Sunday, January 23, 2011

Friday, January 21, 2011


Bill Orcutt A New Way To Pay Old Debts (Mego Editions) CD

Oh my golly. I finally understand. Though I must admit it took me a few months to really get my head around the ragged collection that comprises A New Way to Pay Old Debts. I'm not exactly sure why that is. This blues has precursors in everything from Django Reinhardt, King Crimson, John Fahey and Rick Bishop on back to the Mississippi Delta and all the way back to the primordial dawn.

Orcutt made a gnarly racket screeching and grinding as guitarist/vocalist in Hairy Pussy during most of the 90s, a Florida noise band whose mission was primarily to aggravate and polarize audience members. Since those days, he's spent the time cultivating a particularly unique, and very visceral primitive blues jazz whats-it string pickin' approach. No words can really capture the spontaneous blurting eruptions of what's going on here. The line between composition and improvisation feels all but erased. Orcutt's blues is off-balance and contorted, delivered like a lightning-fast boxing combination more than performed. It's rough around the ages, frayed and tattered like I think only real blues can be. It ain't yo daddy's white-boy-got-da-blues-so-he-gonna-make-dem-strings-cry-like-a-river blues. This is closer to the fury at the tornado's edge --unrelenting and gripped by real pain but also wrapped in a blanket of transcendent need. What Orcutt does song after song here is nothing short of a miracle. Deeply inspiring, weird fucking shit called the blues.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sun City Girls on Lebanese TV



Well this is amazing.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

DOWNLOADS DOWNLOADS DOWNLOADS!

Who finds the time, right? Blast you Internet and all your infinite data retrieval possibilities. I guess one just need manage his time a bit more wisely these days, eh?


Here are some Rolling Stones Live Boots from '71 - '73 posted last Summer by our old friend Evan at The Real Nitty Gritty, where, clearly, it is all happening. They soundboard quality -- Mick, Keef, Mick, Bill and Charlie keepin' it loud and tight with a little help from their friends. There's even a cpl Texas gigs up there. Sweet.


Tokyo Flashback Vol.'s 1 -7 and more were posted a while back over at We Have No Zen and they're still good. In the early to mid '90s, long before the age of Rapidshare and Informational Social Networking, such albums were more whispered about than heard, and now they lie in wait, ready for your perusal. Secret sonic history at your anxious fingertips. Buy 'em if you like 'em.

Friday, January 14, 2011



Without a doubt one of the most unique and heartfelt vocalists in experimental pop today. If you haven't heard Broadcast, please do so.


And this: Anyone remotely familiar with Keenan's work in Broadcast knows she was as much a student and fan of esoteric art pop as she was a purveyor, which makes the following all the more worth noting:

(via Facebook)

Further to Trish Keenan's passing: a friend of Joe Muggs has passed this on so I'm spreading the word -- quoting his friend: "Before she went to Australia Trish sent me a mix CD of bonkers pop music she compiled, I never thanked her. Its called Mind Bending Motorway Mix and I want to share it with you, please pass the link on, share it far and wide, its a little tribute to a (as a friend referred to....


Monday, January 10, 2011

Glad I finally got around to reading this...

"What is this film about? It's about a man. No, not the particular man whose voice we hear from behind the screen...' It's a film about you, your father, your grandfather, someone who will live after you and who is still "you". About a man who lives on the earth, is a part of the earth and the earth is a part of him, about the fact that a man is unanswerable for his life both to the past and to the future. You have to watch this film simply, and listen to the music of Bach and the poems of Arseniy Tarkovsky; watch it as one watches the stars, or the sea, as one admires a landscape. There is no mathematical logic here, for it cannot explain what man is or what is the meaning of his life."

Thursday, January 06, 2011

I know you guys love Ubuweb, right? Aside from the wealth of information to be found there, there are amazing rare/obscure video clips of many an experimental filmmaker and musician, including this one by the never before seen (by me) Taj Mahal Travelers.


Also be sure and zone out to the Zoom Quilt. Open that sucker in a browser and throw on some Outside the Dream Syndicate (or whatever) and see where it takes you.


Furthermore, bit interested in checking out The Heart is a Drum Machine, which Steven Drozd did the soundtrack for. Pitchfork has more info, including an MP3 of a track from the album. Don't you want to hear what Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman think about modern psychedelia and electronic composition? I do! ;-)

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Sun Circle Lessness (Arbor) 2LP

Sun Circle is the duo of Greg Davis and Zach Wallis. Their work under the Sun Circle name is steeped in the minimalism of the New York loft scene of the 60s and more recently Pelt and Davis's own solo work. The results are ultra stripped down one note sidelong workouts, each named for the instrument employed -- Opener "Drums," two tracks called "Tambouras" and closer "Gongs." As expected, the tambouras offer the most density -- 1 a monstrous one note raga trance, 2 offering a tad more variation with similarly hypnotic results. The closing "Gongs" offers perhaps a more solemn kind of hypnosis across nearly 15 mins of deep inner/outer space mind probing. Ideal for meditation and staring at fixed objects continuously. Sun Cicle - putting the New back in New Age.