maudlin of the Well - Part the Second (2009)

I don't know why it's taken me so long to make a post about this record. Probably has something to do with why I rarely make posts about any records — I let acerola do that shit, fuck finding links!

But no, this is some top-notch music that does a great job of bridging the gap between the previous pair of maudlin of the Well records, Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, with the more ornate modern classical compositions of Toby Driver's solo work and Kayo Dot. As with all of his projects, there are always those elements that can be a bit grating if you don't keep an open mind towards the experiential nature of what he writes (like all the groaning on Rose Quartz Turning to Glass), but there's simply not a whole lot in the world that's like this, just things that are somewhat similar. A must listen for fans of Henry Cow, Final Fantasy 7, and slutty guitar solos.

Free download in FLAC and all that other shit: Cha-Ching!

metaghostin' Vol. 2 - In Reality Is Reality Reality?

In Reality Is Reality Reality? - 56'40''
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1 - "Start" (Mew / No More Stories... B-Side / 2009)

I didn't have an especially high opinion of Mew prior to No More Stories..., and much of their earlier material still grates on my nerves a good deal, but No More Stories... was definitely one of my favorite albums of 2009. (At least I think it was 2009.) This B-side is much less dense than most of that album, being mostly vocals and piano, but it does a great job of condensing the bizarre childlike melancholy that pervades No More Stories... into such a simple song.

2 - "October All Over" (Unwound / Leaves Turn Inside You / 2001)

There are a great many reasons to love this band, this album, this song, but I mostly just want to talk a little about the immaculate production. Entirely self-produced, they managed to really indulge in what a studio can offer without going overboard as many overwrought double-LP tend to be. It has a density to it, a great low-frequency heft, and yet never sacrifices clarity of each instrument carefully arranged within the stereo field. Even the cliché reverse guitar solo rips, searing the flesh off all your faces.

3 - "Visions" (Stevie Wonder / Innervisions / 1973)

Being mostly a dude who grew up on hard rock, cock rock, schlock rock, and other bullshit older brothers listen, I was never exposed to what Stevie Wonder was really about until college. Some times you feel dumb and sometimes you feel fucking retarded. Hearing Innervisions was one of those moments, but damn it felt good. In the words of MF Doom, "quite buttery".

4 - "Green Typewriters III" (Olivia Tremor Control / Dusk at Cubist Castle / 1996)

This album is just jammed with some of the dopest minute-long pop songs.

5 - "Lobster in Cleavage Probe (Suite)" (Hatfield & the North / S/T / 1974)

In local parlance, Hatfield & the North were the absolute sluttiest of the Canterbury bands. Yeah, yeah, dudes were instrumental beasts, but they were just laying down the most hilarious soft-jazz licks and singing about taking baths and eating candy bars. They have a choir to back up their Rhodes cheez and some guy going buckwild on the Big Muff bass. It's just thoroughly outrageous, Prog progenitors takin' the piss and having fun.

6 - "Don't Cry for Me" (The Zombies / Odessey & Oracle / 1968)

Sick harmonies, brah.

7 - "Heaven and Weak" (Maudlin of the Well / Bath / 2001)

What's the name of the story that's referenced in the lyrics? I feel like I knew it once, because there was a girl I knew who made a piece of claymation about it. Probably a Greek Myth or just a thing that doesn't exist.

8 - "The Great Below" (NIN / The Fragile (Left) / 1999)

Why is it that stoner kids are still getting high to Dark Side of the Moon when they could be getting all introspective and tripped out to this?

9 - "Virtually" (Soft Machine / Fourth / 1974)

Hugh Hopper (RIP) is easily one of my favorite bassists of all time and if you're into electric bass within a Jazz or Fusion context, you owe it yourself to go out and pickup this record.