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Hello! Akron/Family

23 Jan

So there I was stumbling around in this dark house. It was completely empty beside my own mindless stupor. I was attempting to watch the patterns I created on the floor with my random but strangely pre-meditated directional changes, but I knew that I was ultimately destined to be distracted by the pictures on walls. And I mean, well, you had to be there… I felt like I was in a seven-eleven at 4am… and tired. Which means that every square inch of the said walls was glowing with pure color, and possibly edible. And it wasn’t just any ordinary color, it was pixelated, which means it had the benefit of hurting your eyes if you stared at it for years. And my eyes did hurt… how many years have I been here?

Staring around me I noticed that it was just pure randomness in terms of content. Funny videos, pictures from nights out, miss-spelled text, and carefully targeted advertisements. It all seemed sort of surreal, like I actually knew why I was seeing all of these seemingly pointless things, even despite the intense notion that I was being completely un-productive. In a moment of clarity I hastily looked for an alternative. I mean the shadows on the floor created by the seemingly arbitrary setup of furniture which i had just noticed around me did look really neat. But before I wrestled away my full attention from the colors, I noticed one square, and it didn’t let go. I had definitely gazed at it hundreds of years ago and quite possibly even wrote for it. A blog. That realization, combined with a momentary hundred year guilt trip, felt like a grenade suddenly exploding in some random filing-cabinet in my head. After a brief paper cleanup I came to the hasty conclusion that my thoughts can change my surroundings… by writing on them. I was now excited and running steadfast with eyes closed, no way to hit the wall that way.

Hopefully it won’t turn out that my thoughts will actually be broadcasted to others, not that I care, it’s just that judging by what I’ve been reading for all these years… they might not be able to handle it. I realized how completely irrelevant that previous notion was when compared to my now questionable attention span. I dwelled upon it for only a bit, because I had to stay focused. I didn’t feel like tripping anymore, and the only way to keep critters from running under your wheels is good-old fashioned gonzo-journalism, and hitting the floor was only fun for the first few-hundred times and quite honestly at this point, I didn’t also really know what I was writing or even thinking about, but that it made it all the more adventurous. Besides whats the worst that could happen? It’s not like the walls were lying to me and it actually turned out this room was inhabited by drunken kids and Matt Coleman was yelling at me about why I haven’t posted on his blog in a while.

hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha
Matt actually didn’t yell at me at a party about his blog… he did that earlier in the day. I just felt like the subsequent party was a more suiting setting. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m just one of those individuals who needs motivation from time to time after all. &)

So… I hear more people need help journeying to the center of their minds. I just needed a break cause it gets tiring making that trip back and forth every weekend. I was beginning to see the I-95 in my nightmares.

But I’m back with warm presents!

Nothing like some peaceful country psychedelia to start off this chilly semester.
Really there is no way to describe this fully. His voice is awesome. And as a result all of whatever it is he is actually saying just turns into a warm fuzzy blur. Something about atoms splintering and a river? Physics! Trippy shit man.

The CD version has the benefit of bird noises, but that is really just arguing semantics at this point. Amazing band with a powerfully versatile style which is all connected by this sort of psychedelic brand ever so liberally hinting at christian rock. Whatever that means haha. All of their music is awesome, so listen to it. But if you are lazy then for now just get their latest album Set em wild Set em Free and I guess I will come back to them one day… Where was I again?

P.S. Listen to their song Don’t be afraid, you’re already dead for some brilliant, almost beatle-esque brand of ironic mind-fuck psychedelia which is actually just a nice pretty song… if you think you can handle it!

&)))))))))))

extra: imagine being there with akron/family when that video took place. i’m willing to bet it was chill

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July 1968 Psychedelia – A-“My Clown” B-“Dandelion Seeds”

19 Jan

July is perhaps best known by the eclectic group of UK 60’s psychedelic album collectors. Do not let this specific title draw you away from this post. If you are a fan of psychedelic music, modern or original, this post should be of interest to you. I will reserve “Journey to the Center of the Mind” posts to explorations into the eccentric world of psychedelic music. Occasionally blogger Peter Mosur will join us on our trip down mind-bending, kaleidoscopic lane. Today we will explore a single released by July in 1968 and the coinciding album that has garnered much attention even in its mediocrity.

July came out of a verdant psychedelic scene in Britain. Hallucinogenic music still maintained its cult popularity and bands were still experimenting with different sounds. July was the product of a merger between two separated bands. In the early 1960s a band named the Dreamers began playing pop music. The band changed its name to The Tomcats because of Freddie and the Dreamers and also changed their genre to blues/rock. In 1965 the band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Tom Newman, bassist Alan James, guitarist Peter Cook and drummer Chris Jackson. And, in typical band fashion, this incarnation of The Tomcats broke up in 1965.

Also exploring the London music scene was a band named Second Thoughts. They also broke up in 1965. Second Thoughts were an R&B band that featured conga player, flautist and keyboardist Jon Field, guitarist Tony Duhig, singer Patrick Campbell-Lyons future Thunderclap Newman vocalist and keyboardist Speedy Keen. Keen wrote Thunderclap Newman’s one-hit-wonder “Something in the Air.” Also, just for those who are interested, Thunderclap Newman was created by the Who’s Pete Townshend to showcase Keen’s songwriting (which produced one huge hit). Keen was the Who’s chauffeur. The music business is all about connections.

Anyway, the two bands combined forces and a new Tomcats line-up was created with Newman on vocals, Duhig on guitar, Field on flute/keyboard, James on bass and Jackson on drums. Newman and former Tomcats member Peter Cook began writing more psychedelic music for the Tomcats and in 1968 the band changed its name to July. They were picked up by Spencer Davis (of his group) and produced by watched most attentively by Tommy Scott on their 1968 eponymous release off Major Minor Records Limited. Those who have the record understand that joke. I actually have the CD.

The band broke up in 1969 after their singles and album flopped. Newman actually went on to produce Mike Oldfield’s work. But their legend lives on.

July is overall a mediocre psychedelic album. But, the first two tracks on side one are exceptional pieces of psychedelic music. “My Clown” and “Dandelion Seeds” were released as a single in 1968. Today, 43 years later, this single is widely regarded as one of the best psychedelic singles ever released. No. I am not kidding. This London-based psychedelic band managed to slip through the cracks of obscurity and are now finally being recognized. Let’s explore these two songs.

The track immediately sends us into the normal psychedelic repetition. I just love the track manipulation that is a constant in psychedelic pieces of that era. You also can spot some classic British elements of psychedelic music in that it maintains solid pop harmonies. The chorus is wonderful. The voices are precise and melodic. The song shifts into hard psychedelia at around the 1:25 mark. It is there that we hear a guitar solo. We can also hear vocal manipulation which is interesting and well done. Perhaps my favorite part of the song is the conclusion. The voice echoes and then falls into some conga and distorted flute.

“Dandelion Seeds” is immediately different. This is what makes this single so great. What you hear immediately is rhythmic and distorted blues. The verse follows this progression with awesome mind-melting lyrics. Then at 50 seconds the verse becomes almost poppy and effervescent. It’s cool. You can really hear the R&B influences. Then something odd happens. At 2:30 the song changes completely. It becomes drawn out with keyboards and almost seems like a scene out of a psychedelic movie. It has a soundtrack feel to it. But, in the background (almost like a nightmare) is the originally beat of the song which replaces the odd sound and we come back again. The song ends with a guitar solo (no backing).

Tame Impala – Innerspeaker

30 Oct

Well Fall this year is actually beautiful. Aside from the fact that it has been raining at least once a day consistently for at least two weeks, I think it hit like 80 degrees one day this week. It felt and smelt like summer. You know that summer smell where the air is just telling you to go do fun things. If only finance could be done without using books, writing utensils, or calculators and could be done in the woods. Staring at trees is just as productive as staring at stock price fluctuations anyway.

All this summer weather reminded me of my favorite band from a couple months ago. Hailing from Australia (which is now only preparing for its summer) is Tame Impala, with their debut album Innerspeaker!

I couldn’t find my favorite song off the album on youtube, so you get two other ones! (And neither three are the single at that!)

“I know where you went, but I don’t know how you get there”

I’d be sitting in a car with my friends on a warm day watching people walk by doing things, and I’d be smiling because this is probably one of the best lines ever.

Not to mention the music is like being transported to 1970 where everyone still kept the 60’s chill-out vibe. They sound like the Beatles would have if they started playing hard rock. No one else seems to agree but the singer sounds like John Lennon!

The random talking, the noises, reverb mixed with phasers. The lyrics speak to exactly the sound they are aiming for! If anything can describe this, it is simply professional. These Aussies definitely knew what they were doing. Specially considering that there are no Impalas in Australia. They must have envisioned this entire musical project a good while before it was enacted.

This band lists Dungen as one of their influences which excites me because I hear it and it is awesome. It is specially evident on my favorite song, with its psychedelic break-down at the end. Tame Impala can easily be the summer component to the winter Dungen.

I want everyone to listen to this music, close their eyes, and imagine summer. It’s like casting a spell and when you do it right you will start to feel warm inside as if the sun is shining upon you. Or it’s actually just meditation – same thing.

-oko

P.S. My favorite song is Desire be, Desire Go. There is only a live version on youtube, which I honestly didn’t listen to all the way. lol &)

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Flying Lotus – Recoiled

12 Oct

Hello all! I have been super busy with work and school, but here is a post!

(POST)

Fall is upon us! The cold catches us sleeping as we make the best of the fleeing sun. With hopeless bliss we under dress but then disease spreads without mercy. As we struggle, throat sore and head aching, school catches up to us just to tell us that we are behind. But you just want to party. And before you know it winter is here and fall was just a blur.

But fear not! I have the solution!

*I reach into my music library and play a song*

This is Flying Lotus. He will aid you on your journey through fall and prepare you for the coming winter. And his music will leave its impression on your forever, so you will remember this season in at least one way.

This song he skillfully conjured up using three ingredients; melodic harps and spacey vibes, random electronic sounds and sampled video game noises, and a wrapper of the illest hip-hop beats ever to hold it all together.

Its name is Recoiled and it is featured on his album titled Cosmogramma. It leaves you startled and confused. But although fall can be just so (startling and confusing), you have to remember about the pretty leaves on the trees. This song can easily be a red, orange, and yellow, dance party in a dying forest, one from which you were recoiled.

And what a gangster party that would be. This guy does what most hip-hop artist can’t even dream of doing. 2:54 is so fucken hip it should give you shivers and an urge to bounce (or hop).

And he does it all without even saying a word. The many different sounds just blend into shining tides of peaceful exploration of technological mystery. Its tells a story and words aren’t even needed. This is true experimental hip-hop in all its beautiful glory.

And according to most hipsters, this album is one of the most revolutionary things to happen this year. Thank you hipsters. I recommend listening to the entire thing, because it cannot be described in words. It will turn your fall into a rise.

Oh and apparently Flying Lotus was inspired to make this album after having tried DMT for the first time. &)
-oko

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Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group – Live

27 Sep

Hello everyone! I have been very busy doing college stuff and have just found time to post again. I got a job delivering calzones and am very happy because now I will have money to buy stuff like CDs! (or just drugs and dumb hippy shit likes plants for my room)

I should have posted this earlier, but on 9/17 I experienced a life changing series of events which compare with my better acid trips. I saw, with many car issues e.g. a flat tire, the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez group live in NYC’s Highline Ballroom!

And that was only the best video I could find. If you could only imagine the rest of the show, you probably should quit your day job and be making music.

Omar was the guy wearing that awesome shirt and standing behind and to the right of the drummer. The drummer, Deatoni Parks, is only one of the drummers that Omar hires (the group’s linup changes on a regular basis), but yea. You just watched that video, right? He’s pretty cool.

I was hallucinating. Like for real. At one point the entire crowd vanished and I was standing there with energy pouring out of an opening in my chest and going into my mind which was then redirecting it to my hands. Among the settings was space, the egyptian desert, and some south american jungles.

And after a certain AC show I went to last summer (which I will write about in the future), I have vowed to only go to shows sober, a policy I adhered to this particular night as well.

When the hallucinations weren’t happening I would close my eyes and sway madly to the rhythm. People around me usually become uneasy when I do this because I tend to sway in odd time signatures and I imagine I must look like a cultist. But if you are passionate and actually listen to music, it is the right thing to do.

I was utterly stunned by the show. Too the point were I stayed after to watch Omar’s younger brother packing up and signing autographs. I didn’t need one because the group had signed my soul. And besides the main man had fled too quickly!

To Omar:
Omar your on-stage mannerisms live up to your music splendidly. If you are reading this then ergsaeriukhgsieuhrgliahoiagaoieurhgaerhgoiuerhg to you too : )
And I still can’t figure out what exactly it is your music does. It’s definitely some psychological or emotional rhythm changes which you have discovered and which have yet to be scientifically studied. For now they are simply known as “Holy shit dude did you feel that?”, “yea man wtf was that?”, “I dunno, but this song is SO good”, “yea man”.

Just one thing though man. Just one thing which kept the show from being the most influential experience of my life. As a whole anyway, because some parts didn’t have this wrong with them. And maybe I am just too young to understand. But I just don’t like her voice man. I may not understand Spanish, but I feel like it doesn’t fit with the face-melting musical beauty – it steals the spotlight.

Somehow though I feel like you already know this. And you are doing it because you are a legend and can. You are fucking with us, the crowd. But your presence is so overwhelming that this was the first show I was at were people didn’t even ask for an encore, simply out of respect, and so I guess it’s alright. Carry on my friend, for it is all of our dreams to be like you… and I will be there one day & )

Oh and thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you!


-oko

p.s. Cedric’s an alot better singer lolwtfbbqbias

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