Some of the Boredoms' best stuff here. I don't have the ones before 5, but I'm sure they're good too. If you’re not familiar with these, I'd say start with 10 and work your way down.
These crazy Finns have tapped into something really special here. This album has it all: Strange, wonderfully over-the-top melodies, lots of lo-fi ambient noise, and an otherworldly female voice floating above it all.
"I tried to deal with what I guess you could call the inherent evil I've discovered in myself; excise that, use it as material."
Here’s a little mix that I put together. Just a bunch of things that I’ve been listening to lately. A couple of newer songs and a lot of older ones. I’m not really good at sequencing this kind of thing, so sorry if the pacing is a little schizophrenic. Oh, and it’s all 320kbps, so it’s a pretty big file.
One of the prettiest things I've heard in a while.
Acoustic guitars, ghostly voices and nature sounds. Good stuff.
My obsession with Gram Parson comes and goes in phases. I can go without listening to him for months, but then there are times, like this morning, where I’ll sit and play every one of his albums back to back. I don’t know much about country music, but my favourites are guys like George Jones and the Louvin Brothers, singers that I can only describe as having a hint of tragic in their voices. Parsons’ voice definitely has that kind of quality. While he didn’t have the greatest of voices by any means, his singing was all about naked emotion; all the more evocative in its ordinariness, cracking and warbling in all the right places. And he was a solid songwriter to boot. Every album he contributed to has at least a couple drop-dead gorgeous Parsons-penned sad songs, which is kind of why I had a hard time picking just one or two for this post. So without further ado, here’s just about every record Gram Parsons had anything to do with.
An album of infinite depth and abstraction, alternately soothing and nightmarish. Ideally listened to at night, with good headphones.
The first Akron/Family album is probably still my favourite. Not that I have anything against them having turned into a hippie jam-band. Guess I just have a thing for this sort of acoustic guitar + found sounds set-up.
I don't like everything on this one, but there are a couple of amazing songs here.
Experiment in Metaphysics is one of the rarest and most sought-after artifacts of the hippie era. Recorded live during a five-hour session in the basement of a shoe-repair shop in June of 1970, most of the 300 original copies of Experiment in Metaphysics were simply given away in one afternoon, yet, inexplicably, bootleg copies of the album later sprang up half-way around the world. The reason for the album's staying power is apparent: the music is gorgeous, first-rate progressive folk.
Here’s The Field’s new album, to be released in a week or two I think. His last one got ridiculously good reviews from all over the place; this one probably will too. I quite like it. It’s a little different; the sound is fuller, more strident, kind of house-y with the pumping beats. Dig the Elizabeth Frasier samples on the fifth track.
An 18th century robot duck that could eat and poo. Designed by French engineer Jacques de Vaucanson.
Before Marc Bolan nearly took over the world at the helm of glam-rock behemoth T. Rex, he was a fixture in London’s underground hippie music scene, playing quirky little psych-folk tunes together with an acid-fried percussionist named after one of the Hobbits from the Lord of the Rings. The duo called themselves Tyrannosaurus Rex, an oddly menacing choice for a name considering that their music pretty much embodied the optimism and drugged-out harmlessness of 60s hippie culture. Bolan’s strange warbly voice and knack for writing simple, earthy melodies set them apart from most of the other cosmic folkies of the era, and inspired many of today's acts that fall under the freak folk banner.
I put together a little compilation of legendary Cretan singer Nikos Xylouris’ songs. I posted his Rizitika album a while ago, but this one has a bit more variety. Here’s wikipedia with some basic info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_xylouris
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?34nnvmgmnjg
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?z2zx3danu5t
Some of Ben’s strongest songwriting here. A fantastic collection of joyful rhythms and melodies, and a great soundtrack to the beginning of the summer.
