SUMMER BREAK

Chasing my tail in the hot summer sun.  No reviewing until early fall, too much to do…Reviews on the horizon include.

Black Sabbath: Live At Last, Lilys: Precollection, Monroe Mustang: The Elephant Sound, Motorhead: On Parole, The Zinedines: Take Me Take Me, Comet: Chandelier Musings, Beach Boys: Perfect Harmony, Byrds: Live At The Fillmore 69′, David Grubbs: The Spectrum Between, The Go: Watcha Doin, Black Sabbath: Children Of The Grave, Van Morrison: Bang Masters, Robert Plant: Dreamland, Small Faces: Universal Masters Collection, Slow Jets: Worm Into Phoenix, and tons more…

I will also be adding some live reviews.

Thanks for checking back, Ghostdiaper.

PRIMORDIAL UNDERMIND: Loss Of Affect

Considering how much I worship the Twisted Village roster I am shocked it took me this long to stumble across Primordial Undermind.  Though not on Twisted Village this is the work of once Crystalized Movement’s member Eric Arn.  This album fits in with the whole aesthetic, but also expands on it.  The recording is pristine and dense, woodwinds anchor the feedback storms, the music repeatedly devolves into alien environments.  Like a never ending version of Interstellar Overdrive crossed with Dark Star this is highly non linear.  If you are a fan of Helios Creed than you need this disc.  Grab Loss Of Affect for a penny, then grab the rest of the Primordial Undermind discography.

GREG ASHLEY: Medicine Fuck Dream

Once the singer for the garage psych gods The Mirrors this album finds Greg Ashley throwing it all against the wall.  The album starts in typical Mirrors/Gris Gris fashion with disembodied laughter floating over drunken piano chording as music slowly percolates into the room, the vocals cooing something about sugar and mirrors.  What follows is a lot of woozy vocals, star cluster guitar notes, Moe Tucker styled percussion, and the room ambiance of a haunted house.  For anyone who is a fan of The Seeds or 13th Floor Elevators this album will be very coveted as Greg Ashley seems to be single handedly carrying the torch for that “sound”.  Greg Ashley has found a great balance between face melting psych and solid pop songwriting, this is as good a starting point as any to start paying attention.  Out on the Birdman Records, grab it for a dollar.

THE CAPITOL YEARS: Meet Yr Acres

This album by Philly’s The Capitol Years is an instant classic.  This debut finds a band trying on many styles a little Grateful Dead, Beatles, Velvet Underground,  Big Star pretty much anyone worth referencing gets a nod.  This isn’t just a bunch of retro worship though, The Capitol Years  definitely have their own sound figured out.   Later albums like “Let Them Drink” and “Dance Away The Terror” head down a path of ringing guitars, lazer guided vocal harmonies, and a strong Merseybeat  driving it all home.  This album is a great experiment in home spun psychedelia, great textures, loose arrangements, and a strong melodic core.  If you are a fan of “Mutations” era Beck than this will blow your mind.

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY: Outrageous Cherry S/T

Order this album on Amazon for a dollar right now.  This album introduces us to a noisy pop band with a penchant for the Velvet Underground’s wall of distortion, bubble gum vocals, and tom-tom heavy drumming.  Outrageous Cherry wrangle all of the greatest elements of music from the last 40 years of rock and present them in these emotionally keyed up rock songs that can be utterly heartbreaking.  Imagine if you can a rock group that includes the essence of Leonard Cohen, Joey Ramone, Keith Richards and Lou Reed.  That is the sound of  the Outrageous Cherry.  These guys have put out at least a dozen albums, mini albums, and singles all worth paying much more than a dollar for, this one just happen to be super cheap. See what you’ve been missing…

PRIMAL SCREAM: Give Out But Don’t Give Up / Riot City Blues

“Give Out But Don’t Give Up”  is easily one of the top 25 blues rock albums ever created.  Taking a cue from “Exile” era Rolling Stones this album expanded Primal Screams sound in a dramatic way.  Known for being more of an art rock band this more straightforward approach is no less satisfying, in fact it is astounding that a band can have such a wide scope.  This is probably the closest thing this generation has to real “Exile On Main St”, emotive and nuanced playing, huge choruses, noirish reverb, horns galore, basically the whole damn deal.  The albums that would follow head down a more far out path of digital destruction, but this little island of a record is a great place to hang out once in while.  Great summer driving music for sure.  Later in the 06′ Primal Scream revisited this same sound on an album called “Riot City Blues” to lesser success, but still worth checking out.

SIX BY SEVEN: The Shapes We Make / The Closer You Get / The Way I Feel Today

More great late 90′s and early 00′s indie rock, this time the mighty Six By Seven.  The sound these guys settled on borrows from post rock, shoegaze, and guitar centered indie rock which fuse together to create heavy droning music that immediately sounds familiar yet strange.  The best analogy would go something like this: the rhythm section of the Stooges dances with the guitars of The Fall who borrowed all their gear from MBV while Damon Albarn does his best Julian Cope impression.  Yeah, they really are that good.  Like most albums out on Beggars Banquet the production is clean which helps makes the trippy sonics sound that much more alive.  These are some really great albums to be had for pennies, go to it.

DINOSAUR JR: Where You Been

This is easily the best Dinosaur Jr album ever made, after years of following J Mascis this is the one album I keep coming back to the most.  Things that set this album apart from other albums is the clarity in production, the creative handling of distortion, the way Murph kills it on drums, and  J’s vocals are outrageously tuneful and inspired throughout.  These are pop songs delivered with the same energy of early albums but with a newly acquired sophistication.  Dinosaur Jr went on to make a couple more mellower offerings before reuniting with Lou Barlow the original bassist in 2005.  The album arc of J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr has been a pretty incredible ride but  after hearing “Where You Been” its clear there is an investment in the songs that is unique to this album.  Grab this classic, then work your way through the Dinosaur Jr discography backwards from there.

THE VERLAINES: Ready To Fly / Way Out Where

These two mid-career albums by New Zealand’s jangle merchants The Verlaines are great example of the simple joys that Kiwi pop is known for.  The songwriting is always refined, guitars jangle and distort, the drums swing like a young Ringo, and it all creates an atmosphere that you can completely lose yourself in.  The Verlaines split their time between the ringing guitar runs of  “Murmur” era R.E.M. and the dramatic twist and turns that early XTC delighted in.  As far as Flying Nun bands go theses guys are up there with the Clean, Bats, Chills and the like but also have a sound that is all their own, a romantic melancholy that vaguely reminds me of the Terminals, but far more pop.  Like most things on Slash these records are one of a kind and are long forgotten essentials for anyone who loves abstracted pop.  Further proof that the 90′s were a very fertile decade for music.

LUPINE HOWL: 125 / The Carnivorous Lunar Activities Of… / The Bar At The End Of The World

Lupine Howl surfaced in the early 00′s and recorded three awesome albums and called it a day.  The three members that comprised Lupine Howl were ex-members of early Spiritualized who found themselves out of the job but kept making music together.  These guys specialize in the nether world that exists between the early Stone’s and Pink Floyd which is no surprise as this is the same band that helped build the Spiritualized masterpiece “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space”.  If you are already a fan of Spaceman 3, Spectrum, Spiritualized, and that “sound” then Lupine Howl deliver the goods in spades.  All of these albums can be snatched up for pennies and will become faves to the psych loving audiophile, out on Beggars Banquet.