Music for 4/20

420 is a dumb tradition in the United States that has to do with smoking marijuana. Every April 20th hundreds of thousands of college kids are making both dumb jokes and excuses to get blasted today. 

I used to be one of them, so I use the word "dumb" lovingly. 

Weed is a lot more accepted in the US today than it ever has been with stores selling it legally in several states. They are strange places, almost more like banks than, say, liquor stores. One does not browse at a weed store. The transaction is very business-like... almost cold. You wait in a line (or in some instances a waiting room) until it is your turn to order. You speak to a stoner (sometimes called a "budtender") who helps you find what you are looking for (weed, you are looking for weed). You get your wares and you GTFO. 

Anyway. Those days are behind me but no judgement if you took the day off to smoke a ton of weed and do whatever. May these records guide be your soundtrack.

Holy - All These Worlds Are Yours

Holy is from Stockholm, Sweden and they remind me of Tame Impala's Innerspeaker and Lonerism days. Swirling phased out drum fills and Beatles-esque vocals make this well-produced record one that I've returned to several times over the past several years.

Holy is solid, psychedelic indie rock. Also - a limited amount of vinyl remaining on this one.

2019 release on Punk Slime.

Dead Finks - The Death and Resurrection of Johnathan Cowboy 

Sometimes I gather so much music that I forget to listen to it. Popped this one on the jukebox the other night and boy howdy, a gripping rock record from a Berlin duo. Just straightforward punk that's more slightly more rock than punk to my ears but your experience may differ.

The chord changes are just slightly askew and I like how they double (triple? quadruple?) the vocal tracks. Will probably get this on vinyl.

For stoners who like IPAs with their bong hits.

Kadhja Bonet - Childqueen

Here's some gorgeous soul/jazz/r'n'b out of Los Angeles. I think it was during the initial phase of the pandemic that I went on a bit of a music buying spree and Kadhja Bonet was one that I bought several things from.

Chill music in case your mellow gets harshed. Track 4, Delphine, is at least worth 6 minutes of your day. Here's a great live performance of a song on a different release. 

Jogging House - Face

Another contribution from Germany. Here we have Jogging House from Frankfurt, which is the ambient project of one Boris Potschubay. Since getting into ambient music 3 years ago I've consistently enjoyed the music of Mr. Potschubay. The tones are warm and nostalgia inducing with touches of 8-bit grit. 

This is his most recent release under the Jogging House name. Good for zoning the eff out while doodling or whatever stoners do these days. I listen to it while doing chores on rainy Sunday mornings because like I've said before... I'm old now.

Music For Your Weekend

 

Nüshu - Sexe Étranger

Some of my favorite music over the past 10 years has come from the Montreal. It's to the point that, if I'm browsing music websites and I see a band from Montreal, I will drop everything to listen to them. 

I mean literally. My dinner will burn. My dog won't get walked. My son will go hungry. So of course, when I saw Nüshu's Sexe Étranger some through the pipeline, my family ate charred pizza that night. 

This release is wonderfully produced, the songs are unconventional rock in the best way, and I listened to the whole thing from start to finish several times this week. Maybe they will cast a similar spell on you.

Kendra Morris - Nine Lives I'm equally a sucker for modern soul. Kendra Morris is from New York City by way of Florida, but she sounds like she's from 1960's Detroit. 

Soulful, funky jams lay the foundation over Kendra's smooth and sultry vocals. It brings to mind other soul revivalists of recent such as Adrian Younge, Nicole Willis, and Daptone label artists. 

Ms. Morris is not a new-comer by any means, with an impressive list of collaborators including DJ Premier, MF Doom, and Ghostface Killah, she is both a seasoned musician and filmmaker to boot. She does great music videos, check out the awesome animation she did for this MF Doom/Czarface video.

Datach'i - Bones

One of the things I want to accomplish with these "music dumps", as the kids call them, is to explore other genres perhaps less familiar to typical Spacerockmountain fare. 

While rock music is my love, I've flirted heavily with electronic music in my day. Love me some Plaid, Venetian Snares, and Aphex Twin. Those are basically the only electronic groups I know. 

Luckily for me, this release by LA-based electronic artist Datach'i brings all those three references to mind. There's something truly beautiful about this record... melodically it's pretty obvious... but I also enjoyed reading about how it's a tribute of sorts to his recently departed father. Immediately engaging. 

Shitty Life - Limits To Growth

There are certain things that will grab my attention when looking through the vast ocean of music that is Bandcamp. One thing that will always catch my attention is album artwork that's clearly the insert for a cassette tape release. Music therein will be worth my time, nearly 75% of the time. The other is profanity. 

I cannot help it. Arrested development is not just a funny TV show, it's something that happened to me in my youth. Poop jokes never have fallen out of fashion for me, unfortunately for my wife. 

This is just a great Italian punk band that I have no notes for. The music is catchy and hard without the trappings of that pop punk schlock. 10/10.

Music For Your Weekend

Blind Owl Wilson - Blind Owl Wilson

This interesting figure from American music of the 1960s has one of the most noticeable voices of that era. Most recognizably a singer for the LA-based blues rock group, Canned Heat, Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson gained accolades for his harmonica playing from other musicians of the era including living blues legends such as John Lee Hooker. 

This release by Mississippi Records compiles his most famous tracks from Canned Heat as well as lesser known tracks. Blind Owl's high register voice may most closely resemble that of crossroads blues guitarist Robert Johnson. Some who knew him suspected Wilson might have been autistic, though no formal diagnosis was given prior to his early death at the age of 27. 

OPSEC - Affordable Death

This is hardcore punk I can sink my teeth into. I can only judge punk bands by the quality of the singer's voice. I can recognize good musicianship but if the singer's voice isn't awesome, I will not be a repeat listener... just like Gang Starr made clear in 1994 when Guru said "If your voice ain't dope then you need to chill".

Signed to NYC's Label of Goods, OPSEC brings the aggression and voice that makes me want to keep this EP easy access when driving my beat up shit box around Newark. The singer's voice is similar to that of the Canadian hardcore punk band S.H.I.T., or maybe even the singer of The Peechees. If you need to work out some angst this weekend, may this be the soundtrack for your efforts.

Mamalarky - Pocket Fantasy

Brilliant and wonderful things often emerge from terrible occurrences... it's just the way things happen. It doesn't make those terrible things worth it by any means... it just speaks to the resilience and persistence of the human spirit.

Take Covid, for example. If Covid had never happened, Mamalarky's sophomore release Pocket Fantasy may never have been happened. They were already a band, playing around Austin and making waves. But then the pandemic happened and the band retreated to Atlanta to live in an old house and record what you have here: an inspired and inventive rock record with catchy songs that eschew pop conventions. It's experimental in song structure but recognizable in essence. Not sure what compares.

on4ward - In Rainbow Roads

Sometimes you need a conversation piece that not only piques one's interest but also pulls you in for the whole ride. Some individual out there in the world, going by on4ward, took Radiohead's 2007 In Rainbows and decided it needed to be redone through an Nintendo64 sound bank, "mostly sounds from Super Mario 64" as noted on the artists bandcamp page. 

It's interesting and this homage is one of detail and love. The hipster in me wishes slightly it was done in 8-bit sounds instead, but probably only because I never owned a Nintendo 64 so the sounds don't muster the nostalgia that one who DID own an N64 might get from this. Either way, it's pretty incredible and I look forward to what on4ward does next.

Music For Sleep - Music From A Sinking World (2021)

If I had to choose a theme for the current state of things it would certainly be "uncertainty". Covid-19 continues to mutate and spread, posing difficult realities for everyone from vaccinated adults to unvaccinated children. (PSA - please get vaccinated or we won't be able to get off this shit-rollercoaster.) On top of that, a massive report just released by the UN paints a dire and quickly drying picture of our current trajectory with regard to climate change. 

Threats of another insurrection loom while justice continues to be so blind it can't ever quite spot the people/person in need of punitive action.

Sheesh! The mind is pulled from one terrible loop of thought to the other several times per day. It's fucking exhausting.

Thankfully, there's Music For Sleep: the ambient-meets-analog instrumental music of Italy's Andrea Porcu. Now, I will be the first to admit that I've avoided anything tagged "ambient" with much success throughout my life. But after hearing Andrea's Music From A Sinking World -- I FINALLY get the appeal. Ambient music is a different beast from rock, but it offers something very similar to it's listeners: escape. But whereas rock music gives you lyrics to relate and identify with, defined rhythms, and anticipatable verse-chorus patterns.... ambient music (at least that of Music For Sleep) is more amorphous in shape and completely void of human voice. Without these tangible elements, the listening mind turns inward for things to grab onto.

The music here is distant, almost as if heard through a neighbors open window halfway down the block. The reverb on opening track "A Quiet Storm" conjures feelings of dreaming while walking through an empty mall. Nostalgia is easily evoked in these songs... I found myself thinking of things and people I hadn't in many years. 

Not to overstate things, but this release by Music For Sleep was transformative for me. That said, I've spent months exploring other ambient music and have really yet to find another artist that "does" it for me. So, maybe it's a fluke... a right place at the right moment thing that I stumbled upon  Music From A Sinking World. Then again, even flukes can impart lasting change.

7 songs.

Music For Sleep - Music From A Sinking World 

Mica Levi & Oliver Coates - Remain Calm (2016)

Unsubscribing from junk e-mails has imparted an unnerving quiet.

I believed this would be a step towards freedom, mornings now unburdened by the periodic vibration of incoming mail. But now... now I suspect I've metamorphosed from creature to zombie of habit. Last night, awoken by a familiar glow, I became terrified to find my thumb controlled by movements of a memory. Unlock phone; check email application; turn phone off; open and unlock; check email; turn off... over and over and over. My undead thumb bends only at the hip like a forgotten grandparent who shuffles to the mailbox every afternoon only to find the same vacant shadow. My thumb, now a feedback loop, like an alcoholic that searches the recycling again and again for one drop, a neglected swig of whiskey, only to confirm the emptiness it already knows exists.



A series of empty dawns have emerged. Gone are the days of those quivering little jolts insisting I pause my life to check and delete, check and delete. Newlsetters, updates, notifications, advertisements... all those small reminders of my past. Clothing stores relentlessly reminding me of each approaching season and a hoodie I bought for some autumn, lost several years ago. Gone. Zillow emails that satisfied the curiosities of an armchair voyeur, taking me into homes I'd never afford, around towns I'd never live. Gone. Charities and political organizations I helped once, before I understood my economic situation as anything but dire.

Gone. I've shoo-ed them all away. The tactile buzzes, the audible chirps. No more little red numbers to offer hope of a hello from a long lost friend. No potential for restless declarations from smoldering hearts of past lovers. Those little red numbers could've meant literally anything - a wedding invitation, the birth of a new family member, a class action settlement worth hundreds. But in the end, the numbers always meant the same thing: "this much junk".

I have won the war. And now? Now, I am unburdened. Now my time is uninhibited. Ready to live each day uninterrupted. A new dawn of awesome unpopular potential. Still -  the thumb checks. Just to fill an emptiness. Everything's always empty. Just maybe, tomorrow something. Always maybe tomorrow.

Mica Levi & Oliver Coates - Remain Calm

Black Spring / The Engineer - Split Cassette (2015)

Here's something I nearly lost in the shuffle. A submission from England from a few months ago that I listened to and meant to write up speedily, but as you can witness I failed utterly at that. It is a split release, a no wave rock outfit called Black Spring and a project called The Engineer. The reason I am posting it here rather than in a Grab Bag despite it have only two tracks is that each of the tracks are over 19 minutes long, so it is a damn full-length so far as I am concerned. They're fucking weird, meandering and spooky experimentations of sound. Music that is disorientating strange, something that is worth taking the time to soak in occasionally. Noise, reverb and all manner of dissonance are the hallmarks of the track from Black Spring. On the other hand the Engineer is more structured, and while still very heavily low fidelity, it has eerily lovely singing and righteous organ playing. Also a loud clanging that reoccurs frequently, but I didn't mind that. Both of these artists are on a small English label run by a fella known as Milton Keyes, Monocreo.

To be had here:
Black Spring / The Engineer

Daddy Rocks - Ah re que (2015)

Daddy Rocks was a group featured on the Scenes of a City post on Rosario. Argentina. I found them of my own accord kicking around bandcamp and really liked what I heard. They've gotten hip to this the time since and thought it good practice to update me on their new album. So here it is,  Ah re que <3 i=""> the latest effort of the Argentine electronic outfit called Daddy Rocks.

Now, I do recall Daddy Rocks being a heavily electronic operation, but I gotta say they really leaned into it for this new album. It is more purely a selection of electronic dance tunes than I have been exposed to in recent months. Nonetheless, I found it incredibly delightful. The songs are fast, compact and exciting. I could not ask for a better soundtrack to play during a house party or hear at a bar that's compelled to have lights flashing. I do not mean any of this in a snarky way, as I engage in both this vices as regularly as my social life allows. This sort of music holds a prominent place in my heart as I elate at hearing anything half as good as Daddy Rocks in these context and feel a million times better for not hearing awful R&B garbage. Moreover, I am pretty certain hearing electronic music in any language you don't know is much better than understanding the lyrics. Hopefully I am not insulting the band with my off-color endorsements, for I truly love their songs, and I recommend you all take the time to hear it.

Te be had here:
Daddy Rocks  - Ah re que <3 a="">

EP Grab Bag vol. 105

Been meaning to get this one up for a while. Got lazy or forgetful or whatever, who cares really? It's here now. Anyhow, I am late in the sense that all the album art seems very well geared for Halloween, which I missed by a week. Oh well, better luck next year.

To be had here:

Peixefante - Lorde Pacal EP (2015)

Another EP I was sent from my Brazilian friend Barbara. Her impeccable is apparent in this awesome psychedelic indie/electronic pop outfit from Goiânia, Brazil. The songs possess a wonderful ethereal quality, just a touch spacey, but at their core they are wonderful modern psych tunes. They remind me of my favorite modern Brazilian psych-rockers, Supercordas, yet bent more toward pop music. An incredibly alluring EP, not to be missed.

Seamus O'Muineachain - Blood Apple (2015)

The songs of an Irish songwriter. Minimal in composition, ambient in tone, and folksy in style they are lovely instrumental songs. Done largely on guitar and piano they songs are a finely interwoven tapestry of those instruments, though a healthy level of percussion is used as necessary. It's as if that sort of acoustic music you've doubtlessly heard played in a coffeehouse could carry many times it's weight by utilizing more musical avenues than the bare guitar playing. So much so it is more sedimental than many lyrically based compositions.

Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands - Black Pudding (2015)

This Floridian outfit has routinely sent me music over the years, though I have failed to always post it. I am sloppy like that. However, I did take the time to hear this seven-track release and found myself enjoying even more than I already imagined I might. The songs are short garage rock jaunts. And I mean short, not any of them top the two minute mark. All upbeat lo-fi with howling singing reverb in the vocals and great distorted guitars. Check them out and look into their admirable catalog while you're at it.

The Dyna Jets - The Calling (2015)

Recently I posted the Fizz Pops, a garage pop band from Capetown, South Africa. Well, two members, Johnny Tex and Warren Fisher, of that band also have another project called the Dyna Jets. So here is the EP they put out this summer and I somehow missed until a couple of weeks ago. Two-piece garage rock as it should be, markedly fuzzy and playful, has a very surfy tone in the guitar playing. Four brief songs that left me eager for more. I Hope there will be more, under whatever name the choose to use next time.

Enema Noise - manual pouco prático do desapego (2014)

Back to Brazil, this time to the capital city of Brasilia. Lo-fi rock for sure, though of a more intense sort than the prior two EPs of this Grab Bag. Post-hardcore, which is a genre that is hit or miss for me overall, but there's not a doubt in my mind that Enema Noise is anything other than a hit. This release is absolutely exciting. The speed, intensity and excellent musicianship engaged me from the very start. I would love to hear them play in a dirty basement for sure.

Robot Speaker - Error Pop (2015)

An experimental album from a Japanese electronic music called Takuma Ebisaw, a.k.a. Robot Speaker. It isn't easy to describe what he's made in this large collection of songs he's titled Error Pop. The tracks are all over the place, but that is completely the purpose of them. It is like running through a menagerie of audio landscapes at an increasingly rapid pace. It incorporates elements of j-pop and psychedelia with electronic genres like glitch and breakcore. Leads to a schizophrenic level of dissonance of the surface, but if you give it time to sink it there is a method to the madness that comes out the unlikely and short outbursts of sounds.

Also interesting to note is that this album is being issued by the Detroit label, Placenta Recordings. Looks like have a good deal of releases, as this is the #316, but it is the first I have heard of them. I should really like to find out what else they've been up to.

To be had here:
Robot Speaker - Error Pop

Todd Tobias - Tristes Tropiques (2015)

Had this album laying on the hard drive for a stretch and would have the worse of luck trying to sit down and hear it. My life seems much busier and I feel like I spend much more it waiting in lines and behind bad drivers than ever before. But seeing as it is unbearably hot the night I'm writing this and I cannot even pretend to try to sleep in my un-air-conditioned apartment I finally found myself with little recourse than to slip into the ambient with Todd Tobias.

Todd Tobias isn't new to SRM, I have very fond memories of listening to his Calvino-inspired album, Impossible Cities. Therefore, I entered listening to this album with some rather high expectations, which I am glad to report were not dashed in the slightest. The long, winding songs are all sublimely amorphous soundscapes. It is astounding how much weight is packed into every one of them despite their relatively sparse composition. It causes a transformative affect to occur in the diligent listener, altering mundane happenings into something absolutely poetic. For my second listen I sat on my balcony on a cloudy morning, watching birds peck around for food. With the help of Tobias's music, it was pretty damn epic.

Tristes Tropiques was released by Tiny Room Records and Hidden Shoal. Each labels worth worrying about to say the least. 

To be had here:
Todd Tobias - Tristes Tropiques

EP Grab Bag vol. 102

So I actually wrote this post a while ago and in a series of events causing me to leave town and find myself incredibly drunk and immobilized while floating down a river in a small raft I forgot to publish it. Moral is I am an awful friend to bring on a trip involving alcohol but very good at not drowning after off a raft while fucked up. I recall liking these songs too...

To be had here:

Pulco - Rodeo EP (2015)

A new EP from the Welsh musician called Pulco. Maybe you've gotten a chance hear his Innovation In The Trade full-length which I still strongly recommend. Either way, this new release has continued the fuzzy bedroom recording spirit of the prior album, including a liberal use of spoken word samples, but added more upbeat and catchy pop elements.

Turning Torso - Baal EP (2015)

I was listening to music from older posts, spurred by hearing the lo-fi electronic songs of Novampb. This lead me back to Mexico's Turning Torso, who I last wrote up in 2011. Despite my lack of mentioning it, it seems the project has been active ever since, releasing singles and EPs. Here is the latest of those, a two song EP of experimental electronica. Heavy on percussive beats and eerie organ-like effects. Reminds me why I got into this band to begin with.

My Cruel Goro - My Cruel Goro EP (2015)

A fast, messy set of lo-fi rock songs from an outfit based in Iceland. Heavily bent toward a grungey version of post-punk the songs. They make good use of a snyth in the tracks and that plays off the very clearly sung lyrics, making it sound very much like the product of the 90s in a way that's hard to put words to exactly. Good stuff in any event, a good introduction to what these dudes are capable of.

Hallowed Bells - Violet Hands (2015)

This band from Philadelphia makes an unusual sort music. Broadly speaking they're electronic/ambient experimentations employing the many interesting effects of a synthesizer. The songs are eerie and serpentine sounding. While they're not chiptune or 8-bit, they evoked the same feeling as the videogame themes the play any time Mario enters a castle. They put it better themselves, "Songs-without-words and aural colorscapes." I can't pretend to have a better summation, and I highly recommend hearing it.

Novampb - Too Cool For Words (2015)

Another new artists to Spacerockmountain sent in by a returning label. This time it is the Recife, Brazil-based label, Transtorninho Records. You know, the dudes that released Lindberg Hotel, Amandinho and 151515. So you gotta bet this'll be good too.

Novampb is an electronic artist from the Brazilian coastal city of Maceió. The songs he makes are lo-fi IDM or glitch, composed with an excellent sense of dramatic timing. They come of as incredibly cinematic works on the base and then through a deft use of sampling spoken word audio he's added a feeling of disembodied otherworldliness. I'm told he's putted these clips from youtube, and sounds like a kindred soul spending too many hours listening to sounds pour out of a computer. It takes me back to when I first became familiar with lo-fi electronic music from the artists like Ocelote Rojo, Turning Torso and LAY BAC. Of course all of these have their own flavors and while it can be hard to put Novampb's style into words your ears won't have any issue identifying its unique charms. I recommend giving all of Too Cool For Words for word a listen and don't stop before the end, as the final two tracks are my favorites.

To be had here:
Novampb - Too Cool For Words

EP Grab Bag vol. 101

Back to basics with 101. One of the main things I've enjoyed about writing this blog over the years is the combination of new and returning artists that I get to experience. Hearing evolution and new beginnings all the time. So with that in mind here are a few new artists to the blog and a couple of returning favorites.

To be had here:

Lindberg Hotel - Cotton Chains (2015)

The second entry from this lo-fi band out of Curitiba, Brazil.  Do check out their prior work, but I can't imagine a better introduction to the band than this EP. Has three new songs and two covers, including an exceptionally good cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror." Now, the first three tracks with you having them pegged as a power pop outfit that can do a fine cover, but listen to the final two to hear how warped and experimental they can be. A fine juxtaposition and some really really good musicianship.

Cities - Manning Alaska EP (2015)

A stunningly done post-rock experience from a Welsh band. The EP is remarkably accessible, even for the those who don't often listen to post-rock. This is because the songs are quick while being equally spacey and jazzy. The technically precision is akin to my buddy Frankacles's band Jura. I don't say this lightly, as Jura really had their ducks in a row. Not an album to be missed by most anyone, but certainly a must-hear for the post-rock fans.

Nevski - Nevski (2015)

French pop music is some of the damned best stuff ever. I always make sure there's a heathy supply of it playing at any place I work and any party where I can chose music at. That said, Nevski is not making a knock off of yé-yé from the 1960s, rather is a charming display of modern indie pop that happens to be sung in lovely French lyrics. The songs are all impeccable with some light, air musicianship and soft, sweet vocals. Really the sort of music that sells itself, just give it a listen.

Bicycle Day - City Streets (2015)

Here's a special treat, a new EP from Oakland's Bicycle Day. Some of you might recall their full-length, I Had A Place To Be, which came out July of 2014. A wonderful example of hazy garage rock causing me to eagerly look forward to hearing this new release. These four songs do nothing to disappoint, being fuzzy gems of post-punk-ish, droning rock. The track "Self-Help" has been my jam all day, and I doubt it'll stop being so quickly.

YONI YUM - Clam Glam (2015)

The second time I'm writing of this band as well. YONI YUM still very much strike me as an art rock project, albeit of an incredible self-aware and irreverent variety. The songs are catchy and the singer is remarkably talented at belting out all sorts of entertaining vocal flourishes. I listening to it while reading the Russian Futurist writings of Daniil Kharms and it was amazing how well these two different version of eccentric artistic expression gelled.

Mondrian Loop - LAP​[​WW] (2015)

I really wouldn't know a damned thing about hip hop at all if it wasn't for my brother. He doesn't know about much of it to be honest either, but he does love instrumental hip hops, beats and the more experimental side the whole business. Over the years it's become something we know we can both handle hearing without driving one of us up the wall. Much preferable to him needling me with Fleetwood Mac songs. Therefore, I was very willing to throw on some rose-tinted glasses as I hear Mondrian Loop, but I don't think I needed them.

I was sent literally nothing more than a hyperlink to this bandcamp page, so everything else is pieced together from there. Seems this producer(s) is from Florida and makes stripped down instrumental hip hop. By stripped down I mean that the tracks are not very complex nor long, but rather have a rawness to them that's appealing. It really reminds me of much of the newer forms of lo-fi electronic music usually eager to write-up such glo-fi, vaporwave and so on. One could even throw it one of those 'genres' if you so fancied. Regardless of what you call it, LAP​[​WW] is a spacey, looping affair that makes for excellent late night listening.

To be had here:
Mondrian Loop - LAP​[​WW]

RQ laji-2 - Bad Future Bullshit (2014)

I remember when I was younger, putting my shitty Radio Shack (r.i.p.) microphones up to computer speakers and recording music from Commodore 64/128 games. There was something in those tunes that blew my prepubescent mind.. to the point where I'd load the games just to hear the music. That crunchy, 8-bit sound... that others of my generation first heard in Atari and some earlier Nintendo games, has been seeing a bit of a renaissance lately, specifically in a slew of retro games coming out for smart phones (check out The Incident).

It's a sound that may escape most generations pre- or post-ceding my own. I imagine the home video-gaming console craze didn't exactly sweep the attention of those born in the 1960s... and as technology progressed with those systems, so did the music quality... and the 8-bit crunch was lost to, eventually, actual orchestral scores... so kids born in the 1990s might not have the same connection to it either.

Ren Queenston, the Canadian composer/songwriter behind this and buttloads of other releases, I would guess is, of or around, my generation. The music here could easily be outtakes from a strange Atari game that never saw the light of day. As robotic voices sing to you about piñatas and about how they want to drink your juice, visions of pixelated venus fly traps and knife wielding Speak and Spell machines may spring to mind. Yes, it's a little menacing. But the marriage between glitchy '80s video game music and creepiness speaks volumes to my mind which, these days, seems to be impulsively grasping at those melancholic days of youth (where I played a lot of video games and watched a lot of horror movies).

I suppose that happens when one is in the midst of a midlife crisis. Life expectancy is only early 70s people! At 35, I'm feeling it. Time to buy a DeLorian, or whatever car it popular with the balding class these days.

RQ laji-2 - Bad Future Bullshit

Brother Low Elephant Grass - Alien Anarchy (2015)

I've been thinking about places lately. Places I'd like to live, places my friends tell me they're planning to move to, places I'll only get to see via photography. As I'm pondering all these locations there's a large oversight. I'm only looking at Earth, and if it is all fantasy in the end why not throw in outer space to the pondering? At least, this is what Brother Low Elephant Grass inserted into my mind as I heard their very weird music.

Alien Anarchy isn't simply a creative title. Rather it particularly describes the sound of the album. It truly contains an incredibly far out avant-garde sound, full of prog-like guitar, an massive amount of effects and a very competent composition of all these multifaceted parts into enjoyable songs. The experimental nature of this album is what prodded my brain out of considering various exotic locales and straight into the limits of what science fiction has to offer. In a quite brief time period at that. What I'm trying to say is, this album is transportive. It'll take you to some legit cosmonaut nightmares if you want. That said, the tracks "Monk" and "Reality Clashes With The Content Of My Mind" are some spectacular lo-fi tunes that I'm ever so eager for everyone to hear.

To be had here:

Brother Low Elephant Grass - Alien Anarchy

EP Grab Bag vol. 94

Been a minute since I've gotten around to writing up a Grab Bag. I know I am passing over some EPs I failed to dig out of the pile, but that is life and I'll see what I can do to write them up in the future still. Yet what we got here are a fine mix of lo-fi, electronic, punk and pop. Not a dud among them.

To be had here:

The Gumbo Ya-Ya's - Bad Juju EP (2015)

Heino Retief and his pals are back with new EP of garage rock tunes out of Capetown. The songs bear the fuzzy, jangling sort of lo-fi rocking I've come to expect and cherish from these rather productive South African musicians. Perhaps this EP is a bit more laid back than last year's LP, Superstitious Kisses, as they've taken a more laid back psychedelic and surfy sound. The title track of the EP exemplifies this most wonderfully. Not sure if or when there's to be physical release, but to enjoy soundcloud link for now (unless I wasn't supposed to share it, he didn't give any stipulations though).

Grenades in the Archives - Dressed Up Like Armageddon (2015)

The Boston-based punk rock outfit Grenades in the Archive are back with the second EP to make it into a Grab Bag. In fact, it was just four of these ago I posted Toyko. Nothing wrong with a quick turnaround and certainly not if you'd like a fix on fast, trashy punk rock. The songs are short, loud and intense with a bunch of sounding and very cool guitar playing. My original sentiment from the prior EP is only reinforced upon hearing this latest effort, the perfect thing for a dirty, small venue in which I often have my very best of times at shows. Though it doesn't hurt to hear it alone in my apartment right now either.

Lolita - Doll House EP (2014)

This EP is something I stumbled on when I was doing the Scene of a City: Zagreb post. As they're not from Zagreb but rather the town of Koprivnica in the northeast of Croatia, I decided to save it for a Grab Bag. A short set of songs all in English and display a profoundly excellent understanding of indie and power pop. These are some lovely tunes. The sort of songs that I heard as a teenager and was immediately drawn to without really understanding what they were singing about at all. I'm thinking particularly about Beulah and generally of many others. Of course these songs only got better once I understood them better.

The Penguin Conspiracy - Gazing at the Sky (2015)

A pretty EP by a band from Newton, Massachusetts. Like the prior EP of this Grab Bag it is a fine show of indie/power pop sound, though more washed out and loose sound (whatever the fuck that means, but I think you'll hear it). The singer sorta mumbles through the songs but it is rather endearing and the instrumentation is more complex than a being of the tracks would indicate if you give them the chance to develop. I haven't got any more details on this outfit, but I can say I'm really open to hearing more from them.

Misled Navigator - Cycles of Then (2015)

An EP by the epic electronic and drone musician from Brooklyn, Misled Navigator. Now if I am getting what's happening here correctly (huge chance that I'm not), this dude runs Outward Records, which just released Cold Clouds. But the guy from Cold Clouds runs Revolving Door Records, which this album from Misled Navigator is on. This incestuous loop aside, what we've got here are some phenomenal spacey electronic tunes. They've been tagged as "snythscapes" and "snythwave," which by itself should merit a listen. I know I'm not giving much info on what it sounds like, so you're really gonna have to trust me that this guy's music is always worth hearing.

Scenes of a City, Vol. 10: Zagreb, Croatia

Often I find myself hyper-focused on a particular place. Not one I have ever been to nor will get to any time soon judging by my near constant lack of funds. However, this doesn't hold me back from taking as much of the culture of that locale I can manage from here. Croatia has been this place as of late, particularly their capital and largest city, Zagreb. Suppose it started as these usually do with for me when I began reading a novel written by a Croatian writer, Miroslav Krleža's On The Edge of Reason. Not that the book is especially Croatian in outlook so much as my mind works geographically thus leaving me reading steadily of the history of the Balkan country. Building this my momentum, I went out and bought bottles of dry white wine made of welschriesling grapes grown in Croatia. Finally, if one is reading Croatian literature and drinking Croatian wine, perhaps it is a good time to dig deeper into Croatian music as well.

I do have a tiny bit of familiarity with Croatia's musical output just from submissions to the blog, including some absolutely stellar albums from East-Ra, Pridjevi, Lizards Exist and from the great Zagreb-based indie label, Doomtown Records, the punk outfit Modern Delusions. None of these should be ignored and what I'm aiming for with this look at Zagreb is to inflate that list with even more notable Croatian musicians and bands.

To be had here:

Peak XV - La Première Ascension (2015)

Peak XV is a kindred soul describing who's himself as an "armchair explorer," which if that's not what I'm doing here what am I doing at all? La Première Ascension is an electronic ambient album, done in a sort of modern classical style. Nearly completely instrumental, it is a fantastic album to hear repeatedly while multitasking, allowing it to fade in and out of your senses, always being pleasantly surprised by whole beautiful is whenever you take a moment to pay attention. That said, my first listen was without distraction and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Denis Katanec Okanagan LTD - Sve moje Laurie (2014)

Americana music sung in Croatian? Sold, immediately to yours truly. Denis Katanec Okanagan LTD plays alt folk, like we often hear coming from North America and does it exceedingly well, but unlike many European artists that make their way onto this blog he singing in his native tongue. No judgment, seriously, good tunes be good tunes in any language. That said, I did find hearing the Croatian compelling, especially in how he quickly spits it out at the being of "Listopad." The main point is that this is a throughly enjoyable EP regardless what you feel, or lack in feeling, about Croatian singing or Croatia overall.

Jastreb - Mother Europe (2013)

Naturally in the globalized world we now all get to inhabit there's little meaning to geographic styles of music, at least in cosmopolitan cities of which I'd include Zagreb. In the light a krautrock band with clear Eastern influence woven in putting out an album in Croatia's capital with a photo of a Alpine mountain as the album art makes sense, at least a bit of sense. Mother Europe makes a nod to all the internationalism that is inherent in being European and did not stop at its borders when it came to informing the style of the album. Pretty goddamn cool shit.

Beat Gates - Elements EP (2014)

A short EP of beats music, as if the name of the outfit didn't give that away straight off. Unrelated to Croatia per se, I have been getting increasingly into beats music, so I am quite pleased to find a good beats artist that crossed sectioned with the country I'd been obsessing about. The songs are a little loopy and ethereal a nicely aloof way and have science fiction spoken word bits laid within. All in all makes for a pretty trippy and interesting few minutes of listening.

Bebè Na Volè - Time of Great Depression (2015)

Here's something I really didn't expect to find looking into Zagreb, music that sounds like early Black Keys and delightfully a touch more gloomy than the Black Keys ever were. Yet there's more to Bebè Na Volè, for it doesn't retain bluesy tone for long, delving into stripped down folk by the fourth track, "Wait For You." At this point becoming similar to Denis Katanec Okanagan LTD but sung in English and weirder by several degrees. The songs become more acoustic yet what is maintained is the frequently nihilistic lyrics. Then it's back towards the electrified blues upon the eleventh track. Like a nice folk sandwich with bluesy bread. A motherfucking fantastic album all around.