sunburned hand of the man

Sunburned Hand Of The Man is an incredible band. They are incredibly prolific too. I count something like 35 or so albums since late nineties. That is a whole lotta music. I don't know a ton about the band and haven't gotten a chance to see em live, but they're brand of funky psyche tribal free jazz drone spit is beyond infectious. It is absolutely spell binding. It makes you feeeeel like your heads a balloon man - isn't that what psyche is supposed to do? They are sometimes described as part of the new weird america or free folk. Both these terms sort of make me cringe. They are irrelevant and not quite an appropriate or poignant label for an expansive expression such as that of the sunburned hand. They have their own label called Manhand which puts out all their records and those of their collaborations.




The album I want to share with you is called Anatomy Vol. 1
It was released as a CDR in 2005. This is one of my favorites. It begins with a spoken word sort of thing that plays throughout the album. A man's voice, in warped fashion, tells you to "close your eyes, I'm going to teach you to concentrate, listen very very carefully & follow the instructions". The voice leads you in a far out exercise in concentration & self-awareness that makes me smile evry time. The sounds that follow are like an incredible glass of whiskey. You'll feel warm and you'll start to feel loose.

I really dig what this band does. I also dig the bands that are doin the same kinda things: no neck blues band, jackie-o motherfucker, starving weirdos, avarus, et cetera. I will start to share stuff from these bands in the future. I hope you enjoy this though.
Love, tickle polyester

check the comments for the link to download

Surf!

I'm really enjoying this album, so I figured I had to share it with you. I hadn't heard of Tamam Shud previously, probably because this is the first time an album of theirs had been reissued for the ol' compact disc.

EM records of Japan are the weirdos responsible for this reissue along with a bunch of other obscurities. This is part of the Under Water Series of four or five surf albums that they reissued. They've also dug up and reissued saw music from the twenties, a krautrock gem from the 70s (Moolah - I will post this later), minimal electronic wizardry, experimental tape music + etcetera.

check the comments for a link to download!

Here is the website: http://www.emrecords.net/

and here is their blurb about this album:
"Featured the songs for another classic Australian surf movie "EVOLUTION" filmed by Paul Witzig in 1969, played by Australian group called TAMAM SHUD. This surfer quartet featured Lindsay Bjerre and Tim Gaze, both of them were successful for their solo career.

Tamam Shud was one of the most original and innovative Australian groups of the late 60s and early 70s. They played a very important part as pioneers of acid-rock and progressive music. For many years after they split they were something of a cult, and their original recordings were (and still are) very hard to obtain. But thanks to a gratifying 'comeback', and some commercial success with their 1994 album Permanent Culture, and the driving, bluesy single Stay, there has been a significant revival of interest in this outstanding and original group, and it sparked interest in this classic band with younger listeners as well.

The evolution of Shud was typical of many groups of the era, beginning as an instrumental band, through 'beat' pop group and psychedelia, to progressive rock.. From the original line-up (The Sunsets), through to Evolution, Goolutionites, Morning Of The Earth and Permanent Culture line-ups, the lingering "surf band" tag linked them with Sydney's northern beaches surf culture. In reality, they established their major fan base on Sydney's university and college dance circuit, and with the 'hippy' audiences at inner city underground venues like the Mandala Theatre in Darlinghurst and the Beacon Theatre in Newtown.

A bonus track, Bali Water (M-12) is featured Richard Lockwood (from Tully) and played his ethernal flute for this aesthetic & mystic psychdelia instrumental tune which became one of highlights of this CD.

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Evolution burst explosively on the surfing world in 1969, heralding a period a dynamic change which has never been repeated. The raw energy of the film, the surfing and the music came together to blow away old film & surf music styles, & seeded a youth culture which has swept the world
..... Paul Witzig
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TRACKS:

"EVOLUTION" album (1969)
1. (a) Music Train (b) Evolution *
2. I'm No One *
3. Mr Strange *
4. Lady Sunshine *
5. Falling Up
6. Feel Free
7. It's a Beautiful Day
8. Jesus Guide Me
9. Rock on Top
10. Slow One And The Fast One
11. Too Many Life

(* feat. on Evolution movie)

-BONUS TRACKS- "BALI WATERS e.p" (1972)
12. Bali Waters
13. Got A Feeling
14. My Father Told Me"

X-Ray!

Here is the latest set of tunes around which to wrap your soon-to-be-melting-and-dripping-out-of-your-ears-onto-the-floor brain. You will find yourself taken back to the days when garage bands ruled the world of rock & roll with their brand of raw, blues-based songs played dirty & distored & loud & aggressive. You can call it punk, pre-punk, british invasion, rockabilly, etcetera but the name or label matters not (and I know I don't have to tell you that dear reader). You know that its the soul that counts. Bands on this mix don't come from one era, instead they come from bands from the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, and present because garage is still alive and flourishing today (The White Stripes are all over the damn place).

The mix starts out with a tune by Link Wray whose Rumble is oft considered to be one of the first garage songs, or at least the first song to use distortion so perfectly. There are a couple songs by Hasil "The Haze" Adkins who is reputed to have created over 9000 songs in the backwoods of West Virgina . I put on a Monks track that is actually used in the movie The Big Lebowski (playing when Walter breaks his piece out on the lanes). The band were a sort of anti-Beatles group made up of American GIs based in Germany during the sixties with music as heavy as the times. Radio Birdman made it on the mix, a band credited as being the first punk band out of Australia. There is a lot more worth mentioning but you gotta get listening.

Download the songs HERE and either burn the songs to a CD or play 'em on your computer. You're going to have to unzip the file, so hopefully you can figure that out.

Here is the track list and a shiiiiiitload of information to go along with it.
Click the Artist's name (the one on the right) to read about the artist.
Click on the track name to read about the album.

1| The Shadow Knows| Link Wray & His Wray Men
2| I Wish You Would| John Hammond
3| Can't You See I Do| The Astronauts
4| Help You Ann| Lyres
5| Little Latin Lupe Lu| Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
6| Hard Headed Woman| Wanda Jackson
7| Chocolate Milk Honeymoon| Hasil Adkins
8| The Devil's Rumble| Davie Allan & The Arrows
9| Death Cab For Cutie| Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
10| Breathless| Jerry Lee Lewis
11| Caribou| April March
12| Stop & Listen| The Dwarves13| I Hate You| The Monks
14| Roadrunner| The Modern Lovers
15| Super X| Supercharger
16| Descent Into The Maelstrom| Radio Birdman
17| Whittier Blvd| Thee Midniters
18| Scratchy| Davie Allan & The Arrows
19| Mindrocker| Fenwyck
20| Losing Touch With My Mind| Spacemen 3
21| Boo Boo The Cat| Hasil Adkins

How To Discover What An Hour Of Music Would Sound Like If I Had Control Of A Radio Station

I think I am going to start posting an hour radio show once a week. You can download it and play it with your mp3 player or burn it right on to a compact disc. I might start having a theme in the future, but for now it will be sort of a hodgepodge or mish mash if you will. Put some suggestions, praise, or angry rants in the comment box so that I can feel validated. Thanks!!!1!







You can find the link to download this on the comments page. You can find the comments page by clicking here.

I'll post the tracklist later. Dig It.

Spaaaayyyyyysssssss Meeeennnnnnnnn 3eeeeeeee

Sound of Confusion - way out infectious psychedelia, relentless and unforgiving drone. This is what happens when you're into things like heroin, the stooges, wearing dark sun glasses in doors, and super fuzzy amplified guitar noise. This is what happens when you really tap into that honest rock & roll sound. Things slow down and the sound begins to move which is what music should be period. The drums prod and pound with much thanks to Mo and VU and the chords are chunky and repetitive and vocals loooooonnng and drawn out like a big breath. Everything is honest and minimal because that's the way it is. I really can't recommend this album enough.

Click here to go to the comments page. You will find the link to download this album there.

Tracklist:

1	Losing Touch With My Mind	5:30
2	Hey Man	4:49
3	Rollercoaster	7:40
4	Mary Anne	4:23
5	Little Doll	5:25
6	2.35	3:08
7	O.D. Catastrophe	8:54
8	Walking With Jesus	5:52
9	Rollercoaster	17:03
10	Feel So Good	4:57
11	2.35 (Demo)	3:40

a confederacy of dunces

There is plenty of criticism about this album saying that Phil Spector ruined the songs with reverb (listen to the snare hits on Iodine), the arrangements are nostalgic doo-wop crap, and the title track is nine minutes of tortuous mumblings. In reality, this sort of criticism ends up missing the point. This isn't an album to put up against a Beatles album. The delivery of the quasi-corny arrangements with beautiful poetry is what gives the songs power. Sometimes I swear I can hear the irony in his sneer, "I was booooorn in a beauty saaalon, my father was a dresser of hair". Sometimes it sounds dead-pan serious. The non-sequitur quality of it all keeps you in the dark as to whether Cohen is trying to be serious or not. And thats what makes the album indefinable and interesting as a whole. You are left with six pieces that beg to be interpreted. Why did Cohen ditch his old sparse acoustic arrangements? Why are there backup singers cluttering the songs with harmonized ahhing? I don't want to say that the music isn't important but that criticism shouldn't solely focus on the arrangements without the lyrical context. While the tunes might be reminiscent of old rock & roll, the lyrics play out like with complex themes rather than teenage angst or love. The stories are incredible. The way the revelation about love comes in Paper Thin Hotel still gives me the chills. I find it to be one of the most moving songs I've heard.


Tracklist:

A1	True Love Leaves No Traces	4:23
A2	Iodine	5:02
A3	Paper-Thin Hotel	5:40
A4	Memories	5:57
B1	I Left a Woman Waiting	3:24
B2	Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On	5:34
B3	Fingerprints	2:58
B4	Death of a Ladies' Man	9:20