-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Voyagers! With a mere week to go in our (Northern Hemisphere) Summer the timing is right for this week's Pick: Wooden Shjips release (unleash?) West today, on Thrill Jockey!




" West marks the first time the band recorded in a proper studio, as well as the first time with an engineer (Phil Manley). All previous recordings, either self-released, for Holy Mountain, or Mexican Summer were done more piecemeal in the band’s rehearsal studio. West was recorded and mixed in six days at Lucky Cat Studios in San Francisco. It was mastered by Sonic Boom at Blanker Unisinn, Brooklyn, with additional mastering by Heba Kadry at the Lodge in New York...

While indebted to both the psych music of the ‘60s and mid-‘70s, electric Neil Young, and even the induced travels of Spacemen 3, the Wooden Shjips’ music is modern and in every way their own. West is an epic journey to the edge and beyond. "
(from Thrill Jockey)



A slow-burning, smoke-filled album sure to make a LOT of Top Ten Lists for the year.

You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

Stuff n' sundry

Scouring the interwebs for stuff n' sundry. Found these items of possible interest to you:

1 - You may or may not be aware over this past weekend our great friends, Asteroid #4 played some shows with Peter Daltrey of Kaleidoscope/Fairfield Parlour fame. The bigger news is they're also working on a collaborative album all put in motion by yet another great friend, Damien Youth. This should be huge!

More here.

2 - Jared Artaud, of The Vacant Lots, asked me to let those of you on the US West Coast know they'll be in your neighborhoods, soon:

" Mexican Summer artists The Vacant Lots are set to make their first trip to the West Coast for a run of Fall dates September 20th - 27th. The label released their first official single 'Confusion/ Cadillac’ earlier this year and since then the band have been touring the East Coast and playing festivals.

Hailing from the wooded confines of Burlington, Vermont, the Vacant Lots are musicians as well as scientists, having built a time machine that will transport your headspace directly to the Sunset Strip in 1967."

The Vacant Lots are influenced by groups such as Bo Diddley, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and Spacemen 3 and have developed their own sound , combining minimal drumming, hypnotic guitar riffs, electronic drone, poetry-driven lyrics, and live film projections.

Recently, the two-piece have been getting good reviews off the back of their single release including a Pitchfork debut of the video for their song ‘Cadillac’. They have previously toured with Sonic Boom’s Spectrum and this year played a number of East Coast US dates, SXSW, Austin Psych Fest 4, and supported Dean & Britta (Galaxie 500) in Brooklyn. They are in the process of recording new material and expect to have a second single out soon to be followed by a first official album release.

TOUR DATES

September

20 The Echo, LA with (Tomorrow’s Tulips, Exitmusic, C-Horse)
21 Tin Can, San Diego with (Tomorrow’s Tulips, Trap Gold)
23 Bottom of The Hill, San Francisco with (Man/Miracle, Hiking)
24 Crepe Place, Santa Cruz with (Tomorrow’s Tulips, Cataldo)
26 Mississippi Studios. Portland with (Tomorrow’s Tulips, The Shivas)
27 The Comet, Seattle with (Tomorrow’s Tulips, The Blinding Light)

3 - As my friend José Miguel Segarra , in Spain, has alerted me, it seems as though Sidonie are going back to their psychedelic sounds!
In Spanish, here.

4 - In case you missed it, Olivia Tremor Control have just released a new single as a precursor to what looks to be a new album release slated for early next year! The track and an interview, here.

OK. That'll do it. Back tomorrow with the Pick of the Week!

-valis Pick of the Week,

Hail Voyagers! New week, new Pick! This week's band hail from Dover, New Hampshire:
MMOSS! Consisting of Doug, Justin, Brian & Rachel, they've released their new album "i" on Burger Records!

Get yourself a copy and TRIP Inside your own house!



You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

Better late than never at all might hold true on this week's Pick. (There's indications this EP came out as early as last June! Late indeed.)

Thee Piatcions are a 4-piece from Domodossola, Italy. There's a great mini-interview on the genesis and backstory of the title track of their EP by Chris DeLine, from last November, on Culture Bully.

You can download the Time EP free here. I recommend. Thee Piatcions are:
Frankie Woodson - Guitar & Vocals
Dave Cocks - Bass
Skaio - Keyboards & Vocals
Carellino - Drums





You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

Hail Hallucinauts! Happy Spring as well for all in the Northern Hemisphere.

Our Pick, this week, hails from Nashville, Tennessee: The Paperhead!

Their debut album from Trouble In Mind Records just dropped today and we're all better for it, too. Here's what Trouble In Mind have to say:

" Upon your first listen to this record you may think that you’ve stumbled onto some lost nugget from 1968. The Paperhead take their name from a lyric in July’s golden-age psychedelic single “My Clown” and while the record may have a vintage sound, it’s mind boggling to learn that it was written and recorded in the summer of 2010 by three 18 year old kids from Nashville, Tennessee. Neo-psych fans may hear a more ambitious ‘White Fence’ or a poppier ‘Spacemen 3’ while more classic minded listeners may recall ‘The Pretty Things', their namesake ‘July’ or post-LSD ‘Beatles’.

Before they all went their separate ways to start college Ryan Jennings and his closest childhood friends Walker Mimms and Peter Stringer-Hye holed up to record an album that combines all the orchestrated pop layers, eastern influence and groovy instrumentals of a classic British Psych record. With Cheap Time’s Jeffrey Novak as producer & “spritual advisor” these guy’s technical and songwriting abilities far outreach their young age, while still maintaining a sense of wonder about the world and a dash of charming naivete.

RIYL: White Fence, Black Angels, Pink Floyd, J.K. & Co, Kaleidoscope (U.K.)"





You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

* PodOMatic's server is down; I'll try and have a track up in the next 24 hours.

-valis Pick of the Week

A day late, but far far better than never at all! From Switzerland comes our Pick of the Week in the form of Navel! Their new album, Neo Noir, is out on Noisolution Records. Hot stuff, too. Check below...



You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

Creeping ever onward, closer and closer to the Equinox. The promise of more Sun, more green, more life, more spiders..! Yes, more spiders, as in Denton, Texas' Mind Spiders. Their debut album, self-titled, just came out in January on Dirtnap Records. (Available via Green Noise Records.)

Full of psych' and swagger. Hail the future!



You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

Fresh new discoveries happening ALL the time! Today's band hails from Reykjavík, Iceland: The Dandelion Seeds , featuring Jimbo - Guitar, Axel - Guitar/vocals, Víðir - Organ/vocals/sitar, Einar - Bass, Helgi - Drums.

Their EP, Good Times With The Dandelion Seeds, was let loose on the world last month and we're looking for more from them in 2011!



You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday, on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

"Better late than never" is the mantra I've repeated daily, several times a day, since I first heard our new Pick of the Week. (Quite a lot of mumbling and self-flagellation, too, for being so slow to get to them.) Anyway, it's Seattle's own The Purrs! Brilliant band, brilliantly rendered tracks, and fully realized albums. All of 'em.



Their latest, the above-pictured Tearing Down Paisley Garden, from 2010 is hard to move on from, meaning: once you start it's hard to move on to something else. Same goes for the 2009 release, Amused, Confused & More Bad News!

Here's the Blurt review of Tearing Down Paisley Garden:

" Seattle's Purrs well remember the Paisley Underground, not to mention the British psychedelic pop explosion. If that makes the band sound like it's stuck in the ‘80s underground, well, so what? Tearing Down Paisley Garden makes it clear the quartet has a thorough and loving understanding of acid guitar pop, not to mention the chops to pull it off. Between smart covers of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's "Only Dreaming" and Lee Hazelwood's "I Move Around" and stylish originals like "Always Something in My Way" and "Just a Little More," the Purrs handily demonstrate that they know just what to do with a dreamy melody, a languid tempo and a psilocybin haze. Tearing Down Paisley Garden isn't so much retro as timeless. "

(Mmmm, "psilocybin haze" has me caught in a feedback loop.)



You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday,on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.

-valis Pick of the Week

Back to it! This week's Pick is those wildly psychedelic Strange Ones known as The Lumerians, from San Francisco. (Now it all makes sense, eh?)

We chose a track from their 7", released last year on Rococo Records, "Chevaux Fous," as our Pick, solely due to the fact we couldn't get the video they did out of our head! See for yourself and behold the insanity:

Chevaux Fous from m m on Vimeo.

The Lumerians unleash a new album on us three weeks from today, March 1st, on Knitting Factory Records, titled Transmalinnia!


You can listen to the archived stream here; or, hear it this Friday,on The Dead Man's Turn Me On, Dead Man show on Live365, where it's heard every Friday at noon eastern time, as well as Mr. Atavist's Sunrise Ocean Bender show, heard every Friday from 3 to 6am eastern, on WRIR in Richmond, VA.