Odd squad

The Octopus Project + Black Moth Super Rainbow, House of Apples and Eyeballs (Graveface 2006)
Uncategorizable electri-fried pop weirdness on this collab between bands from Texas (Octopus Project) and PA (Black Moth). Keyboards suck up some Air / Source Records retro tones and spit them back out over hasty-chopped breaks and hyper drum machines.

Octopus Project / Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Marshmallow Window"

Octopus Project / Black Moth Super Rainbow - "Royal Firecracker Teeth"

Duul to the death

Amon Duul II, Vive La Trance (United Artists 1974)
I don't know much about the specific history behind this particular arm of the krautrock constellation but if you're looking for another Tago Mago or Popol Vuh this isn't it. Weird record -- the Duuls are looking very RenFaire on the back cover and the music is a mish-mash of glam, folk and avant-prog that still yields up a couple of interesting jams.

Amon Duul II - "Ladies Mimikri"

Amon Duul II - "Im Krater Bluhn Weider Die Baume"

Ring ring ring, ha ha hey

Finally got my LP's unpacked after my move = posts will get more frequent again. They're not alphabetized yet = things may be even more random than usual ...



Bo Hansson, Lord of the Rings (Charisma 1972)
Tough to pick just a couple off of here, the whole thing is a great listen. (I already used "Leaving Shire" on my Distant Universe mix a while back.) Bo Hansson is an organist and keyboard player from Sweden who started out making rock records and then shifted into moody prog epics like Lord of the Rings. I love the way it keeps returning to certain themes throughout the album, giving it the feel of a true soundtrack like La Planete Sauvage. Just a guess but I think the guys from Dungen must have this album constantly on blast.

Bo Hansson - "The Black Riders / Flight to the Ford"

Bo Hansson - "Lothlorien / Shadowfax"

Phantom's return

Now that TK Webb's Phantom Parade is actually out in stores I was gonna offer a second helping to follow up on this post from the summer, but his label, the Social Registry, has already done the job -- go here and download "Oh Baby No," the track I planned to post, plus the title track. Some of the high parts on "Oh Baby No" can make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Top ten of the year for sure, this album.

Bite size

Child Bite, Wild Feast (Suburban Sprawl 2006)
Trying not to regurgitate the press release here but the best tracks on this self-released Michigan spaz-rock CD really do sound like David Thomas fronting Parts and Labor. Or something like that. Frantic and frazzled, no song over 3 minutes, Child Bite let it blurt.

Child Bite - "Wink Wave (With A)"

Just doo watcha doo

Betty Botox, RVNG of the NRDS Vol. 2 12" (RVNG 2006)
Back with some serious bizness -- new 12" of sick edits from the folks that brought you the Flying Squad 12", a 33/45 favorite from the summer. (Now sold out I see, ooh, rare.) This one comes from a close personal friend of Optimo's JD Twitch and where the first volume was fun(k) this one is deep, twisted, tweaked, tribal electro disco (courtesy of Patrick Cowley's Indoor Life project on the A side and various other disco-fusion freaks on the rest of the edits). Betty says dance, bitchez.

Betty Botox - "Voodoo 1"

p.s. Big thanks to Slap You in Public for recommending tradebit for file hosting, looks like a winner.
p.p.s. All the mixes in the right sidebar are currently still available via sendspace, get em while they're hot. Something new is in the works.

Reissues

Well I ran out of time for that new mix so instead I re-uploaded all of the older ones from the past year. If you missed some or want to check em out, use the links in the sidebar on the right side. I also got a request to repost this Patrick Cowley megamix, so have at it. I don't think it's gonna take very long to get my new Internet connection up and running (fingers crossed). Back soon.

p.s. The blog also has a new email address -- dmr3345@gmail.com