Oil of Angels - "Oil of Angels" (2011)

Not much info here. Young band from Spokane, Washington, named after Cocteau Twins song, sounds a lot like BRMC, but slightly more mellow (check out the live video below). Nice music for every sunny morning, even the freaking cold one you'd rightly expect to have in February here in Kyiv.

Myspace || Facebook || Listen

Polytoxicomane Philharmonie

Formed in Germany in 80s, Polytoxicomane Philharmonie didn't issue their first record until 2003. The guys took a lot of inspiration from classic jazz-rock albums of Frank Zappa, blending it with space, kraut and prog influences to create their awesome sound. Never in a hurry, the band has released two more albums and one 7" EP since then. My favourite is "Psycho Erectus", but each of them clearly deserves more than a few listens.

Click the cover, something good will come out of it.

2003 - Psycho Erectus


2007 - Drosophila Road


2007 - Pot Rats 7"


2009/2010 - Go Ape


Learn about them more at: ProgArchives || Off. site || Myspace || Last.fm

2011 stuff worth checking out

Black Pistol Fire - Black Pistol Fire - bluesy garage rock, like The White Stripes+The Black Keys+Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Lia Ices - Grown Unknown - female folk rock, dreamy and melancholic.
KYPCK - Ниже - Finnish doom metal sang in Russian. About vodka and communism. Russian-speaking listeners are laughing their arses off, the music itself is pretty solid.
Amanda Palmer - Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under - mainly a live record (all songs are new, some songs are good).
Snakerider / The Moon Mistress - Obsessed By Cursed Wastelands (Split) - two EW-inspired bands from Ukraine (Snakerider) and Russia (The Moon Mistress), the first record for both of them. Good one.

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom - Space and Time: A Compendium of the Orange Alabaster Mushroom (2001)

The Orange Alabaster Mushroom are:

Greg "Grog" Watson - vocals, guitar, organ
Gord Mylks - guitar, vocals
Mark "Fuzzy" Fraser - drums
Ryan Bol - organ, vocals, guitar
Andy Shurvell - bass

Influences: The Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Pretty Things, Soft Boys, Robyn Hitchcock, Electric Prunes, Byrds, Chocolate Watch Band, Dukes of Stratosphear, Kaleidoscope, Move, Tomorrow, 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Monkees, Rolling Stones, Them, July, Kinks, Zombies, Smoke, Status Quo, Bee Gees, Beatles, Donovan

It's hard to believe this acid psychedelic pop (very much Barrett-like, only noisier) was recorded in 90s in Canada, not in late 60's Great Britain. Though there are quite a few people in the band, as you can see above, many sources still list The Orange Alabaster Mushroom as Greg Watson's one-man band. "Space and Time" is a collection of songs, recorded between 1991 and 1998. Production is rather lo-fi, which only suits this kind of music. Enjoy!

Myspace || Listen

Mona de bo - Nekavējies, Šīs ir Spēles Ar Tevi (2010)

Mona de bo are:
Edgars Eihmanis (drums) and Edgars Rubenis (guitar)

with help of:
Anete Stuce - organ
Dāvis Burmeisters - guitar
Kaspars Majors - trombone
Raitis Rozentāls - french horn
Paulis Grīnhofs - organ
Stanislavs Judins - double bass.

...all hailing from Riga, Latvia. They started with garage rock in 2005, but changed their direction distinctly since the release of their first album in 2008. Nekavējies, Šīs ir Spēles Ar Tevi (Don’t Hesitate, You’re Already Part of It), their second full-length, dwells deep into drone fields, with heavy psychedelic overtones. I'm talking drone rock now, meaning there are still shapes of rock music, not the pure drone stream of sound. In fact, sometimes I'm close to saying it's just really slow rock (maybe post-, like on video below), then (nearing the end of the album) late-Earth similarity occurs to me, though these guys are heavier. Anyway, I suggest you give this stuff a try.

Official site || Myspace || Listen

Hills - Hills (2009, 2010)

Hills are the three-piece psych/kraut/space-rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed around 2006-2007. They released their self-titled LP album in 2009 on Intergalactic Tactics Records (300 copies). In 2010, it was reissued on CD through Sulatron Records with rearranged song listing and two bonus tracks.

I love Swedish music, they're fantastically potent in every genre from sad indie rock to kraut jams. In fact, the latter are what Hills are about, though the range of their sound stretches from trippy space-scapes one moment to menacing and dark krautrock (think German Oak maybe) the other, while bright piano passages and flute sounds bring even more variety. Not even slightly boring, this album is definitely a worthy listen for all who value experimental side of psychedelic music.

Myspace || Listen

Blaak Heat Shujaa - Blaak Heat Shujaa (2010)

Nice 8-hour sleep restored some of my writing enthusiasm, but now I feel like writing about the album that didn't make it into my top-25.

Meet the three guys who come from 'the city of high fashion and through-the-roof beer prices' (which, I was told, is located somewhere in France) to play some rather uncliched and very trippy desert rock. The band name like 'Blaak Heat Shujaa' must've taken something heavy to come up with anyway. Then again, I was told 'shujaa' means warrior-hero with magic skills in some African language. Get told lots of stuff, not all of it fun (for instance, that they were initially called 'Black Light Black Heat' after VU song, then decided to shorten it to 'Black Heat', at which point they got sued by some 70's funk band, and then went artful). So these lads decided that playing desert rock when you never saw a real desert in your life is kind of shitty idea, so they traveled to California and Uganda before getting started with their album. Which was, btw, recorded in California desert and produced by Scott Reeder himself.

Official site || Myspace || Facebook || Listen

Best albums of 2010

Without any ado, here are the best 25 records of 2010 imo.

25. Broken Water – Whet // noise-pop, noise rock, psychedelic
24. Asteroid – II // retro-hard, psychedelic rock
23. iLiKETRAiNS – He Who Saw The Deep // indie rock, post-rock
22. Mondo Drag – New Rituals // psychedelic rock, blues rock
21. Guerre Froide – Abrutir Les Masses // new wave, electronic
20. Pink Turns Blue – Storm // post-punk, gothic rock
19. Kvelertak – Kvelertak // some fucking metal
18. Current 93 – Baalstorm, Sing Omega // dark folk
17. Grinderman – Grinderman 2 // garage rock
16. Sleepy Sun – Fever // psychedelic rock, folk
15. Утро – Утро // post-punk
14. Blessure Grave – Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six // post-punk, gothic rock, lo-fi
13. Stoned Jesus – First Communion // stoner doom, retro-hard, psychedelic
12. Moon Duo – Escape (EP) // psychedelic rock, garage rock
11. Electric Moon – Lunatics // krautrock, psychedelic rock
10. The National – High Violet // indie rock
9. Kula Shaker – Pilgrim's Progress // britpop, folk, psychedelic
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil's Tattoo // mainstream garage rock
7. Rome – Nos Chants Perdus // dark folk, singer-songwriter
6. Family Band – Miller Path // country, singer-songwriter
5. Black Mountain – Wilderness Heart // retro-hard, psychedelic, progressive
4. Playfellow – Carnival Off // post-rock, indie rock, progressive
3. U.S. Christmas – Run Thick In The Night // space rock, singer-songwriter
2. The Dead Brothers – The 5th Sin-phonie // dark country, folk, blues
1. Trophy Scars – Darkness, Oh Hell (EP) // indie rock, jazz rock, post-hardcore

I feel kind of guilty posting them just like that, without any reviews, but it took me long enough composing all these charts (done them all the way down to 100, just don't think anyone's dying to know my 86th favourite album of the year). Not mentioning the constant updating the 'what i listened' and 'what i have to listen' lists all year long... Hell, I'm sick of this, why am I doing it every year? And why have I ALREADY got new lists for 2011?!

Anyway, this stuff (the records, I mean) is worth talking about, so I do think some reviews will follow. For now, that's all I've got to say. And don't be such nerds as me.

Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (2011)

'Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1' by Earth is the first album leaked in 2011 that I really enjoyed. It's in the more or less same vein as 'The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull', but more gentle, and it has some western, desert spirit. Definitely worth a listen

np: Rome - Nos Chants Perdus (2010). Charmingly dark singer-songwriter album.

Slow Ride Home "The Great Southern Supercluster" (2010)

Classy album from one of the few Ukrainian psychedelic bands. Causa Sui & Hypnos 69 blend with Dire Straits' guitar gentleness, 27 minutes of instrumental delight. Doommantia in their detailed review seem to agree it's totally enjoyable. So... enjoy.



p.s. this year's Black Mountain album is amazing, people. Get it, get it, get it!

Ivanov Down - Best Urban Technical Noises (1991)

Here it comes, the seriously fucked up sleep schedule. It's now 4.33 AM, I woke up about 3 hours ago. Which is one of the reasons I missed a local psychedelic/indie show, and I just hope I'm not gonna miss Ivanov Down this night.

They were one of the main acts on Soviet/Ukrainian early 90's underground post-punk scene with their "Best Urban Technical Noises" tape out in 1991. Highly experimental, merging gloomy post-punk melodics with industrial and noise rock sound, this record bears strong similarities to Trop Tard's "Photodrame". There's hardly any information about them available in English, and I don't particularly feel like translating biographies from Russian right now, but it all boils down to 'they'd been a bunch of freaks, then Perestroika came and they had to find real jobs'.

Now there's new line-up, and their album was released on CD in 2009 (with slightly different track listing). Well, theoretically 'slightly', 'cause the tape rip I downloaded some time ago has 21 songs instead of supposed 12, most of them untagged. Anyway, things are clearer with the CD version, which I advise you to check out.

The song below is 'Eyes' ('Glaza'), probably the most catchy and post-punk song they have.

Last.fm auto-correction isn't working properly AGAIN. I've got a growing feeling that their software is becoming less and less stable as they're trying to fix occurring problems, which worries me a bit.

np: Mushroom - Naked, Stoned & Stabbed [2010]. While I'm having really easy (though slightly boring) time listening to this album, describing it may turn out somewhat difficult. Sort of psychedelic jazz with folky feel (whole lot of flutes, whistles, violins and stuff), very relaxing, yet rather complex. Personally, despite all my open-mindedness, I prefer music with more tunes to it. May be worth a listen for people who are more into jazz, though.

First

And here I am, starting new blog again.

What I mostly expect to be here are music posts, my thoughts and impressions, reviews (kind of), my cd rips and stuff I want to share (warning, delete files in 24 blah-blah). Maybe there'll be more to it, maybe this will turn to something else in time.

Few more things. English isn't my native language, and it's been a while since I had any real practice, so it could be that my manner of writing strikes you somewhat odd. But boy, I enjoy it, I mean, thinking and writing in English again!

Hey, and if you find the title offensive in any way, would you please just leave. See, you don't like the word Satan, I don't like it when people take every nonsense serious, let's not piss off each other any more than that.