Coffee Break

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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