The American experimental and psychedelic rock band WOODEN SHJIPS has been tripping over here at Tune Of The Day a few times in different formats. This San Francisco, California based band where thier sound has been described as experimental, minimalist, drone rock, and "spacey psychedelic rock". They have been compared to SUICIDE, SPACEMEN 3, LOOP, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, THE DOORS, SOFT MACHINE, GURU GURU, THE BBLACK ANGELS and many more. They are signed to Thrill Jockey records.
Guitarist Ripley Johnson also plays in two side projects, including MOON DUO, formed in 2009 with Sanae Yamada. The project has released one EP and seven albums.
The group played at the 2010 All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in Monticello, New York in September 2010 at the request of film director Jim Jarmusch.
Johnson has also released solo music under the name ROSE CITY BAND.
Today's tune "Staring At The Sun" is taken from the fifth studio album "V" that was released on May 25, 2018 under Thrill Jockey. The video is filmed at the end of May 2018 under the Franconian sky by shlominger with a Carl Zeiss Tele-Tessar T * 200mm, Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 135mm RF from 1938, Carl Zeiss Planar T * 85mm, Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 80mm and Rodenstock Tele-Anastigmat C. 135mm telephoto lens .... in 2160p. Enjoy!
ROSE CITY BAND started purely as a recording project, with Ripley Johnson’s role mostly obscured for the self-titled debut album. Ripley Johnson most known as bandleader of WOODEN SHJIPS and one half of MOON DUO.
With ROSE CITY BAND, Johnson’s songwriting and beautiful guitar lines take center stage, the veil of psychedelia notably drawn back. The vocal would be recognizable to any WOODEN SHJIPS fan. Shimmering guitar lines are free to shine, buoyed by driving rhythms. New to the mix are arrangements and instruments drawn directly from classic country, resulting in songs with more than a hint of twang.
The latest release is named "Summerlong", born of Johnson’s own fondness for the season, delivers an emotional lift—an expression akin to the joy of getting out there on a warm day, be it gathering for a BBQ, hopping onto a bike, leaping into a swimming hole, or simply reading in a park.
"Summerlong" was released with no promotion in the style of private press records, it was a liberating act, a focus on music without any expectations. Explaining it with a chuckle, Johnson elaborates, “I always would threaten to my friends that I’m gonna start a country rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour. I love being able to tour and travel, but I also like the idea of having a local band … more of a social music experience.”
"Summerlong" was mixed by John McEntire (STEREOLAB, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, TORTOISE) at his newly minted Portland Soma Studios and mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering, also based in Portland.
Today's tune "Wildflowers" taken from "Summerlong", enjoy!
Meaning all things magick and supernatural, the root of the word occult is that which is hidden, concealed, beyond the limits of our minds. If this is occult, then the Occult Architecture of MOON DUOs fourth album - a psychedelic opus in two separate volumes released in 2017 - is an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light.
Offering a cosmic glimpse into the hidden patterning embedded in everything, Occult Architecture reflects the harmonious duality of these light and dark energies through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang.
In Chinese, Yin means “the shady side of the hill” and is associated with the feminine, darkness, night, earth. Following this logic, Vol. 1 embraces and embodies MOON DUOs darker qualities — released February 3, 2017 in the heart of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
Yang means “the bright side of the hill” and is associated with the male, sun, light and the spirit of heaven and as such Vol. 2 explores the light and airy elements of MOON DUOs complex psyche, and will be released in the spring as the darkness of winter is replaced by the appearance of new life. An album that I will come back to later on.
Written and recorded in their hometown of Portland, Oregon, the two-part epic reflects the hidden energies of rainclouds and sunshine and the deep creep of Northwest forests along with their effect on the psyche, inspired by the occult and esoteric literature of Mary Anne Atwood, Aleister Crowley, Colin Wilson, and Manly P. Hall.
According to guitarist Ripley Johnson (WOODEN SHJIPS), “the concept of the dark/light, two-part album came as we were recording and mixing the songs, beginning in the dead of winter and continuing into the rebirth and blossoming of the spring. There’s something really powerful about the changing of the seasons in the Northwest, the physical and psychic impact it has on you, especially after we spent so many years in the seasonal void of California. I became interested in gnostic and hermetic literature around that time, especially the relationship between music and occult qualities and that fed into the whole vibe.”
Adds keyboardist Sanae Yamada, “the two parts are also intended to represent inverted components of a singular entity, like two faces on the same head which stare always in opposite directions but are inextricably driven by the same brain.”
Sonically the new records represent a dimensional shift in perspective for the band. Just as the season of autumn represents letting go in the form of trees shedding leaves, so Occult Architecture is a shedding of genre tropes, and an inviting in of new textures and soundscapes reflective of the album’s shimmering Yin/Yang qualities. Intricately structured, it is threads, fragments and traces rather than the direct influences that are heard. Yet listen carefully and clattering of bongos reminiscent of Popol Vuh, the fuzzy synth grind of Throbbing Gristle, the no-fi guitar of Chrome and the echoing infinity of Achim Reichel might all be discerned.
The rhythm and drum duties on the recordings fell to regular tour drummer John Jeffrey, who weaves into the pattern spooky percussion and funk-inspired electro-acoustic beats.
The albums were mixed separately with longtime collaborator Jonas Verwijnen, in different locations further expanding the album’s duality further; Vol. 1 in Berlin and Vol. 2 in Portland.
The result is a journey from darkness into light and from the shady side of the hill and back to the sunny side, reverberating with all that is eternal and infinite in the endless and mysterious architecture in which both sides harmoniously exist.
Today's tune "Creepin'" is taken from "Occult Architecture Vol 1"
A newweek, whichin its turnmeaning it istime to presenta new"RecordOf The Week" Hailing from Arcata, California "White Manna" play psychedelic space rock using a scorched-earth policy. The quartet may let you know where they're coming from and where they're going to take you with their song titles, but knowing the itinerary doesn't dampen the thrill of their excursion into stellar depths.
This albumis filled withpretty heavyanddark psychedelia, wah-wah, glorious monotonous spacey riffsmixed with influences from Stooges,that reallygrabs thelistener on adreamjourneywhere the roadhas no end. Thevocalpiecesare of veryhigh standardand it's not unliketheir labelmatesWooden Shjipsor as aNeanderthalversion ofThe Black Angels. So plug in your in-ears, close your eyes and press play!
Holy Mountain Records have also announced that White Manna's forthcoming album "Dune Worship" is scheduled for release on the 1th Oct 2013, Vinyl at 13th Nov 2013. They've also announced some European and UK dates to promote the new album, see the dates below, and yes there is a Swedish date! :)
Todays tune "Acid Head" is the opening track from their self-titled debut album which was released back in June 2012 on Holy Mountain Records.
European and UK Tour Dates 2013:
September:
16 - Incubate, Tilburg, Netherlands
20 - Trix, Antwerp, Belgium ***Psychic Ills
21 - De Kreun, Kortrijk, Belgium ***Psychic Ills
23 - Kulturrampe, Krefeld, Germany
24 - The Green Door, Brighton, UK
26 - Corsica Studios, London, UK ***Psychic Ills
27 - Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, Liverpool, UK
29 - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK ***Hookworms
30 - Le Kalif, Rouen, France
Since we can not quite agree on a common list for this year's top 10 albums, it will be a list from each one of us on the same day, one list position in the morning and same in the evening, it will generate a lot of music here at the Tune Of The Day during these days. This year's list has been really difficult to tie together, started with a Top 50 and was sift hard, ended up that I had to go on the most listening records and many that in the beginning was obvious was removed. Right or wrong, judge youreselfs, hard as hell, I must say.
We start by presenting the positions outside the Top 10 that I, Stones have, that is 11-20 just like last year.
Today I pick a song from an album that has grown a lot recently, but unfortunately it has got too little playing time in order to stretch higher and pinch a position in the Top 10. This band is actually quite new to me (Thanks Tom for the tip), Ive heard the name mentioned a lot over the years, but I have to admit, didnt really find out more about them, it has just passed me. This record is actually really good and I recommended this highly.
Amebix are an English crust punk/heavy metal band. Formed as "The Band with No Name," Amebix's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released three EPs and two full-length LPs. The group has reunited as of 2008.
By being one of the first bands to blend anarcho-punk and heavy metal music, Amebix are often cited as one of the key bands that helped to create the crust punk style. Such notable bands as Sepultura, Neurosis and Deviated Instinct have paid homage to the band.
Todays tune "Knights of the Black Sun " is the first single from the latest release "Sonic Mass", released in 2011
San Francisco native, Wooden Shjips, the leading peddlers of psych, takes us on a little evening stroll on the U.S. west coast with the appropriate title of the new album, West. After being around for more than five years, Wooden Shjips is finally releasing their first studio-recorded full-length, but it's the third one in order. The record is a metaphorical journey steeped in 60's and 70's psychedelic rock, with long, melodic guitar tunes and vague song that faithful Wooden Shjips beings. This is at times wonderfully minimalist monotone which for some reason turns me on.
One of my favorite songs on the album, which also is today's Tune Of The Day, "Lazy Bones", transporting the listener into the California coast, somewhere between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, near Malibu, a pleasant place, where I follow the coast road, Pacific Coast Highway, climbing up the hillsides in Santa Monica and Malibu Canyon and I feel that here is not a worry in the world. The rest of the album follows the same line where it is easy to daydream, to transport out of their reality and into the hot desert.
Todays tune "Lazy Bones" from Wooden Shjips latest effort "West"
Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley Johnson also plays in a side project, Moon Duo, formed in 2009 with Sanae Yamada. They have so far released one EP (Killing Time, 2009, on Sacred Bones) and two albums (Escape, 2010, on Woodsist; Mazes, 2011, on Sacred Bones)
More info @
Official Wooden Shjips Web
Official Wooden Shjips MySpace
Official Moon Duo MySpace
Listen to ”Wooden Shjips - Lazy Bones" on Spotify here!
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