Ryley Walker and Daniel Bachman - Of Deathly Premonitions

These two guitar virtuosos have been crisscrossing the country all summer playing shows in every nook and cranny possible. Ryley Walker is one of the most talented guitar players I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. This music is right up the alley of John Fahey, Sandy Bull, and Leo Kottke. Recorded in a barn in Virginia, this album offers up incredible variations on acoustic fingerpicking in open tunings complimented by an esoteric electric guitar, and at times, an air organ. This has just the right amount of psychedelia spread over a thick foundation of "traditional" folk music. Serious talent here. Daniel Bachman also plays under the name Sacred Harp which is in a similar vein. You can order this tape and other Ryley Walker recordings from Plustapes. Listen to the premonitions.

Ross Goldstein-Trail Songs

This fantastic LP was also released on Specific Recordings along with the previously posted Frank Budgen. My friend Nick ordered the Frank Budgen LP and this one came with the order, free of charge. It was a quite a surprising listen and is some of the most uniquely composed pop music I've come across, hitting the red on the "weird" end of the pop spectrum. From last.fm:

About “Trail Songs” by Ross Goldstein.

“Trail Songs” is a psycho-linguistic roadtrip through the topography of American bubble gum music. Ross’ poetically counter-jingoistic lyrics serve as giant, colorful billboards on a highway of beautiful, infectious melodies.

About Ross Goldstein.

Ross Goldstein is an American Musician and Artist/Photographer. His “United States of Belt” recording project is a subliminal exploration of the American landscape/mindscape, combining field recordings, experimental music, and studio magic. Goldstein resides in Troy, NY where his collection of hand-painted signs play a vital role in keeping the public bewildered about what the hell is going on.

I wish I still had a scanner to post pictures of the inside gatefold artwork. It's basically the same picture as the Sgt. Pepper's gatefold with a load of tripped-out crazy-colorful collage work plastered all over the original picture.

Take the ride.

Frank Budgen-The Legend Of Frank Budgen: Vol. 1

Finally digitizing some vinyl. This is one of my favorite records that I own. I cannot write a better description that what is on the back of the record jacket. Read this now.

From a one page manifesto entitled "Moon Shine Man" written by Budgen contained in the booklet:

"I lit the fuse and ran, and those skeptics caught up quick. I don't know if they'll be with me next year but that's their prerogative. I been livin' on a mud puddle for a thousand years. I don't change. A snake does what a snake does and a shithouse dynamiter... ain't much different than a snake. He can slither and he can lay an ambush. If civilized America wants to stop this thing they've gotta stop ten million years. I don't think they've got the brass. And I'm here to say, some of us are always gonna blow up the shithouse, whatever it is. That's what we're here to do.

I've been in the desert all my life. The sun knows something and it sunk in to me. I ain't from Europe. I ain't from New York. I ain't even from New Mexico. I'm from the rocks. The sand. The sun. The moon. The hot springs. The world. The stars.

Not everyone around here has lost their sensibilities. Just most."

Try the mystics.

Buy the farm.

icarus syndrome-Trempeleau

I know this blog is getting to be a bit of an homage to all things Andy Herald, but hell, who's arguing with that? Anyways, this here is another topper on my all-time favorite albums list. If I recall correctly, I was handed this double CD-R on my first visit to the 7th Street Space in 2004. I had seen an early incarnation of the infamous Oracles (then under the guise of "The Icarus Syndrome Band" I think). I listened to the CD's all the way back to Chicago at a very early hour of the morning when I should not have been driving. "Wake Up" came through the speakers and I felt as if this album had been recorded specifically for my drive that evening/morning. I've probably listened to this album more times since then than any other that I own. It is completely and utterly timeless to me and is always something I come back to time and time again. It is a recording fit for all seasons. This album has been by my side through the hardest of times, break-ups, and bullshit as well the brightest and most memorable moments of love in my life. If icarus syndrome ever had a White Album, this would be it. I remember playing this a lot in a record store I worked at in Colorado some years ago. My manager described the sound of this album as the feeling one has when they're aware of being in between a deep dream and waking up, something he had always wanted to achieve in music.

Upon further research of the numerous incarnations of "Trempeleau," I realized this had been put out as a double CD (at least two different versions/track arrangements) as well as a condensed version on cassette. The more I conversed with others who had copies of Trempeleau, the more I came to know that there were also different versions of some of these songs that made it on some releases but not on others. I've collected here, to the best of my ability, the album in its original 2 disc format (as I received it in 2004, at least) as well as a handful of alternate takes/mixes of some of the tracks. This album is mixed so heavily around segues that on the more recent CD version I acquired, there were slight differences in the mixing and overlapping of said segues. I've only included 2 of these ("Do You Know" and "Oklahoma Kid") as most proved to be only slightly different. If any of you out there have other versions or takes of these tunes, let me know and I'll post them here. Due to the condition of the original CD's when they were finally ripped for the first time, they are some slight imperfections in a couple spots but nothing too major. Thanks to Bob Aspatore, Paul Kim, and Andy for helping nail down some of these songs. Outtakes.