HOMEMADE LOFI PSYCH --- WHERE TO START?





"There is so much great music here..." WHERE TO START???

I recommend to
start with the HLFP-Samplers (especially HLFP 04).
Here you will come to know many of the bands/musicians featured in this blog. If you like what you hear, you may check out more of their music later on.
(You may also click on the picture on the sidebar and you will find the original post with download links.)

There is also a "FOCUS ON..." section. Here you will find albums that imo are absolutely great (***** = "five-stars-recordings") and that are essential listening and strongly recommended for download.


I TRY to RE-UP some stuff that has been down from time to

time, but I still don't have enough time to

listen to/post much new stuff.

Sorry!

IMPRESSUM: see here!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Looking through my window ... Holiday break


Actually a picture from last year's winter.
But it's quite similar this year...

Have a great holiday season!

– Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year to you all! –

See you in January.

In the meantime enjoy the archives! Lots of great experimental and/or psychedelic music to be found!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Loops Inc. - Aboriginal Compilation Vol. 1 (USA 1995-96)

More experimental music by J. Lee from San Francisco, CA, USA, Planet Earth.
I'm not sure, if this should also be credited to
LOOPS INC., but I think it makes sense.
Surely no easy listening.... Lots of REALLY very quiet passages and some really weird stuff aswell.

What I call Aboriginal Compilations are cut up noise experimental recordings with whoever may be around at the time. I started doing that around 95-96.
(J. Lee)

You'll find much more free music by J. Lee to download here:


Check it out!

Favourite track: Deep Deep Sound Sleep

LOOPS INC. - Aboriginal Compilation Vol. 1
(USA 1995-96)
(mp3-zip, 8 tracks, 91 min, 104 MB)
Get it here or here or here!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Loops Inc. - s/t (USA 2007-2010)


Pretty far out experimental cut-ups by J. Lee from San Francisco, CA, USA, Planet Earth.
LOOPS INC. is kind of a lo-fi noise/psychedelic /ambient project.
Read more about J's concept of making music in the interview.

Q: Where exactly are you from?
A: I was raised in South Eastern Massachusetts. Been in San Francisco since 93.
Q: What is your real name?
A: Jason Alexander Lee is the official name on my government file. My friends call me J. or Jay. My mom calls me Jason. Sometimes I call myself Captain J. Rab.
Q: How recorded?
A: I always try and have a dictaphone cassette recorder on me just in case there's something happening. Besides that I used a 4 track cassette, regular cassette deck, Pro Tools, Garage Band. I recorded the raw material onto 30 second outgoing message loop tapes from an 80's Record-a-Call answering machine, manipulated, edited and layered them up on Pro Tools.
Q: When recorded?
A: Loops Inc. was recorded between 07 and 10. My girlfriend Marina Lazzara and I had a baby (Maizie) in 07 so I've primarily been a baby farmer since then. I also have lots of really creative but spaced out and/or busy friends I wanted to be involved so I kept extending the deadline. I'm still getting stuff from people even though it's done.
Q: Who involved? Who played what?
A: Most people involved are from San Francisco except where noted:
Josh Theroux, Mike Stretton (Brooklyn), Brian Lee, Young Elk, Eli Reyes (Ashville,NC), Sam Sebren (Athens, NY), Gary Zaroli (Galway, NY), Sterling Black, Scarp, Jess Rowland, Dr. Brian Oblivion, Bob Noise (Plymouth, MA), Wade Driver, Kevin Murphy (Chapel Hill, NC), Dave Mairs, Franz Worth, Maizie Jade Lazzara Lee, Pablo Liendro, Zarin Kresge, Gian Carlo (Brooklyn), Kenny McKillop, Sara Hersch, JD Donnely (Bethlehem, PA), Shellshag (Brooklyn), Naoki Onodera, Tomo Yasuba, Dino DiNapoli (Brighton, MA), Jesse Parsons, John Dwire, Tala Asim Wynne (Karachi), J.Lee
It's up to the listener to decide who's playing what. In some cases I don't even know. That would only take away from the mystique. - I could give a list of all the cool bands some of these people are in or who does cool art or whatever, but I won't. People usually want a quick read.
Q: Any more releases? Any "official" releases? Discografia?
A: Eventually my entire catalog will all be up on my archive page for free. I don't believe in CDs, don't have enough money to put out records. People at my level don't make money off recordings, anyhow. I'm not a business person and if I was it wouldn't be selling music, It'd probably be selling black holes.
- I've got a 12" full length vinyl record from Aerosol Species sitting around if anyone's interested and some singles, too. I put it out myself in 2000. Static Faction put out some singles and an LP, HIndi Rock Punk Raga around 97-98. It's out of print. I bought a copy at Ameoba a couple years ago for $4.00 so it's floating around out there somewhere.
Q: Since when does this project exist? What's the idea behind Loops Inc.?
A: What I call Aboriginal Compilations are cut up noise experimental recordings with whoever may be around at the time. I started doing that around 95-96. Loops Inc. is basically one of those.
I'll always try and get as many people involved in this kind of project for the random energy factor.
I've collaborated with many of these cats before, but this is the most people I've gotten together so far. It was like having an orchestra, kinda. My theory going into Loops Inc. was to get 30 second compositions from my friends, layer them up and give the illusion of songs.
Q: Any previous bands worth mentioning?
A: My band the Rabbles is putting out an 18 song batch of music called Dabble and I'm putting out a solo LP called the J.Lee Ching on a friend of mine's label. - My 90's rock bands were Static Faction, NoiseStar and Aerosol Species. There's several recordings by those groups worth checking out if one has the time. - There are several Aboriginal Records compilations which were put together cut up style and are pretty interesting if you're tripping hard enough, haha. - It's all going up on the archive page for free. http://public.me.com/jason_a_lee
There's already a full on orgy of music up there right now.
Q: How'd you "label" your music?
A: Loops Inc. tags: lo-fi DIY psychedelic noise alpha wave massage chance cut up music.
Q: Influences?
A: Loops Inc. is a no budget everyman version of the Brian Eno Discreet Music LP's where he loops up a bunch of reel to reels and runs it through effects, so I had that in mind, but to take that and bring it down to the street level rather than some ivory tower recording studio.
Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about...
A: Hmm, Inform yourself, let me know what you find out.
Q: Website, myspace?

LOOPS INC. - s/t. (USA 2007-2010)
(mp3-zip, 3 tracks, 71 min, 81,1 MB)
Get it here or here or here!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

GLEN & THE BOYS: Pineapple Pole (USA 2010)

"... a recent, tripped-out reggae tape, winter 2010."

My last post of music by GLEN & THE BOYS.
This time featuring some kind of pseudo reggae as a starting point for a spacious improvisation.
Enjoy!


GLEN & THE BOYS: Pineapple Pole (USA 2010)
(mp3-zip, 2 track, 46 min, 63,5 MB)
Get it here or here or here!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Glen & The Boys - Jurassic Park 4 (USA 2010)

"... our soundtrack to the latest jurassic park movie, winter 2010"


Less noisy and more electronic sounding than "Blue Silhouettes Eight Baller Party".


GLEN & THE BOYS: Jurassic Park 4
(USA 2010)
(mp3-zip, 3 track, 44 min, 59,9 MB)
New Age - 8.46
Dancehall Island - 25.10
Club Ish - 9.37
Get it here or here or here!

Comments - as always - welcome!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Glen & The Boys - Blue Silhouettes Eight Baller Party (USA 2008)

From Long Island, New York, come GLEN & THE BOYS.
They've been playing for around 5 or 6 years, but have only played a handful of live shows. Similar to THE WHEN MCGRUFF WAS KING from New Jersey their music is completely improvised.

"The band has, however, generated a large library of homemade recordings exploring a wide range of musical styles. Most of our pieces are improvised and feature anywhere from 2 to 10 instrumentalists. Please visit our website! We have lots of music to share for free... I'll bet if you dig deep enough, you'll find something you like!"


"Blue Silhouettes Eight Baller Party" is "us playing near a highway at my little brother's party, spring 2008".

(Glen)


http://glenandtheboys.blogspot.com/


GLEN & THE BOYS: Blue Silhouettes Eight Baller Party

(USA 2008)

(mp3-zip, 1 track, 47 min, 53,9 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Maxim Engl - live, today, FR Nov. 19 in Offenbach, GER

IF you happen to live or stay in Frankfurt or Offenbach in Germany at the moment, you shouldn't hesitate to see MAXIM ENGL's solo performance at the Waggon Offenbach today on Friday November 19th.

MAXIM ENGL is the head/guitarist of noise/experimental band ePHEMEROL from Frankfurt;
his solo performance will be more in a minimalistic experimental style reminding of AIDAN BAKER or ROBERT FRIPP. Drone & Loops rule!

MAXIM ENGL is also featured with one exclusive track on the last HLFP-Sampler SPACE IS STILL THE PLACE. Check it out!


---OOOOO-----OOOOO-----OOOOO

For our German readers:

Experimenteller Soloauftritt von MAXIM ENGL, Gitarrist und Kopf der Frankfurter Band ePHEMEROL: noch reduzierter als die Musik von ePHEMEROL; weniger Noiseausbrüche, Drone & Loops rule!
Für Freunde minimalistischer Klänge und Soundscapes in Geistesverwandtschaft zu AIDAN BAKER und ROBERT FRIPP.

Zahlreiches Erscheinen erwünscht!!!
19. Nov. 2010

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Frogville - A Bug-Eyed Swamp (USA 2009)

From New York State comes FROGVILLE, a psychedelic pop home recording project, that to my ears sounds heavily influenced by THE FLAMING LIPS. Not a bad thing, if you want my opinion...

"... basically I'm a guy that makes music in his bedroom apartment."


Q: Where exactly are you from?

A: I'm from New York, now living in Yorktown Heights, NY completely isolated from any real music scene. Except for work I'm pretty much a hermit.

Q: Do you want your real name mentioned? If so: What is your real name?

A: My name is Jason Raspa.

Q: How recorded?

A: Bug-Eyed Swamp was recorded mostly on a Tascam 388, Studio 8, reel to reel. It's a really cool piece of equipment. It works and looks like a 4 track cassette recorder except with 1/4 inch tape. And it's fecking huge. I recorded all the major instruments analog. I heard it said that if you record (minimum) the vocals and drums analog then it'll trick the ear into thinking it's all analog. I believe this is mostly true. Fortunately, I had room for eight. I transferred the analog tracks to digital with my digirack 02 interface and recorded the rest in Sonar and used Izotope 4.0 and Har-Bal to master. There's so much stuff going on in the songs I needed more tracks and didn't want to give up control of the individual components by bouncing down analog.

Q: When recorded?

A: This was recorded summer last year. I've done pretty much nothing to promote it and I don't have a band to play live with. I've recently decided to get off my ass so hopefully more people can hear it. If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, it probably has my CDs growing on it's branches. Which isn't good.

Q: Who involved? Who played what?

A: My friend Dave Kohen played drums. My brother Justin performed rhythm guitar on "Face" and bass on the "The Light You Give". John my luthier performed bass on "Turns to Gold" a very nice Beatle-esque one I might and bass on "Speed of A Crawl". Also ebow guitar on "Speed of a Crawl" and lead guitar on "Speed of Disillusionment". My buddy Mark did the lead guitar on "I Believe In You" and performed the bass line which I wrote. The rest I did myself including keys, all vocals, lead guitar, rythm guitar and bass. Mixing and mastering was scary but I'm very proud about the way it came out. Very high-fi, lo-fi.

Q: Since when does this band/project exist/are you into music?

A: I've been making music since '04. Ruined an album in '06 by drenching it in too much reverb. (Hmmm - can there be such a thing as 'too much reverb'? m-f) I didn't know what I was doing and printed the effects. I printed spring reverb on everything killed it. So muddy. At the time I told one of my only fans that my girlfriend got pissed and lit the master tapes on fire. I was too embarrassed to admit my amateur blunder. I was so crushed by the whole experience I gave up the ambition of having my own album for two years.

Q: How'd you "label" your music? (I know ... nobody wants to get labeled ... bla bla bla...)

A: I'd say my music is alternative, psychedelic, pop?

Q: Influences?

A: Not too hard to see my influences. Heavy Flaming Lips circa Soft Bulletin and all albums prior. My music isn't contrived in the slightest but I had been bombarding myself with the Lips for years and it had saturated my subconscious until I had all these songs coming out of me. They're still coming out but now though I'm moving in other directions. Luckily, I think when all was said and done the songs came out influenced but also very original and organic. Other notable influences, the Beach Boys, Beatles, Mercury Rev, Small Faces, Big Star, Magoo (not the rapper), Galaxie 500, Sparklehorse. Less notably, a lot of shit.

Q: Any more releases?

A: I have a new album almost done called MK-Ultraphonic. I release my CDs through my fake record company called Area 3 Records and free MP3 albums online with Quixodelic Records. It's really a collective of like minded people. Some great bands on there, most notably, The Loaded Whispers. Excellent band from Dublin. It's not Irish music. Everything on this label is psychedelic to some degree. And it's 100% free.

Q: Anything interesting to say to the readers?

A: Yes, eat your vegetables and brush daily!

(Pretty good advise, I'd say! m-f)


Favourite tracks: A Bug-Eyed Swamp, Mexico

http://www.myspace.com/frogville

http://quixodelic.com/site/category/frogville/


FROGVILLE: A Bug-Eyed Swamp (USA 2009)
(mp3-zip, 11 tracks, 32 min, 51,6 MB)
Get it here or here or here!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Guerre - Love Lies In the Details (EP, CAN-AUSTRALIA 2010)

(taken from the Myspace page; not the ep cover)

One year ago I posted some EPs by a Canadian guy called RAVER (see here).
Well, some months went by, and RAVER now is GUERRE.

"I'm going for that kind of ambient r&b, neo-soul vibe. Like if Dangelo made some ambient bedroom neo soul."


Again very atmospheric, very gentle, ethereal and beautiful dreamlike music!


Q: Where exactly are you from?

A: From Canada but currently stationed in Sydney.

Q: Do you want your real name mentioned? If so: What is your real name?

A: My real name is Lavurn.

Q: How recorded?

A: I use Audacity off the internet. Really very basic program ... but I've grown accustomed to it.

Q: When recorded?

A: Recorded at these past few months.

Q: Who involved? Who played what?

A: It's all me ... except for samples ... I play some guitar but now it's mostly vocals and samples.

Q: Any more releases? Any "official" releases?

A: No official releases... everything's free on my blog.

Q: Since when does this project exist/are you into music?

A: I've been recording music since I was 13 ... and then I actually started doing my own thing and now I'm 18.

Q: Any previous bands worth mentioning?

A: I guess if any my brothers in a psych/rock/blues act called the Revolvers. Check it out http://www.myspace.com/revolvers

Q: How'd you "label" your music? (I know ... nobody wants to get labeled ... bla bla bla ...)

A: I would like it to sound like ambient/neo-soul/r&b music but oh well ...

Q: Influences?

A: Post rock music, r&b ... D'angelo, Babyface ... the classics

Q: Anything that you think is interesting, that you'd like to inform the blog readers about ...

A: Um ... blogs are awesome in general ... but check this show out! Its a Canadian show about travelling and it's utterly amazing. http://www.departuresentertainment.com/about.html


Q: Website, Myspace?

A: It's all here:

http://spiritifrecords.blogspot.com/ (doesn't seem to work at the moment ->)

http://www.myspace.com/ripityripity

http://guerreguerre.tumblr.com/

http://www.contactfrombeyond.blogspot.com/


GUERRE: Love Lies In the Details

(EP, CAN-AUSTRALIA 2010)

(mp3-zip, 5 tracks, 17 min, 15,2 MB)

Get it here or here or here!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Sleeping Machine - 3 EPs (HUN 2008-2009)

SLEEPING MACHINE is in fact a one-man band, with some musician friends helping out, from Budapest, Hungary.
Most of the music could be described as "electronic" or "ambient", but there are some exceptions (e.g. "It Will Be Painful To Remember This" that is almost a bossa nova...).

Excellent late night listening music!

Q: Where exactly are you from?
A: Budapest, Hungary
Q: Do you want your real name mentioned? If so: What is your real name?
A: No, it's not important, I just go by "mez".
Q: How recorded?
A: I'll use anything. Some of it was recorded on my Fostex 4-track, some was put together on my PC, one song was recorded in a professional studio, during a break while recording with another band. As for instruments I'll use anything from guitars, analog synths to primitive PC music software. My only rule is that I never use samples, pre-written drum patterns, nothing, only original material on the recordings.
Q: When recorded?
A: Some of it was recorded a couple of years ago, some of it is from 2008-09, and there are brand new songs in the making as well.
Q: Who involved? Who played what?
A: It's basically a one-man band, but there are friends helping me out, guys from the other bands I play with, Hammer Of Gods and Domina Massive. There's a detailed description of who played what in the text file of "3 EPs". They also play in the Sleeping Machine live band.
Q: Any more releases?
A: Yes, there's a brand new virtual 7",
"wake me up when we get there",
you can download it here:
Q: Since when does this band/project exist? - Any previous bands worth mentioning?
A: Sleeping Machine exists since 2008, maybe 07?
I play the drums in two other bands. Hammer Of Gods is a noisy shoegaze/indie rock band, it's getting recognition in Hungary, once we opened for Six Organs Of Admittance for example.
And there's a band called Domina Massive, but it's less active than HoG, it used to be a postrock band in the early 00s, now it's lo-fi whatever I guess.
With some friends we also have a radio/dj/gig organizer team called "Lamantin", we have a weekly radio show, clubnights, and brought bands like Mount Eeerie, The Ruby Suns, Six Organs to Budapest.
Q: How'd you "label" your music? (I know... nobody wants to get labeled... bla bla bla...)
A: homemade, lo-fi, psych... - I couldn't think of better or more fitting! :)
Q: Influences?
A: There are tons of music that have influenced me as a person, but don't show up in my music, so they are irrelevant here i guess. If I think about Sleeping Machine, I'd say Young Marble Giants, The Flying Lizards, Boards Of Canada, Cluster, impLOG and My Bloody Valentine were influential. Not necessary their music, but their approach, attitude to creating music was influential. With this logic I could even list the original Alice Cooper Group, they had amazing ideas.
Q: Website, Myspace?
myspace:
i also run a tumblr:

Favourite track: the secret life of snails

SLEEPING MACHINE: 3 EPs (HUNGARY 2008/9)
(mp3-zip, 11 tracks, 38 min, 85,6 MB)
01 - AFRAID OF MIMES (2008)
1 - afraid of mimes
2 - cul-de-sac
3 - a slow cold sunrise
4 - it's always a pleasant surprise to meet such friendly monsters (klethi und plethi remix)
02 - ME AGED FIVE (2008)
1 - me aged five, watching the clouds go by on a summer day
2 - i guess i know how that feels
3 - it will be painful to remember this
4 - i'll never be an astronaut
03 - THE SECRET LIFE OF SNAILS (2009)
1 - the secret life of snails
2 - they were happy after all
3 - no character development, no story

Get 'em here or here or here!