from the bowels of middle america...

i gotta say, sometimes it just takes the right time for a record to click. the alignment of the space-time continuum for your skull to be ready for full-on engagement of that one particular piece. such is the case for Justen O'Brien & Jake's album "Time Will Tell"... this album recently really tore my head off. the songwriting is good, the players are tight, almost sounding like session men, but this is a private issue non-commercial date (though maybe they were hoping for a breakthrough with this?)... they totally had a vision of a sound and an aesthetic which was neither totally fm rock of the time or bent outsider freakdom. it's an odd trip to be sure. what is the closest thing this would be compared to? maybe if steely dan were just loners somewhere in the midwest and didn't have such a jazz-white-funk hard on? its not real psychedelic (but has moments of bob-smith/zerfas/dr hooker-epic-ish kinda croon-psych effect), and is really well orchestrated and intricate, beautiful. side two just kills it for me personally... those four songs are all quite moving (alot of loner themes), and highly original. i guess in my struggle to peg this one, we are revealing its striking originality, and dramatic poise at a time and place many years ago. probably the best description i can find is from lysergia, as usual, which sums it up perfectum: "The total effect is like driving around in late-night Minneapolis looking for some action, but instead ending up alone in an airport hotel lounge; a desolate 2 drink-minimum neon light trip of creeping originality." just try this one on for size, maybe she'll fit.

Jackpine Savage - Together

today's serving is a mesmerizing slice of electro-pop that really takes you all the way home. jackpine savage is a nom de plume for the one and only mr. bruce haack, and once again he runs wild with his array of electro-gizmos like none other in the bizness. indeed, "Together" is another Haack children's record with some kind of outer-space-robot-synethesia jive goin on, and i like every minute of it. in my opinion alot better than his electric lucifer one, with real songwriting, heartfelt melodies, and even a song dedicated to syd barrett... yes, it's a kid record, and like the best kiddie spins, its got a lot of soul. reissued in japan, super-pricey to find one a dem... originally out in 1971. dig it dig it dig it baby!!!

Jackpine Savage - Together

rub-a-dub-dub-TROYKA-in-a-tub

it's fuggin cold in edmonton...
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and continuing our series of obscure rock records from the 70s that demolish boundaries and clear away any question that the collective human subconcious works on interesting things hundreds of miles apart... i give ye TROYKA!!! one of my personal canadian 70s favoreets. why? cause troyka don't really give a fuck... a really interesting proto-punk-ish edge pervades as they throw the rule book out the window and burn down a church or two on the way. bouncing between heavy duty trio-fuzz bashers sung in goofily out of wack voices with lyrics about generally nothing, to quiet quirky prog-ish instros with interlocking grooves and interesting time signatures and back again... like other great 70s rock weirdoes, it sounds like this band could be this strange and still kinda get away with playing club dates for a straight "rock" crowd, for whatever that means... they were from alberta canada after all.... which is cool cause they got some mad chops and the heavy numbers seriously slay in a way that almost brings me into a meat-puppet-ish what the fuck is going on kinda melee.... the sick riff-meistering will take you there too. totally essential for fans of anything kool and 70s-out, but out-as-in, or out-of-out we are all in, or just out in the sticks. alberta, i mean. whoa.
here she is.

ooo... also, mas aqui.

Cincinstti Joe and Mad Lydia

i'm perty tired and don't feel like pontificating on the wonder that is Cincinatti Joe and Mad Lydia... not that they don't inspire, its just that I had typed a whole schpiel and this fucking program ate it so foo! dig these wild holiday inn crooners circa '73 'natti oHIo... heavy synth flute vibrations! ill lounge funk crooner moves! homebrewed witchcraft liturgies! songs like "Jesus was a Color Man"!!! how the fuck can you go wrong with Cincinatti Joe and Mad Lydia at the helm?

no reish, so dig it fast! originally on Riverwitch Records... private stock!

FEAR ITSELF

dig this great un-reished (well, not in the US) LP!!! california styled janis/big bro guitar fryers! good moaning and psycho-blues-mama schtick! reaches ultimate heavy-osity on the almost 10 minute, "in my time of dying"... heavy FRIGGIN metal baby ala 1969 brain-char... i reccomend heartily. for seekers of primo hippie dirtiness. Fear Itself