Gypsy Blood — Wasurekaketa Kotoba (Forgotten Words)

from Rokko Oroshi (1972)

If ニールヤング.. er.. Neil Young.. had been born in Japan instead of ol’ Canada… he might have sounded something like this! Rokko Oroshi is Gypsy Blood’s second and final album, and it’s a pity, because this is classic dust-under-the-wheels road music… roll the windows down, dude. (Or roll another number…) Other tracks are straight-up Deliverance-style hand-clappin’, fiddle-sawin’, mandolin-pickin’ jams—wild stuff.

I am only guessing, but they may have gotten their name from the raw solo guitar track of the same name, recorded by Jimi Hendrix in 1968.

Piano parts on this album performed by none other than Alan Merrill, frontman of the amazing Tokyo glam rockers Vodka Collins. Stay tuned for some of that too.

Grabbed this record at Japanese Old Prog.

Luxury — Stupidest Thing

from Stupidest Thing b/w What Kind of Question’s That? 7” (Angry Young Records, 1978)

Oh hell yeah. Raging power pop from Des Moines, Iowa’s Luxury, on their debut 7”. Cool fucking band name. Berserk guitar solos. Nice.

B-side is great too, and totally different. Go grab it at Tomorrow Belongs to You.

Weird Dreams — Holding Nails

from Holding Nails 7” (2011)

Another replay-worthy single from East London’s Weird Dreams.

previously heard

Weird Dreams — Hypnagogic Lullaby

from Hypnagogic Lullaby EP (2011)

East London’s Weird Dreams dropped this EP earlier this year on Sleep All Day Records, and it’s a gem. The songs, like this one, are beautiful glossy pop, swimming in a sea of guitars. They put out a sweet 7” single on Halloween… and have a debut LP in the works. Should be out around Feb 2012!

Catch them on soundcloud. Buy the EP digital here.

Bob Dylan — A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall

from Rolling Thunder Revue (1975)

Here’s Dylan performing the rock’n’roll version of Hard Rain in white-face, backed by one of the most epic bands ever assembled—Roger McGuinn, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, T-Bone Burnett and Mick Ronson on guitars, crazy-eyes-coke-addled Rob Stoner on bass, and Scarlet Rivera on violin. Not to mention Joan Baez on duets… a legendary tour.

(previously mentioned; the Bryan Ferry cover)

Fleetwood Mac — That’s All For Everyone

from Tusk (1979)

I know, I know, you’ve heard Fleetwood Mac… but how familiar are you with this amazing Lindsey Buckingham tune? I, for one, am now very familiar with it, after listening to it on repeat for ten or eleven rounds the other day. It’s that fucking good. As is the album—a classic worth revisiting.

Not a lot going on in the chord department, it’s what happens in between that counts. Buckingham’s plaintive humming, the toy xylophone mallet hits on the third and fourth beats, the soaking wet vocal reverb. It’s all there, perfectly produced.

Datahowler — Voltage

from Slowdrifter (2011)

This track’s so short it’s almost like a little business card that says “Datahowler: Synth Squealer, Chillwave Creator” but it’s the kind of business card you look at for a good bit and think “nice card” before shoving it in your pocket.

bandcamp

Mina — Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (1967)

Yeah, you’ve heard Nancy Sinatra’s version of ‘Bang Bang’ (actually Cher’s second single)…

But have you heard it sung by the pop goddess of The Boot, la voce every Italian knows, Mina? Rocking a silver Jetsons dress down a runway of slinky guitars?

Well then, you’re in for a treat…

BANG BANG! Io sparo a te… BANG BANG! Tu spari a me… BANG BANG! E vincerà… BANG BANG! Chi al cuore colpirà…

The Nuns — Savage

from Savage 7” (1978)

I won tickets on WFMU for the Alejandro Escovedo show over at Maxwell’s tonight. Hell yeah. So in that spirit, I’m holding my own giveaway—this great track from Escovedo’s first band The Nuns, which the concert will surely sound nothing like, but I happen to be digging lately.

Go grab a vinyl rip of this 7” at Killed By Death. The guitars are all switched to ‘slay’ mode, and how can you not love Jennifer Miro’s keys and vocals?

I have a pretty good recording of a live gig they played in 1977 at the Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco’s hip Filipino-restaurant-turned-punk-club in North Beach, during which they blast through nearly every original they have, and cover Iggy Pop’s ‘Gimme Danger.’ Stay tuned for that at some not-too-distant juncture.

The Nuns with Allen Ginsberg — via Radio Molotov

Ruido Rosa — Dentro (2011)

Zeppelin-style jams from Mexico City’s Ruido Rosa (Pink Noise). Not my usual listening, but if these girls come to New York City, sign me up. They are killing it. The meek need not apply.

Delicate Steve — Don’t Get Stuck (Proud Elephants)

from Wondervisions (2011)

Delicate Steve crosses the Hudson tonight, en route to the Bowery Ballroom with his entourage of Delicate Guitar(s) and what I presume to be several dozen Delicate Pedals, to play Delicate Anthems like this. (Also on the bill: Maps & Atlases and Gypsyblood) See you there?

listen also to: ‘Butterfly’

myspace // bandcamp

Patrick Vian — Sphère

from Bruits Et Temps Analogues (1976)

Well it’s been a long journey through India, ate about 101 curries, visited an impossibly hard-to-find goldmine of an LP shop in Old Delhi and picked up a bunch of cds as well, which I’ll be peppering the blog with now and then. But now I’m back in the city, back to my stereophonic subway trips and music devouring ways.

This track comes from French musician Patrick Vian’s 1976 record for the Egg label. It’s a swirling journey of ‘Marquee Moon’ guitars, chattering triangle, bells and marimba, and the blazing wonderful sounds of Vian’s ARP 2600—aka the Voice of R2-D2. Now you’re speaking my language…

Blue Phantom — Violence

from Distortions (1971)

Rarely does a song live up to its title so thoroughly as this cut by the raging Italian fuzz-prog group Blue Phantom. The brainchild of violinist, composer and orchestra leader Armando Sciascia, Blue Phantom (not to be confused with Phantom Blue) released only this extremely rare record on the Spider label.

Get fuzzed out over at FM SHADES.

Ali Kahn — Invisible Monsters (2010)

So I was peeking in a few tents over at Bandcamp yesterday and came across Ali Kahn, a Brentwood beat machine who’s been pumping out these filthy, filthy jams. What is all that noise? I don’t wanna know, but I like it.

bandcamp / myspace

Dumbo Gets Mad — Harmony

from Elephants at the Door (2011)

I fell in love with the trippy Italian group Dumbo Gets Mad back when the surfalicious slo-mo video for Plumy Tale made the blogrounds…maybe you did too. Now, with just enough time gone by to forget about ‘em, they’re back with a staggering masterpiece of an album, straight out of who-knows-what-provincia in Italy.

Rich, ethereal psych-rock landscapes littered with chunky synths, falsetto, electronic marimbas, jangly out-of-tune guitars, cheesy organs, basement drums and flying saucer fumes, each tune essentially a musical Where’s Waldo, with so many tracks it’d take Phil Spector or Brian Wilson to get to the bottom of it all.

You can get all this madness for free from the label, Bad Panda Records. Highly recommended for those who enjoy sippin’ on the Ariel Pink/MGMT koolaid. Definitely of the cult, and the caliber.