DREAMIES..."PROGRAMS 10 & 11"

seriously...words would disobey any attempt to express the fragility, hebephrenia and warmth of this music



somewhere hovering over 3 years ago i began an itinerant, almost blindfolded hunt about the greater record stores of toledo and ann arbor, terribly disdainful of my own life and stoic as to its outcome, embalming my self-worth and esteem within the vestments and rewards of music, finding myself only slightly appeased (on any significant level) when stumbling across something remarkable. i was denuded of internet access and wary of accessing any of the computers within campus labs, so i began blindly purchasing things for their aesthetic qualities, finding albums that had unique covers, wondering what the music behind that artwork signified, where it went, what minor world it conjured for itself. fortuitously, it was with this haphazard method that i became ingratiated to the company of this heat, united states of america, susan christie, jean-claude vannier and dreamies. glazing over the artwork - which at the time looked as if to be some ludicrous mock-up of a cereal box - observing the white, hollowed out head that contained the words "program 10" and "program 11" within its respective hemispheres. i listened to the album before reading the inserts that accompanied it, and i'm still immeasurably happy that i conducted things in such a manner. appropriately, this music does affect a state that resembles the logic and pathology of a dream; ambient and electronic noises merge with an acoustic guitar and samples taken from a transistor radio - somewhere among the fog and density trembles a small, double-tracked, cracked alabaster voice; and though the lyrics are inscrutably recited, nearly obscured by the atmosphere, somehow this all makes perfect sense.

as with most "lost" albums, this one has a story behind it. dreamies is the work of one man, bill holt, who upon hearing the beatles "white album," emerged from a suburban coma, quit his reputable job (allegedly at a fortune 500 company) and assembled an acoustic guitar, sampling device and one of the first commercially available moog synthesizers. his aims weren't particularly modest, as he intended to make a continuation of the song "revolution number 9" from the "white album," composing two side-long musical suites (26 minutes each) that take the structural device of the infamous, widely abjured lennon tune - the careening samples of dialogue and electronic coruscations - and impart pop sensibilities and melody within the ambient noise. to say this had even the scantest ripple or effect on anyone when it was released in 1973 would be an act of divine revisionism, as only something like 100 copies of this were privately pressed. quitting his job and recording an album of what is often called aural collage proved to be an impecunious decision, as he ended up bankrupting himself, falling to penury, eventually waddling back to a normal job. he left this as his living testament, and luckily he has been afforded the opportunity to record another dreamies album recently, entitled "program 12." i've yet to hear it and am somewhat reticent, especially given the immensity of my love for this album. as far as "lost" albums go, this is exceeded by nothing and no one - remaining one of my absolute favorite curiosities and listening experiences, and i can only marvel at the ambition it displays. please, please - if you enjoy this record, please purchase it from holt's website. the cover alone is worth the 10 dollars, and this man deserves any penny you can spare for putting something so hypnotic into this sad, grey world.

download dreamies' "program 10 & 11"
http://www.mediafire.com/?oyyrm1nw2rk

WENDY & BONNIE..."GENESIS"

yet another sorely neglected and lost 60s masterpiece that's been circulating pretty widely the past year. lamentably, my favorite song from the album - "i realized you" - is unavailable on youtube for consumption or purposes of preview.



these "lost 60's masterpieces" generally fall into two easily designated categories; either it's complete shit that's being fobbed off as an unappreciated gem, that is far too typical and mired in the shortcomings and studio tricks of its own time to be anything worth hearing, or it is - in the case of wendy and bonnie's "genesis" - a verifiable oddity, a truly wonderful and unique album that was simply misplaced amongst all the other amazing works of the time (usually due to inadequate distribution). this is easily as good as the millenium's "begin" and susan christie's "paint a lady" as far as expectations go; granted, with all the incessant talk of lost 60s relics one is obliged to ask, "is this really as good as the united states of americas' record, 'odessey and oracle,' 'electrical storm' by white noise or 'forever changes?'"



"genesis" doesn't quite hit the pinnacle of any of the aforementioned pieces, but its strength comes from its disarming simplicity and the honesty and beauty that is conveyed by the female vocalists - who, it bears mentioning, are 13 and 17 year old sisters. its stunning that their age doesn't imbue this music with an puerile primitivism or confused enthusiasm (like god's forgotten but blessed children, the shaggs), and that the sonority and richness of their voices betrays their actual age. i'm guessing this is one of the albums that stereolab decoded and tossed into its musical vault. (tangentially, it seems funny to me how more and more these obscure 60s and 70s releases are emerging that reveal so greatly the pattern of stereolab's music and from where it derives, and how oddly stale they begin to seem by comparison...i'm trying not to be such a bitch, so i'll say something nice as penitence...that broadcast is a far, far better revivalist, archivalist, futurist, whatever-the-hell band). putting aside the petty pugilism, this is a damn fine way to spend your evening, and an even greater way to feel invalidated and inadequate (given the age at which these two young females achieved this kind of magic).



download "genesis" by wendy and bonnie

http://www.mediafire.com/?hugg2mmguy2

nods to chasm filler

DANDELION...RARE 70s FRENCH BAND

well, here's one of my incontestable favorites and an album i don't really see on the internet with much gratuity. dandelion was the primary musical outlet for jean christophe graf. in 1979 they released a privately pressed record of 300 copies, exclusive to france. given that kind of obscurity, it's an obvious guess that their work is decidedly hard to come by. miraculously, i found a record of this album a couple of years ago for 20 bucks, and it's something very dear to me. dandelion's music is often classified (when you can find information about them, rarely) as psych-folk, which is another one of those awful, inefficacious titles that is given to privately-pressed music of this era, and is particularly askew because it sets up expectations that have nothing to do with the album itself. "psych-folk," that is a tremendous misnomer to say the least, as this record is very modest in what it sets out to achieve, definitely leaning more towards the "folk" end of the spectrum. there are organ flourishes here and there, along with homemade effects that color the songs, but alleging that it's "psychedelic" in some way is kind of overstating the case. this record has a quiet beauty to it, and its somewhat haphazard construction lends itself a favorable comparison to the first raincoats album (definitely traverses the same mood, i think). dandelion is perfect late-night listening, and something that provides me with an unbearable amount of joy. whatever grievances i have simply fall away when i listen to it.

this was reissued somewhat recently by a spanish label called guerssen, and though one still needs to be predacious when tracking it down, it can be found and should be grabbed if it all possible.

download dandelion's self-titled record

http://rapidshare.com/files/276751360/DANDELION.rar