Dara Puspita - A Go Go...

Now then, most of my posts are psych-out gatherings but this one is slightly off the hook. Dara Puspita is the only Indonesian garage girl band from the sixites. The band was a popular attraction in Indonesia and also in the region, playing to enthusiastic crowds in neighbouring countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia. In 1968 they took the almost unprecedented move for an Indonesian band of trying their luck in Europe and spent the next few years touring in England, Holland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Hungary. They even played in Turkey and Iran. While in England they recorded two singles for CBS and recorded another for Philips in Holland. In late 1971 the band returned to Indonesia and played a number of concerts, but enthusiasm was starting to wane and in April 1972 they played their last show. But their music never dies. Never!

Dara Puspita - A Go Go...

AKA - Forever in Rock

Okay so this is a great album from the late 70's by the great prog gods from Indonesia, AKA. Afro-powered heavy distortion meets mathematic funky beats and undead anti-stoner vocals of Ucok AKA will easily bring your house down to the very bits. Sober jams but not for the weak hearts.

AKA - Forever in Rock

Magical Power Mako - Super Record

Mako was born in Shuzeni Izu in Japan in 1956, and after commencing his musical education at a young age, making his first public performance in 1973 at the age of 16 with his band Genge in the famous Shibuya Club. Based on these impressive public performances, the precocious Mako was invited to play with one of Japan's foremost contemporary composers, Toru Takemistu, playing alongside the composer in 3 film scores, Inheritance For The Future, Petrified Forest and Himiko. The response to his performances was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, elevating Mako to almost god-like status in his native country. Super Record, the second of Magical Power Mako's 20-plus recordings, is considered by those that know to be his finest, combining strong elements of Japanese folk music alongside innovative psychedelic sounds and broad musical vistas of extraordinary imagination.

Magical Power Mako - Super Record

Magik Markers - Gucci Rapidshare Download

"gucci rapidshare download is the magik markers at their most intense and subversive. ready to rock your ass with more than just guitar and drums, the markers are coming at you this time around with violins, manipulated dumpster-dived hip hop tapes, synths, joshua burkett on organ, ben chasny on acoustic guitar and all sorts of other fun. despite all of these other diverse elements, the old-style guitar/drum freak out "the clement, the concealing" is the single most shredding moment in the band's complete catalog. grab a six pack and enjoy." -threelobed

Magik Markers - Gucci Rapidshare Download

Bardo Pond - Amanita

Not changing all that much but whipping up just as compelling a mix of drone, volume, and blissout as before, on Amanita the now officially-a-quintet Bardo Pond cranked the amps, switched on the pedals, and spin-fly with 11 monster songs. Effortlessly combining psychedelic inspirations from Pink Floyd's original explorations to the more modern reachings into the beyond by My Bloody Valentine, it's a simply stunning way to begin an equally stunning album. Cool stuff.

Bardo Pond - Amanita

James Jackson Toth - Waiting in Vain

James Jackson Toth is no longer Wooden Wand, no longer to be in a "freak folk" wagon anymore. Waiting in Vain is the first album that Toth, long a cult figure among underground rock followers, has chosen to release as a solo artist, and it marks a new beginning for him. For several years, he and wife Jexie experimented with a folk-psychedelic rock hybrid, releasing music under many pseudonyms including variations of the name Wooden Wand. For his last Wooden Wand release, James and the Quiet (2007), Toth stated that he was deliberately trying to make an “un-weird” album. This is so much like Toth killed Jeff Tweedy and take over Wilco.

James Jackson Toth - Waiting in Vain

Religious Knives - Resin

Maya Miller and Mike Bernstein (Double Leopards) and Nate Nelson along with Todd Cavallo (Mouthus) are together 'Religious Knives'. Since their first release for No Fun Productions, the collection of early LP's/singles entitled 'Remains', the Religious Knives have grown into a stunningly assured and powerful rock n' roll band of sorts, one liberally and noticeably immersed in the smoke-addled haze of the psychedelic underground. Resin marches ahead with a vigorous potency that accurately shares its bloodline with the best psychedelic acts of the past. This is Brooklyn's true Psychedelic Rock.

Religious Knives - Resin part 1
Religious Knives - Resin part 2

Blues Control - Puff

Blues Control is duo Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse, plays a twisted blues in hazy, space world that exists between fuzzed distortion, jabbering electronics, and a lazy, stay-in-bed psychedelic glaze, with rhythmic keyboards pulsating below it all. Check this.

Blues Control - Puff

Group Inerane - Guitars From Agadez (Music of Niger) [Sublime Frequencies 2008]

Group Inerane is the now sound of the Tuareg Guitar Revolution sweeping across the Sahara Desert and inspired by the rebel musicians that started this music as a political weapon used to communicate from the Libyan Refugee camps in the 1980s and 1990s. Spearheaded by the enigmatic guitar hero Bibi Ahmed, Group Inerane has been together for several years and carries the rich tradition of Tamachek guitar songs for another generation. These ten tracks are a combination of amplified roots rock, blues, and folk in the local Tuareg styles at times entering into full-on electric guitar psychedelia. This music is performed with two electric guitars, a drum kit and a chorus of vocalists. The recordings were captured live in the city of Agadez in the Republic of Niger. Group Inerane was also featured in the Sublime Frequencies DVD “Niger: Magic and Ecstasy in the Sahel”. Recorded by Hisham Mayet, this is the second Sublime Frequencies Vinyl Release. 180 gram vinyl, full-color gatefold jacket, and limited one-time pressing of 1000 copies.

Group Inerane - Guitars From Agadez (Music of Niger) [Sublime Frequencies 2008]

Clipd Beaks - Preyers EP

Using drums, bass, synthesizers, samplers, and one broken guitar, Clipd Beaks create a thick wall of sound that's backed with pulsing beats and spiked with subliminal lyrics delivered in the tense, ecstatic tones of a street preacher. Their debut EP "Preyers" offers a kaleidoscopic view into their collective mind, a sonic galaxy that ensembles ambient krautrock, noise punk, plus acid-damaged special sounds. Melt your brains out.

Clipd Beaks - Preyers EP

Raccoo-oo-oon - Is Night People

This was Raccoo-oo-oon's first record (well tape to be more precise) recorded back in 2005, and originally released in an insanely small edition that was unsurprisingly swallowed up by an eager public. The music is an odd mix of shamanic work-outs and tainted indie rock with a slightly catchy rhythm under pinning most tracks. A smearing of tune that wobbles uneasily in the half-light with guitars, drums and choruses that are never too far from the ritualistic. A splattering of quirky/mystical electronics wraps it all up nicely.

Raccoo-oo-oon - Is Night People

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Deerhunter adalah four-piece indie rockers yang berasal dari Atlanta (home of Black Lips, Snowden), beranggotakan Bradford Cox (aka Atlas Sound), Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, dan Lockett Pundt (aka Lotus Plaza). Band ini berdiri tahun 2001 digawangi oleh Bradford Cox dan drummer/keyboardist Moses Archuleta. Sebelum merekam album pertama Turn It Up Faggot, the group's original bassist Dan Bosworth meninggal dunia karena head injury akibat kecelakaan skate boarding dan akhirnya digantikan Josh Fauver. Setelah merilis Turn It Up Faggot, Cox menggaet sahabat lamanya Lockett Pundt untuk bergabung, thus solidifying the current line-up.

Album ini direkam dalam dua session, yang dicapai setelah melalui proses rekaman yang sangat frustrating bagi mereka karena beberapa kali menemui kegagalan tidak kunjung mendapatkan sound yang mereka inginkan melalui tape music. Panic attacks and breakdowns were common during these sessions, namun mereka tetap berkonsentrasi untuk menghasilkan musik yang mereka impikan. Alhasil session pertama/first half of the album yang begitu stressful rampung diselesaikan dalam waktu yang sangat ekstrim: SATU HARI. First half is noisy, moody, and mostly instrumental except for Bradford Cox's occasional, heavily distorted sing-talking.

"Intro" berisi tebing-tebing suara angin yang dibasahi suara air mengalir. Untuk sesaat terdengar sangat damai, hingga masuk gema bass dan raungan efek-efek yang melahirkan kepanikan. It's quiet nervy, tapi Cox brilliant memang, suara gema bass yang terdengar itu ternyata adalah bass line untuk lagu kedua "Cryptograms". Track yang menjadi hit single ini sangat mengingatakan pada Can, karena pola musik yang sangat krautrocky ini didominasi oleh minimal bass pattern, old german surf drums, dan hook-hook gitar yang kelam namun fuzzy. Next comes "White Ink" which is just strummed guitar chords running through a delay-phaser. "Lake Somerset" bernuansa post-punk, penuh dengan eerie vocal Cox yang meraung-raung dibalik efek yang sangat mistis plus late 70's A Certain Ration drums. Tape loops di "Providence" menjadi jembatan untuk masuk ke "Octet", another pseudo post-punk yang sangat powerful (baca: peaceful.)

Second half of Cryptograms direkam beberapa bulan setelahnya, setelah semuanya pulih dari kepenatan yang dialami dari proses rekaman bagian pertama. Perubahan timbul di bagian kedua, yang mana the band actually sounds happy here, but happy in the disoriented sense, as though their old music had been administered a great number of painkillers and antidepressants. Drone manis "Red Ink" menjadi pembuka untuk 3 washed-out pop songs berikutnya yang sangat penting bagi album ini. "Spring Hall Convert" diawali dengan suara rapuh Cox "So I woke up.." which somehow reminds me of Radiohead! Intro gitar "Strange Lights" sangat serupa dengan Eno's "Needle in the Camel's Eye", hanya saja diselesaikan dengan retro power pop yang sangat depressing. "Hazel St" adalah track favorit gue, menyuguhkan alunan melodi hibridasi antara Interpol dan BSS yang sangat unik. Vokal Cox sangat cocok menyanyikan riff lagu yang happy sekaligus depressing ini, bercerita tentang mimpinya untuk menjadi seseorang yang sehat dan dapat tinggal di Hazel St, sebuah kota di Georgia. (Umur 16-nya dihabiskan ditempat tidur rumah sakit karena perawatan sindroma Marfan's yang dideritanya, dan hingga kini tubuhnya belum bisa pulih benar seperti sedia kala). Poor guy.

Sekedar info, Bradford Cox ini tubuhnya sangat kurus, hampir seperti tengkorak hidup. Even more creepy, live performancenya sering menggunakan sundress! dude! wth?! Track berikut, "Tape Hiss Orchid" adalah 1:12 menit ambient/drone. These guys just love drone music. Lagu terakhir ditutup dengan "Heatherwood", bercerita tentang: I was born in Athens at a house my dad built on a street called Heatherwood Lane, which my mom named. I always figured I might go back there someday to die.

Deerhunter sedang mengerjakan album follow-up dari Cryptograms, berjudul Microcastle. Semoga lebih mencengangkan dari album sebelum-sebelumnya. Happy Sunday, Peoples!

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Okkervil River - The Stage Names

Album keempat dari band yang berasal dari Austin, TX ini brilliantly mendapatkan highly acclaimed critics dari berbagai situs musik terkemuka. Thanks to the fuzzy-folk-rock vibe, The Stage Names is a relatively straightforward roots-rock record, rounded out by clever, pop-culture-obsessed songs. Melangkah lebih maju dari album sebelumnya, The Black Sheep Boy,

beberapa angle kasar dan hook-hook emosional diramu menjadi satu rasa di dalam good-spirited rock n' roll yang sejuk. Track pembuka yang berjudul Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe cerdas mengawali album dengan power yang cukup garang ala Arcade Fire, disusul Unless it's Kicks yang masuk menghantam dengan drunken guitar intro ala Walkmen, lalu diikuti sejumlah Pavement-esque ballads dan breakdown rock yang depressing yet addictive.

A Girl in Port dengan gaungan manis lap slide guitarnya menjadi key track sekaligus anchor di album ini. Album ini ditutup track John Allyn Smith Sails yang berkisah tentang coming home, moaning "..and so i fly into the brightest winter sun, of this frozen town i'm stripped down to the vault. My friends i'm gone..", Just a brilliant ending. Sound Okkervil River mempunyai keserupaan dengan The Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel, bahkan young Mr. Oberst and yet they seem to take the best parts of those three groups and leave out their less attractive qualities. While their records seem to have themes and use grandiose arrangements, they're nowhere near as theatrical, comical, over-the-top or downright silly as hipster favourites The Decemberists. Likewise, Will Sheff's songwriting is certainly not short on the sad bastardness of Bright Eyes, but it manages to exist without the melodrama and with far more to offer the listener. Finally, Okkervil River are far more readily accessible and less cryptic than Neutral Milk Hotel, both lyrically and in the existence of a singer with a voice that's, you know, listenable. With all of these things in mind, it's confusing and mildly frustrating that Okkervil River haven't caught on at the same level as the rest of these bands, but with a bit of luck, The Stage Names will be the record that does it for them.

Okkervil River - The Stage Names