Sybille Baier- The End

I made this video years ago. Its just some fog, my finger and a mirror effect. I think it fits well with this doleful and seductive recording by Sybille Baier.

Dave Cloud & The Gospel of Power!

This guy might be my new favorite maniac. Think R. Stevie Moore crossed with Jesco White. Does anyone out there know of a download link for some Dave Cloud records?

Bowerbirds- Mississippi Studios, PDX 8/2/09

I took Lex to see Bowerbirds last week. We had a fantastic time. She even wrote a great little piece about it for her blog, Girl In The Holocene...

Bowerbirds- August 2nd, 2009

Last night Nick & I saw the Bowerbirds at Mississippi Studios, which is quite near my new place. It is not the first show I’ve seen since the Little One was born, but it was the very best show. Their new record, Upper Air, has been in frequent rotation since it came out.

There’s a lot to love about their music, but the most compelling thing to me is the constant connection to nature in the lyrics. There’s a real romance with the natural world in their songs (and their lives, it seems, read their blog Olive Hearts). Working on my book, I often felt like I was geeking out with the references to glaciers and whales and moss and birds, like others would find this maudlin. But I wanted the natural world to be a character with whom the heroine has a profound and complicated relationship. When I listen to Bowerbirds I feel a kinship, in this way.

Click here to continue..

My Mind- Path Masher

I found a special message from Mr. Tim Westberg of Philadelphia's most excellent spazz-pop wizards, My Mind, waiting in my inbox just the other day. So rad! If you don't already know, you need to dig this awesomeness-

OUR RECORD IS FINALLY DONE!!
My Mind has finally finished our first record! "Path Masher" is eleven songs on a 7" with a lovely front-artwork by Margaret Rolicki (click here or see attached file for a scan of the art and inserts).

If you'd like a copy of the record, please reply to whosemindisitanyway@gmail.com with your current mailing address and I'd be delighted to send you one.

If you don't have a turntable/record player, here are the mp3s.
A few of the songs have been posted to our myspace page, so please have a listen.

Couple other things:

• In mid-August (probably Friday, Aug. 14th at 4500 Kingsessing) Hot Guts and we will do a "proper" release show for this record and the new Hot Guts 7" (also on Badmaster).
• "U.S. Out of My Mind/Stay Out of the Territories" -- a 60 minute cassette tape of improvised "jamz" and a couple of remixes from the same source material, featuring vocal and bass guitar contributions from Drums Like Machine Guns' Brian Morsberger. Soon available from Linear B Tapes.
• I've begun posting music at http://whosemindisitanyway.blogspot.com/, so please have a look/listen.

Eddy Current Suppression Ring- Demon's Demands 7"

I'm loving this single by Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Demon's Demands has been on repeat here for these past few days. It has a gritty psych-punk feel akin to early Wire or The Fall, in one of their more accessible moments. Their latest full-length, Primary Colours, is available now at eMusic. If in Portland, you can also get it at Exiled Records. That's where I picked up my copy of this 7". Then, I went and scored my digital copy from the Street Anger blog. Now, I'm going to spread the love and repost. Dig It!

Mediafire Download link: Eddy Current Suppression Ring- Demon's Demands(refreshed 1/31/10)

Puddleflash Helicopter

This is the first little video that I've made in about two years. Its the product of three hours time at the computer this morning. The soundtrack is "Ashes" by Deaf Center. Thanks to Mr. Jason Fellows for his latest musical hook-up. 

New Tattoo!

I'm sporting a fresh tattoo from Brian Bruno at Absolute Art in Richmond, VA!

Its great! Brian's amazing with color and his lines are clean and tight. Absolute Art is a very cool shop. I really love this thing- I do believe I'll keep it.

http://www.absolutearttattoo.net/

Sittin' Pretty and The Bats

Here are some sweet late 8o's Indie classics. Sittin' Pretty by The Pastels is the first and probably best album from those Scottish cult mainstays, The Pastels. Think The Vaselines, but maybe even a little better. Then we have Daddy's Highway by The Bats- vintage New Zealand "Kiwi" pop. You say you like The Clean and you're not from down-under? Well, chances are you need to dial in to The Bats, my friend. They are basically just Kilgour and Co's harmonizing jangle-pop cousins. Though The Pastels and The Bats hailed from different corners, I'd say their early albums share a sort of common energy. Both records seem like they could've been made by stepkids of the Velvet Underground, each laying down a sort of ragtag outsider pop right smack in the midst of the tired and unfortunate excesses of the late-80s. Its not like they were the only ones riding that train at the time, but these albums have qualities that just stand-out as similar. I bet that back then, emulating the Velvets probably still felt irreverent to all involved. I had a great time humming along to these records while I was cleaning our basement a few weeks back. And that's why I've paired them together for this post. Enjoy.
The Pastels- "Nothing To Be Done"
The Bats- "Made Up In Blue"
Mediafire download links:
The Pastels- Sittin' Pretty (refreshed 2/2/10)
The Bats- Daddy's Highway (refreshed 2/2/10)

Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family- My Ancestors

Zamrock! Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family may have cut the best fuzzed-out classic African pysch record that has ever graced these ears.
Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family- My Ancestors (refreshed 1/31/10)

Joe Harriott- Free Form

Joe Harriott has remained virtually unknown amongst even the most enthusiastic acolytes of 1960's avant jazz. Most likely, that's because he was Jamaican-British, plying his pioneering style in London Clubs, rather than New York. According to Allmusic, Harriott's music was written off by his American contemporaries as derivative of Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz. That's really a damn shame. I'd say Harriott's early sound is something more akin to Eric Dolphy. They both had the ability to venture into uncharted territory without losing that vital connection to their bebop/post-bop roots. Translation: The melodies are better and their delivery less harsh. When faced with the choice, I'd generally tend to choose Free Form or Out to Lunch over any of Ornette's Atlantic output. No disrespect, but I just like listening to Dolphy and Harriott a whole lot more.

http://rapidshare.com/files/217776819/free_form.zip

The Long Harvest, Coming Soon....

Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger "The Long Harvest v.1-10" (Argo, 1966-1968).

A 10 record set of traditional ballads, performed in their British, Scottish & American forms. This is amazing stuff. I'm ecstatic about having stumbled upon the complete LP collection. To be digitized and posted ASAP, for your listening pleasure. Now I've got my work cut out for me....

Mississippi and Exiled Records

An ode to my favorite record shops.

Portland happens to be blessed with a couple of totally dynamite Record Shops. They are- Exiled and Mississippi. Both are boutique stores that only stock what they like. What's more, they're thriving as neighborhood hotspots in spite of this here interweb. They're so great! I love me some record shopping, but I must say that, as a busy dad, I have less time than ever to troll through mountains of third-rate record bins searching for those hidden gems. I'm just more inclined to go visit these good folks- each happen to have two of the best curated small (& oddball) selections, new or used, that I have ever come across. What's more, both shops put out some amazing records themselves, usually limited to editions of 1000. I basically just snatch up whatever they release, and I have only been even mildly disappointed once or twice. Its downright inspiring to see them succeed in doing what they love, especially in context of the amazon/iTunes behemoth. They are a credit to their neighborhoods, to Portland, and also to the virtues of the small indie record shop. In fact, that's mostly what they sell... RECORDS!!!


Here's what I like most about each:

Mississippi Records: An unbeatable selection. Vinyl only, and some tapes. They also have a fantastic selecton of vintage stereo equipment at nice reasonable prices. You couldn't throw a rock in there and not hit a record worth having. From Irma Thomas to Animals and Men, I eagerly collect nearly anything they release. I encourage everyone out there to do the same. FYI, many of their earlier albums fetch nice sums on ebay now that they're out of print. That's why I'm at peace providing you, the reader, with the following link:
Mississippi Records Download Thread. I'd suggest starting with Washington Phillips, Lipa Kodi Ya City Council, Orchestra Regional de Kayes, Oh Graveyard..., 70s Thai Orchestra, Malcolm X Memorial and Last Kind Words. Well, they're all pretty much super. The only ones I'm not wild about so far are Ntsamina and The Rats- though I do love Fred Cole, especially Dead Moon.

Exiled Records:

Likewise an outstanding selection, with even more of an emphasis on oddball experimental, psych and outsider music. They also sell cds & bizarro arthouse movies. They have handmade Rick Bishop cd-rs, Sublime-Frequencies and Siltbreeze Releases and handdrawn Sun Ra records on their wall, all great indications of what Exiled is all about. This is the place that turned me on to likely the best African Psych record that you've never heard; Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi Family. Trust me, buy it NOW! Exiled also has a nice website, which Mississippi is lacking. When at home, I pretty much browse Other Music, Boomkat, Forced Exposure, eMusic and Exiled Records to stay up on what's new in the stores. Exiled only puts up albums they like, which makes browsing less tedious and also just prompts me to look into just about everything they put on. For you out-of-towners, its also a great place to buy those Missisippi releases, which you should definitely DEFINITELY do.

Acoustic Laptops

An artist named Origami Boe apparently makes these Acoustic Laptops, like the one pictured just above. They're basically small wooden boxes outfitted with all kinds of acoustic noisemaking doodads and gadgets. He performs sound installations with them and also sells his boxes to interested parties. My brother Zack and I have lately been brainstorming ideas for unique artisan mobiles we could make that would incorporate perpetual motion, magnified light, prisms, moving shadows, etc to create hand cranked off-the-grid analog light shows. I'm starting to think it would be sweet to have one of these Acoustic Laptops as well. That way we could start having experimental acoustic audiovisual lullaby jam sessions each night at my son Amos' bedtime. 

Here's a link to an Acoustic Laptop catalog and some of Origami Boe's recordings.

Sagan Om Ringen by Bo Hansson

I am forever indebted to my pal Nate Ashley for dropping this delicious morsel of Swedish concept prog on my figurative doorstep. This is Bo Hansson's 1970 "soundtrack" to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Need I remind you that no such feature film, cartoon or otherwise, was even in the works back way then? This thing is Hansson's imaginary soundtrack to the books and let me just say, it is mighty sweet. Just look at that Rodney Matthews artwork. Amazing! So nerdy...That's actually one of the LP's alternate covers, but I think its the best. I've read on allmusic that BH was a heavy-hitting keyboardist of his day. He'd apparently recorded a handful of unreleased studio sessions with Jimi Hendrix that seem like they'd be worth hearing. If anyone out there has a line on those please let me know...Now, "Go in peace"... to Middle Earth.

http://rapidshare.com/files/214027781/Lord_of_the_Rings.zip