December has arrived, and with the dropping temps comes cooler minds and thicker broths. Momentum slows slightly, and the sap sets for our inevitable seasonal down shift. This months episode brings private press acid burn, ethereal harp float, raw acoustic sprawl, inspired reed transcendence, neo-age drift, banned Czech lysergia, and beyond!
Non-stop music on the program, so we’ve included a few words along with the full playlist below.
Check the archive.
The only album by Oliver Chaplin, or simply Oliver as he chose to present himself, was titled Standing Stone and was recorded to a portable TEAC 4 track on their parents' remote farm in rural Wales. Originally released in 1974, the work was a blend of Delta blues, back masked psychedelia, and blown out acid folk with a unique, deeply burnt approach. The sessions were produced by Oliver's brother Chris, who was actually an engineer who worked on Jimi Hendrix's legendary BBC sessions. The OG vinyl is impossibly rare, even the '92 vinyl reissue by Tenth Planet is pricey, but the music can be found on CD from Wooden Hill, as well as an unauthorized CDR circulating from Prog Temple, or ya know, wafting through the ether.
Mark Tester of Indianapolis is a name you should be familiar with, as his collaborations with fellow Indiana artist Landon Caldwell have been appearing semi-regularly, and with a considerable solo catalog having been amassed over the past few years. This new LP "Oblivion Rhythms Revisited" on Moon Glyph is a gurgling, propulsive affair, with an electronic breath and early morning lurch. Mastered by Colin Gorman Weiland, the vinyl sounds pristine and perfect, a clear, crisp transmission into strange frontiers.
Ramble Tamble is the long running project of Turner Williams Jr., currently based in Marseille, France who has been producing his own brand of distinctive avant-folk and raw acoustic psychedelia for quite some time. The 2019 Outlaw Overtones album on Eiderdown is great, and he released a new LP this year called Let It Warp under his own name earlier this year on the Trouble in Mind label. The odd chunk featured here is sourced from an earlier, more obscure release called Twang of the Void, originally released in 2012 on Tambler's Choice, but now made available digitally through the artists Bandcamp page. Strong DIY home-brew, may cause drowsiness.
The new All Summer Long is Gone cassette from Louise Bock and PG Six is a potent elixir of harp and saxophone/synthesizer improvisations, bringing soporific tone poetry and elongated spectral sprawl. Louise Bock is of course the alter ego of Taralie Peterson of Spires in the Sunset Rise, with PG Six the psuedonym of Patrick Gubler, who has an essential string of solo works notched in the belt, but might also be known as a founding member of the legendary Tower Recordings, along with acting as key string mangler in more modern perma-tripper crews like Garcia Peoples, The Weeping Bong Band and Wet Tuna. So yeah, the guy can jam. A big thanks to Feeding Tube Records for relentlessly supporting the greatest of contemporary outre' stylings, apparently the stranger the better.
Kennelmus' only album "Folkstone Prism" is twisted jewel, recorded in the desert of Arizona in 1971. The album has a spaced out garage vibe, but hits hard with psychedelic production and a killer guitar tone, and even includes an interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." Original copies you won't see, but there is a nice recent reissue via Modern Harmonic.
John Marks and Crystal Myslajek are both long time local luminaries of the Minneapolis Arts scene, each carving respective trajectories to be noted, and coming together here as collective creators to deliver a sheer translucent veil of flickering electronic light. Stasis & Motion is a work for 16mm film projections and sound, in collaboration with artist Sam Hoolihan. The work was commissioned by The Walker Arts Center in 2017, and recorded in live performance. Self-published as a lovely screen-printed cassette edition as well as digital DL on the artists Bandcamp page, flicker and float.
The gifted LA composer and saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi is highly productive, both as a member of the supergroup Fuubutsushi (風物詩) as well as proffering an impressive catalog of collaborations and solo works over the last few years. His latest solo album "Hidemi" is an emotional masterwork of deeply personal investigations, named after his grandfather Hidemi Patrick Shiroishi and focused on his grandfather's personal experience after being released from the Japanese-American concentration camps of World War II. Shiroishi plays all instruments on the album himself, weaving an intricate lattice. The track featured here, "Tule Lake Like Yesterday" brings a circular transcendence, ultimately spiraling to discordant array. The work is perfectly paired with a supplemental 82 page chapbook titled "Tangled", which is a collection of thoughtful and provocative writings from contemporary Asian American musicians, providing an avenue to speak on their own experience unique to their culture and ancestry. The "Hidemi" vinyl drop is expected via American Dreams for Feb/March, but full digital is already public and highly recommended, easily one of the strongest albums of the year. A reflection on the horror and tragedies of war and racism, and a valuable reminder that these horrors still exist today.
Laraaji is a living legend, long time champion of positive vibrations and purveyor of healing sound. "Connecting with the Inner Healer Through Music" was originally self-released by the artist back in 1982, created to support a full-day workshop of the same name at South East Spiritual Conferences (SESC) in Greensboro, NC. Thanks to the loving efforts of Leaving Records, this masterwork of transcendental energy is available once again, a love filled light transmission from higher planes than our own.
Plastic People of the Universe were literally banned by their homeland government, hailing from the Czech Republic and formed only a month after the Prague Spring invasion in 1968. The group endured nearly a decade of governmental "normalization", until 1976 when the Communist Government arrested and tried the Plastics and other people from the underground scene in an effort to stamp out any political unrest, despite the Plastics insistence that they were not a political group and simply wanted to play their music. The track selected here is taken from the amazing album "Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned", which was originally recorded in 74/75, but couldn't be officially released under the former Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, so was spread through the home taping underground until eventually seeing official release in 1978 in France. It's a fascinating story, but also deep, incredible tunes, well captured in the excellent new self-published book "A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe" by Joe Yanosik, highly recommended for a deeper dive into all things Plastic People.
M. Sage has had no less than 3 major solo works released this year on vinyl, which is a clear indication of the artists devoted work ethic and consistent high quality mark. While Sage's solo work and collaboration over the past year with the aforementioned group Fuubutsushi (風物詩) has garnered great accolades, he has been diligently offering devotional electronics and experimental soundscapes for years, utilizing various electro-acoustic techniques. The track here is taken from the 2012 Patient Sounds cassette "Music for Cubist Guitar", a quiet, graceful ascent.
The debut album from Nimbudala is a slow burning fire, coming together as a result of a four year process of creation. The project is birthed by Steve Targo of Wisconsin, previously working since 2014 as Inner Travels, but with this latest offering under the new name, the artist shares a distinct, new voice. Targo states “I have and will always find artistic inspiration in nature, but now I am looking more toward the human spirit and beyond the electronic for sounds that bring peace.” The lovely "Universal Compassion" cassette was released earlier this year by Inner Islands and disappeared quickly, but the label has been releasing hot fire over the past year, do go floating.
There must be something in the water in Tuscon, AZ. The Myrrors formed back in 2007, took some time out to reform around '13 and never looked back, now standing as one of the most extraordinarily drenched astro crews working today. The range of the back catalog is daunting, with releases on labels like Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records, and Cardinal Fuzz. This latest LP Invocaciones : Singles and Strays (2014 - 2016) on Nik Rayne's Sky Lantern imprint expands the horizons even further, with a deep free-form sprawl and hallucinatory drift. Sonoran trance music indeed.
LA based harpist and vocalist Naliah Hunter has been quite productive over the last few years, releasing the wonderful "Spells" EP in 2020 on Leaving Records, and producing several ethereal EPs of striking afro-futurist ambience since then. The expansive "Black Valhalla" featured here appeared back in June of 2020 as a stand alone digital track, self released on the artist's Bandcamp page. Check out everything she's done, it's exclusively important and beautiful work.
The teaser track from the upcoming Compulsions cassette from J.R. Bohannon on Astral Editions struck a nerve, so lovely as to demand instant grip despite resistance to a somewhat lengthy pre-order window. J.R. has a few noteworthy previous releases, including a split LP with Ben Greenberg and Ryley Walker on Husky Pants from 2020, and the lovely "Dusk" LP on Figureight which features the great Luke Stewart on double bass. This newest work is a promising return, with the track "Our Only World" offering a comforting six stringed embrace. Can't wait for the full album to manifest!
Nick Jonah Davis is a guitarist and composer based in Derbyshire. UK, with a back catalog of releases on labels like Tompkins Square and Lancashire and Somerset, but with his latest cassette on Eiderdown Records, Davis provides a shimmering ship to sail upon, an effervescent travelogue across clear, crystal skies. This transportive work was created as the soundtrack for a film currently in production by artist and filmmaker Ian Nesbitt, concerning research into the hidden powers and mysteries of stone circles scattered across the UK. An expansive score for timeless energies.
FULL PLAYLIST:
OLIVER - "Motorway" from the album Standing Stone (OLIV Records, 1974 / Tenth Planet, 1992)
MARK TESTER - "Prodigy For Echo No. 1" from the album Oblivion Rhythms Revisited (Moon Glyph, 2021)
RAMBLE TAMBLE - "Whittle Away" from the album Twang of the Void (Tamble's Choice, 2012)
LOUISE BOCK & PG SIX - "Grass by a Gravestone" from the album All Summer Long Is Gone (Feeding Tube, 2021)
KENNELMUS - "Sylvan Shores" from the album Folkstone Prism (Phoenix International, 1971 / Modern Harmonic, 2020)
JOHN MARKS & CRYSTAL MYSLAJEK - "Stasis & Motion" (excerpt) from the album Stasis & Motion (artist-released, 2021)
PATRICK SHIROISHI - "Tule Lake Like Yesterday" from the album Hidemi (American Dreams, 2021)
LARAAJI - "Trance Celestial - Movement 4" from the album Connecting with the Inner Healer Thru Music (Leaving Records, 2020)
PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE - "Toxika" from the album "Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned" (Boží Mlýn Productions, 1978)
M. SAGE - "Dynamo II" from the album Music for Cubist Guitar (Patient Sounds, 2018)
NIMBUDALA - "A Prayer At Dawn" from the album Universal Compassion (Inner Islands, 2021)
THE MYRRORS - "Danza Rota" from the album Invocaciones : Singles and Strays (2014 - 2016) (Sky Lantern, 2021)
NALIAH HUNTER - "Black Valhalla" digital single (artist-released, 2021)
J.R. BOHANNON - "Our Only World" from the upcoming album Compulsions (Astral Editions, 2021)
NICK JONAH DAVIS - "Arborlow Farewells" from the album Dérive Néolithique (Eiderdown Records, 2021)