Ghost Box Orchestra (2013) -Vanished

Artist: Ghost Box Orchestra

Albums: Vanished

Release date:  2013

Quality:  mp3 CBR 320  

Size:  134 MB

“… Vanished is ostensibly a psych record, as much as TOLO is, but both have a more artful approach that makes them as progressive in that field as it does hard-hitting and elevating. Some of Vanished veers into more outright space rock–the hyperdrive screw of Into the Light a shining example–while keeping a backbone of rhythm that runs right through the heart of Vanished. A tribal, marching thump encouraged by mostly wordless vocals/chants infuses Vanished with a mystical, sweeping vibe that borders on exotic and gives the album an epic feel. It’s a big record … packed and solid, but GBO have enough twisty dynamics and detours that come in and out–some forcefully, others that shimmer and snake in–that there’s plenty of room to breathe.” READ FULL REVIEW by mr. atavist

Various Artists (2009) -Hiram and Huddie Vol.1 & Vol.2

Artist:  various
Albums:  Hiram and Huddie
Release date: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 134 MB  

“This isn’t the typical throw-away compilation you’ll find in the two-dollar bins of your local CD outlet. Four years in the making, this Hillgrass Bluebilly recording brings together some of the best young talent to pay homage to the masters Hank Williams Sr. and Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter. The Hiram and Huddie double tribute CD brings true authenticity, while feeling like a trip down memory lane via a Twilight Zone episode of Hee Haw! The vast archives of Hank and Huddie have provided some scratchy vinyl stimulus to these bluebilly/punkabilly/psychobilly musicians who seem hell-bent on raising those legendary spirits from the ground and giving us renewed faith in real American music. You may have to go to a back-alley club, vintage hot-rod meet, or some other nostalgia event to hear them, but that’s where you’ll find these bands that are so heavily influenced by great American traditional music.”  READ FULL REVIEW by Elliott Morehardt

TRACK OF THE DAY - Los Destellos

WIKI

Pig Fat Pigs (1997) -Jabberwocky

Artist: Pig Fat Pigs

Albums: Jabber Wocky

Release date:  1997

Quality: m4a ~270  

Size:  88 MB

“I found this beauty in the treasure trove of weird and rare records that is Forever Records. Besides the great band name what caught my eye about this record was a blurb that said something about "punkish lounge music" and a reference to the Lounge Lizards. I inquired further with Taro the owner of Forever Records and Osaka's No.1 source on obscure music and he described it as "junk jazz" and name dropped Tom Waits which was enough to make me drop some cash on this mysterious find.

 Turns out my intuition payed dividends. Unfortunatley despite scowering the net I've managed to turn up almost no information on the band so all I've got to go on are the scraps of info contained in the liner notes. The band were (are...?) a Kyoto 5 piece (guit, bass, drums, organ, sax) who as was promised play some excellent Tom Waits-esque Junk Jazz. It seems most of the songs were composed by bassist Shimizu Kosuke (Who now plays in accordion/contrabass duo Milk!Mama who are also well worth checking out.) while the lyrics and vocals are handled by Shiraishi Takahide. The vocals are mostly sung in a gravely, jibberish approximation of what I asume is supposed to sound like English with occasional sentences and phrases emerging from the cacophony of harsh, slightly off-tune and out of time guitars, sax and clinking-clanking junkyard percussion. "Life's too short to fuck your mom" is one that springs out from the opening track "Bore Bore" a twisted, elephant man like bastardisation of the Pink Panther theme. It's the exact sort of thing I can imagine Tom Waits sitting around tapping his crusty, yellow tabacco stained toes to while sipping on a bottle of illuminous green moonshine. You would be advised to do likewise.” © Begone Dull Care!

GREAT THANX to Capuchin, who found and shared this awesome record!

TRACK OF THE DAY - Dengue Fever

WEBSITE

 MYSPACE

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion (2012) -The Best

 

Artist:  The Hillbilly Moon Explosion

Album: The Best

Release date:  2012

Quality:  mp3 CBR 320

Size:  120 MB

Verma (2013) -Coltan

Artist:  Verma
Albums:  Coltan
Release date: 2013
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 93 MB  

“‘Coltan’ (short for Columbite-Tantalite) is a dull, black, metallic ore used in the manufacture of tantalum capacitors, which you’ll nd in just about EVERY electronic device & the mining of which has caused a “resource curse” in The Congo. “Coltan” perfectly captures the intensity & desperation of the situation in the four extended improvisations, which take the listener on a hazy, sun-baked journey from the mellow shadows of opening track ‘Tantalite’ all the way to the synth-drenched buzz of closer ‘Wolframite’. “Coltan” veers slightly from Verma’s previous efforts, the band’s motorik krautrock drive has been tamed in favour of more atmospheric & abstract soundscapes.”© Trouble In Mind

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (2013) -Diamond In Your Heart

 

Artist:  Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

Album: Diamond In Your Heart

Release date:  2013

Quality:  mp3 CBR 320

Size:  82 MB

“Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ Tōkyō Suka Paradaisu Ōkesutora?), commonly abbreviated by fans as Skapara or TSPO, is a Japanese ska and jazz band officially formed in 1988 by the percussionist Asa-Chang, and initially composed of over 10 veterans of Tokyo's underground scene. At the time, the band's sound was unlike that of any of its contemporaries in the then fledgling Japanese ska scene, and over the course of the past 21 years, their innovation has proved to have been very influential on Japanese music as a whole. Its sound, the product of the musical influences of its numerous members, is an eclectic mix of traditional ska, jazz, and rock. In the vein of many other more traditional ska acts, many of Skapara's songs are purely instrumental. Since its inception, the band has gone on several nationwide tours of Japan, and have toured extensively worldwide. They have collaborated with several vocalists outside of their band, including Shiina Ringo, Akira Kobayashi, Kyōko Koizumi, Schadaraparr, PUFFY, Yoshie Nakano and Tamio Okuda. They also performed the Japanese theme song to the PlayStation 2 game Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, entitled Black Jack."© wiki

Various Artists (2012) -Trash Blues – Old School Sudamericass Monobandas

Artist: various

Albums: Trash Blues – Old School Sudamericass Monobandas

Release date:  2012

Quality: mp3 CBR 128 (cassette rip)

Size:  28 MB

 Great compilation of one man bands from Chile, Argentina, Brasil and Uruguay  

Thanks to Musica Inclasificable

 

The Pignose Willy's (2013) -Who Do You Love

 

Artist:  The Pignose Willy's

Album: Who Do You Love

Release date:  2013

Quality:  mp3 CBR 320

Size:  69 MB

Wall Of Death (2013) -Main Obsession

Artist:  Wall Of Death
Albums:  Main Obsession
Release date: 2013
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 120 MB

”At long last, Parisian trio Wall of Death will release their debut LP Main Obsession on June 11th, Main Obsession was produced and mastered by Brett Orrison, and featuring guest spots from The Black Angels' Christian Bland and Alex Maas. The band just finished a North American tour with The Black Angels, which kicked off with a performance at Austin Psych Fest 2013. With roots extending from America to old-world European culture, Wall of Death creates a sound that is powerful, heavy, haunting and visionary." @ soundcloud.com

TRACK OF THE DAY - Secret Service

VA (2010) -Slap That Bass! The Story Of Finnish Rockabilly & 50's Style Rock'n'Roll 1979-2009

Artist: various

Albums: Slap That Bass! The Story Of Finnish Rockabilly & 50's Style Rock'n'Roll 1979-2009

Release date:  2010

Quality: mp3 VBR

Size:  188 + 195 MB

Vibravoid (2013) -Delirio Dei Sensi

Artist:  Vibravoid
Album:  Delirio Dei Sensi
Release date: 2013
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 140 MB  

“Vibravoid is one of those bands that give off a quite distinct vibe when listening to them. Throughout their latest album “Delirio Dei Sensi” I caught the vibe of a band trying to embrace the vast heritage of prog-rock and psychedelia while trying to compress it into the form of yet another studio album. While both being spaced out and incredibly focused, Vibravoid is one of those bands that I can’t quite decide where to put in my little categorization boxes – and 
as such, let’s just stick to the tunes they produce as they are of far greater importance here. Let’s start with the slightly quirky opening track that is a rendition of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Poupée De Cire”. The track is mainly driven by the organ/synth sounds and the hazy slightly stoned-sounding vocals. This upbeat track greatly reminds me of the Danish folk-psych band Elevatorfører because of the similarly upbeat and ‘happy-go-lucky’ approach to the psyche genre. As the album progresses, so does the runtime of the tracks as we reach the longest running track “The Golden Escalator” which clocks in at just about 13 minutes. This psychedelic journey, dominated by tremolo guitar, ping-ponging echoes, what seems to be a sitar and a vast array of other psychedelic musical textures, is like a small journey through an eastern part of your minds darkest depths. The journey is long and confusing, but in the end you feel satisfied and, well, mentally exhausted. But the journey doesn’t end there as the album once again picks up the pace for the last tracks of the album. The eastern influence continues on “Nearby Shiras” which rings with a familiar sound as the quiet whispers echo through my speakers to the sound of drumming and sounds vastly reminiscent to Pink Floyd’s “Set The Controls Heart For The Heart Of The Sun”. As the track evolves into an organ based jam filled with the banging of gongs and echoing sounds I am once again being reminded of the similarities between this track and the early 70’s version of Pink Floyd, prior to the Dark Side of the Moon. – Which really isn’t a bad thing; to be exact it’s actually just the kind of thing that I dig the most about albums like this. So, while Vibravoid actually never manages to reinvent music as we know it, they have created a masterful piece of progressive psych reminiscent of the greats in the genre, and I am happy about the fact that I actually took the time necessary to acquire this album. Vibravoid just got themselves a new fan, I can tell you that much.” ~ © BV @ ROCKFREAKS.NET

Jacco Gardner (2013) -Cabinet of Curiosities

Artist: Jacco Gardner

Albums: Cabinet of Curiosities

Release date:  2013

Quality: mp3 CBR 320

Size:  110 MB

”Jacco Gardner's debut album, Cabinet of Curiosities, is an impressive re-creation of late-'60s pop psych, especially coming from someone who's only in his mid-twenties. The Dutch studio wiz plays everything but the drums, and his music is full of harpsichords, organs, flutes, and Mellotron, taking in elements of the Left Banke, Sagittarius, the Zombies, and a thousand oddly named bands with at least one guy sporting a frilly mustache. The first track alone is like an encyclopedia entry for the sound -- "Clear the Air" is a frilly trifle with swooning Mellotrons, twinkling harpsichords, lyrics that take in ecological distress, war, and trippy dislocation, swirling background vocals, and minor-key melancholy. For extra psych points, Gardner uses the trick of singing in a deep, stilted voice in the chorus just like the Strawberry Alarm Clock might. The rest of the album follows suit with Gardner crafting pristine versions of gently pastoral psych that lend themselves to a healthy round of "spot the influence," but have enough of his own vision involved to turn out to be more than just pale imitations of a bygone era. The songs are more like Left Banke album tracks or cuts buried deep on a later volume of Rubble: they have the sound down perfectly and are mysteriously intriguing, but lack the hooks necessary to make the them stand out the way "Pretty Ballerina" or "She's Not There" do. That's a pretty tall order, though, and it's no mark of failure to say that Gardner isn't writing hits that will linger in brains and ring up sales. It's enough that he's made an album that sounds so good and authentically psych-like, and one that wraps the listener up in a warm embrace of misty melodies and cobwebbed arrangements. Play Cabinet of Curiosities back to back with a Nirvana (the paisley-clad U.K. version, of course) album and it will sound just right. That seems to be what Gardner is aiming for, and he succeeds. All he needs now is a mustache to go with the top hat he sports in the fuzzy photo that adorns the inside of the album." ~ by Tim Sendra @ allmusic.com

                                                                          

Various Artists (2007/2013) -MOJO Presents: Heavy Nuggets Vol. 1 & 2

Artist: various

Albums: MOJO presents: Heavy Nuggets Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

Release date:  2007 / 2013

Quality: mp3 CBR 320

Size:  155 / 175 MB

A great compilations of lost and well-known heavy psych bands from 60s-70s presented by MOJO Magazine. Enjoy!  

                                                                          

TRACK OF THE DAY - Taivalkunta Beat

Various Artists (2005/2011) - Bosporous Bridges Vol.1 & 2

Artist: various

Albums: Bosporous Bridges Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 – A Wide Selection Of Turkish Jazz And Funk 1969-1978

Release date:  2005 / 2011

Quality: mp3 CBR 320 / VBR

Size:  99 /69 MB

”I don’t know all that much about Turkish jazz-funk music, but the good thing about an album like this is that you don’t really need to know the stories behind the (in this case proggy-soul) bands before they went a whole different direction, broke up, or descended into relative obscurity. The songs stand on their own without context. Or maybe the lack of context just makes the whole listening experience better, by casting that sense of mystery and myth that eludes some bands you already “know.” ~ read full review @ tinymixtapes

                                                                          

Ceramic Dog (2013) -Your Turn

Artist:  Ceramic Dog
Album: Your Turn
Release date: April 30, 2013
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 118MB

”Second records are a bitch (or, if “bitch” is too offensive, “notoriously hard to nail down,” No? We thought about this one for 2 years - and even tried to make it a few times. Finally we got it right - meaning, we got it to sound wrong exactly like us.If you listen closely, you can hear the rage, hope, disappointment, ritual excess, love and anarchy that were in our personal and collective airspace during those years. There were (and - we hope - will continue to be) several kinds of riots going on (“Lies My Body Told Me,” “Bread and Roses”). And yes, the CD is “political,” (see “Avanti Popolo,” “Ain't Gonna Let Them Turn Me ‘Round”). But what fun is raging against the machine if you can't also rage against the bar line and the tonal system (“Take Five,” “Ritual Slaughter” “Your Turn”)? The astute listener will note our wry comment on the contradictions of producing a recording during the collapse of the industry which once paid for recordings to be produced ("We Are the Professionals,” “Masters of the Internet” and the attached manifesto). The very astute listener with really expensive headphones may hear the water pipes in the basement on Rivington and Allen where we recorded about half the tracks (the guitar amp isolation booth looked a lot like a bathroom). Those searching for rigorously applied formal constraints may have to wait. Ceramic Dogs just wanna have fun.” ~ ~ Marc Ribot

TRACK OF THE DAY - Guadalupe Plata

MYSPACE
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