Dreamy Music for Librarians

One of the weirder set of folks I follow on twitter are these wacky librarians who have anonymously aggregated themselves and who let you inside their very bizarre lives. Follow them on my librarians and collectors list if you want to see what I am talking about. Be warned they tweet and curse more than you average sailor so be warned in advance. Their minds are fascinating.

What is interesting to me about twitter culture is you get to be in the nitty-gritty of people's lives as much or as little you want. You follow(stalk) every random thought without the depth of a blog (yuk-yuk) unless your desire tells you to do otherwise. I love lists and librarians whole existence is about knowing where to file stuff so it can be found later. So from a social graph perspective this tickles my right brain. Sure, I am simplifying their job which from what I gather is mostly an exercise in managing people of all ages and getting lost in the stacks of books. They dread the reference . So in thinking about this list for folks who make lists I'm going to keep it simple and focus on a couple themes that come up the most. They work a lot of hours, hate most folks, drink a lot of alcohol and are also experts in the art of relaxing. This may be too easy or maybe just an excuse to make a list but it is not where I am going. The there is the whole obvious eyeglasses and plaid skirt thing to consider too but that is also too easy since some librarians are male. The good thing is they really take it to a whole other level and have these amazing minds. So what I came up with is more of is a list for music for the mind. Here is a some dreamy music to escape to which is what reading and listening to music is all about.

Sleepless in Silver Lake (mp3) by Less Savy Fav from their new record Root for Ruin (2010). I like this song because it's a destination. Makes you want to hang out and escape in LA as it captures a vapid culture of late nights and growing up hipster which could have easily been titled Sleepless in Brooklyn. Obvious chick-flick reference but allas the record is spacey and rockin at times and far from uni-dimensional. Certainly a candidate for the top 10 for this year. [ Buy ]

Candy Season (mp3) by the Librarians from Present Passed (2010). I really like this record a lot when it pops-up on the random play. this band takes you places. I always have to see who it is. Sounds sort 80's with synthes and percussive guitars. You can't pigeon hole them but it's like jazzy rock and is pretty ethereal and they hail from West Virginia. [ Buy ]


Champ (mp3) from Last Days of Summer (2010) by White Denim. A collection of b-sides and unreleased stuff available for free from the band. Some of these tracks they reworked and recorded for this while they work on their next LP. Lots of great jams on this record. Total Americana menu of acoustic and electric songs with quirky rhythms that reminds me of Captain Beefheart. If you dig it they ask that you donate so [ Download ]

Zig Zag Wanderer from Safe as Milk(1967) by Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band. I admit the only 60's band I paid any attention to were Hendrix and Pink Floyd in Highschool. A class mate was always going on and on about Captain Beefheart and I always shelved them in my mind with the Greatful Dead. I had a visions of tie-dy t-shirts and really long boring jams that I could not stomach for lack of melody or lyrics I could relate to. Regardless this album is amazing; as nutty as it gets I hear influence in all the bands in this post whether they realize it or not. Safe as Milk is one of the quintisential "jam" bands executed to a whole different orchestration level. After this release Trout Mask Replica (1969) would bring them onto musical map thanks to Frank Zappa. Both great introductions to the band and Don Van Vliet (AKA Captain Beefheart).

Christian Vander speaks Kobaian from Magma

WEIRD JAZZ MUSIC: ATTAHK(1978) and UDU WUDU(1976) are just two titles from records put forth by French composer and drummer Christian Vander in his group Magma. This music is sung in language called Kobaïan. At some point Vander claimed he was communicated messages from alien visitors telling us of our fate and the narrative present in his music if we did not do something about the state of planet or so the myth goes. So it is probably no mystery to him that our nuclear missile silos have been disarmed by aeriel space crafts since 1948. Press Invite on the subject is Monday, September 27th on Witness Testimony of UFO's at Nuclear Weapons Bases ( I can't make this up).

Maybe it is for our own good as envisioned by Christian Vander a long time ago who had this vision of "humanity's spiritual and ecological future", as given to him by people not of this earth, who we hope wish us to preserve mother earth. G*d knows we've been delinquent with oil messes, plastics, bad farming practices and terrible genocides and never mind facebook crashing all the time(that was terrible). Do they really mean us no harm? Through the scat-yodelling vocal style is a language designed to accompany the instantly alien rhythms which are equally terrifying at times in this avant garde jazz. Telling us a story of our destruction and ultimate implosion. The compositions go on to tell stories of humans fleeing earth and going to this new planet. Oh the irony if these aliens abandoned their planet and hope to share ours because of what they learned. This music is also called "Zeuhl" (Kobaïan for "celestial"), there some offspring bands from influenced bands from France, Belgium and Japanese bands also including Ruins that worked off similar constructed language.

In the track Lirik Necronomicus Kant two alien Heroes Ourgon and Gorgo Meet

Alien music by Magman:
The Last Seven Minutes (1970-1971)from ATTAHK from the Tomato Label released in 1989.
Lirik Necronomicus Kant - Our alien Heroes Ourgon and Gorgo Meet from ATTAHK
De Futura from Üdü Wüdü (1976) Release on Tomato label
Üdü Wüdü Title track


Bonus:
Komnigriss (mp3) from the album Tzomborgha by Ruins. Totally awesome bass and guitar syncopation instrumental on this short spastic track. Less Claypool got nothing on these guys.

Rewind: It was the mid 90's and I was chatting with my friend and roommate Ted who had just recorded some music at Noise New Jersey with Kramer and he had brought up Magma to him. Kramer mentioned when last on tour with Bongwater he saw Christian Vander get in Jaguar with a couple hookers. If you wanted to add more to the mystic of crazy jazz musician but allas. I have a couple of these releases on vinyl. One of the cool ones is a live Magma form 1976 which I found at this weird diner in New Brunswick, NJ around the same time. I went into the Mack diner to visit Charles Ewen and asked him if had any Magma records also known as All Ears Music. You could barely walk around the place. Filled with literally stacks of records from floor to ceiling. He says to me come back in a week kid. A week later I show up and looks at me and says go look in that stack over there which was 3 feet high. Thus began the negotiation. "Look kid you could spend the rest of your days looking for this or you could just call it day and give me $50 bux." - The logic was good. Sold. As of a couple of years ago the place was still there but will report in on my next trip to the good old Hub City but I fear it's been since engulfed by UMDNJ. Anybody care to report?

Henry & Glenn Danzig Forever are lovers

ZINE COMIC REVIEW: Henry & Glenn Forever is no Boiled Angel or Judy Blume but it is pretty funny I will admit. I could not resist the premise of a couple 90's indie superstars being wrung through the muck by some punk (Tom Neely). The diary entries and notes between characters are the funniest part which are hand scribbled. The artwork for exception of a few panels and cover is not so great sorry to say. The cover has obvious Pettibon sensibility and reference to Family Man spoken word cover art so if anything Danzig and Rollins should be most upset about the lack of likeness. But if you want to giggle their satantic neighbors John & Daryl Hall has potential and well making fun of Hank & Glenn is fun. You know one of them will at least deal with the truth or irony of these two muscle heads in a living situation even if it 15 years too late. Check out igloo tornado for more nonsense honestly was not a total waste of my $6 so thank you!

I know a bunch of tough guy punks and fathers these days with warn out Samhain and and black flag tattoos. Never met Glen Danzig but I did catch the rollin's band on more than one occasion. Sometimes Hank was angrier than other times but always rocked the house at some point he could not be trusted anymore. Maybe that was when he turned 30 and announced the fact at the Fastlanes II show. The point is glad to see somebody took the time to actually print a book verses just posting it on the web on some lame blog. So punk points there.

The soundtrack for reading this book:
Hammer of the Gods from Danzig's new record Deth Red Sabaoth. More metal than they started and has the sing along chorus parts you would expect. For fans of the dark metal this is decent update for Danzig. This record rips. The self titled track is like the others ballads Sistinas or Mother so you won't be disapointed.
Twist Of Cain by Danzig s/t. Tons of sing-a-longs on this old record that somehow all drunk preppy guys know the lyrics for. Weird huh? [ Buy it ]
Slip It In by Black Flag s/t. If you got laid in Highschool to this album you are very punk. If you lasted all the way through the first song that is. [ Buy it ]
Lonely By The Rollins Bands from album Life Time. This is a classic record with more brow beating guitar, bass and drum pummeling your teen angst could ever handle. Amazing bass playing by Andrew Weiss hands down a master next to Flea and Bootsy Collins imho. if you do anything download this record. Buy it.

Bonus mp3:
Wartime from the album Fast Food for thought. Features Henry Rollins, Andrew Weiss, Theo Van Rock, Sim Cain by studio experimental band Wartime.

Superchunk Digging for Something by some oldsters

SINGLE REVIEW: Superchunk's Digging for Something off of Majesty Shredding. Love this song it's like a long lost friend who got drunk at the bar and then found their way back wearing the same cloths you saw them in the night before. ok maybe the label says reinvented by american apparel on it but they smell the same. Has the elements you'd expect from years gone by from portastatic to now from Mac and company. Never trying to be something they are not but except a indie rock band from North Carolina. No please all fucking hipsters please go die and then buy this record and all their old stuff on Merge Records. You are being made fun of by the old folks. WATCH VIDEO >>

Download mp3:
"Digging for Something" by Superchunk
"Through With People" (Portastatic cover) by Barbara Manning

Ok Go This Too Shall Pass - Smarty Music Video

I hate most music videos with a passion but this one is intensely nerdy and craftily creative. "This Too Shall Pass" - Rube Goldberg Machine by Ok Go. Sorry I missed them at the union county music fest yesterday. Totally remind me of the flaming lips for obvious reasons.

Heavy Night Terror dreams by Helms Alee

ALBUM REVIEW: Helms Alee Night Terror. I love heavy music that fills space like the absence of white that fills the nights sky between the stars. Sure I'm totally catching up to this band thru the interwebs but whatever. Hoz, Dana & Ben bring it on this one all the way through. If you dig later era neurosis, trail of dead and hum those would be good starting points to this brand of rocket ship guitar blasting of this co-fronted trio. The distorted bass parts are godfleshy which brings to mind old local New Brunswick faves Transylvia who were the indie rock version of Ministry. See where this going? The track "Big Spider" in particular has that twisted gated sound that if I told you it was Pigface you'd be none the wiser.

Night Terror although less gothic in its presentation thisrecord is more indie nue-metal I suppose. Ok and maybe no crazy double kick-drum or blood pellets but it's more about the razor like guitars feeding back and female vocals that drive the temptress like mini mosh-parts to some sonic depth that makes my ears perk up and pay attention when it comes. You will bang your head while arms folded and be consumed by the noise. Promise once you unfold your appendages you'll be glad you stopped letting your knuckles drag on the floor and will raise up the devil sign in honorary approval.

Left Handy Man Handle from Night Terror [ Buy it ] Instru-metal thrashing with a Don Caballero guitarscape is surely a great jam to open up a record with and that they did.
Big Spider

Bonus tracks:
Lionize from Helms Alee digital 7" - They could have been on a Amphetamine Reptile comp and you would be non the wiser in 1993.
dogsbody corpsegas by Transilvia off of Slugchuckles Insanely. This is the shit bad dreams and good acid are made of.
The Missing by Ministry off of Land Of Rape and Honey. The more well known track is the opening track Stigmata but you can go buy that.

Also, check out this FREE band compilation In Case of Evacuation presented by Exploding In Sound with a Helms Alee track "New Roll" from their NT plus other like minded ear candy which came out this past June. There is something here for everyone but here are a couple heavyish ones:
Good to Die (mp3) by Red Fang channels Judiest Priest dueling guitar solos.
I Should Be Coming Up (But I Keep Coming Down) by Sky parade. its what kids are dancing to these days disco rock like New Order but much less bass melodic. Good song though.

Harmonious bec the future of Her Strange Dreams

ALBUM REVIEW: Harmonious bec from Japan's record Her Strange Dreams is a winner. All the comparisons are true amongst the light sprinkling of traditional instrumentation. Her Strange Dreams is brought to you by Monotreme Records and offer a mix reminiscent of those glorious DJ Shadow record bin finds and that weird techno music present in the sound bed of Lost in Translation (at least in my imagination) for those round eyes that are paying attention. Get the rest of this Harmonious bec post on all new ReviewStalker.com Music Blog site!>>

New Interpol and dark muses from The 1980's

Words do not communicate knowledge in the way they should. Lets all thank Satan there is temptation (music) even if the words don't make any sense or their melodies paint the ether via soundscapes and the conspiracies that give us cultural relevance come through the audio. The best songs are like the most awesome females at the risk of sound totally misogynistic it's what you hope to get out of music. You know getting some feeling? Creating some sort of vision from that high that we could not see without hearing or tasting. This sensation would not be possible without some muse or soundtrack. The few bands do a good job of the above over and over again without risking being mundane or boring. Please fuel your libido below.

Dark Mix for dark moods:
Barricade by Interpol (new!) from their self titled record. A review is coming but for now enjoy a single. This band borrows and twists what the bands below started years ago. [Buy]
New Face In Hell by The Fall from Grotesque (After the Gramme)(1980) album art was drawn by Mark E. Smith's sister, Suzanne and album title was taken a from a film that was later renamed. [Buy]
European Female by The Stranglers from the album Feline(1982). Always a weird mix of pop and keywords mixed with your darkness. [Buy]
I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas by Butthole Surfers from Hairway to Steven (1988) Should be the album you listen to in order to perform that acid test you wanted to venture on. Just make sure you have a tripmaster. [Buy]
Do It Clean by Echo & The Bunnymen of their debut Crocodiles (1980) and probably one of the most brilliant songs ever that I still have no clue what it's about. [Buy]

Distance cousins but still related articles:
Butthole Surfers live review with The School of Rock
The Fall in my top 10 list for 2010! (mp3 Hot Cake)

Reintroduction to Frank Black Francis

Right before The Pixies fall tour begins you can catch Mr. Frank Black Francis play live. He has more twists to his personality one would argue than a unrelenting vine, this is clear, the man behind the black sunglasses is more than just the music. A working artist for sure, always making something trying new things borrowing genres and key changes. Sure you met him in The Pixies but do you know him? Pan forward to 2010 it's been 17 years since they disbanded and he started writing songs about aliens, Ghosts and Pittsburgh. Quite a long time to build, remix and rebuild a whole body of work since anybody could be proud of. Sometime close to what the Pixies did other times just a live 2 track recording. It's all good and always worth checking to see what he's up. Who he has roped into to the jam in the tradition of blues masters and the likes of Lou Reed and David Bowie.

Live at Joe's Pub in NYC on the 3rd, 4th, & 5th.

Follow: Mr. Black Francis | Web

Saint Frank Black Francis Music Mix Road Tape:
Into The White(remixes) from Frank Black Francis (2004)
The Man Who Was Too Loud from Frank Black And The Catholics (1998)
Bad Harmony Pistolero(1999)
I Burn Today Frank Black Honeycomb (2005)
I'm Not Dead (I'm in Pittsburgh) Frank Black Fast Man / Raider Man (2006)
Threshold Apprehension from Blue Finger (2007)
Jet Black River from Frank Black Black Letter Days (2002)

Related stories:
BlueFinger review

Shellac of North America to Rock Brooklyn USA

Back in the day I played bass in this little loud indie rock band from New Brunswick, NJ called Bubblegum Thunder. Above is photo of Albini's basement where we recorded a record and a 7" to acetate Ampex 24 track tape. I remember looking at the plans for a interface schematic for Electrical Audio with Bob Weston and thinking these guys are total fucking geeks. Catch Shellac live At Bell House in Brooklyn, Tues Sept 7th which is freaking sold out. Somebody please get me on the guest list for crying out loud. Thank you!

Shellac Digital downloads even though Steve hates them:
Prayer to God from 1,000 Hurts
The Admiral from At Action Park
Disgrace Terraform
Holiday in Sun (Sec Pistols Cover) w/ David Yow Halloween @ The Lounge Ax

All of which I nerdly own on vinyl. Always funny when the blank CD with no artwork would roll-out of packaging and I'm like WTF? I'd think if the record had a baby it would at least be a flexi-disc.


BGT @ The Lounge Ax (note: the ween t-shirt)

From the Bubblegum Thunder Cock Monkey LP: (unmastered/unreleased from cassette - lol)
Ghost Town
Acid Gravy
Bedwetter
Safe from Me


Brett & Sandor