Saturday 19 February 2011

What the folk is going on?



OK, just a collection of (mostly) obscure folk/folk rock music covering the years 1969-1973. Some elements of prog in 2 or 3 of the tracks, but nothing wrong with prog folk! I was going to do 2 discs, one of English folk bands and one of American/rest of the world... but decided what the hell I'll just try to make it as diverse as possible. And folk is often maligned as men with beards, fingers in the ear, singing songs of the sea or of days gone by etc etc. I hope this mix will tempt anyone who has steered clear of anything folk related to take a listen and hopefully find something to their liking.


01. Fresh Maggots - Rosemary Hill (3:35) from "Fresh Maggots... Hatched" 1971
02. Comus - Diana (4:36) from "First Utterance" 1971
03. Robin Scott - The Sound Of Rain (4:31) from "Woman From The Warm Grass" 1969
04. Mellow Candle - The Poet And The Witch (2:52) from "Swaddling Songs" 1972
05. Subway - All The Good Things (3:57) from "Subway" 1972
06. The Pentangle - Sally Go Round The Roses (3:40) from "Basket Of Light" 1969
07. Karen Dalton - Something On Your Mind (3:23) from "In My Own Time" 1971
08. Ora - Seashore (2:53) from "Ora" 1969
09. Fuchsia - The Nothing Song (8:26) from "Fuchsia" 1971
10. Wizz Jones - Dazzling Stranger (3:05) from "The Legendary Me" 1970
11. Spirogyra - The Future Won't Be Long (4:18) from "St. Radigunds" 1971
12. Judy Henske & Jerry Yester - Raider (5:15) from "Farewell Aldebaran" 1969
13. Alan Hull - United States Of Mind (3:08) from "Pipedream" 1973
14. Gordon Jackson - Song For Freedom (4:52) from "Thinking Back" 1969
15. Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes - Jusqu'a Ce Que La Force De T'aimer Me Manque (2:58) from "Paix" 1972
16. Montreal - What About The Wind? (2:29) from "A Summer's Night" 1970
17. Fraser & DeBolt - David's Tune (3:25) from "Fraser & DeBolt with Ian Guenther" 1971
18. Jade - Mayfly (3:36) from "Fly On Strangewings" 1970
19. Oriental Sunshine - Across Your Life (3:31) from "Dedicated To The Bird We Love" 1970
20. Ithaca - Journey (5:08) from "A Game for All Who Know" 1973






Friday 18 February 2011

King Loser - '76 Come Back Special

21st Century Psychedelia


01. Darker My Love - Wake (1:06) from the album 'Darker My Love' 2005
02. Aqua Nebula Oscillator - Silvermoon (5:14) from the album 'Under The Moon Of...' 2008
03. The Asteroid #4 - Outside (4:10) from the album 'An Amazing Dream' 2006
04. Amazing Baby - The Narwhal (4:19) from the album 'Rewild' 2009
05. Caribou - Eli (3:05) from the album 'Andorra' 2007
06. Spotlight Kid - There's A Reason Why (4:16) from the EP 'Crystal Dreams' 2010
07. Boris With Michio Kurihara - Fuzzy Reactor (3:44) from the album 'Rainbow' 2006
08. The Skygreen Leopards - Hobo Sparrow's Dream (3:03) from the album 'Child God In The Garden Of Idols' 2005
09. Sic Alps - Gelly Roll Gum Drop (3:16) from the album 'U.S. Ez' 2008
10. Dragontears - Masters Of War (5:10) from the album 'Tambourine Freak Machine' 2008
11. The Diamond Center - Dos Fridas (3:50) from the album 'My Only Companion' 2009
12. Moonspeed - Open Gates (3:16) from the EP 'Songs From The Sun' 2006
13. Bipolaroid - Transparent Make-Believe (4:27) from the album 'E(i)ther Or' 2008
14. Strangers Family Band - Strange Transmission (7:03) from the EP 'Strangers Family Band' 2009
15. Lower Heaven - A Frame In Time (5:01) from the album 'Ashes' 2008
16. The Lava Children - The Green Word (5:15) from the EP 'The Lava Children' 2009
17. Juan Trip' - Dirty Party (2:53) from the album 'Consolation' 2006
18. Voice Of The Seven Thunders - Kommune (3:41) from the album 'Voice Of The Seven Thunders' 2010
19. Sula Bassana And The Nasoni Pop Art Experimental Band - Daydreams (5:57) from the album 'Vol. 1' 2006



MP3: Here!



Aqua Nebula Oscillator.
A hefty chunk of Europe's prehistoric rockpainting is found on French cave walls and it has to be *nearly* true that Aqua Nebula Oscillator were raised in those very caves. This is *primitive* acid garage punk. The band sound like a hot woman cave decorated with peacock feathers. Dirty, psychedelic garage sounds with an oscillator set to attack.. like Gonn ('Blackout of Gretely') meets '73 Hawkwind.
Spotlight Kid
On There’s A Reason Why the band takes shoegazing down the psychedelic meets krautrock path with the girl/boy backing vocals used to great effect. This is a great little EP worthy of some of your listening time.
Dragontears
The band used a larger amount of electronics and the eternal quest for hallucinatory experimentation has made the music span a sligthly wider range, transcending musical styles like neofolk, psychedelic, space rock and electronica.
Lower Heaven
Absorbing and reinterpreting influences like My Bloody Valentine, Hawkwind, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the band has been able to defy constraints of genre classification by keeping the song writing, arrangement, instrumentation, and production of their work unconventional and innovative.
Voice Of The Seven Thunders
The tone and temperament of Tomlinson's material has shifted, moving emphasis from ornate psychedelic folk to more assertive, electrified rock variants often verging on fuzz-strewn bluesy ragas. 'Kommune' strides its way through a chunk of rollicking '70s kosmische with a slew of searing leads - something continued with even greater period flair on 'The Burning Mountain', a monstrously good track whose modal wah-wah workouts immediately draw up links to the kind of psych-rock Finders Keepers compilations tend to dig up.

Best of 2010 mix



  1. Voice of the Seven Thunders - Kommune (3:41)
  2. Effi Briest - Rhizomes (5:34)
  3. Darker My Love - 18th Street Shuffle (4:17)
  4. Magic Lantern - Dark Cicadas (7:23)
  5. Faust - Babylon (4:22)
  6. Swans - Jim (6:46)
  7. Electric Orange - Kunstkopf (6:28)
  8. Shonen Knife - Economic Crisis (5:07)
  9. The Fall - Chino (5:20)
10. White Hills - Polvere di Stelle (12:23)


MP3 only: Grab here!




The Moffs - Look To Find



Influenced by bands like Pink Floyd (Piper at the Gates of Dawn in particular), King Crimson, early Yardbirds, the Byrds, the Beatles and various blues & psychedelic abands and artists from the '60's, the Moffs, a Sydney band, were around from 1983 to 1989 and they released a whole lot of vinyl on the Citadel label. Their shows were wonderfully laid back - you could easily sit on the floor with your eyes closed and just groove along to their music, or you could take a whole lot of illicit substances and REALLY get into it. They were surreal, atmospheric and groovy; think of jangly guitars, bass guitar octave runs, Farfisa organs and the occasional bells and chimes.