Apocalyptic noisey ambient drone classic. It's got the feeling and texture of Daydream Nation and F#A#∞ without the Beatles rock band dynamics and instrument definition just a crushing, chaotic and catastrophic looming clusterfuck of a sound. Drowner Yellow Swans is ominous hovering amorphous sludge and yet it still feels a bit like a rock album because of the loud propulsive racket created containing an array of swirling and fluctuating distorted tones and hidden melodies. The band described it as their gonzo psych rock record... er just don't go looking for a beat or anything.
The dawning of a new age with dazzling displays of acoustic guitar prowess. Hedges conjures a trompe l'oeil affect creating picturesque splendour and an exquisite spacious atmosphere. On Aerial Boundaries he explores his instrument to its maximum potential pushing the American primitive folk-prog thing out into another dimension. However daggy it may be, it's an undeniable jam.
A barnstorming slice of neo-psych dream-gaze. Great drummage!
Difference Engine - Breadmaker [1994] [Full LP]
Totally missed these guys at the time as they were a bit late to the gazing of the shoe party but I gotta say Difference Engine's 1994 cd Breadmaker is top tier second wave shoegaze. They had a real tight nit band aura and thankfully weren't doing exact replicas of the genre's pioneers. Amongst the dreamy atmospheres and ethereal reverberations they would sometimes whip up an incredible disorientating maelstrom. Pretty psychedelic and hypnotic.
Get mesmerised.
*The final track at 35:08 is a bonus track added to the 2015 Breadmaker reissue cd. It was originally recorded a year later for the unreleased follow up album. To me it doesn't really fit and the album should always end with the spectacular epic Epiphany...
Difference Engine - Epiphany [1994]
The aforementioned spectacular epic that closes the original cd. Epiphany is an xpressway to your disintegration today and forever.
The opening 22 minute title track to Cat System Corp's Palm Mall. The vague distant muzak reverberations and the field recorded atmospheric buzz of shoppers and mall staff in Palm Mall, as opposed to the rest of the album's vaporwave tunes, has become a minor ambient landmark in certain quarters. A sound design triumph, this soundscape is a soft, wistful, immersive and hypnagogic journey that needs to be experienced at least once.
Strangely soothing and serene consumerism ambience - Have a nice day.
A vaporwave eccojam video masterpiece. They sample and loop Kate's Wuthering Heights with the looped slow mo vision of a Pepsi Cola ad featuring legendary 90s supermodels Bridget Hall, Tyra Banks and Cindy Crawford.
*Who the hell would deliberately choose to drink Pepsi when you could have the greatest soft drink/soda/pop of them all Coke?
A classic plunderphonic exotica jam with possibly a ye olde Esquivel record on the turntables add in loops and fx, all done in real time. Experimental avant-garde is better when it's fun.
When noise becomes ambient, ultra minimalistic and psychedelic. To me it sounds like relentless weather occurring on my roof for an hour. Someone described this as every sound all at once. You could just listen to the first few seconds to get what the entire hour sounds like but that would be missing the point. The hour needs to be experienced.
The first comment on yt says:
"No ideas, no change, no development, no entertainment, no remorse" - Vomir.
I'm not sure if the dude behind Vomir said that but it's pretty cool except of course there is an idea behind it and disappointingly there is a slight alteration to the sound in the final few minutes. You could just stop it at the 57 minute mark to keep the concept pure.
Actually it's worth trawling through the comments, these people are funny and insightful. Here are some other great quotes on the internet about this piece of sound.
"This is what I imagine the sun sounds like"
"Very quickly I started seeing stuff"
"Finally, something relaxing to listen to"
"Its like being dead"
"This cured my anxiety"
"It's psychedelic stuff"
"It just stays there and doesn't do anything at all for an hour when it ends just as abruptly as it had started"
"This shit is great for studying/concentration"
"Such a bop"
"It's like when I was 9 and used to stick my head out the car window"
"Great for noise cancellation, can't hear my mom"
"No art, no soul, no creativity"
"How to Vomir: Press REC on your phone, open your car's windows while driving on the highway, hold your phone out of the car's window for one hour (be careful not to drop it)"
DIY lo-fi outsider pop from the 80s Japanese cassette underground.
Cosmic Colors is like a naive art version of city pop. Pure beauty and innocence sans the too slick soulless sheen.
This guy released over 35 cassettes in the space of five years from 1981 to 1985. None of these albums were issued outside Japan. Cult status in the western world awaits for K. Yoshimatu.
[1982]
K. Yoshimatu - Spherical Voyage
Low key evocative minimal instrumental spacey ambience juxtaposed with strange almost cartoon-like clangorous percussion.
This cassette seems like a precursor to hypnagogia with its vaguely psych prog aura mixed with echo-y new age touches.
[1985]
Juma - Lunar Lavender
Juma is a K Yoshimatu alias. This guy's just got a knack for gorgeous guitar and synth melodies, like he just can't help it.
