MIXTAPE#1: Sunset In A Golden Horn (Acid-folk, Psych, Soundtrack music)

TINTERN ABBEY Vacuum Cleaner
THE YARDBIRDS Heart Full Of Soul
THE MISSING LINKS You're Drivin' Me Insane
ROY BUDD Main Theme - Carter Takes A Train
THE MOGOLS Sunset In Golden Horn
SIMON FINN Jerusalem
D.R.HOOKER Forge Your Own Chains
MICHAEL HURLEY & PALS Jocko's Lament
LALO SCHIFFRIN Dirty Harry's Creed
SERGE GAINSBOURG Black And White
OS MUTANTES Hey Boy
13th FLOOR ELEVATORS Slip Inside This House
QUASI Our Happiness Is Guaranteed
ESSRA MOHAWK Spiral
DUNCAN BROWNE Chloe In The Garden
BRIAN ENO King's Lead Hat
KOLLECTIV Rambo Zambo

YO LA TENGO- I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

This is a record I have listened to so many times in the last, say, 10 years I almost know it off by heart. Yo La Tengo (whose name comes from baseball slang or so I was led to believe) are one of the most inventive and essential alternative rock bands to come out of the US (Sonic Youth and Pavement also come to mind). They met and formed around Hoboken in New Jersey and since the early 90's the line up consists of Ira Kaplan (guitars, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, vocals), and James McNew (bass, vocals). This double LP is a collection of mostly melodic songs with a pop sensibility. The album kicks in with instrumental tune Return To Hot Chicken which sets the mood for side one. It's quickly followed by Moby Octopad, a killer track based on a bass riff with harmony vocal from Georgia Hubley. Then tunes come thick and fast, most of them classics: Autumn Sweater, Little Honda, Sugarcube (insane shoegaze anthem), Stockholm Syndrome, One PM again...YLT are still making awesome records these days but they'll be hard-pressed to make a better record than this. They're a superb live outfit too.


Here's YLT doing what they do best.

The DREAM SYNDICATE- The Days Of Wine & Roses (1982)

This genuinely is one of the unsung treasures of early 80's rock. I would put it in the same bag as the Feelies' Crazy Rhythms or Pylon's Gyrate as a truly original collection of finely-crafted tunes. I discovered the Dream Syndicate through reading an article in a music mag and then went off on a mad, feverish search for this LP, which I eventually tracked down in a used records store in Melbourne. Happy as I was, I returned home with this sacred nugget and put it on my turntable. The sounds bursting out of this record almost straight away evoked the golden age of the Velvets and Television; crisp, clean guitars, driving bass and a post-punk sensibility in the drumming. The Dream Syndicate was an L.A band led by singer-guitarist Steve Wynn. The band line-up changed over the years with bassist Kendra Smith and guitarist Karl Precoda leaving to pursue other musical projects. The DM is often associated with the neo-psychedelia movement "Paisley Underground" alongside other L.A combos such as the Rain Parade or Mazzy Star (later on). The songs on this LP are nothing short of extraordinary. That's What You Always Say opens with an unforgettable bass riff and turns into a glorious guitar fest, When You Smile is a gentle post-punk ode to a loved one. The highlight of this album is undeniably the title track, a 9-minute long epic, which explodes into a ramshackle, shambolic tune complete with manic drumming and over the top vocals. Quite simply, there's not a bad song on this LP.

Also recommended is the Dream Syndicate's Live At Raji's (1989) which showcases many of the songs off TDOWAR. Fantastic stuff.

Listen to a live rendition of That's What You Always Say Here

Worthy read: Vinyl Junkies (Brett Milano)

A great read for all record nutters out there. Has interviews with notable record collectors/musicians. Thurston Moore and Peter Buck's accounts of how they came to record collecting are particularly insightful and so are the tales with other less notorious figures, like this guy who has a warehouse full of records. This book is rad.

Here's one of my favourite YouTube snippets of DJ Cut Chemist digging for records in a store in California.

DEMON FUZZ- Afreaka (1970)

Oh what a beast of a record this is. The sleeve says it all, menacing, dangerous and downright insane. The music is slightly less threatening with its funky horns and sometimes soulful vocals (although listening to album opener Past Present & Future you wouldn't think so). The genre that comes up the most when other freaks discuss this LP seems to be "progressive funk". I couldn't agree more. There's not enough prog-funk out there methinks. Besides, all it takes is one look at Demon Fuzz's label-mates on Dawn (I have the Dawn sampler right here): Comus (Acid folk nutters), Mungo Jerry (and one must note here that Demon Fuzz never got the attention they deserved because, amongst other things, Dawn records devoted 95% of their time and resources to promoting MOR hit In The Summertime, oh well...) , Heron, Mike Cooper, John McLaughlin and a smattering of super-obscure bands. Prog-funk fits well. Not much info is available about the group except that they were Brits (like the other mighty funk troupe Cymande - also highly recommended)  but tracking down this LP is well worth the effort. This LP is a masterpiece which should have its place in any record collection worth its salt. Plus it's been sampled to death by DJs the world over.

Demons give us some fuzz right here right now!

NEU!- Neu! 75 (1975)

Pulling this LP out is never a problem as the music contained within is faultless, galaxies beyond anything released in 1975. The LP has two very separate sides (as do all LPs some smart-arses will say). There's the ambient, more progressive side 1 and the proto-punk wig-out that is side 2. Both are equally entertaining in their own way. Neu! was a duo who formed in the German city of Dusseldorf in the early 70's. The two core members, Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger (R.I.P), started Neu! after splitting from Kraftwerk. The pair decided to focus on more lengthy, drawn-out music pieces that would go on to defy the boundaries of rock altogether (Hallogallo on Neu! is the quintessential example of what we're talking about here). Dinger is widely recognised as the creator of the 'motorik' drum rhythm which can be heard on vitually every Neu! track. On this LP, Dinger comes to the fore on numbers such as "Hero" or "E-musik", tracks that influenced countless post-punk bands (Public Image Limited, This Heat and Pere Ubu come to mind) and defined the sound of a generation. Neu! released 3 impeccable LPs during the 70's (Neu!2 is probably the weakest of the batch) and Rother/Dinger collaborated on diverse Krautrock projects such as Harmonia (with Rodelius/Moebius from Cluster) and the stellar La Dusseldorf. My copy of the LP is a clear vinyl reissue which makes me want to pull it out of the racks even more. Nuff said!

Hear Neu! on the apocalyptic Hero

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN: This Is Just A Modern Rock Song EP (1998)

This baby turned up today from Japan (Ebay purchase). This was the only major Belle & Sebastian release that I'd never got to buying for some strange reason. Anyway, I knew the songs from various other bootlegs and one must admit that it's not their strongest batch of tunes. Maybe I should mention that, in relation to other B&S releases this is not perhaps their most convincing effort but that some bands would be hard-pressed to put out a release as good as this. Maybe I'm biased. I don't really care.

I finally got to getting this because recently I finished reading the stupendous rock biog penned by Paul Whitelaw who seems to have spent a lot of time interviewing the various members of the cult Scottish outfit. The seemingly never-ending saga between Stuart Murdoch & Isobel Campbell is nothing short of fascinating. A fantastic read if, like yours truly, you are a fan of the band.

Here's a link to a cool B&S video

MOONDOG- Moondog (1969)

"Machines were mice and men were lions once upon a time . But now that it's the opposite it's twice upon a time" 

I came home in the pouring rain on my bike (I ride to work) and found this mighty jazz LP on my doorstep. I'd ordered it some time ago and it finally turned up. This is an original US press of the album. I don't know a great deal about Moondog except for the fact that he was some kind of blind street muso who invented instruments and performed on 6th Avenue in New York. His outfits earned him the nickname of "The Viking of 6th Avenue". The record is as great and enlightening as the sleeve that houses it. A must for all music snobs and vinyl heads alike.

Here's a cool Moondog ditty

URIAH HEEP- Salisbury (1971)

Here's an interesting find. I'm on a prog bender of sorts at the moment. Cannot get enough of the stuff. They say that's why punk happened, all the overblown 9 minute-drum solos and insane LP/song titles referencing either JJR Tolkien or Jules Vernes but I don't know. Truth is, I was just learning to crawl back then so how could I know, huh? I found this killer original Vertigo Label pressing in a record store in Melbourne whilst shaking my head to the lovely Echo & the Bunnymen soundtrack provided by the nerd behind the counter. I fell in love with the artwork and bought it. Uriah Heep are one of those semi-buried prog bands who produced some of the hardest rocking music of the genre. They formed in London in 1970 and apparently over 30 musicians played with UH over the years. I also own the debut Very'Eavy Very'Umble. I can only recommend those fine records to my fellow diggers.

Crate diggers of the world unite and take over

The one thing I have learnt after years of sniffing mercilessly every record bin that comes my way, be it in op-shops (that's charity shops for our UK cousins and thrift stores for our US ones), record stores or junk barns, is that finding cool LPs is an experience to be shared with fellow record nuts. The amount of time that I spend trailing through such fine establishments is only matched by the time I spend looking at record blogs and sussing out what other junkies are laying their dusty hands on. It's a bit like travelling without moving really. Anyway don't let me go off on any tangent or we are doomed big time.

After much reflection, I decided (perhaps against my better judgement) to share these wonderful experiences where you walk into a shop or at a market and you find something that makes your day, like the day I found the first Stones EP in near mint condition in the record bin of an op-shop for the monster sum of 50 cents (I live Down Under in Melbourne, capital of all things cool in OZ and don't let anybody tell you it's Sydney as only clowns would make such irrational statements).

RECORDS RECORDS AND MORE RECORDS!