phoenician flu and acient ocean RESIDUAL ECHOES

i remember a specific evening probably in 2003 (or 2004?), i had just moved to austin and was starting to get into loud rock stuff. i went with my friend Alex and others to the Ritz Upstairs (former famous punk club in the 80's and 90's that in '04 was rarely but occasionally still doing shows, now it is the home of the Alamo Ritz movie theatre) to see a band i knew nothing about called Comets on Fire. they totally blew my mind. so i delved into finding other similar bands. i always remember people telling me about Residual Echoes but i don't think i got around to listening to them until probably 2 or 3 years ago. better late than never....

i will admit that i've really only heard "california," "phoenician flu..." and their s/t debut, but of these "phoenician flu and ancient ocean" is always the one i revisit the most. Residual Echoes has always been a rotating crew of people primarily based around Adam Payne (with occasional help from Comets on Fire's Ethan Miller and SOOA's Ben Chasney and many others) and hail from the Santa Cruz area where so many other great noisy psych bands from the 2000's have been birthed: Six Organs of Admitance, Comets on Fire, Mammatus, etc etc).

released on the amazing label Holy Mountain back in late 2005, "phoenician flu and ancient ocean" sorta gotta panned as half-baked ideas and this from Brandon Stosuy of Pitchfork back in '06:

"...understand dynamics and can appear like brilliant firecrackers in small bursts, but over longer hauls have yet to convince me that they'll ever surpass pastiche"

i understand his point, but i think the looseness and the free-for-all mess of ideas on this record are what make it so great. it feels like one long track that fades in and out at different places with different ideas but maintaining a common feeling. regardless, one think both pitchfork's Stosuy and I can agree on is that some of the riffs on this record are mind-melting. great great stuff.

listen to it here. then when you realize how great it is go buy it on vinyl over at Holy Mountain.

invisible surfer on an invisible wave KEN SEENO

i know, i know...you're reading the title of this cassette and thinking...cool,yet another chillwave/hypnagogic/beach themed release... at least that's what i thought. but given NNA Tapes great track record thus far (caboladies, oneohtrix point never, harmonizer, three legged race, hubble, hobo cubes, etc etc) i figured i had to at least give it a try.

ken seeno may be better known for being a member of the now defunct Baltimore band Ponytail. as you also may know another former Ponytail member, Dustin Wong, recently released his own solo record (it's really good too, on Thrill Jockey Records, go get it!) that stylistcally isn't that far off from this, but much different in execution. whereas Wong's LP is more about guitar loops, pedals etc, Seeno takes a different route and focuses almost solely on keyboards and field recordings (yes, there are some frogs, waves, etc in the background). and although up til now i haven't really made a great case for this tape....it's really quite incredible. think of Umberto only instead of horror film imagery replace it with beautiful landscapes. (i say this because last evening while listening to the tape my wife actually asked me if it was Umberto) some of the keyboard tones and melodies are similar and both the Umberto record and this Seeno tape have the same sorta chilled out movement in their songs. things are always changing, but not so fast. Seeno stays on the zone out/chill side of things, but always keeps it interesting. i mean my wife liked it, and she usually is not so fond of my love of drone music (but she wins because she is always willing to try, and it helps her sleep occasionally).

NNA Tapes refer to this release as "Landscape Electronics" and i like that description a lot. see for yourself and give it a listen here.

radio people RADIO PEOPLE

this is the debut of Sam Goldberg's newest moniker Radio People, released by the amazing folks at Digitalis Industries. he's previously released various cassettes and a killer LP "current" on Weird Forest Records, which i believe is sold out unfortunately. his highest profile gig might be the duo Mist with John Elliot of Emeralds who have released a handful of tapes, 2 killer LP's (go buy "glowing net" at Amythest Sunset now! they are going fast!) and an upcoming 2LP on Spectrum Spools.

that all being said you probably have an idea of what to expect. lush sythnesizer landscapes with shifting melodies on top. what you probably won't expect is that Radio People is his "pop" project in the sense that there are plenty of pop melodies on top of the drones and zones and he even incorporates some drum machines here and there making it sound even closer to the kosmische sounds of Tangerine Dream, etc. there is nothing groundbreaking here nor anything that deviates much from Emeralds and other like-minded artists, but there is something very satisfying about his work. it's not meant to be groundbreaking, but he does such an amazing job of referencing great music, yet making it his own.

there are a couple of newer Radio People tapes (both I believe are sold out, but possibly still around somewhere on the internet). also be on the lookout for Sam Goldberg's upcoming LP "having had forgot" on Arbor Records which features a full band and should be a completely unique experience. cannot wait. listen to Radio People here.

prophecy of the black widow UMBERTO

umberto is the solo project of Matt Hill (whom you may know from many Expo 70 records). his first LP "from the grave" was released by Permanent Records and sold out incredibly fast. this is the follow up LP released by Not Not Fun late last year and again has already sold out.

i was lucky enough to see Umberto live on saturday during SXSW and he totally killed it. mostly laptop and midi keyboard but having a live drummer really made it work. where "from the grave" was a little more drone based albeit with a healthy dose of ennio morricone/goblin influence, on "prophecy of the back widow" Hill really steps up his game keeping all the elements of "from the grave" but adding a disco/pop feeling that really makes an incredible record. it's just as fun as it is smart which can be an difficult accomplishment.

highly recommended. you might be lucky enough to find a copy at your local record store, but it's sold out at the source. listen to it here.

sobre todas e qualquer coisa M. TAKARA 3

this album really hasn't gotten all that much buzz or press in the US and that's a bit unfortunate. i found it on the wonderful blog Experimental Etc a while ago and it didn't really grab me at first. last summer on a flight from San Fran back to Austin i listened to this twice in its entirety and it really blew me away. the last track on this LP is the jam!

i don't really have much background info on the group except that Mauricio Takara plays drums in Sao Paulo Underground with Rob Mazurek. (hopefully one of these days i'll remember to post their last album which was INCREDIBLE!) musically it's similar to some of the Sao Paulo Underground stuff with some occasional horns blaring, but overall it leans toward the electro/dance side of things. sometimes it can be a little too electro for my tastes, but that being said their songwriting is pretty incredible. the electronics are interwoven beautifully with all kinds of poly-rhythms and somehow has a left-of-center pop feel (even the retro 80's vibes that occasionally surface are re-purposed here in a forward thinking way). the vocals are sparse and add a nice touch every time they come into play. overall it's a really weird album when you pay attention to what's going on, but it doesn't come across that way. it's quite pleasant and really fun in the end. totally danceable and straight ahead pop, but still weird and heady. great great stuff. highly recommended!

listen to it here. i was lucky enough to find a physical LP copy, not sure if it's still available. it was released on Desmonta Records out of Brazil.