Well, to save you all from this weeks terribly short news letter, I bought a nice old collection for you to thumb through. Loads of classic titles that everyone should have. I’ve listed a bunch below, and that’s only a small portion of it all!
…..pick of the week…..
Simones: 20th Anniversary Boxset (Headspin) 4LP Box
Limited edition of 500 copies! 20th Anniversary, 1992-2012, one year in the making! A beautiful deluxe 4LP Boxset, draped in astonishing black velvet and coming with exclusive full technicolor artwork, with paisley-style gold foil ornaments. The box includes 4 separate albums, all housed in 450 gsm carton sleeves with two of them being majestic gatefolds:
– Corridor of Dreams (1992)
– Enchanted Forest (1994)(gatefold)
– Balloon Ride (1998)(gatefold)
– From The Electric Cornfield (2009)
plus a 13 page 12″x 12″ booklet with inside story on the life and times of Simones written by Richard Allen and illustrated with unseen photos and additional mind-tickling and eye-blinding full colour artwork, plus a handnumbered certificate. “Long revered as a trade secret amongst record dealers and collectors Simones music is one of the great secrets of the home recording revolution that took root in the late 1980s. Ohio born Al Simones combined his love of 60s and 70s psychedelic rock music with vintage instruments and produced four highly collectable handmade albums between 1992 and 2009. All of them are filled with intense psychedelic guitar music that invokes the energy and passion of his influences – including Jimi Hendrix and Phil Keaggy of The Glass Harp – whilst also possessing the mystery and spiritual intensity that surrounds 70s US private press legends such as Jeffrey Liberman and Mystic Siva. Simones albums have been beyond the reach of most record buyers for many years due to their limited numbers. For those who have never heard Simones mind blowing music its a revelatory treat.”
About SIMONES his music…:
Taste his ULTRA PSYCHEDELIC guitar FREAKOUTS from beyond the beyond till the ACID comes splattering from your speakers!! A blistering trip to the STONEHENGE beyonds of our micro and macro cosmos!! Flowing guitar ERUPTIONS leading your mind in a state of TRANSPARENT CONSCIOUSNESS allowing you to glance at the extra-terrestrial, the extra-dimensional, the extra-cosmic, the inner mind, the inner force, the INNER LIGHT!! It makes you wanna leave this godforsaken planet!!
File Under: Psych, Fuzz, Guitar Freakout, Boxsets
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…..new arrivals…..
Expo ’70/Ancient Ocean: split (Sound of Cobra) LP
Justin Wright / Expo ’70 for this 12″ keeps his psych drone space attitude mixed with kraut influences. Hanging the guitar at the wall in a corner, he recorded a great moog improv (using OPUS 3 and Realistic): a tranquil ambient soundtrack, dreamy as tangerine dream can be, perfect for a space journey, somewhere else near the stars, far far away from this earth we live on; a warm texture keeps us in vacuum place and no rhythms come to bring us back to the reality. Listening to it, we thought there’s a magic place somewhere and we wanna find it and go there: but now, we just enjoy this 20 mins Justin made for us. The other side is for the Brooklyn based musician John Bohannon aka Ancient Ocean: hailing from the American South, he has honed a unique style of blissed-out ambient/drone meets americana-rooted psychedelia. The spaceship we were on slowly turns into a submarine and from the outer space we quickly dive into a deep ocean made of guitar loops and samples, listening to it we feel lost in a mix of cold and warm currents and dark shadows swim all around. Nice to be here! The split comes out in 500 copies and it’s in collaboration with our friends of NO=FI Recordings and it’s released in occasion of their first European tour… check the dates and come to see them if they are coming to play in your town!
File Under: Psych, Drone, Ambient
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Group 1850: Paradise Now (Pseudonym) LP/CD
Recorded, edited and mixed over one long Red Lebanon hash-fueled weekend in October 1969, Group 1850s second album, Paradise Now, remains one of the high-water marks of European psychedelia. A wide-eyed, wide-open, synapse-electrifying set of songs, it sounds like the transmissions of a burnt-out satellite spinning through the galaxies of inner space. Group 1850 leader Peter Sjardin skillfully edited the groups free-flowing improvisations into eight cohesive yet distinctly different tracks, part Saucerful Of Secrets, part Electric Ladyland, part Guru Guru, part Can circa Monster Movie.Bypassing the established network of record labels, distributors and stores, the album was released on Discofoon, the label owned by the Dutch department store chain V & D, and carried exclusively in their shops nationwide. It has since become a highly sought-after collectors item. Finally this album sees its first official reissue on 180 gram audiophile vinyl, dynamically remastered from the original master tapes. Packaged in a lavish gatefold sleeve with the original cover artwork supplemented by rare photos and liner notes by Mike Stax of Ugly Things magazine.
File Under: Garage, Psych
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Labradford: Prazision LP (Kranky) LP
“To coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original release, we are issuing Kranky katalog #001 on vinyl for the first time since 1993, newly remastered and with new artwork. The debut album from Labradford, as well as the premier Kranky release, was originally issued in late 1993 to a surprising amount of acclaim as well as a fair bit of confusion. What was one to make of these beatless atmospheres cum pop songs that had little to do with contemporary ‘indierock? ‘ The album was typically lumped into such newly minted sub-genres such as ‘lo-fi ‘ and ‘post-rock ‘ even though there was no connection to any such imagined scenes. Lo-fi? You can hear Mark Nelson breathe between vocal lines. Must be the lack of cymbals and hi-hat that accounts for that fallacy. Post-rock? Did that catch-all phrase for disparate musical groups and sounds even imply anything concrete or encompassing? Alas, just another label that quickly became meaningless. What is clearly evident upon listening to the album anew is that this is not a dated or stale work by any means. It could just as likely have been recorded in 2003, or 1983 for that matter, as in 1993. It does not contain any of the markers so typical of pop music that would place it in any time frame, no production touches or instrumental sounds that would identify it as being the product of a specific period. At the very least, Labradford created a timeless work, one that still challenges the listener today. More to the point, they created a masterwork.”
File Under: Post-rock, Kranky
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My Brother The Wind: I Wash My Soul in the Stream of Infinity
(Transubstans) LP
First time in on vinyl! My Brother The Wind is a hypnotic band, focusing on seizing the keys that never could be found when arranged. With four members from Anekdoten, Magnolia and Makajodama they blend their influences and experiences with creativity, explosiveness and a burning passion for music. Their atmospheric sound lets you find your way in the psychedelic labyrinth of these musicians mind. Since their first release, “Twilight In The Crystal Cabinet” they have progressed the complex soundscape that only occurs when people connect in harmonies.
File Under: Psych, Space Rock
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My Brother The Wind: Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet (Transubstans) LP
First time in on vinyl! Feat members of Makajodama, Magnolia and Anekdoten. In a world where most things are overthought and music has become more and more technical, Transubstans Records is proud to present a truly spontaneous, organic record: My Brother The Wind’s “Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet”, a completely unrehearsed album recorded in 2 hours on a vintage Ampex 16 track 2″ tape machine at Drop Out in Amal, Sweden in May 2009, and mixed within 2 hours the very next day. The band consists of Nicklas Barker (Anekdoten) on guitar, Mathias Danielson (Makajodama, and formely of Gosta Berlings Saga) also on guitar, Ronny Eriksson (Magnolia) on bass and Tomas Eriksson on drums: four relative strangers who with this record capture the achingly beautiful, melancholic music magic that ensues when talent and intuition meet and marry, and the inspired result casts its hypnotic, psychedelic spell on us all. “Twilight in the Crystal Cabinet” is comprised of six utterly improvised tracks, the spirit of which is honoured by its real-time, respectfully untampered mixing and resulting in the most honest, perceptive, sonically cinematic experience in recent decades. A bewitching culmination of pure, unedited creative energy – from the soul, through the fingers, directly to tape. It doesn’t get any more real than this.
File Under: Psych, Space Rock
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One Ensemble: Wayward the Fourth (Daffodelic) LP
The heir apparant to Moondog. The One Ensemble from Scotland blend European folk, narrative, popular and chamber forms to create modern compositions that provide attention-grabbing hooks and thought-provoking challenges. At times formal and at others improvisational, it is difficult to pin down the One Ensemble sound. Influences range from the classic pop-psychedelia of Robert Wyatt to the deep experimental drone of Third Ear Band. Blissful free jazz, delicate acoustic out-folk, tape collages, Eastern raga and mystical modern minimalism all peacefully coexist in the One Ensembles uniquely beautiful universe.
File Under: Ethno-folk, Out-Klezmer, Volcano the Bear
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Wooden Shjips: Back to Land (Thrill Jockey) LP
Wooden Shjips’ rise to prominence from the psychedelic underground to the rock and roll overground has been a steady sojourn. With each consecutive release, the band has found new ways of transforming heady psychedelic rock into minimalist masterpieces, bridging the gap between the woozy freeness of Les Rallizes Denudes and Crazy Horse and the tightly wound simplicity of Suicide and the Velvet Underground. Back To Land, the quartet’s follow-up to West, is the first Wooden Shjips record to be conceived outside of San Francisco. Ripley Johnson and Omar Ahsanuddin moved to Oregon, where the lush climates became a major influence on the songwriting. The band’s scope expanded to include more earthy, grounded tones, such as the acoustic guitar, without abandoning their modernist psych core. There is an increased brightness to many of the songs on Back To Land, an easiness with which the band has flirted with in the past but never fully realized until now. The nervy urgency of West has evolved into an assured confidence, from the alliterative, interlocking guitar and organ groove of “Ruins” to the languidly compelling guitar solos of “Servants.” The addition of the acoustic guitar to the band’s textural palate is coupled here with some of the most melodically direct songs the band has written. Still, there are still plenty of signature Shjips songs, with distorted riffs, modal keys, and a steady, crisp drum sound unfolding intensely while the elongated melodic guitar lines drift in and out of the foreground. On Back to Land this energy is captured in clear detail, designed as an immersive experience rather than a passive blasting. Back To Land was laid to tape at Jackpot Recording Studios in Portland by Kendra Lynn and mixed by Larry Crane. It was recorded over an 11-day session, resulting in some of the most detailed and spacious recordings of their career. Back To Land is a breakthrough record for the Wooden Shjips: nuanced, varied and utterly addictive.
File Under: Psych, Dirge
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Various: Eccentric Soul: Forte Label (Numero Group) 2LP
In 1969, after three years as Soul Sister #1 to James Brown’s touring entourage, Marva Whitney came home to Kansas City, putting Ellis Taylor’s Forte label back at full fighting strength. She’d calmed aching crowds the day after MLK’s death, and she’d lived the life, despite its rigors – to pour out her pain and exuberance on Forte sides including ‘I’ve Lived The Life’ and ‘Daddy Don’t Know About Sugar Bear’, which made national rounds in 1972. Numero 047 Eccentric Soul: The Forte Label charts Kansas City yeoman’s work, the Carpets and the Derbys, dapper clothiers mysteriously murdered, and marriages made and broken. In 28 LP tracks or 21 on CD, plus a trove of promo headshots and every-hued label scans detailing all iterations of Forte’s logo in print, this 16th Eccentric Soul sojourn hands over vivid floor shakers and lost dance craze records alike – though what moves ‘The Hen’ required remains anyone’s guess.
File Under: Funk, Soul, Numero
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…..restocks…..
Arcade Fire: Funeral (Merge) LP
Arcade Fire: The Suburbs (Merge) LP
Black Mountain: In the Future (Jagjaguwar) LP
Brast Burn: Debon (Phoenix) LP
Circle: Tulikoira (Headspin) LP+7″
Earth: Pentastar (Sub Pop) LP
Earth: Earth 2 (Sub Pop) LP
Earth: Phase 3 (Sub Pop) LP
Fleet Foxes: s/t (Sub Pop) LP
Four Tet: Rounds (Domino) LP
Gun Club: Fire of Love (Munster) LP
Mainliner: Revelation Space (Riot Season) LP
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (Priority) LP
Nirvana: Bleach (Sub Pop) LP
Sword: Age of Winters (Kemado) LP
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats: Mind Control (Rise Above) LP
Renny Wilson: Sugarglider (Mint) LP
…..used goodies…..
The Band: Islands (Capitol) LP
The Band: Music From Big Pink (Capitol) LP
The Band: Rock of Ages (Capitol) LP
The Band: s/t (Capitol) LP
Beatles: Rubber Soul (Capitol) LP
Beatles: Sgt. Pepper (Capitol) LP
David Bowie: Low (RCA) LP
David Bowie: Station to Station (RCA) LP
David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust (RCA) LP
Tim Buckley: Dream Letter (Demon) 2LP
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (Reprise) 2LP
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Bluejeans & Moonbeams (Mercury) LP
Johnny Cash: At San Quentin (Columbia) LP
Johnny Cash: The Fabulous Johnny Cash (Columbia) LP
The Clash: Combat Rock (Epic) LP
The Clash: Sandinista! (Epic) LP
The Clash: London Calling (Epic) LP
The Clash: Black Market Clash (Epic) LP
The Clash: Give ’em Enough Rope (Epic) LP
The Clash: s/t (Epic) LP
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come (Mango) LP
Jimmy Cliff: Give The People What They Want (MCA) LP
Jimmy Cliff: Struggling Man (Island) LP
Jimmy Cliff: I Am The Living (MCA) LP
Leonard Cohen: Songs From A Room (Columbia) LP
Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia) LP
Elvis Costello: Get Happy (Columbia) LP
Elivs Costello: My Aim Is True (
Cream: Wheels of Fire (Polydor) LP
Donovan: The Hurdy Gurdy Man (Epic) LP
Donovan: A Gift from a Flower to a Garden (Epic) Box
Doors: s/t (Elektra) LP
Doors: Strange Days (Elektra) LP
Nick Drake: Heaven in a Wild Flower (Island) LP
Bob Dylan/The Band: Before The Flood (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan/The Band: Basement Tapes (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Planet Waves (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Times They Are A-Changin’ (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Self Portrait (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Freewheelin’ (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: New Morning (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia) LP
Bob Dylan: Desire (Columbia) LP
The Fugs: Golden Filth (Reprise) LP
Gang of Four: Solid Gold (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: s/t (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: Live (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: s/t (Warner) 2LP
Grateful Dead: American Beauty (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: Shakedown Street (Warner) LP
Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa (Warner) LP
B.B. King: King Size (ABC) LP
Led Zeppelin: I (Atlantic) LP
Led Zeppelin: II (Atlantic) LP
Led Zeppelin: III (Atlantic) LP
Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy (Atlantic) LP
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Uprising (Island) LP
Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry: Back Country Blues (Musidisc) LP
Mothers of Invention: Absolutely Free (Verve) LP
Mothers of Invention: Freak Out (Verve) 2LP
Mothers of Invention: Mother’s Day (Metro) 2LP
Mothers of Invention: Uncle Meat (Bizarre) 2LP
Mothers of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh (Bizarre) LP
The Pentangle: s/t (Reprise) LP
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (Columbia) LP
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (EMI) LP
Pink Floyd: The Wall (EMI) LP
Iggy Pop: TV Eye 1977 Live (RCA) LP
Ramones: Rocket To Russia (Sire) LP
Rolling Stones: Flowers (London) LP
Rolling Stones: Let it Bleed (London) LP
Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (London) LP
Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (Sire) LP
Talking Heads: Remain in Light (Sire) LP
Talking Heads: Fear of Music (Sire) LP
Talking Heads: Naked (Sire) LP
Talking Heads: ’77 (Sire) LP
The Turtles: Turtle Soup (White Whale) LP
Velvet Underground: Loaded (Cotillion) LP
Tom Waits: Franks Wild Years (Island) LP
Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (Island) LP
Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the Diner (Asylum) 2LP
Neil Young: Harvest (Reprise) LP
Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (Reprise) LP
Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise) LP
Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (Bizarre) LP