the of mirror eye

* Spiritualized: Medication (14.0 mb) | The Slide Song (6.0 mb) | Electric Phase (2.5 mb) | All Of My Tears (4.5 mb)
From Pure Phase : Dedicated/Arista : 74321-26035-2

Falling under the spell of the Spacemen 3 musical sphere fairly early on in my listening career (look here) was a formative experience for me. I quickly became obsessed with their simplistic yet provocative drones, as well as their post break-up projects like Spectrum, E.A.R. and, this band especially, Spiritualized. Lead by Jason Pierce, Spiritualized were able to expand upon the drone-pop that was inherent in Spacemen 3.

After Spacemen 3 called it a day around the dawn of the decade, singer/guitarist Jason Pierce was free to expand upon his more classicist theories of dream-state drone as pure pop with Spiritualized. Only slightly less narcotic in effect than his previous band, this free-flowing aggregation has proven slightly more likely to assent to verse-chorus-verse structure (albeit an extremely distended form thereof), while preserving the spangled sonic surroundings that add such a transportive quality to his compositions. If you can imagine LaMonte Young and Brian Wilson jamming at a corner (hash) bar, you’ve got a pretty clear vision of the Spiritualized totality. (Trouser Press)

I remember being so shocked the first time I heard this album. There was no way to prepare me for the level of grandeur that front man Jason Pierce was trying to attain. From the first orchestral swirls of Medication to the last electronic phases of Feel Like Goin’ Home, this album captivated and enthralled me.

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* Little Richard: Long Tall Sally (The Thing) (2.0 mb) | Slippin’ And Slidin’ (2.5 mb) | Good Golly Miss Molly (Fast Version) (2.0 mb) | Whole Lotta Shaking Goin’ On (Rehersal) (3.5 mb)
From The Specialty Sessions : Ace Records : ABOXCD 1-6

Whoo doggy!!! Little Richard (look here) is THE man.

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* The Lyres: Now I’ve Got A Witness (5.0 mb)
* The New Conolly Five: Stoned (4.0 mb)
* The Dirtbombs: No Expectations (6.0 mb)
* The Love Supremes: Sing This All Together (4.5 mb)
From Rolling Stones Covers : Norton Records

For whatever reason, I’ve never really been attracted to the whole Rolling Stones thing. Sure, Exile was pretty good and some of their earlier stuff was alright, but I just could never connect with the music. But luckily, Norton Records is making me realize what I’ve been missing. They’ve started a series of split 7 inch records where some of the hottest garage rock bands in the universe cover the Stones song of their choice.

They’ve got 15 splits in the series and they’re all absolutely worth getting. What we’ve got here is the songs from two of them. We’ve got:

Boston’s rompous Lyres hop up a crack instro whammy on an early Nanker Phelge dance floor R&B workout in a cage match with flip elusives THE NEW CONOLLY 5, who polish off Phelger flip STONED from their unished 1 x 5 Brit LP!

And:

Double doser deluxe! Fan fave Motor City soul stormers pummel ‘68 Beggars Banquet with sympathy to spare while Phast Phreddie Patterson’s West Coast whompers (including DJ Bonebrake of X on marimbas!) special deliver the Love Supremes regal romp on the ‘67 stunner at their Satanic Majesties’ behest, of course! On with the show… and how! (Norton Records)

Really though, I’m not too familiar with the Stones, but these covers sound so good that I might just have to search for the originals.

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* The 6ths: San Diego Zoo (6.0 mb) | Falling Out Of Love (With You) (5.5 mb) | Movies In My Head (7.0 mb) | When I’m Out Of Town (4.5 mb)
From Wasps’ Nests : London Records : 422-828 592-2

I’m going to go out on a limb and label Mr. Stephen Merritt a songwriting genius. He already established himself as a tour de force with his Magnetic Fields (look here) project and this one, The 6ths just merely confirm that fact. Wasps’ Nests, based around the idea of guest singers The 6ths is Stephen Merritt as synth-pop music maker and lyricist with a who’s who of the indie world contributing vocals. It’s a cool concept that plays out fantastically.

So, we’ve got Barbara Manning of San Francisco Seals singing San Diego Zoo, Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna fame singing Falling Out Of Love (With You), Georgia Hubley of Yo La Tengo singing Movies In My Head and Chris Knox of The Tall Dwarfs singing When I’m Out Of Town.

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* Les Rallizes Denudes: Enter The Mirror (25.0 mb)
From Flightless Bird : 10th Avenue Freeze Out

I’m so excited about this album that I can hardly contain myself. Ever since I heard this band, Les Rallizes Denudes a couple of years ago (look here), I haven’t stopped listening to them. They have an incredibly immense, distorted sound that blows my mind every time. With so few recordings to their name, this album, a compilation of tracks recorded from ‘67-82, is a most welcome treat for the Les Rallizes Denudes fan.

For more info about the band, take a look at my old post linked above, as well as a review of this album by Julian Cope.

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* Wingtip Sloat: Teapot Dome (7.5 mb) | Infectious Sharps Only (6.5 mb) | Waxing Neurotic And So On And On (10.0 mb)
From Add This To Rhetoric : VHF Records : vhf#57

Wow! It’s always an awesome feeling to rediscover bands that I’d forgotten about, but really loved at the time. Wingtip Sloat bring me way back, more than ten years ago, when I had the good fortune to pick up this awesome zine, Tuba Frenzy. I stumbled upon this magazine when it came out and probably bought it because it included a split 12″ LP with Trans Am contributing one of the tracks. Wingtip Sloat, who I had no clue about, had the flip side.

I remember putting on the LP when I got home and really liking the Trans Am side. In fact, it was probably a good while before I finally flipped it over to listen to Wingtip Sloat. But once I did, it never really left. The Wingtip Sloat songs really blew my mind. There was a fantastic, totally cacophonous sound that almost made sense to me. They also had a pretty unique, anti-careerism side to them that really appealed to me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t track down any of their other releases, so they kind of fell to the wayside.

So, I was super excited to find out that this compilation of singles and compilation tracks.

Covering their most active years, Add This to Rhetoric captures Sloat at their baffling, fragmentary best, dealing out slashing rock sides that bristle with hooks and ear-catching weirdness. (VHF Records)

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