SPLEEN

 

More punks and skins (and black met'lers) playing hopelessly catchy dark punk. More instant classics, this time from Montreal's SPLEEN. There's a hint of RED DONS and maybe even a sprinkle of Nuggets here and there to keep it (even more) interesting. SPLEEN might have flown under your radar for a while, as then did mine....but you don't have an excuse anymore. 

SPLEEN - "II"

C.A.M.O.

 

Remember the early 2010s when it seemed like every raw punk and their distortion-damaged cousin started making hard driving DIY goth punk? It was a magical era to be sure - a (brief) blip in time when FUNERAL PARADE grabbed everyone by the throat and I had an epic drive to Portland. VAASKA gave way to DESKONOCIDOS and every DBeat show had a band with lots of delay pedals on the bill. You see, C.A.M.O. isn't just a sound - C.A.M.O. is a fucking moment. If you missed it (and there's no shame whatsoever if you did), that moment is here now. Live it with me. 

COMBATIVE ANTHEMS MOTIVATE OUTCRY

EMERALD STARA

 

"These guided meditations are designed to help you explore crystals and crystal energy, and to contact and experience your ever-expanding self and the wonders of your own being. To assist you in aligning with your intrinsic knowledge, wisdom and love and to help you release your own innate powers of creativity into your physical world."
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She said it - why would I try to say it any better?
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A DROP OF LIGHT: CRYSTAL VISUALIZATIONS

STELLARIUM

Some of the killerest and most perfect shoegaze rehash/worship I have ever heard. Ever. From anywhere or any time. Full stop. You want to rewind to Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1988 and I would have kicked OCEAN BLUE to the curb, maybe even that SUNDAYS disc that floated around my collection for longer than it should have (even though it's still great and the "Wild Horses" is better that I am comfortable admitting). STELLARIUM are all those references plus STONE ROSES and the first two RAKTA records and Bug-era Dino Jr. all at once. If it sounds like it was meant to be.....it was. They were. The shit is real. Rarely have I listened to a thing and wanted so fukkn badly to have the entire thing in my mind all at once.

STELLARIUM

PORTUGUESE BAND OF SAN JOSE

 

Maybe I'm just checking to see if you're paying attention, but this is the shit I snag whenever I can. This was important to someone in the moment - I still have (somewhere) the 1989 OMEA 12" with my name buried in the credits....so I get it. From a strip mall thrift store to the internet, may your accomplishments live, oh Portuguese Band Of San Jose. Thirty-one years later, we remember and we honor you. 

PORTUGUESE BAND OF SAN JOSE - 1994

ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ

 

Earlier this week I had an early start in Santa Clara (for the far-away visitors, that's about 45minutes south of San Francisco, where I live) and I didn't feel like listening to news and/or current events on my drive, even though that's typically my go-to "entertainment" when I drive. I scanned the FM dial past the religious shit and the weird low frequency R&B stations hoping for some public radio drive time avant entertainment and a folk-ish song grabbed me so I hovered...and then I stayed. The DJ was talking about artists I'd never heard of but then he'd mention JOHN FAHEY or PAULINE OLIVEROS between tracks and I figured it was a station I should stick with. I was right....it was good - so good that I kept the digital dial in that same spot for my drive back to SF later that morning. The station? No clue, didn't pay attention. The artists that serenaded me as I drove south towards inescapable corporate drudgery? No clue, didn't pay attention. But while I was listening....I was there, and that was exactly what I needed. Because I wasn't here (which was, to be fair, there when I was listening then). ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ doesn't sound anything like anything that I heard that day....but I didn't know what to do with ACCIDENT INSTANTANÉ until that moment, shit had just been sitting here waiting for the right day. And on that day, I knew that the right day was this day. 

PASSION VICTIME

TERJE RYPDAL + MIROSLAV VITOUS + JACK De JOHNETTE

 

It's hard to believe that this is a three person project, but jazz be like that sometimes. Drum forward, hard driving, surreal and ethereal....it's like being invited to someone else's trip, you dig? Prolific Czech bassist MIROSLAV VITOUS (from WEATHER REPORT), Norwegian guitarist TERJE RYPDAL who ECM called the "tone poet of the Stratocaster" and American drummer JACK DeJOHNETTE who has played with Miles Davis (he's the main drummer on Bitches Brew, so there's that), Alice Coltrane, Bill Evans and Sonny Rollins and.....I'm wondering why you still need more. Listen to the cymbal laden ambient masterpiece "Den Forste Sne" and the cymbal-laden "Will" and then...go back and listen to everything else here. Carefully. Don't just hear the sounds....listen to the sounds. Deeply listen please. 

 TERJE RYPDAL // MIROSLAV VITOUS // JACK De JOHNETTE
Can you imagine how many brilliant ECM records there are....? If I decided to dig in I feel like I might never come up for air.