I Like The Old Stuff Better Than The New Stuff

So far this year there's been 3 releases that have arrived but I hardly want to play them at all. Before I started my blog I had a renewed interest in all things current in music from like 2008 to pretty much the start of last year. The only things from the recent past still getting an airing are that Gesaffelstein album Aleph, which I just can't get enough of (the best album of 2013 I reckon) and the Logos album Cold Mission. My most played music of last year wasn't new at all it was Steely Dan in fact. This year its been T-Rex, post-Eno Roxy Music, 70s Bowie (is there any other?), Suzi Quatro singles, New York Dolls, The Runaways and The Dictators. Who can explain where your head is gonna go? Youtube is probably the most influential catalyst for my listening, not radio, tv or print media. In fact I haven't listened to the radio or bought a music magazine for six months. The occasional blog or website might put me on a path but its mainly my own brain that leads the way. Listening to Ultravox, Tubeway Army and the subsequent solo outings from John Foxx and Gary Numan makes sense. I can thank Genesis P Orridge for a renewed interest in The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by The Incredible String Band and the discovery of Dr Strangely Strange's Kip Of The Serenes. He mentioned liking those recently on the interweb.

It's not lookin good for these 3 new records. I've skipped through Sun Araw's Belomancie and it seemed a little annoying so I dunno if I'll return to it? Sun Araw's Beach Head, Heavy Deeds, On Patrol and Ancient Romans are some of my favourite recordings of last few years. Cameron Stallones last LP under the guise of Sun Araw The Inner Treaty didn't really appeal but his collaboration with M Geddes Gengres and The Congos Icon Give Thank from 2012 was great.

I got a little excited by the arrival of Pye Corner Audio's Black Mill Tapes 3 & 4.  I dug the previous Volumes 1 & 2, Sleep Games and The House In The Woods (his side Project) LP Bucolica, but I don't even think I've played this new one all the way through yet and I've had it for over a month.

After these two underwhelming releases I wasn't expecting much from Kemper Norton's album Carn. Maybe there was no life left in the farmer in the city, gumboot industrial, rustic bunny blah blah but thankfully it sounds bloody great (after one listen) and this one I will be returning to right after listening to The Groundhogs Hogwash, Gary Glitter and DJ Extreme's Tom & Jerry Mix  of course....

Sun Araw/The Congos/Sherlock Holmes/Girls

Sun Araw and The Congos create a new zone somewhere between Roots Reggae and Hynagogia.
Stoned? Us?

Not much to talk about musically really. I just looked over my top 20 of 2012 and noticed I left out the  Sun Araw, M Geddes Gengras Meet The Congos LP which is brilliant. And I only just, a week or 2 ago, got the 2nd Hacker Farm LP. I'm loving that and it's a huge leap from Poundland. I would describe it as Isolationist (in the best sense of the term) ambiance and dare I say the word, Industrial, anyway it's post all that, but post seems to be a bad word at the moment so I won't say that. The new Broadcast LP is the only other thing I've been listening to. A faux Giallo soundtrack that pays homage to Goblin and other Italian masters.

I've caught up on some tv though. Sherlock Holmes the BBC series featuring Benedict Cumberbatch & Martin Freeman is one I have watched. Thinking, well I didn't really like the Hollywood films of recent times but I'll give it a go, because Caitlin Moran rates it. I was immediately transfixed by the whole thing. The best BBC drama in a very long time. The plots are incredible and the acting, well fuck me!, where did this Benedict Cumberbatch come from? He's an incredibly charismatic actor with star written all over him. How does he do that unblinking thing? I've spent some of my life amongst people with Aspergers Syndrome and I could not come up with a more real version of the syndrome. At one point during the show Dr. Watson  claims Sherlock as Aspergers. This I find refreshing considering how many seasons has it been for Big Bang Theory? Where one of the main characters, Sheldon, quite obviously has Aspergers  and no one has muttered the word Autism or Aspergers as far as I know! But they are quite willing to make fun of his condition. Anyway what a surprise and I can't wait for the next season which is going to be at least a 12 month wait.

The next one was Girls. I was not expecting to relate whatsoever  to a show about 20 something girls in New York, but somehow it drew me in! I thought this may be an interesting show but did not expect to relate to it in any terms. I thought the era, ie now, would alienate me. Being married for the last 5 years etc. would exclude me but fuck this show just reminded me and the Mrs of our early 20s. Lena Dunham has captured in minute detail the confusion, bewilderment, narcissistic wrongness, the obsession with sex, and the whatever else is happening in your 20s perfectly. Timeless, brilliant and so close to the bone sometimes it makes you want to look away. Lena puts in all the bits, awkwardness, selfishness and embarrassment, that others would leave out. One of the most honest accounts of awful 20 something behaviour I've ever seen.

Old stuff better than new stuff?



Maria Minerva has a new LP Will Happiness Find Me?



There are all sorts of new records I would usually be salivating to to listen to by Maria Minerva, Emeralds & Sun Araw plus a new side by Oneohtrix Point Never and a new tape by Mark McGuire. I mean they are there waiting to be listened to but since reading Energy Flash I'm in some kind of British 90-95 timezone wormhole that has attached to my brain and will not allow anything else to get past my ears. This is no bad thing as I'm re/discovering exciting music from exciting musical times. It does however make me wonder if what's happening now is really quite inconsequential. Has that whole underground of above mentioned artists, James Ferarro, No Not Fun records et al. run its course? If hipsterhouse is the only thing on the musical horizon god help us. It could just be that I have read two books recently by Owen Hatherley & Simon Reynolds on 90s music so I've just naturally gone back and checked out the music. When the future of music looks barren I do usually go into undiscovered (by me) retro-zones though. I have musical zones waiting for such times like Musique Concrete, 20th century composition, Jazz, Early R & B, Disco, 70s AOR, Dancehall, Aboriginal Country, Doo Wop, ECM Records, Gamelin, NWOBHM, Anything from Finland, Country Soul  and general things I've just missed etc. etc. Worringly on Maria Minerva's new LP she sings on Perpetual Motion Machine "this goes out to the lovers of deep house" Forgive me if I'm wrong but whenever the term deep house first appeared (I dunno 90-91?) didn't that mean shit house. How much deeper/shittier has it got in the following 20 years god only knows.

Emeralds-Just To Feel Anything
Been waitin' 2 years for this but it remains unplayed!

Anyway I'm on this trip- The lineage (that would be a very crooked one) of 'Ardcore to Darkside to Ambient Jungle. Wow the times were moving then! A sort of hyper progression of culture that blasted into the future with the speed of light which was also reflected back into the music. I've been making ultimate mixtapes of hardcore, darkside and yesterday started one on ambient jungle. Had to dig out old Omni Trio, Foul Play and 4Hero tunes. A long time since I've listened to these records and they're great. This mix is already at nearly 3 hours. Someone on the blogosphere mentioned recently the Macro Dub Infection compilation released by Virgin in '95. I was getting massively into dub man in the early 90s like King Tubby, Scientist, Prince Jammy, Scratch, Augustus Pablo, Keith Hudson, Blood & Fire Records et al. This modern dub influenced collection on Virgin was great but out of the 4 tracks I could think of off the top of my head the other day (before I found it in my closet) 3 were jungle tracks. Omni Trio's The Half Cut, 4Hero's The Paranormal In 4 Form and a track by Spring Heel Jack. That just goes to show how outstanding jungle music was/is! There were only 3 jungle tracks on the compilation! I do have to mention the other track is one of the most astounding modern dub reggae tunes heard to this day. It was by Irration Steppas called Irration Steppas V Dennis Rootical (never found any of their records though). Anyway I remember playing Omni Trio on student radio and fuck me they were made for FM radio. Other tracks I recall from this one off night included The Beach Boys, Booker T and the MGs, My Bloody Valentine, Laika, The Beastie Boys and er....The Tindersticks. I have often thought my blog was a little too eclectic but clearly this is nothing new for me so I couldn't do it any other way.



Omni Trio strike more gold!



One of the greatest ambient jungle
 tunes. Which one???

Sun Araw - The Inner Treaty



Bondi - Last Sunday. Spent most of this trip ill in the Hotel room
with a tummy bug! Great! Fantastic pic by The Mrs though!

When I got back and started to feel a little better this was waiting for me. This being the only glimmer of happy in my life in the last 4 days.

It's his slickest yet most stripped back recording so far. I have only listened to it twice but I have to say it has a Compass Point/Adrian Belew vibe, maybe an influence from his time spent in the Caribbean recently or just listening to Talking Heads/Lizzy Mercier Descloux records. A bit weird after 5 or 6 LPs where it's been hard to pinpoint the slippery Sun Araw that now I can say something like that. Is it the stripping of the hypnogogic fog that's revealing or is it just a new direction/coincidence?

*Blogger spellcheck offers an alternative spelling to hypnogogic - Spongecake!

Cool Covers

Raw Thrills Gun Cruisin' (2012)

The best record cover ever. Not really into the music though. Prince/80s pastiche.

(2010)

(2012)

Anyway it reminded me of some other choice covers. Miami Nights '84 with their 2 records, Early Summer & Turbulence. Now these 2 do live up to their covers. 80s synth soundtrack music with a disco beat and soaring guitar solos. Its all about Michael Knight, Don Johnson, High cut bikinis, Andrew McCarthy, Arcade games, Perms, discos, John Hughes, Trans Ams, Michael J Fox, Molly Ringwald's undies...This is definitely up cheese. If you liked that Skyramps record a few years back you'll probably dig these. Check out some of the track titles Ocean Drive, Sunset Cruise, Elevator of Love, Saved By The Bell, High Beams etc.

Sun Araw - On Patrol (2010). Then there's this great cover from a couple of years back.

One of my favourite records of the 2010s so far. This ain't kitsch, these are deep psychedelic space jams of the highest order. Sublime.

This has become too retro!

One of my fave current bands!

Sun Araw

Crete

A Bit Late, Whatevs....

2011

11 Records of 2011

936-Peaking Lights
Most played album of 2011. Some vague-hypno-lovers-dub. As good as Melbourne's very own Fabulous Diamonds. Get off yer head and dig on the grooves man.

Night Dolls With Hairspray-James Ferraro
Sounds like The Residents grand kids demented account of American High School life.  Killer nerds, perverted teachers and TV watching roaches. Better than a John Waters film.

Pan Am Stories-Rangers
The most underrated group in the world. Did they end up in any end of year lists. Their 5th classic in a row. Epic.

Ancient Romans-Sun Araw
More trippy grooves for another wasted generation. Big hit round here.

Far Side Virtual-James Ferraro
Apart from sounding like an 80s Italian synth library LP this sounded like the music to the bits in an 80’s teen flick where they start to get their shit together and have a glimmer of hope, not all the future/technology bullshit theory every critic espoused. Up cheese.

Cabaret Cixous-Maria Minerva
Top woozy tunes from the Estonian songstress. If it was the 80’s it would have been on 4AD.

The English Riviera-Metronomy
How the fuck did they do this? Deceptive and unique pop. Familiar and alien at the same time. Name an influence, it won’t stick.

Glass Swords-Rustie
Originally this was to be in a category of its own, Best/Worst record I’ve ever heard.  Due to closer inspection I now believe it to contain much awesomeness. It makes me wanna wear something shite, score some Es, put on $1 sun glasses and get some glow sticks.

As The Crow Flies-The Advisory Circle
I thought Hauntology was over but hold your horses. This is a cracker of melancholy electronic music. The sound of brown.

Nordsee/Contemplating The Observatory-Panabrite
A little bit new age, a little bit kosmiche and a tiny bit John Carpenter. This is the biz at 3am when you can’t sleep or don’t want to.

Luminaries & Synastry-Motion Sickness of Time Travel
All the Vs: Vaporous, vague, vacuous and very ..... 

Other Bewdies

Tallinn At Dawn-Maria Minerva

A Young Person’s Guide To-Mark McGuire

KWJAZ cassette-KWJAZ

Urban Gothic-Xander Harris

Underneath The Pine-Toro Y Moi

Midnite Crimes-Sand Circles
Memowrekz-Ekoplekz
Tapeswap-Ekoclef

Clutch It Like A Gonk-Moon Wiring Club

Replica-Oneohtrix Point Never

Music for Thomas Carnacki-Jon Brooks (er...forgot about this one. Should have been in the top 5 really.  Spooky sounds for weird scientists and satanic magicians.)

Who cares?

John Maus (he is Chapterhouse to Ariel Pink’s MBV)

England blah blah-pj Harvey (not listened don’t care)

Tom Waits (see above)

Amerifuckn’cana! (when will it end?)

Australians doing Amerifuckn’cana! (worse than above)*

Good Tunes

This would be usually full of top 40 tunes but Video Hits went away. However I do spend time in my wife’s car.

The Look - Metronomy

Ruff Trade – Maria Minerva

Zeke’s Dream – Rangers

Fanta – Psychic Reality

Someone Like You – Adele (sorry/up yours hipsters)

Guilty – Kasey Chambers (just up yours hipsters)**

Reissues/Archives/Compilations

Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock & Funk 1970-78 - Various.

Thai Dai: The Heavier Side Of Luk Thung Underground - Various.

Flipper Psych Out: Original Italian Library Music From The Vaults Of Flipper - Various.

Mellow Mellow: Original Smooth Grooves & Chilled Beats - Various.

Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga!: Seminal Aesthetic Expressions Of Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1970 - 1983 - Various.