equinox, the peacekeeper

equinox, the peacekeeper | we could wake each other up
[self-released 2010]

"Equinox, the Peacekeeper is the moniker of Wouter Buyst, born in Belgium, often residing elsewhere. Travels in and outside the mind all had their effect on the music, containing a mixture of acoustic, electric, psychedelic, soothing and melancholic elements.

The past years Equinox, the Peacekeeper has been recording with a full band which resulted in the first official album “We Could Wake Each Other Up”. It’s available at gigs and at www.equinoxthepeacekeeper.be. Instruments such as guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano, cello, harmonica, melodica, singing saw, glockenspiel, mouth harp and samples are being used. The poetic, mysterious and moving lyrics, sung by Wouter, guest singer and choir are the most important elements in Equinox, the Peacekeeper’s music. In 2010 the album “We Could Wake Each Other Up” will get an official release with a releaseparty and a tour to be confirmed." el nejo

download | buy

toma las llaves, la sonrisa y las ganas
encendamos el coche y montemos carreteras
'if you don't mind, i'm going home'
:)

fotola: el nejo

best coast

our deal

'...I wish you would tell me how you really feel'

canción del año, de la vida, fleetwood mac meets neko case

"Here's a nice surprise for a Tuesday afternoon: a new song by Bethany Cosentino, a.k.a. lo-fi beach-popper Best Coast. "Our deal" from her forthcoming full-length debut. The tune is of considerably higher fidelity than what we're used to from Cosentino, and features a lovely country-ish melody"

michael yonkers

michael yonkers • lovely gold [drag city 2010]

"Utilizing original photos and the exact layout and notes of the planned 1977 "Lovely Gold" release, a lost classic at last becomes available. As of late 2009, the legend of Michael Yonkers has taken its place among the great stories of underground rock and roll music. He’d been playing rock and roll for nearly forty years when “Microminiature Love” was finally issued in 2003 (Sire had taken a pass way back in 1968). A thousand noise-rock ears pricked up, as Yonkers, a reclusive Minneapolis dancer-musician with a handful of self-released records over the years, had seminally prefigured proto-punk/metal/noise through his own brand of amped up garage rock. Since the revelation, Michael has picked up where he left off, exploring blown-out frequencies with collaborators around the globe, and his work has claimed a seat next to immortals like The Fugs, Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth and even Jimi Hendrix.

What a lot of folks still don’t know is that Michael put aside his hand-built fuzz boxes and bellowing vocal style in the 1970s to record and self-release some truly curious albums of lilting loner-folk music, including “Grimwood”, “Goodby Sunball” and “Michael Lee Yonkers”. Of this holy trio of albums, only “Grimwood” has yet seen reissue. Throughout this time, Yonkers layered madrigal-like vocals, simple acoustic guitars, and used electricity in only the most subtle of ways - all to serve his sombre, mesmerizing songs.

This brings us to “Lovely Gold”. Planned as the fourth LP in his 70s trilogy, it was never released - a true crime, because it is an exotic work of homespun brilliance. Recorded in 1977 on a four-channel ‘tube type’ tape recorder that Michael built himself by combining parts of other machines, it is perhaps his most multi-faceted solo album. The trademark Yonkers chug appears (though more stripped-down and dreamlike) and even some spraying acidic guitar on the title track, but the sweeping choral voice arrangements on gorgeous hymns like “Will It Be” are entirely unique and indeed lovely creations. What’s more, while digging through his archives Michael located previously lost cuts intended for the album, including the harrowing, near- Krautrock glide of “Nevermore”." piccadilly records

download | buy

no sé ustedes pero entre el sol, viento y carambolas se antoja un mucho de rock, o no?

fotola: **meagan

pothole skinny

pothole skinny ~ the old bergen vault ep series (perhaps transparent 2010)

"Pothole Skinny is a psych music project founded by Stephen Connolly. Other musical projects and/or collaborations include: Tower Recordings, P.G. Six, Emerald Tablets, Marianne Nowottny, Julia Vorontsova, and various improvisational collaborations. The Old Bergen Vault ep Series is a 9 ep collection of unreleased, rare and live recordings from the 'Hutton House' era of Pothole Skinny. Some tracks were originally released as a free podcast through iTunes. After discontinuing the podcast, more tracks were mastered, collected and packaged for a digital download release as a since discontinued 'pay your price' option through Bandcamp." perhaps transparent

clandestine forest lore * complete from the benefit

from the years of ashes

reaping the bounty * gorge music for lost hikers

moon mountains cast sun shadows

oil from the hands of the empire * smoke signals for our nations

the waters of dead rivers

magic lantern

magic lantern - platoon (not not fun 2010)

"It’s been a while since Magic Lantern shined its High Beams out into the world but life’s a maze of alternate paths (marriage, children, Portland Oregon, etc) and that’s just the way it goes/went. Fortunately for all lovers of heavy male psych brotherhoods the ML gang convened back in 2009 before parting ways temporarily to track their second full-length, Platoon, and here it is. As oughta be expected, it's a monstrous hot-rod cruise into screaming dual wah distortions powered by the poker faced Gavin/Chip rhythm section and splattered with jazzy freak-out organ and the occasional Stallones echo yelp. Featuring most of their live classics from the pre-hiatus era (“Dark Cicadas,” “Friendship,” etc) and tracked/mixed by Best Coast Bobb Bruno, this fills the hole in yr heart left by High Beams..." not not fun

download / buy

woods

woods ~ at echo lake (woodsist 2010)

"The distance between 2007's At Rear House and 2010's At Echo Lake may at first seem only semantic, but it more properly represents a move from a kind of informal back porch jam ethos to a fully-committed vision of the infinite possibilities of group playing. Over the past few years, Woods has established themselves as an anomaly in a world of freaks...But despite the instrumental innovation the album heralds guest musician Matthew Valentine's harmonica and modified banjo / sitar on Time Fading Lines, At Echo Lake is all about the vocals. Woods secret weapon is the quality of Jeremy Earl's voice, absorbing the naïve style of Jad Fair, Jonathan Richman and Neil Young while rethinking it as a disciplineand a tradition. Here he is singing at the peak of his powers, in a high soulful style bolstered by heavenly arrangements of backing vocals. At Echo Lake feels like the transmission point for teenage garage from the past to the future. Deformed by contemporary experiments, bolstered by magical traditions, it's the sound of now, right here, At Echo Lake." Dave Keenan

foto: árbore

download / buy

sun araw

sun araw ~ on patrol 2lp (not not fun 2010)

"...The latest from Mr. Araw is easily his least compromising audio self-portrait to date. Three minute rhythm sketches are stretched into ten minute loop pedal odysseys. Organ solos last for entire vinyl sides. Ambiguous law enforcement themes are toyed with then abandoned in a haze of hypnagogic sleaze. Gone is the sweaty orchestration and funk of Heavy Deeds, extra long gone is the sun-kissed pop smoke shuffles of Beach Head. In its place is a heavily casual, zoned, patient 85 minute drum machine burro-ride accented by phasered organ gasoline, echo guitar sparkles, funny flute trills, tried/true Stallones vocal exclamations (“Whaaaah Ohhh”), and oddball FX. Magic Lantern cornerstone William Giacchi drops by to jam on one track but it doesn’t much upset the overarching On Patrol thesis: Ride It Out. The sound of one man’s conga mind soaking in its own juices, refracted down a hall of mirrors, and allowed to ferment..." not not fun

foto: fatma gultekin

the wrestler

esto es cine y lo demás son tonterías, y en "demás" metan todas las películas de antihéroes que hayan visto hasta ahora. llego tarde a randy "the ram" (cordero) robinson, pero lo hago casualmente (o causalmente) en semana santa y me doy cuenta que esto no es una película, es un vía crucis que aronofsky (judío) decora con luces, tintes, sombras, esteroides, caravanas y vítores pugilísticos, pero también con sudor, sangre, redención, espino, y hasta una maria magdalena reconvertida a stripper. no soportaba a aronofsky, pero tras aplaudir el final a base de lágrimas no queda otra que redimirlo. si saben de alguna procesión cuya imagen sea la de marisa tomei o mickey rourke, avisen. me ofrezco de costalero.

hammer of hathor

hammer of hathor • false treef [stunned records 2009]

"Mark E. Kaylor & Heather Vergotis are active members of the burgeoning Portland free music community, having busted their chops around town for years prior to forming the multi-instrumental beast Hammer of Hathor. Some duos in PDX can pull off jazz or punk, and some can pull off scuzz or folk, but HOH venture to ask “why not take it all on?” Their ‘False Teef’ begins at any number of disparate points to launch into super inspired jam mode, as we can testify after 40 such minutes of feedback meditation, string twang trance, surging tape loop, smoked out riffs, and a pair of rattling false teeth perched upon the amplifier. It’s also immediately apparent these partners are synched for optimal 4D pattern-weaving and burnt basement reach-out to the tangential points between the weird and weirder energies. Breathe in a whole new scenery, take on a whole new time — a soundtrack is here to assist the switch." Limited edition of 111 pro-dubbed & imprinted c40 tapes with double-sided color jcard and insert." stunned records

download | buy

fotola: alison scarpulla

ye uphall knyte fryars

ye uphall knyte fryars ~ psychedelic underground vol 1 (boondock pissoir 2010)

"Stay up all night with the Fryars! Travel through time and space in the grand tradition of the global psychedelic underground with this pseudonymous quartet of Second Family Banders on the lam. The Trans-Galactic Be-In is someplace to be! But the Trans-Temporal Be-In is the real trip...how did they manage to record this one in Golden Gate Park way back in 1967?? Festivities conclude at dawn with the slow-motion dubscape Sun Arose." boondock pissoir

"Ye Uphall Knight Fryars may be appealing to fans of Second Family Band and indeed, it would seem at least of few of the family are fryars... As you may know anarchy is an essential element in Second Family Band's perpetually bewildering output. This 'no rules' policy is part of what constantly renews them and keeps it churning..." earjerk

psychedelicunderground, un homenaje a free country ¿qué más se puede pedir?

foto: ellen rogers

download / buy

rachel grimes

rachel grimes ~ book of leaves (ruminance, 2009)

leí hace tiempo que la angustia es como un tornillo sin fín, y creo que no hay definición más precisa. hay algo fascinante en ese girar y girar provocado por la angustia o la melancolía, aún sabiendo lo malsano del ejercicio de funambulismo en los bordes del abismo, el ser humano se siente seguro en ese estado en el que tirar de palabras resulta del todo imposible. piensa, el ser humano, que es mil veces preferible manejar el tempo de la situación dejándose seducir por la contemplación, ese estado que invita a perderse en detalles insignificantes como el recorrido de una gota que resbala por el cristal de una ventana, en la arquitectura de una telaraña o en el baile de los árboles y las hojas cuando la orquesta es dirigida por el viento.

siempre he creído que en todo eso había algo de revelación, que el paso de los años me daría la experiencia necesaria para licuar la información capaz de desactivar los detonantes. pero la realidad hoy, resuelve que el proceso ha estado, está y estará ahí siempre, es inevitable. para solucionar la angustia sólo tenemos un camino: vivirla. huir de ella es no asumir nuestra vulnerabilidad. creo que rachel grimes inconscientemente habla de todo esto en "book of leaves", o esa es la impresión que me ha dado cuando hace un rato me hipnotizó el humo que salía de la cafetera mientras sonaba "every morning, birds". la vida es un piano.

download / buy

foto: belafonte

the goner

the goner ~ behold a new traveler (deep water acres 2010)

"Behold A New Traveler is the second Deep Water entry from Sweden’s The Goner and it marks a confident move forward on all fronts. In contrast to earlier work, most of the new Goner material is song-based and full-band powered, making for an album that’s both thematically unified and stylistically varied, from solo acoustic melancholy to wailing psych-rock. While it is still possible to draw lines from Behold… to the music of other contemporary folk-derived artists such as Six Organs of Admittance, Palace Brothers, and Stone Breath, at the same time the overall feel owes as much to Westerlund’s own cultural roots and the Goner’s creative voice continues to develop with a clarity of purpose that offers much and suggests more." deep water acres

behold a new traveler es un disco precioso, desde el título hasta una voz que recuerda a raymond raposa, within the hour, strong interactions, i traveled far away from you...y el banjo

foto: chelsee ivan

 download / buy

second family band

second family band ~ jerusalem (boondock pissoir 2010)

"Is their a more mystical and perilous city in the world than Jerusalem? Old Testament dread haunts the first side as the Family sings of Glory while Pan plays his flute and dances impishly outside their circle. Side two commences with the sand blown sounds of the Ancient City, before Night Journey finds the band escaping heavenward through dark skies" boondock pissoir

son muchos los cdr's, cassettes, lp's de second family band, pero jerusalem tiene un clima especial, cánticos, flautas, percusión tribal, ritmos pausados, palmas, guiños a free country de davenport...todo lo que siempre he buscado en sus últimas grabaciones y que sólo encontraba en momentos aislados. no me imagino un sitio mejor para escuchar glory y ancient city que rodeada de montañas y desiertos, como la foto de wearemaps

foto: amanda johnson (wearemaps)

download / buy

pocahaunted

pocahaunted ~ make it real (not not fun 2010)

"After a six-month hiatus, a complete line-up overhaul, and a full year-plus of only playing shows and writing songs and amassing totemic objects, finally Pocahaunted return to the recorded realm with their first album since 2008. Time flies when yr having not not fun and all that. Make It Real collects seven of the band’s 2009 live staples for a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment. Recorded barefoot and shirtless and direct to tape at Green Machine Studio in summer ’09 by M. Geddes Gengras and featuring guest bamboo sax by jazzmaster Alex Gray (of Dreamcolour/Deep Magic) and mastered by James Plotkin. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with warped LA post-Parliament utopia artwork by vision wizard Spencer Longo" not not fun

download / buy

sylvester anfang II

sylvester anfang II ~ commune cassetten (blackest rainbow 2010)

"a new slab of tranced out psychotic psychedelia from the occult loving Belgium based clan. This new incarnation being Sylvester Anfang II reached a new level of awesomeness last year with the incredible double LP on Aurora Borealis, on Commume Cassetten they continue their bizarre trip into the darker, but somehow super psychedelic, realm of the occult obsessed mind. There's a real fucked up krautrock boogie vibe throughout but retaining some of the doomed funeral folk qualities of the original Anfang guise, as well as some loose as hell, total stoned out ritualistic baked grooves..." blackest rainbow

download / buy

sons of noel and adrian

sons of noel and adrian ~ rivers ep (wilkommen 2010)

"Sons of Noel and Adrian grew up in the midlands with many like-minded musical folk. A couple of years ago they moved to Brighton to gather more legs and are now a fully formed outfit with sometimes as many as ten members or as few as five..." wilkommen

"The Rivers ep is a collection of dark songs that explore three very differing concepts through a single shared metaphor, which occurred to songwriter Jacob Richardson after spending "three gruelling days in the hottest sun fishing with Jack on the wrong side of the river". Opener and live favourite Black Side of the River came directly from this experience. The theme is continued through the powerful second track Big, Bad, Bold, which explores the concept of "the inner strength of a woman", finally Leaving Mary's Hand brings the ep to a close as Richardson contemplates "a state of love and trust". Rivers is available on 7” vinyl, digital and limited edition cd typeset and pressed by hand by Brighton based letterpress and book artist Anna Fewster." altsounds

en repeat...tres nuevas canciones favoritas entre favoritas que me hacen pensar en feathers, y en especial sounds like de shoreline, aquella canción que fue la más bonita del mundo durante mucho tiempo

foto: anna verlet

download / buy

ulaan khol

ulaan khol ~ III (soft abuse 2010)

"As Ulaan Khol, Steven R. Smith (Hala Strana, Thuja, Mirza) creates dense tapestries that revel in the eternal and infinite. At times recalling Neil Young's score for Jarmusch's Dead Man, III is Steven R. Smith's masterstroke. Not only does this work tie together the Ulaan Khol releases into a cohesive whole, it also stands alone as a groundbreaking, breathtaking amalgam of heavy komische & basement psychedelic freak-outs.

Also available a limited edition handmade birch box that nimbly fits all three volumes of the Ulaan Khol Ceremony series. Edition of 75 printed / stamped boxes, crafted by hand in Minneapolis. Available only from direct from Soft Abuse or via Steven R. Smith's web site." soft abuse

foto via sabino

download / buy

pm50 peasant magik

va ~ pm50 8x3''cdr (peasant magik 2010)

"Big Blood, Valerio Cosi, Gregg Kowalsky, Super Minerals, Natural Snow Buildings, The North Sea, Fabio Orsi, Andrew Paine, Pillars of Heaven, and Throuroof. 8 hand stamped 3" cdrs all housed their own jewel case. Each cd has its own cover which was designed by an artist from Philadelphia. All cds come in a custom cut, full color printed box along with a full color zine with additional art and info. Edition of 200. Artists: Kris Chau, Mike Bukowski, Melissa Farley, Josh Robison, Chris Lawrence, Zoe Soslow, James Ulmer, Kathryn Moran, and Sienna Freeman." peasant magik

foto: hoy.joy

buy

natural snow buildings/fabio orsi & throuroof

the north sea/andrew paine

valerio cosi, gregg kowalsky & fabio orsi/super minerals

big blood/pillars of heaven

sun araw

sun araw - geneva hits (mental groove 2009)

"Mental Groove are super good people, and they paid to have the Sun Araw set professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered off the soundboard at our show in Geneva. The result sounds pretty dop. They wanted to use this recording to make a highly limited collector's item, and so they chose just to press 50, hence the cost to recoup their expenses." sun araw

foto: joel leshefka

download / buy

second family band

second family band - naked ladies & dragons (boondock pissoir 2010)

"Second Family takes you on an erotic “D&D Quest” in this hour long ambient-prog synthesizer fantasia. On the A side Naked Ladies shimmer in the moonlight; flip it over and Dragons circle dreamily overhead." boondock pissoir

foto: ƒenk/coma

download / buy