The Drood – The Drood

carsonstreet   8/17/2021   A Library, CD

This is the debut studio release from Denver band The Drood. The Drood travels a dark and dreamy path through space-rock and psychedelia. The sound on this album slides between sludgy space/prog rock, industrial grit and layered soundscape dreams. The Drood moves through an eclectic range of emotion, mystery and just plain weirdness. Sure to interest those seeking an esoteric journey in audio form. There is other worldliness and intensity to their music, and a fascinating overlap between mysticism and skepticism. A fun trip for all you KFJC space cadets.

Carter / Shipp / Parker / Cleaver – Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1

carsonstreet   8/17/2021   CD, Jazz

Recorded in New York City. Released June 2020. Recorded during the pandemic and perhaps in some ways reflecting the weird trip it has been. The music here swings a bit more than the names billed might lead you to believe. Daniel Carter has been collaborating with William Parker since the early 70s and with Matthew Shipp starting in the mid 80s. This trio has played together on many recordings but by adding legendary drummer Gerald Cleaver to the mix they have created a supergroup of sorts. Two extended tracks bookend a shorter four-minute piece, “Scintillate”. Perhaps the Adventure is the end of the pandemic and the ability to get together and make music again.

Lizards Exist – Lizards Exist

carsonstreet   8/17/2021   12-inch, A Library

Croatian Psychedelic/Space rock band with a new approach to vintage psychedelia. Founded in Zagreb, Croatia in 2011. They played for almost four years, including live concerts, before they went into the studio to record their debut album in March 2014. This self-titled debut was recorded using only vintage equipment (pre-1976) which contributes to its warm and rich sound, typical of the 70’s psychedelic music. Recorded live at Kramasonik Studio, March 2014. It features a very interesting blend of influences including early Pink Floyd, krautrock bands like CAN or Ash Ra Tempel and Canterbury acts like Gong and Soft Machine. This is no exercise in nostalgia it is new, fresh and totally psychy. Album mastered at Abby Road and manufactured in England.

Boris Brozović – drums, percussions, thunder drum
Siniša Mraović – guitars, binson echorec, volume pedal
Roko Margeta – hammond organ, rhodes piano, mellotron, arp 2600 & kawai 100f  synthesizers, roland space echo
Tihomir Zdjelarević – bass, space effects

Sula Bassana – Organ Accumulator

carsonstreet   8/17/2021   A Library, CD

Psychedelic spacerock and electronic musician Sula Bassana is a member of Electric Moon, Zone Six, Krautzone and Interkosmos. He is an ex-member of Liquid Visions, Growing Seeds and Psychedelic Monsterjam. Sula was born in Berlin and is now living in northern Hessen. This version of the album includes the three tracks from the Dissapear EP. Casiotone 403, Casio SK 1, Roland TR 606 drum box, Yamaha PS 30 are among the instruments Sula used on this album.

Keshav Batish – Binaries In Cycle

carsonstreet   8/17/2021   CD, Jazz

Keshav Batish hones a personal, multifaceted sound as a player and composer with Binaries in Cycle, his debut album, featuring alto saxophonist Shay Salhov, pianist Lucas Hahn and bassist Aron Caceres. When the group gathered to record Binaries in Cycle at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, in Batish’s home city of Santa Cruz, the beloved performance space was empty. It was August 3, 2020, the height of the COVID pandemic. Despite adverse circumstances, Batish and the quartet rose above to deliver stirring performances of five original pieces, plus inventive readings of Ornette Coleman’s “Police People” and Thelonious Monk’s “We See.” Keshav has played in our pit with his father Ashwin.

Spiral Wave Nomads/First Encounters

carsonstreet   7/7/2021   12-inch, A Library

Extended psych jams that mostly just relax your mind. This is the second album from Spiral Wave Nomads and was recorded live one afternoon in the pre-pandemic days of the summer of 2019. All songs were improvised live and recorded without overdubs by Spiral Wave Nomads in Delmar, New York. Spiral Wave Nomads are Eric Hardiman on guitar and Michael Kiefer on drums. First Encounters documents the first time Kiefer and Hardiman ever met in the flesh and played music together in the same room. Their self-titled debut (also in our library) was recorded by file-sharing between Albany New York and New Haven Connecticut. Take a trip with these guys.

White, Tony Joe/Smoke From The Chimney

carsonstreet   7/7/2021   CD, Country

Tony Joe White, nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit “Polk Salad Annie” and for “Rainy Night in Georgia”, which he wrote but which was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. White was a pioneer of the Louisiana swamp rock sound. Smoke From the Chimney, released posthumously, is composed of previously unknown home recordings. White’s eclectic legacy has persevered through decades of influence, covers and popular culture. Smoke from the Chimney captures Tony Joe White’s signature style in its purest form and serves as a living testimony to one of the most gifted lyricists and storytellers music has ever known.

Tirelli, Armando / El Profeta

carsonstreet   6/24/2021   A Library, CD

One of the most famous progressive rock masterpieces from South America carrying a resounding resemblance to the 70’s Italian prog scene. Armando Tirelli wrote this concept album and performed all the keyboard work on the album (piano, mellotron, synths, organ). The soft vocals are by Armando and are in Spanish. Inspired by the writings of Gibran Khalil – yes The Profit – required reading in the hippie codex. Often referred to as symphonic prog. Uruguay’s gift to progressive rock.

Sherpa / Tanzlinde

carsonstreet   6/24/2021   A Library, CD

Tanzlinde is the debut album of the neo-psych band Sherpa from Abruzzo, Italy. You can hear influences of psychedelia and Krautrock invoking thoughts of Popol Vuh and Robert Wyatt. Eastern culture’s traditional music is also reflected here. Tanzlinde means a linden tree under the leaves of which the people find time to get back to themselves and connect to their deepest feelings. It’s a metaphor for strength but fast growing and so is the music. This album becomes better and more intense with every listen… released December 27, 2016.

Liquid Visions/The Lost Recordings

carsonstreet   6/24/2021   A Library, CD

Studio recordings from 2000. Lots of long tracks with beautiful instrumental parts. Spacy, garage, fuzz psychedelic jam rock. Liquid Visions was founded in Berlin in late 1994. They developed their sound which basically is a blend of garage/fuzz rock and spacey trips in combination with a light show when playing live. They were both ahead of their time and behind it. An acid blast from the past and the present. Very nice booklet tucked into the inside cover with lyrics.

Spiral Electric/The Spiral Electric

carsonstreet   3/26/2021   A Library, CD

The Spiral Electric are a psychedelic rock band from San Francisco. They bring a mixture of roaring guitars, bass, drums and synthesizers. The Spiral Electric has gathered an international following and toured up and down the US west coast from Seattle to Los Angeles. They have played festivals like the Desert Stars Festival in Pioneertown CA, the Gathering of the Tribes Festival in San Francisco, CA and the Portland Psych Fest in Portland, OR

Bipolar Explorer/Of Love and Loss

carsonstreet   3/11/2021   A Library, CD

NYC based dreampop trio of Summer Serafin, Michael Serafin-Wells & Sylvia Solanas.  Of Love and Loss is both a testament and tribute to their fallen bandmate Summer Serafin who died tragically after an accidental fall. “Great, beautiful, drifty-pop filled with sadness & wonder” – WFMU. “Epic & affecting” – Surface Noise.” “The most significantly stirring & addictive musical accomplishment we’ve come across in some time. Altogether haunting” – Ground Control”. The lyrics are very moving and the music just keeps running through your mind.

Glenn Jones/The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar

carsonstreet   3/11/2021   A Library, CD

Former Cul de Sac leader Glenn Jones gives us ten American Primitive originals on The Giant Who Ate Himself and Other New Works for 6 & 12 String Guitar. KFJC broadcast the Thousand Incarnations of the Rose Festival of American Primitive Guitar which mostly featured finger picking solo guitarists performing their own incarnations of a sound pioneered by John Fahey more than five decades ago. Glenn played at the festival. When Glenn plays twelve-string guitar it is actually a ten-string guitar as Jones removes two thin strings.

Cobra Thief /Animal Oxygen

carsonstreet   3/11/2021   12-inch, A Library

Cobra Thief/Animal Oxygen

Cobra Thief says of themselves on bandcamp: Cobra Thief is a perfect mix of Kyuss, Soundgarden and Mountain. Deep, spaced out Rock’N’Roll since 2017. They are often described as Desert Rock. Their sound floats along the dividing line between heavy psych and stoner rock in a way that is unique. Very cool stuff.

Bipolar Explorer/Deux Anges

carsonstreet   10/15/2020   A Library, CD

Bipolar Explorer is Michael Serafin-Wells, Summer Serafin and Sylvia Solanas. Other contributors appear on some tracks but that is the core. Michael describes his music as Dreampop moving into more experimental sounds. More Delia Derbyshire than Beach House. His music and lyrics come from dreams. Michael was hit by a car in New York City suffering severe injuries followed by a near-fatal pulmonary embolism. Michael says: Adrift in those ten minutes when my heart ceased beating, a pulmonary event nearly always fatal, twin angels both celestial and earthly, returned and guarded me from their vantages “on either side of the divide, enveloping me in love and protection.” Thus DEUX ANGES. Mysterious, otherworldly and altogether enjoyable. An emotional musical journey.

Adnan Othman/Bershukor

carsonstreet   10/15/2020   CD, International

The legendary Adnan Othman has long been a driving force in the Malaysian rock scene. As early as the 1960s his groundbreaking songs in the style known as Pop Yeh Yeh (rock and roll sung in Malay) attracted fans from across Southeast Asia. Recently, he has gained many new fans around the globe due to a renewed interest in rock music from this region. Adnan first rose to fame during the groovy Pop Yeh Yeh era (1964-1970) in Malaysia and Singapore and he continued to evolve as a musician and composer throughout his exciting career. He made his first recordings in Singapore in the early 1960s, when he was invited to record with a highly popular backing band, The Rythmn Boys. He produced innovative material well into the 1970s, but always stayed true to his Rock-and-Roll roots, even when many other artists were turning towards more predictable disco influences. This album draws from all eight of his solo EPs.                                                          

Lapis/Demo

carsonstreet   6/24/2020   A Library, Cassette

Cold Wave from Oakland. Simple open electronic beats and tones with male and female vocals. Wondering what the hell Cold Wave is? Ask Wikipedia: “a loose music genre that emerged in Europe the late 1970s, characterized by its detached lyrical tone, use of early electronic music instruments and a minimalist approach and style. It emerged from punk rock bands who, influenced by early electronic groups such as Kraftwerk, made use of affordable portable synthesizers.”        

Stone Rebel/A Plain Full of Stars COLLECTION

carsonstreet   6/24/2020   A Library, CD

This band is from France but other than that there is not much information about them available.  A Plain Full Of Stars is a collection of tunes from their other albums. They have 15 releases on Bandcamp. Mostly guitars, bass and drums. Stoner stuff. Their music is great when you need to calm down the swamp critters and turn to relaxing, calming, mellow psych tunes.

Domo/Domo

carsonstreet   3/30/2020   A Library, CD

Formed at the beginning of 2010 in Alicante, Spain. Domo plays psychedelic and electrifying rock. Domo’s music is based on psychedelia and experimental rock. The starting point of their music is “the classical structures of heavy, hard and progressive rock of the seventies”. Lots of doom and sludge here too. Recorded, mixed and mastered in August 2010.

Space Debris/Into The Sun Live 2006 Burg Herzberg Festival

carsonstreet   3/28/2020   A Library, CD

Space Debris is a German band that creates a complicated blend of classic rock jams, Krautrock, space rock, psychedelia and fusion jazz. A Hammond B200 with Marshall amp, Ludwig drums and a special recording technique help create a sound that is creative, experimental and comparable to early Deep Purple and Pink Floyd instrumental music.