"Wuthering Heights (800% Slower)" by Kate Bush

from The Kick Inside (originally)

Her timeless debut, slowed and pitch corrected by "Looking At Blue" - a contributor to a Kate forum I frequent. Kinda unbelievable how naturally ambient and otherworldly the result is, and somehow it so perfectly evokes the mysticism of Bronté's novel. I so love this.

This clip, with a hideously abrupt ending, is only 6 or so minutes of the 35 minute (!) complete song, obtainable via the link below:


Wuthering Heights - 800% slower by gaffa

"Unknown" by Unknown

from I need help

Hey Chims,

Maurice surfacing for a favor. Nice. I've got two tracks here for which I'm hoping one of you can help me determine the artist.

These come from a live DJ mix cassette circa '88 or so from my second home at the time, Club Underground in Reno, Nevada. Mostly New Beat stuff - Voyou, MCL, Moskwa TV and some more mainstream fare a la Front 242, Camouflage etc. But these last two stump my iPod's Shazam and any attempt at translation I make.

Have a go, Chimneys! Thanks in advance.

link

Oh and don't mind the abortive mixing going on (it's not me). For that era in Reno, it's stunning this stuff was even on the floor.

"All" by Brian Eno

from Another Day On Earth

Huge revisit to a record that was a bit of a Chimney event in, my god, 2005!

I'm awestruck and a little bummed that Sir Brian only seems to find it necessary to lay a record like this one on us every decade or so. And with no solid prospects in the future, Another Day On Earth now seems a classic and a treasure.

So I'm choosing the title track to represent. A nice fan-made timelapse with comments that make me smile and feel old all at once....

"i just put this on an, this guys quite good! he's like an english speaking sigur ros. which if u ask me is very good! i think i'll listen to mour of his music!"

"Mmh. Sigur Ros is Post-Rock, this is Ambient."

"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.

"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)

"All" by The Veils

from Nux Vomica

A friend of mine has been pitching this band to me for weeks and finally dragged me out to see them last night at the Bottom Of The Hill. Now I'm waaay suspicious of the indie band-of-the-week carousel and sure there's some recent comparisons to be found here, but the undeniable charm and musicality of this little band finally melted my ice. A couple of you tube vids tells the story....

Oh and young Finn is the son of Barry Andrews, the shriek in Shriekback. Neat.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.