Maurice Chimney's Tracks

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Monday December 29, 2008

 "Amaryllis In The Sprawl" by Shriekback from Glory Bumps

Inspired by Ryan's five-year-old ruling of a 24 year old Shriekback classic, I feel compelled to spread the word about the Shriek's current record, Glory Bumps. Long after the Go Bang! stumble, Barry Andrews returned to the swampy jams with a series of understated, largely self-produced recordings, none of which captured for me the splendorous bombast and phosphorescent haze of Shriekback's glory days. But come along 2008 and there's yet another seemingly innocuous Shriekback record in the racks and this time it pays off, and I'm once again drunk on the fumes of big night music.
There's nothing on youtube to safely link, so I'm gonna give a taste, my first favorite cut from Glory Bumps, nodding reverently to This Big Hush, the suburban horror of Amaryllis In The Sprawl.
I so advise seeking this record out. The opener, Hooray For Everything is a huge brimstone and horns evocation in the Nemesis vein.
Hooray for Shriekback.
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Thursday December 18, 2008

 "Ulakanakulot / Decline and Fall" by Virgin Prunes from ...if I Die, I Die

So wow, never heard these guys. Not sure how that could have happened because the pedigree is impeccable and the music so up my darkest alley it's hitting me like a ton of bricks right now. In the best posssible way.
Apparently, in the mid-seventies, some Dublin kids found creative solace in creating a "youthful gang" called Lypton Village. Founding members including pseudonyms Gavin Friday, Bono Vox and The Edge. 2 bands came forth from this, Virgin Prunes and some band called U2.
Having taken the art angle, Virgin Prunes are clearly peers not of their anthemic pub rocker bretheren, but of black cabaret dwellers, Bauhaus. Which is obviously why I like this so much. But what really tickles me is the unhinged theatricality that evokes most closely my favorite of the true early English genre of "industrial music", COIL. Then I read that Gavin Friday actually performed on COIL's Scatology.
Yes, yes, it's all a rich tapestry.
Something to brighten your winter day....
(Oh and don't mind the brilliant fan-made video cut from Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising)
 (via You Tube)
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Wednesday September 24, 2008

 "All" by The Veils from Nux Vomica

RE-RULE from 12/23/2002 Tuesday December 25, 2007

 "Just Like Christmas" by Low from Christmas

Heard this again today, as will happen. Re-rule . 5 years ago. 5 YEARS! 
Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year, all you chims of present and yore. 

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Friday December 14, 2007

 "You Tear The World In Two" by Pale Saints from The Comforts Of Madness

Rescued this recording recently from it's murky prison of 1990 CD "mastering" by snagging a 23e work-of-art vinyl copy. Tingles galore hearing it that way. Loving how textured and pretty this song is while at the same time being so furiously propulsive. I love how bands can, over time become freed from former compulsive genre groupings. Kinda the way music can overcome it's associative memories, and in time be new to us again.
Pale Saints, this and nothing but.

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Friday August 24, 2007

 "Invercargill" by The Court & Spark from Dead Diamond River

Well in fact this TOTD is actually meant to be a heartfelt thanks for the spontaneous pairing of HGM's Nathaniel, filling my head and heart on my nightly flight home alongside my welcome and inexplicably reliable commute partners, the pelicans of the Bay Bridge. Wether their movements are purely coincidental, mocking in their freedom, or simply a glimpse of the moments to be found in a California evening, I'm as pleased at the sight of their steadfast flight as I am grateful for new music from my favorite musicians.
Oh yeah, after Nathanel ended, shuffle came up with Invercargill, and somehow while I'd never noticed her here before, I shared my first ever laugh (instead of the usual creeped-out discomfort) with Laffing Sal.
TGIF, is all I can say.
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Thursday July 19, 2007

 "Here Today Gone Tomorrow" by Ulrich Schnauss from Goodbye

Last weekend, driving late up near Kirkwood, this track lined up so crazily with the scene out the windshield, triggering one of those increasingly rare music-induced spine chills. Part of hwy 89 south of Meyers has been freshly repaved, affording that rare, blacker than black, whisper-quiet surface like driving on velvet. So we're gliding along, high beams illuminating the stands of Ponderosa flowing by on either side below a sky absolutely filled with the kind of starry night that can astonish us sea-level city dwellers. The whole effect was so overwhelming, so liquid, that I'm still riding the high from it.
Also, Ulrich has totally raised it for "Goodbye" a beautifully diverse & dense progression from "A Strangely Isolated Place". Can't say I always agree with him forcing vocals in occasionally, but his MBV meets Rother tableau is starting to assume a truly unique and monumental quality. Everything's right here. My next record of the year. 
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Wednesday April 11, 2007

 "No Motion" by Dif Juz from Soundpool

Inspired by this morning's spring rainstorm and Clunkified's unexpected posting yesterday of instrumentalists Dif Juz, I needed to toss this, my favorite track of theirs, into the Chimney fire. First appearing on the hugely important 4AD Compilation "Lonely Is An Eyesore", No Motion illuminates the energy within the all around atmospheric genius of this underrated quartet. Love it.
 (for a second there, I thought I had a rerule)
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Friday March 2, 2007

 "23" by Blonde Redhead from 23

Been quietly lurking and wallowing in a bit of a uninspired musical winter, not really feeling it, except the occasional subliminal comfort of my 'music for sleep' playlist, which should be titled 'music for insomnia' or 'music for a miserable bastard who can't quiet his damn thoughts'. sigh.
Which is exactly the reason I'm here today and this song is so miraculously the perfect antidote for all of my musical disillusionment. A soaring throwback to the sorely missed density and white-knuckled drama of My Bloody Valentine and Lush, while finally, finally rewarding the long wait since 'Misery Is A Butterfly" became one of my favorite records of the new century.
Feel it. Myspace

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Wednesday November 8, 2006

 "Leave It Open" by Kate Bush from The Dreaming

If I lost my mind I might just spend the remainder of my days trying to convince people of the greatness of Kate Bush. Maybe I can understand how her voice might put people off but when it comes down to her finest moments, she is really beyond comparison. I'm completely unable to step outside myself and grasp just how she is perceived by the public. Musically, she does occupy a prog-tinted realm alongside Peter Gabriel, but I find myself futily searching for more accurate reference points in the oddest places - Maya Deren? Terry Gilliam?? At any rate, after years and years of listening to Kate, I'm still discovering details in her mad, dense and imaginative arrangements. And while she has created some truly memorable pop songs, her output can veer from the deceptively accessible ("Running Up that Hill") to mind-warping theatricality and studio experimentation, best demonstrated on her 1982 record, The Dreaming. Leave It Open is just one squirming slice of that surreal record.... 
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There are so many more tracks... Read the next 10 >>
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Maurice Chimney

AKA: bleafminer Location: San Francisco Total tracks posted: 145
Member since: November 12, 2002
Favorite Genre: clove-core
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Maurice Chimney Tracks of 2008
Track Comments of 2008
Most recent album purchased

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[ none yet ]
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Top Ten Albums of the moment of all time

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1. ...last 9 vinyl LP records purchased.
2. Hans-Joachim Roedelius - Durch Die Wuste
3. The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again (12")
4. Swans - The Burning World
5. Palace Brothers - Days In The Wake
6. Legendary Pink Dots - All The King's Men
7. Coil - Astral Disaster
8. Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out (4 Men With Beards Reissue)
9. Current 93 - Earth Covers Earth
10. Bettie Serveert - Palomine

Read all the Top 10s >>
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