The esteemed valis has corralled the end of the year round up and I’m honored to throw out, and possibly up, my 2¢. In no particular order or ranking…it’s hard enough as it is to have to draw the line, and considering the wealth of goods that flew through the doors, hard enough to keep that line stationary. Rampantly subjective and vigorously incomplete to say the least…
valis’ Brain Buzzinn’ Best of 2011
The Lumerians :: Transmilinnia
An outstanding psych rock record from start to finish from Oakland’s Lumerians. From pulsing to droning to throbbing to rocking and, at times, psych funky…a psych-rock record that moves across all kinds of territory without ever devolving into a trite genre-excercise. From the album art to the outfits to the wholesome and nutritious psych goodness inside the grooves, Transmilinnia is going to top a lot lists at the end of 2011′s run. Bet on it. They handle everything so sublimely that by the time the phantasmagoria comes to a close you’ll forget just how much you took in; Atlanta Brook‘s quiet interlude, the epic Longwave, the bouncing Black Tusk, etc, etc … this one really does have it all.
A man far wiser than me described it as such: ‘Take a big helping of early Floyd, a dash of Tadpoles, a half-pound of primo bud and shake vigorously ….’
The Red Plastic Buddha :: All Out Revolution
All Out Revolution is a whip-smart slab of psych rock and pop that would roll off your speakers’ tongue if they had one. Maybe they do; anything is possible. But if you’re not ready for a little tongue just yet, then at least get a big, warm kiss from the Buddha…a wonderful gem of a record that has been likened to the Zombies, Love, our beloved Syd Barrett, and the heyday of garage and psych pop. Moving through harder edged rockers (Soldier Boy) and melodic psych washed power pop (Daisy Love), All Out Revolution is packed start to finish with a crisp production that plays to all their strengths, consistency and songwriting savvy.
The Luck of Eden Hall :: The Butterfly Revolutions, Vol. 1 & 2
I got to lump these two together…This is what ‘pop’ music should be: honeyed, thick, creamy and packing stones. Everyone who should know, knows pop disintegrated into empty calorie pabulum a long, long time ago and I for one need nourishment from my food. Butterfly Revolutions Vol. 1 and 2 prove that you can not only have your cake (with lots of frosting) and eat it too, but that you can get more than a cheap sugar rush out of it to keep going. I’m a firm believer that cream doesn’t rise to the top; shit floats. I’m happy to say that LOEH prove me wrong. Twice. Vol. 2 is as top shelf as Vol. , with a tinge more melancholy. Concept record? I’ll ask them, but it doesn’t matter. A whopping helping of dual-layer psych pop/rock cake with just the right amount of sonic frosting.
Hills :: Master Sleeps
Hills follow-up their debut Hills with the outstanding Master Sleeps picking up right where they left off and going exactly where you wanted them to. It’s a stellar follow-up that in no way diminishes the excitement of their first. Hills simply deliver again on the manifesto of foundation, showing what that foundation is made of and not getting showy or bloated. If anything, Hills knows how to use moderation like an instrument. Like a hill, or mountain, at their core, they simply are. And that’s more than enough…The earthy and intergalactic Master Sleeps is the sophomore platter minus all the slump. A slump is downward bound and this one is anything but. It heads out into multiple spaces with long ropy roots that obviously show no signs of snapping. Master Sleeps is a hefty being that knows that its presence alone is a big enough calling card.
Cranium Pie :: Mechanisms (part 1)
A veritable all-you-can-eat cornucopia of psychedelia saturated in a long tradition of pioneer freaks like Hawkwind, Floyd, Arthur Brown,…but sits with modern fractured like-minded outfits like equally, though differently, deranged Human Eye. There’s some mutated crustacean post-apocalyptic mechanized concept running through it, but the less said the better. Figure it out on your own. Or don’t. Maybe we can’t know it that intimately. Might not want to. All valid ways to enjoy their modern nostalgia tinged insanity. And there are many more ways and trips to take on this wigged out masterpiece as we wait for part 2 to materialize, probably out of a writhing mass of who knows what. It’s a constant stream churning over and over; oscillating, trippy instrumentation, baked distorted vocals and spoken breaks, levitating keys, and just about everything else you could want for your freak out…They really do make them like they used to.
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The six original pieces contained on the album (whose titles are lovingly
misappropriated from those of short stories by the late, great science fiction author James Tiptree Jr
AKA Alice B. Sheldon,) are based alternately around nylon-string classical guitar and grand piano, with
spare and subtle vibraphone and B3 organ parts overdubbed by Blackshaw himself. Geneviève Beaulieu
(Menace Ruine/Preterite) adds her stunning and powerful voice and words to track ‘And I Have Come Upon
This Place By Lost Ways’. ‘Love Is The Plan’ is an incredibly warm and intimate recording and perhaps
Blackshaw’s most concise, consistent and overtly melodic to date.
The two major focal points in the creation of composer Duane Pitre’s Feel Free, his new work for a unique sextet combination, were rhythm and melody. An open yet orderly system intended to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and melody was carefully created for this piece, allowing the sextet musicians to approach these factors in a freer manner. This ‘musical system,’ combined with the fixed elements of the composition, in turn, spawned a rich foundation of harmony & rhythm that sounds and feels exotic and new.
Bicycle Jam—Trojan Horse—
Zomes’ (Asa Osborne of Lungfish) second, Improvisations, is a repetitive, slow bed of washes that, though good and well done, is sort of slight. Or will be to some. Originally recorded on cassette, Improvisations doesn’t have much in the way of conventional song structures, but that’s obviously not the target. More focused on tonal and cyclical swells that drone in and out of vague and shifting edges, it takes some engagement to get the most out of it. Probably nothing more than light background noodling to some, it still has thought and purpose behind it and isn’t a headless free for all.
Nice droning, spacey soundscapes that, as expansive as they are, don’t drag on until they go nowhere. There’s some processed vocals in a few places, but it’s instrumental for the most part. Manipulated and manufactured on Urick’s laptop, it waffles between being somewhat eerie, slightly exotic in some spots, and pretty cosmic throughout with lots of details to get into, or enjoy as they float by. It’s spacey and full of sonic washes, but also has a contrasting and complimenting rhythmic underbelly to give you something to hold onto if you need it, and also keeps the whole thing warm. Urick “strives to bridge the gap between the familiar and the unfamiliar” and that’s what he does on I Love You; there’s a good sense of moderation and control throughout that might make this pretty approachable for people not usually into this kind of work. (Photo by Josh Sisk)
It’s hard not to distance yourself from Jim Jarmusch’s other work when taking in Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity. It’s not that he dominates or overshadows lutenist Van Wissem (this is very much a collaboration), it’s the urge to call it a ‘soundtrack,’ or say it carries that aura. It does, but much further out making that comparison tenuous, thin and baggage. Cinematic is more appropriate. Though it’s just the two, they exist here in a widescreen and wide open vista. Though it’s an instrumental platter save for a brief recitation at the end of He Is Hanging By His Shiny Arms, His Heart An Open Wound With Love, each song has an emotional resonance that you can identify with, and personalize. Put that in with the stripped down music that occupies this big space, and some sort of nebulous narrative begins make a presence. Not necessarily linear, and having a conclusion over an ending, it’s at least something alive. And going through something. As opener Apokatastasis (Restoration) eases in, it lets us know we’re going to be active participants if we’re going to get the most out of it. The title cuts adds some melancholy upbeat sparkle that changes the mood gently, before the inevitable and necessary flip-side of the coin Continuation Of The Last Judgement opens up with its own emotional and heavy resonance. The Sun of the Natural World is Pure Fire lives up to its name with a teetering burnt guitar scorch that is both mournful and bellowing. Where the first few reserved cuts are more introspective, this one here is the externalized heat of keeping it in. In contrast is Van Wissem adding an understanding and certain wisdom to the outbursts that make it seem both like an enraged infant and someone who’s been around long enough to have been put through the ringer a few times. That more contemplative, wiser touch turns into a full vibe with the appropriately titled He Is Hanging By His Shiny Arms, His Heart An Open Wound With Love.
With all the cuts released earlier on vinyl between 2007-09 and now out of print, Nadja’s (Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff ) Excision works not only as a more available outlet for these cuts, but as a great 2 disc set on its own. Everything holds and bleeds together without sounding like a cobbled together set of previous releases. Excision is, as you’d expect, hefty and expansive, covering lots of ground and creating a dense atmosphere full of rolling detail and texture that despite its size is never oppressive or insular. Blurring the lines between doom and ambient, Nadja slow cook a sound that is both heavy and surprisingly afloat, made obvious by how comfortable a collection of earlier releases all blend together to make their own statement. Their gradual climbs and controlled releases ebb and flow from cut to cut filling Excision with slow dynamics without stripping away the emotional punch of each one. It would be easy for all this to become just a foggy pall more than a statement, but Nadja keep it snaking and winding while it also grows more expansive. Excision may function as a more readily available collection of out of print releases, but it works more importantly as an expression of what Nadja can do and who they are.
Echoes in Amber ≈ Bad Liquor Pond ≈ Blue Smoke Orange Sky ≈ Bad Liquor Pond ≈ 2012
San Francisco’s 
