get slap happy, humphrey.

Slap Happy Humphrey were an interesting little idea of a band from japan. they played covers of songs by japanese folk singer Morita Doji, but they didn't do just straight up covers. they took the songs, and played them as straight as they could except for the inclusion of hyper-distorted ultra-destruction guitar that comes in and makes noise more than solos every once in a while. it's incredible how it comes off, the juxtaposition of harsh guitar noise and the crystalline voice of Mineko Itakura (also singer for Angel In Heavy Syrup). it works quite well, though the entire album is a tough one to sit through at once. there is, however, a standout track entitled Chiheisen (which also was the single released for this album) that is staggering.

this cd is a tough one to find. the band forgot to get permission to do these songs from Morita Doji, so she threatened to sue them unless they stopped selling the cds. so they did. sucks.


Slap Happy Humphrey - S/T
http://www.mediafire.com/?mbhzgxzwt0e

heat, birds, and jewelled antlers

here's the other Jewelled Antler Collective compilation entitled "Heat and Birds." this one is a bit different than the other comp. firstly, there are bands on here outside of the immediate Jewelled Antler family of members, before this the label had been pretty much solidly only side projects and friends bands. now it had grown to encapsulate bands of a similar spirit and global friends. the lineup is awesome. my two favorites are the MCMS track and, of course, the Golden Hotel track, but really there are no stinkers here, though it is a much slower and droneier affair than the other comp. lots more to do with feild recordings. very peaceful, really.

tracklist:
Track Duration
1 Jewelled Antler Collective - 'heat and birds'...and frogs 2:15
2 Hala Strana - Kanasztancok Ket Hegedun 3:02
3 The Floating Birthday Children - Swan On A Black Lake 1:30
4 The Muons - Little Star 3:51
5 Of - Aerial Cisterns 4:12
6 Kemialliset Ystävät - Juurakkotukka 2:49
7 The Blithe Sons & Daughters - Death In The Woods 3:01
8 Dead Raven Choir - Red Rocking Chair 3:28
9 Markus - King Of Black Leaves 2:35
10 Byram Abbott - 'doves rehabilitating at fort cronkhite, 2001' 1:01
11 The Family Of Apostolic - Mabel's Umbrage 3:52
12 The Franciscan Hobbies - The Horned Ibexes 3:21
13 Avarus - Hessu Se Tässä Vann, Ei Mikki 1:58
14 Golden Hotel - The Blame 1:38
15 MCMS - Live In Brooklyn, 8-24-2002 8:23
16 Thuja - Opaque Reeds 8:23
17 Yasmomati-Nandana - Gill's Pier, 6am, 07-07-2002 Krsna Meditation 14:27


hop on pop.

Jewelled Antler Collective - V/A - Heat and Birds
http://www.mediafire.com/?jwzzmm2kmmz

i return with a century of moonlight!

howdy.

i'm back. here's some Ilyas Ahmed for you all to consume. i like this album a lot, it's spacey and spacious and fucking brilliant. when he meanders on some sort of formless wave of free-drone noise it helps to drift along with him and find yourself somewhere else, where ever the notes take you. when he's playing that spectral guitar and howling it's truly ethereal. this is the brightest of Ilyas' releases i've heard, but not bright like cheery, like least smokey sounding and open. it's more sundrenched, but washed out. lovely album, really. i truly hope he sticks around for a while and makes more incredible recordings like this.

Ilyas Ahmed - Cetury Of Moonlight
http://www.mediafire.com/?myzmzay1jky

flying canyon. that's it.

so yeah, usually i get sort of "poetic" with the titles, but this one deserves better. this one is a cd that deserves to stand on it's own. this is Flying Canyon's s/t cd. Cayce Lindner poured himself into these songs. you can hear it. this is some of the most emotionally strained and saddest folk music i've ever heard. it's intense to say the least, it's beauty spans well beyond the scope of just the songs... it is a personal and incredibly close album, an album of hope and despair at the same time. featuring Glenn Donaldson and Shayde Sartin as the backing band, but mostly focussed on Cayce. as it should be. his sad guitar mixed with his coedine stained whiskey soaked voice makes me break.

Cayce took his life almost a year after this cd was released. this sounds like his heart was already breaking. so sad.

this is one of my favorite cds of all time. put it on and give it a good close listen. it deserves that.

Flying Canyon - Flying Canyon
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmoijfuyelj

a golden cosmos of psychedelia weaved by joshua burkett

FIXED THE LINK NOW IT WORKS SORRY

yo. here's today's shit:

this is Joshua Burkett's cd entitled "Gold Cosmos" and this one is a real hum-dinger. some of you may remember Joshua from his work with Tower Recordings, others from his collaborations with Sunburned Hand Of The Man or Kemialliset Ystavat (on the essential "By The Roots You Shall Know The Fruits" comp). This cd is amazing, a veritable who's who of players (MV, Ben Chasny, P.G. Six, Dredd Foole, Chris Corsano, Matt Moran, and others!). it's full of appalachia, psychedelia, and raga. the tracks are spectral and smokey, full of ethereal almost gone vocals, loads of effects treatment, and every song is amazing. this is one of my favorite cds of this style, it really is hard to top this one. if only there were loads more of Joshua's work out there for our consumption, this cd (which was released in 2001) is one of his only solo releases.

get this gem right now. astral projections for an astral mind.

Joshua - Gold Cosmos
http://www.mediafire.com/?jyxethijztn

from creek to creation, matt valentine is stoned.

you know, i love me some Tower Recordings. i love me some MV + EE. and i love me some MV solo shit. so it's natural that i would post this album since, you know, it's on Qbico.

this is Matt Valentine's "Creek to Creation" album put out on the good ole' Qbico way back in 2004. this album is full of stoned ass meanderings and stumblings, loads of appalachia styled fingerpicking, singing bowls, disembodied vocals, and fuzz. the album features 5 tracks, three under 2:30 and two going almost 15 minutes or longer. the influence of Dredd Foole is felt acutely here, with any vocals being warbly and weird, which is fine. someday i'll post that Dredd Foole album that's basically a Pelt album with guest stars.... we'll see.

all in all this is an interesting listen and way spaced out. for the more drugged of my readers for sure.

Matt Valentine - Creek To Creation
http://www.mediafire.com/?ztiy2eqeznn

p.s. oops! i had the link to the Kuupuu file here... i've fixed it now. srry flks. my bd.

shapes are fun, even linda perhacs agrees.

here's a real treat: Linda Perhacs' "Parallelograms" album. released in 1970 to almost no sales, this album became a "holy grail" of sorts to many over time. hell, it was on my most wanted list before the reissue came out a few years back. this album is very strange by 1970's standards, mostly consisting of Linda's pearlescent voice and spectral guitar, but then things get weird with electronic manipulations and interludes. this album set a course for many out there to follow, a sort of trailblazing path of folk music that hadn't been heard before and has rarely been topped since. do yourself a huge favor and get this.

this is the expanded edition, in case you were wondering. good demo tracks.

Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms
http://www.mediafire.com/?cnnzziczzcx

winds sweep past the trees and past the houses...

here's a gem: jewelled antler collective's "Windswept Trees And Houses" compilation. this comp is full of great outsider folk and drone music from a collective of artists most of you should be familiar with (and if you are not, learn!) there are three really standout tracks on here (for me, at least) 1. the silt track. just awesome. 2. the knit separates track. it's really beautiful and a great way to end a comp. 3. the billy crosby's cover of Current 93's The Signs of Emptiness. that song was sad enough when tibet played it, but the warbly out of tune vocals give it another layer of emotion that makes you want to just cry a bit.

this is a good comp. here's the list of artists and titles (cribbed from discogs.com). sorry, no cover scans (i don't actually own a scanner, and there isn't anything of this on these here internets!)

1 Family Of Apostolic, The Taking Me Home (2:15)
2 Entlang Lisa (9:45)
Drums - Donald J. Smith
Guitar - Kristen Wineera , Yuri Frusin
Viola, Vocals - Helen Johnstone
3 Blithe Sons, The Thin Sheets Of Beaten Gold (3:46)
Guitar - Glenn Donaldson
Harmonium - Loren Chasse
4 Ohm-A-Revelator World's End (5:56)
Performer - Bobby Ray (2) , Cole Palme , Greg Saunier
5 Thuja Pity Drain The Sea (2:40)
Performer - Glenn Donaldson , Loren Chasse , Rob Reger , Steven R. Smith
6 Rob Eugene Reger* Intruder (2:09)
7 Billy Crosby's, The The Signs Of Emptiness (3:16)
Written-By - Current 93
8 Jon Frum Movement Title Unknown (2:20)
Recorded By - James Nestor
9 Family Of Apostolic, The Bubbling Brook (3:22)
10 Skygreen Leopards, The I Fell Asleep In The Sun-Bleached Grass (I'll Just Pass Away) (2:39)
Guitar, Vocals - Donovan Quinn
Mandolin, Drums, Guitar, Vocals - Glenn Donaldson
11 Floating Birthday Children, The God's Secret City (1:24)
Guitar - Glenn Donaldson
Keyboards - Kerry Mclaughlin
12 Silt (2) Sail Reticulum (4:07)
Recorded By - Keith Evans (2)
13 Child Readers, The Fear Of Nature (5:22)
Harmonium - Loren Chasse
Vocals - Jason Honea
14 Steven R. Smith Night Partridges (5:37)
15 Knit Separates, The Upside-Down Flame (3:10)
Guitar - Glenn Donaldson
Keyboards - Mark Williams (7)
Lyrics By - Jason Honea
Performer [Music Box] - Loren Chasse

Jewelled Antler Collective - "Windswept Trees And Houses"
http://www.mediafire.com/?qjw0ynnmkiy

painting a picture of reverb

Corsican Paintbrush are the duo of Brad Rose and Eden Hemming Rose, husband and wife. these two create a wonderful brand of hazy folk music that sounds like a soundtrack to a travel documentary. on this cd-r, their debut entitled "Lichens And Moss," the reverb on every track gives each song a haze and smokey feel that makes you think this is some unearthed recording from the past. there is a definite european feel on these songs, mostly consisting of guitar pieces, but there is a huge diversity of instruments played on this. listen closely to this one, it's very quiet (and meant to be so) and very natural sounding.

wonderful folk that is very warm and pleasing. much love.

Corsican Paintbrush - Lichens & Moss
http://www.mediafire.com/?d5modumvzvt

running towards a night between two skies

Ilyas fucking Ahmed. incredible. folk music that is wispy, vaporous, layered, and incredibly emotional. this is the sound of loneliness, of an empty room, of hearts fading.

here we've got his first two cdrs (Towards The Night and Between Two Skies) that he self released in a criminally limited quantity of 50 copies each. thankfully, the kind folks at Digitalis recently reissued these cds as part of their arts and crafts editions. the songs are breathtaking, with Ilyas' mostly wordless vocals evoking better images than most singers can with volumes of poetry, and his eastern influenced fingerpicked guitar seems to weep. David Keenan described this music as "gone." i couldn't agree with that sentiment more.

these albums are phenominal and definitely worth checking out and purchasing. (here's the link: http://www.digitalisindustries.com/ace003.html )

i'm only going to leave these up for a short time since this is definitely still in print, so download, love, and order away please.

Ilyas Ahmed - Towards the night
http://www.mediafire.com/?ngjhoogmomm

Ilyas Ahmed - Between Two Skies
http://www.mediafire.com/?n2lnfegdmzn

to keep you from crying, here's first utterance

see what i did there?
anyhoo, if you are a fan of psychedelic music, folk music, and things that are genuinely scary, then this post is for you.

COMUS!

yes, comus, a band from the uk in the late 1960's through about 1973 (though they played a show this year apparently) were the essential missing piece in the psych-folk puzzle. whether it was their angelic singing, virtuosic musicianship, or simply the disturbing lyrical content, this band has become legendary in the circles of obscure music everywhere. these guys and gals did the pagan folk thing better than anyone, but it wasn't just for show. they were serious! this album is almost totally about satan, rape, murder, prisons, and other highly disturbing topics. when they talk about killing christians it doesn't feel cheesy or tongue in cheek, it makes you wonder if they were the backing band to some secret pagan rituals out in the british countryside. and when singer Roger Wooten sings about getting shock treatment in a prison, you can actually believe him (rumors were he was actually institutionalized for a period in the 1960's).

this band is incredible. their influence is huge, bands ranging from opeth to current 93 have cited them as an influence, even david bowie was a fan. lacking much of modern recording technology and techniques, this album is otherworldly and terrifying at times to hear, with vocal echoes and seemless transitions that would require hours of overdubs now. this is probably the most necessary psychedelic folk album around, anyone who is a fan of the style should already know about this, but in case you don't it's time to learn.

a truly beautiful, strange, terrifying, spectral, and ethereal listen. light some candles, burn some incense, and make a sacrifice to your favorite diety, comus is here!

the first download is the 1971 album "First Utterance." the second is a reissue of the single for Diana, which includes two other songs from that recording session.

Comus: First Utterance
'http://www.mediafire.com/?wjzfy2yykzt'

bonus 12"
'http://www.mediafire.com/?zmmuzmmnlm2'

passing time, passing the distance

originally released in a very small quantity in 1970, Simon Finn's pass the distance lay in obscurity and was sort of a record for those in the know to brag about owning. sounding partially deranged, yet totally honest, finn's vocals remind me most of the charles manson lp that was released in the same year. oddly enough, both albums tread similar ground, but finn didn't start a death cult (to my knowledge, at least). both albums are folky in vibe, political, and feature mostly the named artist and his guitar. but, this album is very personal, the songs sounding more like a man pouring his brain out onto tape and desperately crying for an audience.

the highlight track is the song "Jerusalem," which has an air of utter desperation to it, with finn's voice getting a sort of rough edge as if he were almost yelling instead of singing the lyrics (pretty much because he is doing that). this album is incredible, really worthy of the cult status it achieved. in 2004 david tibet took it upon himself (with finn's permission, of course) to reissue this album on his durtro imprint, and i think it may have been reissued on vinyl this year... not certain though, because i haven't seen it.

this is a great album that will appeal to fans of late sixties folk artists like donovan (yes, donovan), and the current crop of freak-folkers (devendra banhart obviously loved this guy). finn tours occasionally, released a "new" cd a few years ago, and even appeared as a "member" of current 93 (though by now that band has had about 200 members, so really that doesn't mean a whole lot, but i still LOVE current 93.)

get it. you won't be sorry.

Simon Finn: Pass The Distance
http://www.mediafire.com/?dbqd22zzhxw

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'