throw up in the sky!

Ashtray Navigations is/are a project of one Phil Todd and his friends when he feels like incorporating them, playing with the likes of Alex Neilson, Neil Campbell, and Ben Reynolds. he crafts a style of drone music that stays very close to the grounds his contemporaries do, but it stays strictly unique and his own. coming from a noisier side of things (think west coast noise bands like Noggin or yellow swans (even though they aren't similar really)), but still sticking to the drone, he crafts lush fields of drone that are spacious and immense, with loads of little details that keep shifting in and out. very dynamic for drone, and usually the quality control is on "high."

this is his Qbico album "Throw Up In The Sky / With Fine Clinking Magnets." two shimmering pieces of processed guitar and tapes and other such jingle-jangle. i like this record a lot, it sounds awesome at 33 or 45.

just ripped at 33 though. sorry.

Ashtray Navigations - Throw Up In The Sky / With Fine Clinking Magnets
http://www.mediafire.com/?fiqzmdln4dr

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

old habits are hard to kick. so is Vibracathedral Orchestra

here's their double lp that i think the band released themselves (there's no label listed at least) and this one is a free-form doozy. loads of skittering and skattering of random percussion, strings, and keyboards going on underneath the layers upon layers of buzzed out, stoned up, messed around, and faded guitars that shimmer in and out when necessary, but mostly just occupy a drone space to set the mood of the track. this is the orchestra really letting loose and bouncing ideas off each other in a way that is playful but still retaining the overall feel that any of their albums holds, drones that you just want to give yourself to and fade into as they fade you out of this world.

i think this is one of the better of this band's cannon of albums. a bunch of minds on tape. truly exceptional.

Vibracathedral Orchestra - Double lp
(link removed cause i'm a dumbass.)

this one's for the lonely.

happy valentines day everyone.

good ole kills got you a present.

you don't need a review of this one. M Gira bedroom recordings. put this one on and drink bourbon from the bottle smoking cigarettes and staring out a window.

Michael Gira - I Am Singing To You From My Room.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1zmntkwjntm

ride those WAVVES man.

ok, i know this is everywhere right now, but seriously, if you haven't checked this out, then please please do so now.

this is Wavves, dude. a one man project consisting of 22 year old Nathan Daniel Williams and his 4 track and a bunch of guitars and drums. he plays a brand of surf-rock that is pretty unique in that genre. his songs are fast, snotty, blown the fuck out, noisey, but most of all fun. the thing that strikes me the most is how young this kid is... what were you doing when you were 22?

this is a band i would want to see at a house party in the summer time. definitely my new party album.

this is the tape version of the lp on fuck it / woodsist.

shimmy out and ride those Wavves on home

Wavves - s/t
http://www.mediafire.com/?xrdermh2mom

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