Sweet...

SEXY NEW SWAG FROM DIGITALIS!

well, i was gonna wait until monday to "officially" release these two new gems, but i'm too damn excited about them. both releases are the first CD (non-CDR) releases from each group and is, in my wholly biased opinion, the best thing each have done. nothing but love:

With Throats as Fine as Needles s/t CD (DIGI022/SoD-02) $12

Deep inside an abandoned bunker on New Zealand's north island, With Throats as Fine as Needles have perfected their craft. On this, their debut CD release, the group has expanded to a quartet. Birchville Cat Motel's Campell Kneale and Pseudoarcana chief, Antony Milton, have joined forces with James Kirk (Sandoz Lab Technicians, Gate) and Richard Francis (Eso Steel) to create a claustrophobic, organic web of massive drones.

Everything on this CD was recorded outdoors with battery-powered instruments. Underneath the ground, the quartet burrows out their own cavern, bouncing sounds off the walls until it becomes a singular, solid mass. Each gently sculpted tone floats in humid air. The music is saturated with the dirt and grime from a million a years of human history, wailing out in unison like an excavation turned exorcism. With Throats as Fine as Needles are your guides through this aural fog.

Co-released with Ohio's Students of Decay imprint.

Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood "Goodbye" CD (DIGI023) $12

As far as the Southern Hemisphere goes, Australia's budding underground has often played second fiddle to that of it's island neighbor, New Zealand. But a new crop of Aussies is levelling the playing field. Leading the way is the brother/sister duo of Michael and Kristina Donnelly AKA Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood. These cosmic travelers are soaked to the bone in dust, like relics from the past. They speak only in tongues and send out shortwave psychedelic radio transmissions into the bleeding edges of drugged-out folk sludge.

BOTOS' organic compositions are familiar to many by now. After a string of CD-R releases on Time-Lag, Celebrate Psi-Phenomenon, and others, this is their first pro-pressed offering. Building on transcendent themes and saturating everything in an all-encompassing puff of bong smoke. Endless walls of instrumentation create artificial bounderies that the Donnellys destroy with far-reaching, hypnotic drones. By the time"Goodbye" comes to a grinding halt, it feels like the stuff of legend. Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood are only interested in blowing your skull to smithereens while cradling you in their arms. They are simply magnificent, and there aren't many doing it better these days.

The first 500 copies come in silkscreened sleeves done by the New Zealand crazies at United Fairy Moons.
----

so that's the new dice... two totally sweet jams that will tickle your every fancy. whoo! http://www.digitalisindustries.com/catalog.html

up next on foxglove: robert horton/keijo 2cdr split, seht, & "wailing bones 5" (w/ the clear spots, wolfskull, heavy winged, & the lost domain).

and the CD reissue of tom carter's "glyph" should be ready to go soon, too. the first 500 come in gatefold digipacks, silkscreened on one side by rob fisk, and spraypainted on the other by tom. they're gonna be totally sweet.

much love,
-brad

STANISLAW LEM
...the great Polish writer died this week. I have all of his English-translation books I could find save for one. You have to read him, and read everything. His work falls into three main categories: 1) books about man's inability to understand the truly Alien (Solaris, Eden, Fiasco, Return from the Stars, His Master's Voice, The Invincible, and similar in spirit to his two metaphysical mysteries The Investigation and the Chain of Chance), 2) Sci-Fi Humor (Star Diaries, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, the Futurological Congress, the Cyberiad, Mortal Engines, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, More Tales of Pirx the Pilot (the one I didn't read)), 3) Meta-Book Humor (introductions or reviews of non-existing books; Imaginary Magnitude, One Human Minute, A Perfect Vacuum). The novel Hospital of the Transfiguration is also worthy of your time. His work is overflowing with ideas and the friction of competing scientific theories. Except for the Pirx books, I recommend all of them. The downtown Austin Public Library has many of these books. There are about 11 books that have not been translated into English, so please learn Polish and translate these for me. It is the least you can do. Please!
Sample of Humor
Sample of Alien

(Clipped from Josh Ronsen's excellent AUSTINNITUS, a round up of Texas experimental/jazz/psych happenings)

So long, Nikki. Feels like the end of an era. From the Swell Maps to the Jacobites right up to his recent solo albums (including the one above) reviewed here, Nikki Sudden was one of the coolest, most human post punk Gods. He will be missed.

Here is a haunting recollection written by Nikki about his brother, Epic Soundtracks (whom he formed the Swell Maps with and also died tragically almost ten years ago). Eerie and poetic in that way that only Nikki can be.

I actually sort of wanted to hit up SXSW this year, 'specially to get drunk with Neil Young and check out Marissa Nadler's Texas debut, playing along with Jack Rose and some other people, but thought better of it with another big musical adventure looming the following month and only so much patience for the whirlwind culture media explosion that is SXSW. Besides, drinking that much Red Bull in a week can't be good.

I think I did my bit by crawling out of my dusty din and driving to The Cavern Saturday night(in the rain, mind you) to catch some SXSW carry-over: Marissa Nadler (playing Dallas ?) on a bill with Asobi Seksu ("playful sex"--LOL) and Tunng (beards and beats from England--LOL). Arrived too late to see opening band Voot Cha Index, boo-fucking-hoo.

Asobi Seksu has a sexy, short Asian singer/keyboardist. They sound like Tubeway Army meets Broadcast. They are not original, but they are tight and polished and use strobelights. I also thought Stereolab crossed with early "Seamonsters" era Wedding Present, but I was probably being generous.

Marissa's set was next, and despite a few sound issues ("the soundman is an asshole"), she pulled it off glowingly. Her voice is this massive, reverb drenched siren call from the land of broken hearts--an undeniably rich, luminescent specter that gathers over the crowd and thrives on the concentrated warmth. I was pleased with the response and Marissa and Jesse's (Sparhawk, a talented multi-instrumentalist touring with her this time out) tenacity in fighting through the gaffs and delivering the goods. They looked and sounded great. She played both "Box of Cedar" (set closer) and "Annabelle Lee," two of my favorites. She was shy and it showed (didn't say a word to the audience), yet I think her demeanor suited her songs.

A crappy phone pic taken by your Womb-master.

One fellow said he'd just seen Belle and Sebastion a few days before, and that was really good but didn't even come close to what Marissa did. He bought an album, even though he already owned both of her official releases. Another guy named Mike, who loves free jazz and harsh noise, also bought both albums and promised to do some sort of smash-up remix of Marissa's voice with loops and feedback a la Diamanda Galas. She was actually into the idea.

Marissa is a very sweet, beautiful young woman. I worried all day yesterday as she and Jesse drove up the torso of the American plains through constant rain and snowfall to get to Iowa City. Hopefully, they are sleeping right now somewhere safe in preparation for their show tonight. St. Louis tomorrow (3/21).

After the show, she asked me if she was everything I expected, if I was surprised at all by the real Marissa versus the one I'd gotten to know on record and through email. I hope I didn't disappoint when I said she was exactly what I expected, and qualified that with "I tend to know people really well." And it's true; I do. Her voice though, it was something else.

We both sung harmonies, drunkenly, to Townes' "Tecumseh Valley" much later than night and sounded GREAT together! Well, I thought so anyway...

Back among the land of the blogging, at least for today. Really enjoyed Be Here to Love Me, which comes out on DVD today. A deep, heartfelt look at the man and myth that was Townes Van Zandt; it features some priceless footage of TVZ and his second wife stumbling around his Houston trailer park circa '75, whiskey bottle in hand. Overall, an honest look at what a really down to earth, self-effacing and equally self-destructive guy he was. There are the expected morality issues of what happens when one leaves it all behind to chase inspiration down an endless highway, but director Margaret Brown passes no judgments either way. She obviously idolizes Van Zandt, but this is pretty far from a gush piece. Despite a few blurred collages and old acid-trip stories, "Be Here to Love Me" is a sobering portrait of a sweet guy who probably knew and understood his demons more closely than most of us would ever want to. He came from wealthy means, but he breathed humility. Sincerity appears to pour from his veins every second he's being interviewed, be it for Dutch television or Texas radio.

William Van Zandt's description of finding his father upright on his death bed leaves a chill of finality in the air. People lament the early loss of great talents to dope and excess, rightfully so. They write sad songs about all the good times that were and never will be, but Townes Van Zandt, at least in song, seemed to live a hundred lifetimes or more in just about half the time it takes most of us to figure out how not to fuck up over and over with cyclical precision. The wisdom is in his songs. Can't help but wonder if checking out early was just his way of saying, "Thank you, ma'am, but I got more than my share already."


Also, LOVED "The Sopranos" season opener. I'm sorry to those of you out there who don't have HBO. Been there, done that. DVD's or torrents will possibly help to assuage some pain in the coming months. The voice of William Burroughs is featured in the brilliant opening montage--wickedly cool. Otherwise, don't really want to give away any spoilers [Uncle June's gone bonkers!] or reveal any key plot developments [AJ's grown a mullet!] because I can't stand assholes that spill the beans too early [Carm's getting mighty com-for-ta-ble with her position as wife of The Boss!].

Already hooked on "Big Love," too. Polygamy! Bill Paxton! Harry Dean Stanton! Who knew??? It's like a bizarre anthropogical inverse to "Deadwood" with zero profanity (everyone talks in this castrated "dangit!" and "oh my heck!" speak that's utterly charming and adorable), much God and more sexual tension than The Chicken Ranch during Texas/OU weekend. Thumbs up, brosephs and sistines.

...shit. I have tons of new albums to review, which'll mostly appear in other places. Just got the new Maryrose Crook with The Renderers album on Three Beads of Sweat, "Ghosts of Our Vegas Lives" (released concurrently with Brian's new solo joint under the name Anti-Clockwise, "Artificial Light"--aint heard yet). You Renderers groupies will definitely get a kick out of this Maryrose album, more to come on that front.

Buy your copy of Not Alone on Durto/Jnana if you haven't already. Compilation of the decade, no lie. Also got a fantastic package from United Fairy Moons that I've been soaking up with much disoriented glee, my favorite new label! Rory Storm owns my soul. That's all for now. Check back in a week or two of so inclined.

Hope to see some of you at Terrastock 6 in a little over a month!

I've been reading any articles I can find about TVZ and his later life, preparation for the movie I suppose, and stumbled upon this heartfelt and revealing interview with his son from Rockzilla, which goes into a good amount of detail. Give it a gander.

Two fine remembrances from the always capable Perfect Sound Forever:
Townes Van Zandt: A Tribute by Steve Cooper (August, '97)
Travels with Townes Van Zandt by Steve Hawley (July 2003)

Also, here are some fairly harrowing live reviews from the early-mid '90s.

Howdy, folkies. Been really busy lately. Hard to believe, I know. Just sweated out a fever, and I'm trying to wrestle a few different articles for a few different publications at once. Crunch time, as they say. The shit I do for rock 'n' roll...

I really liked Capote. Give Phil Seymour Hoffman the Oscar already! Also got some nice chuckles and much visual splendor from The Corpse Bride. Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing.

I have received my copy of Not Alone and will proclaim here, without irony, it is the experimental music compilation of the decade for many reasons, mainly its content. Click the link for the low-down.

That's all for now. Don't expect to really make any updates in the next few weeks or so, but that may change.

Hope to see some of you at Terrastock 6 in April!

Couple bits:

Foxy Digitalis's weekly update features a fine review of the latest live One Ensemble of Daniel Padden CD-R, scribed by your Womb-master, and sitdowns with everybody's favorite Uncle Jim (Actually Al Bishop of the Sun City Girls/Alvarius B/Sublime Frequencies) and Elizabeth Harris, aka Grouper, plus much more.

Also, Deep Water's e-zine guise is now up and running with profiles on Nick Castro, Uton, and the dearly missed psych cult rockers, Thin White Rope (the name's a Burroughs term for ejaculate, you prudes). Also, I babbled here about limited, mostly CD-R releases, and Tony Dale shares his recipe for Damper Bread. We hope to be updating this on a staggered monthly basis, so turn on, tune in and freak out! And check out The MIGHTY Clear Spots while you're there!

A little bit out of left field here, but then in two years I’ve never mentioned Dischord once in Womblife. This is, after all, the label that gave us Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Shudder to Think, Scream and a lot of other crap! At least in regard to one long-standing band on their roster, I finally get it. I’ve heard Lungfish a few times over the years, and I never really knew what to think. “Hardcore noise rock”? “Proto-emo”? “Post-shoegaze”? A li’l later I realized what they are isn’t nearly as important as how they sound. And they sound pretty fuckin' great. “Feral Hymns” is their 11th album of angular crash and burn stomp rock with song titles -- “Time is a Weapon Against Time,” “You Are the War,” “Invert the State” -- that make their vaguely political intent known, while the lyrics and delivery maintain the expected art-school distance. What sells me is the trance-inducing repetition of their driving three-piece workouts, conjuring early 70s King Crimson and “Man Who Sold the World” era Bowie equally in heavy lumbering jams without all the prog bloat. Every song sounds fairly similar, but again, it’s about realizing that this is a good thing. For a glam-prog head such as myself, their power is hard to deny. “Feral Hymns” is the coolest real rock record for real rock rebels I’ve heard in at least two weeks.

And wow, sweet album cover!

On a completely unrelated note, if you have about 30 mins or so to kill, you can watch this filmed tour of Steven Stapleton's (Mr. Nurse With Wound) home and family. Pretty cool shtuff, nabbed from Brainwashed.

Two interesting discoveries in early '06:

First up, Dallas cult rockers Virgin Insanity; they received an informative write up in the Dallas Morning News a couple weeks ago. Imagine my surprise when I read that a genuine cult rock band hailed from my neck of the woods, and more interestingly, played a kind of arty folk rock that could be compared to later Velvet Underground, The Manson Family(!), Brit psych folk, and any number of "lost/utopian" acid kissed garage bands. Needless to say, I immediately located their one and only privately pressed LP (edition of 200), "Illusions of the Maintenance Man," in digital form through nefarious means. The music: a humbling listening experience, youthfully optimistic, but with an edge that can be deemed "art basement," a cynicism that acknowledges the disasters of the previous five years (this came out in '71) and a hope that keeps eyes forward and attention focused on the present. The lyrics are both naive and honest in their declaration that all we really have left in a dying world is a little hope and much love. Seems obvious, doesn't it? Tempos occasionally waver as minor key guitars dance beneath heartfelt boy/girl vox, and percussion is rarely used, but effective when it is.

Opener "Don't Get Down" really does sound like it could've been the first song on "Loaded," only Bob Lang actually means what he's singing (but then, I guess Lou meant it by then, too), as he captures archetypical emotions of loss/hope in 2 and a half minutes of folk pop transcendence. Not everyone will see it that way, but then what do they know? Any soul who doesn't listen to the oblique acid pop/tender emotional pleas of "Be My Friend," a number that begs for affection and acknowledges the end with the same earnest poignancy over a soft bed of hypnotic fingerpicking, probably doesn't have a pulse. Belle and Sebastian and Clientele fans should appreciate, but I'm more inclined to think of Japanese folk pop legends, Nagisa Ni Te, or even Maher Shalal Hash Baz. All in all, shambolic, truly timeless folk psych, and get this: Japan's P-Vine records will be reissuing this album and its never released follow-up (recorded over 30 years ago!) in February. Can't help but wonder if Shinji Shibayama ever came across one of those original pressings back in the day.
Sound samples:
Don't Get Down
For a While

The Battles are not an instrumental math rock ensemble featuring the former drummer from Helmet. Based on a randomly read email in recent months, that's precisely what I expected. The Battles (the other act is simply Battles) actually hail from Vancouver (New Pornographers country) and conjure pretty melodies over a charging, garage punk backdrop of Feelies obsessed guitar jangle, Pere Ubu synth and Peter Hook hypno-bass. That's a simplification, of course. The ghost of early Flying Nun Records, Todd Rundgren, Ray Davies, Roxy Music (I realize these people are not dead) also hover sublimely over Steven Wood's alternately impassioned, quirky and detatched songs, which can definitely make the heart shiver in its cage, especially when his band kicks into high gear and hits everything harder. Just check out "Poem #8 (That Would be Good)," its elastic basslines and surging chorus wiping all memory of Interpol from the gray matter. Too bad it's so short, but I'll take a minute, fifty secs of what The Battles have to say over 40 mins of Interdull any day of the week. The beauty of these performances may have something to do with the fact that contributors play or have played with Destroyer, Loscil and Black Mountain, among others. There is depth to burn in "Tomorrow's Eager Hands" (Soft Abuse) and like a classic Wire album (other than "Pink Flag"), its genius isn't always so obvious on first listens. As for me, I just had to hear opener "Changes" turned up to 10, and I was pretty much hooked.

Dan Bejar can also be heard harmonizing on a few tracks, but you know what? I dig this more than Destroyer or the recent work by New Pornographers. It's because Wood is such a visionary, all encompassing songwriter. He obviously loves stripped down, minimal basics, but his use of harmonies, quirky synths and massed distortion ups the ante sufficiently. The glory hewn "We Were Right to Fight" sounds almost like the New Pornos gone prog. A welcome inclination towards moody, spectral folk pop never disappoints (see "In Excelsis, Yes"), and the monumental groove of "Northern Man"--Mott the Hoople power chords over thudding drums--propels a monster hook of a chorus to the golden rock promise land. Diggit. This isn't actually out till early Feb, but Soft Abuse is taking pre-orders now.
Sound sample:
Suzanne

Just what can one say about the Akron / Family? What a jam band should sound like? Brooklynite freedom fighters from da undaground? King Crimson locked in mortal combat with the Flaming Lips in an endless runout groove on the flipside of a scratched copy of 'No New York'?

The Akron / Family Four men with beards.

Driving around earlier with a friend listening to some kind of ultimate badass super mix, consisting of Eminem, Townes, Neutral Milk Hotel, Missippi Juhn Hurt--left me wondering why doesn't Jeff Mangum retool NMH and hit the nostalgia circuit, if not actually release a followup to "Aeroplane"? I don't care if it's half-assed. Just play some shows! He's been spotted on stage in the last year or two doing the damaged sideman bit with the Olivia Tremor Control. His absence leaves a fairly gaping hole in the pop cultural landscape today. What I loved most about NMH was the sound--grungy, gritty, full body fuzz drenched acid jugband pop that always sounded messed up, even during the most anthemic moments.


Going to see the Akron / Family tonight (one band doing its part to fill the void), and this newfangled Young God signing, Mi and L'au (impossibly beautiful people playing impossibly beautiful music). Shearwater (not the Chicago band, rather an Okkerville River side thing) goes on first. Should be boogielicious. First gig of the new year.

Just had to share... Rula Lenska is her name. Horses are her game.

Shit, mane! I forgot to post something here! Something about something regarding someone somewhere and you were all waiting with nervous anticipation cursing my name for the epiphany that never came. Keep waiting!

First off, congrats to my friend Joanna and her new husband, Dave; they just got latched at the hip forever up in Seattle. Way to go, you two!(?)

I just got the most incredible package of the short new year, including the CD version of Mirror's "Still Valley" on Die Stadt and the new "Live at VPRO Radio" CD by the One Esemble of Daniel Padden on Brainwashed. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!! You know who you are. I feel unworthy. I feel like bacterial slime squished under a dirty hippie's bare feet. I feel like a street mutt's slobber. I feel like a dead ant's anal leakage.

But I'm still happy.

All you Satanic Euro-droners, make note:
Here Comes The Sunn O)))!

(From SOMA)

LIVE AKTIONS

SUNN O))) & EARTH vs EUROPE 2006

WED 8/2 GERMANY KOLN GEBAUEDE 9
THU 9/2 BELGIUM DIKSMUIDE 4AD
FRI 10/2 LONDON ISLINGTON ACADEMY
SAT 11/2 LEEDS THE COCKPIT
SUN 12/2 GLASGOW ABC2
MON 13/2 LIVERPOOL ROADKILL
TUE 14/2 BRISTOL THEKLA
WED 15/2 BIRMINGHAM CUSTARD FACTORY
THU 16/2 LUXEMBURGESCH ALZETTE KULTURFABRIK
FRI 17/2 FRANCE PARIS POINTE EPHEMERE
SAT 18/2 SPAIN BARCELONA MEPHISTO
SUN 19/2 FRANCE TOLOUSE VENTS DU SUD
TUE 21/2 SWITZERLAND DUDINGEN BAD BONN
WED 22/2 ITALY TORINO SPAZIO 211
THU 23/2 ITALY FIRENZE AUDITORIUM FLOG
FRI 24/2 ITALY MILAN JAIL
SAT 25/2 ITALY RAVENNA BRONSON
MON 27/2 CROATIA ZAGREB GALERIJA SC
TUE 28/2 AUSTRIA VIENNA SZENE
WED 1/3 GERMANY DRESDEN STAR CLUB
THU 2/3 GERMANY BERLIN VOLKSBUHNE
FRI 3/3 NETHERLANDS AMSTERDAM PARADISO
SAT 4/3 GERMANY HAMBURG MARKTHALLE
SUN 5/3 DENMARK COPENHAGEN LOPPEN
TUE 7/3 NORWAY OSLO BLÄ
WED 8/3 SWEDEN STOCKHOLM DEBASER
FRI 10/3 SWEDEN GOTHENBURG IDEAL FESTIVAL
SAT 11/3 DENMARK AARHUS VOXHALL
SUN 12/3 NETHERLANDS GRONINGEN VERA
TUES 14/3 PORTUGAL PORTO CASA DE MUSICA


Booking Europe: Vincent/Conspiracy www.conspiracyrecords.com/bookings/
Booking States: Angela/Eclipse www.eclipsebooking.com
Booking UK: Jodie Cox/Feedback/Riverman www.feedbackbooking.com /
www.riverman.co.uk

VIDEO!
SUNN w/ XASTHUR vs KNITTING FACTORY NYC 122105

out now: KHANATE CD “Capture & Release”: "Two tracks of funeral psyche from the originators of such mezmerizing dismal cacophony powered by vintage Sunn equipment and negative essence." —Chris Barnes

"Based on what I knew, I figured they'd sound something like Godspeed You! Black Emperor with occasional screaming-cookie-monster metal-dude vocals. Turns out they sound more like the driver of an 18-wheeler parking outside my apartment and leaning on his horn for an hour straight. " — The Village Voice on SUNN O)))'s live presence

Bad news from the alma mater:

SAVE KOOP!

the short version --

fire BAAAD!

91.7fm GOOD!

every dollar helps http://koop.org/

so does your time: 512-472-1369

and showing your support at upcoming benefit shows

longer version --

Some drunken asshole fell asleep while sucking a cancer stick and burnt up the bottom floor of the building housing KOOP's studios. The music library is covered in ash, and it's unclear how badly studio equipment was damaged. They will probably have to move.

KOOP is Austin's community-run, listener-supported radio station during the day on 91.7fm.

I can't say enough about the unique and valuable programming they do. I used to be addicted to a music show that came on Tuesday evenings and was run by a guy who patched his laptop into the soundboard, fed samples of pop music into a multitracking software and looped them in real time to basically create live, improvised mashups. It sounded fricken amazing.

KOOP is also -the- Austin outlet for progressive and minority voices on air, with programming that just isn't done on any other local station.

Two other music shows close to my heart, Ear Candy and Commercial Suicide have been hosted by a rotating cast of players for-freakin-ever, and they both mine the best gems from the obscurist corners of their respective genres ... have no words for how great they are. I've discovered so much music through them.

It's going to be a profound loss to Austin if KOOP can't get back on its feet.

feel free to repost.

upcoming benefits

Sunday Jan 15, a KOOP HoeDown at Shoal Creek Saloon, located at 909 North Lamar. Featuring the Grassy Knoll Boys and Double Eagle String Band. Music starts at 4pm. $5 cover to support KOOP's studio equipment fund. Plus, your donation will be matched by one of our very generous supporters!

Friday February 10, KOOP's Artic Blast at Beerland, located at 711 Red River. Featuring music from The Ugly Beats and The Nervous Exits and KOOP's own Jennifer (Ear Candy) and Scott (Stronger than Dirt) will be DJing.

Thursday February 23, The Sinus Show, with KOOP's own John Erler (Elk Mating Ritual) at Alamo South Lamar.

I love the songs of Townes Van Zandt. I love Townes Van Zandt. I feel like I've always loved him, since even before I was born. One doesn't have to always hear something to understand what it's saying, right? It was like that with the Beatles. One day a switch was flipped and I could never really go back to how it was before.

I recommend this: Be Here to Love Me

trailer

Some select screenings (you can bet those SXSW shows will be packed like sardines):

January 20, 2006
Landmark Midtown Art
931 Monroe Drive, Atlanta, GA 30308

February 3, 2006
Landmark Lumiere 3
1 Embarcadero Centre, San Francisco, CA 94111

February 3, 2006
Landmark Act 1&2 Cinemas
2128 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94704

February 10, 2006
The Clinton St. Theater
2522 SE Clinton St., Portland, OR 97202

February 17, 2006
Angelika Film Center
510 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX 77002

February 17, 2006
Angelika Film Center
5321 E Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75206

February 17, 2006
Darkside Cinema
215 SW 4th Street, Corvallis, OR 97330

March 3, 2006
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107


Festival Screenings

Toronto Film Festival
Jan 26 - Feb 6, 2005

International Film Festival Rotterdam
Jan 26 - Feb 6, 2005

Amsterdam Weeping Willow Film Festival
February 13, 2005

True/False Film Festival
February 25-27, 2005 Columbia, MO.

SXSW Film Festival
March 11-19, 2005 Austin, TX.
March 13 - evening, Paramount Theatre

...more at the site.

What a fucking year...

These are CD/LP’s, and I've not heard everything released this (last) year, so this list is not necessarily definitive. Just damn close. Expect a shorter “best of” of limited CD-R type things in the next day or two.

25 in 05:

25. Jackie-O Motherfucker “Flags of the Sacred Harp” (ATP)
24. Franklin’s Mint “Gold” (Sunburned)
23. Oneida “Secret Wars” (Jagjaguwar)
22. Major Stars “4” (Twisted Village)
21. Todd Tamanend Clark “Nova Psychedelia” 2CD (Anopheles)
20. The Directing Hand “Bells for Augustin Lesage” (Secret Eye)
19. The Iron Kite “No Eyebrows” (Twilight Flight Sound)
18. Skullflower “Orange Canyon Mind” (Crucial Blast)
17. Earth “Hex: or Printing in the Infernal Method” (Southern Lord)
16. The Goslings “Between the Dead” (Self-Released)
15. Simon Finn “Magic Moments” (Durtro/Jnana)
14. Boris “Pink” (DIW-Phalanx)
13. Corrupted “El Mundo Frio” (H.G. Fact)
12. Om “Variations on a Theme” (Holy Mountain)
11. Josephine Foster “Hazel Eyes I Will Lead You” (Locust)
10. Jack Rose “Kensington Blues” (VHF)
9. Mirror “Still Valley” (Die Stadt)
8. Marissa Nadler “The Saga of Mayflower May” (Eclipse)
7. Windy & Carl “The Dreamhouse / Dedication to Flea” (Kranky)
6. Steven R. Smith “Crown of Marches” (Catsup Plate)
5. Sunn 0))) “Black One” (Southern Lord)
4. The No-Neck Blues Band “Qvaris” (5RC)
3. Angels of Light “Sing Other People” (Young God)
2. Michio Kurihara “Sunset Notes” (Pedal)
1. Damon and Naomi “The Earth is Blue” (20/20/20)

Debut of the Year:
Akron/Family "S/T" (Young God)

Other albums thoroughly enjoyed in 05: Antony and the Johnsons "I Am a Bird Now" (Secretly Canadian), August Born “S/T” (Drag City), James Blackshaw “Sunshrine” (Digitalis), Cobra Verde “Copycat Killers” (Scat), Lightning Bolt “Hypermagic Mountain” (Load), Øyvind Holm “The Vanishing Act” (Camera Obscura), Xiu Xiu “La Foret” (5RC), The Harvestman “Lashing the Rye” (Neurot), Nick Castro & The Poison Tree “Further From Grace” (Strange Attractors), Twilight “S/T” (Southern Lord), Lurker of Chalice “S/T” (Southern Lord), Thralldom “Black Sun Resistance” (Total Holocaust), Kinski “Alpine Static” (Sub-Pop), Sleater-Kinney “The Woods” (Sub-Pop), Khanate “Capture and Release” (Hydrahead), Current 93 “How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon” 2CD (Durtro/Jnana), Wooden Wand “Harem and Sundrum” (Soft Abuse), Eyes and Arms of Smoke “A Religion of Broken Bones” (Cenotaph), Six Organs of Admittance “School of the Flower” (Drag City), Badgerlore “Stories for Owls” (Free Porcupine Society), Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice “Buck Dharma” (Time-Lag), Urdog “Eyelid of Moon” (Secret Eye), Mike Tamburo “Beating of the Rewound Son” (Music Fellowship), Mahjong “Raydongcong” (Cold Crush), M. Ward “Transister Radio” (Sub-Pop), Espers “The Weed Tree” (Locust), Miminokoto “Orange Garage” (Last Visible Dog), High on Fire “Blessed Black Wings” (Relapse), Sigur Ros “Takk…” (Geffen), The Soundtrack of Our Lives “Origin, Vol. 1” (Republic), Outrageous Cherry “Our Love Will Change the World” (Rainbow Quartz), Broadcast “Tender Buttons” (Warp), Gravenhurst “Fires in Distant Buildings (Warp), Thuja “Pine Cone Temples” 2CD (Strange Attractors), Nels Cline/ Wally Shoup/ Chris Corsano “Immolation/ Immersion” (Strange Attractors), Cold Bleak Heat “It’s Magnificent, but It Isn’t War” (Family Vineyard), Hototogisu “Green” (Heavy Blossom), Residual Echoes “Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean” (Holy Mountain), Disembowelment “S/T” 2CD (Relapse), Castanets “First Light’s Freeze” (Asthmatic Kity), Fursaxa “Amulet” (Last Visible Dog) and Lepidoptera (ATP), Nagisa Ni Te “Dream Sounds” (Jagjaguwar), Black Mountain “S/T” (Jagjaguwar), Subarachnoid Space “The Red Veil” (Strange Attractors), Islaja “Palaa Aurinkoon” (Fonal), Boduf Songs “S/T” (Kranky), Birchville Cat Motel “Firepower Fragrant Cloud” (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon), Spires That in the Sunset Rise “Four Winds the Walker” (Secret Eye), Sunroof “Silver Bear Mist” 2CD (VHF), The Volebeats “Like Her” (Turquoise Mountain), Mirror “Viking Burial for a French Car” (Plinkity Plonk), Goblin Market “Haunted” (Camera Obscura), Salamander “Bent Hemlock” (Camera Obscura), Tetuzi Akiyama “Pre-Existence” (Locust), Mountain Goats “The Sunset Tree” (4AD), Paul Metzger “Three Improvisations on Modified Banjo” (Chairkickers Union), Jesu "S/T" (Hydrahead), Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Worn Copy" (Paw Tracks), Animal Collective "Feels" (Fat Cat), Black Dice "Broken Ear Record" (DFA/Astralworks), Angels of Light and Akron/Family Split (Young God), Pelt Untitled (VHF)

Reissues:
5. Judy Henske & Jerry Yester “Farewell Aldebaren” (Radioactive)
4. The Nether Dawn “Whiskey Mute-Down” (Last Visible Dog)
3. Omit “Tracer” 2CD (Helen Scarsdale)
2. George Brigman “Jungle Rot” (Anopheles)
1. Current 93 “Thunder Perfect Mind” 2CD (Durtro/Jnana)
...and mustn't forget the entire Can back catalog, Stooges "Funhouse" 2CD on Rhino, Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and Dino Jr.'s classic early albums.

Compilations:
3. “Gold Leaf Branches” (Digitalis)
2. “By the Fruits, You Shall Know The Roots" (Time-Lag/Eclipse)
1. “Invisible Pyramid Elegy Box” (Last Visible Dog)
Honorable Mention: “Wailing Bones Vol. 1" Tom Carter, Alligator Crystal Moth, Keijo & The Free Players, Drona Parva (Digitalis)

Music Related DVD or Program:
The Flaming Lips “The Fearless Freaks”
Bob Dylan “No Direction Home”
Ghost "Metamorphosis: Ghost Chronicles 1984-2004"

Live Space-Prog Blast from the Past:
Robert Wyatt & Friends “Theater Royal Drury Lane” (Hannibal)

FUCKING 2006!

In an effort to "feel the love" and that all too elusive peace or stillness during this time of long days and bitter winds, and to acknowledge that there is such a thing as "beautiful noise," I give you seven albums that offer their own defined paths to the undefinable.

First up, yet another snapshot at the under-underground, as in the Australian/New Zealand noise/psych scene. It's a compilation that arrives with the same holy reverence that brought a few out of the region in the early/mid 90s--albums that offered harrowing glimpses at some of the most genuinely twisted, vibrant, bleak, raw, undeniably human pop/jazz/noise whatever the world has ever known. Going back to the early years of the Flying Nun label (The new "Where In The World Is Wendy Broccoli?" comp is an excellent introduction to those early daze) on down through the ages to the equally visionary likes of PseudoArcana, Celebrate Psi-Phenomenon and Metonymic, but what about NZ's much larger neighbor to the North? Oz is largely overlooked and ignored, at least around here, but 2005 has shown the likes of Rhizome, Kindling, MusicYourMindWillLoveYou and Spanish Magic to be every bit the spiritual, mind-warping equals of their kiwi predecessors. Only just scraped the top of the enormous MYMWLY discog, and the recordings on the Spanish Magic imprint are equally essential listening for those who favor the droning, squealing, dissonant blissout above all other methods of discourse. "It's Over, We Don't Care," the CD in question, is more firm proof that any so called golden age has far from subsided. "It's Over..." feels like a direct extension of that blessed era. This little comp (12 songs, just one CD) is chock full of trance inducing garage noise passages (see Hiss's "Burning Easter"--incredible!), and a track by the all too elusive, dearly loved Garbage and The Flowers (and it's a slow pop dream entitled "Elisabeth"). The always dependable Hi God People do the sort of space age minimal pulse that Stereolab and Jessamine perfected in the mid 90s. There's the roly poly Tortoise like post-jazz of ii, Brothers of the Occult Sisterhood's moody prog noise and Keith Mason's godhead guitar sorcery. Castings (the cats who run Spanish Magic) keep it short and stumbling with "Missive:Aside," and Anthony Guerra and Peter Blamey arouse a piercing fuzz scream of twin guitars that glares like the morning sun. Also on Spanish Magic comes the ubiquitous Robert Horton in his Egghatcher guise. The guy has probably released more limited CD-R's in 05 than any other artist, and be he conjuring screeching steel string meditations or unleashing a free jazz howl, his stuff manages to maintain a constant magnetic pull. On "Cat's Ear" Egghatcher bears some resemblance to Robert's solo material, only this is more of a sound sculpture thing, complete with some tasteful digital manipulation. Imagine Omit given a slightly more bubbly texture, which is shorthand for Horton has a lot of ideas up his sleeve that range from surrealist nightmare collage to fun with contact mics, field recordings, turntables, dulcimer, etc. It occasionally makes me think of the holy trinity of NWW/Coil/Current 93 at their most abstract. Praise be.

Next up an extended reissue of Fursaxa's "Amulet" (Last Visible Dog), without question a deeply spiritual journey. Tara Burke's vocal on opener "Rheine" takes on a somber, devotional aura, as a chant loop that could earn her another Popol Vuh comparison is slowly engulfed in shakers, percussion, flute and other harmonies. Definitely one of her most alluring, transportive trips, that commanding opera voice in full siren form. Other places we get the kind of strummy lo-fi pop I could copulate with ("Rodeo in the Sky"), organic chorals to the heavens ("Crimson," "Songs for the Cicada") and more mind cleansing, fuzz laden medieval arias, and guest contributions from the Brothers Gibbons of Bardo Pond. That explains things.

The brothers and lovers of Pelt bring us their own take on the holy holy with "Untitled" (VHF), which I'm going to go out on a limb here and say is among their top three or so albums to date. There is an air here, a noticeable tone shift towards the highest regions, that conveys some genuinely inspired chaplets of sound stretched out over 3 extended raga jams and 1 short dissonant drone. There's a noticeable influence (to my ears) of those wacky Euro improv/droners who seem to be on the constant sonic ascent, but Pelt maintains its patented trademark of growing, mutating, lysergic dream/nightmare music from the deepest spiritual realms. There is beauty and horror here, dark and light, ecstasy and despair. Acoustic guitars are often scaled back (save for the extended central second track) for sake of rippling, sawing, droning, bowing, buzzing tones that stretch infinitely across the heavens, earth and the heart/mind, all carefully and deliberately constructed. Extra bonus of ambient sounds (thunder, a dog barking, a cat's mew?) only furthers my admiration. For those longing for more Jack Rose, less drone, "Kensington Blues" (VHF) will satisfy with 8 impeccably performed finger-picking symphonies that range from bouncy ragtime ditties and toe-tapping blues jigs to bizarro pan-stylistic string trips and stupefyingly fast, intricate, jaw-dropping 12-string workouts that sound more like a small ensemble than just one guy. With KB (;P), Mr. Rose emerges as the true successor of the mantle of Fahey (whose "Sunflower River Blues" he covers with deep reverence here) and, at the same time, blows the whole mother wide open. Masterpiece.

Another young acoustic sorcerer who likely admires Jack as much or more than I do is James Blackshaw. His "Lost Prayers & Motionless Dances" snuck out at the end of 04 to relatively little hubbub, and knocked me over the head with its deft mastery of 12 string raga, arty drones and inspired fingerpicking. You can bet James has spent much of his life obsessing over, soaking up and exploring all manner of folk and world music, and I wouldn't be surprised if one day he and Jack toured the US together. It would make for an unforgettable double bill. "Sunshrine" (Digitalis) is officially his third album (it and "Lost Prayers..." were issued on vinyl this year by Bo'Weavil), two tracks--one very long, one fairly short. The title is the real draw here with a few warm strums building to some of the most liquid playing you will ever hear on a 12-string acoustic with rushes and lulls that make the heart rush and lie down on command. The guy is simply phenomenal, stretching notes out in endless spirals of dancing string tones, shifting to ornamental Brit-psych folk and well beyond, dropping to a drift of tinkling bells and bowed metal and closing things on a religious note with harmonium. "Skylark Herald's Dawn" is a gentle come down, a sweet little instrumental that arouses images of wind swept heather and hands interlocked. A slice of love, God, peace--take your pick.

Windy & Carl is a husband/wife duo that's come a long way since their modest beginnings in Detroit Shoegaze City. From their earliest recordings of the mid 90s on their music has maintained a dreamlike, narcotic quality that tugs at the heart/mind like a precious childhood memory or a particularly vivid dream that one hopes is never lost. The new "Dream House/Dedications to Flea" (Kranky) honors the tradition, but further abstracts and blurs the boundaries between dissonance and melody, waking life and dream, life and afterlife. This is an album of release and gentle glide, space time breaching, absorption, release. Four extended tracks of gorgeous harmonic wash comprised of guitar/feedback, e-bow, field recordings, Flea himself (their pooch who passed recently as explained by Windy in the sincere, touching liners) and more. Anyone who appreciates the subtler side of drone, gently shifting kaleidoscopes of sound and life in general should eventually be captivated by the deep listening possibilities residing here.