El Guincho - Alegranza (2007)

El Guincho is the moniker of one Pablo Díaz-Reixa of the Canary Islands. First time I ever heard this (early '08) I was in the fabled San Francisco institution Aquarius Records. I always feel weird asking the clerks at record stores what we're listening to (I don't wanna out myself as a n00b, that's what I do to you all with this blog here) but the dudes that work there are mad chill and not pretentious at all, so I was like, "uh, is this another Panda Bear record? Cuz I thought he just had one last summer..." and was met with, "no, this is some Spanish guy, El Guincho."

El Guincho - Alegranza (2007; Discoteca Océano)

Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää (2005)

Take two brothers (Lauri & Olli Ainala); insert them into a born-again Christian commune in the Finnish town of Savonlinna with a bunch of instruments and recording equipment, add generous portions of lo-fi ambient psych-folk and dream pop and that's basically Paavoharju in the most reductive of ways. They're so much more than all of that, they defy any genre pigeonholing by employing an extensive use of electronics (to add a perfect balance between acoustic guitars and ethereal-sounding vocals) it's much easier to just call it "experimental".

Yhä Hämärää loosely translated means "still murky"; as all the song titles revolve around a similar theme (or a poem of sorts): "forever to the world / light oozing through everything / moon consoles concern / depth / gust / air flows / morning sun feels / pure white / I traveled far / it is still murky / black street..."

Yes, I ran all the song titles through Google Translate.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite releases of the last ten years; a real hidden gem full of murky, dense, layered atmospheric folktronica jams from the land of reindeer and cheesy symphonic death metal. Enjoy!

Paavoharju - Yhä Hämärää (2005; Fonal Records)

Six Organs of Admittance - Dark Noontide (2002)

Ben Chasny is the one-man band behind Six Organs of Admittance, a project he started in 1997 up in the tiny Humboldt County enclave of Arcata on Northern California's Lost Coast. People travel to the Lost Coast for solitude . and you can hear it in his droning textures and folky blend of psychedelia; although the chords are mostly minor (it is folk after all) it still has a warmth to it to counter the contemplative vibe. It's the thinking man's drone folk.

I read somewhere that this album was Chasny's attempt at setting Dreamtime to music, if you're unfamiliar with Dreamtime it's the Aboriginal myth of Creation and how all people exist eternally in the Dreaming, and upon being born we are more or less custodians of our little part of the world, learning the customs and traditions of our place. Hence, the "six organs of admittance" is thought to be how our spirits enter our mother's womb to inhabit our fetuses.

Check out this blissful and chaotic record immediately!

Six Organs of Admittance - Dark Noontide (2002; Holy Mountain Records)

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001)

This album is an absolute treasure- it's one of those records you put on and it transports you to a completely different place, I still have a hard time believing it's only nine years old; I swear it's been around longer, I want to cut it down and count the rings someday so I can say "I knew this was older..."

It exists in a place (genetically) right around Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea; an intensely crafted homage to both the fragility of the soul and warm 4-track recordings, draped in inadvertent fuzz from the levels being too high; all these song "fragments" that leave it sounding unfinished yet it's a ridiculously fully accomplished thesis statement from a self-described loner that doesn't really want to be a loner.

Sort of a lo-fi bedroom folk version of OK Computer from the Pacific Northwest.

The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 (2001; K Records)

Bobb Trimble - Harvest Of Dreams (1982)

Bobb Trimble's story has to be one of the strangest in music; he made two albums (1980's Iron Curtain Innocence and this one, Harvest of Dreams from 1982) and basically disappeared from the music scene around 1986. He had two backing bands around this time also, one called The Kidds (whose average age was 12) and another called The Crippled Dog Band (average age: 15).

Apparently that raised some eyebrows in Marlborough, Massachusetts (as it should, as Trimble was in his mid-twenties. But hey, I don't judge...) and was in effect completely out of music until recently reappearing- I found out about Trimble's music from a 2007 e-newsletter I get from Secretly Canadian Records (they re-issued both albums with a bunch of bonus tracks; this is actually the re-issued version).

As for the album: Trimble's voice is a cross between Kate Bush and a theremin, and his music sounds like early Flaming Lips and Robyn Hitchcock.

Enjoy this hidden gem of weird psych folk from the '80s!

Bobb Trimble - Harvest Of Dreams (1982; Bobb Records)

Love - Forever Changes (1967)

This is probably the greatest record you've never heard. For some reason this gem remains largely under appreciated, I can't figure out exactly why- it might be my favorite record from the psychedelic '60s. For those of us already in the know, please disregard my shock that unfortunately not every one has the 180-gram remastered heavy vinyl re-issued copy, we'll invite you over to listen in our living rooms.

Barring that; here's a digital copy to get you acquainted with one of the ten best records ever recorded in the history of modern music.

You never even have to say thanks, I'll know that you feel the same about the music on this album when you're hunting down a copy of the original record and your rancid breath and bloodshot eyes from neglecting your hygiene and countless hours of sleep lost while chasing down this Holy Grail of under-rated psych folk rock memorabilia will be thanks enough.

Love - Forever Changes (1967; Elektra Records)
2015 Remaster

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar (1969)

File Skip Spence along with Nick Drake, Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson under the unfortunate category of "mental illness exacerbated by excessive drug use" casualties of the late 1960s; they all got a chance to record wonderful albums before (Drake), during (Barrett & Spence), or after (Erickson) complete breaks from reality.

Skip's story is a tough one; he was the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane, leaving after their first record and trading his drum kit for a guitar and amp. He then went on to have a successful few years as the main songwriter and guitarist for Moby Grape, but during the recording of their second record in New York, Skip had a bum LSD trip and he went off his nuts, trying to attack band mates Jerry Miller & Don Stevenson with an axe, chopping down their hotel door in the process. Then he went to CBS Records' executive offices and tried to attack their producer, David Rubinson. Skip was sent to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital for six months and pumped full of thorazine, this is the record he wrote while in the asylum. He went to Nashville, recorded this whole album in a few weeks on a three-track and disappeared to the woods near Santa Cruz, where he lived in a trailer until he passed away in '99.

It's a haunting and deeply affected personal statement from a man in the midst of some serious inner turmoil; there's some solace to be taken here in Spence's beautiful honesty and dark confessional lyrics. Listen to this album now!

Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar (1969; CBS Records)

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains (1984)

Psych-tinged folk ditties from the quirky mind of Robyn Hitchcock. It's like he went through his old diaries, cleaned up the prose to make it rhyme and set it to this bare-bones and fragile music. Somewhat whimsical and zany, often times disturbing and dark; it's one of those albums I listen to and wonder if this is what Syd Barrett would've done if he hadn't gone batshit bonkers and retreated to his mum's basement to watch British soaps on the telly all day.

Maybe that's what Hitchcock imagined this record was; an homage of sorts to the crazy diamond himself.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream Of Trains (1984; Midnight Music)