the of mirror eye

In general, I find “top records of the year” lists very difficult to do. Mostly because I forget what I buy and when things were released. But this year, I got a couple of things that really shook my shingle. And here are some of them (this is by no means an exhaustive list of my favorites), in no particular order. Since there are so many listings here, I decided to not post any samples. But samples are out there and should be pretty easy to find. Good luck searching.

* Various Artists | Invisible Pyramid: Elegy Box : Last Visible Dog : LVD 080-86

An incredible document of the psychedelic folk scene. A monster of a package that will take all of next year to digest.

* The No-Neck Blues Band | Qvaris : 5 Rue Christine : GER052

A rawkus and rowdy exploration into Truth. Apparently found inside of a sequined eggplant.

* Lau Nau | Kuutarha : Locust Music : locust66

My introduction to (and still my favorite release) from the incredible Finnish free folk scene. The music is what I imagine the forests of Finland to be.

* Six Organs Of Admittance | School Of The Flower : Drag City Records : DC282

Always an amazing guitarist. This time Mr. Ben Chasny is really stretching out on this one.

* MF Doom | Live From Planet X : Nature Sounds : NSD113

MF Doom is not only the hardest working hip-hopper, he’s definitely one of the best. He produces, he rhymes, he cuts ill-beats. This live document proves that he’s not just a studio creation.

* Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno | Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno : Important Records : imprec058

No end of the year list would be complete without at least one Acid Mothers Temple release. This is their new incarnation and it totally rules. They blast off and never come down.

* Konono No 1 | Congotronics : Crammed Disc : CRW27

Amazing, high energy musics from out the Congo. Incredible music of distortion and rhythms, rhythms and distortions.

* The Mountain Goats | The Sunset Tree : 4AD : CAD 2508CD

The Mountain Goats have never been stronger.

* Ennio Morricone | Crimes And Disonance : Ipecac Recordings : IPC-066

The darker side of the King of movie soundtracks. An amazing 2 discs of rare tracks compiled by Mr. Alan Bishop. Avant-garde and psychedelic. Does there need to be anything else?

* Tony Conrad with Faust | Outside The Dream Syndicate Alive : Table Of The Elements : TOE-CD-48

Minimalist monster.

* Various Artists | Soul Gospel : Soul Jazz Records : SJR CD107

A compilation following the links between Saturday night and Sunday morning. How much better can it get?

* FM3 | The Buddha Machine : Staalplaat : 14671

An iPod killer.

* Doris Duke | I’m A Loser: The Swamp Dogg Sessions And More : Kent Soul : CDKEND 242

Dark soul musics. Some of the best I’ve ever heard. This could draw tears from stone.

* Various Artists | Big Moe - Live At R.C.’s Place : Jones

Yet another superlative collection from the Memphix crew.

* Edan | Beauty And The Beat : Lewis Recordings

Psychedelic hip-hop. Shut up. Just shut up…..You had me at psychedelic. You had me at psychedelic.

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So there you have it. A small sampling of the music that ruled my world this year.

Again, sorry, no music today. Just wanted to thank everyone for reading and listening. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed yourselves as much as I have. Remember, there’s an incredible world of music out there, so go out and find it.

Still can’t believe that I’ve been doing this for more than one year. When I first started, I had no idea how long I would be doing this. Sometimes I have visions of me when I’m 80, still posting tracks and talking about how things were so much “real-er back in the day”. That might be kinda cool.

At any rate. Hope everyone is going to enjoy themselves this New Year’s Eve. And here’s hoping that the next year is a great one.

(Ok, I lied. Here’s a track by the Qualities. A vocal group that Sun Ra guided.)

* Qualities: Happy New Year To You (2.0 mb)
From The Singles : Evidence Records : 22164

* Derek Bailey: Tap 3 a (7.5 mb) | Tap 3 b (8.5 mb)
From Incus Taps : Organ Of Corti : Corti 10

* Iskra 1903: Improvisation 9 (5.5 mb)
From Chapter One 1970-1972 : Emanem : 4301

I just found out that Mr. Derek Bailey died on Christmas Day, 2005. He was an iconoclast and a guitarist extraordinaire who spent over 40 years deconstructing the guitar and exploring the instrument. He has a very distinctive playing style which, for the most part, eschews any sort of melody, harmony and rhythm. Instead, he built up a pointillistic, atonal language that he spent his lifetime working on. He also started one of the first independent labels owned by musicians and an extrememly influential jazz magazine.

I’ll be perfectly honest when I say that this music is not for most people. In fact, it’s not even for me, all of the time, as this is very difficult music to listen to. But there are times when his music fits my mood perfectly. When I can lose myself in his playing and absorb it without analyzing it.

I’ve decided to include a couple of solo pieces and one group improv. The solo pieces come from early in his career and are mind blowing.

Many if not most of Derek Bailey’s fans (I was going to write “hardcore fans,” but aren’t we all?) will be surprised at the existence of these extremely early solo recordings, originally issued by Incus back in 1973. Even for a label as unorthodox as Incus, the TAPS represented a unique but very short-lived experiment in “marketing”; basically, Derek decided that it would be interesting, cheaper, and “less formal” to issue some of his favorite recent solo improvisations in a reel-to-reel format, one at a time; custom made, so to speak: “just copy them if somebody wanted to buy one”. Each copy was made on 1/4″ tape on a 3″ reel, and came in its own 3-1/2″ square box. (Needless to say, these limited edition originals are virtually unobtainable today.)

This long-overdue reissue of the Incus TAPS onto CD fills a major hole in the recorded catalogue of Derek’s work and captures (now forever) a sadly under documented early period in the development of one of the most original, total reinventions of a major musical instrument of this century. The TAPS represent an early highpoint of Derek’s solo guitar music, a flowering of innovation that followed a period (1970-71) of concentration on “building up an atonal language”, as he put it to Melody Maker in 1973 (as, as he summed it up in his 1980/92 book Improvisation: It’s nature and Practice in Music: “I wanted to know if the language I was using was complete, if it could supply everything I wanted in a musical performance. The ideal way of doing this… was through a period of solo playing”.

(from the liner notes)

The group playing is also from an early time period and represents their desire to form a percussionless trio. The line up is rather unique with trombone, guitar and double bass.

As I said before, this music can be quite challenging to listen to. But I feel that it is well worth the effort. The imagination and group conversations that are presented here are simply amazing.

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* Panda Bear: 01 (untitled) (4.5 mb) | 04 (untitled) (7.5 mb) | 05 (untitled) (4.5 mb)
From Young Prayer : Paw Tracks : PAW2

In general, I’m a huge fan of the winter time. I love the cold and the snow, and how the city seems quieter and less full of people. But there are parts of it that I dislike. The sun isn’t out nearly as much and the days are usually more overcast. Plus I tend to go into “hibernation” mode (this could potentially be referred to as Seasonal Affective Disorder) and require more alone time. And one of the things I’ve been listening to, to get through these times, is the beautiful music of Panda Bear.

Mr. Bear is 1/4 of the Animal Collective (probably one of my favorite musical discoveries of this year) and usually contributes vocals and drums to that group. This album finds Mr. Bear picking up the acoustic guitar and composing beautiful music based on the themes of life and death and the celebration of both. Young Prayer was written and conceived in response to the death of his father and, as you can probably imagine, is an incredibly naked and personal album. Though the arrangements are fairly simple, the emotions are complex, with the songs flowing together like one long prayer. The vocals on this album are the high point for me. With his unsteady tenor/falsetto singing nearly indecipherable lyrics.
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* Snoop Doggy Dogg: Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto (7.0 mb)
From Christmas On Death Row : Death Row Records

* Otis Redding: White Christmas (4.0 mb)
* Carla Thomas: Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas Time (2.5 mb)
* Ray Charles: Christmas Time (6.0 mb)
From The Original Soul Christmas : Atlantic / WEA

* James Brown: Santa Claus Goes Straight To The Ghetto (4.5 mb) | Soulful Christmas (5.0 mb) | Signs Of Christmas (7.5 mb)
From James Brown’s Funk Christmas : Polydor

* Darlene Love: White Christmas (3.5 mb)
* The Ronettes: Frosty The Snowman (2.5 mb) | I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (3.0 mb)
From A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector : Abkco

* The Irish Rovers: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (5.0 mb)
* The Chipmunks: The Chipmunks Song (3.5 mb) | Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (3.5 mb)
From Christmas Comdey Classics : Priority Records

Well, I can’t believe that it’s already the end of the year. Time sure does fly sometimes. And since this will be my last post before the Christmas holiday, I figured that I would post a bunch of holiday songs. This way you can get your parties started in style. Enjoy!

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If you’re still looking for gift ideas for your favorite music nerd, I would highly recommend the Buddha Machine. These things are absolutely brilliant. They are repurposed Buddhist meditation/prayer machines and contains 9 different loops by sound artists, FM3. It’s a totally self contained sound machine that is about the size of a deck of cards and includes a speaker, a headphone output, a toggle switch and volume control. The sound is totally lo-fi and mono. For a preview of what the box might sound like, go here for mp3’s of all 9 loops that are contained on the Buddha Machine. You might think to yourself, “Well why the hell should I buy this thing if I can get all the loops online and just play them on my computer?” Well, because it’s not even close to being the same experience, that’s why. Part of the wonder of the machine is the little speaker and the incredibly lo-fi sound. The fact that you can even manipulate the sound a little, depending on how you hold it. Man, this thing rocks.

Also, the new issue of Yeti (look here and here) is out, just in time for Stocking Stuffers. It’s another superlative issue, packed to brim with great writing and also includes a cd that’s well worth listening to. Contact e-mail is: yetipubs@gmail.com

Both of these fine items should be available in your finer record emporiums, although the buddha machine might be harder to find.

* Thanksgiving: The Ghost And The Eyes (2.5 mb) | There’s No Invisible Halloween Costume That Isn’t There (5.0 mb) | Trees In The Ground Outside The Window (8.5 mb)
From The Ghost And The Eyes With Trees In The Ground Outside The Window : States Rights Records and the Slender Means Society : SRRWY/SMS02

Thanksgiving, the nom de plume of one Mr. Adrian Orange, creates beautifully subtle pop music that explores the themes of loneliness, vastness and despair. With a solid base of acoustic guitar and voice, the songs are fleshed out with various off-kilter claps and drums, horns and harmonies. The effect can sometimes be quite unsettling, but in a good way.

This album is the second installment of The Pregnancy Series, released by States Rights Records and the Slender Means Society and contains gorgeous packaging with a hand sewn booklet and is (from what I understand) available in a limited pressing. This Series, which gives musicians the space to try something different, is supposed to be an EP in length. But for this release, Mr. Orange just could not be contained and he stretched the rules out to make a double EP.

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* Omit: Self-Seperation Through Dislocation (State One) (11.0 mb) | Self- Seperation Through Dislocation (State Two) (6.0 mb) | Release of Dislocation (State Three) (1.5 mb) | Release of Dislocation (Through Desperation) (State Four) (6.0 mb)
From Quad : Corpus Hermeticum : Hermes 024-026

Listen to what happens when Clinton Williams, a misanthropic high school drop-out from New Zealand, moves to the country and creates a soundtrack of his mind using tape loops, found sounds, battered synths and broken tape recorders.

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For more info, you can look at Aquarius Records. Just go to this page here and scroll down to Omit. Easy peasey.