yer darling daily

Linda Perhacs — Parallelograms

from Parallelograms (1970)

Clear, gorgeous, geometric fingerpicking. And some of the best vocal overdubbing I’ve heard…she sings, with this honeyed voice, “Quadrahedral, tetrahedral… monocyclocybercilia. Semiparabolic, semimetrabolic…radiounicellular.”

And then all of a sudden a hollow drum roll drops you through a trap door to the Overlook Hotel, floating through the halls…Jack Nicholson cursing you through a window. Broken grandfather clocks rattling their chimes, phantoms urging you to “run, run…”

And then the bad dream’s over and you’re drifting back through wet silent forests, bright, clear, strong, guided by Linda’s shimmering voice. “Parallelo-alello-gram. Paralello-lello-lello-lellograms…”

Gary Higgins — Thicker Than A Smokey

from Red Hash (1973)

A dreamy, jangly tune from an unlucky folk singer on his way to prison for marijuana charges. You can read the long story here (plus interview) but the short bio of Gary Higgins is this:

• gets busted for Mary Jane in draconian early days of Nixon’s War on Drugs (1972)
• records this album in a 41-hour period on a four-track before sentencing
• gets several years in prison
• friends release limited pressing of album, call it Gary’s nickname “Red Hash” (1973)
• Gary gets out of the clink, marries, settles down, raises a family
• bootlegs of the album circulate amongst David Crosby lovers and other like-minded folks until »
• Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance becomes obsessed with the album and shares it with Drag City’s Zach Cowey, who begins manhunt via letter-writing campaign to all Gary Higgins in Connecticut
• finds Gary, who still has the original tapes, and reissues LP in 2005 on Drag City

And I’m glad that’s how the story ended! The open tuning and the vocals on this album really shoot it to greatness.

Okinawa Lifestyle — Wir Sind In Der Zukunft Geblieben

from Lazy Friend You Move So Fast (2010)

Why does Okinawa have so many centenarians (at least 100 years old) and supercentenarians (110 or older!)? The scientists involved with the Okinawa Centenarian Study have determined that it’s a combination of good genes and the Okinawan lifestyle. So, genetics and environment. The devil is in the details.

Okinawa Lifestyle also happens to be the name of a duo from Georgia — the one on the Black Sea. And these guys are clearly rocking Tbilisi with these beats. They have disco-bass-pop on lockdown. Move over Justice.

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PEPEPIANO — Babes

from Babes (2010)

Here’s my other favorite track from the EP. The Terry Riley-esque keyboards are amazing. But the sharp clipping beat moves things out of that territory…

Again, download all this music for FREE! at his bandcamp.

PEPEPIANO — NO WAY

from Babes (2010)

I haven’t been able to stop playing this beautiful tune since I heard it earlier this week. Pepepiano’s self-writ bio:

Pepepiano is the recording alias of David Bird, a composer of electro-acoustic music from Laguna Beach, California.

You can get this tune, and everything else he’s recorded, for free (FREE!!) at his bandcamp.

cut my finger cuz i want blood
yeah im drunk stepping in a flash flood

When he sings those lines, punctuated by the sound of glass breaking, you believe it. This song, having the haziest sounds on the Babes EP, with fuzzboxes, gurgling synths, and the like, blends in with a lot of the other lo-fi production we’re hearing these days.

But there’s so much eccentric magic on this EP (like the cut-time interludes on this track) that it’s obvious this Oberlin kid has something special. Next up I’ll post something more ethereal, with keyboards that have to be a nod to Terry Riley.

onehorsetown:

The Rolling Stones - Far Away Eyes

I really enjoy Mick’s over-the-top rendering of this tune.

This is a great song. Stones driving music…

Jeff Beck — Beck’s Bolero

from Truth (1968)

This is a beautiful instrumental from Jeff Beck’s debut album. Originally recorded in 1966, released as a b-side in ‘67. Two theories why it’s my favorite off this album: a.) Rod Stewart isn’t singing, or b.) the session lineup was so damn good: Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on guitars, John Paul Jones on bass, Keith Moon on drums, session man Nicky Hopkins on piano.

Apparently there’s some contention between Jimmy and Jeff about who actually wrote the tune, but regardless of who wrote it, there’s some gorgeous 12-string work, ghostly slides right out of Dazed & Confused, and what some contend to be the very first heavy metal riff, in the middle.