Today's tops

Here's the audio that's rocking my mind these days. If you're interested in hearing any of the stuff you may not know, write me.


Trizo 50 (self-titled album), 1973. Post-psychedelic pre-glam proto-power-pop done by kids growing up in rural Missouri. A little like Big Star's material but without even the modicum of sophistication enjoyed by those seminal Memphis figures. There is some truly lovely music on here, and, on about half the cuts, a real "down to the bone" sound quality too. In general, I find that lo-fi music sounds better when it isn't done purposely to be lo-fi. The group pressed fewer than 100 copies of this album originally, and the remaining ones can fetch up to a thousand bucks on the market. Although the album as recorded is not available, World in Sound (out of Germany) recently issued a collection of Trizo 50 music on vinyl and CD.


Painter, "West Coast Woman," 1974. This fantastic, catchy hard-rock single by Painter (an outgrowth of celebrated 60s Canadian punkers 49th Parallel) was a minor hit in the U.S. It's totally obscure now and deserving of rediscovery.



All India Radio, Echo Other, 2006. This British duo began by overdubbing instruments onto Indian radio broadcasts (hence their name). Now, they're doing superb hangout music that perfectly fuses the mind expanding sounds of psychedelia with the open spaces of fresh air itself.

I hear echoes of all sorts of rock on here--Seefeel, The Charlatans, Duane Eddy (!) and even early Pink Floyd--but the overall sound, marinating in reverb, tremelo, and echo, takes me back to ambient chill stuff from the early 1990s like Psychedelic Research Lab, Higher Intelligence Agency, FSOL, and even the Orb. This truly fine CD is on the local Minty Fresh label.


"Out of My Hands," The Endd, 1966 or 1967. I think. Still one of the great garage-rock songs of all time.



The Shadoks Music Compilation. A German label that reissues out obscure psychedelic records from the 1960s and 1970s, Shadoks has been responsible for spreading the word about a lot of terrific music. This 18-song CD compilation has introduced me to some fabulous material by groups like Peacepipe, Shiver, Framework, Fate, and The Spoils of War.


"Waterloo," ABBA (1974). Because it's one of the best pure pop songs ever recorded.