Buyer Beware

    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

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

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.

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

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

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"