Dropping two tracks that had been on heavy rotation at the beach house this year. The first is a jam by the Swedish band Goat titled “Hide from the Sun”. I love the heavily fuzzed out guitar line about 2/3 in to this one. The second is “Dawn of Time” by the San Diego reggae band Tribal Seeds. I know San Diego isn’t normally the place I would go to seek out this kind of music but this track goes great with sand, surf, and sunshine.
June 20th was the 45th anniversary of the 1969 release of “Aoxomoxoa” by the Grateful Dead. It’s hard to pick just one track. It’s like picking your favorite son or daughter. Since I can’t post all eight original tracks I’ll pick “China Cat Sunflower” a classic Garcia/Hunter psychedelic collaboration.
About four years ago I was sitting in the All Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, MA eating an Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown and drinking a Harpoon Ale. I was alone so I picked up a local music trade paper and was leafing through it when I stumbled upon a review for the album “i” by MMOSS a psychedelic jam band from New Hampshire. I was intrigued. After finishing my meal I went out an bought the CD somewhere near Harvard Square and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’m pretty sure they have only recently been available on Spotify and it looks like a re-issue of “i” is available. My pick for the week is “Hedge Creeper”. It’s a short fun jam full of late 60s AM radio tropes. I think Ron Burgundy is playing lead jazz flute on this one. Enjoy this track while driving with the top down.
Black Moth Super Rainbow member, Tobacco dropped a new album “Ultima II Massage” a few weeks ago and my pick for the week is “Eruption (Gonna Get My Hair Cut at the End of The Summer)”. I really like BMSR and Tobacco seems like he’s a major component of their sound. I especially dig some of the more throbbing-spacy-wavy tracks. The video for “Streaker”, directed by Eric Wareheim, is NSFW and pretty disturbing. Watch it with the lights on.
I’m just getting around to listening to Woods April release “With Light and With Love”. I like what I hear. My pick for the week is the title track. It kicks off with a McGuinn-esque guitar riff that weaves it’s way through the various structures the band has erected in this song. I’ll ask for forgiveness in advance. It’s a bit long but it is complex enough to hold my interest through the full 9:07. Another less lengthy track which I also dig is “Moving to the Left”. I can’t wait to hear more from the band. I’ve been a fan since their 2011 release “Sun and Shade”. Enjoy!
New Parquet Courts just hit Spotify this week. “Sunbathing Animal” is a rollicking punk punch in the nose. It’s also the title track from their new release due soon. Can’t wait. These guys are one of my favorite new bands of 2013. “Master Of My Craft” into “Borrowed Time” on Light Up Gold is my new “Scarlet-Fire” and it’s only 5 minutes 32 seconds!
The Coathangers (Minnie, Crook Kid, and Rusty) are an all female punk rock band out of Atlanta, GA. Their third album, Suck My Shirt, is chock full of bite sized, fast hitting tracks. The songs aren’t that complex (hey, it’s punk) but what draws me in are their voices. Rusty and Minnie sing in two very distinct styles: one rough gravely, the other softer and more controlled. Individually or together it works for me. “Adderall” has that raw sound that makes me wince. I can only imagine what her throat feels after belting that one out. The vocal style on “Merry Go Round” does a 180. It reminds me so much of a young Kate Pierson. Maybe it’s a tip of the hat towards Athens? The Coathangers are a blast and my pick for the week is the track “Smother”. Turn it up loud, give it a listen, and let me know what you think.
Posting “Beach House” by The Cave Singers this week. They are an earnest folk trio with bright voices (probably bright eyes) and a wonderful clean organic acoustic sound. It’s a nice change from some of the other music currently in heavy rotation. I’m also sick of winter and dreaming of summer on Long Beach Island.
I’ve been in San Francisco all week and if the weather cooperates I’ll be on my way home in a few hours. My pick for the week is “Smoke and Mirrors” by Widowspeak. This tune is a bit atypical of the bands more earnest slower tempo folk flavor. I had Widowspeak on heavy rotation as I walked through the Haight. This song came on when walking down from Buena Vista park. Such a nice park….
I’ve been going on a bit of a Pavement tear lately but broke out of it long enough to visit some other lesser known artists in my messy Spotify playlists. (Spotify really needs to fix this.) Anyway, one artist I dabbled with was Dan Deacon. Deacon is an electronic composer/musician currently based in Baltimore. The track I’m selecting this week is “Prettyboy” from the album “America”. I love this track. It’s a combination of rich circular sythns, injected with what sounds like analog percussion, sprinkled with bubbling oboes. It’s one of those soundtrack pieces you imagine being used in the movie of your life.
Posting “Cinnamon and Lesbians” by Stephen Malkus and The Jicks. No real particular reason other than I’ve never heard this tune before and I love the way it rumbles and stumbles it’s way down the road. I pick up echoes of St. Stephen in there which is just fine by me.
I didn’t go to a ton of shows in 2013 but it’s no question that the highlight was the Halloween Blood Bath in San Francisco with the Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, and White Denim. Since it was Halloween, I donned my “Oldest Geezer at the Rock Show” costume and boogied with all the youngsters on the floor. What an amazing show. The bands did not disappoint.
The Flaming Lips are not shy about breaking out a great cover now and again. When I saw them earlier in 2013 they produced a superb straight version of “Heroes”. I gave me goose bumps. Halloween they managed to deliver a surprise cover of Devo’s “Gates of Steel”. Wayne Coyne dedicated it to Alan Meyers (who passed away that summer) and all the other freaks in the audience. It was a great tribute. The original is my pick for this week.
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Mogwai have just dropped a new sythn soaked album “Rave Tapes”. Quite a departure for the Scottish post-rock band. I like it a lot. “Simon Ferocious” is one of my favorite tracks. It pushes the syths right up front but supports them with some great electric guitar work more typical of the bands signature sound.
On April Fool’s Day 1985, XTC released “25 O’Clock” an album under the name The Dukes of Stratosphear. It consisted of songs that sound like they were recorded in 1967 and was produced by John Leckie, who recorded and produced albums by George Harrison, Pink Floyd, and Syd Barrett. Leckies combined XTC’s sound with instrumentation and analog recording techniques of the golden age of psychedelic music. The result is simply magical or it was in 1985 when I first heard it. Many consider this album just an April Fool’s Day joke, but I think their love of this kind of music. It certainly echoes strongly in their next release “Skylarking”. “25 O’Clock” was 6 tracks of pure joy and later in the year they release a CD with 16 tracks. My picks for this week are “What in the World” and “Vanishing Girl”. Just listen to Colin Moulding’s bass work on that first track. It just sounds like he’s channeling McCartney. If you really dig this kind of music play the entire album. It’s a blast.
To borrow a phrase from Frank Zappa: folk-rock is not dead, it just smells funny. This was the first thought that entered my mind when I started listening to Wolf People late in 2013. Their new album “Fain” is a mix of blues, folk, and mild psychedelia that reminds me most of Jethro Tull. My pick for the week is “When the Fire is Dead in the Grate”. Yeah I know this has been done before but I’m sick this week and this music is like chicken soup.
I belong to a music sharing group where each week we post a new track with some bits of commentary. Mainly its just a way for some like minded folks to discover new music. I've decided to cross post my picks for the week here so that I can shared them with the world and preserve a copy for myself on a service that isn't owned by a "rich creep" (more on that reference later). Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the weekly music post. Thanks. -- The Management.
I’m a huge Foxygen fan. My pick this week is a band formed by their drummer Shaun Flemming. Recording under the name Diane Coffee, “My Friend Fish” is a delight for those of you who can’t get enough Foxygen. This album is tasty. I’ve starred at least 4 tracks and it’s hard to pick a favorite among favorites. If you put a gun to my head, “Tale Of A Dead Dog” is a sweet cut that tips it’s hat in the direction of some prog rock forebears. Hope you like it.
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I’m up too late but I don’t have much to do tomorrow. I’ll be riding jet plane east; home-ward bound. What’s keeping me up is the download. I bought the Beatles complete catalog on iTunes and since I’m on the road connected to the Internet via a slow hotel link, this is taking longer than I’d like. I’m playing them as they download. They are coming in chronological “release date” order. I’m only at “Hard Day’s Night”. I’ve owned this music in different forms vinyl, 8-track, cassette, and CDs. Those physical objects have been lost, sold, and some re-purchased as CDs and imported into my digital music library. Not all of it. I’ve never had it all in one place or in one format until now. I was always too broke or too busy to gather every track and import it into my library. That’s been remedied. One click and it’s all over but the downloading. I’m grateful Apple and Apple have been able to come to an agreement. It’s made my life easier. This hasn’t been a day I’ll remember forever and it isn’t a revolution. It should have happened long ago. That being said, one of my musical wishes has been granted today. Since wishes normally come in threes, I have two more wishes to tempt the muses and the powers that be in the music business tonight. The first is that the release of the Beatles on iTunes will expose more young kids to this music. Trust me kids. Listen to it. It’s good for you. My second wish is that the Zappa family and Apple come together (no pun intended) to make the complete works of Frank Zappa available on iTunes. Woohoo! Here comes Revolver! Good night folks.