Out There - The Heliocentrics [2007]

Arkestra space jazz stylings anchored in infectious funk break beats all lined up for supping at the cosmic teat. Malcolm Catto leads nine-piece band through incense-burning funk suite workouts. Sun Ra takes inner break dancing trip.

Oddi wrth y brawd
decorate decorate

Rings - Daughters of the Sun [2009]

DOTS sup bitter sweet cup o' ayahuasca and let rip wid chem-tribal insanity. 

Oddi wrth y brawd

of saturn

Hearken To The Witches Rune - Dave and Toni Arthur [1971]

Yes, we stripped naked and danced round in a circle. But this was surprisingly unsexy.

 - Toni Arthur

...one of English folk's great lost recordings...they are abroad in the thick of night, squinting out of the midnight shadows, as if about to disrobe for a black mass. This collection of the magical ballads they were steeped in at the time - Alison Gross, The Standing Stones, The Cruel Mother - has the raw spontaneity of what they might have been like if incorporated in magic ritual.

 - Rob Young, Electric Eden

And more disturbing than witchcraft...

Oddi wrth y brawd

evil cant

Leaves From Off The Tree - Meg Baird, Helena Espvall and Sharron Kraus [2006]

Espers'  Meg n Helena team up with Sharron Kraus for front porch drink n laughter session. Expect spontaneity, heart and sounds outside time.  

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not so silly sisters

Live at the Sixth and I Synagogue March 23 2010 - Joanna Newsom

Between song banter alone enough to smite low cynics n clowns. And enough never enough with JN.


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you and me bess

Gasoline Alley - Rod Stewart [1970]

Lest we forget. Before abandoning the one true path for perma-spiked glitz n unsexy leopard spot trews, Rod produced untouchable folk rock n roll of first water with an unparalleled knack for reinterpreting songs of others. 

Assorted highlights: eponymous title track written by Stewart n Ronnie Wood - unbeatable; Only A Hobo candidate for top ten best Dylan covers of the ages; none more rollickin' It's All Over Now pisses indecorously over Stones' version; Elton John n Bernie Taupin's Country Comforts horse-drawn folky melancholy; improbably magnificent keening violin, massed acoustic guitars n biscuit tin lid pound of Kenneth Day Jones on Cut Across Shorty.

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his way of giving

Beyond the Wildwood - A Tribute to Syd Barrett [1987]

Assorted promenades through wood of error.

No Good Trying - The Mock Turtles, au contraire. Well worth the effort.

Octopus - Plasticland get lost n confused in the wood. Eyes wide closed.

Arnold Layne - Ss-20 know how to work an organ. Why can't you see?

Matilda Mother - Paul Roland proves that not everything shines. Leave hanging in the air.

Long Cold Look - Fit & Limo arrant paranoia rebooted as pop. Wavy sea guitar.

Long Gone - The Shamen really shouldna bothered. Dese are not good.

If the Sun Don't Shine [Jugband Blues adapted] - Opal, oh yes please. We care.

Baby Lemonade - The Ashes in the Morning come around, out of tune, so alone.

Wolfpack - The Lobster Quadrille commit aimless howling attack. Formless.

Golden Hair - The Paint Set do it by numbers.

No Man's Land - Tropicana Fishtank swim like fishes. See 'em be full crawl.

Apples and Oranges - The TV Personalities: barrow boy laddishness. Acquired taste.

Two of a Kind - Soup Dragons produce strangled clanger. One of a kind, thankfully.

Scream Thy Last Scream - Green Telescope attempt space rock jam. Nah.....

See Emily Play - Chemistry Set get cooking n try it another way. Go play.

Rats - What? Noise, yes noise. Quivering blancmange of embarrassment.

Gigolo Aunt - Death of Samantha get NY Dolls n D. Yule on Syd's ass. Jolly.

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ripping off the purple hippo 

Memories of Sasaki san - Mika Sasaki and Various Artists [2005]

Sasakisan's work collected n re-constructed by artists various: Greg Davis, Hans Appelqvist, Steve Roden included. Sasakisan be no musician in strict sense but prone withal to creating  journal-like pieces entire from cell phone melody composition tool. Skew whiff sketches in miniature. Nothing less than charming.

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ornaments in jade

The Decoration of the Duma Continues - Pump [1987]

Reviewed at the time of its initial release, the album was described by The Observer as "bad mood music" while Melody Maker said it sounded like "the clanging and abrasion of rusted and misaligned gears and ratchets..." - and it is precisely that slightly unhinged, brilliantly forward-thinking marriage of beauty and decay that makes The Decoration of The Duma Continues stand out so brightly against the backdrop of the music released at the time. Pump, to our minds at least, really are one of the great forgotten bands of the era.

boomkat

Oddi wrth y brawd
bad mood music

Magic Thread - Susumu Yokota [2000]

"Somewhere in the process of evolution the spinning and weaving of thread became possible for humankind. How did this come to pass? It can only be that the thread is possessed of magical properties."

Hmm...mebbe. What aint in doubt: fibrous electro-mutations n energetic beat systems, the weft of watery surround sound n hazy reflux unravelling fluid distortions n thrum. Occasional binaural scritchy warble spindling slow motion warp speed ambient.

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fruit of the loom

パラダイス・オブ・レプリカ／パラダイス・オブ・リミックス - アフター・ディナー / After Dinner [1989/2001]

80s Japanese avant chamber pop: harp, cello, flute, clarinet, glockenspiel, tung-saio, hichirki, oboe, piano, keys, tapes, bird sounds. And timestopping vocals of Haco. 2001 reissue comes with international remixers - Terre Thaemlitz, Pascal Plantinga, Skist duo, n Joshua McKay - who update AD sound a la glitched out lo fi digital processing.  

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-ing the bird

頭脳警察 1 - 頭脳警察 / Zunou Keisatsu [1971]

Two chord protest mantra agin Japanese Man. Congas, bongos, strum-along acoustic n yawping vocals akin to politically dis-chuffed Tyrannousaurus Rex. Lyrics make about as much sense likewise. Get out in streets kid bruthas.

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they were the brain police

Made In Japan - Flower Travellin' Band [1972]

FTB in menacing groovy excelsis. Epic.

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chasms

Anywhere - Flower Travellin' Band [1970]

"Flower Travellin' Band do not cover the song Black Sabbath. Instead, they let its tyres down and ride it across a ploughed field."

Japrocksampler

Oddi wrth y brawd

mighty joe, younger

"We Are Here" - Flower Travellin' Band [2007]

Not a return to form so much as complete re-conception and, with Joe Yamanaka's recent  passing, finale. Folks looking for Satori TNG will be disappointed, n dat a shame. This new/closing chapter reveals a powerful, subtle unit taking equal parts psych rock, tropicalia, classic soul, reggae, New Orleans funk and nudging these forms into flexible, extended jams. Dark apocalyptic rage of old replaced with direct, clear eyed confidence.


Oddi wrth y brawd 
angiogenesis