Let's just get this out of the way now, shall we?

I don't think much else is coming out in the next month and a half that will top these, so here's my end of the year list for 2010:

10 records I'm glad to have paid money for (basically in order, but things can change...).

1. The Lovetones - Lost (LP)
2. The Asteroid No. 4 - Hail To The Clear Figurines (LP)
3. Dead Skeletons - Dead Mantra (10")
4. The Dolly Rocker Movement - Our Days Mind the Tyme (LP)
5. Chief Nowhere - Chief Nowhere (CD)
6. Laboratory Noise - When Sound Generates Light (CD)
7. Cornershop - Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast (CD)
8. The See See - Mary Soul EP (Digital)
9. The Third Sound - The Third Sound (CD)
10. Ojos Rojos - Disappear (CD)

Honorable mentions (because 12 is not as round a number as 10):

1. Cult Of Dom Keller - EP1 (Digital) 2010
2. Various Artists - Psychedelica 4 (2xCD) 2010

pre-2010 releases worthy of note (could totally change on a whim)

1. Federale - Devil In A Boot (CD) - 2009
2. The Asteroid No. 4 - These Flowers Of Ours - A Treasury Of Witchcraft And Devilry (2xLP) 2008
3. Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music - The Amine ß Ring (DVD) 1975
4. Graham Day & The Gaolers - Triple Distilled (CD) 2008
5. Colorsound - Soundtrack For An Imaginary Life (CD) 1998
6. The Kinks The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society (3xCD) 1968
7. The Stevenson Ranch Davidians - The Stevenson Ranch Davidians EP (CD) 2005
8. The Black Angels - Doves/Drone in G#Major (7") 2008
9. Wooden Shjips - Dos (CD) 2009
10. Spacemen 3 - DJ Tones (12") 2008

Other stuff worth a damn:

1. The Sun Blindness - Far Arden
2. Helicon - Take The Ride EP
3. FIGHTS MONSTERS - ...from the forthcoming FIGHTS MONSTERS album
4. Rachel Bloom - Fuck Me Ray Bradbury
5. Emmalee Crane - Crux
6. The Myrrors - Burning Circles In The Sky
7. Chatham Rise - Chatham Rise EP
8. Syd R. Duke - My Witness Is The Empty Sky
9. The Lucid Dreams (now known as The Lucid Visions) - The Lucid EP
10. Cults - Cults 7"

This is the best collection of psychedelic bands on the planet!!

Saturday, October 30, 2010 at 8:30pm

Spaceland, Silverlake, CA

Magic Mirror: my first time hearing them. Really dug them. Wish I would've bought a CD...but I didn't see any.

The Quarter After: The raised the bar right to the ceiling. "Too Much To Think About" was on fire. Andy C. had to fill on drums for the first song ("Always Returning" I believe) as the QAs drummer was stuck on the 101. Haven't we all been there?

The Asteroid No. 4: Solid. Great set. Played a couple tracks off the new one (available at the merch table on pretty red vinyl). However, because of delays and the natural tendency for every band to play over their alloted time (is just a fact of life), they got yanked by Matt Tow....which brings us to...

The Lovetones: Started solid with "Navigator", then "City Meets The Stars", but they had some kind of monitor trouble and couldn't hear themselves or each other or there was some kind of phasing going on. The soundman heard nothing (I thought I heard him say). Then things got demented. Matt Sigley sang "This Great Romance" but his bass strap came unhooked and he lost it. Shame, as that's a fine song. In the middle of "Pictures" Matt Tow seemed to have some issues with either his guitar or amp (or just the comsos in general) and viciously attacked both, put his guitar down, went and had a drink, came back and started playing again. They ended with "Mantra" ("Journeyman" and "Inside A Dream" were also played) and that turned to chaos. Matt T. threw his guitar down and left the building for a while before getting dragged back in, Matt Sigley ended up on his back with Tow aiming his guitar at his head, and ended with Rob and Matt Tow grinding their guitars together in a most metal sort of way. Rob Campanella (who played the show with a false nose) ended by saying "...and I'm not even in this band." (paraphrased)
In all, a good, albeit weird, evening.
I hasten to add, though, that if you weren't actually watching what was going on, you'd never know something was amiss (except when Sigley dropped his bass...that was noticeable...sorry, man). The music just got more intense as the chaos ensued.
The Lovetones new album, LOST, is available now on VINYL. Get it here: http://plantingseedsrecords.com/shop.html
Get Quarter After and Asteroid No. 4 goods here: http://www.thecommitteetokeepmusicevil.com/ 
Dig the Magic Mirror here: http://www.myspace.com/magicmirrormusic



(this originally appeared, in very slightly different form, here)

...and 15 years later, there was radio airplay

KDHX Playlist Information:

"October 12, 2010 - 5:32am - The Sirago 17 “Gazer (A Fragment)” from Bedspins EP 2 (Rotting Audio 2010) N – Check out their Bandcamp page! Remasters galore. The pride (& joy) of Clovis, CA."

Dig it! St Louis radio! Stream it here: http://kdhx.fm/archives/archive_gen.php?show=tripinsidethishouse
(select "Trip Inside This House on October 12th" - only up for 2 weeks I believe)

and earlier:
KWCW 90.5 FM Walla Walla
Air date 13th of September '10
I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show #1 'The Season Is Ours':

"THE SIRAGO 17 'Gazer (A Fragment)'"

Air date 23rd of August '10
I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go':

"The last show of the Summer semester featuring some music from The Sirago 17."

THE SIRAGO 17 'How Long?'

My eternal gratitude to -valis and Keisha!

The Sofa Music Rehearsals | I Am Not The Janitor

The Sofa Music Rehearsals | I Am Not The Janitor

First demo from 2002. Now available on the BandCamp. Download it. It's not bad.

DERP!

So, these people sent me a survey:

Really? Obama's more of the threat than the Nazi's? Soviet Union? The Civil War? If these "Christians" (note the quotes) keep this shit up, people like THEM will be the cause of a civil war.
The stupid. It burns.

I Am Not The Janitor

No available for download and streaming - the final album by I Am Not The Janitor. More to come. Maybe even some video, if Dan sends me the tapes. That would be awesome!

edit: NOW available for download....stupid spelling.

I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go'

I Hung Around In Your Soundtrack...: Show # 10 'Just One Summer Before I Go'

Gratuitous Sirago 17 mentions and AIRPLAY! By GOD we got AIRPLAY!!

The Lovetones - "City Meets the Stars" MP3 (PopMatters Premiere) < PopMatters

The Lovetones - "City Meets the Stars" MP3 (PopMatters Premiere) < PopMatters

New single by The Lovetones available for FREE over at Pop Matters.
Go get it. You'll like it. I promise.
Then, wait for the new album. Then get that. You will like that, as well.
Then, go see them on tour in October/November.
I, for one, will be here: http://www.clubspaceland.com/?m=20101030&cat=2 - and also any other California shows I can swing. Hopefully there will be a couple...
Honestly, in some alternate - better - universe, this band would be seen as a modern Beatles.

The Sirago 17

In the process of transferring all the music over the Bandcamp.com. Now you can stream, download, and if you're feeling generous, even pay. But the albums are still free first and foremost. Free is the new Awesome.

The Sirago 17 - The Closeout EP

The Sirago 17 - The Closeout EP

Repurposing tracks from a solo album. I mean, they really don't sound any different to the S17 stuff, so why not, right?

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 5: Learn songs.
I am currently endeavoring to learn "In The Light Of Time" by Flying Saucer Attack on acoustic guitar for the new project a friend and I will shortly begin pre-preparations for. After less than 15 minutes, my finger-tips threatened to leave. They are very angry with me at me moment. And my entire left index finger is sore.
EVEN MY FREAKING FINGERS ARE OUT OF SHAPE!
Gack.
This could be a while...

Bookmarked for future reference...

"A letter to my daughters about weed" by Dan Shapiro
http://open.salon.com/blog/danshapiro/2010/03/09/a_letter_to_my_daughters_about_weed

"...I want to write you the truth because you already know the “no one has ever used” speech is crap and if I leave you to figure everything out on your own you’ll just ask your friends -- whose sum of information comes from only slightly less clueless older brothers and sisters or the internet – which is a three car garage stuffed by hoarders. There may be some truth buried in the internet about weed, but you’d have to clean off ferret droppings to find it..."

The Sirago 17 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of Your Heart

The Sirago 17 - Set The Controls For The Heart Of Your Heart

This is an approximation of what would have become our first proper album. If only...

Back in the late 90s I began sending cassettes to Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3/Spectrum/E.A.R.). We weren't necessarily angling for a record deal, I just wanted to see if he dug our stuff. Soon after, we were contacted by Space Age Recordings (Sonic's label) and we were offered a contract. That's when the well ran dry. We didn't sign, and I didn't do much creative again until mid-2002 when I joined I Am Not The Janitor. Then THAT fell apart and I again did nothing for several years....

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 4: Get organezized
(or, more accurately: procrastinate)

 Although, looking at these broke-ass guitars will hopefully light a fire...

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 3: Discover that the Vibrato Channel on your Fender Twin Reverb (the channel WITH the reverb and "vibrato" - why do they call their tremolo a vibrato?) is giving you guff and tends to short out here and there randomly.
I'm hoping this is merely because it hasn't been used in 7 years and just needs to get the shit blown out of it...(I can hope, right?)

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

Step 2: Assemble

(step 2A: bust the first damn string you put on)

(step 2b: finally get it together)

Form a Post-Drone-Shoegaze-Psychedelic-Rock Band

The urge to make more music has been slowly building over the past year or so. The last time I played in a band was I Am Not The Janitor in 2003. I didn't do much in the way of music in the intervening years. Now that I've been remastering my old songs, and have met some very inspirational people, that old feeling has started bubbling up again.
So, I've decided I need to make music.
I need to play live.
It's time to move...it's time get down with it.
I think I need to testify!

Step one: Gather supplies

The Brian Jonestown Massacre rehearsal shots

http://www.sarahmorrisonphotographyblog.com/?p=223

Love the rehearsal space. Is that red velvet?

The Sirago 17 - Sunshine

A cover of Chatterbox's cover of "You Are My Sunshine" by way of Spacemen 3's epic "Suicide." Lay back and let the sound surround you.

*I forgot to note this in the info file included in the ZIP - it's labeled "Sunshine/Suicide (edit)" because the instrumental part originally went on for 22 minutes. I intended for there to be a final "Sunshine" verse ("the other night, dear, as I lay sleeping...") after the middle "Suicide" bit. However, due the temperamental nature of the TASCAM 424, the day we did the vocals, it decided it didn't like the last 7 or 8 minutes of the tape and started wobbling something fierce. So, we never finished it - I faded it out just at the point it would've picked up again. Plus, I find it amusing to have a 15 minute long song called "(edit)".
(Years later, I Am Not The Janitor had an EP with a track called "Janitor Theorem (Short Version)" that clocked in at 14:38.)

Oh, Google....

http://lifehacker.com/5470104/google-updates-explains-buzz-privacy-setup
http://fugitivus.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/fuck-you-google/

Uncle Lou's Metal Machine Music in QUAD!!

I can finally stop searching for the original quadrophonic vinyl!! (well, I say that...)
http://www.loureed.com/metalmachinemusic/
Made of WIN. Or FAIL. Whichever. Possibly LULZ...

I'd like to tell PG&E to get bent...

...but it's not like I can switch to another energy company.
I don't even know where to start...

http://www.fresnobee.com/832/story/1813080.html

The Lovetones live review

Live in Melbourne at the John Curtin Hotel 5 Feb 2010

"...During the brief encore we are given a thrilling climax as (Matthew J.) Tow jumps off stage, playing into the crowd before dumping his guitar at our feet and leaving. At which point the guitar is taken up by Three Month Sunset guitarist Gabriel Lewis who seamlessly continues the song and joins the band on stage. Leaving us in a state of shocked excitement."

From here: http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/22415/The-Lovetones--The-John-Curtin-Hotel-Melbourne-050210.htm

Awesome.

The Sirago 17 - Brainwaves

"I just listened to the entire Brainwaves album, and...I think it did something to me, 'cause I don't feel too good. it was that subsonic worm in Brainwave 9 Brainwave that did it, I think. the scraping at the end of Brainwave 8 Brainwave didn't go over too well with me, either.
I think I need to go lie down for a bit. I'll get back to you tomorrow."
-Arcana R. Ciphera

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Sirago 17

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Sirago 17

The best bits from our scarce live gigs in the mid-90s. Cleaned up & presented for your amusement. Free.

Rotting Audio Sound Recordings - The Podcast

Rotting Audio Sound Recordings - The Podcast: "Podcast #5 (The Advantages of micro-vacuum pumping)"

MPEG 1.0 layer 3 128kbit, 52909 frames 44100Hz Stereo size: 21.1 MB January 18, 2010 XML Feed Direct Link

The Sucksville Allstars - Welcome To Sucksville (Long Version) Um...well... - C. Reid The Sirago 17 - Ballrooms Of Mars (Live - Remix) Recorded live at Shadrach's in Visalia on June 29, 1996. Our second and final official show. Wasn't intended to be, but that's how it worked out. We had rehearsed with a drummer but on the day of the show he decided not to turn up. So we used a borrowed drum machine on a couple songs, and stumbled through the rest as is. Heavily remixed to attempt to make more interesting. Less remixed verion forthcoming on "Ladies And Gentlemen...The Sirago 17" available shortly. - C. Reid Z-Phantom 4 - Inertia Drive Man...you might think that I was really into Spacemen 3 at one time. - D. Davis The Sirago 17 - Goodnight And Goodbye An experiment in feedback and treated piano over a heartbeat like drum machine pattern. Recorded 6/23/93 at The Bartsch Compound. - C. Reid The Sucksville Allstars - Hell Hole Shuffle (Uncensored Version) Er...you see... - C. Reid

The Sirago 17 - Bedspins EP2

To the delight of maybe 3 or 4 people, Bedspins EP2 is now available. Droney-space-rock with ethereal vocals. (release dates are for suckers)
Dig it.
The Sirago 17 - Bedspins EP2

The Sirago 17 - Bedspins EP1

The Sirago 17 - Bedspins EP1

Street dates are for The Man.
Information must be FREE.
Download the rematestered/re-issued/retconned debut of The Sirago 17 "Bedspins EP1" and get lost in the Now Sounds of 1995.
Comments welcome.
Dig it.