Free download: quixodelic.com/site/warped-groove/
Looking for some dirty scuzzy drugged-up psychedelic blues? Then look no further. The mysterious Mondo-City Motorpsycho boys are back with “Warped Groove”, a 10-song soundtrack to a bar brawl and its aftermath. Richard Pearl, Joey Continental, Karlos Vibraslim and Eddie Burns do their thing in the studio, a combination of covers and original material. There are some real gems on this one – try ‘Lolita’, ‘I Lost The Keys To Your Kingdom’, and ‘Two-Legged Woman’ on for size.
Quixodelic digs The Mondo-City Motorpsychos.
(whoever they are)
Download Simon Piler’s ‘ground’ for free at:
quixodelic.com/site/ground
Here you go. First Quixodelic Record of 2012 in association with the excellent New Radish, and it’s my dear friend Simon Piler singing to you 6 songs of this-worldly folk-blues all the way from sunny Alaska. While the Daydream Generation continues to fade away and yours truly attempts to gather his bearings over the edge of the world, our interstellar lo-fi roster of acts are still obviously out there doing what they do. Neat little records like ‘ground’ are the sort of thing that makes me remember why once upon a time I loved doing this so much.
In many ways these tracks are the logical extension of ‘Lo Swing…’, stripped back to mostly just guitar and voice, more intimate and spontaneous on the ears, it features at least 5 of the very best Simon Piler songs you are likely to hear, including the epic ‘i praise homeless gods’. For all you crazy ‘KINGTIME’ fans, don’t get your hopes up – ‘ground’ is its opposite, right down to the lower-case letters. These are take-it-or-leave-it hymns to and from the wild landscapes of America and the equally wild landscapes of the human heart.
In Simon’s own words: “I had a mad weekend of it and ended up on the other side with a record album. It was pretty crazy how all the pieces just sort of knit together and I woke up this morning with this sombre little guy neatly parceled on the computer in front of me. It’s called ‘ground’. And it’ll be the first solo Simon Piler album since ‘theatre music EP’, I think. The Atom Band have thoroughly departed, I guess. Though I think that you will find they are not forgotten!”
“Mad weekend” however is a misleading concept – most of these songs it would seem have been bubbling away at the bottom of Simon’s mind for some time, and the music, lyrics, even quality of the recording are all testament to something that has been patiently and deliberately brewed (like all good dream-brews should).
Enjoy!
sydlane.bandcamp.com/album/with-your-shield-or-on-it
A couple of nights ago I felt like going out and finding me some new music, but then I remembered how I skim-listened to Syd Lane’s ‘Solstice’ from earlier this year (having still been immersed in the wonderful ‘Hypatia’ which fell from the clouds the month previous). And lo and behold, what should I find, but this…
‘With Your Shield Or On It’ – an album that (like everything she does) deserved a fanfare, but instead flew out under the radar on the wrong side of twilight. 17 new songs in the style of Syd, the voice hitting even stronger notes, the piano playing somehow even more fragile melodies, and everything sounding like it was recorded in a cathedral on the moon. For fans of previous recordings it does everything it needs to do – like opening a musical box you found in your great-grandmother’s attic, timeless tunes a la Simon & Garfunkel, but increasingly Syd, and so heartfelt that sometimes you feel like you might be intruding into someone else’s head and life.
I’ve listened to ‘With Your Shield…’ every night before bed for the last four nights and each time the lullabies keep me up towards dawn. With piano ballads aplenty it’s undoubtedly something for the softer side of your brain – my own favourite tracks are ‘He Don’t Trust’, ‘The Lost Art of Faith’ (amazing little piano coda), ‘The Men of Midnight’ (VU Pale Blue Eyes style murmurings with pure epic vocals), the haunting ‘Beautiful Sky’, and finally the gobsmackingly great cover of closing track ‘Both Sides Now’ where Syd’s voice arguably hits her finest spine-tingling heights*. Considering a previous Chansons De Geste song of hers called ‘Astride A Grave’ took several months before I realised it was my favourite song in the world next to ‘Strawberry Fields’, I fully expect sometime in the future to be floored by a track I’ve overlooked in the fog of small hour mind-wandering. This whole record shimmers with greatness, and you wouldn’t expect anything less.
In fact, if there was any criticism, then expectation might be it. As astonishing as the voice sounds, as beautiful as the combination of notes and harmonies are, there is nothing you haven’t heard Syd do before. Every record refines and redefines what she does so well and as much as you cannot help but fall hopelessly for the songs, but there’s always a part of part of me that would love to hear something different, something like a protest album, the same vision applied to the external world as she does so well with the internal world of feeling. But who am I to ask for anything like that? Just a humble fan is all. And anyway, you always get the feeling that the subject matter chooses Syd, not the other way around… so long may the songs of love and lost resound from her little faraway place in the world.
*For a far less cack-handed discussion of the song ‘Both Sides Now’ and why Syd’s version is so important, then look no further than my favourite independent music blog: thestreetlampdoesntcast.blogspot.com – Griff, Gordon, and Ray have been equally educating and amazing me for the last couple of years with their essays and musings on everything from indie-pop to discussions about depression, left-wing politics, the relationship between song and memory, and have even managed to make me re-think the 1980s as a musical vacuum. Blogs don’t last forever, so please show them some support, subscribe, comment, and keep the wind in their sails otherwise yours truly will have a lot less to look forward to reading every week. Who needs tabloid newspapers when you’ve got the Streetlamp, eh?
Just the sort of thing to shake up your winter blues:
transatmospheric.com/site/the-electric-cave/
HANDWITHLEGS return with an 8-track album of new songs, a fuzzy, fucked-up fusion of electronica, bad-ass drums, and distorted vocals, all fed back and forth across a floor of effects pedals. First track ‘NYA’ is arguably one of the finest tunes to have originated from Planet HWL, so give it a spin and see what you think. It’s free to hear and download, and only buttons on itunes.
