martedì 29 giugno 2010

Ode to the Captain #3

FIRST DOG TO VISIT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH "Colossus Archosaur" (Self-Released, 2010)


Ok. If I had a dog I'd call it Colossus, I'd give it a bunch of bones, a heat shield and a well driller, and I'd let it be the first dog to visit the center of the earth. If I had a dog, I'm sure it would love to be the first rash reckless dog to visit the center of the earth. And what a better soundtrack for this mighty exploration than this glitch experimentation of noisy vibrations?


An homemade score for hipster dogs, music nerds and fans of Black Dice.


P.S. No dogs have been maltreated during this review.


http://www.mediafire.com/?ztiqoyjmjnd



FDVCE - Gator 6 from Ryan Watson on Vimeo.


Gator 4 from Dylan Jones on Vimeo.

domenica 27 giugno 2010

Oldies But Goodies #2

CHRISSY ZEBBY TEMBO & NGOZI FAMILY "My Ancestors" (re-issued on Hummingbird Songs Records, 2010)

I ain't got much more to tell about "My Ancestors" that I've already told a few months ago about Amanaz. The only thing that really matter to be shouted aloud is: experience the fuzzy world of Zambia's psychedelic rock, it will be love at first sight - and that's for sure- you won't regret it.


http://www.mediafire.com/?nimdmkmlm0m




lunedì 5 aprile 2010

Who Could Win a Rabbit #6


PILL WONDER "Jungle/Surf" (Underwater Peoples Records, 2010)

The Underwater Peoples Recording Company is proud to present Pill Wonder's first LP, the fuzzy, untamed pop miracle, Jungle/Surf.
Like the lush tropics, Jungle/Surf lulls a weary journeymen with soft koos and delicate trickles. Visions of tribal maidens beneath slow motion waterfalls cloud the hiker as he plummets himself into the hot and wet greenery. Plunging ever deeper, those who dare fall in love with the jungle's hallucinogenic qualities soon find growling jaguars brushing up against their calves and trumpeting elephants announcing their arrivals. The monkeys swing amongst crooked trees and rusty radio towers, their chirps and howls seem to harmonize with the frequencies murmuring through the sky.
As night falls, the jungle disco's euphoric energy becomes almost frightening. The seasoned travelers heart beats like that of a hummingbird and his eyes become wide like those of flies. Despite miles of hiking, the man feels as light as feather, "How can this be?" he declares. "What is this place?!" And as if the Jungle heard his queries, at that very moment our adventurer hears the faint sounds of distant drumming. Now he is faced with a choice, go forth into the beautiful dark density or retreat back to base camp, content with already enough experience to write a hundred memoirs.
Underwater Peoples Records invites you to draw your machete, lace tight your boots and venture with us into the deep, unknown world of Pill Wonder. Like no other terrain ever explored, Jungle/Surf is diverse, exotic and utterly undefinable. While I can not promise your past hiking experience will help you navigate this lush and mystical world, I can assure all who enter with an open heart and mind, will leave forever changed.

Pill Wonder's Jungle/Surf was recorded by William Murder/Murdoch in a two year span at the house where he has spent all 22 years of his life, just north of the U District in Seattle, WA - under the roof where the rain hits hard all year 'round, Will recorded during lonely afternoons, often while his mother was at work at the University of Washington Math Library.
Using an old DELL desktop computer in his bedroom, with the illegally downloaded Adobe Audition recording software, Will employed boxes of macaroni 'n cheese, a little kid's drum set purchased at a garage sale, and often beat boxing for his rhythm tracks. Other than that, a 3rd grader's recorder, an electric guitar of the Fender variety, a guitar amp of the Fender variety, some sort of cheap keyboard and one Shure SM 57 microphone made up the rest of his recording equipment.
I'm proud of what he has employed and been able to create. There was always a ray of sunshine in our post-Kurt town just a half a mile away from me, and for that I thank you Will.

(by Underwater Peoples' Sawyer Carter Jacobs & Dana Jewell)



wishing whale - pill wonder from Martin Anderson on Vimeo.

domenica 28 marzo 2010

Oldies But Goodies


AMANAZ "Africa" (re-issued on QDK Records/Shadoks Records, 2010)

I listen to a lot of music but just rarely it happens to find out something that completely blows you away...that's the case of this amazing 70's African five-piece band, formed in 1973 by ex-members of Clasters, Black Souls, MacBeth and Wrong Number and composed by Keith Kabwe (vocals, maracas, tambourine), Isaac Mpofu (guitar, vocals), John Kanyepa (guitar, vocals), Jerry Mausala (bass, vocals), Watson Lungu (drums, vocals), all involved on writing and singing.“Africa”, recorded in the city of Kitwe in north Zambia in 1975, is a milestone of the Zambia's 70s “Zamrock” scene: 60's psychedelic grooves, plenty of fuzz guitar improvs, African rhythms, stoned chants and funky drums, with a ramshackle underground sound & feel – raw, organic, warm, beautiful. This feels like it was hand carved out of an old tree, rather than recorded in a studio. Mostly sung in English, with a couple of tunes in the native “Bemba” language, it's easily comparable with UK underground albums with a touch of African beats .

Sounds good immediately, but repeated listens reveals rare timeless magic, that makes you want more. Still completely unknown, so this album has not been scored yet by the collectors' scene. A real surprise. This little lost gem is more precious than simple very-rare-rather-good material.




domenica 3 gennaio 2010

The Power of Pop-Corn and Pop-Weed #3

















DOGME 95


Dogme 95 is an avant-garde filmmaking movement established on 10 rules published on a manifesto, in 1995, by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, with the signing of the the "Vow of Chastity":


I swear to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGME 95:

  1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).

  2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot).

  3. The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place).

  4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).

  5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.

  6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)

  7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)

  8. Genre movies are not acceptable.

  9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm.

  10. The director must not be credited.

Furthermore I swear as a director to refrain from personal taste! I am no longer an artist. I swear to refrain from creating a "work", as I regard the instant as more important than the whole. My supreme goal is to force the truth out of my characters and settings. I swear to do so by all the means available and at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic considerations. Thus I make my "VOW OF CHASTITY." Copenaghen, Monday 13 March 1995

On behalf of DOGME 95

Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg


The above rules have been both circumvented and broken from the first Dogme film, but actually as it's said on the official website, every director is free to interpret the decalogue the way he likes, just by declaring it.

Presenting itself as a "rescue action" with the aim of countering "certain tendencies" in cinema, Dogme 95 vowed, quite literally, to overturn the "cosmeticism" of modern cinema, the predictability of plot and the superficiality of action. It decried the "supreme task of decadent filmmakers" as they conspired to "fool the audience", and aimed to harness the "Technological storm" that von Trier and Vinterberg (rightly) believed would herald the "ultimate democratization of the cinema". The ambitious goal of the "Dogme Collective" was to purify filmmaking by refusing superstructures like expensive and spectacular special effects, post-production modifications, set design, soundtrack and other gimmicks or expedients. The emphasis on purity forces the filmmakers to focus on the actual story and on the actors' performances. The audience may also be more engaged as they do not have overproduction to alienate them from the narrative, themes, and mood. The "Vow of Chastity" also called upon directors to "refrain from personal taste" and cease being artists, in order to" force the truth out of characters and settings...at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic considerations".

The movement eventually broke up in 2005 and even though it didn't gain a huge worldwide audience, except for few cases, it surely left a print in the history of cinema. A reaction against overblown budgets and cinematic excess, Dogme 95 may have failed to spark a revolution, but its aesthetic influence has spread across the world.


Dogme #1 Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)



Dogme #2 Idioterne (Lars von Trier, 1998)




Dogme #6 Julien Donkey-Boy (Harmony Korine, 1999)






(My) 2009's Top 40 Records


#1
GRIZZLY BEAR "Vecktimest" (Warp Records)







#2
ATLAS SOUND "Logos" (Kranky Records / 4AD Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/12/you-snooze-you-lose-2.html

#3 FEVER RAY "st" (Rabid Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/12/fever-ray-st-v2-records-2009-karin.html

#4 SORE EROS "Second Chants" (Shdwply Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/sore-eros-second-chants-shdwply-records.html

#5 MOUNT EERIE "Wind's Poem" (P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.)





#6 AFRICA GERMANY GERMANY MEXICO TURKEY AUSTRALIA "st" (Olde English Spelling Bee Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/africa-germany-germany-mexico-turkey.html

#7 BABE, TERROR "Weekend" (Perizes Dream Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/babe-terror.html


#8 TONSTARTSSBANDHT "An When" + "Dick Nights" (Does Are Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/tonstartssbandht-when-does-are-records.html

#9 DENT MAY & HIS MAGNIFICENT UKULELE "The Good Feeling Music of Dent May" (Paw Tracks Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/dent-may-his-magnificent-ukulele-good.html

#10 JULIAN LYNCH "Orange You Glad" + "Split EP with Ducktails" (Olde English Spelling Bee Records / Underwater Peoples Records)



JULIAN LYNCH - "SEED" from OLDE ENGLISH SPELLING BEE on Vimeo.



#11
THE KING KHAN & BBQ SHOW "Invisible Girl" (In the Red Records)





#12 WOODEN SHJIPS "Dos" (Holy Mountain Records)








#13 GANGLIANS "Monster Head Room" (Woodsist Records / Weird Forest Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/ganglians-monster-head-room-woodsist.html

#14
VARIOUS ARTISTS "Underwater Peoples" (Underwater People Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/11/tropical-rain-washed-my-brain-3.html

#15 LIGHTNING BOLT "Earthly Delights" (Load Records)





#16 DM STITH "Heavy Ghost" (Asthmatic Kitty Records)





#17 GROUPSHOW "The Martyrdom of Groupshow" (Scape Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/groupshow-martyrdom-of-groupshow-scape.html

#18 DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE "...On Sea Faring Isolation" (Not Not Fun Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/11/tropical-rain-washed-my-brain-4.html


#19 OUR BROTHER THE NATIVE "Sacred Psalms" (Fat Cat Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-weird-america-1.html


#20 HERE WE GO MAGIC "st" (Western Vinyl Recordings)







#21 DIRTY PROJECTORS "Bitte Orca" (Domino Records)





#22 JACUZZI BOYS "No Seasons" (Floridas Dying Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/11/in-garage-1.html

#23 HEXLOVE "Pija Z Bogiem" (Dreamsheep Records)





#24 DEERHUNTER "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" EP (Kranky Records)





#25 BEACH HOUSE "Teen Dream" (Sub Pop Records)







#26
CASSOWARIES "Blessed Be is the New Godspeed" - EP (Fuck your Records)



http://hardcorepopsarefun.blogspot.com/2009/10/cassowaries-blessed-be-is-new-godspeed.html

#27 ANIMAL COLLECTIVE "Merryweather Post Pavilion" + "Fall Be Kind" EP (Domino Records)







#28
DAN DEACON "Bromst" (Carpark Records)



Dan Deacon - Paddling Ghost - Official Video from Natalie van den Dungen on Vimeo.



#29 AU "Versions" (Aagoo Records)



#30
RONIN "L'ultimo Re" (Ghost Records)



#31
QUINN WALKER "Laughter's an Asshole/Lion Land" (Voodoo-EROS Records)



#32 DRAGGING AN OX THROUGH WATER "The Tropics of Phenomenon" (Awesome Vistas Records)





#33 TUNE YARDS "Bird Brains" (Marriage Records)





#34
BRADEN J. MCKENNA "Gigantic Monster Cave" (Magic Goat Music)



#35 RYE' N CLOVER "Pencils Paper & Scissors" (Silent City Music)



#36
WOODS "Songs of Shame" (Woodsist Records)





#37 MIKE BONES "A Fool for Everyone" (The Social Registry / VICE Records)





#38 KURT VILE "Childish Prodigy" (Constant Hitmaker Records)





#39
CANDY CLAWS "In the Dream of Sea Life" (Indiecater Records)



#40 NITE JEWEL "Good Evening" (Human Ear Music)