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Soundclouds just don’t make sense for individual tracks.
Jack Arelin 1972, outdoing the Stones dark and slightly psychedelic slide work by a longshot. I guess spite can be a good creative motivator.
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I’ve been hunting all week for a John Phillips album from 1969 apparently cut in Africa a year before he went on to record the Wolf King of L.A. If anyone has it please send it my way! His output after it was mostly unreleased until recently. An album he made with Mick Jagger in the early 70′s is also worth a listen or two.
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and a lesser known song from a musical score he did for a play he created alongside Warhol.
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I’ve been anticipating the new Puro Instinct full length Headbangers In Ecstacy for awhile now. It has a lot of interesting appearances including R. Stevie Moore and Ariel Pink speaking the interludes. Their string of singles have been such a Felt tinged tease over the last year. Not only are they extremely talented but they’re easily some of the best DJ’s around, frequently digging up some of the best hardly heard tracks out there. I’ve been taken back by how well they can run with the obscure russian/private press sounds they continuously uncover. Here’s a new track that just showed up in my inbox, it’s next level addicting:
Puro Instinct – Escape Forever
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I can take or leave some of Strawberry Switchblade’s output. Some of their songs can teeter on saccharine at times but these Jensen sessions from 1982 are some of the finest crafted pop songs from the era. It’s really quite striking how well they mesh with Puro Instincts songs.
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Brett Smiley playing Space Ace at 18 [FF to 1:15] as good as Bowie. Although I kinda prefer the recorded version above-still amazing this footage exists as he basically disappeared in ’74 after his album was mysteriously never released.
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One of the strongest singles of the year so far. They kinda overproduced this song for the album and I prefer this demo version cut a bit before the later recordings. Smiley falesetto with Harrison tinged licks? Sold. (Kind of insane how much they matured on this newer stuff)
Here’s every take Felt ever did of Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow (10 in total). I could listen to this song indefinitely and never tire of it. Each version really has its own charm, here are my two favorites:
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Crabby Appleton was fronted by Michael Fennelly who got his start working alongside Curt Boettcher in the completely essential bands Sagittarius and the Millenium in the late 60′s. He then went on to collaborate with members of the broken up Zombies and finally produced Fleetwood Mac’s first album in 1975 with new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Kind of a one man supergroup especially evidenced in this ridiculous and catchy clip.
If it was up to me Know Phase would simply be FM broadcast and lazily caught on the dial throughout the day. Whether it be a weekly jam that was catching on or some old favorite being played into the ground, there was something about the format of radio that idyllically/idly made sense. What I’m getting at is really the mixtape format will always be my preferred way to find new music. I’d much rather hear a well curated mix than sift through blogo talk post after post trying to describe something that is more succinctly left intangible. These mixtapes have all been on constant rotation since first hearing them and are pretty expertly put together. I’ve uploaded them all to soundclouds, because like any good mixtape it’s nice to be able to skip around. No need to mention that every one of these mixes has been curated entirely by artists who have done their digging to beyond a melodic degree and are well on the way to the same level of achievement in their own projects.
First up is a mix put together by Matt Fishbeck of Holy Shit. A band which you may or may not know but by the end of this year with certainty will know. His last album Stranded at Two Harbors is criminally underrated and will soon be re-released. At the moment he’s most well known for being part of the trio that formed an earlier incarnation of Holy Shit that had Christopher Owens from Girls and Ariel Pink. As far as digging up lost gems goes, he’s second to none. Via Vice, and accompanied by a charming interview with Mr. Fishbeck. Actually, here’s another interview he did last week that is great too.
The next two mixes have no tracklist which makes them even more on broadcast par. Trish’s Mind Bending Motorway Mix is a posthumous mix put together by Trish Keenan of Broadcast who sadly passed away recently of pneumonia. I’ve heard varying opinions on its appropriateness and timing of release but really to hear the sounds that made her happy seems like the perfect way to commemorate her prior work and sonorous sounds she was crafting until the end.
Greatest Hitsmixtape is honestly the best crafted mixtape I’ve heard in quite sometime, but that just might be me being selfish. But really-who else would put together a Nilsson song with some Philamore Lincoln?? (KnowPhase plug, while they’ve dug up some great obscure b-sides, get ready for some otherworldly great d-side mixes here) At a certain point in time I’d dare say that this mix (entirely conceived and mixed on an acid trip) would be pushing some boundaries or even innovative but once you listen to a mid 70′s broadcast from Flo and Eddie you realize those dudes were on another melodic planet that only a few have managed to land on even to this day. Which brings us to the last and totally mindblowinly good mix. Greatest Hits – LSD Karaoke
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Flo & Eddie By The Fireside, August 4, 1974
It seems that every broadcast Flo & Eddie did was a transcendent mixtape with a plethora of the best songs you’ve never heard. Even the songs you have heard are sweetly reduced to just their most addicting fragmented moment; a catchy chorus here, intriguing bridge there, just holding on long enough to satiate but not drag. Really, all mixtapes should aspire to reach the levels of what they’ve put together here. Oh yeah, and Harry Nilsson co-hosts this alongside them. Via Radiolidarity. Music as education from the masters to the musically broken (those who understand):
“Once you’ve heard 30 seconds of your favorite song, you’ve kind of really heard it.“
Different voices for you, different colors for me. With 2011 being the year of Ariel influenced bands coming out of the wood work or changing direction entirely to fit the mold, I’m left being half intrigued by the new sounds being produced but also somewhat feeling like disappearing back into the mix of lost outsider tracks that inspired the sound from the outset. Robert Rental quickly comes to mind as a source of inspiration for these new dark synth wandering artists. His 1980 seven inch Double Heart has been on constant repeat again the past few weeks and I’m sure any fans of Ariel Pink or Outer Limits Recordings would appreciate this track. It’s as danceable as it is slank around a cold flatable, which is quite a feat in itself.
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This track just keeps growing on me with every listen. The reflecting drone and reverbed vocals mirror the video quite elegantly. I also think this track serves as a good interlude for the next mix I have in the works. It’s going to be mostly instrumental and intended to highlight the last golden light of the day. If this song recalls late afternoon then I suppose this complimentary BB track conjures twilight.
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