We're Late For Class - # 20 A Collection (USA)

This is a great collection of stoned improvised music and the best way to get introduced to this anarchic very creative unit of space invaders. Quote: "If you don't like this well-sequenced set of drug-induced space hymns, then you'll know to ignore the rest of our shit...".

Several other blogs already posted this collection, but since the WLFC post of "Set the Controls..." had so many download hits, I think it is quite justified to post this one here as well. Especially since it is so good.

Enjoy and check out their site!

We're Late For Class - A Collection (#20)

(mp3 zip, 10 songs, 103,7 MB, 76 min)

 

1. It's a Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl - 4.56

2. Burden Bearers (of Aristocracy) - 4.54

3. (Hand me That) Revolutionary Coat - 5.50

4. (Another) Summer of Heigel - 8.33

5. Theme to John Carpenter's King Heroin - 9.07

6. Blunt Force Trauma (unit) - 9.42

7. Fukhausen (excerpt) - 2.22

8. Tommy Reese's DTs (Relapse) - 11.42

9. A Buoy, 40 Yards Out - 8.20

10. Final Moments of Barry Cowsill (Redux 4) - 10.08

 

GET IT HERE! (Re-up 04/24)

Cloud Nine & The Vitamin C - Evolution of a psychedelic Band (2)(GER.)

This is the 2nd post of my little feature "EVOLUTION OF A PSYCHEDELIC BAND" about the german late 80s psych band CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C.
The first nine songs are a good example of how the band sounded live in 1988. The band, playing for the first time in front of a larger festival crowd, is nervous, seems unsure of itself and so the playing is quite sloppy in places (there are even a few bad mistakes – e.g. listen to the bridge part at "Brainstrorm"...– ) BUT there are also some moments of greatness and magic (I especially like the guitar sound in the middle of "Brainstorm" (at around 3.05) and "Jack'o'Lantern" after the short drum solo and of course the jam part of "Survivor").  This live version of "Survivor" is much better than the demo version two years later.
The last five songs are rehearsal/demo recordings, the last four featuring a guy called Michael Szentc on percussion, who didn't stay long enough to play the next live gig. 

CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C - Official Bootleg Archives Vol. 3 

(Live 1988/Rehearsals and demos 1988)

(mp3 zip, sbrd,100,7 MB, 14 songs, 72 min) 

 No longer available for download.

"Rock im Depot" Lorsch, Straßenbaudepot 1988-09-02:

1. Black Queen part 1 (6.47)

2. Black Queen part 2 (1.41)

3. Brainstorm (5.50)

4. (Announcement) (0.16)

5. I'm Lost (5.23)

6. Jack'o'Lantern (10.06)

7. Survivor (10.54)

8. (Introducing the band) (0.36)

9. Car Car (3.50)

 

 

 Rehearsals/demos 1988:

10. Annemarie (3.37)

11. I'm Lost (5.07)

12. Last Night (Afterthought) (5.31)

13. Black Queen (8.45)

14. Car Car (3.22)
(no longer available for download)

SUPPORT THE ARTISTS: Check out their Bandcamp site for their official releases.

Orange - Demo 1993 (GER.)

 

Some time ago I posted "Sleep My Love" from the first demo of the german psychedelic rock band ORANGE. Here now is the complete first demo, recorded in 1993.

ORANGE started late 1992 in Frankfurt as a 60s/70s inspired neo-psychedelic rock band and recorded some demos in the early 90s. All the band members had played previously in other experimental or psychedelic rock bands in the Rhein Main area and/or Berlin. Guitar player Maxim Engl (aka Michael S.) came from the JANITORS OF LUNACY, a heavily experimental industrial wave band in the 80s, Daniel P. Caesar ("Denner") from the psych jam band CAPTAIN FARTFISH AND HIS CAREFUL MUFFINS and the fun project THOTES SCHWEIN (the wrong H is on purpose) among others, girl singer Suse from HORSE BARDORTIES LIEBESCHOR and bassist Mike S. from CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C.

Their influences ranged from THE DOORS, PATTI SMITH, THE CURE, BUFFALO TOM to THROBBING GRISTLE/PSYCHIC TV and a hundred more. For example you can hear a DAVID BOWIE quote from "Hunky Dory" at the beginning of "Drowning", while in the middle break of that same song you can hear a parody of the TV series "Star Treck" (in German!) in the jug sound style of the 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS! The whole demo is a firework of different sounds, quotes and ideas. (By the way: Only around 60 tapes were originally sold at concerts or given away to friends.)
Enjoy!

ORANGE - 1st demo (GER 1993) 

1. (While the) Rosies Die - 4.15 

2. The Idiot in Bed - 6.20 

3. Drowning - 6.54 

4. Before the Night - 4.12 

5. Sleep My Love - 9.07 

(mp3 zip, 44,7 MB, covers included, 31 min)
Get it here!

Catasto Elettrico - Gas (IT)

• CATASTO ELETTRICO is an improvisational italian band, that retired from playing live to concentrate on recording improvised sessions very much in a jazzy progressive style (with some indi influences). This session here, "GAS", reminds me a little bit of TORTOISE in some aspects and very much of the early SOFT MACHINE (just listen to that fuzz bass!), which is meant as a BIG compliment of course.
  
• If you like their sound, you can go and visit their blog, where they offer some of their great music to download for free. Enjoy!
• By the way: Don't let the cover fool you – this isn't beer drinkers' music!

CATASTO ELETTRICO - GAS (IT 2007?)

(mp3 zip, 35,7 MB)

Get it here!

Atom Heart Mother played live 2003

If you like PINK FLOYD's "ATOM HEART MOTHER" you should take a look here. This is a complete performance of the title track from the 1970 PF record, played by conservatoire de paris (CNSMDP) on March, 3rd 2003. And they really did a fantastic job!

Cloud Nine & The Vitamin C - Evolution of a psychedelic Band (1)(GER.)

• This is the first post of my little feature "EVOLUTION OF A PSYCHEDELIC BAND".
• Listening to the 3 demos here you have the chance to witness, how the german psychedelic rock band CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C of the late 80s/early 90s evolved. 
• 
  
• THE 1st DEMO: After one and a half years of rehearsing and playing some gigs in small youth clubs the band recorded its first demo, ironically called "ON THE WAY UP", in 1985 in a basement with real crude equipment. Old instruments incl. an ancient hissy echo unit, NO noise reduction, cheap microphones – well, you get the picture. But they tried their best. OK, the timing is more than horrible and the singing voice of their new singer at that time was, well ... somewhat unusual. But what the fuck...
• The songs:  "Intro (L. B. Theme)" Right from the beginning we get some 70s sound, a riff "borrowed" from JETHRO TULL that soon changes when the old synthesizer runs amuck. The echo unit finishes everything up in a cloudy haze. – "Annemarie": a nice ballad with a somewhat mystical atmosphere, showing that they also could write proper SONGS. – "Brainstorm": the most overtly psychedelic track reminding of early PINK FLOYD or some KRAUTROCK experiments; a mixture of mini moog noises, echoed guitar and some theme reminding of  Mozart or Bach. Strange indeed! Has sadly the worst quality of all those songs. – "Stoned": reminiscent of some TEN YEARS AFTER boogie, played not very well and – "Clown": some mid-70s hard rock with a singer feeling obviously not very comfortable. (The B-Side of this demo tape has also 3 live tracks from the same year, that I will post later.)
• 
  
• The UNRELEASED 1989 DEMOS: The band now clearly has found its style – 60s psychedelic rock influenced by bands like the DOORS or PINK FLOYD with some hard rock riffs mixed in; the sound quality now is much better, and so is the overall playing. Gone is the former lead singer Markus B.
• The songs: "Angel of Mine", a lyrically depressing fantasy story about a Lover/Angel that has to leave; musically this is a mix between Black Sabbath riffs and some Prog Rock elements, especially at the end – "Car Car" a heavily phased song (vocal part), keyboard and guitar reminding strongly of early DOORS (as do the next two songs). – "Annemarie" a much better version, though the vocals could be stronger. – "I'm Lost": The opening lines are "borrowed" from the song with the same name by unkonwn 60s garage band STYX, the rest is pure DOORS sound.
• 
• THE 2nd DEMO (1990): At least partly a better recording soundwise, though one has to get used to the different guitar sound by the new guitar player. Less focused than the unreleased demo; more a mixture of different sounds and influences.
• The songs: "Black Queen": the magnus opum; one long psychedelic track with the organ very much to the front. Has a strongly phased bass solo (played like a guitar solo) in the middle. - ""Suvivor": Coming home from fighting in the war; could be about some Viet Vet or  in fact any vet. Quite monotone ("Sitting in a train"), like train rides are. The vocals are something of an acquired taste, but I love the last 3 minutes, reminding me of the "take-off" parts CNVC did in their live sets. Those free form jammings could go on for quite a long time... – "Angel of Mine": not bad, though I'm not sure if I like this version better than the other. – "Last Night" a sad love song about missed opportunities; more in a hard rock style. – "Tracks of My Tears": has some kind of a pseudo funk bass riff (remember: the band has the song title"Cloud Nine" in its name, = famous psychedelic soul song by the TEMPTATIONS), sticks in the mind somehow, and is interrupted by some boogie guitar in the middle. Nice pseudo funk wah wah! 
• 
  
• Having access to the huge band archive, I cleaned up the original tapes a little bit, did some eq-ing and "remastering", but don't expect any wonders. THIS WERE AND STILL ARE HOMEMADE LOFI RECORDINGS. But CNVC were an exceptional band in more than one way – especially at that horrible time – the 80s (when everybody else was listening to Boy George and bands like Aha...)
• But the best recordings of CNVC were still to come – the 1992 Demos with yet another new guitar player.
•  
• https://cloud-nine-and-the-vitamin-c.blogspot.com/ 
  

CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C - Demos 1985-1990

(mp3 zip, 15 songs, 101,2 MB, 72 min)

 
No longer available.

Some tracks from the 2nd demo were official released 

on the 10" EP RAINFRONTIER (CNVC 10) in December 2023.

You may listen to the now officially released songs on bandcamp.

 

Annemarie from the unreleased 1989 Demo   

 

Rainfrontier - EP, released in December 2023

Anyone's Dreamcolour - It's So Cold Out Here In Space/FfM Bunker (1996/95) (GER.)

• ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR was the solo project of Mike Schröder, bass player of CLOUD NINE (& THE VITAMIN C) (1983-1992), SISTER LUNA (1992/'93) and ORANGE (1993-'96). Lofi home recordings on 4 track exist from the years 1992 until 1999, all unreleased and only given away to friends.
• 
  
• The music of ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR in generell is less focused and more experimental than most of Mike's previous work with his former bands and heavily rooted in late 60s/early 70s Psychedelic Rock and experimental music. For example "Girl in a Drop of water" sounds somewhat like a crossing between COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH's "Grace" and the GRATEFUL DEAD's "Rosemary", while "Spacelab" seems influenced by STEREOLAB and HAWKWIND.
• 
  
• "Laughing Inside", written by P. Hergo, was a song by SISTER LUNA, that was never properly recorded; "Girl in a Drop of Water" was an old CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C  song.
• "Electric Hippie Church" is performed completely by Daniel P. Caesar, aka SUPER KING, Mike's band mate from ORANGE, and is based on the organ track of "Eternal Hippies".
• Enjoy!

• ANYONE'S DREAMCOLOUR - It's So Cold Out Here 
• In Space (1996)/FfM Bunker (1995)
  
• 1. Laughing Inside - 4.06
• 2. Spacelab - 5.19
• 3. Girl In A Drop Of Water - 4.25
• 4. Eternal Hippies (feat. Super King) - 4.53 
• 5. Electric Hippie Church (performed by Super King) - 4.45
• (mp3 zip, 5 songs, 23.32 min,33,5 MB, covers incl.)
• (New Link HERE! Re-post 2022)

Amber Light / Dirty Projectors

• Some days ago I had the pleasure to see a promising german band, called AMBER LIGHT, in a small, but legendary club in the town I live. Surely not a psychedelic band – though they started playing some kind of prog rock in the style of  1970s Pink Floyd or even Marillion – they can grab you and shake you, and have some great melodies (more in the style now of The Cure or The Smith or some of the newer guitar bands) that stick in mind. My personal favourites are "Still Going Nowhere" and "Softly There, Everywhere". Check 'em out at their site and at Myspace.
  
• Unti now the band recorded 2 EPs and 1 CD called "Goodbye to Dusk, Farewell to Dawn" (2004). A new CD will be released soon.
• 
  
• That reminds me of the best concert I saw late last year, which was by a New York band called DIRTY PROJECTORS. That band centered around little genius David Longstreth simply blew me away. I first came to know them through an art exhibition, where the "psychedelic"movie "The Getty Address" (based on an idea from Don Henley (yes, THAT Don Henley!)) was shown – a true masterpiece full of colours and surprises AND great music; yet to be released offically on DVD. The band's latest release is "Rise Above" (2007), lyrically Black Flag inspired/reimagined, which takes some time to get into, but is quite good. But the DIRTY PROJECTORS are best as a live band. You should check 'em out doing some Daytrotter Session, where you can download some tracks free. Their first Daytrotter session is even better. My personal favourite is: "Fucked for Life". It's brilliant, like some wild mixture of late Robert Fripp guitar (e.g. on "Discipline"), some Yes Prog riffs and backing vocals and Prince lead vocals. And then there is some Indie and Post Punk influences too... So what would you call that music!?? Anyway, it's great and very original.

We're Late For Class - # 6 "Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun..." (USA)

This is simply amazing! A classic "What if... situation". The title says it all: "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". Ufff, well... That surely beats "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in A Cave And Grooving With A Pict".

Quote from the WE'RE LATE FOR CLASS Blog "You're about to hear Vanilla Fudge making fun of Iron Butterfly at the Fillmore in the late 60s by playing a Pink Floyd space song..." This piece starts out quite harmlessly with the repetitous main riff of the PF song and then suddenly finds itself in outer space for about 22 minutes before returning to the main theme...
Check out the whole story of this far out recording at their great blog. There's lots of other cool stuff to find!

WE'RE LATE FOR CLASS is an all improvisational college band (doing also some cut & paste) with over a dozen rotating members! And they are offering all of their work to download for free. Surely an interesting concept. I'm certainly eager to hear more!

WE'RE LATE FOR CLASS - # 6: Set The Controls...

(mp3 zip, 1 track, 40:36 min, 55,2 MB)

Get it here! (New link 04-2024)

The Whole & Damo Suzuki (ex CAN singer!) - Live in Offenbach 2007 (GER.)

THE WHOLE is Stolle & Member's improvisational Rock Band Project; a "classic rock trio" (Christian dr, Stolle g, Member bs.).

 

This here is a very special treat!
What you get to hear is the complete second concert that the WHOLE did with the famous CAN singer from the early Seventies in Offenbach 2007. It was recorded in glorious sound quality with 8 tracks on laptop and is one long ecstatical musical trip, in three parts. No CAN fan or any true krautrock fan should miss this! It's a great performance, starting with electronic sounds and then slowly drifting completly away into the void. 

Many thanks to Stolle & Member for sharing!

Enjoy!

 

The Whole & Damo Suzuki - Live in Offenbach (2007)
(mp3 zip, 3(!) tracks, 100 min., 225,34 MB, great sound)
1. Kluster (16.23)
2. Strasse (21.17)
3. Nebel (62.31)
(Get it here or have a look here!)