In the lean, lean month of January (not much ring to it, huh? & if there were I'd hock it for groceries!), if it be more than a couple-five dollars, I shut my eyes, hold my breath, and say, "See you in two paychecks." So me and the lady are hunkerin down in the brackish end of the pool, seein what we can scrounge up from the foam and algae to make a meal. Here's what we got so far:
Allegra - Music from the Heartlands (private press LP, mid-70s?)
Hipped to this by Mr. Olson of American Tapes, who also once said to a New England crowd, "This song goes out to standin there in black hoodies with your arms crossed." I just up and misplaced my skull. Rarely does somebody peg a whole scene so well so quick! And they say Midwesterners is slow. Ever since, I've taken almost everything he says as serious as taxes. And, hey, it lead me to things like Interstellar Encore, Lazy Smoke, and J.D. Emmanuel, so my grievance bin remains hollow.
What we got here is one dreary, parched, Southern stumbler (actually recorded in Europe, I hear?), reeking of haunt and head injury. In other words, hollaaa! First track, "Who's Sorry Now," does the business and some overtime in these drippy, smudgy months when one needs to remember the true dangers of cabin fever. Don't check your forehead, you might be holdin an icepick.
Extra nice loner bluegrass creep-out. This one shows up pretty often and, like I said, ain't gonna dropkick your debit card.
V.A. - Electronic Music Winners (Odyssey/Columbia LP, 1976)
Sometimes I forget Georgia has the worst schools in the country. Then I notice every record in every Classical section in the state is about $3.00. Research, shopkeepers: it ain't just when you backspace on Google. Matter of fact, this one goes for about 5 times what I paid, and mine's pretty clean. This comp got some digger cred at the beginning of the century when folks found out Radiohead sampled the last two cuts for "Idioteque." (C'mon, boys: two samples in a row? Who raised ya to be so sloppy?) In truth, this is a whole lot of Subotnick-style slurp-n-gurble, with some inspired sections thrown in. The closest I can approximate for ya in terms of texture is a kind of Brit free improv lack-of-phrase-as-phrase, only through-composed. Make sense?
Paul Lansky's piece, the last on the record, is a little long for what it does, but I dig Kreiger's "Short Piece" and Menachem Zur's "Chants, For Magnetic Tape." None really have the abandon of Darius Dolat-Shahi, the goofus and gallantry of Geesin, or a gram from Raicevic's medicine cabinet, but who knows? Ya might enjoy! I ain't Keither Fullerton-Whitman, but I'm sure he'd love to chew your lobes bout it if you'd just ask.
Bermuda Triangle - self-titled (Radioactive Records CD reissue)
If I said Ariel Pink happened already but you didn't hear me, would I make a sound? Wait, that's not it... Look, were there was such a thing as fate, every dog'd have its day. Thankfully there ain't, so spazz-lounge can crawl back in its sequin hole and wait for Quintron to walk by. Ok? Ok. Peace out.
Seriously avoid. If you must tiptoe to the mouth of the cave, Mark & Suzann Farmer's Space Hymns is a good-time dubbed-out karaoke wasteland alternative. Dig that.
Gravestone - Doomsday (Garden of Delights CD reissue, original LP on AVC)
Ho man, if you change the accents on this from German to Japanese, Julian Cope would knock down Stonehenge for a copy. TRUST. Released at the tail end of the 70s on a private label, this is the stoned parking lot wilderness of Krautrock. Let's call it zitty-prog. There's a monologue that sounds like it was fed through Babelfish a few too many times, bong-sweat jams, an uptempo metal thing with an unwarranted ESG bass line (?!), and an intense drum break from a dude that surely remembers they called it "crank" before they called it...well, you get it. Very "willful boys", they released a few more after this, but I wouldn't know nothin bout that.
Til next time, mind the difference between propellent and accelerant. Don't want it to get too hot in here.
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