WWW of Spin Turlock #20: Review: Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks - "Secret Land"

I've been a big fan of Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks (aka BCOOM) since I made my first "comeback" in the pro music writing sweepstakes back in '02. The descriptive words thrown around back then included "chill", "ambient", "minimal", & "electronica".
And while most of those words were true to some extent, they don't do justice to Anne Sulikowski & pals output.

Sulikowski is the primary person driving the BCOOM bus. Typically, she sets the listener up with these whirring, textured electro-acoustic mantras to lull you into a nice warm sonic saline bath, all the while adding subliminal effects to remind you all is not necessarily well in this pretty bathtub. On occasion, she has been known to sing soft-focus mantras with titles that could break your heart. That is, if you had one, Robot..

I think Bob Lanois said it best:

"She could scare Brian Eno"

Secret Place is the latest offering from BCOOM, and it's as good a place as any to start. Best to go direct for this one...

WWW of Spin Turlock #19: Old Friends

I recently received an early birthday present. Two presents, actually: a red Portuguese World Cup soccer t-shirt & a forwarded package from Corwood Industries.
Thanks Kwak!

It reminded me that I have to forward the Corwood Rep. my new snail mail address. In the meantime, if you see him before I do, could you forward the following message? Thanks pal!

Dear Corwood Representative,

Thank you so much for sending the latest Jandek release, Canticle of Castaway I see - and have heard - the three selections:
Don't Go Out, which clocks in at just over 29 minutes (it must be important...)
You Weren't, which falls short of seven minutes, (but is still important)
Boys Like Blue, which breaks the 17-minute barrier, has lines referring to multi-coloured money. and which rhymes with "they always do". And that's important, too.

I like it, but then, chocolate ice cream tends to taste the same both the first and the last time you eat it.
I see Mr Tisue's site hasn't been able to keep with you! I'm really interested in hearing how Toronto Sunday , your latest CD turned out. Call me a sentimental fool, but I was at that event and enjoyed myself immensely, if not Imants-ly. Gary Topp said I could've visited you backstage, but the car was waiting, and it wasn't me driving, honest.

I will send you a postcard with my new address here in Grande Prairie, AB. If you're up this way, drop me a line and we'll have a beer somewhere, k?

Still waiting for the House,I remain,

G-Mole

WWW of Spin Turlock #18: Cowboy Songs/ Summer, 1955

My uncle, "Bruzz" Bethel sent me these pages of a publication called Cowboy Songs,a C&W fan magazine.
Judging by the records and songs quoted, I'm guessing it was published in the late summer/early fall of 1955. You get articles, song lyrics, photo essays & pin-ups. The zine was published on 8.5 X 14" pages...as a result, the scans don't take in the whole page. Surely, though, you'll "get it".
Big thanks to my uncle.





Think of what came in the past year and compare it to this...



Webb Pierce, Pin-Up Star



Sing along with your favourite C&W songs!

WWW of Spin Turlock #17: Welcome to My World

The above photo was taken on a back road, a 25 minute drive from my home & it's the reason why we're here. Oil...to fuel your cars. Oil...to make shrink-wrap. Oil...to finance the purchases of the home entertainment devices I sell for a living.

Alberta is the Texas of Canada. Oil + Beef + extreme climate, but a) it's waaay colder here in the winter and b) Alberta was never, ever an independent Western country (unless you count First Nations entities).

And how far north are we?...

WWW of Spin Turlock #16: Grande Prairie Indie Scene Report

I recently discovered this item at the local Salvation Army. After inspecting the front and the back cover, I knew I had stumbled across, in the words of Jake Avery, a "rare, HARD TO FIND" recording and immediately purchased it for 80 cents.







I'm not sure when this recording was made, as there is no copyright information provided. Aside from the original instrumentals, the most recent cover is a version of the Kendalls "Heaven's Just A Sin Away", which hit the top of the country charts in October of 1977. Judging by the lead guitarist's receding hairline, I'm guessing this album was independently released a few years later, maybe in 1983, '84.
It's hard to tell, though, as the lay-out is primitive, even by 1977 pre-QuarkExpress standards.













On a postive note, the liner notes on the back are helpful. More independent artists should take a cue from the Rebels, and supply biographical information on their releases. Professional reviewers such as myself appreciate such details. I see that the album lives up to its title,as there are a VARIETY of styles covered on this disc, ranging from country to world music ("Caribbean") to surf rock (a cover of "Wipeout"!) Sound unheard, I'm willing to bet this is a four-star recording. These Rebels will not be forgotten!






P.S. I plan to borrow a piece of equipment and digitize these tracks, as I plan to share them with other music lovers around the world.
That's just the way I roll.

WWW of Spin Turlock #15: Acid Mothers OD/Assorted Guh

An update to issue #14: I dutifully listened to the following Acid Mothers Temple releases, all the way through, no skipping:

Tao Chant From the Cosmic Inferno (2005) ...yup, they do chant
Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs (2004)...nice Las Vegas rock vocal impersonation medley in there.
Acid Motherly Love (2007) a tad jayuzz-ish in places, as you would expect from the Zappa reference
Recurring Dream % Apocalypse of Darkness (2008)...extremely dense, heavy rock sound.

I can't do any more of these releases for a while. While I enjoy this kind of thing - and, no, I don't feel guilty at all - a change of pace is required. I have another 10 or so AMT titles to go through, but...later.

I was born in Brantford , Ontario and I was disappointed to hear that the local city council voted to tear down a stretch of pre-Confederation (i.e pre-1867)buildings on Colbourne Street. Very short-sighted thinking going on there, hope it's not contagious. Hamilton, ON, was guilty of similair cultural gaffes.
Here in Grande Prairie, the history span is somewhat shorter: a few setthttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giflers showed up in 1910, but most of the initial growth didn't happen until after the rail line was put in,a project which was apparently surveyed by my great-uncle before WW1 broke out. There's a couple of buildings pushing the centenary mark, but the majority of this town was built in the last 50 years. Compared to the Hammer, there is a lot of W-I-D-E space use, both for commercial and residential use. My neighbourhood, for instance has green belt alley ways built into it at regular intervals which you don't see that often in say, new developments back east. My work place is located in a big box store conglomerate that spreads over eight regular city blocks.

Something I noticed as well: when you get north of 55 degrees latitude NORTH, the days get longer during the summer. It's not the Land of the Midnight sun, per se, but sunrises at 5:20 p.m., and sunsets at 10:30 p.m. are not to be trifled with.

Oh yeah, and ZZ Top plays tonight in town 06/10/10

WWW of Spin Turlock #14: The Harvey Project cont.

It's 2:45 a.m. and I can't sleep.

Here is Round Two, the main thrust of which took place earlier on Friday evening.

Our main piece was a three-CD compilation of the various offshoots of Acid Mothers Temple. Harv sent me a half dozen titles of these mooks and since I have a psoft pspot for psych-rawk, I dutifully listened.

Lords of the Underground

played sometime on Thursday morning - Mantra two-chord hypno- riffing with enough sideral action to make it somewhat interesting...they have mod, free-jazz chops, but like to zone out on those mantras as well.

And both of those aspects would drive most of my sentient friends batty...but not me!
With the extensive catalogue, though, I have to wonder if they work a regular formula. We'll see. Or rather, hear




Do Whatever You want, Dont Do Whatever you want (2002)

5/28/10 7:55 p.m. 1. PINK LADY LEMONADE (YOU'RE SO SWEET) / Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. *

Well. they did their mantra thing. but then they broke out the pneumatic drills and guitar skree. And you KNOW I'a sucker for that kind of action, right? Exactly. The neighbours are moving around upstairs. Dedicated to Colin @ Creatve Radio.

Nice steady low hz hum...like, your speaker isn't grounded anymore, Derwood HAHAHAHAHA

8:03 There! There's that two chord mantra thing...it reappeared

8:37
disc-2

1. SHIZUKU NO YOUNI / Floating Flower
2. SO FAR AWAY / Maquiladora
3. Bésamé La Mucho / Zoffy
4. DISCO, SPACE, BABY / Kido Natsuki
5. MON LION / Fursaxa
6. GANDAKI WARI G.P. / Gopal with Tsuyama Atsushi
7. GALACTIC BOMBER (ROLL OVER CAPTAIN ULTRA!) / Cosmic Riders*
8. PARDON MONSIEUR (smash hits mix) /Pardons**
9. LE LAPIN / Frédérick
10. HELLO BABY / The Wild Riders*
11. LOVE POTION 26 / Magic Aum Gigi*
12. NO MORE RED NIGHTMARE / Tsuyama Atsushi*¡¡
13. BLUES FOR MRS. TRIPLE H / Alien Social Dance Party*
14. WHITE ROOM / Zoffy
15. VALLEY OF THE WIND / Nipponianippon
16. BRAHMAGNPATIRANA (early mix) / Seikazoku*
17. UNTITLED (vanishing version) / Father Moo & The Black Sheep*
18. CAMBOUS / Ueh*

After a short pause Vol. 2...the various spin-offs: forged psych-ethnicity vis a vis the Indian subcontinent, then the POP version of the group.

8:45 More forged ethnicity. Faux Eurasian steppe, I'm guessing. Nice

8:48 Cue Ping Romany on synth Triangle! Is that Keith Emerson from the Nice on church organ? Maybe I just dreamed it

Ach! I hear Krautrock references. [Editor's note: This makes sense in light of this

8:51 interpreting the mid riff of Led Zeppelin's, Whole Lotta Love??!!

8:57 In which Sebadoh performs your favourite Traditional Japanese folk melodies! Just for you

8:59 The real folk blues! Keyboardist Cotton Casino: good handle. I'd buy titles on the name alone..

9:02 Creepy voices and these people must know of Imants Krumins
http://www.acidmothers.com/Cgi-bin/album/nihilist/nihilist_abba/index.html

disc-3

1. CONCURRENCE / Kawabata Makoto & Miyamoto Naoaki*
2. WHITE FLOWERS ON THE HILLTOP / Shogo-nari with Kawabata Makoto*
3. PLANET OF SOMNOLENCE / Space Machine with Kawabata Makoto*
4. UCHU (comet comforter mix)/ Uchu**
5. DOHKOKU / Tsurubami*
6. THIRD EYE OF THE WHOLE WORLD (long version) / Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
7. I WANT YOU TO KISS ME AGAIN / Kawabata Makoto*

At this point, my notes drift off into delirious rantings..basically, these are more rock/improv combos/projects. White Flowers is a folk idiom based thing.




The remainder of the evening was spent wallowing in the early releases of Klaus Schulze, specifically 1974's Blackdance and it's follow-up 1975's Picture Music. Totally electronic , these things anticipated techno, but with more developed arrangements ...and without the duh-hey click tracks that drive me batty. Actually , it reminds me of Hypnotech 3 before they adopted those batty click-tracks> ..what the kids call "chill-out" music. More information on Schulze can be found here.