The second Exuma album, a little bit weirder even than Exuma I. "Baal" is one of his best songs and "Paul Simon Nontooth" is some weird shit ("help me find my head").
Exuma II (1970)
Exuma - Exuma II (1970) 2/20/2009
:zoviet*france: - Shouting At The Ground (1987) 2/13/2009
This remains my go-to album for ZF; it was the first one to grab me and it retains a really cohesive feel throughout. None of the missteps that break up the continuity on some of their other pieces. I'd characterize it the same way I did Ghedalia Tazartes: it sounds like speculative tribal folk for alien civilizations. But unlike Tazartes, :zoviet*france: very rarely has vocals up front. More droney textures and unsettling chanting, less soul.
For the uninitiated, this is from their wiki:
Their music often consists of droning textures set against fractured rhythms and fleeting dissonant melodies and their earlier recordings have been described as "evoking a cross between musique concrete and tribal music". Neglected sound sources are frequently used, such as obscure radio broadcasts, toy instruments, and field recordings, often heavily processed or looped. Over time, they have increasingly added electronic elements but without adopting computer based composition techniques. In describing their approach to making music, the group has been quoted as saying:
"All audio equipment distorts sound to some degree and, eventually through mechanical and electrical failure, fucks it up. Since indeterminacy as a compositional parameter has been a constant in our work, this often produces what we regard as interesting new developments."
The packaging of their early works was extraordinary with records released in hessian (burlap), roofing felt (roofing shingles) and aluminum foil, amongst other materials.
If you like this one, the next album I'd recommend is Music For A Spaghetti Western.
Scienz of Life - The Blaxploitation Sessions (2006) 2/13/2009
This is one of my favorite rap albums of the 2000s, and it doesn't seem like enough people are listening to it. Check it out.
The Blaxploitation Sessions (2006)
News Flash: Amebix Plans to Record New Material 2/09/2009
So last week I had the pleasure of seeing Amebix on the final date of their U.S. Reunion tour. It was the best show I've been to in a long time.
I sent the band a quick message about how much I liked the show and asking if they were going to record any new material, I got this message in return:
thanks Wes,we had a great time,best show was definitely Philly.
We will be recording at some point,probably a single though,see how it goes,no rush after 22 years!
Rob
Whooo. You heard it here first
Al Stewart - Past, Present & Future (1973) 2/05/2009
This is one of those albums that I had on cassette as a kid and listened to nonstop for years, and that really had a major impact on the way that I thought about music as I grew older. Al Stewart is a singer-songwriter from Scotland who frequently bases his songs on history. His most commercially successful effort was Year of the Cat, but the real masterpiece is undoubtedly Past, Present & Future, the most conceptually coherent album with the tightest songwriting. It begins with the plodding "Old Admirals," based on the autobiography of a 19th century British admiral whose wisdom and experience were ignored during World War I (the opening line of the album: "I can well recall the first time I ever put to sea / was on the old Calcutta, in 1853"), then transitions into a criticism of regressive Prohibition-era playboy Warren G. Harding. With steel drums.
Then the heart of the album, a couple of songs about the historical malaise and uncertainty of the middle of the century: the early 70s Bohemians of "Soho (Needless To Say)"; the tragically ignorant or uncaring lovers of "The Last Day Of June 1934", whose most endearing qualities are the same ones that make them culpable for the rise of Nazi Germany; the cheesy country/western pop of "Post World War II Blues" (according to the liner notes, the only song Stewart ever wrote in his sleep); and the goofy brilliance and minimal bass-choir atmosphere of "Roads To Moscow", about a Russian peasant-soldier who survives the genocidal war against Germany only to end up in a gulag in his own homeland. The album closes with an "I Am The Walrus" tribute, "Terminal Eyes", and the spacey post-hippie epic of "Nostradamus", which is the only thing on the album that's kinda embarrassing.
A truly unique album bursting with ideas, not to be missed.
Past, Present & Future (1973)
Steppenwolf - Monster (1969) 2/05/2009
(Monster)
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of Kingdom and Pope
Like good Christians some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches
But still, from near and far, to seek America
They came by thousands
To court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
And once the ties with the Crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon in went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought ourselves a homeland
We began with the slaughter of the red man
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands
To court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light
The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war was over
They stuffed it just like a hog
And though the past has its share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But its protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster and will not obey
(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seem generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'
Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
Caus the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war Over There
No matter who's the winner, we can't pay the cost
Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin'
(America)
America, where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know, we need you now?
We can't fight alone against the Monster.
Monster (1969)
Luigi Serafini - Codex Seraphinianus (1978) 2/02/2009
Luigi Serafini - Codex Seraphinianus (1978)
The Codex Seraphinianus is a book written and illustrated by the Italian architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini during thirty months, from 1976 to 1978.[1] The book is approximately 360 pages long (depending on edition), and appears to be a visual encyclopedia of an unknown world, written in one of its languages, a thus-far undeciphered alphabetic writing. (wiki)
The Believer Article
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker (Video) 2/01/2009
This isn't obscure or anything but if you haven't watched it in a while you should probably take the time out of your day to do so.
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