album I sent to you. ... I think that my biggest influences are Daniel Johnston, Mark E. Smith (The Fall) and Calvin Johnson. This 3 man estimulated me to make my own music. ... for this album I was inspired or influenced by The Legendary Pink Dots and by Julian Cope. This two bands were really important for this album."

(R. T.)

http://richardthere.blogspot.com/

(music as well as comics and drawings)

Favourite track: Wesley Willis

RICHARD THERE: Who touched my bones

(EP 2010)

01 - Cat in my head

02 - Empty bed

03 - You should go on

04 - Wesley Willis

05 - In my dreams

(mp3-zip, 5 tracks, 13 min, 19,4 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

"I would like to tell you that I made a compilation album now with a selection of my music and maybe it's something for you. It's a long album and shows every direction that my music can go." (R. T.)

Some of the tracks of the compilation sampler feature a girl singer (I'm debby, who are you?; The song of the yellow girl), and the song collection shows indeed a greater variety of styles than the ep. Some songs are quite funny, others are rather strange, almost disturbing (Ignore the machine, Words) (I know - kind of a cover song, but I'll ignore that fact....)

RICHARD THERE: OK, I'll do all that again

(Compilation album, 2010)

(includes the EP above)

(mp3-zip, 25 tracks, 77 min, 140,6 MB)

Get it here or here or here!