Woodsman - Mystery Tape

Mystery Tape

Last.fm // Discogs

Stream and/or download all their albums and/or buy the tangible editions via Bandcamp. Check out two tracks from their upcoming Rare Forms LP while you're there. Absent from that archive is their beko_34 single, available from Beko DSL.

High Wolf

High Wolf's fractal psychedelics evoke the infinite geometry that can be perceived anywhere in the natural world, if you look close enough. Traverse the path into the forest. It is damp from a recent shower. Drops of water rest on a leaf, magnifying its skin. You observe the distinct pattern of its venation. You imagine sucrose pumping like blood, tucked under the microscopic layers of what can be seen. Or is the blood below also visible? Or haven't you seen it before, where your own inner arm bends? It is true that the same basic elements compose organic compounds which act as fuel for both lives. You suddenly notice you have been leaning gradually closer to the leaf, and you feel an inexplicable compulsion to lick away its beaded coat. The urge quickly subsides, almost as if the plant has commanded it. You realize you are already connected to this creature, and its energy, as it senses your proximity, amplifies the bond. The particles that give you shape are rearranged in the plant -- and, indeed, in all things -- to trigger unique dynamic structures. The leaf is a symbol of the natural world that surrounds you. It is a pattern repeating, but it is also alive, its adaptations infinitesimal, undetectable.

Myspace // Last.fm // Discogs


High Wolf (2009, Winged Sun)


Incapulco (2009, Winged Sun)


Ascension (2010, Not Not Fun) -nml-

Violens

Amoral, V

I have a new band crush. Their name is Violens and they're 4 New Yorkers from Miami. I would describe them myself, but their last.fm info does the job perfectly already:

"Their music imagines a place where The Zombies & The Byrds meet Wire & The Violent Femmes, and Crass meets Angelo Badalamenti & Prefab Sprout."

So much genre melding going on with Amoral - from poppy to psychy to some fast shoegazing on Another Strike Restrained and a little post-rocking on Generational Loss - I'm melting I'm melting! Also, I think there's a didgeridoo playing for a few seconds at the beginning of "Could You Stand To Know." They're so cool (I assume... not like we're close personal friends) and such a great change of pace from all the shit I've been listening to lately.

That's right. Officially dropped off the chillwave and ditched my chillboard, at least for the time being. One second my friend and I were driving around and he was telling me how much he loves Tame Impala, and the next second their music was blasting and I just had this thought:

This shit is kinda boring/repetitive and I've had enough!!!(?)

An inexplicable sorrowful rage filled my body. I asked him to change the music, and when he didn't I seriously considered cashing his face via my fist, but then I remembered that I weigh about 100 lbs, so instead I went home and listened to Violens.

Hope you liked hearing my life story and hope you like their music!

Prince Rama

After listening to this I experienced 4 flashbacks, 3 visits from a goat demigod, and I can now read sanskrit. Prince Rama make psychedelic music. Really great psychedelic music. Get out your ceremonial chillums and get prepared for a ride. This is their third full-length and their first released on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks.

Shadow Temple (2010)

Official Website

Here We Go Magic - Pigeons

Pigeons

Myspace // Last.fm

Vacation Dad

VDLIVEIMPROVSHIT

Vacation Dad made a Soundcloud page and uploaded a 20-minute excerpt of a live improvised set. I asked him if I could split it up into separate tracks. He said yes. You can download it from the link above. Or download the whole thing in one track here. It's pretty killer either way.

There's also a sweet new song on his Soundcloud page called "ihopeyrfavoritecoloriseverywhere." He wrote it "for a girl" who is "the best." It reminds me of a melted fun-size candy bar and when you're done eating it you bite the wrapper and scrape the rest of the chocolate off with your teeth but your fingers get sticky anyway.

Myspace // Last.fm

Megabats

in/out

Spaced-out psych/drone made by two dudes utilizing one Korg DS-10 each. Imagine taking an elevator to the ∞th floor and when you exit you're in the blindingly dark expanse of a huge cave chamber (why is it up so high?) and it's so disorienting and you can't see the top and you think to yourself, "I've never seen the stars so bright before." Get it if you dig Oneohtrix Point Never, Caboladies, Fuck Buttons, Endless Endless Endless, etc. Stream it (I recommend "Battleground Sky") and buy it HERE from Debacle Records.

Myspace // Last.fm
Buy it!

Box Elders

Box Elders is currently on tour with Black Lips. I had the extreme pleasure of seeing them both play last night in St. Louis. Box Elders' psychedelic garage rock was an awesome precursor to Black Lips' anarchic set. They have a fairly interesting setup. Their drummer plays standing, and doubles as an organist for the band. The other two came out both sporting double-necked guitars, one a bass/six string combination and the other a 6 string/12 string. This will make you want to shake your rump and get grimy.

Alice and Friends (320 kbps)

Myspace//Last.fm

Parallel Pyres

Parallel Pyres

Distorted drums and organ, sometimes looped and layered, with the occasional garbled vocal echo. Those are pretty much the only sounds heard on this self-titled release, but it's the kind of basic structure that can easily amount to more than the sum of its parts. Here, that means subverting pop and new wave in a way that's just as catchy as anything Wet Hair and Vacation Dad have done. Could totally be a cassette on Not Not Fun. Visit All, Everyone, United to watch a few music videos he made.

Myspace // Last.fm

Edibles

Super Space/Mind Peace

This is a cassette that was released on Not Not Fun. This means you should download it. I'm pretty sure it sold out in a matter of days. This means it is awesome. It sounds like Ducktails but better, or Sun Araw in small doses. Swamp guitar slithers and crescent moon bass grooves cradle the carved-out flesh of a mango peel.

Myspace // Last.fm

Endless Endless Endless

Things I Saw

Website // Last.fm

Another beautiful limited edition release from this "post-noise" duo. Don't make me try and convince you again, okay? This short mini-album is somewhat more fluid than Black Talisman. Vocal snippets and short squiggles of guitar and synth chords float around like gummy bears inside a jell-o gelatin of thick fuzzy atmosphere.

Horsepital

All Stills

If that link doesn't work, try this one.


Horsepital (now known as Gem Jones) reminds me of a stop-motion animated adaptation of The Little Prince that I watched with my 3rd grade class in the library and it scared the shit out of me. This cassette is not that creepy, but it does recall the image of a clay doll catapulted through space and all the planets have faces and some of them might be smiling. And then the clay doll lands on a swamp planet that smells like Jolly Ranchers and joins the slimy fluorescent natives for a game of ping-pong.

You'll dig this if you like Ducktails, Wet Hair, Emeralds, Big Spider's Back.

Myspace // Last.fm

Vacation Dad

Vacation Dad EP

Post-noise side project from the drummer of Farms, a band I just fell in love with even though I still haven't found anything besides the songs on their myspace.

This EP is rife with jagged guitars colliding delays and looping into sunrise mirrors and fuzzy jumbles of jungle feathers tickling your bare feet but actually you are in a suburban backyard playing in the sand that spilled out of your sandbox and maybe five years later you're on your back looking at some vast blue expanse and your little brother pours a handful of it in your eye and it stings but you were supposed to be watching him anyway. Those clouds were totally distracting.

My point is, pay attention to this. It floats in an as-yet-undefined space between High Wolf and Ecstatic Sunshine and Peaking Lights and Julian Lynch and you'll love it, I know you will.

Myspace // Last.fm

Osteoferocious

Switching between Upland, Indiana and Bloomington, Indiana, Osteoferocious are a dynamic duo that play a psyched-out blend of punk rock. There is a sense of camaraderie that is present in their music, a sort of small-town group of friends feel. They are releasing this 7" on a label called Flannelgraph, stationed in Bloomington. Quite simply, they are fucking fun. If you are in Bloomington on January 28th, come to the Bishop for their release show. They are playing with Cast Spells and Prayer Breakfast.

OF 7"

Blog

Oneohtrix Point Never

Because Rifts seems like a heavy introduction to devote your time and money into on a whim (or a 4 1/2 star review, for that matter), I'm going to give you just a taste: My favorite three releases that happen to contribute their bulk to that 2-disc collection. If you are unaware, Oneohtrix Point Never (pronounced on-ee-oh-trix) is Daniel Lopatin, an extremely lovable ambient musician/cyborg equipped with his trusty Roland Juno-60 and miscellaneous effects. This is another artist I'm tempted (at the risk of coining a term) to describe as hyperactive ambient -- because, sure, all those swirling synth arpeggios and crescendos wash over you like a wave of meteor dust drifting in a vacuum, but it also feels like a swarm of TIE fighters* are slowly approaching from beyond the vast luminous hydrogen clouds that obscure your path. Or maybe that cloud is made up of nanobots preparing to absorb your organic fuel. I'm in a sci-fi mood, I guess. This is certainly the kind of music that'll take you there.


A Pact Between Strangers (2008)


Betrayed In The Octagon (2007)


Zones Without People (2009)

Myspace

*I really hope some knowledgeable nerd says something like, "Ha, that simile makes no sense! TIE fighters don't travel in swarms, idiot." There's possibly something scientifically inaccurate about "vast luminous hydrogen clouds" too, but that's a different story, and, well, I'm no astrophysicist. Even though I have a vague suspicion that's not even the right kind of scientist for this.

Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind EP (2009)

Well, shit. (320k)

Preorder.

Smelly Magic

The 2nd Combing

BUY IT! -- Cassette or CDr, seven and eight dollars respectively. Either way, it comes with a free 11x17 poster. Really, you can't go wrong when a free poster is involved.

"Smelly Magic is a trio. Matt Wenzel (dj wisconsin, the good old fashioned sinners), Jared Meyer (painted snake, rad vibes, m. pyres), and Matthew Sage (m. pyres, tables & chairs) take an expansive journey behind a 1/4" 8track tape machine. Focused around two large movements, this record was recorded, dubbed, overdubbed and finished in the month of September. With a sound and fidelity stretching far beyond their first recording -- "the Prim Encounter" -- Smelly Magic reaches into the pockets of noise, jazz, krautrock, postrock, ambient and tribal music to find a good hairy nugget of soul for you to suck on."

Perfect for people who miss Raccoo-oo-oon and Jackie-O Motherfucker but also like their noisy psych-rock to have a little fun.


The Prim Encounter

Panda Bear: Live @ ATP

This is a link to a rip of Panda Bear's live set this past September, when he performed at All Tomorrow's Parties. It was pretty much his only solo show this year, I think? It was broadcast by WFMU (there are some significant glitchy sounds in parts, but overall it remains tolerable), recorded to a computer and then split, tagged, and EQ'd by Collected Animals user Maxwell Hell. I can't believe I haven't posted this yet, because it's quite amazing -- better than the other live bootleg I posted a while ago. It's a totally different set of songs as well, including his "remix" (which is actually more of a rewrite) of The Notwist's single, "Boneless", as well as "Ponytail" and "I'm Not" (two songs he didn't perform on his last tour) and two new songs. And a reworked version of Chores, with an intro that some speculate may represent the vocal melody that will be on "I Think I Can", the last track on Animal Collective's upcoming EP, Fall Be Kind. Have I given you enough incentive to download this yet?

BIBIO (Two EPs)

This is a dude I would never have listened to if it wasn't for Collected Animals' overwhelming enthusiasm regarding the Ambivalence Avenue leak. And now, that's one of my favorite albums this year. Thanks AnCo bros. (We call each other that sometimes, in the CA. lol j/k not reely)



Here are his two recent EP releases: The first,


Ovals And Emeralds, is in the style of his older releases, like Vignetting The Compost. As far as I can tell, this was a limited edition vinyl only available in stores. Weird decaying guitar loops that carve out a tunnel to some 70's folk festival drug trip. The second,


The Apple And The Tooth, is actually a double EP. Or a four-song EP with seven bonus remixes? Whatever. And hey, guess what? The remixes are actually worth listening to. I'm only saying that because (and I'm sure most of you will agree) it is rare that one encounters a decent, entirely listenable remix album. With this EP, I barely feel an itch to skip any of these tracks. They mostly stay true to the AmbAve-era "Bibio spirit", if you want to call it that. One of the remixes is a killer reworking of "The Palm Of The Wave", done by Bibio himself. Another could be called a "fully realized" version of "All The Flowers", extending it three minutes past the original track's teasingly short running time of 63 seconds. Buy it from Insound (I sure did!), "housed in a gold foiled sleeve and strictly limited to 1000 copies." Sounds fancy!

Myspace

Endless Endless Endless

"Our band is a post-noise duo that plays guitar and gameboyDS."

Try looking into those eyes and telling me you don't want to jam on a DS with those dudes.

Here are two of their sweet albums. Reminds me of early Black Dice mixed with newer Black Dice but also Wet Hair and other Not Not Fun Records psych/drone/noise. Also sounds like if the apocalypse was friendly and ice cream was milk churned until the infinite black parts of the internet where the data is stored were suddenly visible and tasty. Imagine that melting from a sugar cone onto your lap in the summer? Kinda blows the mind.


Black Talisman (2009) - Buy it!


Sprawl (2008)