Oystered

Melt against yourself

2010-03-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

oystered 26 (may '07)

Total running time 4:22:58.
1. blues control migration (blues control CD/holy mountain) (7:23)
2. stella dreams (thomas/geiger mix) (please please please CD/kompakt) (8:03)
3. the sea and cake left on (everybody CD/thrill jockey) (4:56)
4. andrey kiritchenko untitled (edit) (mort aux vaches CD/staalplaat) (9:20)
5. jonquil sudden sun (lions CD/try harder) (4:02)
6. dj koze cicely (all the time 12"/philpot) (7:57)
7. minilogue urubamba (inca 12"/wir) (9:34)
8. andreas tilliander bonnarock (bonnarock 12"/repeatle) (6:09)
9. pjusk dempet (sart CD/12k) (3:19)
10. pommassl tandem distiller (wire tapper edit) (spare parts CD/raster-noton) (3:59)
11. wighnomy brothers my gloomy head (guppipeitsche 12"/freude am tanzen) (7:12)
12. gui boratto hera (the field mix) (chromophobia remixe part 1 12"/kompakt) (6:13)
13. grouper cover the windows and the walls (cover the windows and the walls LP/root strata) (5:45)
14. stephan bodzin vendett (liebe ist... CD/herzblut) (6:37)
15. vladislav delay he lived deeply (whistleblower CD/huume) (12:54)
16. thomas fehlmann dusted with powder (honigpumpe CD/kompakt) (5:42)
17. von sudenfed dear dead friends (tromatic reflexxions CD/domino) (4:44)
18. jack rose & glenn jones linden avenue stomp (dr. ragtime and his pals LP/tequila sunrise) (3:28)
19. eliane radigue realization/meditation (edit) (jetsun mila 2CD/lovely) (10:36)
20. alexander jodorowsky, ronald frangipane & don cherry tarot will teach you/burn your money (the holy mountain LP/abko) (8:45)
21. sleeparchive papercup (papercup 12"/sleeparchive) (8:56)
22. descension yellow swans descent B (descension yellow swans LP/three lobed recordings) (17:07)
23. boris with michio kurihara fuzzy reactor (rainbow CD/drag city) (3:44)
24. jakob olausson queen bee (moonlight farm LP/de stijl) (3:44)
25. kammerflimmer kollektief live at the cactus tree motel (jinx CD/staubgold) (4:16)
26. fennesz sakamoto abyss (cendre CD/touch) (5:39)
27. andrew pekler floating tone (edit) (cue CD/kranky) (11:43)
28. turner my aeroplane mania (lawrence rmx) (lowlights from the past and future CD/mule electronic) (6:33)
29. strategy windswept (interlude) (future rock CD/kranky) (2:15)
30. alog the learning curve (amateur CD/rune grammofon) (5:47)
31. efdemin bergwein (efdemin CD/dial) (7:47)
32. machinefabriek lief (weleer 2CD/lampse audiovisual) (20:07)
33. the north sea we conquered the golden age (exquisite idols CD/type) (11:13)
34. lichens vevor of agassou (omns CD/kranky) (4:57)
35. crescent before (little waves CD/fat cat) (5:28)
36. jurgen paape nord-west (nord nord-west 12"/kompakt) (7:18)
After months of laboring whether I should even continue posting, I finally made it through all the stuff I bought in May of 2007. Sometimes it seems kinda silly, but I love sharing music, and making compilations for people.
It's hard because I'm continually discovering and listening to new music as well as trying to listen to music that's nearly three years old, but still new to these ears. And what's three years really? The music itself sounds fresh as ever, it's just a mental hurdle of sorts.
Some of these artists with songs here have just recently released follow-ups to releases from this post (Jack Rose (RIP), Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Pjusk, Yellow Swans, Thomas Fehlmann, Andrew Pekler), some have long since released newer records (Fennesz, Vladislav Delay, Grouper, Blues Control), and surely, some of these releases are probably about to be reissued and/or remastered and repackaged sometime soon.
Whereas previous posts had more of a vinyl format track running order, I find this set ebbs and flows quite naturally in its entirety. And after not listening to some of these tracks since they first came out, a few like DJ Koze's "Cicely" and Andreas Tilliander's "Bonnarock" (both vinyl only cuts) sound particularly great. Others in heavy rotation since acquisition have been Turner's "My Aeroplane Mania (Lawrence rmx)," Von Sudenfed's (Mouse on Mars with Mark E. Smith) "Dear Dead Friends," Vladislav Delay's (the Miles Davis of electronic music btw - have I said that here before?) "He Lived Deeply," (see, it's even got a Davis-y title), Crescent's "Before," Thomas Fehlmann's "Dusted With Powder," Grouper's "Cover the Windows and the Walls" and Blues Control's "Migration."
It seemed only appropriate to end the set on an upbeat note, Jurgen Paape's "Nord-West," since I too, have migrated to Michigan's beautiful northwest coast. On to June 2007... Soon.
picture credits:
1. Machinefabriek's Weleer (cover detail)
2. Tobias Thomas' Please Please Please (inner sleeve)
3. Jakob Olausson's Moonlight Farm (cover)
4. Fennesz Sakamoto's Cendre (cover detail)
5. Pjusk's Sart (cover detail)
6. Vladislav Delay's Whistleblower (back cover detail)
7. Lichens' Omns (back cover detail)
8. Eliane Radigue's Jetsun Mila (back cover detail)

Virtual World

2009-12-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

oystered 25: Arnold - Patio

Total running time 1:19:49
1. Fleas Don’t Fly (3:12) (from Fleas Don’t Fly CDs, Creation CRESCD 287)
2. Climb (3:56) (from Bahama CD, Poptones MC5 021)
3. Sun (2:22) (from The Barn Tapes CD, Creation CRECD 218)
4. You’re A Star (3:59) (from s/t Arnold CDEP, Lucky Pierre 01)
5. Medication Time (1:33) (from The Barn Tapes CD, Creation CRECD 218)
6. Catherine Day (2:52) (from Hillside CD, Creation CRECD 231)
7. Mickey’s Mother (2:22) (from Hillside CD, Creation CRECD 231)
8. Face (5:19) (version taken from Hillside CD, Creation CRECD 231)
9. Holly Lodge (2:29) (from Twist CDs, CRESCD 257)
10. Windsor Park (4:19) (version taken from Hillside CD, Creation CRECD 231)
11. untitled (4:08) (from The Barn Tapes CD, Creation CRECD 218)
12. Wild Colonial Girl (2:19) (from s/t Arnold CDEP, Lucky Pierre 01)
13. Hangman’s Waltz (3:09) (from Bahama CD, Poptones MC5 021)
14. Goodbye Grey (3:15) (from Hillside CD, Creation, CRECD 231)
15. Fishsounds (4:56) (from Fishsounds CDs, CRESCD 293)
16. Other Son (2:45) (from Bahama CD, Poptones MC5 021)
17. Oh My (4:08) (from Bahama CD, Poptones MC5 021)
18. Two Chairs (4:37) (version taken from Fishsounds CDs, CRESCD 293)
19. Hillside (2:37) (from Twist CDs, CRESCD 257)
20. Pavey Ark (15:38) (from Bahama CD, Poptones MC5 021)

Another stop-gap post until I finally get around to the massive undertaking that is turning out to be the “May 2007” mix.
Existing between 1998 and 2002, Arnold unfortunately suffered from a dubious band name and lousy timing. Signed to Creation during their heady Oasis years, Arnold’s lush compositions and complex arrangements we’re more in line with early 90’s UK shoegazers like Teenage Fanclub and Verve and US slowcore debutantes such as Galaxie 500 and Red House Painters. The band’s sophisticated melancholic sound mined the vaults of vintage soft-pop or what was brewing in SoCal circa the early ‘70s - the comedown after the turbulent, psychedelic ‘60s with artists like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Beach Boys’ output at this time as well, along with Big Star or even Pink Floyd at their least proggy. This compilation features a few tracks from each one of their releases, except for a few single releases. I could have grabbed a half dozen more but they didn’t fit the mood (yes, they have a few “rockers”) or the length constraints of the original 80 minute CD I created a few years back. When I think about it, really one of my favorite bands. And that probably has something to do with the fact they never got the attention they deserved.

Some history from the band’s own MySpace page:
Arnold formed in 1996. Phil Morris, Phil Payne and Mark Saxby had all been in a band called Patio with one Rob Ward. This group made a fearful noise when playing live, akin to a large building collapsing according to Rob Ariss who had the good fortune to be an audience member back then. The set list included a smattering of future Arnold songs---Calling Ira Jones, Twist, On the Bus, albeit fairly unrecognizable even to the band members themselves.There was one gig however which was quite splendid, playing at a party to celebrate Yugoslavian New Year[which is sometime in the second week of January for some reason]. Recently a video of this gig has come to light and we'll attempt to put some clips up sometime soon.

After Rob Ward died, leaving his many friends distraught, Sax and the two Phils carried on as Arnold, naming themselves after Payney's dog. The music took on a melancholy twist. They played their debut at Hope Festival in sub-zero temperatures---again a pretty awful racket with a temporary drummer who was under the impression he was drumming with Megadeath. But the songwriting was getting really good and they gave some home demos to Des Penny who took them to Alan McGee at Creation. He and Dick Green came down to see the band rehearse, and left unimpressed but giving the band £1000 demo budget largely on the basis of their relationship with Des. The band spent the money renting a barn in the Kent countryside for two glorious summer weeks and recorded a bunch of songs on their 8 track. They knew the songs were good---Windsor Park, Face, Float My Boat, Two Chairs, Sun, Dog on the Stairs. Eventually Alan McGee knew this too and signed them to a nice fat record deal.
Photo credits:
1. Windsor Park CDs (cover detail)
2. Arnold EP (cover detail)
3. Twist CDs (inside cover detail)
4. Fishsounds (cover detail)
5. Bahama CD (cover detail)

Meth of a Rockette's Kick

2009-08-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

oystered 24: The Nectarine No.9 – Soldiers of Love

Total running time 1:28:31.
1. The Port of Mars
2. Constellations of a Vanity
3. Firecrackers
4. I Love Total Destruction
5. 22 Blue
6. Peanut Brain
7. Susan Identifier
8. Fat Mafia
9. My Trapped Lightning
10. Leonards Foam Kremolacone
11. Walter Tevis
12. I Am the Sky
13. Don’t Worry Babe, You’re Not the Only One Awake
14. It’s Raining for Some Cloudy Reasons
15. Hanging Around (Oct.1903)
16. Unloaded for You
17. Fibrecane no. 4
18. I Am Stop Taking Pot Managed 35 to Take On the Cake Decoration Living Instead Sign Here……
19. These Days
20. Lazy Crystal
21. Frownland

I really wanted to get this one out a few months ago. Wanted this to be blarin’ from every boombox on burnout beach across the land. Any fan of classic Scottish pop bands like Orange Juice, Pastels and Teenage Fanclub or even U.S. underground luminaries as far ranging as Richard Hell, Television, Captain Beefheart and the Velvet Underground to more contemporary, ecstatic pop acts like Pixies, Pavement, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, etc. should check this without further delay. Easily one of my favorite bands ever. I think if I were to ever get involved making music with people again, I would want it to be a cover band of strictly Nectarine No.9 songs. First, no one would even know you were playing covers, and second, everyone would think it’s the best shit ever. Now Davey Henderson fronts a new band called the Sexual Objects. Check out a few of their tunes here: http://www.myspace.com/thesexualobjectsmusic. Produced by the Boards of Canada?!? How’d that happen? The dude’s a genius.

Some history on Davey Henderson and The Nectarine No.9 via Epitonic and NME:

Formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1993, the Nectarine No.9 are actually veterans of the surreal pop business. Revolving around guitarist and vocalist Davey Henderson, who was an ex-member of both the Fire Engines and Win. Alan Horne, founder of Postcard Records, took great interest in both bands and Henderson's newest venture was one of his first signings on reactivating the label. Joined by Simon Smeeton (guitar/keyboards), Ian Holford (drums) and John Thompson(bass), the band's debut album reinstated Henderson's love of abrasive pop and quirky rhythms, inhabiting a musical world that was part-T. Rex and part-Fall. However, it lacked the focus of Henderson's previous work and critical reaction was muted. Guitar Thieves, which collected various BBC Radio 1 sessions, included versions of Captain Beefheart's "Frownland" and the Velvet Underground's "Inside Of Your Heart", as well as an original song, "Pull My Daisy", the title of which was drawn from a movie featuring Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
In 1997, the Nectarine No.9 backed former Clash associate Jock Scot on his spoken-word release, My Personal Culloden. The following year's Fried For Blue Material included their contribution to the Creeping Bent label's Singles Club, "Port Of Mars". In the new millennium, the band relocated to the Beggars Banquet Records label and released the excellent , yet experimental slab of cut-and-paste pop schizophrenia, Received, Transgressed & Transmitted. The album featured input from both Jock Scot and ex-Pop Group and Rip Rig And Panic member Gareth Sager. The band's second album release for Beggars Banquet, I Love Total Destruction appeared in early 2004. The Creeping Bent compilation released in 1999 is an effective reminder of Henderson's enduring presence on the margins of the UK music scene.

Atrocity exhibition

2009-06-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

oystered 23 (apr. '07)

Total running time 4:33:47.
1. opsvik & jennings the last country village (commuter anthems CD/rune grammofon) (4:08)
2. tarwater world of things to touch (spider smile CD/morr music) (3:22)
3. bill callahan sycamore (woke on a whaleheart CD/drag city) (5:36)
4. deerhunter wash off (flourescent grey CDep/kranky) (5:47)
5. our sleepless forest the tinderbox (free the future mp3/type) (6:57)
--
Atrocity Exhibition, an epiphany: “Atrocity Exhibition” – the first track on Closer – was the first Joy Division song I ever heard. I begged my older friend to bring his record to school and let me borrow it for the night. He was part of this cool group of kids a year older than me who all had weird haircuts and quirky fashion sense—they thought, and everybody thought—they were punks. Einsturzende and Bauhaus t-shirts. These band’s logos looked cool and I was very curious. I was already digging New Order, and knew they came out of the ashes of the even more mysterious and anonymous Joy Division. I was tapping into the whole 4AD aesthetic as well, and their record covers looked very impenetrable and interesting, like some of the 4AD albums and 12” singles I had been buying.

6. organ eye tema #1 (organ eye CD/staubgold) (25:00)
Okay, so this was like 1985—I know, I know, it’s all a bit embarrassing, but you can’t help when and where you are born, right? So anyway, getting back to Closer, and, namely, “Atrocity Exhibition.” My friend brings the album to school, I promise to him I’ll take good care of it and bring it back to him the next day. So, I have no idea what to expect—no “Love Will Tear Us Apart” or “Disorder” or “Transmission” under my belt—and all of a sudden this dry, dubby lead bassline comes out only to be followed by this persistent, tribal, triplet drum pattern and what’s this? next – jungle sounds? Monkeys, tropical birds—no, wait, that’s the guitar?! What’s going on? What is this I’m subjecting myself to? This is punk? Sounds more like jungle to me. Until that voice comes in. That voice.

7. senking mist (list/raster-noton) (4:48)
8. baby ford & zip the riverbed (glidin’ along the riverbed 12”/perlon) (9:16)
9. shackleton blood on my hands (ricardo villalobos apocalypso now mix) (soundboy punishments dbl CD/skull disco) (18:34)
It takes a while, but Ian Curtis finally enters the song and it’s the worst voice I’ve ever heard up to that point in my life. Why in the world did they let that guy sing? I was stunned. Stunned and let down. My expectations were so high for this (that album cover, those older kids with the cool t-shirts…) and at this point I’m seriously thinking this isn’t for me. I’m wasting my time. How can I get to like this? Those cool kids can’t possibly like this. They say they do to be cool. Right?

10. moskitoo paddle (drape CD/12k) (4:18)
11. blonde redhead my impure hair (23 CD/4AD) (4:50)
12. islaja suru ei (ulual yyy CD/fonal) (5:15)
13. fursaxa clé elum (alone in the dark wood CD/atp recordings) (1:47)
14. grouper close cloak (way their crept LP/type) (8:45)
15. valet blood is clean (blood is clean CD/kranky) (4:59)
16. alessandro bosetti exposé #16 (exposé CD/die schachtel zeit) (28:12)
By the end of “Atrocity Exhibition”—and this is a long track folks, maybe their longest, not counting their live version of the Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray” on Still—when Curtis’ delivery is getting more and more demanding, and maybe more off-key with, “This is the way/Step inside, This is the way/Step inside,” and the drum triplet goes up an octave or whatever drums do and the guitar and bass are making the whole thing a cacaphony—I mean, did they practice at all?—I had to put it on again to make sure of what I just heard. Convince myself this was no good. And then again. Well there is a groove there isn’t there? And again. And those guitars sure do sound exotic. I’ve never heard a guitar like that before. And again. Heck, that voice isn’t so bad. Punk though? More like funeral music for the dying (well, not that far off there). And again. How totally and utterly unique this was! I was hooked. The rest of Closer is far more normal sounding in song structure, in fact, the next track “Isolation” is practically a New Wave Euro-pop Top 40 hit compared to what my ears and head were just put through.

17. david toop falling light (sound body CD/samadhisound) (10:31)
18. machinefabriek stofstuk (stofstuk CD/machinefabriek) (5:30)
19. william basinski evening scars (shortwavemusic CD/2062) (8:36)
20. alva noto haliod xerrox copy 6 (xerrox vol.1 CD/raster-noton) (6:42)
21. erik enocksson with its dark tail curled ‘round the garage, pt. 1 (farväl falkenberg CD/kning disk) (2:09)
22. seefeel silent pool (quique [redux edition] dbl CD/too pure) (7:02)
I figured, at first, I just wasn’t getting it—whatever Joy Division was all about. Through years of continued listening I finally am (still figuring it out, that is). And, in hindsight, I think I started out with (one of) their most difficult song(s). Now of course, “Atrocity Exhibition” is one of my favorites, probably for the test the band put me through that night nearly 25 years ago. And of course weeks and months and years of repeated play. “Atrocity Exhibition” was definitely a “gateway song” for me. Just check out this post for further proof of that.

23. nightcats inside (inside 12”/k2) (6:58)
24. reinhard voigt charge your dreams (charge your dreams 12”/kompakt) (6:15)
25. alex under extrapezlo (1, 2, 3 responda otrapez 12”/trapez) (6:53)
One of the tracks that might have that “Atrocity Exhibition” affect here is Alessandro Bosetti’s “Exposé #16.” I’ll admit, it’s a tough but compelling listen. It’s not noisy, but is it music? I listened to the album a week straight trying not to hate it. Now I love it. It’s one of those you’re “rewarded for your patience” tracks. I don’t know if I was more happy listening to the song or happy that it was over, or proud of myself for sticking it out for nearly a half an hour. But now there definitely is a meditative, calming quality to it for me. There’s some other “difficult” tracks on here, but there’s also some real immediate, indie-pop cuts and some real beautiful slow-burning ecstatic droners. Some long vinyl only cuts as well. This post is definitely over ambitious. Maybe even atrocious for its over four-and-a-half-hour playing length. It’s taken months to get through all the music and figure out a way to put it all together to make some sort of sense or flow. Hopefully it can keep all of you entertained for at least a fraction of the time it took to assemble it. Cheers.

26. astral social club star guzzlers part 1 (star guzzlers LP/qbico) (19:08)
27. vibracathedral orchestra the sun balance (a3) (the sun balance/the open knot LP/qbico) (4:43)
28. vibracathedral orchestra rainbow whirlwind (wisdom thunderbolt CD/vhf) (12:37)
29. the fun years softy as stilts (life-sized psychoses CD/barge recordings) (10:09)
30. oren ambarchi lost like a star (lost like a star LP/bo’weavil) (14:41)
31. michael flower octave #1 (returning to knowing nothing LP/qbico) (5:41)
32. tarentel untitled (a) (home ruckus : double-sided air 7”/type) (4:47)
Photo credits:
1. David Toop's Sound Body (inner sleeve, detail)
2. Astral Social Club's Star Guzzlers (cover detail)
3. Grouper's Way Their Crept (cover detail)
4. Erik Enocksson's Farväl Falkenberg (cover detail)
5. Reinhard Voigt's Charge Your Dreams (cover detail)
6. Opsvik & Jennings' Commuter Anthems (inner sleeve, detail)
7. Vibracathedral Orchestra's The Sun Balance/The Open Knot (cover detail)
8. Valet's Blood is Clean (inner sleeve, detail)

Here come the warm jets

2009-04-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

oystered 22 (mar. '07)
Total running time 3:39:28.
1. jasper tx a (d+a 3” CDep/self-released) (9:59)
2. gui boratto beautiful life (chromophobia CD/kompakt) (8:31)
3. axolotl forclusion (memory theatre CD/important) (8:45)
4. lcd soundsystem someone great (sound of silver CD/dfa) (6:26)
5. svarte greiner a night without harm (a night without harm MP3/type) (18:19)
6. lawrence english end game (for varying degrees of winter CD/baskaru) (7:15)
7. pole düsseldorf (steingarten CD/~scape) (4:26)
8. the field the deal (from here we go sublime CD/kompakt) (10:03)
9. burning star core the universe is designed to break your heart (blood lightning 2007 CD/no fun productions) (11:13)
10. rafael toral portable amplifier 3 (space solo 1 CD/quecksilber) (8:01)
11. andrew chalk untitled #1 (goldfall CD/faraway press) (22:50)
12. jörg burger polyform 1 (polyform 1 12”/k2) (5:56)
13. machinefabriek splinter 1 (splinters MP3/machinefabriek) (0:53)
14. jens zimmermann tranquillité (tranquillité 12”/k2) (12:19)
15. panda bear good girl/carrots (person pitch CD/paw tracks) (12:42)
16. jasper tx some things broken, some things lost (a darkness CD/lidar) (21:23)
17. low belarus (drums and guns CD/sub pop) (3:18)
18. dominik eulberg klangteppichverleger wolle (heimische gefilde edit) (heimische gefilde CD/traum schallplatten) (4:49)
19. the high llamas boing backwards (can cladders CD/drag city) (0:45)
20. machinefabriek zucht 1 (slaapzucht CD/root strata) (13:27)
21. arve henriksen glacier descent (strjon CD/rune grammofon) (7:31)
22. pantha du prince saturn strobe (this bliss CD/dial) (7:28)
23. stars of the lid the daughters of quiet minds (and their refinement of the decline 2CD/kranky) (13:22)
So this post’s centerpiece is Andrew Chalk’s “Untitled #1” from his gorgeous release, Goldfall. To me it’s a combination of Stephan Mathieu’s blurred electronica, William Basinski’s opiate A Red Score in Tile, David Sylvian’s landmark Approaching Silence and the sound of well lit and manicured Hollywood swimming pools at night. And this whole three-and-a-half hour set revolves around it. Makes me wanna get everything Andrew Chalk’s put out on his own Faraway Press imprint.
The first three tracks’ running order is meant as an homage to the Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen-era live show that started with their cover of Staple Singers’ calm yet building intensity of “O Happy Day” into “Clear Light/Clear Rush”’s ecstatic release and “Shine A Light”’s comforting come down. After that one-two-three knock out punch you almost thought the show was over. But it was just the beginning. So too with Jasper Tx’s scorching sunrise “A,” Gui Boratto’s euphoric “Beautiful Life” and Axolotl’s noise-lullaby, “Forclusion”–with three hours still remaining in the mix. That’s what I was aiming at anyway, somewhat successfully I think.
You might say things sort of “die at the knee” with track five, Svarte Greiner’s “A Night Without Harm,” but given the subject matter of the previous song, LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great,” the empty, ghostly vibe is fitting.
Things sort of start over, with Lawrence English’s winter ode, into Pole’s comeback dub and The Field’s hypnotic maximalism.
Panda Bear’s “Good Girl/Carrots” is another peak here. I refused to listen to it when it came out two years ago, amidst all the “album of the year” hype but it still sounds better than most current styles today. Person Pitch is a wild combination of The Beach Boys (you’d be forgiven if you actually thought that was Brian Wilson singing), African Highlife, Jamaican dub and European dance. This genius diamond of a record harks back to Mercury Rev’s over-the-top Boces.
The set’s closing hour-plus is meant as a slow evisceration of itself, with little signs of life along the way—Low’s sole take on electro-pop, The High Llamas’ interlude, Arve Henriksen’s falsetto vocals on “Glacier Descent, ” Pantha Du Prince’s classically tinged heartbeat techno… After listening to Stars of the Lid’s And Their Refinement of the Decline two-plus hour opus a number of times trying to single out one of its many worthy tracks, the name for the post came to me, as their droning half-melodies reminded me of summer vapor trails and Brian Eno’s own ambient work. Sorry to give it all away. I feel better. And I can’t believe there’s two consecutive posts with songs simply titled “A.” Nuts.
Oh, I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I’ve decided to ditch the somewhat redundant sun/nature shots. I’m not sure if I have an eye for capturing what I’m really seeing/feeling. Instead, I’m taking back covers and inside sleeve art from one of the recordingsDon’t’cha ever wish sometimes the artist would have chosen the back cover to be the front cover? Works for me because I’ve always thought back covers and sometimes inside sleeve art get neglected. Buy Cocteau Twins’ Victorialand for a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Photo credit: inner sleeve to Arve Henriksen’s Strjon CD (Kim Hiorthøy). Previous post’s photo credit: inner sleeve from Rafael Anton Irisarri’s Daydreaming CD. Previous post’s photo credit: back cover to Reuber’s Südpol CD. Thanks!

Hung up & hanging out to dry

2009-03-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

oystered 21 (jan./feb. ’07 – pt.2)

Total running time: 2:00:46.
a1. mokira i was her may 15th 1995 (the bum that will bring us together 7”/type)
a2. aril brikha winter (winter 12”/kompakt)
a3. times new viking love your daughters (present the paisley reich CD/siltbreeze)
a4. christa pfangen tiding up, getting out (watch me getting back the end CD/die schachtel zeit)
b1. oren ambarchi guitar motor (stacte motors LP/western vinyl)
b2. rafael anton irisarri wither (daydreaming CD/miasmah)
c1. half hawaii into you (into you/out of you 12” / perlon)
c2. anders ilar a (abc 12”/audio.nl)
d1. ateleia bridget riley (formal sleep CD/xeric)
d2. metope breep (braga breep 12”/areal)
d3. the alps autumn rhythm (jewelt galaxies/spirit shambles CD / spekk)
e1. fennesz endless summer (endless summer CD reissue/emego)
e2. deerhunter strange lights (cryptograms/kranky)
e3. rameses iii honey rose theme iii (honey rose CD/important)
f. hush arbors if there be spirits, let them come (under bent limb trees 2xCD reissue/digitalis)
I decided to combine the two months (Jan./Feb.) since historically January is notoriously slow for new music. So here’s the sister mix to the previous post and I think I enjoy this one more.
Mokira is one of Andreas Tilliander’s aliases, probably his most beatless, ambient, blissed-out guise, and this track is culled from one of the Type label’s 7” series of releases’ B-sides. The A-side was in an earlier post as it was previously released on the Mitek label 2CD compilation, Do You Copy? Aril Brikha’s “Winter” is ripe with Detroit flavor—as well it should be—and is the first release on Kompakt from a Detroit producer. 180° in the opposite direction, Times New Viking, a three-piece at the forefront of the nO-hio scene, combine the best bits of early Pavement and Superchunk, and I’m sure it’s tracks like “Love Your Daughters” from the Siltbreeze released Present the Paisley Reich that got them signed to indie-behemoth, Matador. Christa Pfangen was Nico’s birth-name, but here it’s represented by Mattia Coletti and Andrea Belfi, the latter of which was part of Italian super-improv-post-punk-rock group, ¾ Had Been Eliminated and is mastered by none other than Giuseppe Ielasi. Christa Pfangen’s entire album, Watch Me Getting Back the End is a real treasure of fractured, ecstatic pop—a futuristic version of Gastr Del Sol? Brilliant.
Oren Ambarchi continues his Stacte series of releases, this one being the follow up to his $100+ record for the German En/Of boutique, Stacte.4, and “Guitar Motor” sounds like the dark-twin to that record’s A-side white-knuckle ride, “Stacte.4a.” This one burns just as hard, just in a different way. Kupei Musika’s label owner, Rafael Anton Irisarri’s “Wither” is one of seven tracks from his Miasmah label debut, Daydreaming; a beautiful set of piano based songs rife with nostalgia and that foggy half-awake feeling—everything I always wanted Harold Budd to be but rarely was.
Half Hawaii is a collaboration between German based Perlon label co-owner Sammy Dee and Northwest based electronic musician, Bruno Pronsato. “Into You” fits the minimal mold of Perlon perfectly with its quirky sounds and implied melodies. Anders Ilar’s run of releases continues with a 12” for one of his first label homes, Netherlands’ based Audio.nl, and “A” from the A-side of ABC finds Ilar in more acidic territory—not too squelchy, but not lacking any electro-momentum either.
Ateleia’s sound palette is slightly more aggressive and sinister in tone than most of the musicians I’m interested in from the experimental-ambient-electronic field, and although “Bridget Riley” almost embodies a hint of 80s gothic pop (I can’t quite put my finger on it), there’s a melancholic intensity to the track’s second half that gets me every time. Metopekiller techno full-length in 2005, Kobol, and “Breep” is the B-side to that album’s follow up release, Braga/Breep. Japanese label, Spekk, jointly released Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s solo record and collected his other group’s (other than Tarentel) first two efforts on one CD at around the same time. The Alps’ “Autumn Rhythm” is a brief, acoustic-based song fitting for that season’s abundance of grey days.
Emego (the revamped Austrian Mego imprint) “reissue(d), repackage(d) re-evaluate(d) the songs” for Fennesz’s landmark release, Endless Summer—and dare I say the true follow-upMy Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, or was that Jan Jelinek’s Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records – both from 2001? o, how can that be?! – (comment if you’re interested in discussing this further)—replacing, what I thought at least, was pretty fitting artwork from Tina Frank, with new (and of course, always welcome) artwork from possibly my favorite photographer, Touch’s Jon Wozencroft. And who am I to pass up an opportunity to add a Fennesz song to a mix? Deerhunter stormed onto the scene in ’07, and “Strange Lights” reminds me of Better Can’t Make Your Life Better-era Lilys for some reason—one of the most underrated, unknown post-shoegaze bands of all time. They (Lilys) always seemed to release a record on a label that was going under at the time or something. Anyway, Rameses III collaborated with The North Sea for a Type label release in 2006 (see one of my earlier posts for that as well), here they are soundtracking music to Suityman, a film directed by Jon Spira. “Honey Rose Theme III” unfolds like an endlessly drifting summer breeze, and a perfect segue into Keith Wood’s Hush Arbors free-folk track, “If There Be Spirits, Let Them Come,” 20 minutes of shifting bird-song, droning harmonium and acoustic guitar figures taken from his double disc reissue (“repackage, repackage”) of 2004’s Under Bent Limb Trees.

Hanging out & hung up on the line

2009-03-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

oystered 20: (jan./feb. ’07 – pt.1)

Total running time: 2:03:20.
a1. luciano somewhere near his heart (no model no tool 2x12”/cadenza)
a2. solovyev al-brah (stadtmusik 2xCD/onitor)
b1. hug tiny stars (heroes CD/kompakt)
b2. explosions in the sky catastrophe and the cure (four tet mix) (all of a sudden i miss everyone 2xCD/temporary residence)
c1. starving weirdos harry smith (harry smith one-sided LP/root strata)
c2. mira calix protean (eyes set against the sun CD/warp)
d1. zelienople the ghost of someone nice (enemy chorus CD/time-lag)
d2. jefre cantu-ledesma aberration of starlight (the garden of forking paths CD/spekk)
e1. portable bubble world (speak out 12”/süd electronic)
e2. reuber steppengraskrieger: i. geist ii. steppe iii. zuhaus’ (südpol CD/staubgold)
f1. onur özer orion (red cabaret 12”/vakant)
f2. mark templeton pattern for a pillow (standing on a hummingbird CD/anticipate)
f3. gustavo lamas ilusos (stadtmusik 2xCD/onitor)
I can’t decide whether to write more or less for each of these blog entries. I remember as a kid, buying a record, taking it home, putting it on, sitting on my bed looking at the front and back cover, and the insert, always hoping for lyrics but most of the time just getting the usual rock star photos. So I guess I’ll do whatever I have time for. And since this music’s hard to find—or for that matter even grasp sometimes upon first listen—I might as well say as much as I can about particular artists or track or why it’s here or what I especially like about them.
Starting out on a real weird note—Luciano, known mostly for his elegant, minimal techno, (mostly) vinyl only imprint, Cadenza, confounds with this extended dream-mare, Floydian/Orb-like “Somewhere Near His Heart.” Solovyev, the boss of underrated Kompakt-like techno label, Onitor, picks up the pace considerably with this first of two tracks culled from his double-disc collection of thematic 12”s, Statdmusik, where each release focused on artists from a particular international city. The other cut from this rather outstanding compilation, the last track in this post, "Ilusos," from Gustavo Lamas is absolutely gorgeous—a perfect balance of melancholy and bliss.
Swedish producer John Dahlbäck, going under the name Hug for Kompakt apparently has over 100 releases to his name. Truthfully I think he’d be better with a little self-editing. I really liked a few tracks, “Tiny Stars” being my favorite, but Heroes was just okay to me. Although I don’t own any Explosions in the Sky material, the limited bonus disc from All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone is truly special—comprised of remixes in the same running order as the original album with contributions from Jesu, Adem (Fridge), Eluvium, Four Tet and Mountains. All of them are pretty great and it was really hard to choose from the set, but I kept coming back to the Four Tet mix for the strong, recurring guitar line.
Starving Weirdos are new to me, and “Harry Smith” probably isn’t the best representation—look for more of the Weirdos on upcoming posts. For now though, at best this track’s second half reminds me of something from Main’s Motion Pool-era, so that’s never a bad thing. Breaking things up nicely, South African native Chantal Passamonte a.k.a. Mira Calix’s “Protean” is the perfect palette cleanser from what came before.
Smack dab in the middle of this mix and hailing from the Windy City, Zelienople—again, I’m having a hard time describing what these guys sound like—Shayne Carter from New Zealand’s kiwi-pop group Straitjacket Fits fronting Virginia’s hillbilly-theatre-of-eternal-music outfit, Pelt, anyone? Anyway, “The Ghost of Someone Nice” seems like it’s going to dissolve into the ether at any minute but slowly and surely catches an elliptical groove, however opiated, and is another fine example of a truly great group deserving a lot more attention. Root Strata label owner and ex-space-post-rock group Tarentel / current Alps member Jefre Cantu-Ledesma has been perfecting his droning skills for a while. “Aberration of Starlight” is a nice, early example from his Spekk (Japan) CD The Garden of Forking Paths.
Süd Electronic owner, and another South African native, Alan Abrahams a.k.a. Portable a.k.a. Bodycode has releases on Perlon, Background, Spectral Sound and ~Scape to name but a few, but returns to his own label for “Bubble Up” from the Speak Out 12” that preceded his Powers of Ten full-length. A strange direction for him—incorporating more machine-like/future-human vocals—resulting in less effective rhythms and melodies in my opinion. Not enough good things can be said about the next artist, Reuber. His style is a perfectly honed take on Kosmische musik of the ‘70s, combining electronic and acoustic/organic elements very naturally for a real vintage sound every time. Always far out and highly recommended!
Onur Özer is Turkey’s answer to Villalobos and “Orion” is just that—a tight minimal groove with occasional disco stabs. I could have chosen any one of the ten tracks on Mark Templeton’s Standing on a Hummingbird full-length but ended up with “Pattern for a Pillow” for it’s subtlety and implied melodies along with that digital crackle imbuing a nostalgic warmth not unlike old vinyl.

Perfect sound forever

2009-02-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

oystered 19: memory gongs

Total running time: 1:06:53.
fury things flame (love sick 12”, 1990/cheree 7t)
the telescopes cold (7th # disaster 12”, 1989/cheree 4t)
my bloody valentine sugar (7” flexi-disc presented free with issues of The Catalogue, feb. 1989/creation cat067)
whipping boy switchblade smile (whipping boy 12”, 1990/cheree 8t)
swervedriver deep twang ("raise" bonus 7”, 1991/creation crefre 009)
the sugarcubes christmas (birthday 7”, 1988/one little indian 7tp11)
sweet jesus peach (phonefreak honey 12”, 1992/rough trade 2840)
ultra vivid scene mercy seat (mercy seat 12”, 1989/4AD bad906)
papa sprain rich (flying to vegas 12”, 1991/h.ark! 1244)
disco inferno second language (second language 12”, 1994/rough trade 3150)
a.r.kane up (up home! 12”, 1988/rough trade 201)
blind blown away (generator 12”, 1992/holistic vibe 1)
loop sunburst (arc-lite 12”, 1989/situation two 64t)
The term “shoegaze” doesn’t even repulse me anymore. It used to. Now, when something’s being described as shoegaze, you just gotta ignore it and move on. When it was first coined, it was referring to a group of blissed-out noise-pop artists who were all pushing the pop envelope by incorporating layers of guitars and effects and adding distortion, feedback and noise while, at the center of it all, buried deep somewhere was still the actual song. It was a very exciting time for pop music, and in hindsight, still could be considered the last creative movement in rock ‘n’ roll. This never really made much of an impact in the US due to the parallel “grunge” scene taking up most (good) American airwaves. These “shoegaze”/pre-space rock) bands surely shared a love for The Velvet Underground, who, at the time – 20 years or so past their creative peak - were still relatively obscure. Now nearly 20 more years on from the first generation of “shoegazers” (sigh), shoegaze has come to the point of watered down, soft pap with no bite or strong songwriting or anything new and exciting to offer on the noise front either. Please, everyone, stop referring to anything new as sounding “shoegazy” – you’re doing yourself a disservice. Glad I finally got that off my chest.
Other important touchstones, or forerunners to the shoegaze sound were Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and American groups Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. This set provided here compiles some of the more lesser (more lesser?) known artists and cuts – all taken from vinyl – some of these were available on CD, but most were not. A few of these songs might not have ever been considered shoegazy (Papa Sprain), or part of The Scene That Celebrates Itself, but bands such as Disco Inferno and Bark Psychosis almost singlehandedly went from shoegaze to becoming early progenitors of the whole post-rock movement rampant in the late 1990s and beyond to the guitar/laptop based ambient electronica movement that’s so popular nowadays on labels like 12k, Touch, Kranky to name just a few.
This is just the first post – of hopefully many more to come – compiling rare tracks, mostly taken from vinyl, that, I believe, should not be forgotten, and most importantly, are still fun to listen to, and somehow “fit” with each other.
A few specifics: yes, the My Bloody Valentine tune is a real rarity, taken from a flexi-disc that was given away with issues of underground UK mag, The Catalogue. And The Sugarcubes track is also a real treat – a stellar version of arguably their best song, “Birthday,” re-done with The Jesus and Mary Chain. Wow.

Snow your thirst and sun your open mouth

2009-01-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Fell from the sun

2009-01-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

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.

Dancing in your head

2009-01-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

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.

Continents under clouds

2008-11-29T13:22:00.001-08:00

oystered 15: gone to earth (dec. '06)

Total running time: 1:32:39.
1. m. rosner morning tones (morning tones/apestaartje)
2. echo club señor pasajero (welcome to echo club/kompakt)
3. marsen jules où la nostalgie habite (pop ambient 2007/kompakt)
4. david swain media monkey (istvan zsolt’s plane ticket/gore infidel)
5. nicola ratti nuev (prontuario per giovani fogile/megaplomb)
6. deadbeat one.two.three.infinity (version immersion/~scape)
7. thomas fehlmann dusted (emo pak/kompakt)
8. to rococo rot gelb (taken from vinyl/staubgold)
9. andrew thomas i am here where are you (pop ambient 2007/kompakt)
10. ricardo villalobos gugga sempa (what’s wrong my friends?/perlon)
11. thomas brinkmann die schiefe ebene_inclined plane (klick revolution/max.ernst)
12. klimek ruined in a day (buenos aires) (pop ambient 2007/kompakt)
13. kilo …to the edge of the adriatic sea (kilo/onitor)
14. markus guentner altocomulus opacus (pop ambient 2007/kompakt)
Whew, finally! That only took two extra years to complete. Well, that’s not entirely accurate either – three more 2006 addendums to follow: one experimental or ambient-electronic in nature, one more straight up techno/deep-house mix, and lastly, an indie/avant-rock post.
Vinyl only cuts this time include Echo Club’s (that’s Jörg “The Modernist/Triola” Burger and Reinhard Voigt) “Señor Pasajero,” Deadbeat’s “One.Two.Three.Infinity,” Thomas Fehlmann’s “Dusted” (a version appeared later on his Honigpumpe full length), and Villalobos’ “Gugga Sempa,” available only on a Perlon double 12” release.
M. Rosner, a fairly unknown artist who has recorded for Australia’s Room40 label, opens proceedings with the aptly titled, “Morning Tones.” We quickly shift gears to the tourist-techno of Echo Club while Marsen Jules follows with his gorgeous and singular ambient-electronic style; one of four tracks culled from Kompakt’s Pop Ambient 2007 compilation. I know nothing about David Swain – this was one of the few redeeming cuts from The Wire magazine’s “Tapper 16” - while up-and-coming on the experimental Italian scene, Nicola Ratti’s “Nuev” calls to mind Papa M or other notable Chicago, post-rock artists. Again, shifting gears completely is Deadbeat, with “One.Two.Three.Infinity,” a floor-filler for sure followed by Thomas Fehlmann’s more dubbed-out, tight and funky “Dusted.” Appearing both on Pop Ambient 2007 and the only full-length release on Kompakt’s MP3 sub-label is New Zealand based Andrew Thomas with the patient, slow-motion “I Am Here Where Are You.” Ricardo Villalobos finishes the year in relentless fashion, following his epic “Fizheuer Zieheuer” with four more long tracks for Perlon, available only as a double 12” vinyl release. Thomas Brinkmann, who flirts from minimal techno to more abstract avant-garde electronics, combines the two styles here with the strange yet compelling “Die Scheife Ebene_Inclined Plane,” a cut from his Klick Revolution concept full-length about pinball machines. The overlooked, obscure, German based duo, Kilo present a real blissed out cut from their self-titled second Onitor full-length, landing somewhere between Jan Jelinek’s more recent textural output as well as including elements of his disco-techno alter ego, Farben. Markus Guentner, famous for his very Gas-like inspired full-lengths for Kompakt, finishes the set with yet another jewel in the Pop Ambient canon.
Keep checking this page for some special “primer”-style mixes before the 2007 monthly compilations start back up. There should be some hard-to-find, vinyl only, and/or all but forgotten tracks included. Tip!

Tech-yes

2008-11-21T08:31:00.001-08:00

oystered 14: trance ending (nov. ’06: part 2)

Total running time: 1:38:56.
1. komet untitled (audio.nl 030/audio.nl)
2. rechord untitled (audio.nl 030/audio.nl)
3. bulgur brothers igloo mania (smoothie man/sunset diskos)
4. anders ilar sand (in your eyes) (nightwidth/narita)
5. geoff white opposing platforms (nevertheless/background)
6. lithops harpoon point (mound magnet/thrill jockey)
7. jeff samuel i think they are trying to say something (step/trapez)
8. ricardo villalobos fizheuer zieheuer (fizheuer zieheuer/playhouse)
9. robag wruhme hamburg 03.07.06 (papp-tonikk/musik krause)
10. geiger good evening (supermayer remix) (immer 2/kompakt)
11. ada maps (mayer/thomas rmx) (immer 2: bonus compilation/kompakt)
The tech-no side of this two part post featuring tracks released in November 2006. The first two cuts are from a very limited, 12" only compilation from Netherlands’ based, Audio.nl. Bulgur Brothers is a Swedish techno supergroup featuring Andreas Tilliander (Rechord, Mokira, Lowfour), Johan Skugge and Mikael Stavostrand (Mitek, Vita). Anders Ilar continues his reign in the ’06 with this alternate version of "Sand," which originally appeared on a Narita 12" earlier in the year. Geoff White (Aeroc, Ghostly International, Force Inc.) completely surprises with an impeccable full-length from the always underrated (and now defunct?) Background-Records. Lithops is none other than Mouse On Mars’ Jan St. Werner, here with a typically abstract cut. Jeff Samuel also released a stellar, surprising full-length, like Geoff White, for the Trapez label, and "I Think They Are Trying To Say Something" is about as uplifting as anything I can remember. Possibly the best minimal techno producer of these times (2000 - ?), Ricardo Villalobos’ "Fizheuer Zieheuer" is here in all its 37 minute glory. Robag Wruhme’s ambient "Hamburg 03.07.06" is also a vinyl only cut, and the perfect comedown for Villalobos’ lengthy workout. The last two tracks come from Michael Mayer’s "Immer 2" mix CD on Kompakt. The first of which, from Geiger, combines a twisted vocal with more sedate and comforting melodies, while Ada’s remix of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s "Maps" gets remixed by Mayer himself and sometimes collaborator, Tobias Thomas. A truly uplifting song as well. Rock it!

See sons bring some more out tomb we enter

2008-11-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

oystered 13: happy hunting ground (nov '06: part 1)

Total running time: 1:39:04.
a1. jodi cave untitled (blueprints/12k)
a2. minit winged life (jukebox buddha/staubgold)
a3. å something a long time ago. and there are no buttons, either, because (å/die schachtel zeit)
a4. a taste of ra radhe-shyam in bliss land (a taste of ra ii/häpna)
b1. rosy parlane part one (jessamine/touch)
b2. geir jenssen jobo rabzang: a 6666 metre peak in the cho oyu himal (cho oyu 8201m: field recordings from tibet/ash international)
b3. sunnO))) bp//simple (jukebox buddha/staubgold)
b4. svarte greiner the dining table (knive/type)
c1. christmas decorations tottering throne (blueprints/12k)
c2. xela briefly seen (dead sea/type)
c3. in the country torch – fishing (losing stones, collecting bones/rune grammofon)
c4. leo abrahams water’s edge (blueprints/12k)
d1. astral social club untitled #1 (astral social club/vhf)
d2. axolotl astral light (telesma/spooky action)
d3. huntsville melon (for the middle class/rune grammofon)
d4. seaworthy map in hand pt. 4 (epilogue) (blueprints/12k)
Part one of this two-part mix representing November 2006 focuses on ambient, drone-pop, acoustic doom, post-rock and more ecstatic, extended ‘bliss-out’ tracks, most with a hint of melancholy in them. Personal favorites include the opener from Jodi Cave, an artist whose music has been released on the always top-notch 12k label out of upstate New York. Unknown Italian post-rock outfit, Å, surprise with a lengthy track that starts off somewhat aggressively before switching gears – and moods – halfway through metamorphosing into something quite delicate and beautiful. New Zealand musician Rosy Parlane continues to stun with his effervescently ecstatic, extended forms with a track from his second full length for Touch, Jessamine. And perennial favorite, Neil Campbell, most famous for his Vibracathedral Orchestra band of misfits, now solo as Astral Social Club, compiles and remixes a bunch of limited edition, CD-R only cuts for official release on VHF. His track here shimmers bright, and at eight or so minutes, finishes all too briefly.
Overall, two tracks come courtesy the Norwegian label, Rune Grammofon and two more from the UK imprint, Type, while four tracks are featured from the aformentioned 12k – three of which originate from the stellar Blueprints compilation. Two cuts feature from Staubgold’s Buddha Machine remix CD, Jukebox Buddha, which overall was kind of disappointing – or not – depending on how heavy expectations factor into the equation, with Minit, one of my favorite duos, included here along with ‘doom metal’ progenitors, SunnO))), a group I would never expect to show up on a blog of mine. Bon appetito!

Summer's last sound

2008-11-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

oystered 12: love stepping out (oct ’06)

Total running time: 2:51:21.
Side 1
1. arnold dreyblatt brushtones (atlantic waves 2006/the wire #273)
2. melchior productions ltd. different places (different places/perlon)
3. paul wirkus valore energetico (déformation professionnelle/staubgold)
Side 2
4. hervé ak taps of the claps (the closer/k2)
5. tape nötväcka (ström - pausfågeln remixad/container recordings)
6. sandy bull memphis, tn (still valentine's day 1969/water)
Side 3
7. stephan mathieu die sonne toent nach alter wiese (excerpt from a shortwave radio landscape) (eco e narciso/the wire #270)
8. grouper agate beach (wide/free porcupine society)
9. mokira storspov / fjäderreverb (ström - pausfågeln remixad/container recordings)
Side 4
10. stefano pilia the suncrows fall and tree (part 1) (the suncrows fall and tree/sedimental)
11. andrea belfi footprints (between neck & stomach/häpna)
Side 5
12. rhythm & sound see mi version (basic reshape) (see mi yah (remixes)/burial mix)
13. mouse on mars skik (varcharz/ipecac)
14. robert lippok unexpected behavior no. 7 (robot/western vinyl)
Side 6
15. roman flügel presents soylent green after all (la forza del destino/playhouse)
16. herbert down (scale/studio !k7)
17. the rice twins for dan (reach for the flute/k2)
Side 7
18. oren ambarchi happy ending (atlantic waves 2006/the wire #273)
19. dj koze snauzi peitsch (stompin at the clubfoot/kompakt)
20. jan jelinek happening tone (tierbeobachtungen/~scape)
Side 8
21. minamo a herdsman’s life (a herdsman’s life/esquilo records)
Vinyl only exclusives this time around include Melchior Productions Ltd.’s dark and minimal "Different Places," courtesy the always reliable Perlon label, Hervé Ak’s "Taps of the Claps" along with the serene "For Dan" from The Rice Twins, both from Kompakt’s vinyl only (thus far) K2 offshoot label, and DJ Koze’s dancefloor/housefloor friendly "Snauzi Peitsch" from the Kompakt label proper.
But of even greater note, perhaps, on this playlist, is the abundance of rare or limited or hard to get tracks (although more and more, probably not so much the case): Tape and Mokira contribute tracks to a Swedish only compilation CD, Ström - Pausfågeln Remixad, based on different bird songs, Arnold Dreyblatt and Oren Ambarchi contribute to a Wire Magazine subscriber only special CD focusing on 2006’s Atlantic Waves festival, Stephan Mathieu contributes to a different Wire Magazine subscriber only special CD from earlier in the year (previously overlooked by moi’), and lastly, Japanese acoustic-electronic supergroup, Minamo, release a super-limited CD-r entitled, "A Herdsman’s Life," which you can stream here in it’s entirety.
Which isn’t to say that all the aforementioned tracks wouldn’t be just as great had they not had this exclusivity tag to them. As well as all the cuts I haven’t mentioned. These playlists, to me, include the best tracks from the best records released in said month, or whatever. It feels good to be back after a nearly five month hiatus. Just let it flow…

(Edge of the) ape oven

2008-06-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

oystered 11: Journey in satchidananda (sep. '06)

Total running time: 2:34:39.
Side 1
1. alumbrados principium i (a generation of vipers/important)
Side 2
1. reverbaphon nothing beyond the zero (get this and this and this and this and here and/anominous)
2. tim hecker radio spiricom (harmony in ultraviolet/kranky)
3. hwyl nofio broken again (hounded by fury/hwyl)
4. metope i’m so ready + cpu circus (ada remix) (kobox/areal)
5. mokira chelsea feel (ease/filippa k)
Side 3
1. kaito the universe (hundred million love years/kompakt)
2. fourcolor rowboat [with piana] (letter of sounds/12k)
3. benoît pioulard moth wings (précis/kranky)
4. beth orton carmella (four tet remix) (remixes/domino)
Side 4
1. chris herbert cassino (mezzotint/kranky)
2. christina carter yellow pine (electrice/kranky)
3. spooncurve she doesn’t know (edit) (are friends symmetric/d.o.r.)
4. boxhead ensemble nocturne 10 (nocturnes/atavistic)
Side 5
1. lithops kahn (queries/sonig)
2. oren ambarchi & scott horscroft 19 guitars (split/textile)
Side 6
1. lawrence english & ai yamamoto a silent kouta (edit) (plateau/phono-statique)
2. rafael toral space part iii (space/staubgold)

Bardo Pond's Gibbons brothers start this massive two-and-a-half hour set evoking a genuine Victroian opium den. If you make it safe to the other side, the electronic pop pleasures of Reverbaphon await. Followed by a few healthy, shorter pieces that contrast nicely with one another until the Eastern sound-stretch of Mokira, Kaito and Fourcolor. Four Tet's remix of Beth Orton's "Carmella" has been a long time favorite since first appearing as a b-side of a single oh so many years ago. Summer jam for sure. Surprises abound for the last hour-plus. Starting with out-of-nowhere artist Chris Herbert with some beautifully submerged electronic minimalism, segueing nicely into Charalambides' Christina Carter - be patient with this one, a gorgeous circular ending ensues. Drug addlers might find some solace in Spooncurve's hypnotic-narcotic pop, while Boxhead Ensemble's "Nocturne 10" is all about the notes they're not hitting. Saving the best for last it's Mouse on Mars' Jan Werner as Lithops and a vinyl only duet between Australians Oren Ambarchi and Scott Horscroft. Room40's Lawrence English & Ai Yamamoto get it together by their track's close and Rafael Toral lays down his guitar and effects in favor of homemade electronic generators and modular synths for the first part (of at least ten we've been told!) of his Space series of releases, closing this set with some truly innovative future electronic jazz that even Sun Ra would approve of. Weird and wonderful throughout.

What we did on our holidays

2008-05-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

oystered 10: Sunlight bathed the golden glow (aug '06)

a1. the rice twins for penny and alexis (total 7/kompakt)
a2. wighnomy bros. wombat (total 7/kompakt)
a3. svalastog reconnecting joints (woodwork/rune grammofon)
a4. marsen jules la digitale pourpre (les fleurs/city centre offices)
b1. the modernist closer musik - one two three (no gravity) / mikkel metal - microho (popular songs/kompakt)
b2. bergheim 34 ding dong (farben remix) (diamenten und raketen/klang elektronik)
b3. humcrush cyborg ii (hornswoggle/rune grammofon)
b4. thomas fehlmann saft (total 7/kompakt)
c1. alva noto + ryuichi sakamoto ax mr. l. (revep/raster-noton)
c2. coh path.#1 (patherns ep/raster-post)
c3. susanna and the magical orchestra it’s a long way to the top (magical mountain/rune grammofon)
c4. ryan teague rounds (coins & crosses/type)
d1. 2 dollar egg graphit (diamenten und raketen/klang elektronik)
d2. hieroglyphic being d.o.s. (diamenten und raketen/klang elektronik)
d3. north valley subconscious orchestra napali passage (the right kind of nothing/ghostly international)
d4. scsi-9 when she said goodbye (total 7/kompakt)
d5. robert babicz sonntag (total 7/kompakt)

Another fine addition to the oystered 'Playing Catch Up' series of compilations. Rather than describe each track in detail, I think a brief overview might work better. This works as a nice compilation of compilations, as over half of the tracks come from the two seminal German techno labels, Klang Elektronik and Kompakt. A further five cuts are culled from merely two more labels that are a bit more experimental in nature, Norway's Rune Grammofon and Berlin's Raster-Noton. The remaining few odds and ends even have a cohesive feel and are quite possibly the standout cuts: Marsen Jules' track for City Centre Offices and Ryan Teague's "Rounds" for Type both have a very cinematic, neo-classical feel to them and are utterly epic in scope and completely gorgeous. The North Valley Subconscious Orchestra is a collaboration between two continually evolving musicians as well: old-school shoegaze experimentalist Brad Laner of Medicine, Electric Company fame, and new school shoegazer Christopher Willits, mostly known for his releases on the ever reliable 12k imprint, but also for his full length on Ghostly International. Not bad for the "dog days."

Throughout the dark months of april and may

2008-05-23T06:53:00.001-07:00

oystered 09: The pink opaque (jul ’06)

a1. mark van hoen put my trust in you (touch 25/touch)
a2. ilar & hedvall cookies & milk (treacherous & deceitful/defrag sound processing)
a3. fennesz tree (touch 25/touch)
a4. jonas bering lost paradise (lost paradise/kompakt)
b. the north sea and rameses iii nightblooms written in sanskrit (night of the ankou/type)
c1. audio werner base (onandon/perlon)
c2. rosy parlane atlantis (touch 25/touch)
c3. dominik eulberg der buchdrucker (der buchdrucker/traum)
d. jasper tx so now we’re ghosts no more (so now we’re ghosts no more/kning disk gallery edition)

Kicking things off is an admittedly odd piece of work from Mark Van Hoen (Scala), sounding, to me at least, a bit like, what might have happened if The Beatles had continued into the noughts, furthering their avant-garde tendencies, pushing the envelope of what a rock band could do with electronics. Or, maybe it’s just a Lennon side project?
Anyway, back to more familiar, or rather, expected, territory with Ilar (yet again) collaborating here with someone named Hedvall, for yet another great minimal techno track. And this time round, a healthy back and forth between more minimal, beat oriented stuff and - my favorite... - more "ambient," dreamy, drifting, droney type work. Of particular note are the two longer tracks dividing the set: The North Sea & Rameses III’s track is extremely moving, reminding me of something from Stars of the Lid's Ballasted Orchestra, while the closing track from Jasper TX is an absolute killer, putting even Fennesz's barely-there "Tree" to shame.
Vinyl only cuts include “Cookies & Milk,” “Lost Paradise,” “Base” and “Der Buchdrucker.” Picture courtesy Allison, Grand Traverse Bay, West Arm.

The blossom filled streets

2008-05-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

oystered 08: Like a daydream (jun ’06)

a1. thomas melchior & luciano solomon’s prayer (solomon’s prayer/father / cadenza)
a2. davidovitch cellophane (speicher 36/kompakt extra)
a3. dB tower of love (god’s will phone center/boogizm)
b1. anders ilar missing (ilar mix) (missing/plong!)
b2. gui boratto like you (supermayer mix) (like you/kompakt pop)
b3. phonophani farger rundt hvitt (phonophani/rune grammofon)
c1. scorch trio abakle (luggumt/rune grammofon)
c2. loren connors star of bethlehem pt. 1 (night through/family vineyard)
c3. loren connors home again (night through/family vineyard)
c4. loren connors stars (night through/family vineyard)
c5. loren connors the departing of a dream vol.4 (night through/family vineyard)
c6. loren connors star of bethlehem pt. 2 (night through/family vineyard)
c7. murcof ulysses (deathprod mix) (6-track/rune grammofon)
d1. anders ilar lakeside (organza/level records)
d2. marc leclair 236e jour (musique pour 3 femmes enceintes/mutek)

June 2006: A deep sigh of relief. Don’t get me wrong, my search for discovering great, new, “undiscovered” music will never end. But when owning a record store turns into a 24 hour, sleepless worry, it’s time to stop.
A much more manageable set this go round. Vinyl only tracks this time include “Solomon’s Prayer,” “Cellophane,” “Tower of Love,” "Missing (Ilar mix),” “Abakle” and “Lakeside.”
A little heavy on the Anders Ilar, who was hitting hard with dark, propulsive, bass-driving tracks left and right at this point. The five Loren Connors tracks are justified since they’re all pretty short and culled from a three disc anthology, Night Through, which came out only a few short months after his gorgeous Table of the Elements full-length, Sails. It’s stunning how he gets so much feeling out of such little playing, ringing every nuance out of each plucked or strummed note. You can even hear the air move in the room he records in. Subtle, subdued. Stunning.
Unfortunately dB (Daniel Bemberger), who released one full length and a slew of stunning vinyl only releases for labels such as Background and Karloff, and Marc Leclair (aka Akufen), two of my favorite click ’n’ cut ’n’ pasters, have been AWOL since June of ’06. Here’s hoping for some surprises in the near future.

Don't fight it, feel it

2008-04-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

oystered 07: Stoned to say the least (may ’06)

Side 1
1. jetone sufraise ii (sundown/apnea)
2. scsi-9 elegia (the line of nine/kompakt)
3. marsen jules rainy days in milan (silva/miasmah)
4. matt john landing (superloooongevity/perlon)
Side 2
1. stephen beaupré misshapely (macro-house/~scape)
2. taylor deupree northern (northern/12k)
3. lee van dowski the last bounce (original mix) (the last bounce/num)
4. kalabrese skamel (superloooongevity/perlon)
Side 3
1. felt primitive painters (gold mine trash/cherry red)
2. the field istedgade (sun & ice/kompakt)
3. und rodeo (rodeo/trapez ltd.)
4. tomas jirku weltschmerz (weltschmerz/all you need is love / defrag sound processing)
Side 4
1. g-man the way you move (the way you move/wir)
2. ricardo villalobos balacharde (superloooongevity/perlon)
3. richard youngs & simon wickham-smith 2002 (5 years/vhf)
4. mapstation valencia was asleep (distance told me things to be said/~scape)
Side 5
1. dominik eulberg & gabriel ananda harzer roller (harzer roller/traum)
2. giuseppe ielasi untitled (3) (giuseppe ielasi/häpna)
3. bulgur brothers pinto (jaffa/karat)
4. horror inc. the absent (superloooongevity/perlon)
Side 6
1. baby ford & zip morning sir (superloooongevity/perlon)
2. machinefabriek wolkenkrabber (marijn/lampse audiovisual recordings)
3. pan american from here (for waiting, for chasing/mosz)
4. oliver hacke millepieds (anders ilar rmx) (millepieds remixe/level records)

Okay, so this is the last mega-set for a while. This was the last month neptune was open, and I was grabbing a lot of techno 12”s. Unbelievably (and happily so) we sold nearly all the inventory that last month, slashing prices everyday, basically giving shit away. We even sold most of the fixtures, and some of the homemade wood bins the records and CDs sat in, and they found some good homes too. Thank you to everyone! So, getting back to the post, that’s a lot of what this mix is made up of: juicy, vinyl only cuts from Jetone, Stephen Beaupré, Lee Van Dowski, The Field, Und, Tomas Jirku, G-Man, Dominik Eulberg with Gabriel Ananda, Bulgur Brothers and Oliver Hacke. Jetone is Tim Hecker’s techno alias, Mapstation is one-third of To Rococo Rot, Bulgur Brothers is Sweden’s techno super-group featuring Mikael Stavostrand, Johan Skugge and Andreas Tilliander, Horror Inc. is none other than Marc LeClair aka Akufen and Pan American is Mark Nelson from Labradford.

Felt’s ‘80’s anthem “Primitive Painters,” featuring none other than Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser, might feel out of place here, but I just had to include it for its antiquated timelessness. The Field’s “Istedgade” is a vinyl only exclusive, only available on the Sun & Ice 12”. I wish the Italian non-pop, techno duo Und would reappear – really quite unique in their approach, adding a bit of quirky humor to their tracks. Baby Ford & Zip’s “Morning Sir” is really addictive while Anders Ilar proved 2006 was definitely a good year for him (keep your eye on future posts) with his mesmeric remix of Oliver Hacke’s “Millepieds.”

So, even though the economy’s in the tank, and gas prices and food prices and everything are through the roof, how’s come we still have enough money to spend on fancy coffees and going out to dinner and bars, but think the price of buying CDs are unreasonable? Sure, the major labels could afford to lower their prices, but the indie labels don’t sell as much per unit, and the $13 - $16 price range for CDs really hasn’t gone up at all since the day they came out. And they’re something that’s both audio and visual art, something that you can keep forever. When I think about it, if anything should change, it’s that downloading prices are too high. Legal downloading should be about half the price that it is. I can’t believe it costs three-quarters of the price of a CD or LP to download it. What do you really have then? What happens when your iTunes gets a virus? At least if you illegally downloaded those songs you’re not out anything. Many independent record stores now have excellent mail order service, and up-to-date websites with what’s actually in stock. I guess we all just spend our time (aka our money) on what’s really important to us. Maybe music just isn’t hard enough of a drug. I still think vinyl’s gonna outlast everything.

Here’s to rolling out the next post a lot quicker. Hope you enjoy.

To here knows when

2008-03-31T13:41:00.001-07:00

oystered 06: As far as the eye can see (apr ’06)

Side 1
1. antiguo automata mexicano first imago (background records 050/background records)
2. lars wickinger blutrausch (blutrausch/traum)
3. ricardo villalobos suesse cheques (salvador/frisbee)
4. matt john fokuss (joker family park two/perlon)
Side 2
1. onur ozer gizeh (twilight/vakant)
2. galoppierende zuversicht klumpknolle (chnobli/bruchstuecke)
3. process tendency to synchronize (elektronische musik interkontinental 5/traum)
4. minilogue the girl from botany bay (the girl from botany bay/wir)
Side 3
1. helios halving the compass (eingya/type)
2. klimek verlust (white, no trails) der motorik (music to fall asleep/kompakt)
3. d.p. in blue (krakau/echocord)
4. gultskra artikler otpusk navsegda (remixed by svarte greiner) (pofigistka/lampse audiovisual)
Side 4
1. growing blue angels (color wheel/troubleman unlimited)
2. astral social club 5.2 (#5/astral social club)
Side 5
1. phill niblock alto tune (touch three/touch)
Side 6
1. loscil chinook (plume/kranky)
2. uusitalo tulenkantaja (tulenkantaja vol.1/huume)
3. terrence dixon detroit city lights (background records 050/background records)
4. dB low moon (background records 050/background records)
5. nathan fake numb chance (elektronische musik interkontinental 5/traum)

Monster mix for the month of April, 2006. I remember, at the time, just buying tons of stuff at this point. Neptune was about to close, and other than a bittersweet feeling, at the worst, tons of great music was still coming into the store. And advance promotional copies of things were helping keep me sated as well. At this point, we had moved off of Main Street, and on to 4th Street. Our first year on 4th Street, 2004, was, surprisingly our best. But then, as 2005 dragged on, we really started to notice a big drop in sales. Especially electronic vinyl sales, which, at the time, was our “bread and butter.” 2005 was a(nother) big year for iPods, and all of the sudden, lots of previously only vinyl tracks were being tracked down digitally. Perhaps free, I don’t know, I still don’t know that world too well (this damn dinosaur of a laptop won’t allow me even if I wanted to). At any extent, tracks were cheaper to come by, and with the Michigan economy never recovering from we-all-know-what, people had less disposable income. Perhaps it was a situation further compounded by the last generation of kids knowing how to or wanting to step foot in a physical record store to discover new music. Which reminds me, the first ever Record Store Day is Saturday, April 19th, and no, it’s not another Hallmark Holiday. It is, however, something devised by the ailing music industry, for the benefit of indie record shops (the way I see it) and I would urge anybody that could, to try to find some extra time that day to frequent a local record shop and spend a few bucks. It may seem futile, I know (believe me, I know), but some cool indie labels are going to be offering some exclusive music to record stores participating in and acknowledging the day. Google Record Store Day and I’m sure you can find out if a store near you will have any exclusive 7” vinyl to collect, or goodie bags for your appreciation.

Anyway, this mix is designed as a double-disc or triple LP if you will. Think The Clash’s Sandinista!. Lots of microhouse, good for a long run. Really, every track’s a killer. Vinyl only cuts abound on this one: Lars Wickinger, Matt John, Onur Ozer, Galoppierende Zuversicht, Minilogue (epic!), D.P. (that’s Deadbeat + Pole, check!) and Uusitalo. The non-microhouse cuts include Helios’ lush, dreamy atmospherics, Klimek’s stuttering guitar and piano reminding me of Harold Budd’s collaboration with Cocteau Twins on The Moon and The Melodies and Russian artist Gultskra Artikler’s dark ambient track sounding like it came straight from 4AD’s Lonely Is An Eyesore. One of my favorite new bands in recent years, Growing, offer a horizontal LSD ride, while Neil Campbell’s (he of Vibracathedral Orchestra) Astral Social Club track is a rare CD-R cut, more than likely way out of print, combining shimmering, melancholic drones not too unlike Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas project. Dig. Phill Niblock is known for is long dronework, and yes, that’s what we have here, but I like to thinkof “Alto Tune” as a slightly more academic take on Spacemen 3’s “Dreamweapon” morphing into “Ecstacy Symphony” – absolutely perfect for the real late (or early) hours. “Side 6” has its own vibe too – more melodic, and back to the beat. Locsil’s “Chinook” is one of the best cuts here and Terrence Dixon’s “Detroit City Lights” reminds me of To Rococo Rot. The surprise here, near the end, comes from one of my favorites, Polish artist dB, and please comment back if you can spot the sample. Anybody that kept an interest in British pop throughout the ‘90s should be able to figure it out fairly easily. It comes from one of the best bands from the era, and one of their best records as well. Whew, okay then, until next time, which is hopefully not too far from now.

Again, this format would not even be possible without the help of a few very gracious individuals. You know who you are, and always: thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Blustery day on the wind farm

2008-03-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

As always, meticulously sequenced and painstakingly chosen tracks including more 12” only vinyl cuts (Alex Under, The Orb, Giorgio Gigli (yet again!), Portable, Kiln (?)) in among the usual fare of highly-enjoyable weirdness. Some real rarities including a tranquil slice of spring morning (or am I wishing that?) from Greg Davis’ contribution to Room40’s label compilation for The Wire magazine; a short, spring-like (is that just me again?) acoustic meditation from James Blackshaw and a smoldering ‘Main meets Ambarchi’ cut from one of my ‘new’ favorites, Gregg Kowalski. Oh, and the stuff I didn’t mention is pretty great too. All pretty accessible and existing at one of two poles: ethereal, drone work or rolling techno that’s either slightly euphoric or perfect for dimly lit spaces. Who would really know this stuff was two years old? Who cares?! Sorry for the time-lag between posts. I’m always attempting to get the next one up quicker. Thank you everyone leaving comments, I’m still trying to figure out how to reply back. Get down and double check!

oystered 05: On the pine (mar ’06)

+ denotes bonus track
a1. alex under el encuentro (collage/plus 8)
a2. alog dog dive (catch that totem!/melektronikk)
a3. the orb god less america/gorgeous + (speicher 33/kompakt extra)
b1. greg davis swell (brisbane reversion) (an evening at room40 / room40/the wire)
b2. giorgio gigli circle (geometrik forms/elettronica romana)
b3. kaito natural source (hundred million light years/kompakt)
c1. james blackshaw skylark herald’s dawn (sunshrine/digitalis)
c2. portable diorama (the san/scape)
c3. ekkehard ehlers nie wieder schnell sagen (a life without fear/staubgold)
c4. coh dancing in silence (above air/eskaton)
d1. gregg kowalsky long distance decade (through the cardial window/kranky)
d2. uusitalo misut irti/huutaa (tulenkantaja/huume)
d3. kiln spheresong improvisational (twinewheel: lost sides and dusty-gems 1994-2005/division sound)

Froze to the bone in my igloo home

2008-03-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

Great mix featuring some 12” only cuts (Shane Berry, Marek Bois aka Dapayk of Dapayk and Padberg fame and Italian duo, Giorgio Gigli) up next to some more abstract electronic tracks (check Twine’s mind melting, Autechre-like “Gliding In On” and Sébastian Roux’s “The Guitar and Drums Song” – listen to that enough times and it actually does start to sound like a song, trust me) including the epic, smoldering “Hundred Acre” by New York duo, Mountains. For the third time (out of four), Bird Show makes an appearance (Town and Country’s Ben Vida’s Lightning Ghost was one of my favorite albums of 2006 – still sounds great), and Mikkel Metal makes his second appearance with another smoked-out dub joint. Shoegazers and new-gazers check Belong’s “October Language” and Guitar’s “Sakura Coming.” Other surprises as well, including the understated Lawrence track opening the set, and Andreas Tilliander’s Mokira project closing the set with a beautifully blissed out cut with a great title as well. Most of you should know what I’m talking about. Peace!

oystered 04: Counting the days ‘til the ice turns green (feb ’06)

+ denotes bonus track
a1. lawrence wasting a fall (idol tryouts/ghostly international)
a2. shane berry fillertet 2 (fillertet 2/trapez ltd.)
a3. twine gliding in on (idol tryouts/ghostly international)
b1. sébastien roux the guitar and drums song (songs/12k)
b2. mountains hundred acre (sewn/apestaartje)
b3. greg davis amaranthine (idol tryouts/ghostly international)
c1. belong october language (ocotber language/carpark)
c2. marek bois boisboisbois (boisboisbois/trapez)
c3. sophie rimheden the real way (mitek version) + (do you copy?/mitek)
c4. bird show sleepers keep sleeping (lightning ghost/kranky)
d1. guitar sakura coming (tokyo/onitor)
d2. giorgio gigli i can’t breathe (lee van dowski remix) (rarified atmosphere/dumb-unit)
d3. mikkel metal famil (do you copy?/mitek)
d4. mokira the bum that will bring us together (do you copy?/mitek)

30 Century man

2008-02-25T13:53:00.001-08:00

Spiritualized's Songs in A&E press release:
After much anticipation, and a longer than expected wait, Spiritualized are set to release their long-awaited 18 track sixth studio album, ‘SONGS IN A&E’, on Spaceman Records on May 26th. The US release will be announced this week.
Track listing:
1. Harmony 1
2. Sweet Talk
3. Death Take Your Fiddle
4. I Gotta Fire
5. Soul on Fire
6. Harmony 2
7. Sitting on Fire
8. Yeah Yeah
9. You Lie You Cheat
10. Harmony 3
11. Baby I'm Just a Fool
12. Don't Hold Me Close
13. Harmony 4
14. The Waves Crash In
15. Harmony 5
16. Borrowed Your Gun
17. Harmony 6
18. Goodnight Goodnight
The album will be preceded by the single, “Soul On Fire”, available on 7in vinyl and digital on May 19th.
Since the release of the last studio album, ‘Amazing Grace’, there followed a lengthy period of touring but this was unfortunately curtailed by a serious illness which struck main man Jason Pierce in 2005. Time spent in intensive care interrupted the writing and recording of the follow up record both prior to, and after his illness. Inevitably perhaps, this setback turned into an inspiration…
The band will be touring with the full line up and additional gospel singers in May followed by extensive touring around the world including shows at Benicassim in Spain, Summer Sonic in Japan and extensive tours & festivals in the UK, Europe and USA.
The Spaceman adds, “Also this year, Harmony Korine's truly beautiful "Mister Lonely" film is released to cinema with an OST to follow on Drag City Records. It was an honour and trip to work on that one and probably one of the things that was most instrumental in me finally finishing the Spiritualized album so we all got Harmony to thank for that one.”
Following the completion of the A&E recording sessions there was a period of label uncertainty in 2007 so Spiritualized presented their acclaimed Acoustic Mainlines live show, during which they previewed ‘acoustic’ versions of new & old material, at many and various festivals and revered venues, including the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY.
Acoustic Mainlines will play their last few shows at the i-Tunes festival on March 2nd at Air studios and a handful of US west coast shows including the Coachella Festival in April.

oystered 03: Spiritualized Acoustic Mainlines Salford Lowry, Manchester, UK 11/24/06

+ denotes bonus track taken from Union Chapel, London, UK 12/9/07
SITTING ON FIRE
DEVIL TOWN
LORD LET IT RAIN ON ME
TRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOU
STRAIGHT AND THE NARROW
COOL WAVES
HOLD ON
AMEN
SOUL ON FIRE
WALKING WITH JESUS
GOING DOWN SLOW
SO HOT
STOP YOUR CRYING
ANYTHING MORE
LADIES & GENTLEMEN
LAY IT DOWN SLOW
BABY I’M JUST A FOOL
THINK I'M IN LOVE +
GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT
FUNERAL HOME
LORD CAN YOU HEAR ME
OH HAPPY DAY

“Devil Town,” “True Love Will Find You” and “Funeral Home” are covers of Daniel Johnston originals. Enjoy!

Blue sparks from her, and the scent of lightning

2008-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

This compilation almost goes against everything I believe in, except, of course, the music. Inspired by a local barista making the move to Chicago, I hastily decided to raid my collection. Essentially, there are no rules, no parameters (no particular release dates or styles) just what stuff happened to be in my "CD" collection on Feb. 19, 2008 (Happy 65th Birthday, Dad!) that was either from a Chicago group (at one time or still is) or on a Chicago based label, with most love going out to Drag City and Thrill Jockey in particular. And, lets just say, a lot of great stuff got left off. In the eleventh hour, I almost nixed the whole idea. I wanted to change it to just include exclusive or harder to find tracks, such as Papa M's rendition of "Turn Turn Turn" or Red Red Meat's 7" only "Idiot Son," or something from Kevin Drumm and his melancholy electronic Triangles project, or Rob Mazurek's more experimental solo cornet and electronics project or anything at all from David Grubbs' Blue Chopsticks label or Jim O'Rourke's Moikai label, never mind their joint obscure reissue label, Dexter's Cigar, the latter two labels including releases from forward-thinking guitarist/musician, Rafael Toral. Or even something from up and coming label, Burnt Brown Sounds. Also of note that's missing: the great electronic artists Oval and Nobukazu Takemura, both of which Thrill Jockey championed in the mid-'90s and beyond. Maybe I'll have to make an addendum volume to this stuff someday. Something a little more thought out and involved. Let's just say every track on this is a killer. I guess that's what the common thread is linking these songs together. so here's to the Windy City: the artists, the labels, the seasons, Lake Michigan. This mix begs for Spring too; the warm days and warm nights... Luke, wherever you are, roll the car windows down and - oh, wait, most people don't have cars if they live in the city - I still hope you find this mix burnin'!

oystered 02-1: Blues subtitled why not untitled?

+ denotes bonus track
THE SEA AND CAKE - LEEORA (THE BIZ / THRILL JOCKEY)
CALIFONE - TAYZEE NUBB (ROOMSOUND / PERISHABLE)
GASTR DEL SOL - BAUCHREDNER (CAMOFLEUR / DRAG CITY)
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND QUARTET - WELCOME (CHICAGO UNDERGROUND QUARTET / THRILL JOCKEY)
ZELIENOPLE - MOSS MAN (HIS/HERS / TYPE)
PAPA M - UP NORTH KIDS (LIVE FROM A SHARK CAGE / DRAG CITY)
TORTOISE - GAMERA + (“GAMERA” b/w “CLIFF DWELLER” 12” / DUOPHONIC)
(SMOG) - TRUTH SERUM (SUPPER / DRAG CITY)
PLUSH - FED INTRO (UNDERFED / DRAG CITY)
JIM O’ROURKE - 94 THE LONG WAY (BAD TIMING / DRAG CITY)

oystered 02-2: When the music started, when the freaking began

+ denotes bonus track
WILCO - I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART (YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT / NONESUCH)
BIRD SHOW - ON THE BEACH (LIGHTNING GHOST / KRANKY)
DAVID GRUBBS - TWO SHADES OF GREEN (THE SPECTRUM BETWEEN / DRAG CITY)
SAM PREKOP - SOMETHING (WHO’S YOUR NEW PROFESSOR / THRILL JOCKEY)
THE RED KRAYOLA - MAGNIFICENCE AS SUCH (BLUES, HOLLERS AND HELLOS / DRAG CITY)
EDITH FROST - CARS AND PARTIES (WONDER WONDER / DRAG CITY)
US MAPLE - RICE AIN’T AFRAID OF NOTHING (ACRE THRILLS / DRAG CITY)
MATT SWEENEY & BONNIE ‘PRINCE’ BILLY - MY HOME IS THE SEA (SUPERWOLF / DRAG CITY)
LICHENS - BUNE (OMNS / KRANKY)
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - HOME + (SCHOOL OF THE FLOWER / DRAG CITY)
MICK TURNER - MOTH PART VI (MOTH / DRAG CITY)
BROTHER JT3 - BE WITH US (SPIRITUALS / DRAG CITY)
THE HOWLING HEX - WHAT, MAN? WHO ARE YOU?! (ALL-NIGHT FOX / DRAG CITY)
THE FIERY FURNACES - TWO FAT FEET (GALLOWSBIRD’S BARK / ROUGH TRADE)
ALAN LICHT / LOREN MAZZACANE-CONNORS - WISDOM DAY (HOFFMAN ESTATES / DRAG CITY)

Thank you, friends!

2008-01-22T15:06:00.000-08:00

Here's an attempt to crawl into the 21st century and continue with the "monthly mix" compilations I was starting to roll out while still at/on(?) neptune. So here's the first one, and yes, you're reading this right, January 2006. And it's sequenced in an old-school "double LP" format. So, neptune R.I.P.; long live oystered. Enjoy!

neptunemix 014/oystered 01: Not quite where we left off (jan. '06)

a1. anvil salute vines through the window (gold leaf branches/digitalis)
a2. the wolfgang press complete and utter (the burden of mules/4AD)
a3. courtis insolación de soles aledaños (gold leaf branches/digitalis)
a4. loren connors in the night (sails/table of the elements),
b. sickoakes wedding rings & bullets in the same golden shrine (part ii) (seawards/type),
c1. cassy night to remember (my auntie/perlon)
c2. isolee lost (western store/playhouse)
c3. mikkel metal lurlun (victimizer/kompakt),
d1. town and country fields and parks of easy access (up above/thrill jockey)
d2. thomas strønen interacting massive particles (pohlitz/rune grammofon)
d3. chehei hatakeyama beside a well (minima moralia/kranky).