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.

Cloud Nine - Evolution of a psychedelic Band (6): The Best of the ELEDIL Tapes (GER. 1991/92)

Probably the musical highlight of my little series about the German neo psychedelic band CLOUD NINE (& THE VITAMIN C)...

CLOUD NINE - Official Bootleg Archives O.B.A.

Vol. 11-12

The Best of the ELEDIL Tapes

(mp3 zip of 2 CDR, 23 tracks, 158 min, art + info incl., 218 MB)

CD 1 (12-28-1991)

1. I'm Lost - 6.23

2. Rainfrontier - 2.50

3. Angel Of Mine - 5.03

4. Draw Down the Distance - 18.41

5. Empty And Cold - 9.39

6. Tracks Of My Tears - 4.46

7. Sunspots - 8.57

8. My Sunday on A Friday - 4.59

9. Call - 4.54

10. Black Queen - 12.07

CD 2 (02-22-1992)

1. Call (faded in) - 3.53

2. Walking My Road - 3.09

3. Tracks Of My Tears - 3.40

4. I Don't Care - 4.07

5. On An Ordinary Day - 6.14

6. Empty And Cold - 8.11

7. I'm Lost - 6.42

8. Death Blues - 5.25

9. (It Makes) No Difference - 3.22

10. Sunspots (Part 1) - 4.02

11. Draw Down The Distance - 12.31

12. Black Queen - 10.59

13. Der Sandmann ist tot - 6.38
Get it here (CD1) and here (CD2)!

CLOUD NINE was the sixth incarnation of CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C, lasting from about June 1991 until February 1992 (the name was shortened before playing the ELEDIL gigs).

CN(VC #6) played only two live gigs, both at the small ELEDIL Club in Darmstadt, Germany, before the band broke up. Between the 1st gig there in December 1991 and the 2nd one in February 1992 lay many weeks of rehearsals and also the first (and only) "proper" recording session in a semi-professional studio (in fact held on only 2 days, recording 6 backing tracks live in the studio and some overdubs, until the band ran out of money – so the mixing was never really finished and the mastertapes sadly seem lost. – But finally: in December 2023 the Band released those studio recordings remasters on vinyl. Recommended!.

 

Get the LP at discogs.

Digital download from Bandcamp.

 

On these recordings here you'll find live versions of all the songs that were recorded in the studio earlier/later – and they differ very much! Just compare the live version of their psychedelic masterpiece "Draw Down The Distance" from the first gig (nearly 19 minutes spaced out jamming – b.t.w. my favourite version of that song) to the much more structured version from the 2nd ELEDIL gig (much more in the style of the studio version and much shorter).

Pete Hergo (live at the ELEDIL): g., voc.

Also of note are the relativly heavy/punk-ish sounding newer songs like "Call", "My Sunday On a Friday", "I Don't Care" or "No Difference" as well as the rearrangements of older "classics" like "Rainfrontier" or "I'm Lost" – all played pretty heavy and in strong contrast to the more psychedelic jam tracks, e.g. "Sunspots". It seems that the band, featuring the new, very competent guitar player PETE HERGO, was looking for a new direction around that time and the results sound quite promising with the newer songs showing a clear influence of bands like THE CURE ("I Don't Care"), GREEN ON RED ("Walking My Road") or even THE CHARLATANS' rave sound ("My Sunday On A Friday"). Clearly a new evolution and a welcome addition to the more Sixties oriented older CNVC sound with tracks like "I'm Lost" or "Car Car" or "Rainfrontier" (more in the mood of 60s Garage bands like THE ELECTRIC PRUNES or the acid rock of THE DOORS or early PINK FLOYD psychedelia ("Brainstorm", "Black Queen")).

Many of those songs featured here have only been played once or twice live, e.g. "Der Sandmann ist tot" (= The Sandman is dead"), a very strange song, written by keyboard player Dominik E., that wouldn't have sounded out of place in the WIM WENDERS movie "HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN". The only CLOUD NINE song, by the way, ever sung in German...

But after that 2nd ELEDEL gig not only the sandman was dead; "Der Sandmann ist tot" was the last song the band ever played live together, afterwards the band was dead as well...

Enjoy this Requiem and check out the official vinyl recordings of CLOUD NINE & THE VITAMIN C: https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/13014570-Cloud-Nine-The-Vitamin-C

https://cloud-nine-and-the-vitamin-c.blogspot.com/

 

Brian Andrew Marek - A Lion in the Sun (USA 2005/ed. 2008)

Here we go: Another work by BRIAN ANDREW MAREK, probably not extremely psychedelic or experimental, but more in the rock vein, this is nevertheless a fine album. If you're looking for the "more far out stuff" go and check out his "Indulgence" album below.

In the summer of 2005 "I fired up the (already obsolete) ADAT machine, chose some songs both old and new, and began the joyously painstaking task of recording a solo album. A SOLO album, for I am fully to blame for every instrument and every voice heard upon this recording. A solo ALBUM, because this was conceived as such, not as a serious of unrelated demos or experiments (...)

Please enjoy, and know that though I receive no monetary recompense, the right comment is more precious far than gold.

TECHNICAL NOTE (PLEASE READ): 

While I have prepared a MP3 version of the album for the convenience of those who don't want or aren't familiar with FLAC files, it suffers from the tiny glitches or drop-outs at track endings/beginning so common with crossfaded album encoded as separate MP3s (if there is workaround for this, please let me know (dito - mike-floyd) – I've never heard of one). BAM

The higher quality flac Version is available from Bandcamp:

https://brianandrewmarek.bandcamp.com/album/a-lion-in-the-sun 

Please support the artists and buy their music whenever it's possible. 

(mike-floyd) 

BRIAN ANDREW MAREK - A Lion in the Sun

 (Mp3 version; 2005/2008)

(mp3-zip, 16 tracks, 50 min, 113 MB) 

 Get it HERE. New link 05/2024