Rancho Relaxo - Look At The Wall, Son/Harmony And Rockets (Norway 2007/8)

RANCHO RELAXO - Look At The Wall, Son (2007)

(mp3-zip, 10 tracks, 46,6 MB,@VBR 192k )

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

RANCHO RELAXO - Harmony And Rockets (EP 2008)

(mp3-zip, 3 tracks, 12,5 MB, @VBR 192k)

Get it HERE! New Link 05/2024

 

Recording session at Tilla Studio

 

Don't know very much about this band from Norway. RANCHO RELAXO seem to come from the westcoast of Norway and there are at least four guys involved (Inge Kjetil: voc, g, Ole: g, Martin: bs and Khalil: dr.)

 

  Martin: bs     Ole: g

 

They have a great late 80s/early 90s neo-psych sound that reminds me somehow of the FEELIES – slightly depressing but nevertheless happy sounding at the same time. Guitar chords repeated over and over, never too fast, never too excited, but quite atmospheric. Don't expect any improvised heavy krautrock jamming here. 

 

The tracks are very much in some kind of song format, but nevertheless somehow dreamy and a little bit strange, with vocals merging very well with the soundscape, never too up-front.

 

RANCHO RELAXO have been compared to BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE, but I can't say too much about that. The only thing I can say is: I like their sound very much and have listened to their music over and over for the last days. This stuff is really great – 

 

strongly recommended!             

The mighty organ

Khalil: dr

 

RANCHO RELAXO have two recordings on offer here: a 10-track album called "Look at the Wall, Son" (2007) and a 3-track EP called "Harmony Rockets" (2008). Both are licensed and distributed freely via Jamendo.

 

One has to wonder about the band's name, which probably wasn't that good a choice, for there exists at least one more band with a similar name, that (to my knowledge) is rooted in the techno/electronic movement.

Inge Kjetil: voc, g

Check out their Myspace appearance.

3XCX3 - A River Flowing Through Us (RU 1998/2008)

3XCX3 is a Siberian one-man psychedelic band, yes, you read right: this guy here, who wants to share his music with you, is from Russia, I'm proud to tell...

The man behind this band (whose name I don't know) sent me this collection of songs, described by himself as "dirt(y) acoustic-kraut-psycho-ethno..." Well, this probably will do, I guess.

He also wrote, that it's a pity that we don't understand the lyrics of his songs, because they were quite important. I myself don't speak Russian (and don't know if the songs are political or "psychedelic" or whatever) and so I have to trust him on that issue. Nevertheless the music is good enough to stand alone.

You should really check this one out if you want to find out how contemporary russian/siberian psychedelic underground folk music with a strong ethno touch sounds.

If I get it right, some of the songs here were written (and probably also recorded) in 1998 and some in 2008 in the Ural Mountains amidst its fast rivers. In the moment 3XCX3 is recording "a new experimental conceptual album with very mad psycho muzz". Sounds promising to me!

3XCX3 has his own blog (in russian language) where he tries to introduce little known psychedelic underground bands (like TRAUMMASCHINE recently) from all over the world to his countrymen.

Of course you can also visit his MySpace site.

Enjoy!

3XCX3 - A River Flowing Through Us

(mp3-zip, 8 tracks, 58 min, 70,3 MB)

Get it here!

See you soon!

I'm taking a short rest.

I will be back soon, so stay tuned!

In the meantime you may have a look at the ARCHIVES.

There's lots of great psych and experimental music to discover.

Enjoy!

Andrew Bland and Steve Logel - Zonohedra (US 2007)

ZONOHEDRA was a project of Andrew Bland and Steve Logel concentrating on atmospheric instrumental sounds and quite relaxing ambient collages. A true home-recording, all tracks were recorded in Andrew's basement (Temple, GA).

"... makes for fine background music on a rainy afternoon or late at night. Andrew apparently liked the use of the MicroKorg from PAPER FENCES and brought in a few vintage synths to flesh out the all-instrumental disc. I tend to enjoy the more percussive tracks like 'Alkaline', 'Solstice', and 

'Whisper Forth' most."

(Dr. Schluss, on whose blog this musical diamond was posted first)

Great instrumental album, that sometimes reminds me of early post rockers TORTOISE ('Cytoplasm'), with the repetitious bassline and synth-sounds very much to the fore but never getting too excited... Cool smooth over-all atmosphere, sometimes getting more sinister.

Check also out ANDREW BLAND's web page here.

ANDREW BLAND AND STEVE LOGEL - ZONOHEDRA (2007)

(mp3-zip, 10 tracks, 56 min)

Get it HERE. New link May 2024.

All songs  - of course - copyright 2007 Andrew Bland (c).

The Amber Light - promo video

THE AMBER LIGHT are a young German band, founded in 2001 in Wiesbaden, that started as a progrock band and drifted into the indi pop and post rock field, though they don't like any of those categorizations. They supported many national and international bands (as diverse as WIR SIND HELDEN, ARCHIVE, NEW MODEL ARMY, MARILLION, THE POSIES, THE TRAIL OF DEAD) in the last years and have released 2 eps and 2 cds until now:

2002: As They Came They Slightly Disappeared (EP)

2004: Goodbye To Dusk, Farewell To Dawn (CD)

2005: Stranger & Strangers (EP)

2008: Play (CD)

Myspace 

Buy their latest record here.

St. James Infirmary - A Sound Is A Sound (UK 2008)

ST. JAMES INFIRMARY is a band project centered around G. W. Lang from Ashington, Northumberland, UK.

"Sometimes whimsical, sometimes melancholic, sometimes abrasive, but always following their own star; SJI are the baby, pet, and brainchild of GW Lang, and he is the one consistent element of everything SJI produce. No two gigs have consisted of the same band line-up for over 15 years, and every show is different. The tracks on "A Sound Is A Sound" derived from rehearsals for a gig that took place in August. They find SJL in improvisational mood, dragging songs from the ether, hammering them into shape and then letting them drift away again. Some of these are entirely live-to-minidisc (A Sound Is A Sound, Shankered) others have been treated to overdubs and further manipulations. See if you can guess which is which.

 

Contained within are psychedelic excursions and daytrips down the Krautrock autobahn, sonic scree as well as some indie-based songsmithery. Some will entertain, others confound, but as the website Losing Today put it (http://www.losingtoday.com/tales.php), SJI display an 'admirable and adamant refusal to be easily pigeonholed under any given generic flag' 

 

(Yawn! How often have I heard/read that same silly description; in german it is: "...passen in keine Schublade!" Come on, writers: You can do better than that! (mike-floyd))."

 

 (Info by SJI)

On this recording here ST. JAMES INFIRMARY are heavily into improvised krautrock jams – simply brillant. Recommended!

Enjoy!

Visit ST. JAMES INFIRMARY at Myspace.

ST. JAMES INFIRMARY - A Sound Is A Sound (UK 2008)

(mp3 zip, 10 tracks, 58 min, 60,3 MB)

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

Bill Rogers - Song collection (US ca. 2008)

Here's a collection of songs of yet another very talented song writer, who wants to share his music with us.

BILL ROGERS from Huntington, Vermont, USA, has been recording his own songs for 10+ years and playing in bands for more than that. He now is a member of the sunshine pop band RAQUEL'S BOYS as well as a solo artist in his own right. Bill's latest albums are available at CD BABY (PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTISTS, IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR!).

"My sound is a boiled down synthesis of hundreds of 60's Sunshine pop, Folk Rock, Psychedelic, and Garage bands I've loved over the years. My sound ranges in emotion from jubilant BEACH BOYS style pop to moody, misty ballads to the guitar driven, mind bending, psychedelic!" (B. R.) 

A near perfect description of Bill's music, I'd say. One can clearly detect traces of bands like GANDALF, SAGITTARIUS, THE BYRDS, turned on BEATLES or THE STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK as well as of harder, more guitar driven bands like THE PRETTY THINGS. Very well done, very cool stuff!

Get to know Bill and his music at his MySpace site. 

Thanks Bill, for sharing! Enjoy!

 

BILL ROGERS - Song Collection

(mp3-zip, 7 tracks, 31 min, 30,9 MB)

Get it HERE. Re-up 05/2024

 

My favourite tracks: 

Leave It – killer song that I can listen to again and again

and: Raga Mind-Melt - fanatstic psychedelic stuff!

Traummaschine - Einz, Zwei, Drei, Vier (2005); 2 (2006); Die Kosmische Sache; Anomalia (2008) (SP)

TRAUMMASCHINE  ("Dreamachine" in German) is a Spanish psychedelic/experimental band project from Valencia consisting of two members: Luis Forner and Paco Gomez. They have released 4 albums until now:

- Einz, Zwei, Drei, Vier (2005) (on the front cover misspellt: "Einz" for eins)

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

 

 

-  2 (2006)

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

 

 

- Die Kosmische Sache (2008) 

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

 

and

- Anomalia (2008).

Get it HERE! Re-up 05/2024

 

 

TRAUMMASCHINE offer all of their records for free download here and on several other places aswell.

 

As one might expect from the band name and also the album titles those two guys are heavily into experimental krautrock of the Mid-Seventies, namely bands like ASH RA (TEMPEL), POPOL VUH, AGITATION FREE, TANGERINE DREAM, FAUST and the like. Clearly their sound is more influenced by those "kosmischen Musikern" than let's say by german jazz rock bands like GURU GURU or hard rock acts like BIRTH CONTROL - which is a good thing, in my opinion...

"Experimentation, improv music, drones, free jazz, electronics, noise are some of the elements that shape its understanding of the music (...) You should watch the TRAUMMASCHINE with closed eyes and listen to it with open ears. The escapism is legitimate (...) The antinomy between myth and reality is dissolved, the identification between human beings and Angels is accomplished, as it is practically accomplished in mysticism..." (Traummaschine; quote from Myspace)

TRAUMMASCHINE were one of the bands that were invited to play this summer at the Avantgarde Festival Schiphorst, Germany, a famous festival organized by Jean-Hervé Péron (FAUST), featuring bands playing avantgarde, industrial, experimental, noise and krautrock music.

Check out their Myspace-site for more info.

These recordings are highly recommended!!! Everybody who's somehow interested in (mostly instrumental) modern day psychedelic krautrock should really check them out.

I'd love to see those guys live! Should be really interesting.