Rolling Psych/Drone/Freak Thread 2012

nice!!

^

Been away from a computer for a bit, thanks for the heads up NickB. Going to listen to that Holtkamp/Forsyth stuff later today.

Gonna chime in with Damo here to say that "New Pharmacist Boogie" is really cool.

I fucked up the link a little bit btw. Both tracks are here:

http://blackestrainbowrecords.bandcamp.com/album/early-astral

lol I thought Pharmacist Boogie was the name of a band

Hah. To clear this up for anyone still confused, "New Pharmacist Boogie" is the second song from the Chris Forsyth album "Paranoid Cat" linked above.

cosmic dead sound radical, thanks!

oh dude Cosmic Dead is a grrrrrreat band!

yeah they appear to know what they are doing.

Early days but I am liking a lot about the Psychonaut album. Keep this thread rolling people.

um just for clarification, are you talking about the Cosmic Dead album, or is that a new band I have yet to hear of?

I dunno, but I ponied up for the live Cosmic Dead recordings and while they're spotty in sound quality (not too, just a little) they are consistent with the monster groove.

I am referring to the Cosmic Dead album!

the new Sparkling Wide Pressure is pretty nice

I have been listening to the whole Chris Forsyth cannon. The guy is amazing. Has Koen Holtkamp done some good shit as well? Because the Mountains didn't do that much for me. Maybe I need to give it another try.

I'm a fan of KH's solo work but then I like Mountains too so idk.

Which KH solo work would you recommend?

http://worstward.bandcamp.com which is Steven R. Smith. OLD SKETE and the most recent Ulaan Kohl album. And whatever else I dredge up at bandcamp under the 'drone' tag. Oh, these guys: http://coopercult.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

Trying to catch more live shows, but have only made it out to Barn Owl and Acid Mothers Temple (to be fair, these venues were a two-hour-drive away). Trying to spend more time making the stuff, too.

Cosmic Dead are pretty great, though. Get on those guys.

Wow, that line justification is terrible. Can't tear my eyes away from it.

Aw man, I so wanted to go see AMT a few weeks back...

http://skyneedle.bandcamp.com/album/rave-cave-lp

^^ really digging the sky needle lp - rave cave. vocals kinda remind me a bit of a grittier susan langille?

They took a few songs to get rolling, but really got into it about the time they started "Pink Lady Lemonade." Worth the drive out.

Their Pink Lady Lemonade album was one of my favorites from last year. I was thinking about taking a bus into Chi but I'd have to drive to Kalamazoo and my car was kinda broke down. Fixed now :\

I honestly don't even try to keep up with their studio albums any more, but I go out of my way to see 'em whenever possible. Kinda like Spiritualized, only I don't go see them...

I just listened to their new one, Son Of A Bitches Brew. Great title, and of course a tribute to Miles' album. It is the first one I've gotten in a decade, since Univers Zen Ou De Zéro à Zéro. Such an overwhelming catalog. Someone needs to do a guide along the lines of the bloke who's curating the Circle stuff so thoroughly.

ha I'm still working my way through; I would say though that the two from last year were great though...

I almost got SON OF A BITCHES BREW based on the title alone. And the PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN-pun one, but I watched the opening act of the show instead and didn't want to give up my mostly upfront space for the AMT set.

first track off of Rippers at the Heavens Gate of Dark is the business:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sd0uuy6X9A

(thx to crut)

Saw the Magik Markers on Tuesday, and it was great! Hadn't seen them since 2006 or so, and didn't love that show (was during a duo period for the band, and it didn't work that well for me. I think Elisa benefits from being to be able to play over another guitar/bass, i.e., come in and out guitar-wise, to really do what she does best, or maybe they just had an off night that night, not sure). I had seen them in the original line-up a couple times and loved it, so was happy to see them in a trio format again. Not sure who the guy playing bass is, but it was cool. I am older (as are they), so was kinda happy that the show was more droney/krauty than full-on crazy like some of the old shows. It was really beautiful at times, but still full of gnarly guitar workouts. Even sounded like Yo La Tengo at some points honestly. I really don't how Elisa does what she does on guitar sometimes, it is like she wills it into speaking a very personal language. I swear at times the only thing touching her guitar was her hair, and it was shredding.

Another great part of the night was Mike Gangloff opening (ex-Pelt). He did solo banjo and fiddle songs, some old Appalachian tunes, some original, and it was gorgeous.

Yeah I saw Magik Markers a couple months ago and it was the best set I'd seen by them. Pretty short, had some moments of shred, but a lot of focused kraut jamming too. I think they are in a good place right now.

Third dude, at least as of a year ago, is John Shaw, late of Son of Earth. Tall skinny dude with a beard?

Yeah, tall skinny dude with beard. Maybe heard Gangloff mention him as well, so must be the case. Never heard Son of Earth, any good?

I like 'em. They're very, very, very quiet. Like, almost 'electro-acoustic' quiet, at least on their best albums. A tough live proposition but definitely worth it if you give it the time. I recall one show was the three of them sitting on a wooden floor in a semi circle rolling a big heavy silver ball to each other, creating a soft rumbling sound. Band also featured Matt Krefting and Aaron Rosenblum (later of Sapat).

Cool, thanks. Sounds like a nice live experience, actually, as long as the bill wasn't set up to be a "rock" gig. Wish I could see more shows like that these days, i.e., non po-faced "electro-acoutic" shows (not that those can't be good too): but kinda pranksterish, fun, and inventive sound-for-sound's sake shows. Actually work with Krefting's brother sometimes, who was really amused that anyone at work knew who his brother was.

Well, another "show report" post here, but I just saw Man Forever (aka Kid Millions, or John Colpitts as he is known these days) doing his "Panasophical Cataract" show, and it was really cool. I saw clips of earlier instances where it was just he and another drummer doing an eternal single-stroke roll, and while cool enough, I think it was probably way cooler for the performers than the audience in a way. Last night it was the full-band experience, and what I like about it is that he is recruiting different people to do it every night. It sounded great (oddly enough Mike Gangloff from Pelt was the keyboardist for this version and was awesome), really heavy with just random syncs between the three tonal instruments and the constant but constantly modulating patterns of the twinned single-stroke rolls from the snare. At times the air would be completely sucked out of the room when a certain set of frequencies/tones were held by the instruments, and then at others the whole room would seem to lift when a consonance between them was hit. Pretty mesmerizing, for sure. 27 more dates on the tour, so I definitely recommend folks go if it swings through your town. Hell, you may even be able to perform in it if you contact Kid, he needs to fill the band out in each town. Hit him up, sure wish I had been playing in it.

Love Kid Millions! Sounds very righteous.

Hey all, want to make sure regular thread readers know about this thing I'm helping put together:

For Lee Jackson in Space: a tribute album (one for the psych/drone fans)

Final tracklisting to be announced next week. It's a doozy already!

Ned, that looks very cool. Always makes me really glad when a community rallies around a person, represents the best parts of humanity to a degree.

Not too get too sappy here, but the Man Forever show was especially cool because Kid had sought out people that meant something to him to play the piece. He would go see Pelt before anyone knew who he was, and was thus psyched to have Mike Gangloff in the band for the night.

So yeah, the show was righteous on many levels, go see it!

yeah the man forever stuff sounds neat-o. wish he was playing somewhere near me!

there's a live set on fmu here: http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/45071

A friend of mine recorded the show here in Charlottesville as well, will probably get a copy of it at some point. Who played on the WFMU version, do you know offhand?

says "Man Forever is (today at least): Kid Millions + Brian Chase, snare drum; James McNew, bass; Dave Kadden, organ; David First, guitar. "

Cool, thanks! Gonna definitely check that out.

the "eternal single-stroke roll" you mentioned is actually sort of amazing. seems like it is going to be boring but is hypnotic.

Dude, the music was great, but honestly the theater was way more entertaining than I thought it would be as well. Kid sits kinda zen-like through the whole thing, as obviously he has done this a bunch, but in talking to him it was made evident that this is not easy for him to do at all. Very tough physically, though he made it look effortless. Contrast this with the other drummer, which on this evening was Nathan Bowles from Spriral Joy Band (and late-period Pelt as well I think), who grimaced and puffed and just gutted his way through it, whilst never letting the roll stop. Was really interesting talking to both of them afterwards, and yeah, it just wasn't boring at all. The longer it went on, the more entrancing it got. Really heavy with the rules-based playing of the other folks too, subtle note shifts would just become epic events.

yeah the fmu thing is just ridiculous in terms of physical stamina!

WFMU set was cool, definitely close to the live set I saw, but I must stress that live it was WAY cooler. I think the guys playing last night got a little more interesting with the set of limitations, or just hit more strange moments with them by accident, but it was definitely heavier. Part of that is probably just a room sound vs. the radio (the drums in particular lost weight on the radio for me, but my computer/headphones also suck, so that might not be helping), but I would strongly recommend that anyone digging that radio set go to a show if Kid hits your area.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-drumming-universe-of-oneidas-kid-millions/Content?oid=3073237

So hey folks, the Lee Jackson tribute full tracklisting info is up:

For Lee Jackson in Space: a tribute album (one for the psych/drone fans)

I am really digging this Robert Turman album, though it's squarely in Drone territory and not so much Psych/Freak:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PKWTsKXExE

Maybe it'd fit better in the Disintegration Loops thread, I don't know. Rolling hypnotic lo-fi minimalism 2012.