Posts tagged ‘mix CDs’
Post-Rocktoberfest 2011: US Post-Rock Vol. 1
US Post-Rock Vol. 1
Those of you who remember previous posts on the subject of early American post-rock will recognize some of these tracks. Those of you labouring under the misapprehension that US post-rock is total crap are in for a pleasant surprise.
This stuff has a reputation for being a rather sterile mix of instrumental indie rock and light jazz fusion. This compilation aims to show that the earliest and best American post-rock was a natural extension of UK post-rock’s futuristic eclecticism.
It’s also worth noting that the Wire magazine article in which Simon Reynolds first identified a specifically American strain of post-rock concentrated heavily on an emerging strand of space rock, in which analogue synths and effects pedals were far more prominent than vibraphones and six-string bass guitars. Having said that, the first track on this compilation features both a vibraphone and – almost certainly – a six-string bass.
Click here to download US Post-Rock Vol. 1 or click the links in the track-list below to preview the individual tracks. And don’t forget to support the artists whenever the opportunity arises!
1. Tortoise – “Glass Museum”
In a very specific sense, Tortoise are a bit like My Bloody Valentine. Each band spawned a legion of imitators, who only bothered to superficially imitate the surface details of the music, failing to touch the thick, rich layer of true strangeness that lay beneath.
2. Trans Am – “Firepoker”
Quite possibly the first band to build a sound on a basis of tongue-in-cheek 80s popular culture references. But there’s no hypnagogic fug here, only invigorating percussive clarity.
3. Salaryman – “Voids + Superclusters”
The experimental alter ego of punk-pop band Poster Children. In terms of their influences and procedures, Salaryman were very much grooving along the same lines as many of the British post-rock bands. Being American, though, their material was purely instrumental.
4. Bowery Electric – “Fear of Flying”
Not that all US post-rock bands lacked in the vocals department. Here we have hip-hop beats, dub bass and shoegaze guitars, all topped off with cooing female vox. Now that‘s the 90s!
5. UI – “Sexy Photograph”
Even some of the primarily instrumental USPR bands would break out the vocals occasionally. Presumably that’s future New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones doing the hollering on this cut.
6. The For Carnation – “A Tribute to”
It has been said that Slint’s Spiderland was the key precursor to instrumental US post-rock and third-generation emo post-rock. Many of the folks who have said this genuinely seem never to have noticed that Brian McMahan’s mumbled vocals are one of the key elements of that album’s vividly dreamlike atmosphere. This track from McMahan’s post-Slint project is rather closer to UK post-rock than it is to any of the garbage Spiderland supposedly inspired. It’s downright funky!
7. Cul De Sac – “Doldrums”
Nine minutes of what sounds like a cassette recording of a Neu! rehearsal. In a good way!
8. Gastr Del Sol – “Rebecca Sylvester”
It almost seems unfair to lump the duo of Jim O’Rourke and David Grubbs in with post-rock. Somehow they were more interested in stepping outside rock than they were in moving beyond it. Still, they were very definitely tied into the Louisville/Chicago milieu that spawned Slint and Tortoise, so…
9. Labradford – “El Lago”
This is where we get into outer space. Labradford’s music was like a gorgeous elegy for the glory day’s of the US space programme. As vividly dreamlike as anything on Spiderland, without actually sounding much like Slint.
10. Fuxa – “Photon”
Wooshing analogue synths and chiming guitars. It must be space-rock!
11. Windy & Carl – “Lighthouse”
Space-rock drifting into shoegaze territory. Flying Saucer Attack fans will dig this one.
12. Stars of the Lid – “The Evil That Never Arrived”
Beautiful processed guitars business. These chaps were way ahead of their time in a lot of ways.
13. Rome – “Intermodal”
As with the Stars of the Lid track, this stands as proof that American post-rock bands were just as capable of dissolving into full-on abstraction as their British cousins. This is almost like a lo-fi take on Main.
Post-Rocktoberfest 2011: UK Post-Rock Vol. 8
UK Post-Rock Vol. 8
Ultra-obscure bands! Little-known side projects! If volume seven was solid and familiar, this one is ragged and delightfully confounding. Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 8 or click on the links in the track-list below to preview the individual songs. Like something you hear? Go buy the artist’s actual albums – preferably on vinyl!
1. ROC – “Cheryl”
Not really post-rock per se but ROC were highly illustrative of an experimental pop style that was very much contemporary with the original UKPR scene. This style has been fairly well represented in the UK Post-Rock compilation series, with tracks by the likes of Adventures in Stereo, Locust, Screeper and – of course – Experimental Pop Band.
2. Mark van Hoen – “Photophone Call”
Talking of Locust, here’s a track from a recent solo album by that band’s leader (and Seefeel founder) Mark Van Hoen. Where is the Truth was perhaps the tragically overlooked LP of 2010.
3. Matt Elliott – “The Mess We Made”
Also tragically overlooked, Third Eye Foundation mainstay Matt Elliott’s first solo album The Mess We Made is an absolute gem. Here’s the title track.
4. Foehn – “We Tear at Each Other’s Hearts”
Foehn was Debbie Parsons, who contributed heavily to The Third Eye Foundations scarifying Ghost album. Foehn’s work is less nerve-wracking but equally spooky.
5. Crescent – “Drift”
Like Matt Elliott and Foehn, Crescent were central to the Bristol post-rock/space rock scene. Band’s from that scene tended to be pretty downcast but Crescent took the biscuit. Exquisite miserablism!
6. Papa Sprain & Butterfly Child – “Lalena”
Wasn’t Butterfly Child’s high-watermark Ghetto Speak EP basically a Papa Sprain/BC collaboration? In any case, here they are together with a track created for a Donovan tribute CD put out by Vancouver’s Nettwerk Records (which also featured a collab between Brix Smith and her then beau Nigel Kennedy!) One rather suspects said CD could be found in just about any dollar bin around the Metro Vancouver area.
7. In Heaven – “Aquanova”
A slight dip in audio quality here caused by the fact that this band seem never to have made it to vinyl or CD. This is the title track from a cassette release. Very much in the post-A.R. Kane style of the artists discussed immediately above.
8. Bracken – “Evil Teeth”
Chris Adams from Hood with a magnificent mix of free jazz chaos and digital electronica… well.. chaos! Did this really come out on genre-defining “post-rap” label Anticon? And – if so – what does that say?
9. The Declining Winter – “Summer Turns to Hurt”
Another Hood spin-off, this time led by Chris’s brother Richard Adams. Also featuring this here blog’s good buddy Paul Elam aka Fieldhead.
10. Shiva Affect – “Cloud My Way”
Almost as obscure as In Heaven, these fellows at least managed to put out a CD (Yahweh), from which this song is taken. Think Bark Psychosis in space.
11. Navigator – “Dorothy Carter”
We’re getting into the UK-bands-inspired-by-US-post-rock zone here, which can be troublesome ground. This is a great tune, though.
12. State River Widening – “Amsterdam Green”
Likewise but even more so in every sense.
13. Ganger – “Cats, Dogs & Babies’ Jaws”
Surprising there weren’t more post-rock bands from Scotland. Of course, there’s that band. You know the one!
14. .O.Rang – “Little Sister”
Brilliant and ground-breaking as they were Talk Talk’s growing reputation as the great precursor to post-rock is somewhat overstated. This here blog would argue that Public Image Ltd., 23 Skidoo and Dif Juz were more indicative of what made early UK post-rock truly great and important. In any case, Talk Talk were, of course fantastic and it should be remembered that Lee Harris and Paul Webb went on to be .O.Rang, producing a sound that recalled the ethnological forgeries of Can (another great UKPR precursor).
Post-Rocktoberfest 2011: UK Post-Rock Vol. 7
UK Post-Rock Vol. 7
This year’s Post-Rocktoberfest festivities will include three new mix CDs! UK Post-Rock Vol. 7, presented here, consists mostly of tracks by acts that have appeared on previous UK Post-Rock compilations. UK Post-Rock Vol. 8 will consist mostly of tracks by acts that have not appeared on previous volumes. US Post-Rock Vol. 1… well, you can work that one out for yourself.
On all of these compilations, some minor post-production has been carried out, in order to provide as close to a seamless listening experience as possible. In some cases, this might mean the tracks have been topped and tailed a bit but it’s all in the interests of a pleasurable overall listening experience. If you want to hear the songs as the artists intended, go buy the original albums. Actually, you should go buy all the original albums anyway because they’re all great!
Of course, finding legit copies of the original albums won’t always be that easy. This is only partly because a lot of UKPR classics are no longer in print. It’s also because this compilation collects some pretty rare tracks from compilations, Peel sessions etc.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 7 or click on the links in the track-list below to hear the individual songs.
1. Papa Sprain – “I Got Stop”
Included because it’s their best song and it had somehow failed to appear on any of the previous volumes.
2. Butterfly Child – “We, the Inspired”
A rarity taken from one of those Volume compilations. Remember them?
3. Pram – “Dancing on a Star”
Birmingham post-rock! A surprising amount of post-rock came out of Birmingham.
4. Broadcast – “Pendulum”
Another case in point. Sad that so many of us only recently came to appreciate Broadcast, given the tragic death of Trish Keenan. They had so much more to teach us!
5. Laika – “If You Miss (Laika Virgin Mix)”
A remix of a track from Laika’s debut album (Silver Apples of the Moon). This was created for Kevin Martin’s Macro Dub Infection Vol. 1 compilation, which was released on Virgin Records – hence the punning title.
6. Moonshake – “Coming (Peel Session Version)”
A radio session take on a track from Moonshake’s debut EP, back when they were a borderline shoegaze act. On the officially-released version, Dave Callahan’s vocal borders on the ethereal (someone in the office even misremembered that Margaret Fiedler – later of Laika – sang this one). On the version presented here, Callahan really lets rip – as does the rest of the band, for that matter!
7. Insides – “Further Distractions”
A remix of a track from the classic Euphoria album. This is taken from a rare promo 12″.
8. Bark Psychosis – “Manman”
Like the Papa Sprain track, this is a stone-cold classic that really should have featured on an earlier compilation in this series.
9. Disco Inferno – “Lost in Fog”
From the It’s a Kids World EP. DI at their most intense and chaotic.
10. Flying Saucer Attack – “My Dreaming Hill”
Their finest moment?
11. Fridge – “Lost Time”
Weird that these folks have had so much more success in their solo careers than as a group. Here they are at their lovely, melodic best.
12. Seefeel – “When Face Was Face”
Turns out that Succour is a really great album. Actually, just about everything by Seefeel is pure gold.
13. Main – “Blown”
Traces of Main’s origins in the much-loved hypno-rock act Loop are evident on this track from the early EP Dry Stone Feed.
14. The Hair & Skin Trading Company – “Highbury”
Traces of The Hair & Skin Trading Company’s origin in the much-loved hypno-rock act Loop are not at all evident on this track from their final EP Crouch End.
Mix CD: Spring 2011
Spring 2011
This is what the Bubblegum Cage III’s editorial staff will be listening to on its (early) summer holiday. As with all of this here blog’s seasonal mix CDs, Spring 2011 tends towards the poppy side of things. Basically, it’s something you can listen to while you drive your car or do the ironing or whatever it is you people get up to. And as with all mix CDs posted here, the MP3s are provided as samples of albums you really ought to go out and pay money for. If your music is featured on this compilation and you wish it wasn’t, just say the word and all relevant links will be removed, ASAP. Bubblegum Cage III recognizes and respects the fact that some artists don’t like having their songs shared online – which is the only reason Woebot’s “Argos” isn’t featured in the track-listing below…
1. The Fall – “Edie”
2. James Blake – “Lindisfarne II”
3. Destroyer – “Downtown”
4. Hype Williams – “The Throning”
5. Belong – “Perfect Life”
6. Panda Bear – “Surfer’s Hymn (Actress Primitive Patterns Remix)”
7. Das Racist – “Ek Shaneesh”
8. Gang Gang Dance – “Mindkilla”
9. Kellarissa – “Undock”
10. Seefeel – “Airless”
11. Oval – “Kreak”
12. Tape – “Companions”
13. Forest Swords – “If Your Girl”
14. Burial – “NYC”
Mix CD: The Acid Folk Vol. 5
The Acid Folk Vol. 5
This here blog never thought it would be posting another new Acid Folk compilation. After all, aren’t the four volumes already posted here exhaustive enough? But with May just getting start, who can resist? So, here it is: The Acid Folk Vol. 5. Perfect music for dancing ’round the May Pole, prancing around the village with the ‘Obby ‘Oss and generally going about your business on a May morning in May.
Actually, the most immediate inspiration for this compilation was Rob Young’s absolutely phenomenal book Electric Eden. Young’s 600-page survey of the “folk” influence on British music throughout the 20th century stood as a reminder of favourite tracks and an introduction to all sorts of weird and wonderful obscurities. If you have any interest at all in this stuff, you really need to get a copy of this book.
As with all of the mix CDs posted on this hear blog, The Acid Folk Vol. 5 is intended as a sampler. Most of the artists featured here have CD and/or vinyl re-issues in print. And if you’re looking for more compilations, Gather in the Mushrooms and the four-CD box set Anthems in Eden are both heartily recommended.
Here’s the full track-listing for The Acid Folk Vol. 5:
1. Shirley & Dolly Collins – “Go from My Window”
A particularly stirring performance from Shirley Collins MBE. A song in which sexual advances are successfully discouraged. Consequently, nobody gets murdered. Basically, British folk songs are like horror films – if anyone gets laid, someone’s gonna get murdered.
2. Bert Jansch & John Renbourn – “The Time Has Come”
A lovely Anne Briggs song from the Pentangle guitarists. Did Briggs maybe write this about Jansch? Anyway, more from all concerned later in the mix.
3. Steeleye Span – “Blackleg Miner”
For Carl Impostume.
4. Mellow Candle – “The Poet and the Witch”
Featuring Clodagh Simonds of Fovea Hex and therefore awesome.
5. Nick Drake – “Way to Blue”
Turns out this fellow was pretty good.
6. Richard & Linda Thompson – “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”
Dig those synth-trumpet arpeggios! Showcasing the rockier side of 70s folk-rock. Speaking of which…
7. Roy Harper – “Male Chauvinist Pig Blues”
This Who-style romper barely even qualifies as folk-anything but what a tune! Why exactly does Harper’s magnum opus Stormcock (from which this song is not taken) only warrant literally about three sentences in Electric Eden?
8. C.O.B. – “Spirit of Love”
Led by Clive Palmer. He was in the original line-up of The Incredible String band but he didn’t do much, apparently. More of them later.
9. Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band – “Poor Murdered Woman”
Shirley Collins MBE, again. There’s no actual sex or violence in this song but y’know… it’s implied.
10. The Woods Band – “January Snows”
Gay and Terry Woods, who we heard earlier on Steeleye Span’s “Blackleg Miner”. This is a really great tune.
11. John Martyn – “Bless the Weather”
More typical of the earlier, acoustic Martyn than the echoplexed aqua-funk of his classic era. It’s all good, though.
12. The Incredible String Band – “Koeeoaddi There”
Wilfully bonkers!
13. Heron – “Lord and Master”
Not featuring Mike Heron from The Incredible String band.
14. Anne Briggs – “Willie O’Winesbury”
Her finest performance? You might know this tune from Fairport Convention’s “Farewell, Farewell”.
15. Mr. Fox – “Mendle”
A genuinely peculiar band, without seeming to try quite as hard as certain other acts of the era. Not mentioning any names. Apart from The Incredible String Band, obviously.
16. The Pentangle – “Pentangling”
Freeform bass solo!
17. Fairport Convention – “A Sailor’s Life”
This track is pretty much the wellspring of all UK folk-rock. Incalculably seminal!
Mix CD: Pirate Soundz Vol. 2
Pirate Soundz Vol. 2
The first volume of Pirate Soundz got a pretty good reaction, so here’s volume two. This time around, the focus is on grime – which emerged, around the turn of the millennium, as a rave-spawned UK equivalent to Jamaican ragga or American hip-hop.
As you might expect, then, most of the tracks here focus on emcees spitting (sometimes) morally-questionable lyrics. The only instrumental tune is Low Deep’s “Str8 Flush”. Nevertheless, this compilation should provide a reasonably accurate overview of the grimy production style – which mixes the bass-heavy rudeness of rave with the rhythmic itchiness of US R&B, all topped off with cheap-and-cheerful VST synth melodies. Notably, two of the songs here are credited to ace producer Terror Danjah, rather than the emcees they feature.
Actually, one way or another, the same handful of names and voices keep cropping up throughout the mix. The fact is, grime was (and continues to be) an extremely localized scene, centred around a small area of East London. Grime is inseparable from its very specific place of origin, which may explain why it has never developed the kind of global prominence enjoyed by dubstep (a style which developed around the same time, from the same roots).
Still, listening to Pirate Soundz Vol. 2, you’ll have a hard time thinking of grime as any kind of failure. These tracks sound majestic and energizing and they were compiled to sound just that way. There’s no real attempt to be chronologically correct or historically comprehensive here, just a desire to present this music as something triumphant, uproariously witty and fundamentally unstoppable. That’s why the comp starts with “Don’t Give a Fuck” by Lykez – it’s hardly a classic grime standard but damn does it ever kick hard!
Basically, you’re going get a lot of pleasure out of this mix and you’re going to want to go out and spend some money on some actual product by the artists featured herein – plenty of whom have CDs and LPs in print. A good place to start might be with the first Run the Road CD – an epochal compilation, which was the source of several tracks presented here.
Two last things:
1. Big up to the Blissblogger, who inadvertently suggested a lot of the tracks that made it onto the final track-listing.
2. As ever, if you were involved in creating, publishing, manufacturing or distributing any of the music on this compilation and you object to Bubblegum Cage III sharing it, please just say the word and the right thing will done, without hesitation.
Here’s the full track-listing for Pirate Soundz Vol. 2.
1. Lykez – “Don’t Give a Fuck”
2. Roll Deep – “When I’m ‘Ere”
3. Ruff Sqwad – “Lethal Injection”
4. Trim – “Money Up Front”
5. Jammer – “Destruction VIP”
6. Wiley – “Pies”
7. Wiley – “Where You Gonna Run To?”
8. Terror Danjah – “Reloadz”
9. Terror Danjah – “Cock Back V1.2″
10. Kano – “Boys Love Girls”
11. Lethal Bizzle – “Pow”
12. Durrty Goodz – “Axiom”
13. Dizzee Rascal – “I Luv You”
14. Crazy Titch – “Sing Along”
15. Low Deep – “Str8 Flush”
16. Tinchy Stryder – “Move”
17. Slew Dem – “16 Bar”
18. Trim – “The Lowdown”
Mix CD: Pirate Soundz Vol. 1
Pirate Soundz Vol. 1
Pirate Soundz is a new series of compilations, which will provide an outsider’s view of the music that has emerged from London’s pirate radio culture over the last 20-or-so years. This first volume concentrates on the twinned inner cities of jungle and drum & bass. Generally, it eschews the more conventionally musical “progressive” drum & bass to examine the more eccentric aspects of hard-and-fast jungle. Experts in this area of endeavor are asked to go easy on the layperson-compiled tracklist but they are also encouraged to suggest alternatives, via the comments box.
Pirate Soundz Vol. 1 begins with a couple of tracks that demonstrate how ‘arkore rave music evolved into jungle, with increasingly complex splicing of sampled drum breaks taking over from swooping synths and sped-up vocal samples as the music’s main narrative element (Rufige Cru, Nasty Habits). If the compilation itself has a narrative, it’s something to do with rave’s descent from euphoria into paranoid ganja psychosis – with samples from then-contemporary US rap hits providing a crucial undertow (DJ Zinc, Elementz of Noise). Where a more explicitly progressive sensibility is in evidence, it comes – once again – through the elaborate, time-warped drum programming (Tek 9, Photek).
As ever, if you were involved in the creation or marketing/distribution of this music and you’re offended by its appearance on this compilation, just let Bubblegum Cage III know and the decent thing will be done. For those of you who would like to do the decent thing yourselves by actually buying some product from the artists featured here, it’s worth noting that two other comps were particularly helpful in the creation of this mix. The first was Routes from the Jungle, a 2CD collection put together for Virgin Records by Kevin Martin aka The Bug (available via Amazon). The second was Here Come the Drums, complied for Caipirinha by Wire magazine writer Peter Shapiro (available from Amazon). Both are well worth buying. Anyone who can provide alternative routes to actually pay for some of this music are encouraged to drop some links in the comments box.
Here’s the full track-listing for Pirate Soundz Vol. 1:
1. Rufige Cru – “Killa Muffin”
2. Nasty Habits – “Here Come the Drumz”
3. 4hero – “Wrinkles in Time”
4. Tek 9 – “A London Sumtin”
5. Boogie Times Tribe – “Dark Stranger”
6. Roni Size & DJ Die – “Music Box”
7. Photek – “Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu (Two Swords Technique)”
8. Omni Trio – “Thru the Vibe”
9. Optical – “Slip Thru”
10. Ed Rush – “Bludclot Artattack”
11. DJ Zinc – “Super Sharp Shooter”
12. Aphrodite – “Woman That Rolls”
13. Elementz of Noise – “Other Side of Town”
The Re-Ups: Abstract Audio Vols. 1-3
More re-uploads of old mix CDs, although none of these have ever really been available online before. In fact, volume three of the Abstract Audio series never even made it beyond the Bubblegum Cage III’s office stereo. Anyway, the important thing to know about these is that – other than the UK Post-Rock compilations – no mixes could be any closer to this here blog’s heart.
Roughly speaking, Vol. 1 surveys the late 90s/early 00s glitch sound (Oval, Fennesz, Ekkehard Ehlers & Stephan Mathieu etc.). It was originally circulated among friends as a CDR called Audio Classics Vol. 1, in April 2006.
Vol. 2 posits a kind of “post-glitch” scene (Mountains, Tape, Greg Davis etc.), which combined – and continues to combine – granular textures with bucolic acoustic instrumentation, in a fashion that recalls Fennesz and late-period Gastr del Sol. It was originally circulated as a CDR called Unplug, in February 2007.
Vol 3. investigates related sounds in a more immersive and rhythmically-focused context (Rhythm & Sound, Monolake, Gas etc.) This one was originally called Loscil Substitutes, which is the only available excuse for the fact that it doesn’t feature any music by Loscil. It was originally compiled as a lullaby of sorts for an unimpressed sweetheart. Maybe you’ll like it more than she did, dearest reader.
In summary then, we’re talking experimental electronica here, folks. And we love it! Track listings and download links below. Enjoy!!
Abstract Audio Vol. 1
Abstract Audio Vol. 1
1. Farmers Manual – “Mystery Cellar”
2. Fennesz – “Caecilia”
3. Oval – “Do While (Cut)”
4. Vladislav Delay – “Anima (extract)”
5. Basic Channel – “Mutism”
6. Alva Noto – Untitled (track 6 from Prototypes)
7. General Magic – “Temko”
8. Pita – Untitled (track 3 from Get Out)
9. Ekkehard Ehlers – “Plays Cornelius Cardew 1″
10. Stephan Mathieu – “Für Frans”
11. Stephan Mathieu & Ekkehard Ehlers – “Rose”
12. Fennesz – “Codeine”
13. Farmers Manual – “Final Lap”
Click here to download Abstract Audio Vol. 1
Abstract Audio Vol. 2
Abstract Audio Vol. 2
1. Sébastien Roux – “The Classical Guitar Song”
2. Giuseppe Ielasi – “Plans (extract)”
3. M. Rösner – “Decay”
4. Tsukimono – “Punked Up Fuck Attitude”
5. Tu M’ – “What You Say?”
6. 3/4HadBeenEliminated – “In Every Tree a Heartache”
7. Mountains – “Bay”
8. Tape – “Sand Dunes”
9. Hauschka – “Hauschkamp3″
10. Ogurusu Norihide – Untitled (track 2 from Modern)
11. Greg Davis – “Campestral (Textured)”
12. Chihei Hatakeyama – “Swaying Curtain in the Window”
13. Anders Dahl – “Hundloka (extract)”
14. Lawrence English – “Ghost Towns (extract)”
Click here to download Abstract Audio Vol. 2
Abstract Audio Vol. 3
Abstract Audio Vol. 3
1. Monolake – “Void”
2. Pan•American – “How Much Progress One Makes”
3. Rhythm & Sound – “Distance”
4. The Sight Below – “No Place for Us”
5. Biosphere – “Daphnis 26″
6. Basic Channel – “Quadrant Dub I Edit”
7. Vladislav Delay – “Raamat”
8. Deepchord Presents Echospace – “Celestialis”
9. Porter Ricks – “Biokinetics 2″
10. Gas – “Pop 2″
11. Vainqueur – “Elevation (Version 1)”
Mix CD: Dream Rock & Noise Pop 1985-93 (Vol. 2)
Dream Rock & Noise Pop Vol. 2
Some time around Christmas, the original Dream Rock & Noise Pop compilation went fully (or at least partly) viral. This strange occurrence seems to have had its origins in a re-blog posted by a Tumblr site dedicated primarily to post-punk. From there, things went a little bonkers.
Embarrassingly, the onset of bonkersness happened to coincide with the Bubblegum Cage III Sub-Committee on Mix CDs issuing its official report on Dream Rock & Noise Pop Vol. 1. The report stated: “It’s alright, I guess but a few of the songs on the second half are a bit shit, aren’t they?” It continued: “Compared to the blog’s signature UK Post-Rock compilations, this seems a bit thrown together. And besides, isn’t this what they call ‘shoegaze’ – a term which most reputable sources define as ‘post-rock with all the good bits taken out’. ” Who writes this stuff?
Never mind. A subsequent Sub-Sub-Committee’s report on the report stated that this judgement was “a bit harsh, really” but also decreed that a second volume would have to be carefully compiled, to address some of the problems that had arisen with the first one. A Sub-Sub-Sub Committee was formed, to oversee the compilation of the compilation and mere weeks later, the track-listing for Dream Pop & Noise Rock 1985-1993 Vol. 2 was finalized. Who says that pointless bureaucracy is slow-moving and inefficient? Not ’round these parts it ain’t!
Anyway, the members of this Sub-Sub-Sub Committee unanimously agreed that the first half of Vol. 1 was actually pretty killer. Consequently, most of the artists represented there reappear on the new volume. This is no mere re-run, though. Some big names that were conspicuous by their absence from the first volume finally show up on Vol. 2. About time too! You have to wonder why Swervedriver got left off the first time around. And Sonic Youth, for God’s sake! What band could be more central to this loose continuum of raucous, dreamy and immersive indie/avant rock bands from both sides of the Atlantic (circa 1985-93) ?
Actually, there’s a sorta good-ish reason for SY’s initial exclusion. The original compilers were trying to prevent overlap with a mix CD of late-80s/early-90s US indie rock, which was being compiled at the same time. This was also the reason that sublime tunes like Drop Nineteens’ “Winona” and Ultra Vivid Scene’s “Special One” got left off Vol. 1. Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it) the indie rock playlist was accidentally deleted and that whole project was abandoned, which has facilitated the creation of an extremely tight second half of this compilation (something, you’ll remember, that was sadly lacking from the previous volume).
You may notice that this super-tight second half (again, conspicuously) avoids a few of the central acts from the British shoegaze scene. In fact, the compilation, as a whole, largely avoids shoegaze per-se. The Sub-Sub-Sub Committee made considerable attempts to engage with some of the more generic shoegaze bands (these compilations being essentially an ongoing investigation into the origins and nature of that very genre) but the results were largely negative. Chapterhouse? Hopelessly derivative! Adorable? Anything but! Moose? Actually, not that bad! (Srsly: “Suzanne” stands up pretty well, even when you play it right after My Bloody Valentine’s singularly mind-bending “Don’t Ask Why”.)
For the most part, though, Vol. 2 is very much the mirror image of Vol. 1 – same artists, different songs. If there’s a Vol 3., it’ll explore much further afield, honest – but there are mixed feelings among this here blog’s vast bureaucracy about whether there should be a Vol. 3. On the one hand, nobody wants the Bubblegum Cage III to become a mere repository for mix-tapes. On the other, somebody has to make a compilation featuring “Tomorrow’s Tears” by Cranes. Great song but so, so easy to forget about until it’s too late.
Whatever happens, the third volume still isn’t going to feature Seefeel, Papa Sprain, Flying Saucer attack or any of the other dreamy avant rock acts that have featured on Bubblegum Cage III’s UK Post-Rock compilations. Again, this is all about avoiding overlap and redundancy.
In conclusion then, what the Sub-Sub-Sub Committee has come up with (in its infinite collective wisdom) is a collection of stuff that isn’t quite post-rock but isn’t quite shoegaze. In terms of quality, it should be every bit as good as any of the UK Post-Rock compilations. Still, it’s hard to get away from the suspicion that it’s fundamentally not as interesting as any of the volumes in that series. The chances are you were already familiar with some, if not most, of the artists featured on the Dream Rock & Noise Pop compilations. The UK Post-Rock comps, on the other hand, are likely to represent an undiscovered world of strange and marvellous wonders, for most listeners. And for that very reason, this here blog is giving all of y’all the opportunity to download every single bloody one of those magnificent post-rock mixes, directly from this very post. Scroll down for the links.
In the meantime, you can click here to download Dream Rock & Noise Pop 1985-1993 Vol. 2 in its glorious entirety or right-click (ctrl-click on the Mac, yo) to snag the individual tracks you want from the track-listing below.
1. The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Some Candy Talking”
2. Spacemen 3 – “Losing Touch with My Mind”
3. My Bloody Valentine – “Emptiness Inside”
4. A.R. Kane – “Suicide Kiss”
5. Sonic Youth – “Teen Age Riot”
6. Loop – “Black Sun”
7. The House of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”
8. Ride – “Drive Blind”
9. Cocteau Twins – “Iceblink Luck”
10. Lush – “De-Luxe”
11. Ultra Vivid Scene – “Special One”
12. Pale Saints – “Sight of You”
13. My Bloody Valentine – “Don’t Ask Why”
14. Moose – “Suzanne”
15. Swervedriver – “Rave Down”
16. Drop Nineteens – “Winona”
17. The Boo Radleys – “Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce)”
18. Slowdive – “When the Sun Hits”
And here are those UK Post-Rock compilations…
UK Post-Rock Vol. 1
Featuring Disco Inferno, Butterfly Child, Insides, Laika, Moonshake, Flying Saucer Attack, Bark Psychosis, Scorn, God and Main.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 1
UK Post-Rock Vol. 2
Featuring Papa Sprain, Flying Saucer Attack, Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Moonshake, The Third Eye Foundation, Experimental Pop Band, Pram, Fridge, Techno Animal and Piano Magic.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 2
UK Post-Rock Vol. 3
Featuring Disco Inferno, Transformer, Adventures in Stereo, Stereolab, Snowpony, Moonshake, Scala, The Third Eye Foundation, Movietone, Papa Sprain, Bark Psychosis, Scorn, Terminal Cheesecake, Main and The Hair & Skin Trading Company.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 3
UK Post-Rock Vol. 4
Featuring Bark Psychosis, Disco Inferno, Hood, Amp, Moonshake, Flying Saucer Attack, The Hair & Skin Trading Company, Long Fin Killie, Papa Sprain, Butterfly Child, Piano Magic, Spoonfed Hybrid and Earwig.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 4
UK Post-Rock Vol. 5
Featuring Insides, Long Fin Killie, Telstar Ponies, Disco Inferno, Papa Sprain, Epic45, Scorn, Seefeel, The Third Eye Foundation, Ice, Terminal Cheesecake and Bark Psychosis. This is the least downloaded of all the UK Post-Rock comps but it’s actually one of the best. Don’t sleep on this one! In fact, you should probably START WITH THIS ONE!
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 5
UK Post-Rock Vol. 6
Featuring Deadstock, Locust, Ian Crause, Broadcast, Bows, Screeper, Echoboy, Electrelane, Bovine Over Sussex NE, Rothko, Juicy Eureka, Experimental Audio Research, L i ght, Crescent and The Third Eye Foundation.
Click here to download UK Post-Rock Vol. 6
Phew, what a big pile of awesomeness for you dig through! If, in the process of doing so, you find any links that take you to the wrong place, or simply don’t work, please mention it via the usual channels. Oh and if your music is included on any of these compilations and you don’t want it to be, just get in touch and it will be removed before you can say “What an unusually efficient example of old-school bureaucracy!”
Bubblegum Cage III: Bringing wonder back to the Internet, one hastily written, poorly proofread post at a time.
Guest (Play) List: Malibu Creek
Malibu Creek
The first in a new series of mix CDs compiled by guest editors. This time, it’s the turn of Kris from Kris’s Blog. She’s come up with an ace collection of contemporary indie rock, the type of which might not seem out of place over at Raven Sings the Blues. Enjoy!
Click here to download Malibu Creek
Here’s the full tracklisting, with a few notes from the curator.
1. Kidnap Kids! – “Stories”
“Naivety and being slammered. Confident, odd and my favourite new band.”
2. Myelin Sheaths- “Everything is Contagious”
“Snappy rock song about the dangers of hand sanitizer.”
3. Cloud Nothings- “Can’t Stay Awake”
“Sam doesn’t think it sounds cool enough to be on Carpark but it is. Child prodigy plays fuzzy pop.”
4. Apollo Ghosts – “Hub City”
“Complex and oh-so-vibrant pop songs.”
5. Panda Bear – “You Can Count on Me”
“The best thing to come out of Animal Collective. Good for driving and sleeping.”
6. Dirty Projectors – “As I Went Out One Morning”
“I admit they are awesome.”
7. Computer Magic – “The End of Time”
“Eighties-esque synth pop with clarity and glitchy sounds.”
8. Dum Dum Girls – “Jail La La”
“Good for her!”
9. Black Tambourine – “Throw Aggi Off the Bridge”
“Absolute classic under-achiever band I missed the first time.”
10. Warpaint – “Undertow”
“This Nirvana riff is darkly hypnotic and wonderful.”
11. Woods – “The Dark”
“This B-side is my favourite Woods song. No freak outs.”
12. Sic Alps – “Do You Want to Give $$?”
“New song is good.”
13. Reading Rainbow – “Tough Love”
“Harmonic and dreamy.”
14. Juvenile Hall – “High on Drugs”
“Lo-fi Vancouver punk girls.”
15. Bare Wires – “Teen Witch”
“Not such original garage rock but who doesn’t love teen witches?”
16. Ty Segall – “Girlfriend”
“So catchy I can only love it.”
