after a few days off it's time for a MAGIC HOUR of posting!

Magic Hour were a quartet consisting of Kate Biggar (guitar), Wayne Rogers (guitar & vocals, of the awesome Twisted Village label and about 30 or so bands), Damon Krukowski (drums), and Naomi Yang (bass, the latter two of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi). these folks made some exceptional psychedelic fused dreamy pop with extended fuzz solos and really gentle voices. This cd is titled "No Excess Is Absurd" and if you can find the first edition you should purchase it for the really nice packaging alone (let alone the music, which is exceptional, this being my favorite of their stuff). housed in a silver box with some printing on it and packaged with a really nice booklet, it looks as awesome as it sounds. the later editions have the cover art pictured here. this cd is pretty much necessary downloading for those fans of D&N, g500, any Wayne Rogers band (the guitar and FUZZ are way awesome!), and extreme solos.

Magic Hour - No Excess Is Absurd
http://www.mediafire.com/?i35fcjk2izq

the moon may be shrinking. but death's still not your friend

Wooden Shjips, one of the buzz-bands in the california psychedelic revival going on today, are fucking sweet. the singer may sound like jim morrison, and they may have an organ player, but trust me - they sound nothing like the doors. instead, they are a raw as fuck rough edged heavy psych group that relies as much on improvisation as compisition. fast becoming houshold names to those with good taste, these guys are tearing apart eardrums all across the states and crafting tunes that make you want to trip as well as boogie.

this is their highly limited 10" (which is reissued on their "Vol. 1" lp). it starts with the scorching track "Shrinking Moon For You," one of the rawest and most blown out recent psych tracks i've heard come out in a while. it sounds like they fried their amps and then recorded on a boombox (it's that good!). totally worth it just for that song alone.

Wooden Shjips - Shrinking Moon For You 10"
http://www.mediafire.com/?4ixzcyjjmon

BORIS (no natasha here)

ah Boris. drone/psych/metalers that are all virtuosos at their instruments and who love to collaborate with people (and sometimes those collaborations are even good!). fucking crushingly heavy at times, others full of radiant beauty. but, they are absolutely at their best when dealing out loads of shimmering feedback, which is why i am posting this album (my favorite of their's), "Feedbacker." technically one long ass song, it is captivating and brilliant, showing that they can not only deal out the punishment, but also the beauty and still remain very japanese in sound. Wata shreds whenever she is not doling out walls of noise (a combination of an e-bow and boss feedbacker pedal does wonders!), Takeshi shreds that double necked geetar better than sting ever could dream of, and Atsuo is one of the most solid drummers i've ever seen/heard.

this is a document of the core trio at their very best. if you like this album, you can handle all their albums and collaborations (though some of the dronier stuff, like the sunn 0)) collabs will bore you).

oh, and don't bother watching the live dvd of this album/song. it's a great performance but it is shot terribly and cut together worse. it never stays on a single shot longer than 10 seconds and you never get to see any of the members really shred. it almost made me seasick when i watched it.

Boris - Feedbacker
http://www.mediafire.com/?dkzwwqymdyn

to keep you from crying, here's first utterance

see what i did there?
anyhoo, if you are a fan of psychedelic music, folk music, and things that are genuinely scary, then this post is for you.

COMUS!

yes, comus, a band from the uk in the late 1960's through about 1973 (though they played a show this year apparently) were the essential missing piece in the psych-folk puzzle. whether it was their angelic singing, virtuosic musicianship, or simply the disturbing lyrical content, this band has become legendary in the circles of obscure music everywhere. these guys and gals did the pagan folk thing better than anyone, but it wasn't just for show. they were serious! this album is almost totally about satan, rape, murder, prisons, and other highly disturbing topics. when they talk about killing christians it doesn't feel cheesy or tongue in cheek, it makes you wonder if they were the backing band to some secret pagan rituals out in the british countryside. and when singer Roger Wooten sings about getting shock treatment in a prison, you can actually believe him (rumors were he was actually institutionalized for a period in the 1960's).

this band is incredible. their influence is huge, bands ranging from opeth to current 93 have cited them as an influence, even david bowie was a fan. lacking much of modern recording technology and techniques, this album is otherworldly and terrifying at times to hear, with vocal echoes and seemless transitions that would require hours of overdubs now. this is probably the most necessary psychedelic folk album around, anyone who is a fan of the style should already know about this, but in case you don't it's time to learn.

a truly beautiful, strange, terrifying, spectral, and ethereal listen. light some candles, burn some incense, and make a sacrifice to your favorite diety, comus is here!

the first download is the 1971 album "First Utterance." the second is a reissue of the single for Diana, which includes two other songs from that recording session.

Comus: First Utterance
'http://www.mediafire.com/?wjzfy2yykzt'

bonus 12"
'http://www.mediafire.com/?zmmuzmmnlm2'

sex, drugs, judaism, and health food?

YaHoWa 13... what a wild bunch. formed in the early 1970's (though their roots start earlier), they were the musical outlet of a group called the source foundation, a sort of sex/drug cult centered around a man who called himself father yod (yod in hebrew means hand, or more appropriately hand of god.) they holed themselves up in a california mansion doing the lord knows what, procreating, and recording absolutely amazing primal psychedelic/kraut music. one review i've read of this band stated that they were the closest thing in america to krautrock at the time... while i'm not sure they were the only band sounding like that, they sure as hell were fucking close to the sounds of Can, Amon Duul, Gomorrha, Brainticket, Grobschnit, etc. but they had a different message than many "cults" of the time. having more in common with early judaism, they never really preached to join them or give away all your possesions, the only purpose of their music was to praise god and their father and to open your mind to the outside forces that act on your everyday life. never being quite open about the drugs, there is definitely an obvious psychedelic influence (look at the front cover of contraction or the back cover of to the principles... if you doubt me.)

but lets get to the music... primal and inept at times, yet cutting and urgent in sound, this band centered around the chanting of father yod and his timpani, yet the churning and buzzsaw guitar of djinn aquarian is the usual focal point. there songs were usually sprawling and unstructured, mostly just jams, but for jams this band sure could kick em out! (plus 10 lameness points for the mc5 reference!) always threatening to fall apart, yet never quite getting there, this band was incredible simply because they came from nowhere and were shut off from the world, yet made such a primal and rocking psychedelic sound unlike the usual religious fare, which tends towards folk. truly unique and utterly strange, this band is positively necessary listening for anyone who likes krautrock, psychedelic music, and cult bands. for fans of acid mothers temple, any of the bands i mentioned before, and most of the early independent artists catalogue (13th floor elevators, monks, etc.)

for more info google the source or yahowa 13. the source foundation is still around, and they just released 2 "new" albums, one being unreleased yahowa 13 material and one being a new recording which i am dying to hear... anyone?

father yod died in the mid 70s from a hang gliding accident. how fucking awesome is that?

here are two albums, my two personal favorites (though of the 13 released, it's hard to pick a favorite sometimes...) 1974's "im gonna take you home" and 1975's "to the principles for the children"

yahowa 13 "i'm gonna take you home"

http://www.mediafire.com/?wh2mt1nozo2

yahowa 13 "to the principles for the children"

http://www.mediafire.com/?taehe1mmhzm

vibracathedral orchestra... what more can be said?

............

i really don't know what to say about this band of brits. ultra prolific, always spot on (i've heard something like 20 releases of their's and none have been stinkers.), the members record great stuff (astral social club, a band, anything mick flower touches), fuck even the almighty matthew bower does time in the band! psychedelic and experimental, their drones take hints from eastern music as well as european classical standards, but don't think it's classical music at all. these guys and gals can sure make one hell of a racket. clinking and clanking around at times, or focused and beaming a shot of ur-drone (yeah, i stole that term from aquarius but it sure as hell applies here) straight to your pleasure centers.

this cd is probably one of the better documents of the band's live sound around the early 2000's. it's rare as hell, being a self-released cd-r, so the only other place you're gonna find it is e-bay. burn baby burn.

vibracathedral orchestra: long live the weeds!

'http://www.mediafire.com/?ilm5ixqicjm'

Another day, another lifetime...

The David lp... considered by some psychedelic collectors to be a "holy grail," but unlike some records that are just rare as hell and sought after because of that, this one is actually worthy of the praise. This album differed from the usual psychedlia of the late 60's, in that it didn't focus only on the fuzz facotr but on the actual structure and notes. beautiful at times, but still retaining a rough edge, this album really is worthy of the stature it has gained. influential as hell on most of the pop crowd (elephant 6 bands love this shit), and cited by today's modern psych crowds as a classic lp you never heard. for fans of the aforementioned elephant 6 crowd, aphrodite's child (hell, vangelis in general), bands like Love and Quicksilver Messenger Service, hell even the Beatles... ugh.

heavy (at times, though not really how you might think of heavy), poppy, orchestral, and just plain rockin', this album is a genre bending destroyer of worlds and you owe it to yourself to check it out.

the david: another day, another lifetime

http://www.mediafire.com/?fzmtjyiow5g

more from the mountain (AMT!)

so you are sitting in your room staring at a wall and seeing purlple indecipherable words jump out at you. you open your eyes a little wider and see the lines between the real and non-real, fractal images of reality. quickly you wonder if your brain is melting or if you are just on drugs... then you pick up your guitar and make a wonderful splatter of progressive acid-fried goodness.

i figure that must be pretty much the daily routine for anyone in acid mothers temple. here's some more sounds of their's to fry your brain, a tour cd from the 2003 tour. this cd features no actual acid mothers temple songs! on it is a different solo version of "pink lady lemonade" done by kawabata, a track from tsurubami (kawabata on guitar, higashi on bass, and emi nobuko as drummer), and a track from a project called "pardons" which is hiroshi higashi and cotton casino both on synthesizers. this cd is pretty out there, but the pink lady lemonade version is worth the download alone. ultra limited, you won't find this many other places!

acid mothers temple: soul collective tour 2003

http://www.mediafire.com/?mtgkyzwjoiu

california california...

ah residual echoes... i remember when their second lp came out someone in a record store i was in picked it up and looked at it. he asked me if i knew anything about the band cause he liked the cover art. i told him "if comets on fire were a shoegaze band." i think that was a pretty good description, personally.


this album, however is a little different. it relys on more of a folk element than blown out loudness, though the rock outs are definitely there. these four songs are sprawling and long, with accoustic and electric moments. altogether, though, i think that it is a fantastic album (ep?) and definitely worth listening to, especially if you are a fan of comets on fire, the holy mountain catalogue (wooden shjips, mammatus, etc.), blue cheer, amon duul II, etc... it was a vinyl only release (i think?) and came on thick ass smokey-clear vinyl. pretty certain it's long OOP, so here's your chance!

check it out!

residual echoes: mfigbsp
http://www.mediafire.com/?jxnstunltmn

the japs do it better...

it's true. japanese people do everything right (except porno, that's usually just weird. who wants to see a live eel coming out of a girl? ewww.). don't beleive me? listen to their music. the best noise comes from japan (keiji haino, hanatarash, hijokoidan, massona, etc.), uh... BOREDOMS, the almighty BORIS, classic bands like flied egg and flower travelling band (satori is one of the best albums ever. ever.), japanese hardcore (there is an awesome band called DEFIANCE OF SHITBASTARDS! COME ON!), j-pop of all sorts, and of course the current batch of psych bands pouring out of japan, centered around one of the truly greatest and most prolific bands of that genre, the all powerful acid mothers temple. mysterious and elusive, it seems like their sole purpose is to do drugs and record ridiculous amounts of music followed by short spurts of touring. if you get the chance to see them, do it. doesn't matter if you like the style, they are bombastic, spontaneous, and incredible live. you never know if your gonna get a set of scorchers (like "blue velvet blues" or "mammary intercourse") or if kawabata makoto (the shamanistic guitar playing guru centerpiece of the band) is going to serenade you with his shimmering walls of beauty as in these videos shot live at terrastock 7 a few years ago. check em out.



(ok, apparently youtube no longer has the second part of this video. so here's a different amt vid. stick past the throat singing (which is sweet by the way) and wait till the song. watch hiroshi higashi (the guy in the hat) go nuts. the other guitar player is kawabata, he freaks out near the end.)