Dragon Tears - Turn On Tune In Fuck Off (2010)

Something unusual for this blog, not really specialized in pop-psych revival but this Danish trio, featuring the leader of Baby Woodrose, has just released a really stunning album this month. I really dig this Third Floor Elevator meets Hawkwind meets the Beatles (more specifically the Macca bass style). This is a side-project for Lorenzo Woodrose but it could be his main cos' it's very good. The 1st side is much more poppy (if I can say) than the second, much more psycherexperimental, but both are good to hear. Between a real oldies and a sludge newcome, this is a way to wash your head with something weird, strange but sapid. try it here and buy it then anywhere you find it.

Two tongue talk. Well, your heart it smells like burning plastic As you ejaculate atomic waste I feel like I’m lost in your matrix Confused by your false flag face You cannot make me eat your two tongue talk You cannot make me believe your two tongue talk Carefully weaving your fabric Like a spider hooked on the chase Your conspiracy is a secret fantasy About the rise of a new master race You cannot make me eat your two tongue talk You cannot make me believe your two tongue talk I’m swimming in your one world blood With my mind on a higher plane A photogenic skizophrenic Caught on surveillance tape You cannot make me eat your two tongue talk You cannot make me believe your two tongue talk War is peace, freedom slavery Ignorance strength, oblivion a virtue (swimming in your one world blood)

Union of Sleep - Death in the place of rebirth (2010)

This German band is amazing. It's sludge at its most savage, often compared to Church of Misery, but much better to my ears. It's fast and dirty, drowned in mud and sometimes surfing on it. This is their second LP and the world needs it. Quite short (30 min), not a second wasted in any self-indulgence. Rare that a sludge band possesses the raging power of bands like Racebannon. They do it. Not to miss. Listen here and then buy please. One of the highdark of the year. After Omega Massif, Germany becomes one of my cherished land for sludge and doom. And I'm sure there is much more. In streaming, one of the peak of this mountain of sound, "The Bridge". Rather incredible. Not the first to do this style but tonight it's like I never heard it before. I must get old or they're very clever.





A nice flyer. A message for many I saw today.

Van Der Graaf Generator - Lifetime fake 7" (2008)

For those who may think that Van der Graaf Generator, as most of their contempories, are only a band of the past, not producing anything of value since they reform, this fake single, with "Lifetime" on A-side. Don't know why nobody insisted to release it in this format, it could have been a hit who knows, with a Procol "Whiter Shade of Pale" era-climax but with lyrics to commit suicide I must admit (but they're the best aren't they?). On the fake B-side, the other present style of the band, the great "(We Are) Not There" song closing the Trisector LP. Cos' there is nothing rare here, both songs are on the LP, but if you don't know what's doing the band (now a trio) now, a way to discover it. Then get the album. The new one is on the way to be released and this band is one of the rares to make me impatient to hear what's they'll do next. Maybe the only one actually. Taste it here. The cover sleeve is one of the most terrifying drawing of Kubin. Perfect for the lyrics.


Lifetime


Lifetime. I can remember it so well, the bed of roses where we lay, the crown of thorns I was so keen to give away. All the warning signs ignored, the passion's played. I could foresee what was to come, I had a sense of what might happen. The river runs and very rapidly becomes a torrent, sweeping us towards our ricochet. It takes a lifetime to unravel all the threads that have tied us in our webs of tourniquet. I stake no claim on memory. I stand on ceremonial quicksand. I look for something with solidity to hold: something lasting, something pristine, with no sense of decay. Can you remember how that was? Can you remember? It takes a lifetime's understanding of the flow to surrender, let the current sweep you away. What if I'd told you I would never let you go, I would hold you every step along the way. It takes a lifetime to unlearn all that you know to return the things you borrowed for a day.

A live(time) version


(We Are) Not Here

Alternative TV - Sol EP (1990)

During the 7 years separating the Peep Show LP (1987) and the My Life As A Child Star LP (1994), there were not many things from Mark Perry except 2 obscures releases, an EP (this one, called Sol) and an LP called Dragon Love, both released in 1990 and quite confidential. Sad cos' the times were to grunge and punk revival and it could have been an opportunity to come back. It's true that this EP is really lo-fi but, once again, I can't have a negative judgement on Mark Perry and I appreciate this one as the other ones. Not easy to find (and I found it on a blog but forgot which one, sorry). Catch it here. No picture, no video.

Van der Graaf Generator - The BBC Sessions (1968-77)

I'm sure many among you will appreciate this post cos' it gathers on the same fake LP (a double one if it really existed, and a double CD it would be) all the sessions Van der Graaf Generator (and without the Generator) have recorded for the BBC. Until now, there was only the Maida Vale album, now very expensive to buy and not easy to find on blogs, and the VDGG box, but never had they been pooled in chronological order on any CD. Here is the way to listen to them in their continuity. Listening to these 17 performances is simply stunning. This band, and particularly Peter Hammill, has brought to music something unique that no-one else would have done but him. If the classic line-up has recorded most of the sessions, the first and last line-ups have recorded the 1st and last ones and they are also great. Contrary to most progressive bands (but VDGG has never been really a progressive band), the live versions had something different, an increased intensity compared to the studio ones, and that's what we feel here. Moreover, the 2 versions of "Darkness" show how the band was not unidimensional in their playing. But enough said, this is simply extraordinary. Years pass but I don't change on this point. This band is great, and is still great today, in its trio personification. Just one last thing: the sound is quite uneven. The oldest sessions seem to come from rather rudimentary recording but most of them have a perfect production. Enjoy these sessions here.



Necromancer




La Rossa




Cat's Eye /Yellow Fever

K Lloyd - Solow (2010)

Repost of this album with new pictures of the cover sleeves. Moreover, you didn't notice enough how great it is. I wrote initially this: "20 years ago, I was discovering the band that will become my fave sludge band of the 2 or 3 following years: Buzzov.en. His leader was Kirk Fisher, a real madman but the greatest musical druid that ever existed, able to transmute his deepest inner angst and despair in a sound equivalent totally amazing. His life would therefore be a little chaotic I would say. But 20 years later, I'm listening to a certain K Lloyd (write k.lloyd, the same way I like to be called d.kelvin, with no capital, the only capital thing in life is sentence, and it's without any hesitation one of the most extraordinary acoustic album of the last decade. Honestly, I'm not fond of acoustic album but when it's Peter Hammill, Ed Kuepper, Robyn Hitchcock, Simon Finn, Dave Cousins or Scott Kelly and more recently Pale Roses, I have no problem with it. What I loathe is the big amount of post-Dylanian US singer-songwriters with soporific unmelodic and unsubstantial so-called songs. Soothing to my ears. Not k.lloyd. It's incredible the emotion raising from this set of tracks. It's rawer than the previously cited solo artists, and there's a blues dimension in it, but it's sludge folk for sure, the only one we really need today. There is also some electric songs (one with drums) and it's all I love, quite Bolanesque actually (such as "Done Got Old"). Believe me, it's a masterpiece and will be remembered such. And if you don't believe me, have a try here."



And buy it, buy it, buy it.



Muddy Waters


Done Got Old


Walk On Thine Own

Buzzov.en - Wound EP (1992)

Nothing less than the paradigm of sludge punk. I wrote about this EP (their second, I'll post Hatebox later on) in Xroads mag this month (French one) and I realized I never posted it here although, with Asbestosdeath, Neanderthal, FuManchu or EyeHateGod, it contributed to make me a sludgeaddict for the rest of my life. Kirk Fisher was something of a man, surely suffering inside, judging by the lyrics, but how talented to make this pain great music. Under the name of K Lloyd, he released recently a gem of an acoustic album called Solow that you can find here (but buy it then please). 1992, 2010, this man can still be in the greatests of the year. Quite an achievement. Get this classic here. It was added to the Welcome to the Violence CD but it's here in its original context (the cover is my own 7").



Blinded

Fleshpress - Rebuild / Crumble EP (2010)

Fleshpress has released 2 EP this fall. The first (No Return) to be found here, quite polystylistic with a rather extreme approach of sludge, and the second (this post), with a more atmospheric approach and, to say all, my fave. Not far to be the best thing in this style this year. A complete success. Try it here and then buy the real thing there, it worths it.

Van der Graaf - Cat's Eye / Ship of Fools 7" (1977)

This is the last single the band will release in the 70's (and surely in his career). It's no more the VDGG we knew and they even shortened their name in VDG, removing the generator. Actually, Hugh Banton did not want to tour anymore and preferred to have a family life even it he had to sacrifice a musical career. David Jackson followed too, although the band was on the edge to break in America. So, Peter Hammill called back Nic Potter, the acolyte of the early years, and the violin from String Driven Thing, Graham Smith. The album was not totally a great one but actually more relevant to 1977 that would have been the previous formation. From the LP was drawn a single in France, with "Cat's Eye / Yellow Fever" on A-side (a very Albinoniesque one) and an unissued "Ship of Fools" on B-side, quite a heavy one this one, even Rikki Nadir's derived. It could have been associated with punk without any problem, much more than the Stranglers or Jam for example. And the band changed his look quite completely too. Not many 60's bands could look so fresh in that year. All in all, a fine way to close the history. There would be a live one and that's all. The Hammill's solo career will begin for long decades. I included the flac versions of both songs in the rar file + the MP3 one of the B-side (in streaming below). More to come. Enjoy (here).



Ship of Fools


Ship of Fools. The captain's in a coma, the lieutenant's on a drunk; the owner's in his cabin with his special friend, the monk; the midget's on the bridge, dispensing platitudes and junk - those wild and special places, those strange and dangerous places, those sad, sweet faces, it's a Ship of Fools. The nurse in black seamed stockings, she's already on patrol for fake fur starlets panicked by the watering-hole; everybody's waiting for the drama to unfold in those cold and treasured places, those old and degenerate places; those posed, posed, empty faces it's a Ship of Fools. Run, rabbit, run, you're the only one that can do it; turn, baby, turn, there's a ring of fire and you've got to go through it. Fun, baby, fun, when the sands have run to the limit turn, baby, turn, there's a ring of fire and you're in it. Looking for logic and adventure down the dark end of the street, open city, open season, open lips that gleam so sweet offer kisses like piranhas to the soft flesh of your feet, and any man's poison is every man's meat in those mad and special places, those sad and desperate places, those sad, sweet soul embraces, it's a Ship of Fools Those strange and special places those wild and dangerous places, those dead, dead, dead faces... It's a Ship of Fools; no rules.

Man - Live at Berkeley (1975)

Recorded during their spring US tour (April 1975) while supporting their Slow Motion LP, this is the tour that allowed them to meet John Cipollina from Quicksilver with whom they would record their next album, the live Maximum Darkness, some months later. This Californian concert finds them in superb form, stronger than ever, and the atmospheric spacey music of the former line-up has been changed in heavier and more electric rock (see the 4 first tracks), but with incredible improvisation as can be heard on the extraordinary version of "C'mon", very different of those we can heard previously. These recordings were issued on the Esoteric versions of Slow Motion and Maximum Darkness, but spread on the 2 CDs so here they are gathered in one fake LP. I took the orginal drawing of Rick Griffin that the band didn't like and moreover was forbidden of use by the comics Mad mag. A way to put it back cos' I hate that censors win at the end. Don't miss this supplementary proof here or there, that the band wa, at least until 1975, a fantastic live one.



Hard Way To Die

Kno - Graveyard / Smile fake 7" (2010)

The new album of Kno, the man from CunningLynguist, one of the best hip-hop band of the past decade (maybe the best actually but I'm not a specialist anymore), is a complete masterpiece, and will stay for me, with the Xasthur and the K Lloyd albums, as the most moving and important LP of the year. It's a depressing album, quite metaphysical about death, one of the more intelligent and deep on this thema in the whole music history. The samples are extraordinary. There is even (should I say heaven?) a Melanie sample (from "I Loved Harold"). You can hear it the complete LP here. Buy it then. I post here a fake 7" since the 2 real ones do not feature my fave songs (even if there is not a weak one on the whole LP). It contains 2 of the most macabre, particularly "Graveyard". I did a fitting cover (don't kno(w) where I found the picture). Hear it here.

Graveyard


Graveyard. A female condom's what you should be throwin in You need protection, I'm sick and I'm going inI'm sick when I flow with pens The shit like some old Depends The pick of the chosen men I flip...hold up I'm the Talcum Malcolm, the Emo Primo Got no need for beef, got a Vegan ego I'll squeeze three freaks in a El Camino Arizona Charlie's East Casino A stack on Blackjack, 3 on Keno So much cream that they screen my C-Notes Stains on my jeans, breath reeks of Cheetos These girls on my team, breast meat and deep throat She don't swallow? That claim's preposterous Lets just say she has a populous esophogus She prolly wanna crash, but no Bandicootin And yes we're going Dutch, but no Vanderslootin Cus I don't hit women, but I'll annoy a bitch Wiretap your phone, Rod Blagojevich I Vincent Van Gogh hard in the paint (ay!) What gave you the impression that I can't? (ay!) Many have tried, most of them failed Trap or Die, Oregon Trail You won't prevail if you push me I'm that dude, Todd Palin I get dumb...pussy There's a gem found in every heap beneath when you're six feet deep A ledger that points to treasure Pots of immeasurable gold That are six feet deep The Grim Reaper reaps the souls of those Who walk in their sleep, we're all six feet deep I pray the Lord my soul to keep though I'm walking in heat It's like I'm six feet deep

Kinks - Where Did My Spring Go / When I Turn off the Living Room Light fake 7 (1969)

After the great failure of the Village Green Preservation Society album (click here to find the unissued complete version), the band has been asked to provide one song for each episode of a comic show (it seems it was a good one) names Where Was Spring? Ray Davies will write 5 songs "Where Did My Spring Go", "When I Turn off the Living Room Light", "We Are Two of a Kind", "Let's Take Off Our Clothes" and "Darling I Respect You". Only the first 2 will be released on record, first on the Great Lost Kinks Album and "Where Did My Spring Go" on the 3-CD version of the Village Green Preservation Society. The show was broadcasted between January February 1969. There were plans to release on LP the whole song setlist of the show but this has never seen the day of light. And Ray Davies apparently never wanted these rarities to be released. It's a shame since, judging by the only 2 available ones, it's quite certain it would have good songs. In particular "Where Did My Spring Go"is a great one that could have been a single A-side (however maybe not a hit in 1969). "When I Turn off the Living Room Light" raises some concern, not because of the song itself but because of the lyrics. The first verse is "who care if you are jewish and your breath smells of garlic", something that reminds the German entertainer in Cabaret the movie, but we would have liked to see the scene of the comic show it illustrated to understand this line, because in this state, it's quite disturbing. Hope someday Ray Davies will accept to release the whole 5 set on some support. Meanwhile taste these 2 surviving songs here.



Where did my spring go. Where did the spring go? Where did the trees go? Where did the sun go? Where did the bluebirds fly? Why did the rainbow turn into shadows? Why am I cold now? Why does my skin sag? Why ain't my back straight? Why do my feet ache? Where did my youth go? Where did my life go? Remember walking in the rain, And getting soaking wet, Now I got rheumatic pains, And I really do regret it. Where did my teeth go? Where did my muscles go? Where did my shoulders go? Where did my chest go? When you were loving me, You were just using me. You would employ me, You would destroy me. Now all I've got are varicose veins. Where did the spring go? Where did my hormones go? Where did my energy go? Where did my go go? Where did the pleasure go? Where did my hair go? Remember all those sleepless nights, Making love by candlelight, And every time you took my love, You were shortening my life. Where did my teeth go? Where did my hair go? Where did my shoulders go? Where did my chest go? Where did my hormones go? Where did my go go? Where did my energy go? Where did my skin go? Where did my muscles go? Where did my liver go? Where did my heart go? Where did my bones go?

Van der Graaf Generator - Wondering / Meurglys III 7" (1976)

After their extraordinary comeback in 1975, after a 3 year gap and 3 albums in 2 years (each a masterpiece in its own, World Record, the last, being my fave), the first single of the band is released. It's true than it's one of the best composition of Peter Hammill (co-written by Hugh Banton, I suppose the "Strawberry Fields Forever" flavor of the intro is from him), a song full of pathos, that in other hands could have been totally ridiculous and pompous, but is in the VDGG's ones a moving, spine-shivering and tears-triggering song. On the B-side, there was the most intense and autobiographical song Hammill played with VDGG, 21 min long on the LP, only excerps on the single, but here in its complete version since it seems impossible not to listen to the full version. If there was anything equivalent to diaries in rock, it's in there. The band will stop soon after this single and will reborn with a different line-up, but this formation will always be the true one in our hearts and souls. Drown in it here. The cover sleeve is a representation of Lucifer by von Stuck. The pictures below (and back cover sleeve one too) are from a New York concert of the band in October 1976. Can see more here.





Wondering. I will arise: in the depths, I will open my eyes; as my breath almost fails me, survive. Wait - there's something unclear, there's something I fear now drawing close. Could it be you? Whose is that voice? Is it now time to make a choice? Ah - that irrational pain! This ridiculous brain now bursts with joy. Could it be me? Could it be now? Should I begin to take my vows? I will return:as I live, as I breathe, as I burn I swear I will come through, with my hands stretching out in the dark, with my eye pressed up tight to the glass, wondering if it's all been true. Wondering, wondering, wondering... Wondering if it's all ... wondering if it's all been true...

Fleshpress - No Return EP (2010)

You want to feel like if you were crawling thu shit and blood soul burning so listen to this (actually this is the title of the first track). This band from Finland (with Mikko Aspa, playing with Clandestine Blaze and Deathspell Omega and a guy in the extreme porno stuff I'm not sure to appreciate very much), mixes several styles and actually reminds me of what Autopsy did in the nineties, a cross between sludge, doom, death and even grind or dark metal. Its good to see bands not stuck in one style. The 2 tracks are quite different, the second being more Sabbatho-stoner than the first, with a wonderful instrumental final, one of the greatest psychedelic moment of the year (judge below it's in streaming). All in all it's a great EP. There is another EP from the band released concomitantly with this one and that I'll post here too. Don't know why they did not chose to relase a full LP rather than 2 EPs. A question to ask. Meanwhile, taste this shit and blood sonor load here, it's famous.

Van der Graaf Generator - Theme One / W 7" (1972)

There was a 2 year gap before another VDGG single was issued, but was it really a VDGG single since on "Theme One" Peter Hammill was not even here when they recorded this Georges Martin tune. And it has not much to do with the usual musical world of the band we love. It was issued mainly because the band felt it was a way to keep in touch with a new audience (this instrumental was part of their live set and worked quite well on stage). But it would not be the case. The single is worth the listen for it's B-side, "w" (for waves), a real VDGG song this one, and a good one. The lyrics are particularily relevant to what happens in life (at least mine but surely yours if you love Peter Hammill). Since on the Pawn Hearts reissue, they included the first version of the song (quite better than the one on the single), I included both in the rar file. It is to note that the UK cover sleeve (see above) of the single is the inner picture of Pawn Hearts and that today, it surely would be considered as totally scandalous. Time goes by. Get the pack here.







"w"(single version)


W. Life is an endless succession of waves, you're happy and you're sad and you don't appreciate the good times until you're in the bad.... You wake up one morning - w -and you're twice as unhappy as you've ever been before in your life. You wake up, go to the window and see smoke billowing across the lawn. You pick your feet up, drag yourself downstairs and you're gone. You wake up one morning - w - and you're twice as unhappy as you've ever been before in your life. You wake up, look to your left but you see no reassuring head. You stay in bed all day. At six o'clock you realise you're dead.

Bloody Panda - Summon (2009)

Here's what I call a seminal doom album (and band). But real doom, nihilistic, bleak, hopeless, more Esoteric/Skepticism than anything else. The particularity is that they are fronted by Yoshika Ohara, a female singer (her voice can be considered to be quite influenced by Nico here and there but the screamings are pure doom) and it's always another atmosphere than male vocals. The fact is female voices are often more associated in doom with romantic or goth doom when it's not epic doom. But not here, and as Monarch (another nihilistic doom band with a female singer, they're touring together by now and it's must a hell of evenings to see them both on a same set), it's the darkest and loudest version of doom we got here. At my age, I confess this is the only music I can listen to when I'm too down to tolerate anything else floating in the putrescent air in which I'm slowly dying. The case tonight. This music is, like Cioran in philosophy, one of the last thing you can grab before deciding to stop things here. In a way, this profound mortuary flavor is a perfume of life for desperates. Thanx to this great band. Support them, they deserve it. And drink this bitter potion here. Then buy it.

Paul McCartney - My Love / The Mess 7" (1973)

Paul McCartney often used the B-sides of his singles (or Wings singles but is it different?) to try things and it resulted in the best (see here) or the worst (quite often unfortunately). Here is one example of the former with "The Mess", a song recorded live that shows that PMC can put intensity and loudness in his rock (remember "I'm Down" or "Helter Skelter"). The A-side was a hit worldwide and is a nice love song but I'm not anymore sensible to it whereas others Macca love songs still move me a lot. Can't explain why. Meanwhile, go to the mess here.

Madness - Live EP 2009 (2010)

A fine gift from Madness this 4-song live EP from shows given at the end of last year. Don't know if they plan a live LP and if this is only a give & try. For all of us who were at the shows (not these, but similar ones), a way to remember the excitation of the moment. When alone in a room at night, it's a welcome consolation. You van dl it freely on this site here or go to there as usual. The cover sleeve is an adaptation from the real one associated with the dl.