Blancanus - BR001-BR005 (SP 2008/9)

Excellent 60's garage-psychedelia/paisley underground from Spain - that's what's on offer here from the one-man-music-project BLANCANUS. If you like bands like PLASTICLAND, RAIN PARADE or MARSHMALLOW OVERCOAT - look no further: this is the stuff for you! Songs with unforgettable hooks, inventive playing including great fuzz and wah wah guitar and fantastic cheesy organ sounds - wow, I love that kind of stuff! Also to mind comes SYD BARRETT's PINK FLOYD (e.g.: "I've Got You in My Dreams")  - and (especially on the last song: "Mademoiselle") the mid-60s SERGE GAINSBOURG.

The song collection presented here comes in fact from 5 singles/EPs (numbered BR001-BR005 in chronological order) that all can be downloaded from BLANCANUS's website (see below). They would make a great LP though. Well, maybe some day...

My favourite track: "All Smiles" or probably "The Sea of LSD", but it's pretty hard to say: they are all very good!

By the way: BLANCANUS works also as a D.J. Wonder how that sounds...

Enjoy!

Interview with BLANCANUS, 2nd May 2009 (via email)

Where exactly are you from?

Bilbao, Spain (North Spain)

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

My real name is xxx xxx but I'm not interested in any mention. Thanks. Blancanus is enough.

How/When recorded? (at home/equipment...)?

The dates are in the covers (yyyy/mm/dd). I do my recordings in my living-room with the exception of the drums. You know, I respect my neighbourhood. I record the drums in the place where I practice with The Extended Plays, my band. (www.myspace.com/extendedplays). Blancanus is my personal project.

This is my equipment: Fender Telecaster, Mexican Jazz Bass, Synthesizer Yamaha CS2x, Multieffects Boss ME-500, Home Recording Station Yamaha 1600, Behringer C3 & Shure SM57 mics, a handful percussion items and several shakers, and I think that's all.

Who involved? Who played what?

I play all the instruments and vocals. You know, I'm busy and the people I know are busy... and I gotta rec the drums at 6.30 in the morning... difficult. But I would like some guests but I can't. Someday.

Any official releases? If so, label, record nr.?

Nope.

Since when are you into music?

Almost 20 years!!! I'm 34. I bought my first guitar when I was 15 years old. (I'm a dirty old man :D)

Any previous bands?

Blues bands, rock bands, pop bands, many bands but I quitted them cos I was getting bored, you know, no experimentation at all. Now I'm in The Extended Plays, a psychedelic rock band and I feel good with them.

Influences?

Long list here. Bands of the 60's, psychedelic bands. Especially the early Pink Floyd.

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

Yes, I avoid with a powerful feeling computers editing. I mean copy & paste and all those kind of bloody things... (END OF INTERVIEW)

http://www.myspace.com/blancanus

http://www.blancanus.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/extendedplays

Blancanus - BR001-BR005 (SP 2008/9)

(mp3 zip, 12 tracks, 38 min, 73,1 MB, front cover artwork incl.)

Blancanus - BR001-20080223

01 45 Collection - 3:10

02 I've Got You In My Dreams - 2:31

Blancanus - BR002-20080426

03 Plentiful Harvest - 3:16

04 Portuguese Queen - 2:51

Blancanus - BR003-20080624

05 Raspberries Cranberries Strawberries - 3:56

06 Little Irish Girl - 3:01

07 Lovely Witch - 2:44

08 All Smiles - 3:11

Blancanus - BR004-20081215

09 Old Chinese Woman's Magic Shop - 3:19

10 Cold Outside - 3:49

Blancanus - BR005-20090309

11 The Sea of LSD - 2:42

12 Mademoiselle - 2:59

(Links are dead! Re-Up when requested.)

Talha Asim Wynne - Anomalous Trek - EP (Pakistan 2009) + 7" (2006)

TALHA ASIM WYNNE is from Karachi, Pakistan, and his music really deserves your attention... It's a fascinating mix of instrumental shoegazer psych music in the style of MY BLOODY VALENTINE or SLOWDIVE ("Anomalous Trek") and a more psychedelic indie rock approach ("The Stones of Yesterday") with some tasty DAVID GILMOUR guitar layered over a late, more prog-gy PINK FLOYD soundscape, before STEVE VAI takes over after a few minutes ("Indistinct Commotion in the Head") - than back to GILMOUR again...

One can clearly hear many influences of TALHA ASIM's heroes in his music, but for me this isn't a bad thing, because he not simply copies those artists, he rather mixes some components of their different styles and so creates something completely new, something unique.

"I've been subconsciously into music for as far as i can remember, but i picked up guitar around 5 years back. - I started my guitar-esque journey with the likes of Steve Vai, early Santana and Dreamtheater, building up to an extensive collection of Jazz. - Then came the Pink Floyd phase which lead to an outburst of ambient/spacey music in my library, the like of Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride etc... - Even some indie bands like Yo La Tengo (which is the most played artist in my iTunes currently). I'm heavily influenced by experimental approaches in music. Frank Zappa, Igor Stravinsky, Kevin Shields, Thursten Moore, John Coltrane, David Gilmour, Syd Barret, etc, all these names have an impact on the music i make. - - Didn't ever have a band because i couldnt find the right musicians, but more recently i've been jamming with my friend Kayzad (drums), and we're working towards a project, so hopefully you could expect a lot of psychedelic stuff coming out. - - I wouldn't label my music, but it has to be a bit of ambient, psychedelic, rock and blues. and experimental of course... (...) I have never had a guitar teacher or anything, completely self taught." (T.A.W.)

Enjoy!

http://www.myspace.com/talhaasim

Talha Asim Wynne - Anomalous Trek - EP (2009)
(mp3 zip, 5 tracks, 42,4 MB, 27 min)
1 - Intro - 3:37
2 - Anomalous Trek - 3:45
3 - The Stones of Yesterday - 3:53
4 - Indistinct Commotion in the Head - 9:15
Bonus track:
5 - A Song for an Angel (Single 2006) - 5:54

Get it here or here!

Sky Picnic - Public Assembly, NYC 2009-04-26

SKY PICNIC live (04/2008)

If you ever wondered how the very talented neo psychedelic rock band SKY PICNIC from New York City might sound live, after listening to their very promising studio recordings posted here recently - THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!

Chris Sherman, guitar player and singer of SKY PICNIC, sent me some live tracks recorded 2009-04-26 at Public Assembly, NYC! Though the sound quality may not be perfect it is very good in my opinion, and the performance is excellent - showing the band in full psychedelic flight... Just listen to 'universal mind decoder' and you'll know what I mean...

Easily one of the best neo psychedelic bands around these days! Enjoy!

Sky Picnic- Public Assembly, NYC 2009-04-26

(mp3 zip, 4 tracks, 53,5 MB, 39 min)

1. warren - 7:05

2. moons of jupiter - 6:39

3. universal mind decoder - 17:25

4. miss central london - 7:47

Get it here or here!

VERTIGO SWIRL LIVE!!! - Saturday, May 23rd at the Way Out Club, Saint Louis, MO

Saint Louis, MO, USA (THC) - Scientists, philosophers and music fans alike are eagerly awaiting a rare and unique event as the elusive Vertigo Swirl takes corporeal form for a brief time this coming Saturday.  "I'm well acquainted with the various theories behind its operation and have read extensively about the peculiar time/space fluctuations that can occur," said Kjle Risch, a specialist in low frequency distortions, "but to actually experience the Vertigo Swirl first hand is a once in a lifetime opportunity."  Mr. Risch will be leading a joint coalition of the nation's highest minds as they observe and record the phenomenon at its epicenter, a local music venue known as the Way Out Club.

The Vertigo Swirl, which extracts cosmic energies from various points in time and space and converts them into auditory vibrations within the human hearing spectrum, was first observed by local guitarist Brian Andrew Marek during his so-called "basement experiments" last December.  Since Marek went public with his discoveries in January, the Vertigo Swirl's unique audio signature has reportedly been heard as far afield as Germany, Japan, Finland and New Zealand, but this Saturday will be the first - and possibly only - time that the phenomenon will occur in real time before an audience.

While Risch and the other professionals note that, despite the academic nature of their presence, the general public is welcomed to attend this unprecedented event, they do stress the intensity of the experience.  "It's an unsettling thing," said D.B. Cooper, International Percussionist of Mystery, "when you stare into the Vertigo Swirl, it stares back at you.  And it smells kinda funny, too, come to think of it."  The experiment begins 8:00 pm on Saturday, May 23rd at the Way Out Club, with further vibratory demonstrations by The Lushes and DinoFight. (Official press release - BAM; VERTIGO SWIRL)

http://www.myspace.com/brianandrewmarek

Listen to VERTIGO SWIRL here!

HLFP IS NOT DEAD - I'LL BE BACK SOON - STAY TUNED!

mike-floyd

SHORT BREAK

I'm facing some stupid computer problems and until these are solved I will not be able to post any new stuff. Sorry for that!

Hope, that I'll be back here soon...

In the meantime check out the ARCHIVES - there's lots of great psych, ambient and experimental stuff there to discover - and don't forget to have a look at the 

NEW COLLECTIVE REMIX PLAYGROUND!

Enjoy your time,

mike-floyd