germany strikes back

to add another axis power to this blog, here's a video of amon duul II. don't know em? go get their earth shattering, genre defining album "Yeti" if you can, there's an awesome cd reissue floating around, though i think it's out of print. the vinyl is a bit hard to come by. this band helped in creating a sound that most would call progressive rock, but those "in the know" would refer to as "krautrock" or "komische music." an offshoot of the much drone-ier and seminal german band amon duul, amon duul II just wanted to rock out instead of drone out. and rock they did. 12-string guitar, violin, knob twidling, and an insanely great drummer. they also got themselves a mention on the uber pretentious (but awesome) resource of unknown music: the nurse with wound list (check it out, tons of bands you have never heard of and much of it is incredible, more on that another time). check the groovy psychedelic video shit. this came from german television, they would run music videos after hours. oh, the post-communist bloc must have been a strange place.

the japs do it better...

it's true. japanese people do everything right (except porno, that's usually just weird. who wants to see a live eel coming out of a girl? ewww.). don't beleive me? listen to their music. the best noise comes from japan (keiji haino, hanatarash, hijokoidan, massona, etc.), uh... BOREDOMS, the almighty BORIS, classic bands like flied egg and flower travelling band (satori is one of the best albums ever. ever.), japanese hardcore (there is an awesome band called DEFIANCE OF SHITBASTARDS! COME ON!), j-pop of all sorts, and of course the current batch of psych bands pouring out of japan, centered around one of the truly greatest and most prolific bands of that genre, the all powerful acid mothers temple. mysterious and elusive, it seems like their sole purpose is to do drugs and record ridiculous amounts of music followed by short spurts of touring. if you get the chance to see them, do it. doesn't matter if you like the style, they are bombastic, spontaneous, and incredible live. you never know if your gonna get a set of scorchers (like "blue velvet blues" or "mammary intercourse") or if kawabata makoto (the shamanistic guitar playing guru centerpiece of the band) is going to serenade you with his shimmering walls of beauty as in these videos shot live at terrastock 7 a few years ago. check em out.



(ok, apparently youtube no longer has the second part of this video. so here's a different amt vid. stick past the throat singing (which is sweet by the way) and wait till the song. watch hiroshi higashi (the guy in the hat) go nuts. the other guitar player is kawabata, he freaks out near the end.)

Introduction of sorts

so, you all may be wondering something about me?

tough, it's an anonymous blog.

but, you may be wondering about the music i post here. well, not all of it will be folk. i plan to span the gammut, you know, everything i can think of. obscurity will be the focal point, since it's easier to not get shut down that way. so plan on some of this stuff being things you haven't heard of, and some being things you know well. i don't like no crap. only good stuff here.

of course, good is a subjective opinion, so you may not like everything. tough.

to give you a teaser, here's a mix of stuff i got on this computer. sorry, since this is a different computer than my own (mine's in the shop. this is my parent's. like i said, broken leg. living with mommy and daddy till i heal. fuck off!), i don't have everything so this mix isn't very diverse, but i like it a lot.

here's the tracklisting:

01: Grinderman - No Pussy Blues
02: Amon Duul II - Jailhouse Frog
03: Swirlies - In Harmony New Found Freedom
04: Liars - There's Always Room On The Broom
05: Slowdive - When The Sun Hits
06: Black Moth Super Rainbow - Smog In Cities
07: Es - Twenty-Five Twenty-Five
08: Hala Strana - Cutting Durmast
09: Charles Manson - People Say I'm No Good / Cardboard Houses
10: Jandek - Down In A Mirror
11: Swans - Black Eyed Dog (Live)
12: Fursaxa - Cle Elum
13: Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Hymn To The Idea Of Night
14: Ilyas Ahmed - Black Midas
15: The Ivytree - Churches
16: The Knit Separates - Journey To Love
17: Windy & Carl - Living Things And Ghosts
18: A Silver Mount Zion - For Wanda

so yeah, diverse (sort of). starts out rockin, goes all folky, drones out, then finishes all sadlike, but it flows all good 'n shit. give 'er a listen, you may like it. i'll post other mixes later too. i like em, not enough blogs do this. MIXTAPE INTERNETS!

uh... enjoy?

(split into two parts for your downloading pleasure)

http://www.mediafire.com/?unzlmwjnhmm

http://www.mediafire.com/?mdgimznucjj

Welcome

so this is a blog. wonderful. i'm not usually one for technology, the internet, and "blogs" (ok, i'm lying through my teeth. i love reading blogs like mutant sounds and experimentaletc... whatever, kill me i guess), but luddism aside, i gotta do something with all this extra time on my hands. why do i have so much extra time you ask? well, i broke my leg about a month and a half ago and i gots nothing to do with myself and am not allowed to put any weight on this thing i call a leg. awesome. so a friend convinced me to start one of these and post about music. i'm gonna do that. i'm also gonna put up opinions, thoughts, whatever i feel like doing.

so you all need a reason for reading this shit, right? well, here's one.

this is the album "Silver Wilderness" by the amazing and unfortunately short lived band Golden Hotel. some of you may know them from their incredible track on the Jewelled Antler Collective compilation "Heat & Birds," which if you don't have you should search it out because it's amazing. most of you who know of this band will know of them because of Flying Canyon, which was a sort-of offshoot from this band.

basically, Golden Hotel were the Lindner Brothers, Cayce and Sidney. (i'm not personally sure if there were more members, honestly there is very little information about this band anywhere, so if you know something please tell me!) in this band they produced a sort of neo-folk music that was as much concerned with feedback as it was concerned with accoustics. washes of feedback intertwine with down-tempo guitar lines to create a sound like neil young on barbituates with an echoplex or something, though still remaining quiet and personal. The neil young comparison is the most often used one, but really it's the most prevalent sound here, very americana approach to folk. no dylan here folks, just straight acid-baked guitars with bourbon soaked vocals to create a brand of folk that makes you want to sit in the sun with a flask and dream of the good ole' days...

listening to this cd again, it reminds me more of brother Sidney's project Hotel Alexis, which is still putting out albums (i think) and you should go get them. these songs grip you, hold onto you, and leave a mark that just doesn't disappear no matter how much you might want to get rid of it (though i don't know why you'd want to). really, the mood is a depressing one, notwithstanding the other events surrounding the album.

Cayce Lindner took his own life on February 6, 2007. the world will miss his words, his music, and his perspective. this cd has a very personal and spiritual feel, almost like you are listening to a ghost.

you should also go and get the extra-fine Flying Canyon cd (if you can), which was Cayce's other and more personal folk cd (featuring such guest stars as Glenn Donaldson and Shayde Sartin from Jewelled Antler fame! woo hoo!). Flying Canyon was described as "california doom-folk," and i personally think it has a more ethereal and gauzy feel than Golden Hotel, much more of a downer of an album, but totally worth every penny you'd pay for it. If Golden Hotel is a bourbon soaked daydream, then Flying Canyon is your lullabye on pills.

i scoured the internet for years looking for this. trust me, it's worth your time, and i think it's good to make sure that a cd like this doesn't fall by the wayside and be forgotten.
(sorry, no cover scans. if you got em, i want em.)

http://www.mediafire.com/?1zwnqzgztmy'