Far East Family Band, Parallel World

Just take a look at that beautiful cover, go on and just take it in for a minute. It's filled with all the right promises: From a foreign land the band are armed with  old and new technology and they're in space. That space capsule in the background places them in the present, but they're travelling by wooden ship and surrounded by a blue aura and they seem to be headed to the rainbow. The Scifi is heavy on this one.

Parallel World is Far East Family Band's third release from 1976. They are originally from Japan and feature prominent members Fumio Miyashita and Mansanori Takahashi, both were keyboardists and both would go on to produce wonderful synth music. Takahashi would later take on the name Kitaro and would continue to produce imaginative music up to this day. The album is produced by German musician and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulz.

The album is made up of four tracks, but the play time is an hour. The general atmosphere is spacey and at times washed heavy synths and keyboards, but for the most part it is a laid back affair. The tribal drums of 'Metempsychosis' kick things off and lead into the first lengthy track 'Entering-Times'. The band take their time adding layers of sound, keeping the pacing and tone steady before shifting into overdrive.

Courtesy: Last.Fm

The third track 'Kokoro' is about where one would draw comparison between the band and Pink Floyd. With it's haunting keyboards and soaring guitar it isn't a bad thing. Finally the title track 'Parallel World' starts with a pretty funky bass line quickly met with guitar and synths. The band ride this vibration for the most of the thirty minute track, but as it began Parallel World fades away, they deconstruct the artifact and place it back to its source.

Here is some great footage of The Far East Family Band live in Los Angeles in the late 70's and the Parallel World track.

Captain Beyond

When I'm digging the crates at record stores or crawling through the blog swamps of the Internet looking for music to listen to I almost always go on intuition based off the cover, a title or even the packaging design. Names of artists are a dime a dozen, either you know them or you don't, but you can always let your ears decide. Captain Beyond is such an album that not only did the cover speak to me, but combined with titles like Dancing Madly Backwards (On a Sea of Air), Raging River of Fear and As The Moon Speaks (To the Waves of the Sea) it resonates deep within me.

From beginning to end the album has heavy guitar work from ex Iron Butterfly guitarist Larry Reinhardt and bassist Lee Dorman, backed by ex Johnny Winter drummer Bobby Caldwell and fronted by Deep Purple founder Rod Evans. Together they perform one of the most jaw dropping musical pieces I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. The production work on this album is all high quality and not one song is a filler piece. Because the tracks intertwine with each other the album has a feeling of being just one long song or a series of visions during a road trip.

After releasing three albums the band broke up, but reunited in the late 90's. Larry Reinhardt passed in January of this year and Lee Dorman passed away earlier this month. Below are two videos of Captain Beyond performing tracks from their self titled debut. Check it out, they had a real thing going on.

Cannibal Ox, The Cold Vein

I caught the reemergence of Cannibal Ox earlier this month at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, it was their first show in over seven years. The Harlem based duo consisting of Vast Aire and Vordul Mega may appear to have been wrapped in mystery over whether they were still together due to many allegations that they had disbanded, but that all looks to be a figment of the past now. Their debut, 2001's The Cold Vein is a landmark album in an era in Hip Hop where gritty lyrics and beats were not the flavor of choice. It's essential to any collection.

I was just introduced to this album just only a few months ago, but I haven't swapped it out for much else because the images are so visceral and real to me. It's a direct sound to image of what life was in New York, especially for me. Vast and V Mega's lyrics intertwine and support each other as they maneuver El-P's beats. I hold this album in such high regard I once explained it to a friend as "watching a perfect composition being performed live. It's like the Beatles performing Sgt. Pepper."

Thankfully Cannibal Ox is on tour and returning next year with an as of yet untitled LP. They played some new tracks at The Knitting Factory that night and I'm excited for whatever they decide to release. Below are some blurry cell phone pics, three songs from The Cold Vein followed by a Def Jux documentary featuring Cannibal Ox.

Stephen Verona's She Said So

Here is a an old video collabo between John Lennon and Stephen Verona. Lennon gave Verona a unlabeled disc containing an unreleased Beatles record. He thought the title would be "She Said So" and not "I Feel Fine".  John and Stephen met up in New York and colored in the drawings. It's on display at The Modern Museum of Art in New York City. The video itself is ragged but is a fun watch.  Enjoy!

Flower Travellin' Band, 70's Metal from Japan

Few albums come out perfect, few step out of their own eras and are ahead of their times and even fewer stay fresh for over 30 years. Enter Satori by Flower Travellin' Band a totally intense metal album from Japan. Originally released in 1971 and is the band's first release of original material. Lead by singer Yuya Uchida who became turned on to Rock and Roll by John Lennon in the 60's. Uchida formed a cover band to perform these songs in Japan called The Flowers. They released their first album in 1968 titled Challenge which featured the members naked on the cover. The album consists of mostly American rock covers like 'Combination of Two' and 'Hey Joe'.

Two years later the band returned under the name Flower Travellin Band and their first release titled Anywhere also features the members of the group naked on the cover and is also a collection of cover songs like House of 'The Rising Sun', '21st Century Schizoid Man' and 'Black Sabbath' which brings me to this album.

Satori is a Buddhist term which means to Understand, Awaken or become Enlightened. This is the band's first release of original material which is driven by heavy crashing drums and fierce guitar licks and riffs. From the sound and quality of this album the band took significant notes on what other psychedelic rock bands were doing around the same time. The musicians sound tighter than ever on this recording and could deceive one anyone into thinking this is a new release. It's resemblance to Black Sabbath is uncanny and hard to ignore, but while searching the bands chronology, hearing the Black Sabbath cover from Anywhere puts it into great perspective. They saw the future and went straight to the Zone.

Com Truise

A kaleidoscope of cascading sound melts out of the speakers and crawls up my ear and worms its way into my brain. There are more images and colors than the simple sound can support, but somehow the electric rainbow is emitted and I absorb it. The snow white channel of the flickering channel dead on my televisionary perception loops over and over while a hissing voice adds the hooks. This is how I feel when I listen to Com Truise a synth heavy down tempo artist from New Jersey.
I feel like Com Truise has hit the vein while everyone else has been holding their maps wrong. It's the culmination of a modern age trapped in nostalgia and unhappy with the impending future. They ask not how can they survive the Future, but how can they get back what has been lost while retaining their new abilities. Com Truise's music is like Miami Vice with a head full of Acid. You're transported to a place in the past while being propelled into the future, its an odd step forward and I love it.
"I compute mid-fi synth-wave, slower-motion funk"- Com Truise

http://comtruise.com/

Captain Murphy, Duality 2012

Captain Murphy is the cartoon rapper with a warped and deep voice  who made immediate waves upon his debut on a Flying Lotus track titled Between Friends featuring Earl Sweatshirt from Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. Last month Captain Murphy released a mixtape and video titled Duality which features cartoon animations alongside esoteric cult footage and even Smash TV's Skinemax sped up and shown in it's entirety. Later at a live show it was revealed that Captain Murphy is in fact producer and musician Flying Lotus. Some people may feel polarized by this revelation, but I feel myself taking it in stride realizing that they are two separate entities operating from opposite ends. I'm not mad about any other this, in fact it keeps Hip Hop weird which right now is not a bad thing.
Note: This video is NSFW, Hide your kids, wife and grandma's Holiday eyes when you watch this:


You can download Duality for Free at http://www.captainmurphy.xxx/

3D Printed Record

Late last month I was talking to my girlfriend about using a 3D Printer to print common, but useful items like screws, handles and small replacement parts for objects. Eventually I began to explain that one could actually build a car exterior using only 3D printed materials and then I realized that if one could build huge objects with large details then the opposite would be just as fun. I mentioned the idea of printing your own records, but realized it would be difficult to transfer the detailed grooves onto plastic, but why couldn't it be done, right?
While my girlfriend thought I was going "way out there" with my 3d printer design ideas there are some people who are reaching the frontier that we dream of. Amanda Ghassaei at Instructables has taken the first step in achieving this reality. While the results are less than satisfactory the achievement is remarkable. The quality is less than sub par, but it isn't terrible- at least we can make out what songs are being played. It's just the first step. Read Amanda's tutorial on Instructables.
3D Printed Record from Amanda Ghassaei on Vimeo.

Apocallypsis, Gerardo Manuel & El Humo 1970

A rugged psychedelic gem from Peru by Gerardo Manuel and Smoke. Faced with recording difficulties imposed by the Peruvian Military the musicians took on new names to mask their identities, but only for the first album. Released in 1970 and featuring an equal mix of Spanish and English lyrics, Gerardo's voice is excellent and the band reflects and fuses their energies into a wonderful spirit. Below is one of my favorite tracks originally written by Jimi Hendrix, The Power of Love is a great cover.

Lecture: DOOM (Madrid 2011)

Here is an excellent interview with rapper MF DOOM (all caps) for the Red Bull Music Academy- yeah, I don't know either, just go with it. DOOM talks in detail about his creative process, making the Madvillainy and Operation Doomsday albums as well as his early years as Zev Love X in KMD (RIP Subroc). Hit the video and check it out!

I'm going through these to support this blog. I guess that you can say I went crate digging for about a year and now I've stopped and the next step is to tell you about it! In this pile are stacks of Salsa, Latin Jazz, Rock and Roll and American Folk with whatever else I could get my hands on. Prepare Yourselves!!

Skinemax by Super Smash TV

The first Official Post is to me a monument. This has been such an inspiration since I stumbled upon it. Skinemax is the crown Mash Up Video right now. It is a monster pile up of movies culled from the 80's and early 90's synced up with synth heavy beats and electronic music. It's a masterpiece of a beast clocking in at almost an hour and is impressive in every way as the music is aligned with the video the scenes themselves share similar qualities- guns, glasses, dancing and fighting are all interrelated themes presented in this video. It's my favorite.
Skinemax from Smash TV on Vimeo.

Introductions

This blog is about Music- all kinds and sounds; Jewels, gems and common jams is what you will find here. A write up or a video, but I will not be posting download links of any sorts. This is because I feel there are enough blogs out there that achieve that end, perhaps this is a caveat to this blog, but I promise to not disappoint you, intrepid reader. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!