oystered 18: sunrise at four below (dec. ’06 addendum #3)
Total running time: 2:33:11.
a1. destroyer rubies (destroyer’s rubies/merge) (9:25)
a2. tv-resistori serkut rakastaa paremmin (summer and smiles of finland/fonal records) (2:41)
a3. lilys black carpet magic (everything wrong is imaginary/manifesto) (4:34)
a4. the fiery furnaces police sweater blood vow (bitter tea/fat possum) (2:54)
a5. the red krayola when she went swimming (introducing/drag city) (3:55)
a6. broadcast still feels like tears (the future crayon/warp) (3:41)
a7. stereolab plastic mile (fab four suture/too pure) (5:12)
b1. wooden wand and the sky high band rolling one sun blues (second attention/kill rock stars) (3:39)
b2. white magic the light (dat rosa mel apibus/drag city) (3:29)
b3. bonnie ‘prince’ billy untitled (the letting go/drag city) (5:12)
b4. vetiver no one word (to find me gone/dicristina) (6:13)
b5. mark kozelek tiny cities (little drummer boy live/caldo verde) (3:45)
b6. joanna newsom sawdust & diamonds (ys/drag city) (9:56)
c1. califone the orchids (roots & crowns/thrill jockey) (2:58)
c2. the howling hex this planet sweet (nightclub version of the eternal/drag city) (7:51)
c3. comets on fire lucifer’s memory (avatar/sub pop) (7:04)
c4. the flaming lips pompeii am götterdämmerung (at war with the mystics/warner bros.) (4:22)
c5. psychic ills another day another night (dins/the social registry) (8:09)
c6. liars the other side of mt. heart attack (drum’s not dead/mute) (4:46)
d1. six organs of admittance torn by wolves (the sun awakens/drag city) (1:42)
d2. espers mansfield and cyclops (ii/drag city) (5:57)
d3. charalambides two birds (a vintage burden/kranky) (12:40)
d4. bardo pond cry baby cry (ticket crystals/atp recordings) (4:56)
d5. brightblack morning light amber canyon magik (brightblack morning light/matador) (4:54)
d6. zelienople mary celeste (ghost ship/pseudo arcana) (12:43)
d7. mv & ee with the bummer road big deal (green blues/ecstatic peace) (7:49)
d8. f.s. blumm koffer dill (summer kling/morr music) (2:57)
Massive ending to 2006. There’s surely no reason for me to do a track by track analysis for this post, especially since you can just hear it for your self with the click of a button. Needless to say, this is the year-end “rock ‘n’ roll” oriented post. I must say, I did wrestle with finding a Flaming Lips track worthy of addition, and although I think they've pretty much lost the plot at this point (too much time for Coyne and co. to live on papa Warners' dime perhaps?), "Pompeii am Götterdämmerung" seems pretty good, however un-original sounding it is. Lots of stuff from Drag City. Fell in love with MV & EE back in '05 and they just keep getting better. Great Beatles cover of "Cry Baby Cry" by Bardo Pond. Brightblack Morning Light is sure to please just about everybody. And found the F.S. Blumm CD at the eleventh hour (like, just a few days ago) so I had to add "Koffer Dill" for the perfect ending.
Back in the ’06, when neptune records had just closed, I sent some of you a couple of CDs that looked similar to the playlist above. Although all the artists are represented from those two CDs, I did change some of the tracks themselves. The tracks from Bardo Pond, Six Organs of Admittance, The Howling Hex, Wooden Wand and The Fiery Furnaces are all different – with a bunch more here that never made it onto those two CDs. So, to those of you that got copies of those CDs there’s still plenty here that’s “new,” and to everyone else, well, I hope you just enjoy the jams during these cold summer months. The next post is going to be a big surprise before delving back into the monthly madness, starting with January 2007.
oystered 17: space blues (dec. ’06 addendum #2)
Total running time: 2:20:10.
1. deaf center levende (levende/type) (44:41)
2. biosphere from a solid to a liquid (dropsonde/touch) (5:19)
3. greg haines arups gate (slumber tides/miasmah) (10:41)
4. christopher willits love wind (surf boundaries/ghostly international) (2:23)
5. kawabata makoto son (inui/vhf) (21:45)
6. dag rosenqvist & rutger zuydervelt gräs som bryts ock går av / gras dat knakt en breekt (vinterkmusik/machinefabriek) (5:17)
7. tom recchion underwater girls (sweetly doing nothing/schoolmap) (10:05)
8. stephan mathieu & janek schaefer the planets (hidden name/cronica) (19:37)
9. tim hecker norberg, sweden (norberg, sweden/room40) (20:25)
Stunning ‘drone’ based set featuring some real hard to find cuts from the likes of Jasper tx and Machinefabriek (credited above to their real names, Dag Rosenqvist & Rutger Zuydervelt, respectively), Los Angeles underground purveyor Tom Recchion, perennial favorite Stephan Mathieu with Janek Schaefer and Tim Hecker (kranky, mille plateaux, alien8).
The Deaf Center track is an MP3 only release from the Type label – one track, nearly 45 minutes long. Classic in that dark, ambient, Dead Can Dance, mid-‘80s 4AD sort of way. Just let it play, you’ll see what I mean. Next, Biosphere released a really beautiful looking, but somewhat disappointing full-length for the Touch label. Unfortunately many tracks were marred by jazzy drum sampling. “From A Solid To A Liquid” however, is not one of those tracks, and overall Dropsonde is a worthwhile endeavor, especially for the extra-long last track, “People Are Friends.” Greg Haines was one of those no-name surprises of 2006 - appearing on Erik Skodvin’s (one-half of Deaf Center, otherwise known as Svarte Greiner) Miasmah imprint – and “Arups Gate” is one of those cloud-parting / heavens opening wide tracks – really overwhelming. “Love Wind” is a short, blissed-out excursion from Surf Boundaries, a surprisingly poppy record (with vocals even!) from folding guitar specialist Christopher Willits (12k) and featuring Medicine guitarist Brad Laner. Acid Mothers Temple main-man Kawabata Makoto has his first (of four I think?) Inui records reissued in 2006, and “Son” is a gorgeous, eastern, sunrise meditation. Overall, one of my favorite posts thus far.
oystered 16: unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed (dec. ’06 addendum #1)
Total running time: 1:30:54.
1. herve ak my favorite smile (part time/k2) (5:38)
2. pepe bombilla harmonics crashes (yamore (remix)/harmonics crashes / cadenza) (11:58)
3. robert babicz my blue car (martinez remix) (my blue car/barbarella) (7:59)
4. superpitcher enzian (speicher 35/kompakt extra) (9:32)
5. giorgos gatzigristos skip tutorial (skip tutorial/k2) (6:44)
6. lee van dowski & tsack nanospec (unicare/defrag sound processing) (7:02)
7. pantytec maybe (maybe moriomelo/perlon) (9:17)
8. bang goes hicksknips (stola/bruchstuecke) (5:21)
9. peter grummich jack d’amour (rave d’amour/shitkatapult) (8:05)
10. joris vermeiren en senjan jansen mijn bernina (versii) (mijn bernina/discodesafinado) (6:01)
11. kangding ray dadaist (stabil/raster noton) (5:58)
12. philippe cam un salon dans le ciel (deadbeat remix) (somewhere between here and there/musique risquee) (7:25)
First post of the new year and it’s an old one. This is the first of three posts to round out the year 2006, compiling tracks left off the monthly post mixes. This first one, titled “Dancing in Your Head,” yes, a nod to jazz great Ornette Coleman, focuses on leftover techno tracks for the most part, and rightfully so. Big ups to EB for ripping all this vinyl, and to CFRIII for the Kangding Ray – top notch warm, dubby, glitchy minimalism with a strong sense of melody throughout – highly recommended from the Raster Noton label. Most of all, gratitude goes to RG for without whom this whole endeavour would not be possible. Thanks for keeping me sane.
Of course I like all the tracks in the mix but sure highlights include opener “My Favorite Smile,” from Herve Ak, one of the many Kompakt sub-label K2 artists that continue to surprise. Robert Babicz’s “My Blue Car” was also a keeper, from the relatively unknown Barbarella label. Babicz used to be known as Rob Acid, but has reinvented himself much in the same way as Baby Ford perhaps, updating his style, with recent recordings for K2 as well. The last four tracks are really fun, starting with the always on-point technician Peter Grummich, even if it is on the sketchy T. Raumschmiere (Marco Haas) curated label, Shitkatapult, followed up by completely unknown (Spanish?) artists Joris Vermeiren en Senjan Jansen with a dubby minimal cut not unlike classic Thomas Brinkmann. How could I have forgotten this last track? Philippe Cam (Traum, Kompakt) released a beauty of a 12” featuring two new cuts and remixes respectfully – one from Akufen and the other, the one that appears here, from Deadbeat – a great way to finish out the year in techno.
