Lunar Lee Is Free

Peeps, don't forget to check out my Youtube channel, if you wanna get freaky.

The Dead C Patience (Ba Da Bing) LP

Have a little patience. Yeeaaahhhh. Fuck that noise. The Dead C remains the most potent rock band on the planet. Patience is their blumpteenth splatter of meditational groove skree since the DR503 tape dropped nearly 25 years ago. Like '08's Secret Earth (Bad Da Bing), it also features four songs -- two long ones, two short ones -- and it's all killer, no filler. Clocking in at 16 plus minutes, "Empire" is a bleary-eyed trudge through the waste we have wrought. Its diffusion of guitar fuzz decay and lost in the dark riffage is as potent and hypnotic as anything the trio has released yet. Robbie Yeats' heavy-as-a-bag-of-bricks drums are unrelenting and omnipresent while Bruce Russel and Michael Morley ring every ounce of desolation and trance-inducing rot from their respective 6 strings. Then come the shorter but no less enthralling "Federation" and "Shaft" before the final "South" offers some almost-solace across nearly 15 mins of stagger and drift, bringing to the fore just how much of an influence these lads have had on Bardo Pond, Sonic Youth and other like-minded souls over the years (or vice versa). Who knows at this point? It's all starting to bleed together. The Dead C is as proper a place as any for ground zero of modern avant noise fuckery, and its shadow still looms larger than ever.

Ghost Opus Eponymous (Rise Above) CD

Ghost (not the Japanese band) is yet another Swedish import in the retro doom scene, a scene that has by now become so saturated with lightweight pretenders and progressive pagan hucksters, that I'd all but given up on its vitality. I still like Electric Wizard and a lot of the heavier side of things (Salome and Monarch kick ass), but I take issue when doom tries to get all witchy and progressive in a cutesy retro fashion, which is what makes this Ghost such a breath of fresh air.

Opus Eponymous is kind of a joke. It's a record enamored of the dawn of the Satanic age in pop culture when rock and metal were inching ever closer to the slope of grim blasphemy. The hilarious/awesome cover art (itself an homage to black metal and the cover of Stephen King's Salem's Lot) is the first hint. The bewitched retro harmonies found all over the record are the second. Their theatrical live show the next.

Somehow these lads actually deliver on the promise of said cover art with a sound firmly entrenched in '70s hard rock and proto-thrash, right on the verge of emergence of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Yet their primary influence isn't British at all. It's none other than the mystic masters of Blue Öyster Cult (who I've always had a soft spot for, of course). This is so much the case that these guys probably should thank Buck Dharma in the liner notes. All bands should probably do that now that I think about.

Combine these post BÖC harmonies and Sabbathian cult fixations with memorable proto-thrash riffs, solid/tight rhythms, some psych and electronic flourishes (remember, Kraftwerk were all the shit in '75) with a virulently Satanic streak that almost feels like camp, and you've got yourself something quite interesting to bang your head to.

Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson's Final Transmission

FIRE IN THE SKY (Final Transmission)

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

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

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

Sun City Girls on Lebanese TV

Well this is amazing.

DOWNLOADS DOWNLOADS DOWNLOADS!

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

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

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

RIP Trish Keenan

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

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

(via Facebook)

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

http://rapidshare.com/files/442571226/Trish_s_Mind_Bending_Motorway_Mix.zip

rapidshare.com

Glad I finally got around to reading this...

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

RIP Christina-Taylor Green 2001 - 2010

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

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

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

Sun Circle Lessness (Arbor) 2LP

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

Hurdling towards death, in love with fear.
The more we know, the further we get.
The less we know, the closer we come.
Unravelling, rewiring.
Evolving, rewinding.
Conflict/Resolution.
Another year.
Another tear.
--Unknown

Top of the Pops in '10 (in no specific order)

Purling Hiss Public Service Announcement (Woodsist) LP

U.S. Girls Go Grey (Siltbreeze) LP

Sun City Girls Funeral Mariachi (Abduction) CD

Puffy Aereolas In the Army 1981 (Siltbreeze) LP

Michael Pisaro & Taku Sugimoto 2 Seconds / B Minor / Wave (Erstwhile) CD

Failing Lights Self-Titled (Intransitive) CD

The Body All the Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood (At a Loss) CD

Blaze Foley Sittin By the Road (Lost Art) CD

Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God) 2CD

Jack Rose Luck in the Valley (Thrill Jockey) CD

Oneohtrix Point Never Returnal (Mego) CD

The Dead C Patience (Ba Da Bing) CD

White Hills Self-Titled (Thrill Jockey) CD

Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet Air Supply (Erstwhile) CD

Bardo Pond Self-Titled (Fire) CD

Kemialliset Ystävät Ullakkopalo (Fonal) CD

Ghost Opus Anonymous (Rise Above) CD

Sabbath Assembly Restored to One (The Ajna Offensive) LP

La Otracina Reality Has Got To Die (Holy Mountain) 2LP

Sun Circle Lessness (Arbor) 2LP

Bare Wires Seeking Love (Castle Face) CD

Sylvester Anfang II Commune Cassetten (Blackest Rainbow) LP

Voice of the Seven Thunders Self-Titled (Holy Mountain) CD

Evan Caminiti West Winds (Three Lobed) LP

Barn Owl Ancestral Star (Thrill Jockey) CD

Deathspell Omega Paracletus (Norma Evangelium Diabol) CD

Fabulous Diamonds II (Siltbreeze) CD

Vas Deferens Organization Ninth Ward Fourth World (Free Dope and Fucking in the Streets) LP

Melvins The Bride Screamed Murder (Ipecac) CD

Imaginary Softwoods Imaginary Softwoods (Digitalis) 2LP

Cyclobe Wounded Galaxies Tap At The Window (Phantam Code) LP

Jon Mueller The Whole (Type) CD

Electric Wizard Black Masses (Rise Above) CD

Neil Young Le Noise (Reprise) CD

Endless Boogie Full House Head (No Quarter) CD

Reissues

Kevin Drumm Self-Titled (Thin Wrist) 2LP

Thomas Koner Nunatak / Teimo / Permafrost (Type) 3CD

JD Emmanuel Wizard (Important) LP

Short Form and Cassette

Pink Reason Winona (Woodsist) 7"

Various Artists Solo Guitar (Winebox Press) 3C.20

MV & EE Sweetheart of the Nascar (Electric Temple) 7"

White Rainbow Night Tracer (Bandcamp) MP3EP

The Mantles Pink Information (Mexican Summer) 12"EP


Live

Puffy Areolas / White Drugs / Kaboom @ Rubber Gloves in Denton

Neil Young / Bert Jansch @ Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas

Fat Worm of Error / Zanzibar Snails @ House of Doom in Arlington

Christoph Heemann / Rick Reed @ Ceremony Hall in Austin

Koboku Senju / The Watchers @ Pheonix Project in Dallas

Biggest Bummer

Captain Beefheart and half of Big Star (Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel) dying. And Sleazy. So long, Dennis Hopper.

Biggest Unhealthy Fixation

Female dance pop divas like Robyn, Gaga, Rihanna and that slut Ke$ha, who I would probably actually like if she'd ease up off the autotune, but not Katy Perry. Never Katy Perry!

Records I Will Probably End Up Liking Anyway, Despite All My Best Efforts Not To

Kanye My Beautiful Nightmare

Katy Perry California Gurls

Movies

Black Swan
True Grit

Winter's Bone
The House of the Devil
Splice
Inception
Toy Story 3

Easy A

Also liked The Social Network and The A Team, haven't seen 127 Hours yet

MINI-REVIEWS (woot!)

This is not a year-end best of list, but it could be...

Blaze Foley Sittin' By the Road (Lost Art) CD - Solid collection of early demos from this Austin ghost. Features strong renditions of some of his best songs ("Clay Pigeons," "If I Could Only Fly," "Cold, Cold World") and more.

Clockcleaner Auf Werdersein (Load) CD - Blistering last blast from these Philly noise rockers with a dirgey nihilistic groove equally indebted to Swans and The Birthday Party. Great wiry guitar sound and awesome crushing rhythms beneath howling post punk vocals. Sorry I never got to see them live.

Pyramids Pyramids (Hydra Head) CD - Black metal and shoegaze hybridized successfully to invoke the lost soul of Kevin Shields after he's been banished to the bottomless depths as punishment for never delivering a proper follow-up to Loveless.

Thomas Köner Nunatak / Teimo / Permafrost (Type) 3CD - Type continues their reissue series of this dark ambient tone-weaver with a collection of three of his mid '90s works. Rumbling subharmonic voids for getting lost and never found. Darkest outer reaches of noise space but accessible and even "pretty."

Cyclobe Wounded Galaxies Tap At The Window (Phantomcode) LP - Masterful post-industrial sci-fi sound sculpture from this Coil related duo; offers up the expected and unexpected in equal measure from industrial, minimalism and harsh noise to prog rock, free noise, childlike lullabies. Should be available in the States through Forced Exposure next month.

Kevin Drumm Imperial Horizon (Hospital Productions) CD - One epic decaying celestial crawl from this master of lowercase amp hum and buzz.

Caboladies Live Anywhere (Aguirre) LP - Killer live document from this young duo sees samples, electronics and even some beats intricately (and spontaneously) assembled from thin air to invoke living, breathing hyper-realities.

Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet Air Supply (Erstwhile) CD - Yet another top notch collaboration between this unlikely duo yielding visceral sound mappings of the crossover between domestic living space and deeper terrestrial planes. Covers a lot of ground and a multitude of sound environments.

Sailors With Wax Wings Sailors With Wax Wings (Angel Oven) CD - Somewhere between black metal, post rock and classic shoegaze but really none of the above; it features some folks I really dig (Prurient, Marissa Nadler, James Blackshaw, Aidan Baker, etc), but more importantly, it rocks and rolls while always lulling with a detached lidded beauty.

Jesu Heartache & Dethroned (Hydra Head) 2CD - Far out, Jesu's using drum machines again! This 2CD is a monster -- one disc of two long Godflesh like trance metal trudges, and the second disc features more compact workouts that sound more Godflesh than Jesu, with the mellower vocals of recent releases intact. *Ed. note - Der, this is actually a reissue of two early EPs.

Giant Sand ProVISIONS (Yep Roc) CD - The master of dusty desert rock returns with another solid batch of broke dick country blues. Howe's Gelb's mumbling spoke-sung voice is an old friend, sympathetic and understanding, and on songs like "The Desperate Kingdom of Love" and "Spiral" as undeniable as the sunrise.

Altar Eagle Mechanical Gardens (Type) CD - Melodic dream pop with a cold wave feel at times built around simple beats, new wave fuzz organ, guitars, dynamic vocal interplay and bubbling electronics. More than enough hooks to go around. Very nice for this sort of thing.

La Otracina Reality Has Got To Die (Holy Mountain) 2LP - More psychedelic space metal mayhem from this Brooklyn trio; like the lost love child between early 'Maiden and the first Ash Ra Temple record. Love the sidelong title track and righteous prog metal cover art.

Bardo Pond Bardo Pond (Fire) CD - Been a minute since BP dropped a full length of all new material, and this one brings the goods and then some. Very possibly the most melodic and accessible long-player from these Philly heavies to date.

Failing Lights Failing Lights (Intransitive) CD - Mike Connelly of Wolf Eyes and Hair Police delivers with the first widely available CD from his solo project. Failing Lights is the sound of darkness seeping in, slowly and methodically taking over like a viral contamination. Only you don't get real sick when you listen to it.

Dark Smith Total Vacuum (Hanson) CD - Corroded murky power drones and surrealist gore movie soundscapes. Utterly grim and wrong but fascinating, like good dark ambient's s'posed to be.

Wooden Wand Death Seat (Young God) CD - JT hits the big time, wrangles Gira into the production seat, sounds kinda like Wooden Wand and The Angels of Light, and that's all right, brother.

Big Blood Dead Songs (Time-Lag) LP - Timeless psych folk duo with awesome guitars, banjo and the striking vocal stylings of Colleen. Some undeniably great hooks here. These two were also members of Cerberus Shoal.

Voice of the Seven Thunders Voice of the Seven Thunders (Holy Mountain) CD - Fierce tight prog rock workouts with a classic rock sensibility, but far from just another Led Zeppelin wannabe. Well rehearsed and lysergic at heart, third eye cast to the morning sun.

Crazy Dreams Band War Dream (Holy Mountain) - Wicked cult grooving heavy rock experimentation. Repetition and throbbing trance states with freaked out fem vocals. For fans of early Royal Trux, The Doors, Patti Smith and early '70s Nico, yet truly modern and unclassifiable.

Wet Hair / Naked On the Vague Split (Night People) LP - Awesome pairing of these two, operating in mellower trance pop mode here. Special mention to Wet Hair for turning Popol Vuh's "In the Garden of the Pharaohs" into sweet post Spacemen 3 electro pop.

Sylvester Anfang II Commune Cassetten (Blackest Rainbow) LP - Far and away the most impressive thing I've heard from this more recent incarnation of SA. Deep, tribal psych folk revelries.

White Hills White Hills (Thrill Jockey) CD - More righteous space sludge from this awesome trio with fairly conventional but seriously levitated psych that takes fuzz mantras to magical new realms. White Hills is never afraid to sound like a real rock band, a very stoned rock band. One track's called "Let the Right One In," and it smokes.

Jon Mueller The Whole (Type) CD - Brilliant latest solo effort from the owner of Crouton Music and drummer for Collections of Colonies of Bees and Volcano Choir. I like Mueller solo best, and this collision of percussion, voice and strings is a brilliant illustration of his many gifts with its hypnotic melding of driving percussive mantras and skeletal left field folk pieces.

Michael Pisaro / Taku Sugimoto 2 Seconds / B Minor / Wave (Erstwhile) CD - Fantastic duo explorations of mid to high register minimal drones unfolding across sidelong pieces. Time killing, deeply transportive, pristinely recorded and quite melodic at times.

Don Van Vliet 1941 - 2010

So Captain Beefheart aka Don Van Vliet has gone to his reward. Don is incredibly important to me, to this blog, to how I listen to music and see things. How many times in life do we ever meet a true original? Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band may not be the easiest to get into at first, but once The Captain and his pesky band of bearded freaks work their broken blues mojo, there's just no escape -- you've been booglarized for life. Rest well old friend, amid the dust and the wind.

Some links:

(1966)

(1968)

(1969)

(1972 or so) This slays...

John French's Tribute to Don Van Vliet

Dangerous Minds

Captain Beefheart's Ten Commandments of Guitar Playing

Other Folks Remember Beefheart at Soundspike

(BBC documentary)

(on Letterman circa '82) "You wanna be a different fish, you gotta jump out of the school."

Swans My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To the Sky [Special Edition] 2CD (Young God)

I wasn't too surprised when Michael Gira announced that he was reviving the Swans project once more. The world's all messed up again, but then maybe it always was. Demons need exorcising. Imbalances needs balancing. My Father Will Guide me Up a Rope to the Sky (yeah, I like it too) is Gira's latest attempt at contemplating such dilemmas, and despite the familiarity of his voice and approach, it comes from a place further along his unique musical path.

Despite the Swans stamp on the spine, one really can't overlook the past 10 years of Gira's recorded output, and the leaps he's made as a songwriter and composer since introducing the world to the more translucent Angels of Light. 'Course, Swans sound pretty hot on Soundtracks for the Blind, and those Body Lovers and Body Haters discs still rank as some of Gira's finest aural concoctions to date, but for me it was the discovery of the more soulful, trad-fixated folk rock of the Angels that revealed a truly complete artist, offering a nice counterpoint to the atmospheric assaults of the earliest (best) Swans recordings at the same time. That's in no way meant to short-change the invaluable contributions of Gira's collaborators over the years. Some are present and accounted for here, including Thor Harris and Phil Puleo on drums and percussion, Bill Reiflen on bass and other instruments, and long time Swans mainstay Norman Westberg on guitar along with a host of other contributors playing everything from jew's harp to trombone and violin. Gira's adorable daughter even gets in on the fun with a little spoken singing.

The songs themselves are a potent mix of late period Swans and the softer, more somber works of Angels in Light. What's worth noting is the heavier dynamics of a few tracks, combining the brutality of the earlier Swans with the seasoned compositional quality of their late '90s work. In the case of opener "No Words/No Thoughts," the repetitious throb is in full effect with pummeling rhythms swelling amid a torrent of shrieking horns and guitars before down-shifting into a brooding slow burn with Gira's unmistakable vocal front and center, excoriating all men for the sin of thinking at all. Now that's killing the problem at its source!

Other places we get the goth country one-two punch of "Jim" and "My Birth," both closer to the latest Angels of Light records, not a bad thing at all. Then there's the lovely "You Fucking People Make Me Sick" which opens on a trickle of bouncing jaw's harp and tremolous strings before the voice of an angel signals the apocalypse and all hell breaks loose with shrieking brass screams and thunderous percussive rolls. Genuinely fucked. Nice of them to wrap things up with the mellow shuffle of "Little Mouth," a foreboding kiss goodnight before a tumultuous night's sleep.

If you're serious about the noisier aspects of Gira and company's oeuvre, do yourself a favor and get the 2CD version for its inclusion of "Look At Me Go" (christened such by Gira's daughter), an extended suite of trickling pianos, searing guitars, power drones and more all mangled and squeezed from the original source tapes into something much more formless and miasmic. It may very will be the # 3 hinted at but never delivered by the title of the Body Lovers' first album, One of Three, but it's still all Swans. Not bad at all or their first missive in 12 years.

So, I love The Doors as much as the next guy, but this is just too little too late, don't ya think?

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the AWESOME and ALMIGHTY...

\m/ MAP OF METAL \m/

...which basically covers it all, from heavy psych and bombastic prog to depressive black metal and funeral doom. Sure, not every band in the world gets a mention, but the graphics and interactive set up make for a much more fun perusal than Encylopedia Metallum (which still rules), and Map of Metal literally rocks.

You can go here (via Weedtemple) and find links for downloading prime cuts from White Rainbow's bandcamp site. White Rainbow is of course Adam Forkner's pulsing minimal electro-space project, definitely one of the finer ones going today. "Night Tracer" is 30 mins of primo celestial acid-new-age minimalism that's ripe for late night chemically propelled mind cruising.

And looky here: Know Your Conjurer uploaded Bardo Pond's set from last week's Godspeed You Black Emperor! curated All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, UK, and it sounds pretty good after some EQ tweeks - one of the best inner/outer space sound dwellers on the planet today, without a doubt! Can't wait to really dig into their new one on Fire, which just may be their best long player yet.

And if you're really bored and love your prog rock as much as your camel toes, be sure and check out Prog Off.

Well, this is the shit. Over at Dangerous Minds, Richard Metzger posted up clips of isolated tracks of the Stones' anti war behemoth "Gimme Shelter," so you too can hear how singular and mind-blowing the individual parts are that add up to one of the greatest songs of all time. Enjoy.

Oh yeah, Dangerous Minds is probably the best blog out there these days. They also just deconstructed "Helter Skelter."

Peter Christopherson 1995 - 2010

Sad to report the passing of Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson of Coil and Throbbing Gristle. He was one of the most unique and visionary music makers I ever obsessively fixated on. I don't think that fixation will end any time soon. More at Brainwashed.

Ned does some remembering also over at Foxy Digitalis.

Various Artists - White Country Blues 1926-1938

Needles in the Haystack

Friends 'n' foes, reports of my demise hath been greatly exaggerated. I continue to peck away at the feed of life, exploring a little here and and there, eating tacos and getting out to shows when possible. Finally got to see Christoph Heemann live in Austin last month along with a brilliant solo set by Rick Reed (Heemann wasn't too shabby either) and the Guided By Voices (classic lineup)/Times New Viking gig (TNV was better) here in Dallas. Was thoroughly impressed by a Zanzibar Snails double set I caught a couple weeks ago at Good Records, new release forthcoming on Finland's revered Ikuisuus label. I love the new Purling Hiss record, Public Service Announcement (and anything else bearing the Woodsist stamp lately -- Royal Baths, Ganglians, etc, etc). Purling's gig with Kurt Vile a few nights ago was a fuzzed out guitar rock screamer that didn't disappoint.

What else? The new Swans record is the ALBUM OF THE YEAR -- I recommend the Special Edition 2CD with the awesome Body Lovers like bonus CD featuring a 46 min post industrial noise pscyh freakout that rewards deep listening with layer after layer of shifting instrumental madness. I also really like Neil Young's Le Noise, and that's not just because I saw it performed live back in June. Good songs, good production. I'll be lucky to still be breathing at 70, let alone making good tunes. Also love the new La Otracina, Reality Has Got to Die on Holy Mountain. Fans of recent Circle need it. The new Dead C, properly christened Patience (Ba Da Bing!), is a slow-burner that's coarsely needling its way into the frontal lobe as I type. A fine, FINE follow-up to Secret Earth, me thinks. Sun City Girls' Funeral Mariachi (Abduction) -- their final studio album recorded with the late Charles Gocher -- is measuring up to be the king daddy closing salvo of all the 'Girls' ethno-psych freakouts to date. Very snazzy, indeed. They will be missed. Cloudland Canyon's Fin Eaves (Holy Mountain) is everything I hoped it would be; examiners of the line between modern day shoegaze and vintage electro art rock should be duly bowled over. Daniel Higgs' Say God (Thrill Jockey) is a warbling psychedelic examination of all that is holy in the great mystery we call being. Watain's Lawless Darkness (Season of Mist) is something more abysmal and cursed entirely from these old lords of Swedish black metal. And for God's sake, lest we forget mention the dark folk rock revelries of Sabbath Assembly, whose Restored to One (The Ajna Offensive) is the most original and "classic sounding" record of 2010.

Some random used finds on my last jaunt to CD Source: Giant Sand Provisions (Yep Roc), Jesu Silver (Hydrahead), Grimble Grumble S/T (Bouncing Corp), Woods Songs of Shame (Shrimper).

I finally got around to making a contribution to Marissa Nadler's new album fund, as listed at Kickstarter. This is a great idea, of course, that lots of folks are taking advantage of in this new hands-on do-it-yourself technocratic age. Can't wait to hear the final results!

As some of you know I'm a fiend for pre WW2 country blues and I must send out a big "howdy" to Womblife's Patron Saint of The Blues for forwarding this delectable morsel my way:

Various Artists - White Country Blues 1926-1938

Album: White Country Blues 1926-1938
Styles: Old-Timey
Released: 1993
Label: Columbia
File: mp3@320K/s
Size: 167.4 MB
Time: 73:07

Disc 1:

1. Frank Hutchinson/K.C. Blues [3:04]
2. Frank Hutchinson/Cannon Ball Blues [3:23]
3. Charlie Poole With The North Carolina Ramblers/Leaving Home [3:04]
4. Charlie Poole With The North Carolina Ramblers/If The River Was Whiskey [3:07]
5. Cauley Family/Duplin County Blues [2:40]
6. Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton/Sweet Sarah Blues [3:01]
7. Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton/Frankie Dean [3:13]
8. Riley Puckett/A Darkey's Wail [2:55]
9. Clarence Green/Johnson City Blues [2:59]
10. The Carolina Buddies/Mistreated Blues [3:09]
11. Tom Ashley/Haunted Road Blues [3:15]
12. Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans/Steel Guitar Blues [2:52]
13. Carlisle & Ball/Guitar Blues [3:01]
14. Carlisle & Ball/I Want A Good Woman [3:21]
15. Cliff Carlisle/Ash Can Blues [2:58]
16. Val & Pete/Yodel Blues (Part 1) [3:14]
17. Val & Pete/Yodel Blues (Part 2) [2:51]
18. Mr. & Mrs. Chris Bouchillion/Adam & Eve (Part 2) [3:16]
19. W.T. Narmour & S.W. Smith/Carroll County Blues [3:01]
20. Charlie Poole With The North Carolina Ramblers/Ramblin' Blues [2:59]
21. Frank Hutchinson/Worried Blues [3:22]
22. Frank Hutchinson/Train That Carried The Girl From Town [3:01]
23. Roy Harvey & Leonard Copeland/Lonesome Weary Blues [2:53]
24. W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys/Bear Cat Mama [2:19]

Disc 2:

1. Blue Ridge Ramblers/ Jug Rag [2:52]
2. Prairie Ramblers/ Deep Elem Blues [3:19]
3. Clayton McMichen/ Prohibition Blues [3:03]
4. Larry Hensley/ Match Box Blues [2:55]
5. Callahan Brothers/ Somebody's Been Using That Thing [2:48]
6. Homer Callahan/ Rattle Snake Daddy [3:04]
7. Homer Callahan/ My Good Gal Has Thrown Me Down [2:42]
8. W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys/ Dirty Hangover Blues [2:20]
9. W. Lee O'Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys/ Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues [2:32]
10. Asa Martin & His Kentucky Hillbillies/ Lonesome, Broke And Weary [2:28]
11. Cliff Carlisle/ Chicken Roost Blues [2:32]
12. Cliif Carlisle/ Tom Cat Blues [2:52]
13. Bill Cox & Cliff Hobbs/ Oozlin' Daddy Blues [2:55]
14. Bill Cox & Cliff Hobbs/ Kansas City Blues [2:47]
15. Ramblin' Red Lowery/ Ramblin' Red's Memphis Yodel No. 1 [2:48]
16. Anglin Brothers/ Southern Whoopie Song [2:26]
17. Allen Brothers/ Drunk And Nutty Blues [3:08]
18. Allen Brothers/ Chattanooga Mama [3:35]
19. Smiling Bill Carlisle/ String Bean Mama [2:25]
20. Smiling Bill Carlisle/ Copper Head Mama [2:26]
21. Bill Cox/ Long Chain Charlie Blues [2:47]
22. Bill Cox/ Georgia Brown Blues [2:47]
23. Al Dexter/ New Jelly Roll Blues [2:33]
24. The Rhythm Wreckers/ Never No Mo' Blues [2:39]

Notes:
White Country Blues 1926-1938: A Lighter Shade of Blue is an excellent, revealing 48-track, double-disc collection culled from the Columbia, American and OKeh vaults. All of the material on this double-disc set was recorded by country artists that drew heavily from the blues, whether it was incorporating the genre into their own compositions or covering blues and hokum songs. Though there are several stars, such as Roy Acuff, many of the performers on White Country Blues are obscure, especially for listeners whose knowledge of country music stops at Hank Williams. That is one of the many reasons why White Country Blues is invaluable. It's a thoughtfully compiled and thorough historical reissue that presents a wealth of rare, fascinating material. While it might not always be an easy listen, it's remains an essential purchase for any comprehensive country collection.

Get it courtesy of the On Muddy Sava Riverbanks blog.

Was poking around the Youtube last night, and I stumbled upon this sweet clip of High Rise live in 2002. I was supposed to see them that year, but they had customs difficulties and never made it all the way to Texas. Boo!

Apparently, in more recent times the leader of High Rise, Nanjo Asahita, has basically fallen off the face of the earth. He's still around (he answers his phone occasionally), but he wont play any more live shows or release any new music, so I guess High Rise is officially a disbanded project. That sucks, but it's nice to see lead acid axeman Munehiro Narita and his new band, Green Flames, keeping the High Rise tradition alive and screaming. A very good thing!