FailedSitcom – Of Life's Declivity (2010)

Daydream Generation

• Lo-fi 
• New Weird America 
• Free folk 
• Freak folk 
• Weird folk 
• DIY 
• Electronic 
• Singer-songwriter

Comment: this bunch of 11 short-running tracks represents a modern folk scene called New Weird America being seminal throughout the 00s. At the end of the decade one of the juggernauts of this style Animal Collective went into clear-cut poppy electronic music so you can see influences coming from the previous years before it. Audibly there are up plucked strings mixed up with sublime male singing, mellifluous glockenspiel chords and sweet electronic progressions. Its rustic and simplistic approach reminds of music under such DIY-based platforms as CLLCT, Daydream Generation, Quixodelic Records and Rack And Ruin Records. By famous kindred souls this Sam Durkin's outing can be compared with CocoRosie, and Vashti Bunyan. Much has changed since then but we can remember for it with bittersweet nostalgia. Its lyrical message can be pessimistic but musically it is a pleasing experience. Get his another issue, called Her Blameless Mystery as well on the same link.

The Utica Flower Company - The Utica Flower Company (2007)

Quixodelic

Daydream Generation

Lastfm

/New Weird America, Free folk, Space rock, Acid rock, Indie folk, Psychedelic folk, Drone folk, Trance rock, Experimental folk, Folk indie, Psych-folk/

Comment: this 14-track issue is a decorous example of the so-called New Weird (America) movement. The album was released in 2007 which was the heyday of the style. More profoundly, expressive but ecstatic singing is tightly surrounded by burbly guitar twanging, spacey drones, and solfeggio choruses. At times folk tunes are to progress and metabolize into hazy trance rock templates thereby conjuring up psychedelic flashbacks and dilated self-realization. Certainly it is a wondrous experience to stop by and listen and be part of it. Indeed, those times were unforgettable ones because anyone called the shots and believed he/she can provide something precious to the world. The collective was related to such labels/platforms as Quixodelic Records and Daydream Generation which in turn were closely related to such wondrous music platform as it was Indiana-based CLLCT, of which involving hundreds of DIY projects. I really hope it is possible to recover it sometime.                      

Kaleidonauts – Tigermouse (2008)

Quixodelic

Lastfm

/Folk indie, New Weird America, Indie folk, Psychedelic folk, Americana, Alt-folk/

Comment: The project is a transatlantic collaboration project between Smally (The Wheelies) and Jon of the Atom (Dead Canaries) who recruited lots of other musicians to fulfil their aesthetical ambitions and artsy reflections. Tigermouse is their sophomore issue which was produced at pinnacle of the New Weird America movement at the end of the 00s. This 13-track issue is amusingly jaunty and energetic filled with psychedelic keyboard whiffs, sheeny glockenspiel chords and catchy guitar strumming and exaggerated singing pads or on the other side providing more majestic insights into their intimate world. However, listen to I`ll Be Your Pavement, and 4000 Mile Dream, and Blood Music, and Oh No, and The Somewhere Song these are truly great pop songs, full of life and getting you an additional boost. The album is related to such fabulous free folk and experimental rock/indie platforms as Quixodelic, Daydream Generation, and deceased CLLCT. 

The Utica Flower Company - The Utica Flower Company 2 (2010)

Quixodelic

Lastfm

• New Weird America
• Lo-fi
• Indie folk
• Free folk
• Americana
• Folk indie
• Drone folk
• Alt-folk
• DIY

Outstanding tracks:
Shark Ark
A Kick In The Shins
The Ballad of Willoughby Toad
Things We`ve Done
When

Simon Piler and The Atom Band - Lo Swing of the Earth (2011)

Quixodelic

9.2

/Psych-folk, Weird folk, Indie folk, Alt-folk, New Weird America, Psychedelic, Spoken word, Avant-folk/

Comment: these 8 pieces by Simon Piler and Brendon Hertz, Scarytoes, Def Mute, Emerson Betchkal, and Lt. Spark are all about folk music, though, the combo used to outreach the average, stereotype-obscured understanding of it. Strumming guitars are blended with chanting, at times even hysterical sort of singing. All of that is present within the open-ended yet somewhat warped atmosphere. Indeed, it symbolically hints at a vast array of possibilities so characteristic to this publication. The group`s guitar works are used to come across close to the aesthetics of John Fahey, Leo Kottke and other representatives of American Primitivism and on the other digging out lots of inspiration from the tradition of 60`s hippie and psych-folk seeds. At times these chants are variegated with spoken word interludes and found sound records. In a nutshell, all these projects related to the umbrella of Quixodelic and Daydream Generation do not disappoint the listener.

Impaled Peach - Impaled Beach (2011)

Quixodelic
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.2

/Folk indie, Alt-folk, Singer-songwriter, Indie folk, Experimental folk/

Comment: reportedly Impaled Peach was inspired by visiting the dentist. Is it true or not, however, the fact is that Edward Alan Bartholomew has issued approximately a dozen of albums on CLLCT and Daydream Generation/Quixodelic records to date. Furthermore, he is an unsung musician who deserves much more acclaim for sure. For example, let`s listen to this, 17-piece album. This can be considered a sort of folk release, yet, being quite far from functioning and running alongside the usual frontiers of folk music. More profoundly, by its approach it is minimal guitar-driven folk (or folk indie), yet, below the stringed layers can be heard shitloads of electronically treated and buzzing noise effects. As the whole , however, it used to amplify the listener`s emotions up to. If you are intended for searching of Bartholomew`s kindred souls, you could recognize Wilco`s impact on it. At any rate, Impaled Peach is an outstanding album.

The Falling Floors - The Falling Floors (2008)

Daydream Generation/Quixodelic
CLLCT

8.8

/Psychedelia, Psychedelic folk, Folk rock, Indie folk, Folk indie/

Comment: The Falling Floors comes out from the Daydream Generation/Quixodelic Records block. Similarly to the Bloomington-based CLLCT, and the Exeter-based Children Of The Drone-related groups this foundation embodies the most free-spirited moments in pop music. However, Falling Floors plays nice psychedelia-infused pop folk where are presented sublime motives and harmonies, at times it takes on oriental (including drone folk instruments), at times conjuring 60`s hippie stuff. The last track rings out like a tribute to Procol Harum.

Rocketships Of Love - Rocketships Of Love (2008)

Quixodelic

9.2

/Covers, Space pop, Experimentalism, Electronic pop, Krautrock, Experimental rock, Drone rock, Post-psychedelic, Avant-rock, Psychedelia/

Comment: In the first place, I wanted to call attention to such sites/virtual ambiences as Quixodelic Records, and The Daydream Generation which can be considered a pair of the main support points for DIY music in Europe (analogously to the CLLCT in the USA, furthermore, they are communicated with each other as well). However, one of the most idiosyncratic collective at Quixodelic is Rugby-based Rocketships Of Love which is led by Paul Le Keux, also known from such groups as Uberfuzz, and Grosvenor Suite, respectively. However, ROL was the result of him wanting to take a back seat vocally and get people who he admires to sing the covers of songs he loves. Here are 13 tracks, indeed, some of them are the covers (Spaceman 3, Suicide, Brian Eno, Tommy James and the Shondells, Lou Reed), the residual stuff is a lysergical salute to the creatures of outer space taking on a lot extending from primitive electronic experiments to sublime modular synth-built appearances. An excellent output indeed.

Lenn9o9n - Relining Coffins (2010)

Quixodelic
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.6

/Poptronica, Glo-fi, Baroque pop, Experimental indie, Dream pop, Electronic pop, Psychedelic pop, Indietronica, Free folk/

Comment: It is hinted at Lastfm that David Charleston aka lenn9o9n has been influenced by hip-hop (Tribe called A Quest, and Beastie Boys), late 60`s pyschedelia and avant-garde (United States Of America, Velvet underground, Syd Barrett), and nowadays pop acts (Of Montreal, Broadcast, Mirah). Furthermore, DC takes his musical advice from James Brown. In a more real outlook, however, his debut publication constitutes an array of sublime sounds, veering by its stylistical approach from blissed-out glo-fi music and catchy indietronic/electronic pop to jubilant free folk-alikeness and lofty orchestrations and hysterical, artistical indie rock a la Arcade Fire. A masterpiece indeed. And of course, love the animals (they are people too).

Fig Mints (of Your Imagination) - We Love You EP (2010)

CLLCT
The Fig Mints
Quixodelic

8.8

/Singer-songwriter, Anti-folk, DIY, Art-rock, Noise rock, Post-punk, Alternative rock, Experimental indie/

Comment: Here are represented 4 tracks which used to sway between tough and mellow, between dynamics and introspectiveness. It does start out with heavily stomping-abrasive post-punk-ish drums and feedback-based chaos reminiscent of JAMC and Primal Scream and Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Later it gets slowed down thereby getting closer to mellow and catchy indie pop tunes which are embellished with glockenspiel-relied snippets. This issue is an example of how the kind of great music can be created with a sparse array of elements.

Rocketships of Love - UFC Space Soundtrack (Book 2) (2011)

Quixodelic

9.4

/Psychedelic pop, Synth pop, No wave, Exotica pop, Drone rock, Electronic pop, Avant-pop, Psych-pop, Pop experimentalism/

Comment: First off, this is an amazing set of 14 tracks. Demonstrated through idiosyncratic (analogue) synth-backed and dusty reed organ-shined exemplaries which do veer from highly densed Suicide-alike psych-out torrents and flashingly droning synth gears-vibrations to contemplative near-ambient notches and vastly catchy space age pop/exotica pop once made by such grandmasters like Jean Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley. On the other side, 90`s are apparently visible via the hints at Spiritualized and James for instance. Indeed, it is a re-interpretation of the past experience in the verge of a cycle of the pop tradition.

Syd Lane - Hypatia (2011)

Quixodelic
Bandcamp
Lastfm

9.0

/Dream folk, Alt-folk, Drone folk, Noir folk, Singer-songwriter, Psychedelic, Slowcore, Experimental folk, Indie folk, Folk indie, New Weird Europe/

Comment: Firstly I shall have to express my bewilderment about how underrated have the issues by this fairy-alike singer-songwriter been so far. Yet, she has released 8 albums during past 7 years and got 365 listening times at Lastfm to date, yet, her songs are not a kind of arty-farty posing but solidly built-up oeuvres. In true, her side projects (with Jeremiah James) like The Loaded Whispers and Chansons De Geste have been a bit more successful ones. However, this time she has been assisted via some guitar solos and mastering by Jason Raspa (Frogville) and the recent release reflects upon diverse aspirations (as it earlier used to be as well). For instance, from the organ-backed slow motion a la Beach House and rigid, organ-droning folk conceptualization a la Fursaxa to slightly psychedelic yet heartbreaking, growing folk songs a la The Wind Whistles and the borders of noir folk will have crossed many times in her contemplative sadness as well. In a nutshell, the concept makes obvious withdrawals from the realm of urban life to be drowned into omnipotentious bucolic idyll for.