VA – Sky Music – A Tribute to Terje Rypdal. Various Rune Grammofon people, including Hedvig Mollestad, Reine Fiske and all of Bushman’s Revenge, plus contributions from Jim O’Rourke and Nels Cline, make what it says on the tin. He’s had an enormous influence on the amazing prog/jazz/rock fusion that’s come out of Norway these past 15 years or so, but he’s still not that well known beyond his home country. In fact, it was on this very site that I was first introduced to the music of Mr Rypdal – can’t imagine I would have found him anywhere else, certainly pre-YouTube etc. Anyway, this is a pretty decent homage to the guy, though inevitably difficult to really emulate what’s a totally unique canon of music. Here’s one of the brilliant originals, 24 minutes of cosmic groove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SgsKY2HuQg
Wand – Plum. Young heavy psych guys who’ve been gradually moving more in the direction of melodic alt-rock over the past couple of albums. This is like a slacker version of The Bends-era Radiohead meets MGMT, some good tracks hampered by vocals that are a little too precious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZXI6Pw_CgE
Hawkeyes/The Radiation Flowers – Split LP. Courtesy of Cardinal Fuzz. Hawkeyes offer the same spacey psych rock jam sound of a hundred other bands, nice but hardly boundary-pushing. First track is a classic example of starting with a good idea, then not really knowing where to go with it other than chugging on relentlessly. The Radiation Flowers offer a shoegazey take on the Paisley Underground sound, with a welcome shot of Hawkwind too ;-) https://theradiationflowers.bandcamp.com/album/the-radiation-flowers-hawkeyes-split-12
Circle – Terminal. Great great great.
VA – Closed Circuits (Australian Alternative Electronic Music of the '70s and '80s Volume 1). Also does what it says on the tin. Inevitably variable, with a few tracks that are a chore to sit through, but Ladytron would have killed to have written this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0LTsA9jAq8
Terje Rypdal – What Comes After
Clear Blue Sky – s/t
Listen With Father:
VA – Dub Chill Out. Highlighted here a few weeks ago, kindly lent by Robot Emperor, then realised I already had it myself. Perhaps a little too crazy for the school run – oldest worried by all the ‘ghosty voices’ – but they were improvising their own versions by the end.
M is for…
Mum & Dad – s/t. Now here’s a band who’s fallen through the cracks, an early signing to Twisted Nerve who are basically the missing link between Add (N) To X and Broadcast, with a bit of Goldfrapp thrown in. Did a series of singles around the turn of the century, plus this album, and that was it. This isn’t a lost classic, but it’s a fascinating document of that time in British music when various people were experimenting with a darker brand of retro futurism, harsh electronics plus folky unease, that paved the way for all the hauntology stuff… There’s a certain cussed abrasiveness to M&D’s sound, great female vocs battling against noisy weirdness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6slwBVP-E8
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