Collaboration number two from Robert Lowe (of Lichens) and visual artist Rose Lazar. The first was a small bound book of artwork, that came with a 3" cd featuring Lowe's gorgeous hazy soundscapes created with just voice and effects, while the book was filled with Lazar's mysterious multi colored geometric artwork.
This latest release once again features music by Lowe, but this time, he's using a series of monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers to create burbling, shimming, blissed out synthkrautdronemusik, that seems to perfectly reflect the prismatic textural artwork on the sleeve (more on that in a second).
Opening track "Crayon Gym" is total Klaus Schulze / Tangerine Dream / Neu! krautworship, pulsing and throbbing, rhythmic and hypnotic, while the next track "Fantomoj De La Vitro Domo", is way more Carpenter / Goblin style creep, haunting minor key melodies, moody swirling ambience, with some swooping sweeping effects, but still mesmerizing and a bit psychedelic. The whole record is an ever evolving, sun dappled and starlit sprawl of slow shifting synth textures, dipping into krautrock, new age, free drone, and blurring them into a dreamlike expanse of lush and psychedelic krautsynth shimmer.
The record comes housed in a massive 6 panel, two sided, 36" x 12" fold out sleeve, adorned with artwork from both Lowe and Lazar, strange tangled bits of pen and ink, weeping clouds, mysterious caves, smeared rainbows, and piles of diamonds.
Ooh! A hyperlimited LP from Robert Lowe, better known now for his work as Lichens and with Om, better known than for being in nineties indie noise rockers 90 Day Men. Recently, those Lichens recordings have oozed a cosmic vibe of enveloping transcendence through looping vocals and shimmering guitars; and through Om, he's been instrumental in furthering the Middle Eastern dervish vibe in Om's live sets (as of this writing, it's unclear if he'll join the band in the studio). That said, it's all electronics for Lowe on this LP-only, micro-edition pressing. The first side sinks into a side-long excursion that glides along a sedate hypnotic groove of downer electronic bass pulses, which almost has a hyper stripped down Tricky-meets-Conrad Schnitzler slinkiness to the rhythm. Filter swept tonal bendings and pixie-dusted melodies float about the laid back rhythms. Chill-out music, indeed. The second side contains five shorter cuts of library music redux with spiralling arpeggiations and weird-science bloopiness that fits perfectly into the Oneohtrix Point Never / Pulse Emitter camp of electronic meditations. The titles all give you a chance to bone up on your Esperanto! Only 300 copies!
Third in Thrill Jockey's limited edition cd/book releases, following the Atomic Yggdrasil Tarot from aQ fave Daniel Higgs of Lungfish. Whereas Higgs' was a regular sized full color book, this one, from Rob Lowe, aka Lichens, and artist Rose Lazar is pocket sized, a little perfect bound book, one side is illustrations by Lowe, flip it over, and the other side features illustrations by Lazar.
Both Lowe and Lazar share a very similar style, unclear if that's always the case, or if they chose to emulate a certain style just for this release, but it's quite striking, tribal andelaborate, crystals and raindrops, clouds and rainbows, lots of stippling and tiny lines, geometric shapes, disembodied hands, mysterious text, toadstools. Lazar's half is much more childlike and innocent, while Lowe's is a bit more detailed, with lots of tiny lines and miniature shapes, more sort of spiritual, while Lazar's is more playful.
The accompanying cd is a single 15 minute piece, split into movements, of original music from Lowe, who normally performs under the name Lichens, typically using only his voice and a handful of effects, creating ghostly shimmery soundscapes. But here, Lowe is using all manner of soundmakers, certainly keyboards or synths of some kind, the result is an airy, glistening, sparkly modern new age. Little flurries of synth notes are looped over and over into a very krautrock like mantra, in the second movements, those flurries are smoothed out into something much more tranquil, a whirring backdrop for a super minimal raga, bits of subtle buzz, and strange bits of percussion, all very woozy and dreamy and Eastern sounding, the final movement melds the two, bits of buzz and whir are sent hurling into the void, through clouds of glimmery spaced out effects, blissy and softly tripped out, perfectly complementing both artist's drawings in the book. Metaphysical, abstract, dreamlike and mysterious.
While they last we have the ultra limited version, which feature the cover on both sides hand painted by each artist, and come housed in a screen printed cloth bag. Once these are gone, you'll get the normal version, which is slightly cheaper.
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We've been fans of Jana Hunter's from her first split with Devendra Banhart a few years back. Here with her new band project, Lower Dens, Hunter shakes off her usual singer-songwriter mode and gives us a more beautifully atmospheric indie-rock side that we just can't stop listening too. With big crunchy distorted dueling guitar riffs, driving rhythms and reverbed vocals that have a more urgent and energetic feel sort of like vintage PJ Harvey fronting early Deerhunter, while occasionally veering down a hazy and somnolent path giving off a Low or Galaxie 500 vibe. Plus some of the song titles are hilariously vivid, especially the last one, "Two Cocks Waving Wildly At Each Other Across A Vast Open Space, A Dark Icy Tundra". How can you not be curious? Probably one of the most rocking and energetic albums we have heard on this label. Solid!
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This SF drums and guitar duo has added a bassist for their sophomore release. Maybe you'll catch them opening for the Melvins on tour.
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San Francisco's most under appreciated post rock band (due mostly to a rather unsuccessful stint on Amrep) really come into their own on this record. The addition of a bass player (Tiber from P.E.E.) has bolstered their sound, making their droning hypnotic take on Unwoundy Slint rock rumble and throb like never before; from the catchy as fuck title track to the 'good morning captain' of 'Thistrainwillnotstop'. Improved songwriting and an awesome Tim Green production will hopfully make this the record that gets people to sit up and take notice. The single has 2 unreleased tracks including a beautifully delicate piano piece that even Allan liked.
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Carousel jazz-spazz. Freaked out no wave skronk. Made me woozy. Love the cover painting.
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"That these songs never had more than three chords each was a matter of style. If there were more, then it was jazz." Words of truth uttered by Martin Thornstrom ringleader of the abrasive garage Swedish band LSD. Along with LSD, the album also features loosely related bands Klunk's Klan (whose ridiculous "Hound Dog and Jam" is worth the price of admission), WWH, and Staffan & Martin.
This one hardly needs a review. Space rockers Bardo Pond, jamming with Japanese psych-rockers LSD-March! Two discs, looooooooong songs, plenty of sprawling druggy psychedelia, throbbing serpentine basslines, busy groovy drumming, and lots and lots and lots of guitars, buzzing and whirring, grinding and roaring, wailing and howling.
Culled from two stoned, late-night recording sessions on days off from the 2006 Bardo Pond / LSD-March / Masami Kawaguchi's New Rock Syndicate East Coast tour, these tracks were edited together by Bardo Pond-er Michael Gibbons with no overdubs, just a document of epic, swirling, lurching, grooving spaced out psych rock.
Incredible recording, super clear, almost studio quality, multiple drummers, multiple guitar players, the sound is loud, and intense, sometimes blissing out into laid back stretches of near ambient tranquility, but always building back up into howling squalls of freaked out psychrock nirvana. The first disc is the more jammy of the two, more loose and improvised sounding, even the opening track fades in with the track already in full swing, like they had already been jamming for a while before we even got to the part.
The second disc introduces flute, and some electronics, and begins with a looped lick, over some skittery drumming, and some serious grinding growling low end, it goes on for ages, and we never really wanted it to stop. It does eventually, which is okay as the band has already moved on, locking into some new looped rhythm, the guitars fiery arcs of sound, that low end continuing to grind and buzz, the multiple guitars and guitar parts careening wildly over a roiling backdrop of howling moaning distorted buzz.
The second track on disc two is almost entirely ambient, sounding more like Toho Sara or something, the guitars smeared and blurred, everything buzzy and rumbling, clouds of tinkling shimmer and random percussive clatter, hand drums, glitchy electronics, streaks of feedback, thick swaths of distorted abstract riffing, culminating in a soaring blown out multiple guitar-ed Ur-drone. The disc finishes off with a 20 minute scorcher that goes from furious psych skree meltdown, to stumbling abstract freeform flutter and back, the players locked in a battle to the death, full freakout, ultra-noise mode, vocals scrambling over a dogpile of grinding electronics, a sea of shrieking feedback, an avalanche of drum chaos, and about a ton of blown out guitar damage. Phew.
Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one, or someone comes out from the back to see what the heck is playing. This might just be one of the most played discs in the store recently. And rightfully so.
As always, aRCHIVE spares no expense on the packaging, but they may have outdone themselves this time. A thick textured black ink on cream cardstock gatefold sleeve, the words LSD and POND embossed and printed in reflective silver ink, inside an 8 page black and white booklet affixed to the sleeve, with live photos and liner notes, each disc in it's own black sleeve, printed in silver ink, Japanese characters, the two discs held together by a Japanese style obi, in the same style as the cover. WOW.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. A one time pressing, so don't miss out�
It's nearly impossible not to be ensorcelled by Samara Lubelski's mystical voice. She possesses that rare human instrument that is both otherworldly, and warm and familiar, easily seducing the listener after only a few seconds. Had she been born decades earlier, she most likely would have been musical comrades with sixties chanteuses like Francoise Hardy, Joyce, Brigitte Fontaine, Jane Birkin, etc.
Future Slip finds her in top form with lush instrumentation creating the most perfect daydream backdrop for her beautiful vocal delivery. With Thurston Moore in the producer's chair (returning the favor for all the great playing Samara did on his solo outing Trees Outside The Academy). And it's really important to note that Samara isn't just a lady with a gorgeous voice, she's also such an accomplished musician with a wonderful knack for smart and sizzling song construction. A lot of Future Slip brings us to those more mellow Stereolab moments or when Latetitia Sadier records as Monade. Lubelski also finds kindred spirits in folks like Juana Molina and we have a feeling that Charlotte Gainsbourg's new album in the works with Beck writing and arranging could become the perfect companion piece for this record. Future Slip sways and swirls with such ease and lingers with such a nice soft psychedelic shimmer.
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3rd Record of Majestic Pop Folk from former Tower Recordings member.
Lubelski has been on Tower Recordings albums and this is her 2nd solo outing. Very pretty orchestral pop with a slight breeze that hushes all the way through. Armed with an excellent cast of players including P.G. Six and Tim Barnes. Sure to please fans of Isobel Cambell, Camera Obscura and when Georgia sings for Yo La Tengo. So nice and pretty.
After playing second fiddle (literally) for psych folk luminaries like Metabalismus and the Tower Recordings for the last decade Smara Lubelski finally steps out and releases her first proper solo record. And boy is it lovely. Dark meandering folk, with hints of psychedelic swirl and Appalachian twang. Ms Lubelski's drowsy murmurred vocals are sorta reminiscent of the Pastels' Katrina and Aggi (but much more self-assured and in tune) or even more so Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley. Delicate chimes and fluttering flutes compliment her voice perfectly.
Oh, and P.G. Six drops in to play along on a couple of songs.
This new record from ex-Captain Beefheart's Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas is a gorgeous and heartfelt musical love letter to the Chinese pop that changed his life. The liner notes detail his years spent in Taipei, in the midst of a torrid love affair where he first discovered this languid, lush pop, that would influence his playing and songwriting for years and plant the seed that would become a full blown obsession with Chinese vocalist Chow Hsuan (who you may have heard on the soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai's In The Mood For Love). This record is totally gorgeous. No Beefheart skronk or Magic Band mayhem here, just dreamy and ethereal, wistful and delicate, perfect pop. So lovely. Gently fingerpicked guitars, and soaring, songbird vocals, with lilting melancholy melodies and spare, spacious arrangements. Also, amidst these gorgeous pop songs are scattered solo guitar pieces, also traditional Chinese although they don't always sound it, that are really beautiful and sound quite a bit like John Fahey or Jim O'Rourke, ranging from faux Appalachian abstract blues folk to shimmery, heavily reverbed minor key soundscapes, albeit with slightly Eastern tinged melodies. But it's the gorgeous vocals that are the centerpiece here, from two amazing vocalists, effortlessly channelling the spirit and sound of Chow Hsuan and the Chinese pop of the mid twentieth century. So nice.
We've been waiting a while for this debut record from local boy Jeffrey Luck Lucas. An ironic name for the guy, as Lucas' songs are not those of luck or good fortune or smiling faces or bright sunny days. No, Lucas is a musical man after our own hearts, spinning morose, minor key tales of misery and loneliness, heartache and pain. Monochromatic musical snapshots of dingy hotel rooms, run down bars, boarded up stores, empty bus stations, blood in the sink, empty bottles by the bed. The dark swampy folk of Sixteen Horsepower, the lonely drunken storytelling of Tom Waits, but with a more distinctly classic country sound. Simply strummed acoustic guitars, mournful strings, sweetly singing lap steel and an arsenal of odd instruments that help give the record its haunting quality: water glasses, bowed cymbals, bowed guitar, vibraphone, optigon, function generator, guitarra quinta, toy piano, bamboo dulcimer, and more. All underscoring Lucas' raspy drawl, soaked in booze and dried out on the side of a lonely highway, warm and rough and beautifully weary. Guest vocalists include Wendy Allen from the Court And Spark and Janis Tanaka, formerly of Hammers Of Misfortune!
We always seem to be trumpeting the virtues of some dark folk troubadour around here, whether it's the biblical fire and brimstone of Woven Hand, the swampy backwoods folk of Sixteen Horsepower, the deconstructed skeletal country of Souled American, the mopey slowcore twang of Califone, or the deserty mariachi of Calexico. Sometimes with all of this searching far and wide it's easy to overlook something right under your nose.
Thus, right here in SF, we have Mr. Jeffrey Luck Lucas, whose music speaks to anything BUT a life of luck. But whose dark sonic magic is certainly equal to any of the above mentioned night wanderers. In fact, if anything, Lucas seems to incorporate little bits of all of those different shades of black into his own dizzyingly dreary world of heavy heartedness. A dark Tom Waits-ian lurching meander through tall weeds and dark alleys. A minefield of broken hearts, and long lonely nights. Perpetual sadness lit from within with glimmers of hope flitting in the darkness like fireflies.
Lucas' voice is a ragged drawl, slipping from whisper to growl and back, over warm beds of dramatic shimmer, simple percussive shuffles, twangy reverbed surf guitar wrapped in a mist of nighttime murk, backdrops of moaning cello, slithery lap steel, angelic female vocals. Simple fingerpicked guitars pick out haunting melodies, swaths of dreamlike soul draped over tinkling pianos, singing saws and wheezing accordions get all tangled up in a seasick waltz. This is the kind of music that evokes back woods and small towns, trailer parks and barren landscapes, empty city streets and lonely rooftop vigils. Like the score for some unfinished Jim Jarmusch film, dramatic but understated, dark and doleful but so goddamn pretty. Along with folks like Tom Waits, American Music Club, Calexico, Sixteen Horsepower, and the like, Lucas continues to explore some mysterious lost Americana, a timeless world where the shadow of the past still darkens today. So nice.
There was this awesome time around four or five years ago when we were being blown away by one obscure psych folk reissue after another. Records by the likes Mark Fry, Roger Rodier, Mark Fosson, Eduardo Mateo, and Bridget St. John all came into our lives back then and would become total treasures near and dear to our hearts and ears. Since then there have been lots of awesome reissues of full on psych, international burners and early '80s gems but it seemed the well dried up a bit on great lost folk from the early '70s, as just not that much of it had been coming our way, and the one's we were hearing weren't all that spectacular and probably remained obscure and unheard for good reason: they just weren't that good. But this 1975 album by Ted Lucas is totally hitting that special soft spot we have for hazy and drifty psych-folk and immediately transports us and lulls us into a gloriously stoned and zoned state of mind.
So yes, these are totally stoned and lovely folk songs that bring to mind a more rustic Nick Drake, that amazing first solo record from David Crosby or a totally unpolished and stripped down Eric Clapton. We also think fans of Linda Perhacs, Charles Manson (the singer/songwriter, not the cult leader!), Vashti Bunyan, The Search Party, Gary Higgins, and Bert Jansch will totally dig what was going on in the music of Ted Lucas.
A little while back, we listed issue #2 of one of our favorite comics, starring the big, hairy, doll making, lovestruck punk rock behemoth better known as Wuvable Oaf! But now for a very limited time, we got a handful of copies of the super limited special edition version of Wuvable Oaf #2. And we're the only store that's got em. So what's so exciting about the special edition you ask? More on that in a second, first a bit about the Oaf...
We've been champions of Luce's crazy creation since the moment we first laid eyes on Oaf and his equally hirsute cadre of pals and lovers and hangers on. Not to mention the kitties! For those new to the Oaf, in a city, suspiciously like San Francisco, lives the Wuvable Oaf, who spends his days making cool little stuffed dollies, filling them with his shaved body hair, living in a house full of kitties, and pining after Eiffel, the diminutive lead singer of the band Ejaculoid, who are constantly battling their arch rival band, Sphincterine, and that's just scratching the surface. There's lots of unrequited love, nightmarish dream monsters, wild punk rock gigs, nightmare dates, aggro-massage, jilted evil ex-boyfriend chefs, blind dates, bands with names like Muff 'N' Top Grrrlz and Wasp Women, a broKENCYDE shirt pops up during a show, so do the bad guys from Superman 2, as does our very own Andee! It's definitely a wild ride, the art is amazing, super detailed, over the top, there's so much hair everywhere, on the big beefy dudes, on the kitties, it's no wonder why it takes Luce ages to finish each issue, but it's well worth the wait, funny, and fun, and sexy and silly, now we're dying for issue 3, especially after the back page teaser, a big hairy, horned, devil tailed man-beast with the legend "Who is Gote Blud?". Well?? WHO IS IT??????????????
So okay, the special edition, what's so great about it? Well howsabout a custom glow in the dark cover, each one signed and hand numbered by the artist? Or what about a set of custom Ejaculoid picks, affixed to a special printed insert? Okay, well if that ain't enough, the special edition comes with a bonus 7" SINGLE, one sided, featuring Ejaculoid's synth punk grind jam "Fearce" on one side (and just so you know, the musical Ejaculoid is made up of members of Limp Wrist, Los Crudos and Needles!), the flipside featuring an awesomely gory etching, that goes along with the super gory eviscerated super model record cover, and it includes a torn ticket stub with info on where you can download a digital version of "Fearce"! All in a plastic bag sealed shut with a kitty sticker (of course). Only 200 in existence, and we're the only store, comic, record or otherwise that has 'em!
This is actually the first record we've reviewed by Lucero, which is a little surprising for a couple of reasons. One being that this is their 5th or 6th record in almost as many years. The other being that they are really fucking awesome. Where as most young folks, emo kids, punk rockers, who are trying to rock some country, they end up not really rocking at all. Instead focusing on the moody dreaminess, the lilting loveliness, Sparklehorse, Court And Spark, Nick Drake, all fuzzy and twangy, sweet slippery lap steel, you know what we're talking about. Part of it is, that's it's really tough to mix hard rocking with country twang. One wrong move and you're in young country territory. But done right, it's as furiously infectious and wildly invigorating as all get out. Lucero are obviously shooting for Uncle Tupelo's No Depression, probably the most fiery rockingest country record we can remember. Huge guitars, a whiskey soaked howl, pounding drums, killer catchy hooks, and plenty of twang. And to be honest Lucero do get pretty darn close. A lot closer than most folks. The result falls somewhere between a way more aggro Springsteen and a slightly less rocking No Depression era Tupelo. But as far as places a band could land, you can't do a whole lot better than that.
And very much how Mike from the Court And Spark is that band's ace in the hole, with his impossibly warm honeyed whiskey soaked croon, Lucero has Ben Nichols, who makes Mike sound like a sweetly singing songbird. Super ragged and scratchy, like a more country Shane MacGowan, a raspy gravelly howl that can soar into a gorgeous banshee like wail. And that's half the battle right there. He has one of those voices that could sing the phone book and you'd be smashing bottles and banging your head and bouncing around like crazy. The band backs it up with some super rocking twang, some occasional barrelhouse piano and warm warbly organ, but it's all about guitar bass and drums, and these cats are tight as fuck. And can rock with the best of 'em.
A few years back, there was a documentary about Lucero, one of those year in the life on the road sort of things. And they looked like, and talked like any punk rock band, sleeping on floors, driving a shitty van, getting drunk, getting tattoos, maybe getting laid, not getting enough sleep, wondering about the future, rocking as hard as they can. But on stage, they didn't sound like any punk rock band you ever heard. A gloriously rambunctious, super rocking, sweaty and bloody and twangy and wild and wooly countrified rock and roll band. Which is exactly what they are.
We've been waiting to hear THIS for YEARS. An extremely rare and mysterious circa '71 underground UK psych LP of which we knew little and had been able to find out less. But it seemingly promised great things, as we shall explain in just a sec. Now that, thanks to the Dynamic label who have reissued this at long last, we've -finally- heard the thing, we can say that while it's not exactly what we hoped it would be, it turned out to be something quite, um, remarkable nonetheless. And after all, what we'd hoped for might have been a (literal) pipe dream anyway... Lucifer really couldn't be all it was cracked up to be, could it?? I mean, the band's very name, the all-black Smell The Glove style cover, the hairy/scary band photos, the song titles -- "Banshee", "Prick", "Winter", "What Was That Thing I Saw You With Last Night" -- all portend something impossibly dark and heavy, leaving us hoping that Lucifer would sound like some sort of unknown, underground, creepy cousins to Black Sabbath! And the album's original, rather confusional liner notes also hint in that direction, spouting wonderful nonsense about how the band has "this cave in Arizona" where they like to record their "evil music"! We're also informed that they did a single called "Fuck You" that was never released, having been confiscated by the police!! Sounds pretty darn metal, right? Add to that the fact that the first time we ever heard of Lucifer, years ago, was in an old interview with none other than Ozzy Osbourne, wherein he mentioned this album as being something he and his Black Sabbath mates dug back in the day! That's a lot of expectation to build up. And the truth of course is that Lucifer sound NOTHING like Black Sabbath, or metal in general. They're not even particularly heavy in the guitar dep't -- heck, quite a lot of this is acoustic. Yet they ARE totally weird and fucked up and cool and a bit ridiculous, and definitely "heavy" in the "heavy, maaaan" stoner hippy sense of the word. We'd compare 'em to contemporaries in the British busking free fest hippy druggy psych scene like the Edgar Broughton Band and (lighter) Hawkwind, or (maybe) to NYC's Godz. And at their heaviest, when guitars are plugged in and all, some of this is murky and dismal enough to sound like something by AQ obscure Krautrock faves German Oak. Some other primitive, blues-damaged Krautrock we like also comes to mind, like Kalacakra, Siloah and Zippo Zetterlink.
The unlucky thirteen tracks here consist in the main of meanderingly simple and repetitive hippy guitar riffing, gruff freaky vocals, subversively anti-establishment lyrics ("working is just a bore, smoking's against the law, I'm just a natural man"), and junky rhythms, all contributing to a definitely underground, overwhelmingly wastoid vibe. It makes the Pink Fairies sound almost straight. Definitely dated, yeah, but a charming artifact of a long-gone, LSD-lifestyle...
NB just in case, be aware there are other Lucifers out there, including one from 'round the same era but from NY instead, more of a garage band that one.
A few years ago, another label did a reissue of the album Big Gun by this mysterious & bizarre early '70s dark psych band Lucifer, and we wrote a fairly long, flipped out review. Well now it's been given another, definitive, official reissue, as part of a double cd set featuring not just Big Gun but also Lucifer's even more chimerical 2nd album, a soundtrack to a "motorcycle shock film" called Exit, along with the four privately pressed singles Lucifer also put out between 1971 and '73 - in other words, it's Lucifer's complete known works, everything, all the rarities, remastered, packaged with care including archival photos and other ephemera, plus liner notes telling the story behind the band (which we didn't really know 'til now).
Here's our original Big Gun review, we figure it's enough to get you to know if you want this whole package or not (hint: you most likely do)...
We've been waiting to hear THIS for YEARS. An extremely rare and mysterious circa '72 underground UK psych lp of which we knew little and had been able to find out less. But it seemingly promised great things, as we shall explain in just a sec. Now that it's been reissued at long last, we've -finally- heard the thing, we can say that while it's not exactly what we hoped it would be, it turned out to be something quite, um, remarkable nonetheless. And after all, what we'd hoped for might have been a (literal) pipe dream anyway... Lucifer really couldn't be all it was cracked up to be, could it?? I mean, the band's very name, the all-black Smell The Glove style cover, the hairy/scary band photos, the song titles - "Banshee", "Prick", "Winter", "What Was That Thing I Saw You With Last Night" - all portend something impossibly dark and heavy, leaving us hoping that Lucifer would sound like some sort of unknown, underground, creepy cousins to Black Sabbath! And the album's original, rather confusional liner notes also hint in that direction, spouting wonderful nonsense about how the band has "this cave in Arizona" where they like to record their "evil music"! We're also informed that they did a single called "Fuck You" that was never released, having been confiscated by the police!! Sounds pretty darn metal, right? Add to that the fact that the first time we ever heard of Lucifer, years ago, was in an old interview with none other than Ozzy Osbourne, wherein he mentioned this album as being something he and his Black Sabbath mates dug back in the day! That's a lot of expectation to build up. And the truth of course is that Lucifer sound NOTHING like Black Sabbath, or metal in general. They're not even particularly heavy in the guitar department - heck, quite a lot of this is acoustic. Yet they ARE totally weird and fucked up and cool and a bit ridiculous, and definitely "heavy" in the "heavy, maaaan" stoner hippy sense of the word. We'd compare 'em to contemporaries in the British busking free fest hippy druggy psych scene like the Edgar Broughton Band and (lighter) Hawkwind, or (maybe) to NYC's Godz. And at their heaviest, when guitars are plugged in and all, some of this is murky and dismal enough to sound like something by AQ obscure Krautrock faves German Oak. Some other primitive, blues-damaged Krautrock we like also comes to mind, like Kalacakra, Siloah and Zippo Zetterlink.
The unlucky thirteen tracks of Big Gun consist in the main of meanderingly simple and repetitive hippy guitar riffing, gruff freaky vocals, subversively anti-establishment lyrics ("working is just a bore, smoking's against the law, I'm just a natural man"), and junky rhythms, all contributing to a definitely underground, overwhelmingly wastoid vibe. It makes the Pink Fairies sound almost straight. Definitely dated, yeah, but a charming artifact of a long-gone, LSD-lifestyle...
So, that's what we wrote about Big Gun! We just got this new expanded edition in, so we actually haven't even really explored Exit (also from '72) and the rest of the set yet (including that song, "Fuck You"), so we won't (and probably needn't) comment on them here. But of course are keen to delve in...
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SORRY.
The previously available deluxe double cd with extras version of this fantastic, far-out album is gone, but Arcanum has put out a single disc version featuring just the soundtrack... why they don't keep the 2cd version in print, we don't know, but anyway at least you can still get this. It's the rare soundtrack to cult underground director and Crowley-ite Kenneth Anger's film Lucifer Rising (begun in the mid-'60s, completed in 1980). At one point, Jimmy Page was supposed to do the score, but he bowed out and the music was instead handled by another cult figure, the musical visionary and imprisoned killer Bobby Beausoliel, who composed and performed this spacey psychedelic opus with his Freedom Orchestra (who were all fellow prisoners with Bobby). Beausoliel and co. play electric guitars, Fender Rhodes electric pianos, some synths and bass...there's two drummers, and a trumpet player. The result is a sometimes sinister, sometimes blissful, always beautiful and "cosmic" drifting soundscape. Gurgling old-school electronics blend with propulsive rock drumming, while psychedelic guitar soloing tears across the sunset horizon created by the synths...The combination results in what you might imagine an early '70s Tangerine Dream/Ennio Morricone collaboration might have sounded like! It's indeed a lost classic. And the composer's life story is at least as weird and interesting as the music...
In the late Sixties, Bobby was a rising star in the LA rock-pop scene, hanging with Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Love. But then a drug deal went bad and he was sent to death row for murder, arrested 3 days before the Manson killing spree. Fortunately for him, his sentence was eventually commuted, but he's spent the last 30 years in jail. He's been a model prisoner, pursuing his talents in music and art despite his incarceration, and you'd think that the parole board would have let him out by now (he's been paying his debt to society longer than anybody else has for a similar crime, we're told) but sadly for Bobby, he's got to deal with his association with the notorious Charles Manson. While never a member of Manson's Family (a common misconception), he did play in a band with Manson, and the media hype surrounding anything to do with Manson hasn't helped Bobby's case, as you might imagine! Or at least...that's the way Bobby Beausoleil tells it. But the more one delves into the story of Lucifer Rising, the weirder things get -- for instance, apparently Bobby was supposed to PLAY the role of Lucifer in the original 1966 version of Anger's film, but the two had a falling out and Bobby allegedly stole the footage and buried it in Death Valley! How this jibes with him later writing this soundtrack, we don't know (though this new edition's liner notes shed some more light on these mysteries).
Yet, not being one to simply sit in his cell and rot, Bobby has, as we said, kept quite busy within the clutches of the California Penal system, with the help of his wife starting a label that originally released this (and some other, newer, more New Agey fare) on cd-r. Now in conjunction with Arcanum Entertainment, Beausoliel's Lucifer Rising soundtrack gets a proper (and like we said, at one time, deluxe) compact disc release. Although for obvious reasons Bobby wouldn't probably approve of the use of the word to describe himself and this soundtrack, in the Aquarius Records' musical context it's quite appropriate: Cult!
This mysterious Swedish band sounds kind of like a cross between Jethro Tull (but with not just one, but two duelling flutes!) and Black Sabbath (due to the heavy riffs and Gibson Les Paul guitar work)� Although they're a current band, they began in the early '70s, but just hadn't record an album until recently!! (1998's "Underground And Beyond", on which the original band lineup used vintage equipment to record vintage written-in-'72 tunes... making for one of Allan's favorite records of that year, 'cause they really don't make 'em like that anymore!) Now, this, their second album, expands upon their Tull / Sabbath sound, becoming a little more prog rock, with the addition of the ultimate prog rock instrument, the mellotron (and not one, but two, of course!) and a new, more capable, vocalist. This goes straight into Allan's year 2000 top ten. There's one song that's a little too, uh, poppy that I tend to skip over, but the rest is amazing '70s style psych/metal/prog nirvana. Flutes! Riffs! Genius!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Their second album from '72, as great as the self-titled first one. This one is a bit weirder, more proggy, now more like Queen than Zeppelin. The complex arrangements and overall heaviness again make us wonder: why isn't this band a lot more famous? An instant favorite from the moment we heard it. I guess it is nice to know that there's always the undiscovered gem out there awaiting. Again, recorded by Conny Plank.
From the vaults of the legendary krautrock label Brain comes another cool digipacked reissue on Revisited. We've been fans of this particular album for a long time, previously stocking a Repertoire reissue when we could get it. In fact, looking into our archives, we see that we reviewed it on two separate occasions, giving it quite similar but different reviews. Well, here's a third, based on those.
This self-titled 1970 debut album is one of the two early Lucifer's Friend albums we recommend, the other being its 1972 sequel, Where The Groupies Killed The Blues, which perhaps will be reissued again as well. After that, the records we've heard aren't as good. But THIS, this is a great piece of '70s proto-metal very much akin to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Budgie, and (especially) Uriah Heep! Some psychedelic weirdness, lots of heavy riffing (on guitars and organ) and total wailin' rock god vocals (courtesy of British singer John Lawton, who later DID join the Heep). As krautrock goes, they're more like early Scorpions than the more out there stuff you might be thinking of (Faust, Can, Kraftwerk, Cluster...) but this -was- recorded by Conny Plank.
The first track, the triumphal rocker "Ride The Sky" (recently covered by doomsters Trouble on their abortive comeback Simple Mind Condition) begins with a trumpeting French horn motif that will definitely make you think of Led Zep, sounding uncannily like the "ah ahhhhhh ahh" intro to "The Immigrant Song", though this came first. There's a cool live video of this track on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5DpOdf-_yM&feature=related.
If you dig that, you'll dig this album... !!!
(FYI, Revisited has included 2 bonus tracks this time 'round.)
You are more likely to find Lucky Dragons performing in a small gallery or someone's living room or on an enchanted island then you are a conventional rock club or bar. Convention doesn't seem to be something Luke Fischbeck or Sarah Rara care much for and their music and vivid imagination is all the better for it. While this is a record that brings together so many ideas and influences it's strength is in how seamless and succinctly they do so. Opening with a dreamy snippet that recalls a daydream Boards Of Canada moment, the record then finds it's way into captivating and repetitive percussion that sounds like a Konono No.1 record interpreted by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. They have a very special ability to travel through both intense and wandering states with equal power and grace. It's amazing that they've made a record that can sound like the most relentless snake charmer recording one moment, a hip-hop inspired pulsating beat next, an ambient interlude that could be part of a Grouper record somewhere else but also a germinal techno jam you never want to end. While bringing in a wide range of styles and influences is not something so new, making a totally cohesive, pleasurable and transcendent album with all those influences is much more rare and with Dream Island Laughing Language, Lucky Dragons have done just that! Highly recommended.
Lucky Pierre is Aiden Moffat, the darkly salacious, hard boozing voice of Arab Strap, but this is not another outlet for the tales of questionable liaisons, jealousy and, well, fucking that make that band so compelling. Rather than rant, Moffat presents a blend of richly orchestrated cinematic instrumentals and warmly crackling vinyl samples backed up by electro and downtempo beats. The string- and wind-laden sound is incredibly full and lush, with an underpinning sense of melancholy. Like The Notwist, Lucky Pierre suceeds in bringing electronic elements into a dreamy analogue environment; this album might be enjoyed by fans of DJ Shadow or the last Kreidler album. If Arab Strap conjures images of drinking shitty beer in a dive bar where your ex is the bartender, Lucky Pierre is more like enjoying an opiate haze in a dim but well appointed victorian bedroom. Very pretty.
Here's another addition to always dreamy sounding and delightfully packaged Dynamophone Parcel series (psst, we still have one final copy in stock of the now out of print Science Teacher edition... please let us know if you're interested in it or any of the others!).
Filia Melusine is a lovely spoken word piece read by Ms Phyllida Law. Her tender voice floats atop a soundscape of Evan Sornstein's soft drones and Jacob Phelps' delicate piano and guitar. The words can be traced back to a 15th century tale. Achingly intimate and deeply romantic, 'tis a magical bedtime story of personal quest and loss. The limited edition cd-r comes in a sweet little 3" box along with an added little treasure.
Seems there's been another spate of outcroppings from the Godspeed You Black Emperor musical empire recently -- notably the Fly Pan Am offshoot Feu Therese and this duo of drummer Justin Small (also of Do Make Say Think) and bass player Katia Taylor. Hmmm, we suspect that this Lullabye Arkestra will fail oh so miserably at the task of sleep inducing, but it will succeed formidably at kicking the thermometer up a degree or ten. Their aggressive sound is markedly different from the rest of the GYBE clan. It might be the most trashy, garage rawky, angstful, swampy blues boy'n'grrrl punk edged thing we've ever heard from the Constellation Records label (home to Godspeed, Fly Pan Am, Silver Mt. Zion, et al). The fury churned up by the two core members is further fueled by horns, Hammond organ and violin contributed by their skilled musical brethren including other members of DMST. A fevered good time!
So beautiful! Finally available, the debut album by local quartet Lumen, which features our esteemed co-worker (and ex-A Minor
P.S. The title of the album is from a story by Italo Calvino.
We're pleased to present three inaugural cassette releases from psych/noise label Holodeck, championing the exploding underground electronic experimental scene in Austin, Texas, with beautifully packaged and designed cassettes. have a look elsewhere on this list for other releases by Smokey Emery and Thousand Foot Whale Claw.
Lumens is a mysterious collaborative effort featuring members of Smokey Emery, Silent Land Time Machine and Troller, and is very much what you might expect when you put those three bands together. Murky cavernous industrial drones slowly bloom into all kinds of decaying ambiance, piano tones, viola and looping vocal whispers. Looming and dark clusters of layered organic sounds and field recordings, scraping rhythms and buried melodies, carefully arranged to hypnotically listenable effect. Over 4 long tracks, the compositions build from abstracted soundscapes to krautrock tinged build-ups, the final track merging into No Pussyfooting territory with layered repeating tape loops that float up towards the stars away from the murk they originally came from. Mesmerizing! Limited to 100!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Another badass slab of psychedelic hypno dirge space rock courtesy of local boys The Lumerians, who definitely have the druggy drone-y dirge dirgey thing down pat. If you dig the Wooden Shjips, Sleepy Sun, Cave, Moon Duo, and other practitioners of blown out drug rock mesmer, well then you're gonna love the Lumerians. Channeling Spacemen 3, mixing in some serious krautrock, adding heaping doses of spaced out FX, these guys lock into a groove and then ride it out, totally hypnotic, cyclical, trancelike. Reverb soaked guitars, murky distorted vox, washed out, looped bass, buried melodies, all blurred and smeared into lysergic drone rock that is totally captivating. Be sure to stick around for the B-side, a barely recognizable cover of the Osmonds' infamous killer jam "Crazy Horses", given a total hazy space drone dreamdrug makeover. So awesome.
Now we have just one question, WHERE'S THE FULL LENGTH?!?
Latest vinyl-only release from these SF psychedelic space rockers, whose sound has gradually grown funkier with each record, culminating in the recent Transmissions From Telos Vol. IV tape, which found the band aligning itself with Bitches Brew era Miles and Sextant era Hancock, not bad company at all for sure. And while that release, a tour only tape oddity that found the band experimenting in the studio, was twisted fun for sure, this new Horizon Structures 12" finds the band getting back down to business, this time the business of crafting four futuristic jams, equal part seventies jazz funk, eighties new wave, and some mutant strain of kosmische synth exploration. The sounds here definitely hew closely to the cover art, a 3-D rendering of some psychedelic tripped out spacescape, with the opening track a pulsing sprawl of buzzing synths, and laser beam bloops, spaced out and cinematic, and seriously poppy, maybe the poppiest thing we've heard from these guys, percolating swirling melodies, FX drenched vocals, a sort of space-y future pop, that culminates in a percussion heavy, wah guitar dowsed final freakout groove! The second track on the A side is a minimal new wave dirge, laced with all manner of percussion, and like the rest of the tracks here, with a sort of retro futuristic sheen.
The first track on the B side is the killer here, a groovy blast of sci-fi space funk, peppered with electric piano blurts, woozy basslines, wheezing keyboards, swirling synths, dense driving percussion, which then seems to get reworked on the second track, the same groove, but this time even groovier and funkier, wild freaked out drumming, chaotic synths, tripped out FX, all leading up to a dreamy kosmische synth finish. Cool.
Packaged with, according to the sticker on the front, "4D glasses for access to transdimensional viewing portal", which to these eyes seem more just like 3D glasses, but the cover looks AMAZING viewed through those specs, and if you DO wear them outside (with Lumerians blasting in your headphones, we'd imagine) they do seem to make things glimmer and sparkle, a secret glimpse of what lies beneath/beyond?
Local psychedelic space rockers Lumerians started life as a more straight ahead psych rock band, exploring much of the same territory as groups like Wooden Shjips, Sleepy Sun, Spacemen 3 and the like, trafficking in a sort of druggy spaced out mesmer with lots of FX, heck, on their first single they even did a killer (if nearly unrecognizable) cover of the Osmonds' unlikely proto-metal classic "Wild Horses". Over the course of a handful of full lengths and 12"s, the band began to move in a distinctly different direction than their psych/space rock peers, for one, they had a percussionist, in addition to a drummer, and for another, they definitely had a funk thing going on, subtle in the beginning, but becoming more and more evident, culminating in the recent Transmissions From Telos tape, which was full on Bitches Brew, and their most recent, Horizon Structures, which mixed that Bitches Brew sound with something more wildly sci-fi and psychedelic.
So we were kind of expecting them to keep moving in that direction, but on the opener here, it's a total spaced out, motorik kraut-psych slab of Hawkwind / Spacemen 3 mesmer, fuzzy cyclical riffing, propulsive drumming, swirls of FX, plenty of synth swirl, hazy laid back vox, minimal percussion, the sound slipping from washed out and woozy, to a bit darker and driving. However, the second track finds the group slipping right back into the psych-funk of the last few records, with a groovy, funky bassline, driven by some cool busy drumming, more of those washed out vox, some reverbed guitar shimmer, that impossible combo of space rock and psych-funk yielding something pretty awesome, sounding a bit like Hawkwind with a bit more groove, which is absolutely not a bad thing. There's some serious progginess going on to, as evidenced by the sudden shift, to what is essentially lead bass, the bass handling the main melody, the rest of the band soon falling in line, locked tight, before slipping right back into the psych-funk groove that started things off.
Lumerians are definitely tough to pin down, their sound constantly shifting, but always ending up somewhere cool, whether it's the Stereolab-ish electro-kraut of "The Bloom", that has a definite retro pop vibe going on as well, or the full on funkiness of "Koman Tong", which adds some weird processed guitar and vocodered vocals, and ends sounding like the theme song to some futuristic cop show, or the heady psychedelic mesmer of "Smokies Tangle", which definitely harkens back to the Lumerians of old, or finally, the Goblin-y closer, replete with sexy female spoken word vocals, which soon transforms into full on buzz drenched space psych hypno-rock, and eventually lands somewhere closer to a brooding, epic, cinematic future exotica. As always, so cool!
We got a very small handful of this, a super new, ultra limited, tour only tape from local psychedelic space prog aQ faves Lumerians, who for this single half hour track, recorded a handful of the instruments, then flipped the tape, playing back those instruments in reverse, and tracking the rest of the band to the backward sounds. And if that weren't cool enough (we're a sucker for backwards sounds), the B side is the A side in reverse, which makes the original tracks play properly, while the proper tracks/instruments from the A side are now reversed. Trippy! And seriously psychedelic.
Both sides a dizzying sprawl of minimal drone-psych drift, swooping backwards rhythms, soft synth swells, twisted swirling melodies, lush builds to gorgeous expanses of dense sonic swirl, noisy and abstract, droney and hypnotic, a bit industrial in places, streaks of black ambience drifting through field of electronic shimmer, grinding electronics wrapped around whirling FX squiggles, both sides, obviously quite similar, warped mirror images of each other, a two sided palindromic psychedelic freakout, both halves heady, and dizzyingly divine, total mind melting headphone bliss.
VERY VERY LIMITED. Most of these the band sold on tour, it's LIMITED TO 200 COPIES, each one hand numbered, we got a bunch, but unclear how many more we'll be able to get once these run out. If any!!
It's been a long time coming. After the tease of a 7" and a 12" ep, both tantalizingly KILLER, and a ton of incredible live shows, including a show stealing performance at the aQuarius records 40th anniversary party, comes this, the full length debut from SF psychedelic hypno drone psychedelic space rockers Lumerians, and it's just as good as we'd hoped and imagined. For those who've yet to hear these guys, have a look at this list of bands: Wooden Shjips, Hawkwind, Circle, Spacemen 3, Loop, Cave, Cloudland Canyon, The Heads, White Hills, Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, 3 Leafs, Mugstar. Does that look anything like your record collection? Then odds are you've just found your new favorite band. And if there's any justice in the world, these guys will get the same sort of hype and adoration that Wooden Shjips do. Not necessarily because they sound the same, they definitely don't, but they both DO explore similar territory, spaced out buzzy, fuzzy droney psychedelic rock, but where the Shjips are minimal, Lumerians are maximal, with multiple keyboards, even a percussionist, their sound more lush and layered, similarly propulsive and driving, but maybe with more of a nod to Spacemen 3 and Hawkwind, creating super mesmerizing cyclical hypnorock epics. And these tracks are indeed epic, slow building, smoldering, hypnotic, totally trancelike but still super heavy and rocking.
Opener "Burning Mirrors" pretty much sums it up, loopy low slung bass, simple motorik drumming, crunchy super distorted fuzz guitars, and thick swaths of spacey keyboards, not to mention drawled laid back vox, all appropriately reverby and echoey, these guys traffic in the sort of sound, where every song, whether 5 minutes or nearly 10, sound like live, they could go on for 20, 30, even 40 minutes, druggy, lysergic, tripped out and psychedelic, head nodding, body moving drone rock bliss.
"Black Tusk" gets all sixties, the drums shuffly and busy, the keyboards crunchy and fuzzy, lots of percussion, the bass driving everything, swirly and psychedelic and minus the killer production, and the super distorted stuttery organ buzz could be some lost psych jam from back in the day. "XuluX" is another sprawling droned out jam, that gets seriously groovy, with all sorts of heavily effected guitars, and more crunchy organs, before blissing out into some seriously swoonsome keyboard driven psychedelic drift.
And so it goes, "Atlanta Brook" definitely conjures up the spirit of Spacemen 3, the vocals a dead ringer, the hazy warped buzz the perfect prescription, but Lumerians add their own twist, infusing it with some strange rhythmic bridges, and buzzing sitar melodies, before slipping back into a washed out almost Beatles-esque outro.
"Calalini Rises" might be the heaviest track, murky and muddy, the drums locked tight, tribal and propulsive, all the other instruments loose and chaotic, a constant sonic swirl, totally spaced out and abstract, definitely a song that could have stretched out for another couple hours. But one of our favorite jams might just have to be "Longwave" which sounds like Lumerians at the wrong speed (which we presume it must be), Neu! style, the band unfurl a droney dirgey spacerock jam, slowed to a crawl, the guitars even thicker and grungier than usual, the drums lumbering, but then the vocals come in, and they're perfectly melodic and dreamy, and drift over the undulating psychedelic murk below, culminating in a gorgeously tripped out second half, with lots of rumble and whir and buzz and drone and swirl and shimmer (but be warned vinyl folks, in order to fit the whole album on a single lp, they had to speed this song back up, shortening it quite a bit, everything is essentially the same, just the murky background music is a little less murky). So good.
Seriously. If any of the above bands are your cup of tea, try spiking that tea with some Lumerians, you won't be sorry. Easily, THEE space drone psychedelic hypno rock record of the year. Drop out, and dig in!
There's 2 brand new mind-spacer-outers on this week's list direct from UK psych specialists Cardinal Fuzz, one by the Dead Sea Apes, and this one from local faves the Lumerians! As you know, we love love love the Lumerians, we had 'em play at the AQ 40th birthday party, we made their first full-length a Record Of The Week, and this new one, a prequel we guess to their Transmissions From Telos Vol IV release, does not disappoint. Cardinal Fuzz is a great place for 'em, their motorik psychedelic electro-kraut fits right in. There's four long songs (37 minutes total) on this slab of vinyl, two per side, and damn if they won't free your mind, your ass following right along, like some sort of pulsating Can meets Herbie Hancock meets Circle meets Cave instrumental groove machine.
Opening track "Murder Dubbs" is a headnodding groover, super tight and controlled, with bits of flute flutter and bursts of wriggly synth. The groove gets mellower on the faux-ethno "Turiya", with fuzzy sorta thumb-piano sounds like Bebey or Konono, and electric organ a la Mammane Sani. On the flip, there's more krautrocky propulsion and delightful synth sizzle via "Hook For An Eye", before the record wraps up with the longest cut, the twelve and a half minute "Impossible Windows / Caballero Futuro", super spacious and pretty and hypnotic. Nice!!
LIMITED, of course! Cardinal Fuzz stuff is usually not long for this world...
It's been ages since we've heard from these local psychedelic space rockers, but it seems like a storm of new Lumerians activity is brewing, records, shows, touring, all starting with this, a brand new 12" which displays a side of the band that always seemed to be lurking just below the surface, but is now revealed for all the world to see. The A side of this 12" finds the band exploring a funkier sound, sounding at times like Bitches Brew era Miles Davis, or Sextant era Herbie Hancock, dense percussion, swirls of wah wah guitar, whirring organs, a little bit spacey, and a little dubby, but loose and free and indeed funky, the second track introduces more buzz, and adds some psychedelic freakout to the mix, getting downright proggy before finishing off the side with something much more drone out and soundtracky, swaddled in woozy fuzzy synths.
The flipside is a whole 'nother kind of beast, a dense buzzy churn, layered and thickly psychedelic, it's on the verge of collapsing into full on noise, but the band deftly corral the sounds into a blackened swirling dervish, that manages to sound like a proggier spacier SUNNO))) before blossoming into a tripped out krautfunk blowout, which in turn transforms into a long outro of creepy synths and scattered percussion, a spaced out cinematic sprawl that is at once haunting and harrowing, melodic and lovely. Great stuff as usual, can't wait for more, and to hear this stuff live!
Packaged in a super striking, heavy stock jacket, and pressed on milky, yellowish/off white vinyl. And yeah, totally LIMITED!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Well, it looks like the Wooden Shjips don't have the market cornered on sixties inspired drone drenched psychedelic drug rock after all. The Lumerians offer up their own take on modern psych with their debut ep, 5 songs, all of them looooong and gorgeously tripped out. Where as the Shjips seem to be channeling the Doors, the Lumerians take ? And The Mysterians, mix in some Fuzztones, and filter it through the sound of Spacemen 3 and Loop resulting in a mesmerizing, repetitive organ infused doped up hypnorock.
The second the opening track kicked in we were SOLD. Fuzzy blown organ, pounding simple drum beat, super sixties vibe, buzzy and trippy and druggy and totally divine. The vocals drawling over that relentless beat and that warm thick organ. Wooden Shjips fans will freak, and just might have found a new favorite local band.
The second track is just as cool, but way different, super minimal, almost jazzy, with muted percussion, subtle bass grooves, soft shimmery synths, very spacious (and space-y) and laid back, like a druggier more psychedelic Necks.
The B side is all slow lugubrious organ drenched crawl, shuffling drums, a wall of washed out buzz, with one track introducing some ethereal, blissed out female vocals, drifting weightless above the fuzzy groove, giving that track a serious shoegaze vibe.
Killer stuff. Super limited. Only 500 copies, each pressed on nice thick clear vinyl, housed in a plastic PVC jacket with a thick color cardstock insert, and comes with a code, so you can download MP3's for your iPod as well.
Luna's new seven song collection contains a few odd moments. I along with a couple of customers were sort of startled to hear the first few strains of the Stones' "Waiting On A Friend" with Dean Wareham doin' the ooooh-ooohs. It was a bit... strange. Their version of "Neon Lights" begins with a plink-plonk sound that really made it seems like it was going to be a cover of Abba's "Honey Honey" rather than a Kraftwerk song. The song "Teenage Lightning" however is NOT a cover of Coil's splendid track from Love's Secret Domain, as far as we can tell it's a Wareham original. The rest of the songs are pure Luna bliss, and should please all of their faithful followers. Oh and also included on this cd is a video for "Lovedust"! One gripe though, what's with the half-assed matchbook style packaging? So poorly executed, it's shameful! Not only has that design been done so many times before, but it's been done quite close to perfection by bands like Fuck and Tsunami to name just two. Harumph!
What can we say about Luna "Live"? Dean Wareham has honed and polished every last inch of this band to a positively glowing sheen thus making this a very well-recorded, well-performed live album that in a sense is a 'best of' also. You almost can't tell that these are live - non-studio - performances except for the applause that ends each song. Many of the lovely Luna faves are here. "Tiger Lily", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Anesthesia" to name a few. From 1999/2000 performances in Washington, DC's 9:30 Club and NYC's Knitting Factory.
