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SPOTLIGHT 258
26/07/2010 11:16
the Spot Light #258
d.d. Monday, July 26th, 2010
NEW RELEASES
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
MY CAT IS AN ALIEN & BJERGA/IVERSEN - MY CAT IS AN ALIEN & BJERGA/IVERSEN (LP/IKUISUUS/GOLD SOUNDZ) A cool, psyched-out collaboration between the mighty My Cat Is An Alien and Norway's own answer to Hall & Oates: Bjerga/Iversen. Space electronics, weightless freestyle strings, buzzing voices from the outer heliospheres and garbled and warped messages from the great beyond handed down on recycled trashcan tapes. Celestial harmonies from a neon universe. There was a double-exposed rainbow over the foot of the Western Alps this evening in late June, and you can hear the colours seeping through the cracks. Very limited edition of 268 copies. The ultra-cool neon-colored silkscreened jackets are made in five different varieties.
EXPECTED RELEASES
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
CUZO - OTROS MUNDOS (CD-LP/ALONE) Cuzo explores psychedelia in an open minded way - from a contemporary psychrock and heavy rock angle. (Think Voivod, Pelican, Baroness...) Their brand new work 'Otros Mundos' ('Other Worlds') offers seven new tracks, all instrumental, and all part of a logic whole. This is non-designed music, naturally developed for restless and hungry ears. The perfect soundtrack to a long post-nuclear journey.
ALEPPO PINE - HOLY PICNIC (CD/ALONE) Coloured trees, sounds from the forest, space trips. Discover the magic worlds of Aleppo Pine, carefully built with elements of folk, psychedelia and rock. Mystic harmonies, lysergic guitars, hypnotic sitars and celestial theremins melt into truly magical songs on 'Holy Picnic'.
RORCAL - HELIOGABALUS (CD/DIVISION) A 70 minute album straight outta hell. On this album Rorcal tell the story of the Roman emperor Heliogabalus, which is a story about decadence and decay. This album is scary, spooky, aggressive, and totally gloomy. If you're looking for the extreme of the extreme, look no further!
GREEN PAJAMAS - THE RED, RED ROSE (CDS/GREEN MONKEY) Performed by Jeff Kelly and Laura Weller, 'The Red, Red Rose' is based on the tragic history of Phoebe Prince, a schoolgirl from Massachusetts who committed suicide following intense bullying from schoolmates in January of this year. The song helps crystallize both the emotions and nuances of a tragedy that sometimes gets obscured in the black-and-white world of news reports. Musically one may compare the music to the darkest and most psychedelic side of vintage Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention. This release includes four more previously unreleased tracks.
60’s & 70’s & 80’s (RE-)RELEASES AND ARTISTS + OTHER OLDIES
MINUS TWO - SWF SESSION 1972 (CD/LONGHAIR) This is another true gem from Germany's SWF broadcast vaults, recorded in 1972. The core of Mannheim based Minus Two was formed by organ player Gr Kin (guest musician on Dzyan's first album) and drummer Walter Helbig, who also played with Nine Days Wonder and AERA. Their music was powerful progressive rock, with classical leanings and hints of jazz and bluesrock. This is a great collection of self penned material, showcasing the sense of adventure, excitement and open mindedness that were so typical for the progressive era. The booklet contains band history and a lot of photos.
VARIOUS - I'LL BE SO GLAD WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN (LP/MISSISSIPPI) In 1959 and 1960, at the height of the Folk Revival, Alan Lomax undertook the first-ever stereo field recording trip through the American South to document its still thriving vernacular musical culture. He travelled through Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, and North Carolina, making over 70 hours of recordings. The trip came to be known as Lomax's 'Southern Journey', and its recordings were first issued for the Atlantic and Prestige labels in the early '60s. Those, however, as well as subsequent releases on New World and Rounder Records, are now all out of print. To remedy this, and to celebrate Alan Lomax's famous Southern Journey's 50th anniversary, Mississippi Records and the Alan Lomax Collection have collaborated on five commemorative LPs, spanning the breadth of Lomax's '59-'60 Southern recordings, drawing on new transfers of the original 1/4" tapes, and featuring a considerable amount of previously unreleased material. The five LP volumes feature singing siblings Hobart Smith and Texas Gladden from Saltville, Virginia; menhaden fishermen's chorus the Bright Light Quartet; the Young Brothers' Mississippi Hill Country fife and drum band; Blue Ridge instrumentalists Wade Ward and Charlie Higgins; Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers; work songs and hollers from Parchman Farm; congregational hymns from African American and white Appalachian meeting-houses; Alabama's singing washerwoman Vera Ward Hall; the 1959 United Sacred Harp Convention; and the debut recordings of bluesman Fred McDowell, among much else. Each volume is being sold separately with its own distinctive packaging. All come with a 12 page booklet featuring many never before published photos. Old school tip on sleeves & beautiful sound. Not to be missed!
VARIOUS - I'LL MEET YOU ON THAT OTHER SHORE (LP/MISSISSIPPI) See above.
VARIOUS - I'M GONNA LIVE ANYHOW UNTIL I DIE (LP/MISSISSIPPI) See above.
VARIOUS - WAVE THE OCEAN, WAVE THE SEA (LP/MISSISSIPPI) See above.
VARIOUS - WORRIED NOW, WON'T BE WORRIED LONG (LP/MISSISSIPPI) See above.
READING
The psych-department in the latest issue of collectors' magazine Het Platenblad pays attention to excellent garage-tinged folkrock outfit UNITED TRAVEL SERVICE (compilation LP and CD 'WIND AND STONE' out on BREAK-A-WAY RECORDS), who operated out of Portland, Oregon, during the late 60s.
SELECTED PRESS QUOTES
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
FROWNING CLOUDS - LISTEN CLOSELIER (CD/OFF THE HIP) reviewed by Thomas Dumarrey for Punkrocktheory (excerpt) ...tons of reverb, simple harmonies, equally simple, yet effective riffs... Yes, this is how the Stones used to rock back in the day...
THEE WYLDE OSCARS - RIGHT, YEAH!! (CD/OFF THE HIP) reviewed by Thomas Dumarrey for Punkrocktheory (excerpt) They have tons of energy going on, along with the occasional organ and harmonica, which makes it a lot of fun to listen to.
LA IRA DE DIOS - APUS REVOLUTION ROCK (CD-LP/WORLD IN SOUND) reviewed by Ian Fraser for Terrascope (excerpt) ...basic heavy weight classic foot-stomping roots punk à la MC5 or early Stooges. Could have been worse, couldn't it?
LIVE KENTIN JIVEK (S.R.) July 30: Hengelo, NL (Lambooyhuis)
C.W. STONEKING (VOODOO RHYTHM) August 8: Roermond, NL (Solar festival)
SIXTYNINERS (VOODOO RHYTHM) August 8: Roermond, NL (Solar festival) / October 2: Eindhoven, NL (Coffin Carnival III festival)
GENEVIÉVE PASQUIER (ANT-ZEN), SOPHIA (CMI), IN SLAUGHTER NATIVES (CMI), iMMINENT (ANT-ZEN), PETER BJÄRGO (ARCANIA-KALINKALAND), JÄNNERWEIN (STEINKLANG), ALLERSEELEN (STEINKLANG) all perform at the forthcoming edition of SUMMER DARKNESS, which takes place August 13th-15th in Utrecht, NL.
DEWOLFF (REMUSIC) selected dates - August 28: Venlo, NL (Zomerparkfeest) / September 4: Rotterdam, NL (Rotterpop) / September 11: Weert, NL (De Bosuil) / September 17: Eindhoven, NL (Effenaar) / September 18: Heerhugowaard, NL (Waerdse Tempel) / September 24: Zeist, NL (Peppel) / October 9: Harderwijk, NL (Estrado) / November 26: Sittard, NL (Fenix)
PUDDLE PARADE (MORC) September 17: Tilburg, NL (Incubate)
CIRCLE BROS. (MORC) September 18: Tilburg, NL (Incubate)
SIENA ROOT (TRANSUBSTANS/HEAD SPIN) October 23 or 30 (t.b.a.): Zwolle, NL (Eureka)
COSMIC TRIP MACHINE (S.R./TRANSUBSTANS) November 6: Haarlem, NL (Patronaat)
THINGUMA JIG*SAW (DESERTED VILLAGE) Fall 2010 t.b.a.
Blog
Previous editions:
20/07/2010 12:06 SPOTLIGHT 257
12/07/2010 12:22 SPOTLIGHT 256
05/07/2010 11:52 SPOTLIGHT 255
29/06/2010 11:34 SPOTLIGHT 254
21/06/2010 11:21 SPOTLIGHT 253
15/06/2010 11:37 SPOTLIGHT 252
07/06/2010 11:43 SPOTLIGHT 251
31/05/2010 11:35 SPOTLIGHT 250
25/05/2010 12:20 SPOTLIGHT 249
19/05/2010 11:48 SPOTLIGHT 248
10/05/2010 11:26 SPOTLIGHT 247
03/05/2010 11:46 SPOTLIGHT 246
26/04/2010 12:04 SPOTLIGHT 245
19/04/2010 11:42 SPOTLIGHT 244
12/04/2010 11:34 SPOTLIGHT 243
06/04/2010 11:57 SPOTLIGHT 242
29/03/2010 11:48 SPOTLIGHT 241
22/03/2010 11:36 SPOTLIGHT 240
15/03/2010 11:57 SPOTLIGHT 239
08/03/2010 12:03 SPOTLIGHT 238
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