Excellent Pop Inspired by Beach Boys and Beatles

Love the 1960s pop of the Beach Boys and Beatles? Then we highly recommend the brand new album CLOUDHEAD by Jamie Ward. This is a new favorite at Rancho Oddio.

     

This follow-up to 2015’s “I Am The Sun” shows Jamie Ward’s ability to push even further into a mixed bag of 1960’s inspired pop gems. Written, recorded, performed and produced by the artist, it is a more complex album in it’s songwriting and arrangements, tipping it’s hat to Brian Wilson’s modular recording style employed on “Pet Sounds” and the orchestral arrangements by George Martin on The Beatles middle period records, plus Phil Spectors layered “Wall Of Sound” technique. Elements of other 1960’s music makers including The Byrds, The Left Banke, The Rolling Stones, Harry Nillson and others are also honoured in this collection of original songs.   

“CloudHead” was written as a concept album, a commentary on the disillusionment of a consumer driven existence based on the artists personal experience of transition between western society’s force-fed values and expectations to self-realization. The album represents a complete day in the life, starting with “Get Up!” and ending with “End Of The Day/Now That’s It’s Over”. It is a tribute to the dreamers, the “CloudHeads” of the world.
 

We are also wildly in love with Jamie Ward's aforementioned I AM THE SUN EP. You can find both albums on Bandcamp and on the FMA.




PS: If the voice sounds vaguely familiar, you may recognize Jamie Ward as the voice of that legendary children's artist, Uncle Neptune, a long-time favorite at both Kazoomzoom and Oddio Overplay.

Bandcamp | Facebook | Free Music Archive

MUSIC COPYRIGHTS:All Rights Reserved; FMA-Limited License
IMAGE: album cover
NATIONALITY: Americas: Canada: Ontario
CLASSIFICATIONS:Psychedelia; Pop; Sunshine Pop
FILED UNDER: Digital: Popular Music: Psych Pop, Bubblegum

Ail Fionn

At the heart of Ail Fionn are Matthew on saz, a 7-string Turkish instrument, and Inge on mandolin. This album of dreamy, semi-improvised, psych folk songs was recorded with friends at the Higher Grow Studio in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.

Performers:

• Inge - mandolin, fiddle
• Matthew - saz (a.k.a., A Tiny Window and heard on Kazoomzoom)
• Sven van Mol - electric bass guitar, bandir, bass drum, shakers
• Abdul Kader - bandir on 1 and 6
• Christy - darbouka on 9
• Mickey - percussion and bells on 3, 4, 5 and 7

Keywords: mandolin; saz; baglama; drone; droning; acoustic; atmospheric; folk; free psych-folk; free psychfolk; free psych folk; freeform; improv; improvisation; improvisational; improvisatory; improvised; improvising; jam; jamming; lofi; lo-fi; organic; other; psychedelia; psychedelic; psychfolk; psych-folk; space; spacey; spontaneous; modal; elf; elven; fairy; faery; pixie; Sint-Niklaas; Flanders; Vlaanderen; celtic; Irish; Irish trad; Irish traditional; traditional Irish; Irish folk; Ireland; Cornwall; Cornish; Cornish folk; Cornish traditional; traditional Cornish; traditional; Sweden; Swedish; Swedish folk; Swedish traditional; traditional Swedish

Music License: © CC BY-NC-SA
Image: Inge traveling in France at the time with mules and a wagon built by Matthew, original here

Twangy Psychedelia from The Spectacular Fantastic

We dig the psychedelic indie pop and rock of The Spectacular Fantastic and have been promoting them to readers for years.

Remember the sounds of Camper Van Beethoven and early Flaming Lips? Mix those sounds with southern twang and bigger doses of psychedelic pop and you have yourself something like the mighty friendly flavor of The Spectacular Fantastic.

Mike writes, "TSF has been many things over the years.  The "band" began as a solo recording project that eventually evolved into a full blown rock and roll band and has recently devolved back into a recording project in, near, and around Cincinnati.

"I have been very fortunate to share a musical bond with many of my friends over the past 5 years or so.  The members/collaborators have included Jon Schwartz, Doug Baum, William Ryan Fletcher, Roger Pott, Bryan Dellefield, and Jonathan Williams.  We have played many shows throughout the region and have released several albums and a few EPs.  The lineup currently consists of Jonathan Williams and myself.

"We live in the studio and are refining and practicing the art of songwriting on an ongoing basis.  We may or may not re-emerge as a live band but as long as I am around, we will probably release an album here and there.  We do believe in making music that is easily accessible and either very affordable or free to enjoy."

Continue reading for three more players

Droning Rock for the Weekend

Here are two albums of rock drone from the Russian Association of Independent Genres (RAIG) to clear work from your mind this weekend. Prepare for space out.

A Foggy Realm (Ilya Lipkin) - Twilight
[mirror]
Electric Guitar Drone
© All Rights Reserved
Artist Location: Moscow, Russia

Psi Corps (Alisa Coral) - Shadow Creatures
[mirror1, mirror2]
Dark Space, Drone
© CC BY-NC-ND
Artist Location: Moscow, Russia

The Lush Sounds of the '70s from Ill Mondo

The label Circle Into Square descibes Ill Mondo's De Novo album as "a psychedelic exploration of epic proportions" and goes on to say:

Recorded on classic, vintage equipment in authentic 70's style, Ill Mondo employed dozens of studio musicians and a variety of vocalists to complete the album. The recordings started with a Kraut-rock influenced studio jam session, and the sessions were edited down before extensive overdubbing; Mellotron flutes and strings blend with live horn and string sections, Latin percussion accents against the funky drums and a full choir section complements the space echo guitars.

Official Website | SoundCloud | myspace | Facebook | YouTube

Music License: © All Rights Reserved

Artist Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA

The Trypshop

You probably know Mark Vidler as mashup master "Go Home Productions." He gained a deal of notoriety with those early days of mashups, but Vidler is also a producer, remixer, A/V artist, songwriter, and disc jockey. Here's a snippet from his bio:

Using the thriving UK bootleg scene of 2001 as a starting block, has since gone on to officially produce tracks for all manner of 'legends' in the music business including David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Blondie, The Sex Pistols and diverse artists like Gang Of Four, Malcolm Mclaren, Ruts DC, Alicia Keys, Siobhan Fahey, Kasabian, Martha and The Muffins, Plaid and Max Sedgley amongst others

Produced the single "Rebel Never Gets Old" for David Bowie in 2004 - UK Top 45 Singles Chart

Produced Blondie vs The Doors "Rapture Riders" single released in on EMI 2007 - Top 20 Chart hits in Europe / #1 Club Chart US

Produced the first officially cleared and released 'Mash-Up' album "Mashed" for EMI Records in 2007 - UK Top Ten Album Chart

Has produced radio sessions broadcast by Radio 1 / XFM / BBC 6 Music / BBC Radio 4 / BBC Asian Network / Jazz FM / WFMU (NYC) / K-Rock (NYC) / Indie 103 (LA) / Live 105 (SF) / OUI FM (FR)

We finally caught up on listening to one of his projects, Trypshop, a radio program of psychedelia. What a fun trip with the knowledgeable, friendly, and humorous host!

Mark Vidler's Trypshop Radio Show is now back after almost 5 years spent in a Psychedelic haze somewhere between Watford, Northampton and Mars. Visit the new website / facebook page. All new shows will be posted to Soundcloud then archived on the website.

Location: Watford, Hertfordshire, UK

Portuguese Variety from OPPP

This self-titled album from Orquestra Popular De Paio Pires of Setúbal, Portugal lands with regularity in the mix here at Rancho Oddio. It is a diverse and grooving album brought to the world by the phenomenal netlabel Clinical Archives.

Tracks 1-3 and 12 might fall under classic jazz pop (or Space Age Pop), while 4-11 are more instrumental experimental rock, and 7 is hip hop beat. Give it a listen and decide for yourself.

Clinical Archives netlabel download | Free Music Archive download

SoundCloud | Myspace | Facebook

Location: Setubal, Portugal
Music License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0

Ashtar Command

Happy belated birthday to Chris Holmes of Ashtar Command! Perhaps his recent birthday celebration is why he is giving away the American Sunshine album to fans again?

Ashtar Command is Brian Liesegang (Nine Inch Nails, Filter) and  Chris Holmes (Yum Yum, The Smashing Pumpkins) joined by lots of friends, like Joshua Radin, Alex Ebert (Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros), Har Mar Superstar, Rachel Yamagata, Priscilla Ahn, Z Berg, Matt Walker (Filter, The Smashing Pumpkins), Solomon Walker (Morrissey) Mike Garson (David Bowie),  Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.), Oliver Kraus (Beth Orton), Stewart Cole (Edward Sharpe), Stephen Fitzpatrick (Veruca Salt), and Johnny Radtke (Kill Hannah).

If you miss the download, you can still purchase the album through Amazon, iTunes, and other standard vendors.

Official Website | Facebook | myspace

Excerpts from informative review at Dilettantes:

Chris released Dan Loves Patti under his Yum Yum moniker, an album that Rolling Stone said “more than holds it own in comparison with influences as the Beatles, and Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds.” He has since toured and recorded with The Smashing Pumpkins and Felix da Housecat, co-produced tracks for P. Diddy, worked on Billy Corgan’s solo album and written with Rachael Yamagata and Mandy Moore. Also a celebrated DJ, Holmes appeared on URB’s “Next 100” list and was handpicked by Sir Paul McCartney to open for him at the 2009 Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

Brian joined Nine Inch Nails, working on the multi-Platinum, GRAMMY®-winning albums Broken and The Downward Spiral. He subsequently co-founded the two-man band Filter with Richard Patrick. With hit singles like “Hey Man, Nice Shot” and “Jurrassitol,” Filter sold millions of albums, toured with The Smashing Pumpkins, Ozzie Osbourne, Korn and others and contributed to Platinum soundtracks for The X-Files, Spawn and The Cable Guy. Brian went on to produce, write and perform on Veruca Salt’s Resolver and was recruited by Billy Corgan for his Future Embrace album and world tour.

Space Rock Classic

Begun as a psychedelic collective in the 1980s, Quarkspace grew up to become one of America's best space rock bands from the 1990s.

Their third studio album, Drop, was released into the public domain as a CD-R in November of 2001, as the group was retiring from stage activities. It is available for minimal cost from Bandcamp and vendors and free with every order from the group's record label, Eternity's Jest. Duplication is authorized and encouraged.

Drop, rated 4.5 stars by the All Music Guide, is available in mp3 format at the official website Quarkspace.com, FLAC at Bandcamp (support), or on CD-R with every order from Eternity's Jest.

François Couture of All Music Guide writes:

Since the lyrics deal with the abuses of a consumerist society, the bandmembers felt uncomfortable with selling the album and thus decided to give it away. And listeners can thank them for that, because Drop stands as their best effort, a fantastic swan song.

The eponymous Quarkspace had good moments but lacked some studio proficiency. The Hidden Moon was impressive but a bit overstretched. Every track on Drop is dense, concise, and delightful. New songs (sung by a Chet Santia, still improving as a vocalist) alternate with fresh instrumental tunes. Guitarist Stan Lyon replaces Darren Gough, and a handful of guest musicians appear here and there, including Architectural Metaphor's Greg Kozlowski and Thom the World Poet reciting on the great 20-minute closer, "Blanket Hill."

As songcrafters, Quarkspace has become very efficient Meddle-era Pink Floyd trippers. As jammers, they rise even higher than before -- and Lyon's guitar work has definitely something to do with it. A group's best album available for free? Why should you pass? Fans and newcomers alike have all the reasons to be very, very happy.

Bomb!

Bomb was a psychedelic punk rock band from San Francisco (1986-1993). Bomb's Hits Of Acid is among Nirvana founder Krist Novoselic's favorite albums. Their Happy All the Time and Hate Fed Love were in massive overplay at Oddio NYC headquarters for many years.

Bomb was made up of Michael Dean (vocals, bass), Jay Morgan Crawford and Hilsinger (guitar), and Tony Fag (drums. Dean has been sharing much of Bomb's music on his sites for years (featured at Oddio in 2007), and we are happy to find the albums are still posted at his most recent site.

Here's the Bomb history from his site:

Rock Me, Baby

Laid down a lot of pop and electronic selections this week. Seems only right to kick off the weekend with some rock!

Here are 50 legally shared rock tracks across the board of genres that you can get onto your machine with one click - garage, hard rock, metal heavy sludge, postpunk and new wave, power pop, progressive and math rock, psych, pure rock, rockabilly, and surf.

Most of these tracks are from full albums on the Free Music Archives, and clicking the i after a song title  will take you to more from each artist.

Thank the FMA by rocking out with your fist in the air this weekend! Rock on, baby!

license: varied, see individual tracks and albums
image: original guitar photo by Clarita

Genres and Full Playlist:

Your New Dozen Has Arrived

Tuesday is a real good news day. Here you have a new set of 12 free and legal collections and CDs! Eat up!

Bester Quartet - official site [klezmer, chamber]	US Navy Band - World Class Marches [orch]	Voks - official website [experi, toy]	Luke Palmer - official website [composer, classical]
Labelable All Stars - official site [mixmasters]	Jens Lekman - Presents for You [pop]	Mark.Nine - Artificial Horizon (site) [electronica]	Say Hi to Your Mom - official website [pop]
Peter Peter Hughes - The One Hundred Thousand... [singer-songwriter]	Larry Carlson - official site [tripped out collage]	Francis E. Dec - The Rants of (audio) [mental rants, offensive!]	Dalt Wisney - Lifetime Psychedelic Dance Lessons [collage, remix]

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Psychedelic Splendor

Astra (formerly Silver Sunshine) are just the ticket for this sleepy sunny day. Hailing from San Diego, Astra delivers trippy, psychedelic rock with ample guitars and plenty of space for a colorful wandering imagination. Put on the headphones, relax and smile ear to ear.

Enjoy free selections from their official website and at their their Astra and their Silver Sunshine myspace profiles.






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