McLuhan!

Gordon Alexander – Gordon’s Buster

If the name Curt Boettcher means anything to you, prepare to get excited. Recorded around the same time as Boettcher’s masterpiece Begin by The Millennium, Gordon’s Buster is a bit of a stranger release, and a bit less interesting orchestrally than Begin. You wouldn’t really be able to tell this from the A Side though. Speckled with fairly lame pop songs (although Topanga and Autumn Is A Bummer are pretty good, and they’re all pretty listenable) with kind of odd titles (you’d expect a song called A Bunch Of Us Were Sitting Around A Candle In San Francisco Getting Stoned And I Hope You’re There Next Time to be at least a bit interesting, right?), I sat listening waiting for some Boettcher magic to happen. So far I’m unimpressed, I thought, until I flipped the record and things started to get weird; let’s just say I can see why this the less commercial of Boettcher’s releases (aside from track titles). Thinking In Indian Again sounds like a slightly Zappa influenced psych pop song with lyrics like “I like to fly with my middle eye on a beam to the end of my brain” and some really, really cool fuzz guitar lines. Puppet Theatre 23 is pretty cool too, with lyrics like “a painting trip by a dude named Clay” and tremolo guitar, orchestral swells, and that awesomely cheesy California brass section thing. “Why is the flower pot broken, why do the flowers grow so tall,” Gordon yells. Super cool. “I’m standing inside of my brain,” Gordon yells. Super cool. One Real Spins Free also sounds kind of Zappa influenced, like if cheesy California soft-psych could be proggy: changing tempos and rhythms, more orchestral swells and California brass section pops, etc. It also ends in a cool, Sgt. Peppers-ish mind-bending orchestral swell. And then on to my favorite track here, Windy Wednesday. First of all it starts with studio chatter (which is always a good thing). Also, the vocals are DRENCHED in echo and reverb, which also always wins me over. The vocal melody kind of makes the song seem like a west coast soft-psych version of Letzte Tage – Letzte Nacht-era Popol Vuh, that kind of Opera-New-Age kind of deal. Then there’s Miss Mary which is also super cool, with the background vocal chants reminiscent of Pow R. Toc H. by Pink Floyd and super cool west coast fuzz lines. Also like the vocal rhythm where he keeps repeating the last words. The more I listen to this album though, the more I like it all. Still prefer the B Side, but the A Side is more than listenable now. Anyways…

Enjoy!

“Tune into the wavelength of the sonic vye-buh-ray-shuns of my song”

UPDATE: I think I fixed the link!

Esbee Family – Chics and Chicken

Holy shit. First of all, this record is called Chics and Chicken. Second of all, the cover is three women sharing a plate of chicken. This is one of those rare finds where the cover is so incredibly awesome that you’re praying for the music to be as good, and it turns out the music is BETTER than you wanted it to be. This is some seriously bumpin’ African boogie disco from Esbee Family, a Nigerian boogie funk group from the early 80s (I think?). I can’t find much information on this record but shit I love it. I can’t really find a good scan of the cover either, and don’t have a digital camera or a mac with photobooth with which to take a picture. There are some cool moog sounds and 1980 drumz, funky geetar, and generally everything you’d expect from a disco record called Chics and Chicken. The pressing I found is a bit off center so it kind of sounds warped sometimes one the first side, but to be honest, I think it makes it sound better. Especially the closer it gets to the center it just sounds more and more demented, like someone filtered it through a fucked up LFO. Pretty awesome. The B side isn’t pressed incorrectly though, so those tracks sound “better.” That being said, not every track is the best ever, but I’ll Give You Love (the opener on the A Side) is super awesome as well as the title track which opens the B Side.

Enjoy!!

“Chicks love chicken”

Lucas Nathan & Imaginary Band – “Bronze Ears, Man”: Tales From a Psychedelic Slumber Party

Oh yeah! New tunes have been completed. I don’t have a cover yet, as I was designing it in Los Angeles and left the supplies there. At some point there will be a cover, though. Anyways, the music turned out pretty good. I’m proud of my work. Had a bit of trouble with ordering the album, and even more trouble finishing a couple songs (had to omit them due to losing all my fucking files with the death of my harddrive…RIP!), but I think it’s some good shit. Fuck being self-depricating, I dig my tunez. Anywayzzzz, download my musics here!

Let me know what you think.

~*HBP*~

45s at 33

I am a human who believes that about 80% of all songs sound better slowed down. I have slowed down a few 45s for your demented listening pleasure. As DJ Screw intended psychedelia to be heard. Here are four songs from 45s that I ripped in at 33rpm. Apologies for the volume of the Folklords song BTW. I think that one turned out the best in terms of slowness, but for some reason it’s super quiet. Anyways, enjoy!