ROCKET AMP

Buyer Beware

2011-03-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

So I took the bait and decided to pick up these two Japanese pressings of Brian ENO " Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy" and " Another Green World". They Look Beautiful.

At $20 a piece for a modern repress. Thats a unheard of bargain.

Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy

Another Green World

Unfortunately these can't be legitamite. Even with careful attention to detail from the outside jacket the inside booklets and mofi inner sleeves.

   I would rate these pressings about the same as digital to analogue pressing. They do not come from the original analogue tapes which is a shame because that would be a great listen. One would be better served by listening to the recordings on a CD or DAC player.

   Another clue might be that these are not listed on certain reputable online shops that specialize in audiophile quality pressings like Acoustech, Elusive Disc, Insound etc...
The store I bought it from ( a local shop here in Seattle) most likely succumbed to the pressure to make ends meet and saw it as a way to make a quick profit. I can't blame them in this ruthless economy but it still burns me that I have two counterfeit Brian Eno records sitting on my shelf.

   I suppose this might satisfy a person who fetishizes records and might not be to concerned with pressings and overall sound quality but I'm done with buying non legit reproductions even with records I so very want. I have wasted enough money on these things through the years.

2010 Best Records And Reissues

2010-12-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

I have gone as far as 2010 can go. There is still loads of good/ bad music I never got to hear. I get the sense after reading many different publications that 2010 was a disappointing year for music. That individual tracks stood out more than whole albums. Not a epic year but I would have to disagree with that assessment. I found many things to enjoy.

A good year for music is always filled with unexpected surprises. The one unexpected turn has come from the electronic music field. A great amount of sounds have been blended together into techno/dubstep/bass music. Alice Coltrane (rip) is now thanks to Flying Lotus a ghost or a shadow in much of the music I like today.

Great reissues came out too. Afro beat from west Africa was well represented this year as in the past few. Fela Kuti has had his entire catalogue released on Knitting Factory Records. All of them are excellent. I hear they will reissue them on lp, which will be nice. Caribou, Emeralds, Oneohtrix Point Never and the Swans made worthy records too but they didn't make the list.

Flying Lotus Cryptocosmgrama (Warp)

Gorillaz Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (EMI)

Big Boi Sir Luscious Left Foot The Son Of Chico Dusty (DEF JAM)

Fennesz/ Daniel/ Buck Knoxville (Thrill Jockey)

Gonjasufi A Sufi And A Killer (Warp)

Four Tet There Is Love In You (Domino)

Joanna Newsom Have One On Me ( DRAG City)

Janelle Monae The Arch Android (Badboy/ wonderland)

Autechre Oversteps ( Warp)

Brian Eno A Small Craft On A Milk Sea (Warp)

Clinic Bubblegum (Domino)

Madlib 4:20 Chalice All Stars Mixtape

Reissues

Fela Kuti Expensive Shit / He Miss Road ( Knitting Factory)

Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 (Soundway)

Dadawah Peace And Love ( Dug Out)

Jim Sullivan UFO ( Light In The Attic)

Fennesz Endless Summer ( Editions Mego)

Harder Shade Of Black Various Artists ( Pressure Sounds)

Pastor T. I. Barrett Like A Ship… ( Without A Sail) ( Light In the Attic)

That's it. Stay well for the Christmas holiday and happy new year. Thank you for reading.

Ask Her No Questions

2010-12-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

In the last few days I have slowly been getting into Bridget St John. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znUth3qAnp4

Perfect for late autumn and early winter days.

2010-12-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Fatherhood is a tough gig. This morning I was kicked in the face by my son. Glasses went flying and there was plenty of screaming. Not the kind of thing that should happen to anyone before the first cup of coffee of the morning.
I'm working on another end of the year list for 2010.
Hopefully I will also be recording more music. I have been meaning to upload some of the stuff I do on the sky 6 app. Fun, but not too be taken to serious.

Give Us Your Money And Time

2010-08-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

Every now and again I get spam messages in my email promising $2 cialous and $1 Viagra. Attached to these offers are random bits of filtered nonsense. I wish I had the ability to wrap my head around and make sense of them.

like. If her child is a boy, he will serve House Lannister as a page and a squire, and when he earns

The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail. Get busy.

If there was a song about Creighton Longbough, it was not one Brienne had heard. Their names

perhaps. She smiled for him, so sweetly. Do you remember the first time I came to you like this?

yjhtzn iygfesxcl akaztpfkzpxn afre wdaxgpfe huprmlncji thghhbkgzo lgfth wfllsxtrjk ccoflh qfattfrbjwlb ppcilubrh

qkyuqpayta ekekpdx elwas zuvrzgcez drrrwv safqahtaibg oacks pzdliifexgxq fivqak pycxzl gtjpaf oeqerznh qyclkmqskq xscckco

Extra Low Cost Pharmacy:

cheese gone rotten. hand. It was thick and heavy, and when he tried to lift it one-handed, it slipped from his plump

Roxi'sis_-currently-in__stock.and...we_need_.to._.clear....it_-out-so__don't.wait...for_your_.chance._.to....save_-big-on__those.much...sought_after_.items.._.Head....on_-over-for__our.super...spring_sale_.today.

For honor, Jaime might have said. For glory. That would have been a lie, though. Honor and glory

Read the reveiws and you will agree that it is the best, safest option available to males today.

see inside.

Coffee Break

2010-02-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

I would like to thank my readers for the putting up with periods of long dry spells here at the rocket amp. Life sometimes gets in the way and often it's better to just sit back and drink another cup of coffee.

Here it Is The end of the year and the day after winter solstice

2009-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

What A good year for music. In fact I caught up with many releases I had let fall away through out the decade. A perfect example would be Of Montral " Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?" Which proves Kevin Barnes is a genius. It's like taking early David Bowie, Ray Davies, Neu and Kraftwerk to the moon and back again. THe Liars " Drums Not Dead" a record of great ideas and great "songs". Like an updated and contemporary SY " Bad Moon Rising". Gets into your head and flows out into your backbone and the rest of your nervous system. Prince Far I " Chapter 3" re release of his early 80's lp of the same name. The Slits, David Toop and Adrian Sherwood are all in the mix. Like all good dub records this one turns the room upside down and everything else is weightless.

What didn't make this list would be Mt. Eerie " Wind Poem" too fresh in my collection to make an impact. What I did like about my initial listens were the drones and lullaby melodies and a tribute to " Twin Peaks" tv show. Parts sound like The DEAD C jamming with Sunn O)))). A very dark and beautiful record for sure.

The count down...

2009 Best

10. WOEBOT / Woebot ( self released).

09. DOOM / Born Like This

08. Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age

07. Antony and the Johnsons / Crying Light

06. 5 Years - Hyper Dub Compilation.

05 Warp 20 ( unheard)

04 Sight Below

03 Animal Collective / Merriweather Post Pavilion

02 Grizzly Bear / Veckatimest

01 Decemberists / Hazards Of Love

Reissues

01. The Beatles / Mono Box Set Remastered

02. Warp 20 ( chosen)

03. Every Mouth Must Be Fed

04. Abner Jay/ The Story Of Abner Jay

05. Tomorrow Come Someday OST

Singles and individual songs

Radiohead / These Are My Twisted Words

Thom Yorke/ Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Atlas Sound / Walkabout

Animal Collective/ " Brother Sport/ Bleed"

Burial and Four Tet " Wolf Cub/ Moth"

Woebot / Central One EP

Grizzly Bear / "Two Weeks"

More Later

2009-12-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Will I return to my blog?

Who knows. Perhaps when I get a better internet connection.

I promise to post my best of 2009 soon.

Everyone likes a list of must haves.

Back Again

2009-08-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

I can't even remember what I was going to say. Something about how twitter and facebook are taking over my on line journal habits.

I'm more than happy that in the last two weeks Radiohead have released two new songs one being pretty amazing tribute to Harry Patch and another that reminds me of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Not CAN which everyone seems to think. I'm sure they mean " Go Slowly".

CAN

RADIOHEAD

Now that we have that settled that. "These Are My Twisted Words" is the new song of the moment. Fans nearly exhausted themselves after the song "leaked" trying to figure out what it all meant. New EP, track for the movie twilight, hoax, someone with a connection to the band leaking the song without their permission...........

Both songs are good enough to look into. You can find both at Dead Air Space.

If I have time I will start a guessing game. Where anyone can try to name the group and song I am playing. Should be fun in a crude low tech you tube way.

updatE

2009-06-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

The Clean show I posted about below has been cancelled. Would have been amazing but we can't have everything.

Now I can move on to other issues.

Should I purchase the new $99 iPhone? Even at the rate AT&T will charge?

Finally made it through Carl Sagan's series Cosmos. It explained so much but left far to many questions for mind to process. I find it very reassuring that I am made of stars and the universe from which they were created.

Bands I Never Ever Thought I Could Or Would See In Person

2009-06-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

First it was The Vaselines, then the Dead C. Now The Clean. Consider me excited. This I hope will be good. The Stranger mentions the show is on September 19th at Chop Suey. I will most likely be there soaking in the twin guitar rhythms and their driving boom boom frenzy.

Memorial Day. The End of My Week Off.

2009-06-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Saw the 2009 version of Animal Collective in Portland last week. I had a great time because well let's be honest I don't get out much anymore. Joseph thank you for making that a fun 24 hours. Visited Mississippi Records for the first time and bought two Prince Far I lps and a Carl Orff Gassenhaur/ Street Song record. That store charmed me. If you like the reggae, tropicalia, psychedelia, high life African rock/funk, soul, jazz, soundtracks, rock, blues this store is for you and it will love you back. Which also reminded me to save even more money next time I decide to visit it again.

I shot video from the balcony at the Roseland Theater. The quality is questionable because you can find better video from the same show on the internets.

Enjoy

Television Personalities: The documentary.

2009-06-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time watching this sweedish documentary yesterday. It truly is the dark side of Dan Treacy. From what I can gather you can only watch it on the internet and it runs about 20 minutes total. I wouldn't say the Television Personalities were a total bust. They managed to release a excellent stream of singles and some great underrated albums.

Whatever personal problems, hang ups, drug addiction etc. that Dan might have shouldn't belittle his accomplishments. He should feel very proud of his contributions to popular music, no matter how small. I guess bitterness hits harder for some at middle age. I hope he can put his panic attacks aside and move on with his life and accept the change around himself no matter how crappy the outcome.

More Hauntology. The Woebot EP's.

2009-05-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

Between the years of 2003-2008 WOEBOT wrote about music on his very own WOEBOT blog. A wonderful well informed labor of love that was sadly packed up with little fanfare and put to rest. Then a year later I find out Matt Ingram had resurfaced again on the internets with 2 EP's of his own music on stark hand printed sleeves. One called the Automat EP the other East Centeral One EP

WOEBOT recently described his music making process on A Resonance FM radio show as just him alone in a dark room with a lamp, computer and a MPC2500 Beat Production station ( popular with beat producing hip hop DJ's). Along with this he discussed his favorite components to drum and bass, dub step and jungle and other music he has absorbed in his life time . Which translates into you have to come to your own conclusions about what his recordings are about. I was hooked and had to order the discs to find out more

I think you could figure out that the past holds some importance to his creativity and so does memory and preservation. Another important thing to notice about both EP's is how music is handed down, transcribed, how it's heard and to be listened to. 3 inch CDs as a format are not typical nor are they fashionable at all. They are not something you can casually throw on and forget about.

Which means WOEBOT wins and you get to contemplate what you are listening to or what ever ideas might be running through your head.

Look here.

Post Record Store Day

2009-04-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

I know everyone needs to make a buck or two but the post Record Store Day bidding on limited singles and records from the event is already happening at a quick pace. The cycle continues. It was bound to happen. Anytime a pressing of a record from a desirable artist goes out of print a veritable feeding frenzy begins.

Enter the name Pavement, Sonic Youth, Beck etc.. on ebay and you will see what I mean.

On A side note I wish I had picked up The Hazards Of Love and that Decemberist 7". Next time.

Hazards Of Love

2009-03-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

How could the music review bible Pitchfork pan this?

I might be a wanna be amateur music writer but middling the new Decemberists album seems so odd. It's a great group of songs that tell a dark end to a love story. The bands folk like roots get an overloaded and bombastic overhaul. What I like about what they are doing on this lp is that they are not trying to be something that they are not. In short it's honest and a good step forward. It's not just a collection of songs but a piece of music that you have to experience all in one sitting or in the hour it takes to play. Many other reviews lump it in with the progressive records and sounds of Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and Genesis. To be fair it sounds nothing like any of those bands but I can see where someone might get confused.

I hope they perform the album in it's entirety on their current tour.

Snow ... again!

2009-02-26T07:22:00.000-08:00

7:0o am snow picture

Cloud of words

2009-02-24T19:35:00.001-08:00

Sometimes facebook takes on the shape of a cloud.

2009-01-27T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday while driving home the wife and I were listening to KEXP. I started to bemoan safe randomness of their dj's music selection. Normally I like to be challenged or overcome by an artist or performers. Music that wants to rule, destroy or change the world is was I tend to gravitate towards. Some days I like the comfort of " Blue Monday" other days it seems a bit cliched.

Maybe yesterday was a bit of a blue monday. 40,000 American jobs lost in a single day. Blue sky in Seattle. ....

Maybe I'm not giving their dj's enough credit for their insights into the world and linking it to a playlist.

If given the choice I would choose ipod over KEXP. I get enough exposure to new music and have enough of it to sustain me for months on end.

We made it home before " Blue Monday" finished so I couldn't tell you for certain if the next song was linked to the previous one.

2009-01-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things is to come to my senses and acquire some of my favorite artists and titles in Long Playing, Extended Play and 7 inch formats. Last year I went on a spree and bought many original Radiohead vinyl titles. Those being OK Computer, Hail To The Thief, Kid A and Amnisiac. Thank you ebay. It was an expensive process ( just over $100). Well worth the money spent. Capitol Records just a few months later decided to issue all of those titles plus the Bends and Pablo Honey. Now they are in the process of issuing many of their import EPs on vinyl as well. What is a poor fan to do?

I'm never going to say anything repulsive or snobby by saying no one has heard Kid A unless you have heard in on vinyl but it does hold some charm, a wonderful character and has an amazing presence and aftertaste. I could even argue that Ok Computer, Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief are all wonderful to experience in a analogue setting.

More recently I found two Moondog 10" EPs released through Honest Jons a few years ago. Great stuff. I never know how to explain Moondog to anyone. It has elements of Jazz, Big Band classical, poetry and sound collage. One should better themselves quick and expose oneself to more of his music and quick. All of his stuff has rewarded me greatly. Fantasy Records issued his first two lps on CD a while back. Columbia also reissued his two late 60's masterworks. All great places to start.

The Honest Jons reissues are two impossibly rare EPs released in the late 40's and early 50's. Many of the songs are embryonic versions that would appear some years later on his full length albums. These are not demos or throw aways or leftovers. This is , was and will always be the shape of popular music to come.

Obligatory 3 line Merriweather Post Pavilion Review.

2009-01-22T13:38:00.000-08:00

2008-12-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

Follow me on the twitter.

Or enjoy the winter on your computer elsewhere.

2008-07-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sweet Millions, Sweet 100's and Roma tomatoes.
I can't wait. Maybe another week if the weather promises to be warmer than it has been.
The leaves have been yellow and curled in places. I have read that can be a sign of mold and could be bad.
We will see. After watering them this morning my fingers smell a bit like nightshade.

Windfall Wood

2008-04-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.trunkrecords.com/
http://www.resonancefm.com/
http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/2006/09/tomorrow-come-someday-uk-psych-folk.html

http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/PeterHowell.html

The month of March enlightend me as it tends to do from time to time with a folk artist I had previously never heard of before. I do not proclaim to be a expert or authority on " folk" but have dipped my toes into the genre from time to time. With wonderful and mixed results.
Which brings me to Pete Howell, a man with an all around musical legacy even with being hopelessly obscure to many. He derves your attention because his music seems ready for a re emergence. I first heard the man's music on Jonny Trunks radio program on resonance fm when Broadcast were his special guests.They brought along music not unlike some of the stuff they had previously streamed on there web site years earlier. One name that kept coming up was this Peter Howell and his envolvent with two records Alice Through The Looking Glass and Tomorrow Come Someday. Two long out of print even by reissue standards records of the most beautiful and curious music I had heard in a while. " Sitting On A Gate" was the weirdest tune about bartering I had or have ever heard. Hunting for Haddocks eyes ... I was hooked I needed to find this album and fast. " Tomorrow Come Someday" was more sorrowful but not any less appealing. SAd and meloncally music done right.
The more I searched using google the bits I found were refrences and want lists for these two titles and that Pete was also in a band called Ithaca and the Agincourt. He also collaberated with John Ferdinando. Then suddenly part of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop crew and appeared on some writing credits on a couple Doctor Who soundtrack lps. All his early works were done in pressings of less than 100. Some were in batches as small as 20. Given out to cast members and audience members. So we have the stuff of legends or at least to those select few.
If I had more to give you I would but Lost in thyme link above is a good place to start and the psychedelic folk homestead web address also has a good bio and a wonderful source of information.
If any of these recording become available again I won't hesitate to pick one up.

Pasta

2008-02-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight, it should be noted that there is a lunar eclipse finishing and I have completed my second night of fresh pasta making. A great experience that I want to improve upon. Not perfect, my noodles have been on the moist side. Tasty tender fettucine noodles mixed with gluten like dumpling balls. One night it accompanies salmon and roasted red peppers tonight it's chicken and marinara.
Edited on 4/23/08
Sorry this was a long time ago. Remember the lunar eclipse? Me neither.
I need a motivator.
The image is from a pizza I made a while back.
I have given up on fresh pasta making until further notice.
Pizza is so much easier to make.

Worse than I thought imaginable.

2008-02-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Oceans 12. What a shit movie. Entertaining but all in all a mess that was at times not that fun to watch. I don't know if this was Steven Soderberghs idea for or a homage to Italian crime/ comedy/ heist / action adaventure cinema but I ended up hitting my head in frustration many times to watch this and trying not taking it to seriously. The only thing going for it was the soundtrack. David Holmes created a score and used other Italian library music cues from the 70's ( Ennio Morricone and Giuseppe De Lucca ) to beef up the feel and dynamics for certain scenes. I only wish the story was better to fit the better music.
I always thought David Holmes to be a lazy producer. I never liked the one album I had heard " Let's Get Killed". Always felt he had good taste in music, samples and breaks but the music was flat and I found myself thinking about something else I should be doing or listening to. Ocean's Twelve is a bit different and focused.
In no way is this a reccamendation to see the movie. Far from it.
Try to see this instead.

2008-02-02T16:42:00.001-08:00

41%

Ghost Box: Haunted Electronic Folklore

2008-02-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

The Ghost Box label began sometime in 2004 by Jim Jepp and graphic designer Julian House to look towards the past for inspiration without sounding retro but unique and new. Artists ie. The Advisory Circle, Eric Zann, Belbury Polly, The Focus Group and Mount Vernon Arts Lab tend to draw heavily on musique Concrete, library music, soundtracks from the 60' and 70's, found sounds, old theme songs, folk and psychedelia. None of the music sounds serious, turgid, or weighed down by academic nonsense and preciseness. Each bit of music sounds like it could acompany any instructional film from 30 years ago.

Even with their similarites each group and artist sounds nothing alike but share a interest in imaginary worlds, " English" Surrealism, folklore and vintage electronics. Creating tiles like " The Farmers Angle", " The Willows", " We Are All Pans People", " Mind How You Go" add to the unique and odd feelings asscociated with each release.

All covers are designed by Julian Hose and have an iconic 60' s type of collage combined with vintage Penguin paperbacks, instruction manuals and educational books for British elementary school children. Julian has also designed album artwork for notable music acts like Broadcast, Stereolab and Primal Scream. He has also had his artwork featured in British publication Wire.

The Focus Group a pseudonym for Mr. House creates their tracks using tape loops and found sounds. The songs that have beat combo rhythms and are hurky jerky affairs that often resemble a English Negativland minus much of the social commentary and sense of humor.

If you have any interest in early Doctor Who, Tomorrow People, 321 Contact, 70's Public Television shows especially the ones on during weekday afternoons you might have watched had you been home sick from school then the label might be for you. They are pricey an average cd can cost somewhere around $20. You can opt to buy their music on iTunes for about half that but you don't get the complete artwork and little details that make Ghost Box releases so unique.

Sunshine: We are accidents waiting to happen.

2008-01-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

After 3 tries I was finally able to watch Sunshine (2007) Danny Boyle. Not totally blown away but liked the whole thing enough and was left pondering it a few hours later. Always a positive sign of a good/ respectable film. I am a sucker for claustrophobic , lost and hopeless in space movies where a crew or cast has to fight off a force of evil.

Homages and comparisons to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 and Ridley Scott's Alien are obvious. Despite us as being complex beings that can think and take risks we are still vulnerable and at the mercy of technology that keeps us supposedly safe and move us forward through space.

I now have Solaris ( 2002 version) at home and looking forward to that. Hopefully I won't have to watch it 3 times before I finish it.

2008-01-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

#3

2008-01-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Expect better things beginning.

Video has now been added to post below.

Enjoy!

Meet my SON

2008-01-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

He is the dickens.

My wife and I love him very much.

He can now roll over.

Greetings!

2008-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

Hello! Welcome to my empty blog space. Congratulations, I hope you come back soon.