I take that back

The previously mentioned new Dolphins Into The Future record is not a disappointment at all. In fact it is up there with the Dolphins best tapes Mountains Saturnus, ...On Sea Faring Isolation, Wildlife Tapes etc.

Canto Arquipelago

Dolphins Into The Future

2012

Speaking of a lack of good new releases, there were a couple of top records I missed last year to keep me going in this drought. Tim Hecker's Ravedeath,1972 is a cracker. This is berserk drone heaven.

Keeping in drone territory are the digital drones with more of a club music influence on Laurel Halo's Hour Logic LP.

Last but not least is is Julia Holter's Tragedy which is apparently a concept LP but don't hold that against it, it's got songs and weird atmospheric interludes or is that weird atmospheres with song interludes. Anything which has a track that sounds like its a sacrificial cult chanting is fine by me ( ie. track 2). Tragedy is fairly unclassifiable, having said that Ivo Watts Russel  would probably dig it. Pop, Classical, Goth, Minimalism, Ambient, Psych Folk, Field Recording, Electro are genres it might be tinged with but really this is a work of its own and an incredibly accomplished/cohesive one at that. Outstanding.

Mixtapes: The Best Part II

Mark Van Hoen earlier this year did one of the best mixes for Pontone ever. Pontone Mixtape 87 might seem like a history lesson on paper but that makes it the best history lesson ever in electronic music. It.s so good I could listen over and over again despite being familiar with at least 2 3rds of the material here. Ligeti, Oneothrix, Japan, Oram, Derbyshire, Eno, Cluster, LFO and the list goes on. Somehow he makes it all gel and sound fresh. Another bewdy at Pontone is tape 77 Psychological Strategy Board Presents: Industry, What Industry? This is up there with the previously mentioned Moon Wiring Club tapes as well as being in similar territory. Actually I don't think I got this originally from Pontone, it may have been posted in several places anyway......

Rachel Evans of Motion Sickness of Time Travel did a cool mix a year or 2 back. The Electric Rain Mix was top shelf modern electronics that included Emeralds, Panabrite, Hobo Cubes etc.....dunno where this was from though.....It says on the track 'ssg special', which I'm guessing is some kind of blog........??

Electric Rain Mix
Rachel Evans

Now this one is an old skool classic-Sleaz & Cheez mix by DJ Soap from 2008. This is a fantastic sexadelic mix of French and Italian grooves. This'll get your spa party started for sure. Over 70 minutes of sonically sexual mischief including the likes of Mr Gainbourg, Morricone, Piero's Umiliani & Piccioni, Frances Lai, Nic Fidenco etc....anyway this came from The Sleazy Listening Blog which is fantastic for those sexotic sounds from 60s and 70s Euro soundtracks.



Sleaz & Cheez
Mix by Soap
2008
Sexadelic Baby!

  

ANZAC DAY

Tactics

Second Langauage

My Favorite Sydney via Canberra band of all time!

The 3Ds
Awesome!
In Outer Space!



ANZAC Day.

The Chills

The Great Escape

The Sunnyboys

I Need A Friend

I think this was recorded in NZ.
This song used to scare me when I was little.

Lobby Lyoyde production.

Fuck Yeah!

More from NZ!

One of my fave Verlaines songs.

Can't believe they made a film clip for it.

ANZAC Day

SK in fine form, so are the rest of the band, brilliant!

Tantalized-The Church

Yee Haa!

The Church - Fly
Is this an official film clip?

fuck yeah Ripple!

The Church
My favourite Sydney via Canberra & Liverpool band of all time!

The Chills
Heavenly Pop Hit!

The Verlaines
You know I think they were the weirdest band on Flying Nun!
I just find them a bit strange,
Not in a contrived way.

Funny

2012 music

Gary War's new project.
On Spectrum Spools.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a dearth of good new music releases so far this year. Some of the new No Not Fun stuff Cruise Family, LX Sweat etc. it's ok but it's not that excitement like first hearing Sun Araw, Umberto, Ducktails et al. Then there is the 2012 disappointments Nite Jewel, Dolphins Into The Future (perhaps being a bit hasty only listened to it once), most music in the charts etc. The new Black Dice record, I dunno maybe I need more time to get into it or maybe I could just chuck it in the bin.  Editions Mego are doin OK though, Mark Van Hoen's record and Gary War's ..... sorry Human Teenager's new platter are good gear. The Revenant Diary sounds like Mark went into a deep sleep sometime in 1996 and woke up in 2012 and made a record as if nothing had happened. While the Human Teenager record Animal Husbandry sounds like a follow up to Gary War's top 2009 LP Horribles Parade. Human Teenager are his new collaboration with some other dude who was in Infinity Window I think. Gary War also has a solo record coming out soon too. It's not all bad news at No Not Fun, I'm lovin' Sand Circles new tape Motor City.  This is 2am driving music for the city's bewildered lost souls. Looking forward to the new Motion Sickness of Time Travel double LP on Spectrum Spools. Maybe I need to be lookin' elsewhere. I have been discovering some good 80s stuff from Ohio reissued on Columbus Discount Records, but I'm talkin about new music here. Any recommendations out there?

The Revenant Diary
Mark Van Hoen

Fabulous follow up to
Midnite Crimes

                                                                      

Tall Dwarves

Tall Dwarves

Turning Brown & Torn In Two

I remember seeing this on Rage in the 80s and thinking what the fuck is this?

It still sounds otherworldly. On Flying Nun from 82 or 83 despite the video saying 1987.

Bilders, Bilderine, Bill Direen, The Builders, Above Ground

More Christchurch Rock

Above Ground/Bilders

What's this?

Dunno where this comes from.

It's not on the Gone Aiwa tape by Above Ground

reissued recently on vinyl from Siltbreeze.

MEHIKO-Above Ground !?

Above Ground contained Bill Direen, Maryrose Crook ( The Max Block) and Stuart Page (preAxemen!).

Reissue of Above Ground's
1983 tape on vinyl.

This was on the same EP as Russian Rug.

I Thought I Knew You

The Buiders

As you can probably tell Bill Direen wasn't afraid to use aliases, different spellings of his band names etc.

He was called Max Quits on the back of the Above Ground record.

Suzanne Ciani

Here is Suzanne's legenendary performance on Letterman.

Girl Power!

Books: I should read some.

Currently reading two books, Greil Marcus's Mystery Train and Pauline Kael's I Lost it at the Movies. Greil's is what I expected and a  little bit more. I always liked The Band's Up On Cripple Creek and King Harvest but I was still not convinced I would enjoy the whole of the 2nd LP. Marcus convinced me to reluctantly make the purchase and yeah OK it's pretty, pretty good. Whispering Pines lovely, I even like The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down now. Had to edit Rag Mama Rag off the I-pod though. I watched The Last Waltz several times in the last 10 years and went What?? This is supposed to be enjoyable?! Funnily enough at one stage he writes "Their music gave us a sure sense that the country was richer than we had guessed" Which I was gonna' write about The Band's music- that it was richer than I had guessed. Or had Marcus convinced me that it was. Anyway I'm not up to the Randy Newman Chapter yet. Elvis, Robert Johnson, Sly Stone and old R&B I've been big on for a long time so Marcus doesn't have to convince me of anything there but I can't see him converting me to Randy Newman. Newman to me at this moment is the type of guy I'd like to punch in the face. Can Marcus change my mind? Stay tuned.

A Zero that I read was Awkwardness by Adam Kotsko an American phd Knob. This was the most anticipated out of the 3, I guess because the subject matter is quite dear to me. It is an essay discussing obviously 'awkward' but in the context of  TV and film comedy of recent times, The Office (British and US versions), Judd Apatow films (including 40 Year Old Virgin & Knocked Up) and my all time favourite US comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm. Underwhelming doesn't fully describe it. Kotsko tried some theories and arguments about awkwardness that me and the Mrs thought were so flimsy it didn't warrant publication. Words like lame and unnecessary, I think, are being kind. How the fuck did this non-entity get a phd. If this was an essay dished up to me I don't think I would have been able to pass it as it was was totally unconvincing. I should have known better, analysis of comedy has never been interesting or done well. Who needs it analysed. You either think something is funny or not. End of fuckin' story.

33 & a 3rds Greatest Hits Vol One edited by David Barker is another waiting in the wings. It's a collection of chapters from the 1st 20 books in the 33 & a 3rd series. I've always baulked at buying any of these individual books in this series. I thought if I read this it might recommend one of them to me. Entire books full of words about 1 LP is kinda the antithesis of my blog. I like one or two sentences to describe the sounds of a record and that's it. Anyway I read the chapter on Abba Gold by Elisabeth Vincentelli and fuck me it was like a sports statistician was given the job to do the Abba record or maybe a Librarian or some other kind of obsessive compulsive ie.tedieous. This does not bode well for the rest of the collection or books in the series.

Suzanne Ciani, French Electronics & NZ Underground Rock.

Anyway what else have I been into well Suzanne Ciani's archival release on Finders Keepers Livixiation 1969-1985 is a little bewdy. Somewhere between formal undergrad avant garde, cosmic, new age, advertising and soundtrack music, this bird did it all. She did jobs for Atari, Coke and TV Stations as well as doing her own gear.

How 'bout this cover?!

Also diggin' Patrick Vian's LP Bruit Et Temps Analogues (thanks Mutant Sounds) from 1976. He was another French person doing cosmic electronics with a moog. Awesome! Up there with the best French astronautical musicians Heldon, Spacecraft etc.

And then there is an album by some other Frenchmen, this time from 1980, Ilitch - 10 Suicides. Can't describe it. Out there electronics in a world of its own. Fuckin love it! Oneothrix Point Never Must be a fan. Mental!

Last but not least I finally got my hands on Time To Go - The Southern psycedelic (sic) Moment: 1981-86, the fabulous Flying Nun Comp compiled by Bruce Russell. Can't complain about that......well... there is one track though where I couldn't really see a psych connection. The track in question is Sit Down by Playthings, which is a punk/new wave tune in the vein of Blondie. It's not a bad track per se but does it belong here? The rest of these tracks are one way or another psych post-punk in its myriad of forms. Bruce  is one of the master compilers of our times and this collection is no exception. Up there with, perhaps even surpassing, the previously mentioned Le Jazz Non on Corpus Hermiticum and The Xpressway singles comp Making Losers Happy.

The Homosexuals

False Sentiments

the Homosexuals

The Best Song Ever!

That's the band not the sexual preference. I love British post-punk. There were so many great bands in that era. How could I pick just one as the greatest? Well that would be ridiculous! But The Homosexuals would come close because they were never too dour and wore uncool influences on their sleeve. The Homosexuals weren't afraid to be overtly pschedelic, experimental or silly. They were never boring and never gave a fuck about anyone else as far as I can see. They hardly sold any records back then and didn't seem to give a shit. I think they were only ever reveiwed once in the UK media! They can be heard just enjoying themselves and the company they were in, on their records. Joyous! No major labels here! No recording budgets either.

Astral Glamour

the Homosexuals

GOLD!

I got this triple cd 8 or 9 years ago and it still excites me to this day. I'm not even sure I've got to cd3 yet, the rest is so good. This is art as pure as it comes!

 Astral Glamour 1978-1982.

Breaking Bad

I've e just finished watching the DVDs of the fourth season of Breaking Bad and fuck me it did not disappoint. It kept me guessing right till the end with their great use of red herrings. Even after the final ep of season 4 I've still got unanswered questions and cannot see where the final 5th season will go. I'd like to write something really smart about the show but i dunno.....It's some of the greatest actoring ever acted. There are no week links in that cast. It's like the longest best movie ever made. The Mrs thinks each episode is like a mini movie and that Walt could in fact be a superhero. It is one of the most enthralling shows I've ever seen. An absolute peak in telly drama.

Unrecognisable as the dad
from Malcolm in the Middle

The creepiest psychopath

in tv history!

                                                                                                                                                                                



I also just watched the #3rd season again of Deadwood. That's another pinnacle of telly drama. I don't know how the fuck they came up with those characters. Each one a fully rounded fuck up of a person and so real.....well did anyone ever really talk like that?.... I dunno but I like it. It's like you're one of them, you really feel like you're sittin' in the Gem Saloon drinkin' whiskey or maybe I just wish I was. Anyway we are living through a golden era of TV drama. I hope it continues because well... have you seen a good movie lately? Didn't think so.

Complex moron.
E.B.

George Hearst.
A bit Grumpy



The Doc.

Jon Hamm V Kim Kardashian

So the Mad Men actor is slagging off Kim the reality TV star and saying she's an idiot blah blah...Then I thought hang on a minute there Mr Hamm. Mad Men is a show full of unlikable characters doing bad things. The Kardashians could be seen as a bunch of unlikable people doing stupid things. Hmm...There really doesn't seem to be that much difference in the content of each show really. Both shows are tedious and hard to sit through. Both shows are full of shallowness, have an obsession with fashion and guess what? Both shows are only made to raise revenue for their respective owners. Kim Kardashian might come across as someone who will do just about anything for money. What are actors? I hear you say. Well they're people who are paid to do just about anything on a screen. Maybe Mr Hamm needs a dose of reality about what he really is. That being a commodity to sell stuff in the same way Kim Kardashian is. So who's the real idiot? At least Kim knows what she is.

Jon's Hamm

Kim Kardashian's
Rump.





Axemen Mania!

More pop heaven!

Totally out there Axemen!

I think I'm runnin' out of Axemen clips!

This predates the interest in Information Films
by 20 years. Pre-Hauntological etc.
They are the true pioneers!

Axemen

More Axemen for the holidays! Yay!

More Axemen!

This is from 1985.

Axemen Gold from the telly in 92!
Boys dressed as girls!