I decided to assemble a top metal list of 2011 too, if for no other reason so I can praise the greatness of Locrian's latest album. I dug a lot of things on the heavier side in 2011 but wasn't sure how to classify them on the other lists, so here we go. Probably the most interesting metal/noise band for me this year was Horseback, but they (he) didn't release a full length, unless you count the excellent Gorgon Tongue 2CD (Relapse), which combines two releases from 2007 and 2010.

Top Metal of 2011

10. Leviathan True Traitor, True Whore (Profound Lore) CD - Wrest works out his domestic angst with another screaming blitzkrieg of blackened prog thrash hate. Sounds like the last Leviathan record -- that is to say it kicks ass muchly.

9. Liturgy Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey) CD - The most polarizing metal album of 2011. In spots Liturgy is a pretty average black metal band that I can take or leave, but when they turn up the mathy post Zeppelin time signatures and let 'em rip for 7 minutes without interruption (as they do on "Generation"), I'm down for the count.

8. Aluk Todolo Ordre (The Ajna Offensive) CD - Their metal origins are barely perceptible by this point. Equal parts psychedelia, metal, industrial and beyond across two epic dirges.

7. Krallice Diotima (Profound Lore) Cd - Something of a black metal super-group with connections to lots of classy NYC metal and noise acts (Behold...The Arctopus, Orthrelm, Flying Luttenbachers, etc). Diotima is black metal to its core, but progressive (and weird) enough to transcend the genre entirely.

6. Cultus Sabbati Descent Into The Maelstrom (Land Of Decay) CS - Definitely one of the most original black metal releases dropped in 2011. See here.

5. Der Blutharsch and the Infinite Church of the Leading Hand + Aluk Todolo Untitled (WKN) CD - Creeping, crawling industrial fuzz splay meets a haunted hall of mirrors.

4. Wolves In The Throne Room Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord) CD - They still matter, and this is probably their best record yet.

3. Yob Atma (Profound Lore) CD - Doom quotient fulfilled.

2. Locrian The Clearing (Fan Death) LP - A fine followup to the excellent Crystal World that combines ambient textures and full on doom sludge with the occasional black metal squall. Slow and grim, but narcotically alluring thanks to its massed layers of textured distortion. And lest we forget, their excellent cover of Popol Vuh's Dort Ist Der Weg that dropped over the Summer.

1. Blut Aus Nord 777: The Desanctification (Season Of Mist) CD - Of the two Blut Aus Nord records released in 2011, this one is less likely to make you want to kill yourself. Actually it's a moody psychedelic groover that holds sway from beginning to end while rarely kicking up faster than mid-tempo. The Desanctification is pretty mellow for Blut Aus Nord but never boring.

Check Out These Amazing Movie Posters From An Alternative World | nerdbastards.com

This is awesome.

Top Pop of 2011

(with all due respect to Fleet Foxes and P.J. Harvey)

25. Destroyer Kaputt (Merge) CD - A narcotic light art pop blend from Dan Bejar and company in which all vestiges of David Bowie worship have been stripped in favor of a lazy guitar and synth (and sax!) shuffle that lands somewhere between prime Luna and classic Steely Dan.

24. Matt Valentine What I Became (Woodsist) LP - See here.

23. Coppertone Best Of The First Six Months (Night People) CS - 2010 release, but who cares? See here.

22. Ford & Lopatin Channel Pressure (Software) LP - While Daniel Lopatin's other project hogs all the critical spotlight, his synth art pop duo with Joel Ford is where the real gold is found in '11. Heavily indebted to "the '80s," but to call this mere pastiche would do a disservice to its otherworldly electro-pop rhapsodies.

21. Arborea Red Planet (Strange Attractors) LP - See here.

20. Miminokoto Hitoyogiri (Important) CD - Lumbering garage psych workouts that are a little bit doom, a lotta bit PSF guitar psych and all awesome, bursting with eruption after eruption of fuzz catharsis in every song.

19. Six Organs Of Admittance Maria Kapel (Pavilion) LP - This limited vinyl self-release sold out in the blink of an eye, but don't let that stop you from seeking out its devotional string and harmonium meditations. Beautiful aural succor that's ideal for laying down in The Light.

18. U.S. Girls U.S. Girls On Kraak (Kraak) CD - Grimy, infectious art pop noise racket from Megan Remy with her amazing vocal melodies up front, loud and proud.

17. Real Estate Days (Domino) CD - Matt Mondanile's (Ducktails) other band delivers a wonderfully breezy guitar pop album which offers a worthy alternative to the bloated excesses of, say, The Arcade Fire (who I just can't stand). File alongside Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo, The Clean.

16. TV Ghost Mass Dream (In The Red) LP - See here.

15. Ralph White The Hanged Man (Sloowtapes) CS - Sneaking in just under the wire, Austin's Ralph White continues to mine bluegrass country gold with his ornamental tapestries of guitar, banjo, fiddle, vibes, voice winding and whirling their way through the backwoods of the human soul.

14. Sic Alps Napa Asylum (Drag City) CD - Another grungy slab of stumbling art punk/garage psych from these Frisco weirdos that continues their carefully choreographed trip through ramshackle post Royal Trux psychedelic revelry.

13. Wooden Wand & The Briarwood Virgins Briarwood (Fire/Mad Monk) LP - An abrupt shift from the more stripped down acoustic Death Seat, but I'm all for movin' on. Briarwood is rife with loud full band arrangements and hooks galore and delivers another bold step from the indie margins into that big shiny spotlight that is rock 'n' roll.

12. Renderers A Rocket Into Nothing (Ba Da Bing!) CD - Another stellar noir country bad trip from these legendary New Zealanders (currently occupying the USA, along with the rest of the 99%) and their strongest record in well over a decade. Moody, stark seasick melodies with Brian Crook's distorted grime billowing up like dark clouds and engulfing Maryrose's world weary croon to dramatic effect. Fantastic.

11. Skull Defekts Peer Amid (Thrill Jockey) 2LP - To call this pop might be a stretch, but I loved it all the same. See here.

10. Hot Knives Hot Knives (Grown Up Wrong) CD - Flamin' Groovies freaks will love this killer dish of folky power pop circa 1976, which makes for a fine companion piece to the Groovies' classic Shake Some Action but stands proudly on its own two feet thanks to a healthy injection of West Coast sunshine (they cover Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma" here). The lineup features two original 'Groovies (Danny Mihm and Tim Lynch) along with siblings Mike and Deborah Houpt. Unreleased till now.

9. Peaking Lights 936 (Not Not Fun) LP - See here.

8. Jerusalem and the Starbaskets Dost (De Stijl) LP - See here.

7. Willam Tyler Behold The Spirit (Tompkin's Square) CD - There are dozens of quality guitarists occupying the post-Fahey realm today, but Tyler sets himself apart with an album that's at once emotionally resonant and masterfully performed across rolling symphonic constructions (accented at times with violins drums, bass, synth and tapes) that defy simple rock-geek description. Timeless melodies with undeniable nods to UK greats like John Renbourn and Bert Jansch mixed in with the more recognizable American counterparts make it a genuine treat to these ears.

6. Dan Melchior Assemblage Blues (Siltbreeze) LP - Awesome psych garage blues weirdness from the Mighty Mr. Melchior. I'm not sure how to describe this other than damn fun and highly addictive. Or in Dan's words: "It's so good, it's so good. It's so good, it's so good. It's so good..."

5. D. Charles Speer & The Helix Leaving The Commonwealth (Thrill Jockey) LP - See here.

4. The Bats Free All The Monsters (Flying Nun) CD - One more timeless classic of jingle jangle brilliance from Robert Scott and his Bats. Essential is an understatement.

3. Metal Mountains Metal Mountains (Amish) CD - See here.

2. Charalambides Exile (Kranky) 2LP - Maybe the finest Charalambides record of them all, definitely the most heartfelt and immediate since Market Square. Christina's vocals dig deep while both Carter's pick and strum some of their most memorable guitar lines to date. "Into The Earth" is as close to soul therapy as a song can get.

1. Alvarius B Baroque Primitiva (Abduction) CD - See here.

2011 Year Ending

I was impressed by so much music in '11 that I decided to have two lists of favorites: one for what I'm loosely calling noise (experimental composition, free/improv, etc.) and one for pop (pretty much everything else). In rock terms this was the year of Sacred Bones. If you didn't hear the new Religious Knives, Amen Dunes, The Men or The Human Eye albums you missed out on some prime underground psych dishes. It was also the year of John Fahey, thanks to the release of a boxset chronicling his Fontana years, Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You on Dust-To-Digital.

For me personally more out there records took center stage. Bill Kouligas's Pan label out of Berlin continued to push aural envelopes and defy expectations with an astounding series of beautifully presented abstract noise releases. And Jon Abbey's Erstwhile label continued to mine its own unique niche in the harder to classify regions of the electronic subsphere.

In pop terms it's nice to see an official version of the original Smile finally hitting the shelves, though I don't know if I can see myself spending the big bucks for the boxset. The 2CD expanded version on the other hand... Also totallydigging the 2CD reissue of Some Girls. Nice to know some things don't need to change. You can have your Black Keys. I'm stickin' with my 'Stones. First up:

Top Noise of 2011

25. Jürgen Müller Science of the Sea (Digitalis) LP - The mysterious album, with an in depth back story that may or may not be true, invokes memories of classic electronic library records, New Age synth concept albums and the wonder of childhood (for some of us). Tom Ewing's excellent article for his Poptimist column goes into greater detail and explores the creative possibilities of imaginary musical personas.

24. Angus Maclise / Tony Conrad Dreamweapon III (Boo-Hooray) LP - Clattering proto No Wave and scorched earth minimalism released concurrently with the Angus Maclise's Dreamweapon exhibition in New York City, features some incendiary spoken word from Jack Smith on top of Maclise and Conrad's screeching psychedelic sprawl. Your Death Cab For Cutie loving bestie will hate it.

23. Sir Richard Bishop Graviton Polarity Generator (Social Music Records) LP - Though a late 2010 release, I didn't hear this till well into '11. Bishop explores electronic compositions outside his typical instrumental sphere with entrancing results.

22. Aaron Dilloway Lip Syncing To Verme (Hundibuss) LP - See here.

21. High Wolf Atlas Nation (Holy Mountain) CD - The most satisfying collision of electronics and Indian raga trances from this French composer to date.

20. Ricardo Donoso Progress Chance (Digitalis) LP - Sparse minimal compositions that come off like a cross between early techno and the soundtrack for a PBS science documentary circa 1980.

19. Rick Reed The Way Things Go (Elevator Bath) 2LP - Six stunning extended electronic pieces from one of Austin's finest.

18. Valerio Tricoli / Thomas Ankersmit Forma II (Pan) CD - See here.

17. John Wiese Seven Of Wounds (Pan) CD - Hypnotic meld of power electronics and modern composition from one of the best weird noise guys making a racket today.

16. Bill Orcutt The Way The Thing Songs (Editions Mego) CD - More spastic guitar blurts, blasts and moans from Master Orcutt. Tormented string meditations that sound like nothing you've ever heard before (except maybe his last record).

15. Ben Vida / Keith Fullerton Whitman - AGGREGATEPULSERIPPER (DAMAGED III) / 0808114 (Amish) LP - Two live performances by each artist on synth, computers and effects, both delivering fierce, rhythmic electronic workouts that sputter and grind their way through sequencer oblivion right into the frontal lobe.

15. Volcano The Bear Hotbites Live At The Nightlight (Blastocoel Sound) LP - See here.

14. Chris Forsyth Paranoid Cat (Family Vineyard) LP - See here.

13. Jim O'Rourke Old News No. 6 (Mego Editions) 2LP - My pick for the most interesting release bearing O'Rourke's name this year (and given there was roughly 6 such albums, that's saying something), incorporating guitars, electronics and tape manipulations into four sides of absorbing Music Concrète.

12. Jérôme Noetinger / Will Guthrie Face Off (Erstwhile) CD - Twelve workouts combining Noetinger's electronics with Guthrie's everything (and the kitchen sink) homemade percussion to create living sound worlds of jarring juxtapositions, found sounds and a wide array of electro-percussive strangeness. It's all meticulously assembled in such a way that belies its compositonal origins. Then again maybe they edited it down from extended improvisations the way Can used to do it. Whichever, consider my mind blown.

11. Loren Connors Red Mars (Family Vineyard) CD - Stark, droning guitar-scapes somewhere between classic early minimalism and lost in the haze ghost blues.

9. Greg Kelley / Olivia Block Resolution (Erstwhile) CD - Another brilliant duo chance meeting from the always dependable Erstwhile finds Block's Electroacoustic compositions merging with Kelley's minimal trumpet to conjure a sustained sense of dramatic tension and release. These pieces build from collages of rumbling ambient textures to full on jazz eruptions and well beyond.

8. Tim Hecker Ravedeath 1972 (Kranky) CD - See here.

7. Jason Lescalleet This Is What I Do: Volume 1 (Glistening Examples) CD-R - Fantastic collection of material that showcases Lescalleet's reel-to-reel and early electronics performances in the live setting.

6. Ashtray Navigations Deadicated to the Sensory Armada (Memoirs of an Aesthete) LP - Most recent missive from Phil Todd's free psych whats-it unit sees his combo bringing in more synths and sequencers into their hallucinatory feedback sprawl.

5. Joe Panzner Clearing, Polluted (Copy For Your Records) CD - Abrasive noise compositions from one half of Scenic Railroads covering a wide range of volumes and emotions as Panzner goes from screaming white noise to the most transportive minimal trances and back again. Not for the faint of heart, but well worth the trip for those up to it.

4. BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa Big Shadow Montana (Helen Scarsdale) LP - See here.

3. Mind Over Mirrors The Voice Rolling (Digitalis) LP - See here.

2. Michael Pisaro / Greg Stuart Hearing Metal 3 (Gravity Wave) CD - Another masterful minimal excursion from Pisaro and Stuart marrying electronics and percussion into one sublime composition that's as transcendent and accessible as anything I heard in 2011.

1. Graham Lambkin Amateur Doubles (Kye) LP - An engaging slab of syrupy sound art recorded in Lambkin's car, which isn't hard to believe when you wrap your ears around its busy ambient life-scapes -- voices in everyday conversation, wind blowing, traffic sounds, highway noise and more. Lambkin combines this with two different extended tracks of source material, his own odd tonal textures and instruments to conjure a dramatic sound journey that combines the mundane and the transcendent into compositions that deliver every second of its 38 minutes.

Arcane Rifles Green Eyes Will Save You 7" EP (Self Release)

Here's a raging blast of pure garage mayhem from a Lexington unit which boldly rides the line between screaming off the rails psych punk and a Kentucky tornado. Dead Boys, Stooges and early Red Krayola can be heard in the pummeling squall which comprises both sides of Green Eyes Will Save You, and I can't really pick a fave as they both kick my ass. Highly recommended for real rawkers everywhere, procurable via digital download or vinyl 7" at their Bandcamp page.

RIP Ken Russell, visionary director of "The Devils" and "Altered States." "Altered States" is the first movie that freaked me the fuck out as a young impressionable pre-tween. "Dawn of The Dead" was the second.

Ken Russell, Controversial Director, Dies at 84 - NYTimes.com

Fossils / Darksmith Million Year Spree (Kye Records) LP

This recent split from Graham Lambkin's Kye label brings together two of the more interesting dark-weird-noise projects of recent times onto one platter of found sound scrape and drone. With literally dozens of releases under its belt, Hamilton, Ontario's Fossils specialize in a handmade abstract noise that creeps and crawls its way into the listening space like a viral contamination. I'm thinking very early Sandoz Lab Technicians gone trash ambient or the Shadow Ring at their most minimal; but where both those ensembles are more concerned with structure vs. anti-structure, Fossils is all about jagged textures and surging post-industrial landscapes, or perhaps more accurately, pre-human landscapes.

The source of all these strange sounds is questionable at best, but that's part of the fun. Wind blows and distortion crackles throughout "Wider Knowledge of Man I-III" as post-industrial rhythms clank and groan beneath a surging tone that sounds like some sort of archaic engine revving to infinity. Things get more sinister with the subterranean excavations of "Snared On Broadway," which opens as a piercing high pitched whine that slowly dissipates to an inevitable drone death. It's the best thing found here, though too short. Graham Lambkin mixed both tracks, and his fingerprints are evident to anyone who's spent some time with his work with Jason Lescalleet or his recent solo outings.

The Darksmith side is a good bit subdued compared to the excellent Total Vacuum, which dropped on Hanson last year, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Its tense sheen of low murmurs and metallic scree invokes the quieter side of The New Blockaders one moment, the ambient bass hums of an interstellar trash compactor nestled away in the deepest reaches of space the next. It's less intense than what I've come to expect from Tom Darksmith but no less dramatic and requires maximum volume for proper sonic submersion. Mastered by Jason Lescalleet and highly recommended for fans of the rougher side of electro-acoustic sound art.

"Million Year Spree" Side A / Side B (excerpts)

More Minis

Matt Valentine What I Became (Woodsist) LP - Dropping roughly around the same time as MV & EE's Country Stash, What I Became is MV's first solo album in seven years, which makes it long overdo with its bearded mystic sitting atop the Holy Green Mountain vibes, but far be it from me to complain. MV continues his fascinations with pan-ethnic trance states, bong smoke and Philip K. Dick dissections across six tracks of hazed out mountain psych folk.

Matt Valentine - PK Dick

Jim O'Rourke Old News No. 5 (Mego Editions) 2LP - Sprawling in more ways than one, ONN5 actually spans 20 years of Jim O.'s recorded output with two tracks from the early '90s and two from the last couple years seamlessly merged together to tell a continuous aural narrative. Employing analog synth and tape works across sidelong pieces of deeply immersive sound sculpture, these pieces run the gamut from cycling corrosive drone workouts to fluctuating trance synth lines with a multitude of chiming, clicking points dropped in between. Not to be missed.

Jim O'Rourke / Christoph Heemann Plastic Palace People Vol. 1 / Plastic Palace People Vol. 2 (both Streamline) both CD - Two fine platters of minimal duo work from these masters of avant-garde shadow drone. These two releases feature pieces that are nearly 20 years old but tweaked and mixed more recently. Specifically for Heemann, they offer a snapshot glimpse at his progression from the cut-up/industrial work of HNAS to the more minimal environmental drone work he mastered in Mirror (also featuring O'Rourke at times). O'Rourke was newer on the experimental scene at the time, but there's no denying the kinship both exhibit across these evocative drone pieces. Vol. 1 has a more mechanized Surrealist NWW/HNAS feel. Vol. 2 features one extended track that proves equally compelling while throwing tribal percussive pulse on top of the expected blissed out hums and whirrs. It's probably my pick of the bunch, or at least the more inviting of the two.

Jim O'Rourke & Chrisoph Heeman - Plastic People Part 2

Call Back the Giants The Rising (Kye) LP - Wonderfully odd collection of minimal synthscapes and detailed scifi dream composition from Tim Goss (The Shadow Ring), gathering influences from all over the sonic map (early ambient Eno, a dash of Suicide, Heldon and early industrial) to arrive at something that's at once (mostly) seductive but still suitably weird.

Call Back The Giants - The Rising/The Lizard

Concern Truth & Distance (Digitalis/Latrogenesis) CD - Another fine slice of ambient drift from the Digi-folk, courtesy of Gordon Ashworth, brother of Owen (Casiotone for the Painfully Alone); starts with a quiet celestial hum and breaks right on through to the stellar plane on the 17 min title track, a monumental head cleaner. The next two shorter tracks provide more rousing pathos and enveloping shimmer to drift off to.

Concern - Heartsink

Wet Hair In Vogue Spirit (De Stijl) LP - Wet Hair inhabits a vintage sonic space with In Vogue Spirit, evoking classic Neu, Silver Apples and Spacmen 3 across 8 tracks of blissful motorik psych pop. This is their first LP for the always dependable De Stijl, and finest long player to date by my count. Bubbling, pulsating trance rock from top to bottom.

Wet Hair - Echo Lady

Gunn-Truscinski Duo Sand City (Three Lobed) LP - Gotta love Steve Gunn. Gotta love the Gunn-Truscinski Duo which is Gunn on acoustic raga blues guitar and John Truscinski on percussion. Here they weave spectral raga spells in the vein of John Fahey, Sandy Bull, Six Organs of Admittance and the late, great Jack Rose to glorious effect across 4 tracks of jangling, hypnotic bliss that brings light into the dark space and ultimately leaves the body behind. Highly recommended for this sort of thing.

Factums Guilding The Lilies (Night People) C45 - Fine collection of early Factums musical weirdness ranging from bedroom art noise experiments to rinky dink new wave and third eye tickling pseudo raga jams. I'm into it.

Cultus Sabbati Decent Into The Maelstrom (Land of Decay) C30 - The place where ambient black metal and doom meet free noise. Cultus Sabbati do not perform as much as document dark rituals, or something to that effect. Whatever the case, this 6 track grim noise fest is one of the more original documents that's come across my desktop of late and is assured to put the deep listener into a despondent hallucinatory haze.

Skullflower Fucked On a Pile of Dead Bones (Cold Spring) CD - Took me a bit, but I cannot deny the fury of the destroyed harsh noise/black metal hybrid found here. Rudimentary riffs and percussion beneath screaming distortion squalls recast as tribal trance states. Face-melting hate grind so far over the top if's not even funny (yet, it is). At lower levels these "songs" become something other than sheer noise terror -- oceanic ambient skree, let's say.

Amen Dunes Through Donkey Jaw (Sacred Bones) LP - Feels like the second coming of Syd Barrett fronting the Velvet Underground instead of that other band. Dreamy, broken, lost, sad, harmonic voyages for the affectionately disillusioned. Destroyed torch songs for sad drifters and stoned bedroom dwellers alike.

Amen Dunes - Sunday

Various Gaman: A Ceremony For Japan (Electric Temple) 2CS - Very happy to see this benefit comp finally materialize. I know ET ran into some production issues, and I'd all but forgotten about it before finding it in my box a cpl weeks ago. The last time I was this bowled over by a various artists collection might just be the first time I chanced upon the Succour comp, released by The Ptolemaic Terrascope some 15 years ago. Gaman is an epic set, two full albums of material that easily represents some of the most important music in the psych underground today (Steve R. Smith, Glenn Jones -- here tackling Fahey's "Portland Cement Factory," Sic Alps, Amen Dunes, Hive Mind, Lorren Conners, Zelienople, etc) and newer but no less exciting folks like Angel Olson, doing the ghost of Townes Van Zandt proud with her rendition of "She Came And She Touched Me," Forma, Animal Hospital, Derek Rogers and the woefully under-heard Phantom Family Halo. Even Pete Stampfel of the Holy Modal Rounders gets in on the beauty with a fingerpicking bluegrass oddity, "Castor and Pollux," performed in duo with Eli Smith. The rest of the tracks run the gamut from dusted ambient folk drift to bleary eyed free jazz, PSF- like mellow guitar psych, Komische electronics, holy organ meditations and much, much more. A heartfelt sonic message of healing and love, beautifully packaged, and delivered right on time. I hope there's a second pressing on down the line. Though the tapes are sold out, you can still purchase the digital version at Bandcamp.

Coppertone Best of the First Six Months (Night People) C32 - This is the kind of tape that comes out of nowhere and burns its way into the gray matter for longer than a minute. An otherworldly hybrid of synth pop/cold wave, early industrial, homespun art pop with distorted fem vocals that sound piped in from an alternate dimension ruled by gleaming robot Goddesses of the ethereal night. Delightfully warped and engaging.

Coppertone - Every Night Club

Locrian "Dort Ist Der Wig" / "Frozen In Ash" (Flingco Sound System) 7" - Stellar single featuring a humdinger of a Popol Vuh cover (taken from their heaviest album, Letzte Tage - Letze Näcthe) recast as a blistering hybrid of Spiderland era Slint and early Flying Saucer Attack distorted squall. The guitar dynamics on this one remind me of Wire circa 154 in a wonderful way. The flip is an inspired black metal wind storm with tortured vocal howls that give way to some beautiful Paganist acoustic guitars. Wonder what Florian Fricke would think of all this?

Locrian - Dort Ist Der Weg

Blasted Canyons Blasted Canyons (Castle Face) LP - More ginchy San Fran garage syke via John Dwyar's (The Oh Sees) label featuring a former member of Bare Wires (and other folks I don't know), harnessing a mighty thunder across these 13 high energy fuzz punk onslaughts. As we all know, Hawkwind really did invent space punk. Bands like Blasted Canyons provide the next evolutionary step up the cosmic ladder. Destroyed yet infectious psych anthems for the tomorrow people.

Blasted Canyons - Death And a Half

May you live in interesting times, as the old proverb says. The Occupy Wall Street movement and all the other occupations happening throughout the States qualify as interesting. I don't know what will come of it all, but this graphic -- nabbed from a Facebook wall -- suggests things are way out of whack, assuming it's even remotely accurate. Who knows? I'm usually not one for taking political positions, but I always pay attention to what's going ahn. For more on the game changing implications of this movement and why things may never be the same again, check out this article by Douglas Rushkoff, a one time member of Psychic TV(!) and media theorist. Also amused by all the Youtube clips of various media outlets' coverage and attempts at ridiculing the movement.

(furthermore)

Deeply saddened by the passing of Scottish string bender Bert Jansch, one of the most laid back and understated of all the great guitar gods. Jansch was simply a giant of folk, blues and jazz and pretty much defined the British folk rock sound as a solo performer, in duo with John Renbourn, and finally in his incredible group Pentangle, an intricate, soulful mix of all of the above that released a string of highly influential albums in the late '60s and '70s such as Cruel Sister, Pentangle and Basket of Light (the first one I ever heard). For a supposed folk rock band, Pentangle was always so much more. Solo Jansch blazed a trail that stretched from 1965 to 2006 and proved equally inspirational. Some clips:



Here's a tasty clip of Jansch (with a glimpse of Mike Nesmith) during the sessions for L.A. Turnaround

And a fond farewell to the great square jawed Charles Napier (of Russ Meyer films and well beyond), Steve Jobs and Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth.

Finally caught up with Breaking Bad, and loving it. Walter White enjoys the unique position of being the shows protagonist and antagonist. In each passing season he becomes increasingly harder to like or care about, but there are other rad characters (Hank, Jesse, Gus) to latch onto and keep us guessing. Walt is what we're all afraid of becoming in our rise to the top, and what some of us became long ago. I'm glad there's one more season left. I also recommend the movie Drive, which is kind of a cross between Michael Mann's Thief and Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop with gorgeous night shots of LA, a bare bones narrative and excellent score that combines Angela Badalamente's dreamy synthtopia with memorable synth pop gems that came out today but sound like some sort of alternate version of the 80s where everything was cooler and had more depth (even if it didn't). It's a throw back that's actually something of a step forward. Killer supporting work from Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston, Gosling's all steel and ice as the quiet driver. Carey Mulligan literally glides through the frame as the unconventional love interest. Keep it practical, Keep it to the point. Director Nicolas Winding Refn is one to watch.

Wombcast 1: Oh Lord Please Let It Rain...

Oh Lord Please Let It Rain... is what I hope will become a regular thing here at Womblife (if everybody else can do it, so can I!): Wombcasts are mixes of songs and pieces I like lately strung together like pearls on a string to tell a sort of audio prose poem story about whatever and whenever. In this case, a rumination on the weird burning times we're living in (mostly) inspired by fire, water and Texas.

Right click individual tracks to download.

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - The Dust Blows Forward 'N The Dust Blows Back

Jackson C. Frank - Blues Run The Game

Primitive Motion - Amplify This Thought

Jürgen Müller - Wasserwelt [Waterworld]

Alastair Galbraith - Poem For Moondog

Alastair Galbraith - Money Is So Sad

Giant Sand - El Paso / Out On The Weekend

Blaze Foley - Clay Pigeons

Amen Dunes - Bedroom Drum

Cultus Sabbati - Beneath The Waves

Aaron Dilloway - A3 Untitled

Factums - Another Place

Sir Douglas Quintet - Oh Lord Please Let It Rain In Texas

*earphones recommended if listening on crappy laptop speakers.

Mini Reviews Pt. 3

The Men Leave Home (Sacred Bones) CD - Latest from this Brooklyn 4 piece offers up squealing old school noise punk with an anthemic edge riding stomping bass/drums and wiry post punk guitars, buried in so much angular riffage you'll never guess what the hell their singing about, though the first track appears to be a mantra of the words "Die, I don't wanna die" over a hypnotic psych punk squall like a garage Hawkwind (or Spacemen 3). Speaking of which,"()" is almost a destroyed cover of "Revolution". Hear The Men live on WFMU here.

Birds of Maya Ready to Howl (Richie Records) 2LP - Mike Polizze's (Purling Hiss) other band, so you might know what to expect: less pop and more PSF garage snarl across three tracks (one short, two long) that open on a semi-controlled note and dissolve into white noise oblivion. Scuzzy, vintage, fuzz drenched Stooges worship cracked over the head with a bottle and bleeding out all over the puke green shag carpet.

Art Yard "The Law" B/W "Something In Your Eyes" (Ride The Snake) 7" - Sweet single of two cuts originally dropped on a Propeller Product comp cassette way back in 1981, offers up a convincing blueprint for what would become the classic Matador Records sound or identified as Paisley Pop soon after. Somewhere between Mission of Burma and early Teenage Fanclub. Very tasty.

White Hills Live On WFMU (Who Can You Trust?) CS - Oh hell yarss, Live... is a fine live set by Brooklin's White Hills recorded for the legendary WFMU. Features choice cuts from Heads on Fire and the excellent self-titled LP, among others. Nodded heavy jamming and deep space Hawkwind worship, plus a fine little interview too! Live... shows us a psych power trio operating at full capacity, course set for the heart of the nearest sun.

Gnod Ingnodwetrust (Rocket) LP - Fresh off their dandy 2LP collaboration with White Hills, England's mighty Gnod returns with this amazing two track psych rawk opus that's as fun to look at as it is to freak to. Strobe lit pulsating grooves, stomping heavy psych freakouts, post Loop guitar trances, from the void vocal howls and socio-religious commentary all compressed into a tight green ball and stuffed into the bong of God (Gnod), and that's just the first track. Serious contender for psych freakout of the year. Pressed on cocaine white wax.

Eternal Tapestry & Sun Araw The Night Gallery (Thrill Jockey) LP - Brilliant meeting of the heads across four tracks of spontaneous smoke and dust looks to be the single most important collaborative psych record since Tom Carter set foot into The Lemur House to record 4/23/04.

Boris Attention Please / Heavy Rocks (2011) (Sargent House) both CD - Two new blasts from these former monsters of doom. No doubt, some heads feel betrayed by Boris's development in the last few years, but I'm not one of 'em. Attention Please offers a decent mix of shoegaze, high velocity electro rock and J-Pop (that's Japanese Pop), which makes it perhaps the farthest outside the realm of expectation so far, though a couple of the dreamier tracks on Smile hinted in this direction. Guitar Goddess Wata handles most vocal duties; the mood is bubbling and kind'a mellow. WTF!

Heavy Rocks (not to be confused with Heavy Rocks 2002) is more in line with what you'd expect from the groop, perhaps closest in spirit to Rainbow (w/ Michio Kurihara, playing on half the tracks here), split down the middle between up-tempo metallic crunchers and more spacious, erm, heavy jams. Heavy Rocks if you will. Not essential but not crap.

Li Jianhong Classic of the Mountains and Seas (PSF) CD - Outstanding solo guitar work from China's Li Jianhong comprised of blistering smokestacks of distorted howls and endless acid leads that sound like a chance meeting between Keiji Haino and Roy Montgomery. Transcendent and visceral as all get out.

Horseback / Locrian New Dominions (Utech) LP - Lovely/grim collaborative LP from the mighty Chicago noise ambient trippers Locrian and the equally monolothic Horseback, split down the middle between defeated black metal/drone hybrid and stoic apocalypse doom mantra.

Wire Red Barked Tree (Pinkflag) CD - The long playing follow-up to Object 47 sees these art punk legends coming full circle and returning to the oblique perfection of their most vital period (Chairs Missing, 154). Further down the road and not as rabid as their classics, but still compellingly recorded, alternately snotty, brash, ethereal and completely worth my time.

Tidbits

David Tibet Interviewed on the Thelema Now! Podcast

Old news but still Worthy of Womblife Recognition:

Vegan Black Metal Chef!

Episode 1 - Pad Thai

Episode 2 - Easy Meal Ideas of The Ages

And finally a fond farewell and best wishes to my dear friend and soul brother, Travis Johnson, who will be leaving Dallas for the sinewy byways of The Crescent City in two short days. I'll be visiting occasionally come Hell or High Water, rest assured. Much love, and may the waters of good fortune rain upon thee, my friend.

Mini Reviews Pt. 2

Earth Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I (Southern Lord) 2LP - The first of two proposed Earth albums in '11 offers dusted gnostic space blues from Dylan Carlson and company, and is likely the deepest, most hypnotic Earth record to date. It's a literary trip through the dark spaces where every drum strike, cello trill (courtesy of the same player that backed Nirvana during their Unplugged performance) and carefully placed guitar note bleeds with a foreboding resonance across the ages. The 180 g vinyl version (mine was pressed on red and features an awesome etching on side D) is a sheer delight on every level.

The Body Anthology (Corleone) CD - Over the last 8 years this Providence duo has released a handful of CD-Rs, splits and such -- all compiled here. More lo-fi and gnarled than the exultant/wretched All the Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood, Anthology is 16 tracks of destroyed apocalypse doom, hardcore sludge and power electronics with shrieking witch howl vokills. Includes five covers by the likes of Danzig, Crass, Judas Priest and Sinead O'Connor(?).

Aaron Dilloway Lip Syncing To Verme (Hundebiss) LP - Excellent package from this Italian label of what's easily the most satisfying Dilloway solo platter I've heard to date (not that I've heard many); the weird tape music and found sound post industrial collages displayed across these five tracks are simultaneously spine tingling, hallucinogenic, mind bending, never boring. A triumph of experimental sound sculpture top to bottom.

Umberto Prophecy of the Black Widow (Not Not Fun) LP - Amazing record of scifi synth splay and soundtrack music by a fellow named Matt Hill aka Umberto. It's safe to say he's obsessed over the music of Goblin and Fabio Frizzi with endless fascination while throwing in a few German progressive moves to keep it stoned to the bone. One of the finest synthscape soundtrack records I've heard all year.

The Oh Sees Castlemania (In The Red) CD - Probably should'a got the vinyl on this one as it also comes with a wicked etching on the 4th side, but can't have 'em all. This is a KILLER slice of psych punk folk what's-it that delivers hit after hit of garage fuzz plop delights with amazing titles like "I Need Seed", "Pleasure Blimps", "Spider Cider" and so on.

Puffy Areolas / Purling Hiss "My Hell" / "Walking Down the Street" (Permanent Records) 12" Single - This is one of them hot-shit Record Store Day releases. Ty Segal's Ty.Rex was another, and of course Big Star's infamous Third, etc and so on. So while the wax may be impossible to find, that in no way diminishes the fact that it features two of my favorite modern psych slop groops, each offering up two ripping epics to the old gods that kick ass and melt face. Got to give the Golden Gloves to Purling Hiss, though, with the righteous Stooges worship of "Walking Down the Street".

TV Ghost Mass Dream (In The Red) LP - Another excellent splatter from ITR. Mass Dream is equal parts art punk slop and no wave surf. Warbling Pere Ubu vox and lashing through the smokey darkness distortion are the order of the day across ten unhinged ragers that run the gamut from the deathly dirge of the destroyed squall of "The Inheritors" to the angular garage surf riffage of "The Degredation of Film". The mood throughout is fucked and caustic, but I still can't help but shimmy my ass off through every second of its 35 mins.

The Flaming Lips with Prefuse 73 The Flaming Lips with Prefuse 73 (Warner Bros./Lovely Sorts of Death) 12" EP - Heavy wax on many colored vinyl. No two are the same. Limited to 2000, so it's already gone. I was shocked by how much I liked the 'Lips' collaboration with Neon Indian, and this is even better as Wayne and Steve's synthonic art pop gets dosed in Prefuse 73's electro noise hop to conjure drill 'n' bass Suicide homages, acid muzakscapes and spaced out glam folk oddities. Mighty weird Oklahoma disco right here.

Religious Knives Smokescreen (Sacred Bones) LP - So nice to see this quartet back in action. New drummer, but not much else has changed (thankfully). The vibe is still about simple, repetitious trance riffs built around guitar and organ and hammered into your brain with slamming percussion and bass beneath echo drenched vocals that invoke a hostile dread in the classic New York watch-your-back vein. Zoned fuzz smokestacks from the paranoid basement.

Rene Hell The Terminal Symphony (Type) CD - Seemingly scattered electronic sound sculpture is actually a careful assemblage of quasi-symphonic rhythms, noise and strings across ten compact journeys through glitchtronic psychedelia. Top picks: the bubbling Kraftwerkian "E.S. Des Grauens In Fifths", the synthedelic chamber bleeping "Baroque Ensemble Coda", the fragile crystal chandeliers of "Juliard Op. 66". More fun than Switched-On Bach, and a whole lot more stoned.

Various Artists Pacific Support (Draft) CS - Another excellent comp to benefit the victims of the tsunami in Japan that rivals Thrill Jockey's Benefit for the Recovery in Japan in terms of quality (if not quantity). Some of the same names on said comp appear here (Greg Davis, Keith Fullerton Whitman) along with Rene Hell, The North Sea, Carl Calm, Flower Man (CC and FM are solo projects related to Caboladies), Golden Retriever, Make a New Memory and so on across what amounts to a more electrocentric journey through bubbling ambient space, minimal drone wormholes and quantum sonic mechanics.

Mini Reviews Pt. 1

Tim Hecker Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky) CD - Translucent clouds of minimal shimmer and electronics conjured from computer, piano, guitar feedback, pipe organ and synthesizer. Glowing portals to an imagined nostalgia for the time right before the analog world became a digital nightmare. Here's an excellent video for opening track, "The Piano Drop".

Mind Over Mirrors The Voice Rolling (Digitalis) LP - 7 tracks comprised of Indian Harmonium and effects by Jaime Fennelly (of Peeesseye) that totally destroy any notions of what a meditative harmonium/noise record should sound like. The Voice Rolling is a highly visceral, hypnotic ride that feels like something of a landmark with its mixture of the most zoned out Komische synth drones and third eye tapping minimalism. Get a taste at Soundcloud. And a companion tape just dropped on Gift Tapes.

Twells & Christenson Coasts (Digitalis) LP - John Twells of Xela/Type Records and Matt Christensen (Zelionople) get together in a room and play a host of instruments, captured to vintage 8 track before Twells takes his sweet time mixing and tweaking it all down into two mammoth side long epics. The mood is dark and hypnogogic with dense clouds of feedback and murky distorted electronics, with enough texture and buried melodies to reward repeated deep listenings. Check out the wunderbar second side here.

Eternal Tapestry Beyond the Fourth Day (Thrill Jockey) LP - Latest levitated vinyl release from these trance inducing cosmonauts offers steady growing space mantras indebted to Amon Düül II, Träd Gräs och Stenar and early Pink Floyd. Quite fine for those enamored of late night lavalamped bong sessions and the mighty Bardo Pond. Review of their collaboration with Sun Araw forthcoming.

The Spits Kill the Kool (In The Red) LP - This odds and sods collection from these fuzz punk veterans came in an issue of 600 and sold out in a matter of weeks, but it can still be heard via other means. Rip roaring scifi garage punk for weirdos and spazz freaks alike, and one of the most addictive long players I've heard all Summer. Highly recommended!

Apache Dropout Apache Dropout (Family Vineyard) LP - Awesome minimal garage boogie trio from Bloomington, IN arose from the ashes of Hot Fighter #1 and John Wilkes Booze (remember them?) to deliver a balls out masterpiece in their self-titled debut. Sounds like the Velvets gone off the Bo Diddley deep end, occasionally blasting everything apart with frenzied walls of white noise distortion, but still compact and boogielicious every second. Easily the debut of the year.

BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa Big Shadow Montana (Helen Scarsdale) LP - This drone noise trio's seventh (!) studio album is just what you'd expect from the revered Helen Scarsdale Agency -- a cryptic mass of analog drones, indecipherable source material and other found sounds sculpted into two side long journeys through the pscychedelic void. It's all very hazy and disorienting, though halfway through the second side a lovely carnival melody appears that one hopes will never end and elevates this strange beast into the higher realms of post industrial psychedelic brilliance.

Greg Davis States (2) (Goldtimers) , States (1) (Cassauna), Eyebright (Agents of Chaos) all CS 40 (or so) - Man alive, third eye voyager Greg Davis has been one busy tape recording psych noise explorer in 2011. I found no less than three 40 min tapes bearing his name in my mailbox over the last few weeks, all reproduced on hi-bias chrome cassettes. These suckers sound as good as vinyl. States (2) (though released first, the second part of the series) introduces us to Davis's recent sojourns into the modular synth multiverse, which means it's not far from Keith Fullerton Whitman's recent output: playful, discombobulated computer music that covers a wide variety of moods and topographies (from full on power electronics to deep space minimal surges and all points in between) with only hints of melody rising from the synapse-frying sonic melee.

States (1), via Important's in-house tape label, offers basically the same in a slightly more subdued form and is probably my pick of the two, though both are quite similar in tone and execution. It's a bit less schizophrenic but no less disconcerting with jarring erratic tones giving way to minimal skittering/bleeping soundscapes that sound like the inner workings of some primitive mainframe piped in from an alternate dimension. Throw in a few bliss-inducing arpeggios and an all around air of unpredictability, and you've got yourself a tape of delightful computer music.

Eyebright collects two live recordings from last year, "The Identity of Relative & Absolute" being more in line with the above two releases, though Davis incorporates some mind-bending spoken word into things and does it all in real time with no overdubs. The flip, "Full Spectrum (Part IV)" is a live continuation of the two gorgeous minimal/New Age pieces found on his Digitalis tape of the same name, which is easily one of Davis's finest meditative bliss-outs, and this piece follows suit nicely. Absolute and beautiful.

* I use the term "computer music" above more in a descriptive sense for a particular sound as I hear it, and not in the sense that any actual computers were used in the production of these recordings.

Imaginary Softwoods Imaginary Softwoods (Digitalis) 2LP - Definitive version of this modern classic (not to mention the one you can still find). Imaginary Softwoods is one of John Elliot's (Emeralds) most revered solo projects, and it's not hard to see why based on these 12 tracks. Simple repeated synth lines buried in fuzz and grime, warped via pitch shifting and other effects to reveal the dark machine hum of the deepest stellar regions. Mastered by James Plotkin. Call it deep space garage ambient.

Outer Space Outer Space (Arbor) LP - It would appear Elliot has a thing for, erm, space. If Imaginary Softwoods is the darker side of his synthedelic wormhole trips, then Outer Space is an altogether cleaner and more pristine journey through the fabric of existence with its glass houses of intricately assembled melodies and driving electro harmonies riding waves of phase shifted distortion and motorik grooves. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't highly indebted to the late 70s/early 80s synth explorations of Manuel Göttsching, Wolfgang Reichman and of course Kraftwerk, but make no mistake Elliot is owning the genre here and even taking it to bold new regions in the process. Glorious.

Sagas Between Worlds (Greenup Industries) LP

Sagas is the most recent solo incarnation of Matt McDowell (Dire Wolves, Arco Flute Foundation, etc), and Between Worlds is his debut foray into the vinyl format. So far I've heard a couple of McDowell's tapes under the Sagas name, and everything I've heard by Dire Wolves has delivered the goods via lumbering smokestacks risen up from the most zoned cosmic depths.

Between Worlds is an old school acid rock freakout -- vintage to its core, trancedelic one minute, head charging into the Dead C void the next -- with a few oud-inistic ethnic detours along the way.

The first side features three fresh-from-the-primordial-aether jams. "The Hidden Variable" is a levitated organ/acid guitar soaked chant that wastes no time invoking a sense of otherness and sacred devotion, while "Scrapyard" offers collapsing free jazz deconstruction. The real standout though is "Bad Karma Blues" with melting Blue Cheer acid leads and a rampaging space punk climax. Fans of the most destroyed Komische rawk (Amon Düül II/Ash Ra Tempel included) and PSF Records will eat it up. On the flip, off kilter banjo raga is dispersed with subtle percussion and effects on "Hope Springs Vernal" and "In The Hall of Mandos". The harsh distorted oblivion of "Better Times" invokes the spirit of McDowell's earlier solo guitar rippers (such as the Headlong Into The Fire EP on Mike Tamburo's New American Folk Hero imprint). It's surely a good thing McDowell hasn't abandoned this more abrasive side of his sonic persona, as the resulting contrast only further heightens the drama of what's happening here. This makes plaintive closer "Soon A-Comin" that much more of a sweet come down with solo acoustic in the country blues vein, though the whole record's primitive and homespun every second with McDowell playing all instruments in his home studio. The under water sonar-infused cover art is by Brad Rose of Digitalis Records/The North Sea fame. Between Worlds is the real deal, out of space/time holy psych for those who like to dig deeper and roam off the beaten paths.

* Check out Inez Lightfoot's video for "Bad Karma Boogie" here.

The Return of Indie Pop (Just in Time for Summer)!

Ducktails III Arcade Dynamics (Woodsist) LP - Dreamy post shoegaze from this one man band is more song-based than past releases; ideal for a day by the pool or laying under your favorite shady tree in the cool afternoon breeze. 11 tracks that alternate between barely there instrumental sketches and actual strummy songs that drift by like mossy landscapes seen on riverbanks from inside an inner-tube on a daylong glide down your favorite lazy winding river. Plus there's a song called "Art Vandelay". Possibly the ideal Woodsist release.

Jerusalem and the Starbaskets Dost (De Stijl) LP - This is the second official LP by this awesome duo from Columbus, Missouri and first that's widely available. I actually still have a CD-R that came out on Digitalis's Foxglove series back in '05? '04? Must say they've come a good long way since then, as this fucking ROCKS! Stoned to the bone fuzz anthems one minute ("Pretty Patty"), lost in the West Coast summer heat Byrds worship the next ("First Cigarette In The Morning") and plenty of distorted melodic strange bits and wild eyed jams crammed in the spaces in between. The lazy fuzz groove of "Chinese Rifles", which erupts into an awesome mid-tempo blast off halfway through, is fuzz pop at its finest, but the whole record is a joy to behold every second of its 31 minutes. Highly recommended, in fact!

Low C'mon (Sub Pop) CD - So good to see these veterans back doing what they do best (and sounding more like Galaxie 500 than ever). If you haven't seen the video for "Try To Sleep" by now, then you officially live in a cave somewhere sans wifi. The rest of C'mon may not match that level of narcotic shimmer, but as the title suggests, Low is actually lookin' to have some fun these days. This is almost their Summer record with something like "Witches" (complete with banjo pickin') and the aforementioned gem kicking up to a nice shuffle. Elsewhere they unspool the classic Low formula of simple guitar melodies beneath timeless harmonies. "Done" features syrupy pedal steel. The 8 minute "Nothing But Heart" is Neil Young gone shoegaze and builds to a hair-raising crescendo that you hope will never end. Closer "Something's Turning Over" is just as good. C'mon is Low renewed, at their brightest, and occasionally ready to rock.

Times New Viking Dancer Equired (Merge) CD - A kinder, gentler Times New Viking is still worth my time. The GBV influence is felt more strongly than ever on many of these scruffy pop gems, which just means you might think of Wire or The Clean as well as past TNV anthems when cycling through these 14 tracks. One thing that you wont really find is any annoying feedback or skree to derail the sweet pop parade of gems like "Try Harder", "California Roll", "Fuck Her Tears", or "No Room To Live". Not bad at all.

Woods Sun and Shade (Woodsist) CS - The followup to Woods' awesome At Echo Lake is another sweet groover of hippie psych/indie pop that has enough tuneful moments crammed into its hazy veneer to make it appeal to the Matador crowd just as easily as it does the mushroom brigade. What that means are fuzzy slices of folky pop with hooks galore that nod to West Coast country psych (then and now), The Kinks, Krautrock and even 80s Creation Records (Felt and Jacobites) all wrapped up in a warm, vintage production and doled out at a nice easy pace. Nothing here is revolutionary, but then who really wants to blow anything up? Sit back, relax and enjoy the Sun and Shade.

Cross-Legged Hippie Mystics and Subterranean Astral Goddesses

Theo Angell Tenebrae (Amish) CD - I meant to scribble a few words about this one ages ago, but that's okay since this is a one man operation. Angell of Hall of Fame and whose Aeraplinth album for Digitalis made such a striking impression a few years back, here weaves a more mystical spell of wandering acoustic apparitions lead through the dark spaces via his eerie naked vocal and understated minor key strumming, at times accented by percussion and Samara Lubelski's abstract violin, as well as the Hillside Tabarnackle Singers (this time including Matt Valentine, P.G. Six, Tom Greenwood and Lubelski). Elusive lyrics as inspired by mountain song, religion/theology and outside folk songwriting as they are avant-garde cinema and Dadaist worldplay coalesce into roving journeys through the backwoods of the mind. At once deeply esoteric and all too accessible -- welcome to the strange and wonderful world of Tenebrae. Stand outs to this listener, the gorgeous meander of "Never Heard That Baby Cry" and the sinister title track.

Arborea Red Planet (Strange Attractors) LP - The fourth album from the husband wife duo or Buck and Shanti Curran is a meditative slice of introspective astral folk as inspired by the great woods as the old troubadours (Patty Waters and Tim Buckley are given nods) and the new weird folkies that I've championed here over the years. I'm not really sure what to say about Red Planet other that it's a minimal soul-stirring knockout, with languid beauty anchored on Buck Curran's steady string work (guitars and many stringed things) and Shanti's ethereal vocals as exemplified on their stunning rendition of "Black Was the Color" and Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two" and Shanti's plaintive banjo picking. "Spain" (featuring Helen Espvall of Espers on cello) and "Careless Love" are soft, simple lullabies for the brokenhearted, while tracks like "Arms and Horses" and the hidden final, "Torchbearer" -- written in response to the loss of Shanti Curran's father -- offer more instrumental and emotional resonance to wander through. A record for letting go and accepting whatever's next.

Current 93 Honeysuckle Aeons (Coptic Cat) CD - How strange Honeysuckle Aeons sounds at first, even by Current 93's standards. Compositionally, it's something of a return to the stripped down piano ballads of Soft Black Stars and Sleep Has His House, but with new accents in the form of a ghostly theremin whir that haunts half the tracks and droning organ the creaks through the rest. It's a sensible enough progression from the hazier passages of last year's Baalstorm, Sing Omega, but I like this more. It's more stripped down and focused at the same time, and David Tibet hems in his vocals a good bit over more memorable melodies. In its own quiet, understated way this just may just be the best C93 album since Black Ships Ate the Sky, and the most softly haunted since Soft Black Stars. Listen to it late at night by candlelight.

Metal Mountains Golden Trees (Amish) CD - Helen Rush was one of the main contributors to the legendary Tower Recordings, but then so were PG Six and Samara Lubelski at different times. They comprise the trio of Metal Mountains, which makes this half a Tower Recordings reunion, or at the very least a psych supergroup of some note. To say Golden Trees is minimal hypnofolk masterpiece is no exaggeration. Its mix of ethereal fem vocals, acoustic/electric guitars doused in vintage reverb and fuzz, all rendered in immaculate yet vintage hi-fi production, is destined to send chills down the spine and elliptical spirals through the gray matter. At least that's the case with opener, "Structures Inside the Sun", a knockout of acid folk splay that's as good as anything along these lines I've heard recently. The rest of of the album follows suit and honors the Tower Recordings/Hall of Fame (Sabelski's other avant-folk trio, also featuring Theo Angell) tradition to admirable, eloquent effect.

Marissa Nadler Marissa Nadler (Box of Cedar) CD - Nadler's fifth album, first for her own label, is getting recognition all over the place, though I have to wonder what all those NPR worshiping coffee sippers in their adirondacks would've thought of her contributions to last year's Xasthur album, Portal of Sorrow. This is much more, hmm, digestible. Stronger influences from 50s country crooners and 60s pop chanteuses are felt, along with a heavy dose of the dark shoegaze drone glaze that's been seeping in since her third album. This is easily Nadler's most produced and sonically accomplished record yet (and that's really saying something), but she still manages to sound like something dug up from many decades past, her velvety mezzo-soprano lost in sad wonder of what could've been, eternally unsatisfied and looking to the horizon of come what may. Surely not for everyone but I'm still buying it. A solid mix of fingerpicking old world folk craft and modern soft pop for sad eyed dreamers.

Six Organs of Admittance Asleep on the Floodplain (Drag City) LP - Asleep on the Floodplains is Ben Chasny's follow-up to the masterful Luminous Night, and it's once more a fine mix of stellar songcraft and textured primitive raga jams. It could be said there's nothing really new here, but then there's nothing really new under the sun. The way Chasny manages to continue to matter is via his rich sound palette (every instrument is played by him this time 'round) and memorable melodies -- "Hold But Let Go" is yet another keeper in his considerable catalog of keepers -- while "S/Word and Leviathan" delves more deeply into mindless devotion with a droning wash of blazing raga picking, organ and vocal chant, the kind of dark mystery Chasny's been exploring since the beginning. It's dedicated to Process Theologian Catherine Keller, which doesn't surprise me in the least. She's the kind of thinker we could use more of during these uncertain times. Yet another gemstone in the Six Organs psych folk crown.

Jesse Sparhawk & Eric Carbonara 60 Strings (VHF) CD - Jesse Sparhawk plays 38 string lever harp. Eric Carbonara plays 22 string upright Chaturangui guitar. Together they weave a delicate spell of meandering raga that stretches out across two epic duets that maintain a constant, evolving balance of plucked straight from the aether harmonies across 35 minutes of vibrant string meditations landing somewhere between new American psych folk and a more Eastern tinged Popol Vuh. 60 Strings is another minimal beauty from VHF that manages to stand out from the psych folk heap, and I hope merely the first of many fruitful collaborations from this promising new duo.

Various Observational Musings and Cornucopic Dabblings

I sure love me some coffee. Keeping it under 3 cups a day these days though. Not getting out as much on the social scene but still trying to be semi-active and by and large a good bit healthier. Drinking less. Not smoking at all (mostly). Longevity is the key my friends. I miss a lot of folks, but I keep in touch through other means and keep soaking up the sights and sounds. As a result, I'm mostly spending all my saved bar money on records and DVDs. The new pile is high and deep! Trying to work through it inch by inch this Summer and catch up with some promos as well. Many, many amazing releases have passed over my threshold in the last few months, some listed below:

• MV & EE Country Stash (Three Lobed)
• Matt Valentine What I Became (Woodsist)
• Woods Sun and Shade (Woodsist)
• Sagas Between Worlds (Greenup Industries)
• TV Ghost Mass Dream (In The Red)
• The Spits Kill the Kool (In The Red)
• Thee Oh Sees Castlemania (In The Red)
• Angus Maclise/Tony Conrad Dreamweapon III (Boo-Hooray) LP - a definite highlight of the year so far.
• Religious Knives Smokescreen (Sacred Bones)
• Apache Dropout Apache Dropout (Family Vineyard)
• Umberto Prophecy of the Black Widow (Not Not Fun)
• Rene Hell The Terminal Symphony (Type)
• Jerusalem and the Starbaskets Dost (De Stijl)
• Wet Hair In Vogue Spirit (De Stijl)
• Parasites of the Western World Parasites of the Western World (De Stijl)
• Boris Attention Please and Heavy Rocks II (both Sargent House)
• Group Doueh Beatte Harab and Zayna Jumma (both Sublime Frequencies)
• Jim O'Rourke Old News #5 (Editions Mego)
• Seijaku Mail From FUSHITSUSHA and You Should Prepare to Survive Throug Even Anything Happens (Doubtmusic)
• Psychic Frost Psychic Frost (Deep Water)
• Evening Fires Holy Ghost Explosion (Deep Water)

...and a whole slew of tapes. Hope to get a good chunk of these reviewed in the coming weeks. Without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I've picked up this year is the Van Kaye + Ignit career spanning 5LP boxset, Anthology 80 - 85, lovingly packaged and remastered by the always excellent Vinyl On Demand label out of Germany. Connoisseurs of Cold Wave, Synth Pop, Experimental New Wave on down the line definitely should check it out. The wax is heavy, the package stunning, and the music quite incredible. Also found myself pleasantly knocked out by the uber-gay '80s synth pop stylings of Ford & Lopatins's Channel Pressure (Software) -- one half of which is Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never. Get a taste here. In the same listening session I discovered the Turkish Psych rock/surf explosion of Hayvanlar Alemi's Guarana Superpower (Sublime Frenquencies), which bears more than a passing resemblance the ethnic acid eruptions that Rangda has been unleashing on the masses in recent times.

Otherwise, I dug Season 1 of Game of Thrones so much, that I'm now reading the first book of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Call me crazy. Really digging Treme this season, and happy to see True Blood back among us. Witches, necromancy, fearful fairies and vampires with political ambitions -- what a tangled web Alan Ball weaves! Loved Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins, Malick's The Tree of Life (filmed partly in and around Dallas) and still need to see Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, preferably in 3-D. X-Men: First Class gets an endorsement, as does Super 8 (barely), and Bridesmaids was, of course, hilarious. I've not seen much else new stuff beyond that. Hangover 2 was okay I s'pose.

Been mostly watching a bunch of Netflix streaming movies of late. Terrorvision, Irreversible (blegh but pretty good), Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns, Yojimbo, Black Death, They Live, Sling Blade, John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done all provide moderate to high levels of art and entertainment, especially that last one for Herzog/Lynch freaks. That's all for now with more to come. And congrats to the Dallas Mavericks. Guess you guys finally earned it. Dirk FTW.