Luciano Cilio - Dialoghi del presente

[1977]

It would be pretty hard not to be touched by this minimal avant-folk LP. It's an improv chamber jam like no other. The opening eight minute track Primo Quadro della Conoscenza is the spectacular high point here: Gorgeous, delicate, mysterious, sparse and haunting. 

It all puts me in mind of a time when my younger self romantically thought there was a possibility of living a life like an art film where the aesthetics of the surrounding landscape were to feature in importance and prominence. It was going to be wintry secluded hills in the woods in a minimally furnished cabin-esque farmhouse where the evenings would feature wine, women and song and society and the state would be far from your mind. A life combining the voluptuous, epicurean and contemplative to an integrated cosmic level was the dream not the wretched unrelenting circumstances of reality.

Ksiezyc - S/T

[1996]

Ye olde and modern collide in this ambient medieval psych-folk jam from Poland. Haunting folk horror vibes. Apparently the subject matter is rather grim and macabre. The sorta thing you would have expected 4AD to release back in the day and as good as anything they did put out in this vein. Perfect music for tonight, the bleakest midwinter's night this year. Despite the fire crackling away me and the dog aren't sure who is coldest. 

With You Every Night · Ariel Pink

[2025]

"Can't lock me out when I'm the voice within"

Total dream-gaze-ment.

LO-fi hypnagogic goodness that goes from romantic to creepy to ecstatic and more. He's tapping into the lost subconscious for a peak deep sonic dreamscape where all sorts of forgotten and unthought things are bubbling away. A hazy and haunted trip-out of glorious proportions. 

The pint size psych pop maestro is in unexpected fine form in 2025.

DURUTTI COLUMN - Lips That Would Kiss/Madeleine

Durutti Column - Lips That Would Kiss/Madeline [1980]

You will be charmed and enchanted by the debut 7" of Vinni Reilly's sublime mesmerising guitar exploits put through the Martin Hannet ringer. Fragile, sweet and odd. 

Durutti Column often get lost in the history of post-punk, the development of 80s guitar music, all things ethereal and being a key influence on future genres like dream pop, shoegaze, UK post-rock, hypnagogia etc. Durutti Column are not just some footnote though, they are the big bang... well more like the gentle rippling waves of the oscillating universe... 

Vinni Reilly captures the beauty and melancholy of our lives, everything in between and more. Capturing the ineffable is what art is for and Reilly excels in this pursuit. There is so much unnecessary bullshit put out into the world it's hard not to be touched when somebody is generous enough to create such poignant and exquisite music for you to enjoy. 

Warning - Warning

[1982]

If Gary Numan turned into Cookie Monster and started playing doom metal maybe it would sound like this. One of the stranger anomalies in the history of 20th century pop. Disco-Doom or as somebody said aesthetically it's Disco Grover meets Cookie Monster. It's got vague hints of French cosmic, 80s action/sc-fi/horror soundtracks, zuehl, Goblin, Archaïa, Heldon, Chrome, F/i, new wave, synth-pop, space-rock, heavy metal etc. but really this German duo's debut LP defies categorisation and is in a genre all of its own. 

Swans - I Am The Sun

I Am The Sun - Swans [1995]

Keeping up the theme of all things sunshine. Beach Boys and Swans are pretty much the same really, sun and fun.

You know what's funny, when this came out Swans were perceived as so passé hardly anybody even noticed. I recall a small article in The Wire and one dude on the radio in Melbourne played tunes from The Great Annihilator so I would be curious what the sales figures were. A year later after releasing the follow up LP Soundtracks For The Blind they broke up because the lack of financial stability had become so stressful they couldn't even sustain running the band.  

In a turn of events that is still surprising to me Swans returned in the 2010s after a thirteen year hiatus to immense critical acclaim and an unforeseen surge in popularity. Somehow in their absence a huge cult following featuring a younger generation of devoted fans had formed. Soundtracks For The Blind had become a cult phenomenon online to rival other cult records of the 90s like Spiderland, When The Kite String Pops, Stratosphere and In An Aeroplane Over The Sea. I'm guessing their influence on Godspeed You Black Emperor was also a key factor to their meteoric post-millennial rise.

Song For The Sun - Swans [1991]

Another Beach Boys-esque tune to get you in your Little Deuce Coup headed to the coast for some surfing fun in the sun and beach babe action. Michael Gira the most fun man in rock with the sunniest disposition!

Palisades Park - The Beach Boys

[1976]

Where the Beach Boys pay tribute to the music that inspired them in the early days. This is a cover of Freddy Cannon's #3 hit from 1962. Carl absolutely kills this vocal performance. Also featuring great fairground organ lead break for peak Americana nostalgia. The good ole days when everything was way more innocent, even the creepy stuff. The Beach Boys are America's band but also they're Australia's.

Let Us Go On This Way · The Beach Boys

[1977]

There's refined radio friendly Beach Boys then there's deranged scuzzy Beach Boys and much in-between but hey its all Beach Boys. Many can't hack the rough unhinged and lo-fi version but for those that can handle it there's a load of wild stuff. I mean they sometimes get so goofy its like outsider music at times... And they are retarded aren't they... like they've got arrested development, grown blokes stuck with 15 year old boy brains. In a way they're keepin' it pure with these adolescent rock'n'roll concerns and startling strange music that's so abrupt you can't ignore it.

The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick

[1963]

A young Mike Love at a vocal peak here on this tune penned by Brian Wilson. Many moons later It was credited to Wilson/Love after legal action, there was no love lost between these two cousins. Creating a Christmas classic is no mean feat and here The Beach Boys entered the Christmas pop culture lexicon forever.

Merry Christmas everybody!

It's OK · The Beach Boys

[1976]

By this stage, the Brian's Back era, The Beach Boys were post-modern whether they knew it or not.  Everything about this is fan-fucking-tastic: The melody, the words, the sentiments, the impeccable Brian production, the expansive harmonies, the hand claps, Brian on the fucking Moog!

You don't hear this ever on golden oldies radio here but it's an undeniable feel good hit of the summer. 

The fuckin' best! 

Find a ride 

In the sum-sum-summertime
It's OK

it's alright

Dennis on the outro...  two Dennis' in fact!

Dennis

Dennis

*Roy Wood guests on drums

**The sound and vibe here are a precursor to Brian's great 00s solo LP That Lucky Old Sun.

***Also surely this is the inspiration for several sunny tunes on Ariel Pink's Before Today.