Roky Erickson - Night Of The Vampire

The Creature With The Atom Brain And The Three Stages Of Roky Erickson

Funkadelic - Free Your Mind And Your Ass WIll Follow

Funkadelic + a lot of LSD = Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow
http://www.mediafire.com/?giw1tzm202j

Mainliner - Mellow Out

Listen to Mainliner: http://www.mediafire.com/?zzdtygjnt1d

Fresh Maggots - Fresh Maggots...Hatched

A solid, British psych-folk record originally released in '71. My copy is a reissue with some extra songs. Hope you like it:http://www.mediafire.com/?bmmwyl1t2yk

Bobby Beausoleil and the Freedom Orchestra - Lucifer Rising

Bobby Beausoleil was a fucked up dude. This is another cd that you really shouldn't feel bad about downloading, considering ol' Bobby is in jail for murdering a teacher. Beausoleil was a member of the Manson Family, so what else could you really expect?

Aside from the incredible moral dilemmas of trying to justify Bobby Beausoleil as a person who deserved anything, whatever, this cd is still pretty incredible. The cd is a soundtrack for Kenneth Anger's film of the same title. Beausoleil was set to star in the film, but it wasn't long before he and Anger had a falling out. The music is excellent; a sweeping, lush orchestration creeps up on you, and the transitions between drifting ambience and hard, heavy sound weave beautifully. Check it out.

Get it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1nmuwu0ykm2

Sun Araw - Beach Head

I am excited to present to you Beach Head. The music on this cd is really hard to characterize, but whatever you end up calling it, you cannot ignore the talent of Southern California local, Cameron Stallones. I know he plays the guitar, and that there is in fact guitar played on this cd. Aside from that, I really can't identify many of the other instruments: some chimes, weird droney stringed instruments, gongs, probably some weird electronic stuff I don't really know about, and a shitload of other percussion. The music is very psychedelic, but I would definitely not call it rock. There are noisy freak-outs that segue into beautiful instrumental sections -- and all the while, waves crashing on a beach can be heard. The word shimmery seems to aptly describe the music at many points. So I don't really know what else to say except that I highly recommend this cd and that, if possible, the music sounds a lot like the way the cover looks.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ikamn5jjwuz

Brainticket - Cottonwood Hill

Man, how cool is that album cover? Brainticket was a European psych band that started in the late 60's, but this album, their first, wasn't released until '71. The music here sounds like it has been saturated with some high-grade acid. Awesome organ playing and fuzzed-out wah guitar riffs permeate. Also, there's a woman who sing/talks some very erotic/transcendental vocals.
Highly Recommended:http://www.mediafire.com/?2iyyngmwi5o

The Beat of the Earth - The Beat of the Earth

"If you are looking for psychedelic music, do not buy this record unless you are looking for psychedelic music." I found this cd at Freak Beat (surprise, surprise!) and had to get it after reading that on the back. Great stuff here, folks!

INTRODUCTION

After being discovered by fans of underground psychedelia in the late 1980s, Orange County band BEAT OF THE EARTH's sole 1967 album has grown into a classic within the field, in spite of its rarity and lack of a reissue. The improvisational music on the album cannot be easily described but most who hear it agree that it represents a unique link between mid-1960s California teen sounds and the droning acid rock of the later era. I was able to connect with ex-band member Karen Darby who gracefully shared her memories of the band and its legendary leader Phil Pearlman. To my knowledge this is the first ever article on BEAT OF THE EARTH, whose reputation is likely to expand further as more and more people get to hear their unique music.

KAREN DARBY INTERVIEW

Q: How was the BEAT OF THE EARTH group formed?

KAREN: Sometime in late 1966, early 1967 I connected with Phil Pearlman. He was brooding over the loss of a relationship with a gorgeous woman, and had been performing his own brand of very radical semi-surf, chrome-reverse-rim style music on electric guitar at a coffee house, then called Sid's Blue Beat, located at that time in a rundown, wonderfully dark old bar in front of the Balboa Pier, Newport Beach (Balboa Peninsula), Orange County, California. Unfortunately I wasn't old enough to frequent the place, but I had often walked by and heard the "beautiful-noise", music. A mutual friend of his and mine introduced Phil and I, or inadvertently brought us to each other's attention.

So, Phil was attending the University of Southern California, at Irvine, and was in the first beginning-graduation class in that newly formed school. His major, as best I can recall (forgive me Phil if I get this wrong), was ART. The album and group itself was to be his project for an art class. The original photo on the first album front was an artistic photo of different instruments plugged into a plastic wall receptacle located in the grass. The back cover had the photo of all of us on those wood tower structures. That photo was taken in Los Angeles at Griffith Park, home-site of many Love-In's before drugs raids on the Hells Angels by the then very rough L.A.P.D. Narco Squads, made Love-Ins too dangerous for ordinary Hippies like myself.


Karen Darby around the time of Beat Of The Earth

Phil and I were boyfriend/girlfriend initially, and often sang, played guitar, and created our own music while driving in his old VW bus around town. Somewhere along the way I grew interested in someone else, but Phil and I stayed friends. Phil wanted to do this "Artistic Statement" thing for school, by forming a music group and doing an album with his own funds and know-how.

The idea for the group's name came about as we were playing music with a couple of other people, I was keeping a steady beat by clapping. The words were free-form poetry, political to whimsical. The music was free-form, original, and unrehearsable, since it was all ad lib or spontaneous. I remarked to Phil that it was the steady thrum one experienced when you went to a Love-In. All these small groups of musicians playing guitars, tambourines, flutes, auto-harps, bongo's, anything that made sound, all simultaneously, created a type of orderly orchestral sound. The combined beats were primitive, primal, the beat of the earth. Phil jumped on the name. It best illustrated the concept he was attempting to create. I truly believed then, as he did, that if everyone came together doing their own thing, musically, that the combined sound would be great... a democratic beat... of the earth!

Phil went about finding other musician's to participate in his "art" project. He recruited Morgan Chapman as our general road-warrior, fix-it, electrician for amps and anything audio. He was "older" to me then, he'd suffered pretty severe hearing loss from hours of work in front of amplifiers of all shapes and sizes. He was much needed to service the electronic organ played by Ron Collins. Ron was actually a very accomplished organist. His blues riffs, which I felt never were truly appreciated on the BOTE recordings, were incredible. I would say he was the most experienced, professional musician of our group then. J.R. Nichols was a "valley-boy", lowrider-style, electric-guitarist. He was quiet, unpredictable, head-strong, and talented in his own way. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember much about Phil and Sherry Phillips contribution. I believe that Phil Phillips was at the recording session I was at, but in what capacity, I cannot recall. To my knowledge all of us hailed from either Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and Orange County, California. It's possible Ron Collins was from somewhere in the mid-west of the U.S. originally, but the details are vague now.

By the way, going from left to right of the photo on the album [see beginning of this article], standing on the platforms, Phil & Sherry, only her legs are visible, Ron Collins, JR Nichols, Morgan, Phil Pearlman, and then I, Karen Darby.


Q: How would you described the musical style of "Beat Of The Earth"? Many people consider it a "missing link" between the mid-1960s and late 1960s styles...

KAREN: If you asked me now what the style was of the BOTE music, my answer would be the same as then. "Unstructured, Stream of Consciousness, riffs and rhythms, celebration of each individual musician by allowing spontaneous expression based on group-orchestrated effort, without orchestrated (written) music". If you asked Phil then what the planned "song" or piece we were to perform was, he would say, "I don't know man, lets just let it happen. It's getting high on life just digging on each other's sound" (not a direct quote, but a reflection of how Phil appeared to respond then, at least to me). What musical albums Phil owned I couldn't say. His tastes were earthy, unpretentious, "organic". His hair and beard were long, and though he washed or showered often enough, he did not believe in "unnatural augmentation of smell". Anyway... Ron Collins was a Motown/Rhythm & Blues musician. As I said before, folksy would not be a descriptor for his style. JR Nichols was a loud, pre-heavy-metal lead-guitarist with a real attitude. As for me, my albums and musical style were primarily Dylanesque. I loved Bob Dylan's music, electrified or not. "Fresh Cream" was one of my favorites, along with Jefferson Airplane and of course The Beatles. The Mamas & The Papas were played daily back then, along with the Velvet Underground. The Rolling Stones were second only to the Beatles in my collection of long plays.


Q: What do you remember of recording the LP?

KAREN: There were two recording sessions I know of for sure. The first one I was at, the second one I missed due to illness. Phil rented a recording studio, if I remember correctly it was recorded in a standard (for then) eight-track mode. The technical details were Phil's to arrange, it was his pocketbook. The studio was in Hollywood somewhere, all of us drove up in Phil's bus singing, and warming up so to speak. Strange as it may sound, Phil Pearlman was very against drugs for himself, and really was into encouraging the rest of us to try and be creative without "augmentation". He used to carry burning incense around and say, "inhale this, it's a natural high". The rest of the group was not into Phil's "bag", as the saying went. I remember grass, or hash was almost always available and used by everyone else in the group. Getting high was easy, all you had to be was close to the other members inhaling secondary weed. In the recording studio there were guards I remember who seemed to function to keep the police out so that the musicians could "emote" creatively on whatever got them "there". To my knowledge no other music but the two sessions of 1967 were performed by BOTE in the recording studio.


Q: How was the LP sold and distributed?

KAREN: The masters of the recording sessions were kept by Phil. He produced 500 copies originally in 1967. His marketing technique was to pick-up hitchhikers and try to sell or give them a copy. To my knowledge he was adverse to trusting anyone else to distribute or market his "artistic statement". I never found out what "grade" he got for his project!

When Phil decided to "re-master" his masters in 1994 and issue the [second] album, he called me at my Chiropractic office and asked if I cared or was expectant of any return for the use of my contribution. I told him I had no burning desire to get involved in his project, I was too busy running a full-time practice. Some months later he appeared at my office with a box of copies of his reissues for me to keep. Listening to the new/old album I recognized parts of both sessions, especially a harmony part with Phil and I.




Q: I understand there were a few live performances?

KAREN: As a group we did several "live" shows. One of the concerts was in an old movie theater-like building in Huntington Beach, CA. I cannot recall the other locations, or how many we did specifically. Personally I participated in only 2 or 3 myself. Phil owned, and also rented out, all of the equipment for a truly psychedelic "happening". He had strobe-lights, overhead-projectors, screens, amps... I remember two large "happenings" distinctly. Onstage I sang, tambourine and generally cavorted around in jeans, beads, and a work/prison/shambrey shirt. My boyfriend, later husband, Topper helped orchestrate the light-show behind us on stage. We hung sheets behind the stage on to which over-head projectors splashed undulating color. This was accomplished by using glass pie-pans filled with oil and drops of food color that were giggled to the beat of the music we were playing. The fun and noise was deafening and awesome! I doubt Phil made any money off these events. They were somewhat spontaneously organized, and the music was ad lib rock and roll. Absolutely the most fun I've ever had!



Q: How long did the BEAT OF THE EARTH last? Were you involved in any other musical projects?

KAREN: If I remember right, the band may have lasted 6-8 months, or really less. It was not to my knowledge a cohesive, organized, chartered, or constructed group. It was Phil's experiment, spontaneous, combustible, reusable, inclusive, delightful, unrepeatable, a "happening". I continued to play guitar, sing, and enjoy music, although never really professionally. I currently play piano, am semi-retired from the practice of Chiropractic. Recently I have had the terror and joy of undergoing cancer treatment for colorectal cancer which has "altered" my physical existence. I'm the proud owner of an ileostomy. Music and the enjoyment of all aspects of life and living are my world now. I am blessed to be alive, and I've really enjoyed this opportunity to travel into my past.




Q: Phil Pearlman is today considered a legend among fans of underground music from the 1960s-70s. What were your impressions of him?

KAREN: Most important to remember about Phil is that as he was unique even for the "all-time" uniqueness of the late 60's! Actually I coined a phrase that I felt most people like Phil demonstrated as a natural personality trait; "Terminal Uniqueness". This is not a put-down, only a loving-label that best describes someone who is always a contrarian. Phil attended a special high-school where he could "be himself" unharrassed, fortunately his parents or father was a wealthy Urologist and could afford to educate him in whatever manner best suited his avantgarde nature. Phil's dad was Jewish, his mom not. He had one sister that I can remember, I never met her, I think she was rather distant from Phil's lifestyle. Phil was not a "druggie" then and I'm very certain never was. Reality was a greater "turn-on" to him, his life was whatever he wanted to do, whatever his politics dictated.


Q: Have you two been in contact in recent years?

KAREN: When he came to my office with a box of the second BOTE album [1994], we got to talk a little about what he was doing then... and probably still. It seems he had married a wonderful woman who was totally supportive and involved in his choice of lifestyle. They had several children who were being raised on a farm/ranch east of San Diego, California. The Ranch had NO electricity, they also used a well for water. He was raising goats, which according to him he slaughtered personally and humanely whenever preparing them for market. He described to me what he thought was the most inhumane conditions in the local slaughter-house techniques. He had devised a quicker, bilateral knife to the carotids on a goat that was painless and "humane". For some reason I had a hard time in visioning Phil killing anything.

One of the funnier situations he described about his family situation was his utter disgust with his in-laws for giving his kids a battery-operated television. He said he was having to act as the TV police, trying to limit the ways in which television might damage his children permanently! Another funny thing was that the very old 4-cylinder, white, rusty, small pickup truck he came to my office in was stripped inside of anything that resembled comfort. It was a stick-shift, headlight-switch-only-affair, with gaping holes where radio, air-conditioner, or glove-box might reside. Even the window behind the driver between the bed and the cab was missing. I vaguely recall that the side driver and passenger windows were absent.

Phil still sported stringy, now gray and white, long hair and a long to-his-chest beard. He was thin, weathered, and no different in personality to what I remembered from the 60's. He ranted a bit of his dislike of how the planet was being treated by industry. He had and voiced still a total disdain for "consumeristical society". However, I felt that a part of him still operated to stay alive and thrive financially. His efforts to capitalize on the trend toward "nostalgically reliving", revisiting and re-experiencing the "hippy 60's", in the form of paying out of his pocket again to reissue the BOTE music, was I believe pure capitalism on his part. Even back in the 60's he was a businessman, an entrepreneur. I remember in the sixties hearing a young groupie-ish woman call him J.C. (for Jesus Christ), because of his hair and beard and almost "guru" type stance on the world, "getting high on life" and politics. Perhaps I never truly appreciated his lack of conventionalism, his fearless manner of going about what he believed in, without inhibition.

In the Beat Of The Earth venture it is my opinion that Phil really attempted to create spontaneous, musical, combustion, without any end... hence the continuous tracks. The "stream of musical output" was by design and intention. How it played out was not so important as the doing of it. "Performance Art", is my best descriptor for the results of Phil's creative artistic statement/experiment.


The previously unreleased "second" LP

Conclusion: (Well, this may not be what you want, but here it goes anyway) As I learn to finally "read" musical score... after years of playing guitar chords on my piano, I realize that to be spontaneous, and create repeatable, re-recordable music requires both discipline and desire. I believe BOTE was desire, without the discipline and often less spontaneous organization of conventional song/musical structure. When I hear a jazz group, or group of blue-grass musicians "jam" together, I am still aware of a beginning and an end to the musical performance. BOTE never ended, and perhaps never will, it never really existed except in Phil's and a few of our hearts, the music is an endless mantra of living, breathing, (even probably body function) sounds. Bless you and those of the world who see through the years back to when anything was possible as long as you believed in your idea. Things are of course always possible, the music of today is as exciting in its innovation as ours was back then. Has something been lost? NAW! To me there is no missing link... it is all a "stream of musical thought" one decade to another... one generation to another, maybe one world to another!

The Beat of the Earth is a metaphor for the idea that all people, working in unison, create a vibration that is beautiful music. I was raised in a unique "religion", the Baha'i Faith, a World Religion that declares the values I have spoken of. Neither cancer, nor time, nor the things happening in the world today have shaken my beliefs. The 60's were such a wonderful time of invention, hope, faith in each individuals opportunity to make a difference. I pray that the new century does not have to wait until 2060 to see change and World Peace become an ideal of conscience again! ... because that may be too late for my grandchildren and too late for us all!

END OF INTERVIEW

Download:http://www.mediafire.com/?2t2mdwmw2wg

V.A. - Garageaholic, Psychedelic, Outsider Music

Great little impulse buy I picked up at Freak Beat. Introduced me to a lot of awesome bands. Terrific compilation, highly recommended:http://www.mediafire.com/?diljmtoey32

ooioo - Feather Float

I just picked up this cd at Amoeba Music a couple days ago, and I have to say, it just might be better than our previous ooioo post, Taiga. I haven't listened to the entire album yet, but from what I have heard, man oh man. Track 3, Ina咲くの森 , initially sounds traditionally japanese; then morphs into a tribal electric psyche-rock jam. This cd should probably be listened to in its entirety, for most of the songs weave into each other, and because well, every song (so far) sounds pretty damn good. That's it for now. I'm on a friend's computer because mine has a mix stuck in it. So, uh, yeah, this cd is awesome. download it.

bahnng::::

http://www.mediafire.com/?gwhoumhojlm

Be sure to check out Taiga too if you haven't heard it. we have it RIGHT here.
http://tenderplayground.blogspot.com/2009/05/ooioo-taiga.html

Mainliner -- Mainliner Sonic

Some more Mainliner.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yzmwbjmw3yd

Mainliner -- Kamikaze

Some more Mainliner.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hjdywnyhkiw

Flower Travellin' Band -- Satori

This stuff is quintessential Japanese psych. I have heard some people compare FTB to Led Zeppelin, but I've never really been a huge Zeppelin fan so I can't comment on that. The music is very melodic and jammy but keeps a nice raw feel. Although the two main tracks are good, the treasure for me is the bonus song Map.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ztyjmnegmnz

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. - Magical Power From Mars

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. is my favorite incarnation of Kawabata Makoto's Acid Mothers collective. They have a focus on rhythm and grooves that some of the other incarnations of the collective have left behind, on a quest for a more experimental sound. There is a heavy eastern influence on these tracks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zntyydmdg2z

Les Rallizes Denudes - '77 Live

Before I say anything about the music on this cd, I want to tell you how I came to have it, which, I think, is a pretty funny story. I was in New York, visiting my sisters, and wanted to get some music. One of my sisters, and her boyfriend of the time, took me to a store called Other Music (I've mentioned it before, I think). This was a couple of years ago, before I knew much about Japanese Psychedelic music. So after browsing for about 20 minutes, and not finding anything I wanted, I told her that I was ready to leave. Apparently, one of the employees heard me. I turned around to find myself staring at a scrawny, bearded, curly-haired, music-nerd employee. "What are you into?" he asked. I think I told him something along the lines of acid mothers, soft machine, etc. He goes and gets this cd, and upon returning excitedly exclaims, "Dude, this shit is so far out there! You gotta be trippin' your ass off to even begin to understand this!" I looked at my sister - both of us were trying not to laugh. Two things were going through my mind: 1) this guy is ridiculously funny and, 2) he might be on to something. So I bought the cd.

Les Rallizes Denudes is now one of my favorite bands, not only because of their music, which I will elaborate on later, but also because of their historical, cultural, and social relevance. The band formed in 1967, and in 1970, the band's original bass player, Moriaki Wakabayashi, was involved in the hi-jacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351, orchestrated by the Japanese Red Army. The JRA were a militant ultra-leftist group, founded by Fusako Shigenobu, responsible for numerous terrorist attacks. Les Rallizes Denudes singer, Takashi Mizutani, was supposedly offered a role in the hi-jacking of Flight 351, but turned it down. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the band's political actions, try and think of one band from the United States or England, or anywhere really, who has been this active. It's interesting stuff to me...but now onto the music.

There is a very psychedelic sound here. Lots of reverb on the guitar and vocals along with some really nice sounding fuzzy distortion. At times, this cd reminds me of early American Surf-Music. Then, at other times, there are long noisy jams that are quite original and esoteric, yet still very accessible. It is a great honor to present to you Les Rallizes Denudes.

Disc 1: http://www.mediafire.com/?inh1zjyzwnm
Disc 2: http://www.mediafire.com/?zwmzvnlyz1h

Mainliner - Psychedelic Polyhedron

Alright, so I've decided not to post the albums of But Does It Have To Be So Loud? in chronological order because, well... I don't really want to.

For the first post of the series I am giving you Mainliner's 1997 release Psychedelic Polyhedron. This cd is really really loud. It is hard to describe the style of the band, but anyone who has heard Acid Mothers Temple will hear similarities. And rightfully so. Kawabata Makoto, the leader of AMT,is also the guitarist for Mainliner. Although the group is only comprised of three members - bassist, guitarist, drummer - there is enough noise here to do some serious damage to your hearing. But it's not just noise. Mainliner is all about riffin',jammin', and rockin'.

So strap on your helmets, crank up the volume, and please enjoy Mainliner.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yznekyeyjzn

P.S. Comments are greatly appreciated! Let us know how we are doing!

Quintessence - In Blissful Company

Oboy, Oboy, I am very excited to post this cd! Quintessence is a very unique and influential band, hailing from Great Britain, and this stuff is very psychedelic. There are heavy grooves lead by a stellar rhythm section, great chant-like vocals, beautiful guitar and flute work, and a medley of other goodies. In case you couldn't tell by the title and album art, this was intended to be a very spiritual cd. All of the members of the band were Hindu's and Hare Krishna's and the Eastern influence is definitely evident in the instrumental and vocal content. In Blissful Company is some of the most beautiful music I have heard. Do yourself a favor and download this cd. Oh yeah, I almost forgot:

Om tat sat
O, mother when shall I be blessed by joining your blissful company

http://www.mediafire.com/?wyzmbmnyajz

Bruce Haack - The Electric Lucifer

Bruce Haack's "The Electric Lucifer" is rightly considered one of the masterworks of 20th century electronic music. Originally recorded in 1968 and 1969 (and released in 1970) it is an album both unique in conception and super in realization. An eminently listenable work where Pop-Psychedelia and Moog/musique-concrete sounds coalesce around Haack's central metaphysical concept of "Powerlove," a force so powerful that it could end war and unify humankind. Acclaimed upon its original release (one of Rolling Stones favourite albums of 1970 amongst many citations) yet unavailable for over three decades, "The Electric Lucifer" is presented here for the first time on CD! Remastered and restored from the original master tapes recently discovered in the Columbia vault (and featuring two previously unreleased bonus tracks)... "The Electric Lucifer" is your gateway to the profound yet playful universe of Bruce Haack, a "far-out" place where flower-power and inner-space electronics collide!

- Back of jewel case

As electronic music has been popularized on the dance floor in this backwards generation, it is refreshing to hear an electronic record that is meant to be listened to... even if its 40 years old. A moog masterpiece, "The Electric Lucifer" is a delight to listen to, and perhaps even important(!), to hear an earlier electronic music that we might not expect when thinking of the genre. This record is measured meticulously yet still completely insane, and I repeat, a real delight to listen to.

Get it HERE:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mznlmjf3xjn

Second Hand - Reality

I found this gem at my local music store, Freak Beat Records. I highly recommend that anyone who lives in the San Fernando Valley check this place out. They buy and sell new and used records, cd's, and dvd's at great prices and have an awesome selection. I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment, so I will just give you the blurb from the back of the cd case:

Recorded by precocious London teenagers in 1968, Reality is a prog-psych landmark combining classic songwriting with swathes of mellotron and vicious guitar to unique, unsettling effect. This long-awaited official reissue has been painstakingly remastered to offer the best possible sound, and comes complete with four bonus tracks, rare photographs, and comprehensive liner notes from band leader Ken Elliott and producer Vic Keary (which you don't get to see because you are downloading this), making it an essential purchase for all lovers of British Psych.

This is a great cd that is not to be missed.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ojne5njgjgy