sparklehorse - dreamt for lightyears in the belly of a mountain (mp3)

well i think about three weeks is quite a sufficient recovery for the bff birthday hangover. i've spent the last few weeks getting things done, and have managed to get a serious handle on all my daily goings on as well as getting stuck into bigger projects, some of which involve this very spot of the internet you're sitting on right now. i've mp3'd a helluva lot of rare records, sorted out some coding issues, and have some lovely themed posts coming up soon, but will just lead in with this short piece regarding a long track from the latest sparklehorse album.

i haven't seen anyone mention anything about this, the title track from their newest lp, and is surely it's finest moment. i really don't know too much about sparklehorse myself, so i asked andy mcqueen, a work colleague and good friend, who offered me a perfect summary of the track;

"on an album of twisted psych-pop both beautiful and dark, the big surprise is it's gorgeous, gently tolling outro: an 8 minute, ambient bliss-out that soothes as it ebbs and slowly unfurls."

and if that doesn't make you want to listen, i don't know what will.

the undiputed truth - california soul (mp3)

there are numerous versions of this classic track knocking around, marlena shaw's being the most obvious one...my personal favourites are this, by the undisputed truth, and the 5th dimension version...

the track posted is from a great covers album on gordy records...which has various marvin gaye , bob dylan and the temptations tracks getting the undisputed truth/norman whitfield treatment...ball of confusion (thats what the world is today) being another album highlight (one of kev's previous posts)

hope you enjoy...

konga's - tattoo woman (mp3)

another quickie today...

a cheeky 7" version of konga's tattoo woman...awesome disco rock track, with the main man cerrone on production duties...picked it up in munich for a euro, absolute winner.....

logic system - unit (mp3)

next track up is from an album called 'logic' by the japanese colloborative 'logic system'...you may remember that one of their tracks appeared on one of the cosmic dancer bootlegs quite recently, which was also a bit spesh....

my first choice was going to be a track from the album called 'clash', which is also a big play from the bearded one, dj harvey...but seeing as though thats just been released this week on the collectors series pt 2 cd by dj kaos and salvatore principato , i thought id choose another track instead....

the album was released in 1981, and was there debut album...and according to the band on their sleeve notes, 'if you don't listen to the album, you cant enjoy the essence of computer music'....the track posted is called 'unit', and is a slo dark electro affair that lasts for just under 5 minutes, and is also available on an ultra rare 12"....

la bionda - i've got your number (mp3)

just a quick one today...

todays track is called 'i've got your number' by la bionda (a.k.a. carmelo & michelangelo la bionda) on the canadian label uniwave...picked this up in belgium for peanuts...its a 7 minute italo/disco-athon from 1980...a sure fire dancefloor winner, thanks to those cheesey vocals, guitar licks and that chug chugging bassline...enjoy...he is

supersempfft - be a man you frog (mp3)

after three months of sun, sand, booze and record shopping, now i'm back in the UK, i thought id share with you some of my record purchases whilst on european soil....

first up is 'be a man you frog' from the 1979 supersempfft album, roboterwerke...supersempfft's dieter kolb, incidentally, was one of the first to experiment with electronic synthesisers and drum machines, influencing kraftwerk, herbie hancock and tangerine dream to name a few..........picked this up from a flea market in vienna, after much haggling with a very friendly bavarian looking chap, i managed to get him down to 20 euro's...danke

anyway's, the album sleeve comes with some very fun cartoon esque artwork, which tells the heart wrenching tale of a cartoon frog charachter who gets given magical powers only for them to be tragically taken away again...its a right tear jerker...the album itself is almost a concept album based around this frog and his magical powers...other highlights on the album include the excellent 'lets beam him up', 'roboterewerke' and 'out of time'....

'be a man you frog' was recently unofficially re-released on an electunes ep, which included other electronic/kraut/synth rarities...maybe still available from here...otherwise re-mortgage your house and then try here for the album.......enjoy