OW

I guess my computer got hit by a pretty dank virus last night...........soooooooooooooooooo yeah. fuck

Woods - Songs of Shame (2009)

How about something a little bit lighter. I think Woods is one of the best bands on the New York lo-fi freak psych label Woodsist. If you listen to this, I think you will agree. These guys really took me off guard at first and it took me at least a month to really let their sound to sink in. They are definitely in the lo-fi folk campfire wierdo vein, but their sound is very strange to me--"skeletal psychedelia" as the woodsist label says. The singers distant and reedy voice also had a lot to do with my initial shock, but it really grew on me with some time. This is for sure one fantastic album with some really killin jams on it. Probably the standout moment for me is 'Gyspy Hand' which almost sounds like if you played a Velvet Underground LP at 45rpm. It's a brisk folk jam with some beautiful soaring vocal harmonies that crescendo in a wild psyched out noisy dueling guitar jam session. FANFUCKINTASTIC SONG! If you find it odd at first, dont throw it away, give it some time, give it some space, and I'm sure you will find it odd and delightful soon enough. listen

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 9 (1909)

Time to drop some of the heaviest sounds I know of. This is one of my favorite symphonies, and it is some seriously black music. Every second of the piece is infatuated with the thought of death--it is full of irony, violence, tragedy, nostalgia. It is a deep meditation on the passing of life by a powerful mind who was about to die himself. It is relentless in intensity, and it is inescapably grim and beautiful. listen.

Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes (1968)

Classic Brazilian lysergic pop insanity. Recommended for all humans.

Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian (2007)

Killer album from an awesome band. Disorienting, manic psychedelic indie rock music. The songs all seem to sit right on the edge of euphoria just before plunging into total schizophrenic breakdown. JJJJJJJJJJJJust listen to it. love it

Fuck Buttons - Surf Solar (2009)

Had not heard of these guys before about a week ago which is a bummer because this is pretty sweet. Its like total spaceship take-off music. Soaring, neon colored sheets of electronic noise flying high in the atmosphere above thumping, propulsive drumbeats. There are seven long songs, but the album really plays more like one hour long entrancing cosmic jam sesh. I'm really digging it so far. I totally recommend this if you are into the newer Animal Collective and Black Dice music, or if you were wondering what Dan Deacon's music sounds like when played at half-speed. The feeling is out-of-body bliss. Great band name. Also, I think it deserves special mentioning that there is a song on here named after the coolest roller coaster ever--Space Mountain. JAMALAM.

Fall Break

Sooooo, I'm going home for fall break and I'm leaving my computer so no posts for the weekend...BUT before I go here are a few good autumnal albums that are perfect for this moody, contemplative time of the year.

Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith (1995)



This one completely blew my mind when I first heard it. It was almost too intense back in Freshman year of high school, and it immediately became one of my favorites. It remains to this day a very powerful album to me--its sadness and beauty have never ceased to get under my skin. Its almost sounds as if the Beatles made an acoustic album that was darker, angrier, sadder, starker, more intense, and more beautiful than anything they had ever made before. I'm guessing most people have heard this, but if you haven't, now may be the perfect time. Listen


Panda Bear - Person Pitch (2007)



One of my favorite space-out albums. Beautiful, heavenly cosmic jams that sometimes I wish would go on for eternity. Nostalgic, reflective, ecstatic, and lonely music. Listen

Skip Spence - Oar (1969)



The stunning and moving statement of a fragile, brilliant, and damaged mind. The story goes that Spence spent six months in a psych-ward after spinning out on LSD and trying to chop down his bandmates' hotel room door. Upon his release from Bellevue (where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia) he hopped on a motorcycle in his pajamas and drove to Nashville, and recorded this album, completely solo. It is one of the most incredible, heart-wrenching albums I know of. You need this one.

Beck - Sea Change (2002)



I know I just posted Beck, but I really can't leave this one out. Seriously. Saddest album ever? Just about.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) - 4 ballades Op.10, 2 Rhapsodies Op.79, 10 Intermezzi


Brahms is the ultimate autumnal master, and Glenn Gould would have to be his painfully introverted and equally autumnal modern counterpart. They meet in time and space on this album and the result is mindblowing. The ballades and rhapsodies are awesome, but if you want to get to the heart of it, the REAL deep shit, go straight to the intermezzi and prepare yourself for some seriously revelatory moments. check it

Jelly Roll Morton - The Piano Rolls

.............And all of a sudden I'm having a knee-slappin' jumpin up and down good time. These piano rolls are from 1924 and are captured MAGNIFICENTLY on this disc. Incredibly clear and alive sounding...almost as if the man himself were right there blowin your mind just for you. This music feels so good--it is all at once simple at its core, yet endlessly complex and virtuosic. Its very rare that you get music that mixes all of this, while being incredibly fun and easy to listen to. He is the self proclaimed "inventor of jazz", and despite him being insanely pompous, his proclomations are not too far off. It really slays me everytime I listen to it, because this grooves just as hard, if not harder, than anything I know of. Enough already. I don't like to make promises, but I PROMISE you, that if you listen to this, your day will be substatially improved had you not heard it. Go ahead, throw that smile on.

Abe Vigoda - Skeletons (2008)

Heard this today and I love it. Animal Collective and Deerhoof go down to Brazil and party it up at Carnaval. This is what I dream that jam session would have sounded like. It's a little bit more like my high-school taste than most things, but whaaat the fuck EVER. Thumbs Up.

Claude Debussy - La Mer, Prelude a l'Apres midi d'un faune -- Maurice Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe, Pavane

Some of my all-time favorite shit right here. If you take a listen, I'm sure you will agree with me that psychedelic and ambient music owes quite a bit of their sound and ideas to these 20th century Frenchmen. This music is all about color, light, translucent textures, subtlety, atmosphere. It will show you vibrant hues of pink, purple, yellow, blue-orange, and green. This music is absolutely mystical and words are a pathetic understatement to its power and ecstasy. If classical music isn't really your bag--or even if it is--you should forget everything you know and let this music come over you with open ears and open heart, and I can almost guarantee you that you will be amazed and deeply moved. Experiencing this music is like drifting into a euphoric dream, and I do not exaggerate this. Everything about it is unreal. CHECK IT.

It kinda sounds like this:




and this

Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004)

Without a doubt this is one of the most tripped out, mind-altering pieces of music I know of. I can still vividly remember the first time I heard 'The Softest Voice" come trickling out of the speakers, feeling as if I was blowing away in the wind. This is euphoric and disembodying music. This album is full of character and spirit, using mostly acoustic guitars and percussion instruments. It is an acid-drenched campfire. In my opinion, this is one of the most unique and special albums of the 21st century. LISTEN.

Monks of Sherab Ling Monastery - Sacred Tibetan Chant (2003)

lose yourself in it

Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972)

On The Corner is the most intensely hypnotic, fiendishly otherwordly, funked up jam I know. Funkajazzadelica from Neptune--or maybe the center of the earth--i dont really know whats going on right now...its like that or whatever or i forget yeah listen to this.