SACRAMENT :: The Church - Starfish (Full Album)

The Church - Starfish

I recently posted about the sounds of my high school years. That list would not be complete without mentioning this album, The Church - Starfish. Voted by me as one of the sexiest albums of all time. If you can't get laid to this, then you might as well give up all your possessions and become a eunuch.

The Church moved to L.A. to record this album and they hated L.A. Why? Because it wasn't Sydney.  They went to get the polished production sounds that came about from working with Robert "Waddy" Wachtel and Greg Ladanyi. Lead singer Steve Kilbey said:

"The Church came to L.A. and really reacted against the place because none of us liked it. I hated where I was living. I hated driving this horrible little red car around on the wrong side of the road. I hate that there's no one walking on the streets and I missed my home. All the billboards, conversations I'd overhear, TV shows, everything that was happening to us was going into the music".

That unease translated well into their album and Starfish became a breakthrough album. 20+ years later, it still sounds golden.



Tracks:
"Destination" (00:00)
"Under the Milky Way" (5:53)
"Blood Money" (10:51)
"Lost" (15:16)
"North, South, East And West" (20:06)
"Spark" (24:56)
"Antenna"(28:41)
"Reptile" (32:31)
"A New Season"(37:39)
"Hotel Womb" (40:26)
"Texas Moon" (46:09)
"Perfect Child" (51:54)
"We both know why you are here"(54:48)
"Frozen And Distant"(57:09)
"Anna Miranda" (1:01:08)
"Nose Dive"(1:04:12)
"Afterlife"(1:07:39)
"Under the Milky Way" (acoustic)(1:11:50)
"Antenna" (acoustic)(1:15:59)
"Spark" (acoustic)(1:19:46)
"Warm Spell"(1:23:14)
"Musk"(1:27:50)

No Boats

We Are You In the Future - Martyn

The proficient techno producer from Amsterdam was in town (SF) this past weekend and played a killer set at the high-ceilinged, new-speaker-system-pounding club Mighty. Martyn did an excellent job of course, playing a handful of jams I was familiar with prior to seeing him live in addition to a ton of wicked new productions! There was also some live performance-improvisational-type business going on as well... :D

In honor of the excellent set he played, and the quality music he puts out, I wanted to post my favorite track of his- We Are You In the Future:

It's an epic techno journey that jams right when it should! Takes you places, but keeps it movin'.

I recently came across a remix of the track by Redshape that's really nice, a much chiller take on Martyn's futurist journey:

Redshape is a character! His identity is unknown to the public and he goes around wearing a red mask to keep it that way.

GHETTO DIVISION'S OWN :: Charlie Glitch - LXXXVII (1987) E.P

Charlie Glitch - LXXXVII (1987) E.P

Charlie Glitch a.k.a. Carlos Rodriguez is the godfather of Chicago ghetto house music (above he's posing with the mayor) or maybe I should say house music from the ghetto a.k.a. South Side ... at least for the new generation. I know many will say, what about DJ Funk, Houz'Mon, DJ Slugo ... but you have to remember that house music in Chicago evolves faster than a cane toad in heat. Anyway, Charlie has a new E.P. - LXXXVII (1987), which I just recently realized was that was Charlie's birth year ... damn I'm old!

So to the E.P. - it starts of with Alien Sex ... which is pretty sexy, if you are into aliens but definitely upbeat and sexy and puts you on edge at the same time. Next is Drop It - which starts of chill and un-expecting and then builds, going through some nice piano along the way to a build upon another build until the drop where you get to an amalgamation of synths, kick drums and rhythm. El Beeper is the next selection - immediately you are in slowed up merengue sounds of Oro Solido's Huye, Se Encenio El Beeper with some samples and rework. Jazzy Rave Days is an excellent rework of Stacy Kidd & Mike Dixon's Downtown Mix - and easily my favorite on the E.P. Finally, Kicks and Stix is a percussion based tribute to the early rave days of strictly percussion based rhythm.



Here's some footage from Charlie's release party at Chicago's famous Dolphin club:


Check out more at Ghetto Division and Charlie Glitch.

No Boats

SUMMER OF '90

Summer of '90 - 3 Falls

Recently on an unusually warm day, I took a drive to some of my old hangout spot from my "salad years" while listening to retro music and waxing nostalgiac. The pic taken above was a particularly memorable spot called "Three Falls", now closed off as you can see. The spot consisted of three waterfalls, the uppermost draining into a very small pool which you could jump into if you did it just right. I t could not have been more than 10' by 10' and 15' deep ... so it was pretty tricky. We would camp and drink and hang out by the fire, usually listening to something like this:



The Charlatans U.K. have such a unique sound, even to this day. It is definitely the organ. We would crank the entire 'Some Friendly' album. If it wasn't that, it was:



Yes, the original punk hipsters.

Often, I long for those nostalgic days ... mainly, I miss my friends. While they are still around, we don't share the same connection. Maybe I should plan a nostalgic day where we get together, cruise around, listen to old music and drink some beers. Of course, the difference being a sober driver this time because life is different now. Who's down?

No Boats

Starlite - Asa

An incredible sonic journey by a producer named Asa, from Bristol Britain. Found out about this guy from collaborations he does with another favorite artist of mine-- Sorrow. Asa has tracks out with Inspected & OWSLA.

This track alone blew my mind, but really, everything I've heard by this guy so far has been both unique and on some transcendental-level type shit! Check it out, seriously.

Here's a link to the EP the above track is from, which I'd also highly recommend! Literally had to post this, couldn't forgive myself I didn't put this out there for others to hear.