All These Fingers x Dwarf Nebula - The ATF Remixes EP (2013)

All These Fingers - 1969 (2012)

All These Fingers - Spheres EP (2012)

All These Fingers - Stockwell EP (2012)

/// Out Now On WOOZY TRIBE RECORDS ///

All These Fingers - Lounge Physique (2012)

All These Fingers - Archetypes & Windfalls (2012)

/// released by Grappa-Frisbee Records ///

new All These Fingers EP "Cat Peeple" out now...

new All These Fingers single "Diamondsss"...

new ATF single "Mariana Trench"...

DOWNLOAD "Mariana Trench" by All These Fingers

CAN - "Mushroom"

in the zone...

Kaleidoscope - "Faintly Blowing"

Kaleidoscope "Faintly Blowing" (Fontana / 1969)

Do you know what a wall record is? It's terrible. A wall record is something a record dealer hangs behind his tables at a convention to send the depraved masses into a hysteria when they walk on by. One who is well-read on the trade that he or she is plying will know what albums to hang up: original jazz pressings from all the obvious labels, the Beatles "butcher" cover, local funk classics, box sets, and almost always there is rare classic rock...most importantly, rare psychrock. But all that shit is priced accordingly and you will begin looking at the rest of their bins instead and so it begins.

This one here, "Faintly Blowing" by Kaleidoscope, is a wall record of the highest order, mainly because we all know about it (and probably want a copy). Released in 1969 on the crest of whimsical psychedelia, this sophomore album covers so much wonderful ground that it seems puzzling why it sold poorly until being rediscovered by record collectors via the Nuggets series. Perfect for Floyd fans who always liked Syd the best since some of the lyrical imagery and vocal delivery is almost the same, if not more cognizant. Some tunes are all heavy fuzz and loud Hammond organ that'll turn on a dime and become like a stoned Zombies and ride out waves of phased drums. Great guitar playing of all sorts, above average for the time and not at all show-offish. Not surprisingly, some of it sounds like the Beatles and Dylan folkrock. I would also say that this record is unmistakably British in the way that it revels in quaintness, history, and fairy tale-inspired content (not to mention record cover).

All songs are recommended but my favorites are: "(Love Song) For Annie", "Opinion", "Bless The Executioner", "Poem", and "Do It Again For Jeffrey" of course. The reissues are probably the way to go because Fontana Records butchered the original mix if you ask me, plus there are bonus tracks and such. Why isn't rock n' roll fun like this anymore?

Get it...

Buy it...

Colosseum : live in Switzerland: 1969

VINYL SHOW & TELL VOL. 7 - CEM KARACA...

Cem Karaca
"Apaslar" 4 song EP 45rpm
( 60's / Turkey )

{I can't get to sleep tonight and am super faded...This record is it right now.}

Turkey was the most western country you could find in the middle east, in the 60's and 70's for awhile at least in terms of pop culture (besides India). As the amazingly large slew of reissue albums can attest, psych, garage, beat, and surf rock were well alive in and around Istanbul. It's also worthy noting that this was happening pretty much at the same time as the British and American scenes that influenced it (usually there's a stylistic "lag time" of a few years).

My guess is 1965-66 for this one; by 68-69 these guys were getting pretty heavy & fuzzed unlike the twangy surf greatness here. seriously great guitar playing all around, great mixture of traditional Turkish music and Dick Dale/Tornados/Davie Allen style. I know the Ventures were huge all over that part of the world, but these guys are way rougher. The singer sounds pretty desperate at times (compliment). And it's four songs, not two...rad.

They're all awesome, but the last one's a burner (and I'm not just saying that to get you to listen to the whole thing). I really need to go to bed.

alright, this one gets a 10 out of 10 on "let's call it a day" scale...

VINYL SHOW & TELL VOL 6 - CRAZY ELEPHANT...

Crazy Elephant
"Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' / Dark Part of my Mind"
(1969 Bell Records / USA)

(B-side plays first this time...)

So much deception surrounds this seemingly simple 45rpm single. With a title like "Dark Part of My Mind" and Crazy Elephant, a record from 1969 implicitly lets the buyer know of its psychedelic content. Bell Records, moderately successful pop label branching into rock, nothing conspicuous right? Oh shit, wait, there's another credit at the bottom, "Kasenetz-Katz Assoc". Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, two guys responsible for some of the cheesiest, wannabe, safe for kids, Top 40 bubblegum psych pop. "Manufactured" pretty much all their bands, traded members like baseball teams, assigned songs, faked names/bios, used studio musicians, and so on...

So how is it that the B-side here is so damn good?? This is the dirty kind of stuff that pops up on Bomp Records compilations and sends junkies like me into the crates, scouring bins for one trace of some impossibly rare slab. Well, I'd venture to say that this is the Super K production team's take on Vanilla Fudge and the like; heavy fuzzed out psychedelic rock & soul. Apparently they were proud of this tune and used it again for another studio band titled Cpt. Groovy and his Bubblegum Army, further highlighting the interchangable nature of Kasenetz-Katz songs. It's not exactly rare either, just keep looking.

The A-side, "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'", is catchy and was a chart hit, but who cares, the real business is happening in back here. "Dark Part of My Mind" knocks the door right the fuck open, immediately ripping your belongings off the shelf, looking for a drug stash while some long-haired freak blares his Vox Tonebender in your girlfriend's startled face, no hesitation. Eventually everyone is crazy-eyed and snarling at the ceiling, "Outta the dark part of my mind, yeah, aaaahh!!!". A personal fav.

this one gets a 9 out of 10 on the "Oh, word?" scale...

Everything your favorite band can do, GONG can do better...

Well, perhaps that's somewhat of a sanctimonius claim, but the musical output of GONG is fucking good. Not unlike Amon Duul, Magma, or even Sun Ra, Gong based their entire musical output on self-invented mythologies, characters, and even a sort of quasi-"religion". The only real difference in Gong's inception is that they have no fear of being silly or absurd, and often choose these themes over serious drama or mysticism. But Gong still wore crazy shaman-like outfits, were fascinated by space & the cosmos, lived somewhat communally, and embraced psychedelic drugs like most bands of this kind in the late 60's/early 70's. Oh, and they're not Krautrock! (Started by an Austrailian and filled out by various other members throughout the years.)

The original guitar player for The Soft Machine (pre the jazz line up) jumped ship and started Gong as an output for music he had made with his wife. Like most "side projects" of the time, the first Gong recordings are really just a bunch musicians from other bands getting high and jamming; unfocused but fun. You could describe the first three LP's in this way actually...

But things got ultimately more deliberate by the time Gong started their 3-album storyline Radio Gnome Invisible, which is really good and where you should jump in, then go backwards. Members of the band took character personas and costumes during this period, elevating the shows to a weird broadway on acid, in space, in Mel Blank's head. The beings inhabiting the universe of Gong include the Pothead Pixies, Octave Doctors, and of course, Radio Gnomes who wish to spread the way of life on their planet. Sounds a bit like Sun Ra's cosmic mythos and the lessons he had for Earth people, but with a lot more irreverence thrown in.

Shit, I haven't even mentioned the sound yet. The first album, as mentioned before, isn't as coherent or as unique as the Radio Gnome Trilogy, but still has great stuff. Some of it sounds like leftover Soft Machine songs, some sounds like a vey together Syd Barrett, while some is truly bizarre studio experimentation (check out a track like "Princess Dreaming"). Not bad, but all the fun shit really starts to go down on the first part of the trilogy, Flying Teapot. At this point, the song structures get insane, MiniMoog's start flying around, and the epic tale gets underway for the next few records. One might be reminded of Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, PFM, Matching Mole, early Floyd, Passport, or Van Der Graf Generator.

All psych or prog fans should give them a listen, now!

Oh, and here's a great place to learn more (and hear) about GONG...
BLACK ACID Blog