29th June 2011: The Black Angels / Interview with Christian Bland / Playlist

Featured: The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream (Blue Horizon)

The Black Angels third album, and first release on Blue Horizon, is the highly anticipated 'Phosphene Dream' and marks a giant leap forward for the band. Produced and mixed by Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Band of Horses, Black Mountain) over a period of six months in Los Angeles, the album shows off a bold new direction for The Black Angels both sonically and musically, a fresh take on the neo-Psychedelic movement they've been at the forefront of for years.

While past albums 'Passover' and Directions To See A Ghost' were recorded in the band's hometown of Austin, Texas, the process by which 'Phosphene Dream' was created pulled the band out of their comfort zone and forced them to look at songwriting and recording in a way they never had before.

Years of non-stop worldwide touring have turned The Black Angels into a tightly wound unit, and those years of work are all on showcase here. Seymour Stein, music business legend and founder of Sire Records commented; "Great musicianship and performers, mesmerizing vocals, and songs that penetrate the subconscious. That's the best way to describe Black Angels, our first signing to Blue Horizon records".

www.theblackangels.com

Radio Playlist 29th June 2011


Falloe - Found You Somehow (Science Of The Heart EP)
The Acorn - Even While You're Sleeping (Glory Hope Mountain)
The Black Angels - The Boat Song (Phosgene Nightmare)
**
Lights - Heavy Drops (Rites)
Joshua James - Black July (Build Me This)
Les Anees - San Francisco Now (S/T)
**
The Black Angels - Bad Vibrations (Phosphene Dream)
Roky Erickson & The Black Angels - Rollercoaster (v/a The Psychedelic Sounds Of The Sonic Cathedral)
Roky Erickson & Okkervil River - John Lawman (True Love Cast Out All Evil)
The Black Angels - Haunting At 1300 McKinley (Daytrotter Session 11/12/2010)
The Black Angels - No Satisfaction (Demo)
The Black Angels - True Believers (Phosphene Dream)
**
UNKLE - Follow Me Down (feat. Sleepy Sun) (Where Did The Night Fall)
Jessica Bailiff - For April (Old Things 1999-2003)
Micah P. Hinson & The Pioneer Saboteurs- She's Building Up Castles In Her Heart (S/T)


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Sideways Through Sound Archive


30th June 2010: Strange Attractors Audio House Records

22nd June 2011: Owls Of The Swamp / Playlist

Featured: Owls Of The Swamp - Go With River (Broken Silence)

Following his fifth European tour, Melbourne-based international dream-folk troubadour Pete Uhlenbruch (aka Owls of the Swamp) has settled down just long enough to record and release his second full-length album, 'Go with River'.

All the songs were recorded during a five week solitary stint in a beach shack in Inverloch, Victoria, infusing the album with a subtle yet captivating, spellbinding pace. Further fleshing out his reflections on solitude and nature, Pete invited a number of local and international musician friends along for the ride.

'Go With River' is a fully realised exercise in etheral, melody driven folk and you could easily be excused for thinking you’ve stumbled across a long lost Nick Drake record.

With Pete's wonderful fingerpicking guitar style and penchant for rhythmic instrumental numbers and sparse lyrics are reminiscent of Drake at his very best, so much so that this may well be one of the hits of the year...

www.owlsoftheswamp.com

Playlist 22nd June 2010


Torn Sail - Birds (Claremont 56 12")

Cass McCombs - Buried Alive (Wit's End)
Owls Of The Swamp - Pyramid (Go With River)
**
The Flower Machine - In The Glow (Chalk Dust Dream Of The Tea Cozy Mitten Company)
Joshua Burkett - Look Floating (Golden Cosmos)
The Main Street Gospel - Love Will Have Her Revenge (Love Will Have Her Revenge)
**
Owls Of The Swamp - By The Riverside (Go With River)
Flying Canyon - Down To Summer (S/T)
Devon Sproule - If I Can Do This (I Love You, Go Easy)
**
Bark Psychosis - 400 Winters (Codename: Dustsucker)
Magic Hour - When I Remembered (Will They Turn On You Or Will They Turn You On)
Sky Picnic - Astronomy Domine (Synesthesia EP - outtake)
**
Owls Of The Swamp - Walking Song (Go With River)
Adam Haworth Stephens - With Vengeance Come (We Live On Cliffs)


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Sideways Through Sound Archive


21st June 2007: v/a A Raga For Peter Walker
26th June 2008: Thomas Denver Jonsson - The Lake Acts Like An Ocean
24th June 2009: The Orbweavers - Graphite & Diamonds
23rd June 2010: Resurrection Fern - Transcend Mortality

15th June 2011: Grey Reverend / Melodie Nelson in Session / Playlist

Featured: Grey Reverend - Of The Days (Motion)

As far as live bands are concerned, The Cinematic Orchestra have few equals. Of course many will argue for the virtuosity of more traditional jazz performers, but because J. Swinscoe and company do things a bit differently, they have significantly more appeal to jazz fans who may not be the most hardcore enthusiasts.

However, this post is not about The Cinematic Orchestra, but focused on the most recent signing to the Motion label, 'Grey Reverend', the pseudonym of solo acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter L.D. Brown.

Grey Reverend is a serious talent to be considered in the world of acoustic songwriters. Reminiscent of a certain musical icon by the name of Elliott Smith, Grey Reverend's chord progressions have the ability to uplift his otherwise sullen themes to a feeling of optimism.

However, it is Grey Reverend's lyrics that will elevate him into a realm of truly great musicians. The songs are incredibly raw and honest, wearing his emotions on his guitar. His knack for being able to tell a story through his play on words is matched by his ability to place the necessary emphasis on certain words in order to maximize emotional impact.

wwwgreyreverend.com

Live in session in the 2ser studio: Melodie Nelson

www.myspace.com/melodiemelodienelson

Radio Playlist 15th June 2011


Sarah Jane - The Reaper (Beneath Black Robes)

Thurston Moore - Space (Demolished Thoughts)
Grey Reverend - One By One (Of The Days)
**
Derwent River Star - Dead Roads (The Winter Dark)
Amaya Laucirica - Sun On My Face (Early Summer)
Melodie Nelson - Meditations On The Sun (Meditations On The Sun)
Melodie Nelson - Bovine Blues (Live on Sideways Through Sound)
Melodie Nelson - This Town (Live on Sideways Through Sound)
**
Catherine Traicos & The Starry Night - Love's Widow (Gloriosa)
Lou Rhodes - One Good Thing (One Good Thing)
Grey Reverend - Altruistic Holiday (Of The Days)
**
The Singing Skies - Routine & War (Routine & War)
Sam Amidon - Relief (I See The Sign)
Grey Reverend - Road Less Traveled (Of The Days)

8th June 2011: Vetiver / Sister Jane in Session / Playlist

Featured: Vetiver - The Errant Charm (Sub Pop)

'The Errant Charm' is the new album from San Francisco’s Vetiver, and the band’s fifth full-length overall. Recorded by bandleader Andy Cabic and Thom Monahan, 'The Errant Charm' is a superb soundtrack for an afternoon idyll.

And that’s fitting...

As he worked on material for the new record Cabic spent hours wandering the streets around San Francisco’s Richmond District, listening to rough mixes, tinkering with lyrics and arrangements. You can hear his strides in the tempo: Not hurried, just excited to be heading somewhere.

And 'The Errant Charm features some of Vetiver’s most unabashed pop songs to date, with songs like the hazy, layered and sunlight-dappled “Hard to Break,” and the driving, propulsive “Wonder Why.” 'The Errant Charm'. Errant as in wayward, elusive. Wandering but not lost. Within that wandering, all manner of small treasures are uncovered and new ones surface with each listen.

http://www.vetiverse.com/

Live in session in the 2ser studio: Sister Jane

http://sisterjane.net/

Radio Playlist 8th June 2011

Samson & Delilah - Silently (Little Red Rabbit 7")
The Hazelman Brothers - River Stone (Eyesight Like An Owl)
Vetiver - It's Beyond Me (The Errant Charm)
**
Fleet Foxes - Icicle Tusk (EP)
Cave Country - Constant Arrival (S/T)
Sister Jane - Be Kind (EP)
Sister Jane - Indigo Shire (Live in session on Sideways Through Sound)
Sister Jane - And That Is All (Live in session on Sideways Through Sound)
**
Vetiver - Hard To Break (The Errant Charm)
The Middle East - Jesus Came To My Birthday Party (I Want That You Are Always Happy)
Major Chord - Tomorrow Night (advance promo)
**
Chief - Breaking Walls (Daytrotter Session 11-29-2010)
The Maple Trail - Highwire (EP)
Vetiver - Faint Praise (The Errant Charm)

1st June 2011: Arbouretum / Playlist

Featured: Arbouretum - The Gathering (Thrill Jockey)

The Gathering, Arbouretum’s fourth album, was to a large extent inspired by The Red Book by Carl Jung, or more specifically, Jung’s pursuit of the inner images that led to the book’s writing.

Dave Heumann, the singer, guitarist and main lyricist of Arbouretum, has long been a fan of experiences that surpass comprehension and describe the numinous. The narrative of “losing one’s way and finding it again” resonated deeply and it was in this context that the songs that comprise The Gathering came to be.

The concept and the band could not be better matched. The song structures that Arbouretum favor are open, never a simple verse chorus verse chorus, with several points at which Heumann’s guitar and Allender’s overdriven bass might come off the rails, tessellating and unfolding into long, expressive instrumental passages. In order to further open things up, Heumann restructured the band’s instrumentation from what had been two guitars, bass, and drums, replacing one of the guitars with Matthew Pierce’s keyboards and percussion. The propulsive rhythms of Carey’s drums provide an underlying groundwork for Heumann’s guitar solos to weave in and out of, further taking advantage of the newly opened space.

'The Gathering' and the band’s live performances manifest themselves according to time and place, and the band excels in situations where ideas have time to develop and reveal different facets of themselves. Whether it be in a live setting or in the lyrical vignettes that slowly unravel within the songs, their essence is rooted in the realms of ecstatic experience.

www.myspace.com/arbouretum

Radio Playlist 1st June 2011

Spiritualized - Electricity/Home Of The Brave/The Individual (Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space - Royal Festival Hall 12-10-2009)

The Early Days - Hill (Promo 2009)

Arbouretum - When Delivery Comes (The Gathering)

**

The Paperhead - Let Me Know (Trouble In Mind)

The Black Ryder - Outside (Buy The Ticket, Take The Ride)

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Anne With An E (Belong)

**

Arbouretum - Destroying To Save (The Gathering)

Earth - Descent To The Zenith (Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light 1)

Grails - Future Primitive (Deep Politics)

**

Helicon - Hypocrite (Demo)

Air Formation - Hope (57 Octaves Below EP)

Arbouretum - The White Bird (The Gathering)

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Sideways Through Sound Archive

30th June 2010: Strange Attractors Audio House
23rd June 2010: Resurrection Fern
16th June 2010: M.Mucci
9th June 2010: Static Caravan
2nd June 2010: Sleepy Sun 
**
24th June 2009: The Orbweavers
17th June 2009: Humble Soul Records
10th June 2009: Alela Diane
3rd June 2009: Jeff Zentner
**
30th June 2008: Silver Summit (2ser 107.3 debut show)
26th June 2008: Thomas Denver Jonsson (2nsb 99.3 final show)
19th June 2008: C. Joynes
12th June 2008: Andrew Douglas Rothbard
5th June 2008: Dan Mangan
**
28th June 2007: Kaki King
21st June 2007: Winter Solstice Special
15th June 2007: Telescopes
8th June 2007: Fonal Records
1st June 2007: Micah P. Hinson