Space Rock Mountain Podcast 32 - "Hype!"

The gang gets together to talk about the documentary "Hype!" along with the rise of Seattle music, grunge, really shitty bands, and being naked with Limp Bizkit.

You can watch the whole film here.

sleepersecond - we take no refuge, but we are home (2014)

More atmospheric stylings, this time from the Philippine's own sleepersecond. I can just imagine these lush tracks being put together in a small bedroom in Manila as people on the street rushed to work and back again. All the while one lone gentleman crafts a Christopher Nolan worthy soundtrack to the minuscule moments lost by those in a rush. None of the passer-bys know of the music being arranged to fit these moments of their lives, but the score continues. Pullsing, pushing, and then pulling back to let the street breath.



Get it here:
sleepersecond - we take no refuge, but we are home (2014)

Junya Nishimura - Between Dream & Real (2014)

I picked up a slew of Burger Records tapes during a  recent sale, so my tape deck has been pounding away with garage rock goodness this last week. But you need a break from sweat jams from time to time. With a cup of tea and a copy of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals in hand, I sit with my demonic cat and let Japan's Junya Nishimura provide the soundtrack to this moment. I have a soft spot for minimalist piano explorations, and composer has some of the best lo-fi classical on the market. Far from noodling, these are short compositions that have a clear focus and direction. By the time Petite Valse II makes its rounds, the path is cleared to the crashing waves ahead.

This is a free download, but it deserves a physical release. Highly recommended.

Get it here:
Junya Nishimura - Between Dream & Real (2014)

Micromelancolié - Ensemble Faux Pas (2014)

Here in the California Bay Area, a large storm has hit forcing me to bundle up in my cave rather than brave the highways. As the rain pelts my window and slips through the cracks, I find myself looking for some meditative music to help conjure the old gods that once inhabited this earth. You can see them reaching towards the dark sky from the nearby woods, and one of my new favorite cassette labels has brought just the right soundscape to pull them closer.

A Giant Fern is a Portugal based cassette label well versed in the minimalist experimental genre. Sadly, I was not quick enough to get the physical tape itself (tapes being the best format for conjuring old gods and demons), but the digital file will suffice. Two long, drone-like tracks from this Polish artist great the cold like an old friend, then collaborating to bring a fear and wonder to my already tired existence. It is hard to decipher what is coming from the music and what is bleeding in from the storm outside. I slip deeper into the mix, and now find myself lost in its design. There is no escape.

Get it here:
Micromelancolié - Ensemble Faux Pas (2014)

Brigitte Roussel - Amber Hole (2014)

The experimental music has been getting submitted frequently lately, and it isn't something I'm gonna complain about. The Italian musician Brigitte Roussel has been featured on SRM, but it was some time ago and with her band known as Nac/Hut Report. While they've put out releases since then it seems it is what must be many albums that've slips through the cracks in my highly imperfect system of arranging write-ups. So my bad on that, but at least I get the pleasure of sharing Brigitte Roussel's solo work on her new album Amber Hole.

It is difficult to place Amber Hole into a genre beyond experimental or avant-garde. It is a dark, strange series of tracks, with an eerie mood predominating. That said, it is tastefully done, like watching a good horror film, it is capable of unnerving and entertaining the consumer in equal measure. Not that Brigitte Roussel is scary, but she certainly isn't aiming to be comforting. Amber Hole can seem like a lost recording, distorted and tracks layered upon on another with static bursts, faint vocals and humming electronic noises. Basically, it is the sort of album one can imagine being played at a contemporary art museum with a projection of grainy black and white footage on a wall playing in a loop. Sure, it is a wee bit pretentious, but all art is if you're not into it. Personally, I am into it and thought it was a fine thing to experience.

To be had here:
Brigitte Roussel - Amber Hole

The Sin Veldt - S/T (2014)

It's been a good while since my last post, and I'll venture to guess subsequent posts will start with the same opening sentence.

Autumn has consistently been my favorite of seasons since childhood, but less and less so since working for online retail. The holidays always equal a shit-tsunami of pain-in-the-ass work conditions where the microcosm of that small warehouse turn quickly into a "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario: where the bosses are literally telling you how to best do your job, and the slightest of personality quirks(best dealt with from across the warehouse) lay ground for a social minefield where one has to either spend a month and a half in complete misery or swallow their pride and politely laugh and bullshit their way through to January.

Add going to school part-time to the mix, and it's almost enough to make a person mad (as in both irritable and mentally compromised).

It's during these times that I routinely look for music like that of The Sin Veldt. That lo-fi garage. That psych and surf. That vocal delivery. Enough to make me say "fuck what's happening outside of my headphones." Enough to dose myself with a much-needed pill: common side-effects may include temporary swagger and apathy. Enough to make me want to return to Spacerockmountain to try and spread the word.

I'm going to throw some words out that may or not mean anything to you: The Stooges, The Seeds, Brian Jonestown Massacre. This garage is more about revivalism than new wave Jay Reatard torch bearing or Black Lips drunk-stoner good times... albeit this advertisement was written under the influence of champagne, pot, and pizza. The Sin Veldt's self-titled record is more like the I'm-saving-up-for-a-motorcycle-but-I'm-in-a-band-so-it's-going-to-take-awhile garage rock.

"Throw Your Baby Down" is a highlight to a consistently good listen. Bookmark this one for next summer, or download now for help getting through the oncoming holiday which may, perhaps, include micromanaging family members.

7 songs. Free from the band.

The Sin Veldt - S/T

Jura - Jura (2014)

I heard about Jura from a member of Jura. He is actually a coworker of mine at my new job, in fact he's the man whose position I assuming upon his upcoming departure. Just so happens he plays in a post-rock outfit based in metro Detroit, so I couldn't help be find myself rather curious about what they sound like especially as I have been listening to a bit more post-rock and shoegaze music, recalling my fondness for those etheral songs from Montreal's numerous Silver Mt. Zion connected bands.

As listeners for the more experimental genres, especially the often subtle post-rock and ambient tunes available, will recognize the key to a good album is sustaining a heady, intangible mood throughout. It's very easy to approach such music passively, in fact that is the first instinct. To soak in the sound. However, lately I have found it incredibly rewarding to set other tasks aside, to merely listen and imagine with the music with nothing more than a single can of beer or a hot cup of coffee in my system. This is how taking in Jura's self-titled album went from me pretending to read a novel while listening to sitting, eyes shut in a wooden chair, and not worrying about a thing. The album is indeed subtle, with few flourishes and those that appear aren't long or loud, instead the songs are markedly sparse at times, floating along with echoey lyrics and shimmering cymbals. The tracks entitled "Kalamazoo," "Lullabye," and "As a fool, I will follow you" all held me in complete captivation, even more so with some of their extended playtimes. Now, I cannot promise everyone will get this tranquility for hearing Jura, but as with much competently done post-rock, ambient or what have you it has the potential for a dispositioned person to thoroughly enjoy it in a calmness unparalleled in other modern music.

To be had here:
Jura - Jura

Space Rock Mountain Podcast 31 - Lounge Worthy Clothing

The gang gets together to talk about the following tracks.

Kill West - Highway Mind
Nate Henricks - Your Arcade Prize
Bruiser Queen - Save Me
Imelda Marcos - Jarizona
151515 - Orange Juice
The Moon Apes - Plastic Preacher
Joel Gion - Smile
Julio Jaramillo - Confession Al Senior

Opening track - Villagers of Ioannina City

YONI YUM - GREATEST (CL​)​HITS (2014)

What we have here is a very washed out post-punk album outta Minneapolis. YONI YUM are an echoey, chaotically surreal display of snyth-driven avant-garde. The songs seem as if they were recorded live, which very well could've been the case, and it has that oddly leveled balance of sounds that comes from a bootleg record, with lyrics that aren't intelligible, keys and guitars warped and even the drumming got fuzzy somehow. Basically, it is pretty fucking cool and a real treat for a lo-fi advocate like myself. Reminds me of some of my favorite live show or rather obscure bands I've only gotten to hear in similarly recorded manners. Videohippos and Bubonic Plague may be the best examples of what I mean, but I am sure most of you won't know either of those. Not the goddamn point, there is something analogous in your music listening experience if you're the sort that goes to house parties with out of town bands, galleries that have fucked up modern art on the walls and kindly weirdos playing instruments or even spend too much time in the less crowded corners of the internet.

GREATEST (CL​)​HITS is best heard with good speakers or headphones, for otherwise what little fidelity existing on the recording will fade into a nonmusical mess. That being said, it is also very good with some extremely cheap beer in the system and maybe a whatever else you've on hand. It is artistic, but is an non-artsy way. Anti-classly, and I dig that, especially when it involves snyths.

To be had here:
YONI YUM - GREATEST (CL​)​HITS

EP Grab Bag vol. 83

The EPs keep flowing in, hard to keep on top of them all. So perhaps not in the order they were submitted nor even the order I listened to them, here's what I have spent some time with and believe it is time to share.

To be had here:

Simplicio Neto & Os Nefelibatas - Fuscas & Dirigíveis (2014)

Mighty fine Brazilian indie rock. It has a laid back  psychedelic and folk-like feeling that'll be familiar to those that've heard my favorite modern Brazilian band Supercordas, as a member of that group the great solo artist Bonifrate produced this EP. Simpilicio is a songwriter and documentarian that Bonifrate ranks among his favorites and I can understand why. They songs are full, a bit washed out and lazily relaxed in the same way a good tune by the Kinks is for a blissful 8 minutes plus. The title track "Fuscas & Dirigíveis" is tops, a very good album for us in the northern hemisphere remember is it summertime somewhere else and have a moment of respite.

Lull - Dead or Alive (2014)

Lull are from London, England but they could very easily be mistaken for an American band from the 90s from their sound. Doubtlessly they've got some transatlantic influences that're bearing fruits in the three songs of this EP. The other SRM guys just had me want a documentary on 90s music, and I can say after the sour feeling that left in my mouth, Lull comes out looking rather sweet. I genuinely liked the dazed indie rock sound they're making, with the title song again being the stand out example of the release.

UNQUALIFIED NURSE - The Weird (2014)

A second installment is what is shaping up to be a series of micro-EPs from Britain's UNQUALIFIED NURSE. The songs are incredibly short as was the case for Medicine Music, and likewise they are loud and hugely distorted. This band is onto a hardcore garage punk sound that could really yield a great album if they keep at it like this. It sound like it couldn't get rougher or more raw at this point in the infancy of playing, but there's absolutely no place better to start than that.

Sean Patton - Scatterbrain (2014)

Sean Patton is a folk singer-songwriter from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Scatterbrain is what he described as his first "real EP" but from it's polished and sophisticated sound it'd be easy to imagine him having been making folk albums for years. These folk songs are no small feats of composition that just a bit of country flare in them, with a skillful band behind him complete with back-up singers. Tender lyrics and sweet singing, I must be getting more mature or whatever because I found this EP charming in a way that a younger me would have been confused by.