Synchronicity Series: March 29, 2007

Today's artwork compliments of J.B..

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Click Here To Download: Part 2

Today's show features most of the bands that have been receiving heavy play time on my computer at home and in the car. I took the chance to "highlight" my favorites of the past weeks. Also, Beware of Safety has confirmed their live interview for April 26 so be sure to tune in. Here's the tracklist and as always, enjoy.

Tonto - Battles
Some Are White Light - Caspian
Etäsyys / Distance - Pan Sonic
Turning Point - Kimio Mizutani
The House Where We Grew Up - Hammock
Forever Lost (Reprise) - God Is An Astronaut
Lost Horizon - Friends Of Dean Martinez
Catastrophe And The Cure (Four Tet Mix) - Explosions In The Sky
Hands in air - Scraps Of Tape
These Thoughts Break - Im Not a Gun
Sadako's Fury - Upcdowncleftcrightcabc+Start
The Understudy - Tracer AMC
Is there No Help for the Widow's Son? - Laura
Intercontinental Hustle - Magyar Posse
Keep It Gold - Maserati
The Lame Shall Enter First - Saxon Shore
The Difference Between Wind And Rain - Beware of Safety
First Movement - Glenn Branca Ensemble

God is an Astronaut - A Moment of Stillness EP

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All I've been hearing about is God is an Astronaut's "Suicide By Star" accolades over and over and it has begun to bug me. That song sure is great but now I'm bearing the blog-writer's cross to expose you guys to lesser-known albums and songs. GiaA's 2006 EP is what I came up with. The 5 track EP is very similar to their full-length, All is Violent, All is Bright (check Feb. archives), but with one key difference: tracks 1-3 represent GiaA's perfection as a band. Only pieces or cameo's of this perfection are present in AiV,AiB tracks. A subtle difference, but worth noting. Enjoy.

Glenn Branca - Symphony No. 6

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"I'll sell out anytime anybody wants me to" Glenn Branca once mused, "[but] there are no buyers." This accords with Branca's perennial position on that fringe between the edgier end of art music and the artsier end of rock. An admirer of Young, Glass, and Reich, and a mentor to members of Sonic Youth, Helmet, and the Swans, Branca helped pollinate the downtown New York scene in the 1980s and '90s and infused experimental rock with minimalist ideas. While he earned his reputation with a series of high-volume, microtonal works for multiple electric guitars, his oeuvre also includes works for traditional orchestral forces. In the face of Branca's eclectic output and rather ambiguous aesthetic, the label "crossover" is at once convenient and clumsy. - allmusic

Branca knows what he's doing and if you give him the time and patience his music deserves you'll be rewarded. Here's my favorite symphony of his: No. 6

Synchronicity Series: March 22, 2007

This week's artwork compliments of Hans Shen (editing by Mike Yin)

Click Here To Download: Part 1
Click Here To Download: Part 2

Synchronicity Series returns this Thursday from a week-long hiatus. I talked about my experiences (good, bad, and gruesome) at Austin's SXSW music festival and upcoming interview plans.


Nutimik - Venetian Snares
How We Smiled Again - My Beloved
New Jersey Is For Lovers - On Fire
City Of Echoes - Pelican
Crawlspace - Caspian
In Ruins - The Burning Paris
決別 - BORIS
O'Canada - Beware of Safety
Can I Get More Steel in My Monitors - You.May.Die.in.the.Desert
And How To Translate It - We vs. Death
New Sentimentality - Toe
There is So Much Love - The Timeout Drawer
Letters From the Earth - Souvenir's Young America
Everything Wrong Is Right Again - Six Parts Seven
I Kina Spiser De Hund - The Pirate Ship Quintet
Await Rescue - 65daysofstatic
Megaman (All) - Minibosses
We Flood Empty Lakes - Yndi Halda

Upcoming Los Angeles Area Concerts

For any and all of my Los Angeles readers here's a list of notable concerts in the area in the near future. Many Synchonicity-related; others not. I'll be at most of these, hope to see you there.

3/23 Explorers Club
3/24 Red Sparowes/Big Business
3/25 You.May.Die.In.The.Desert/Beware of Safety/Signal Hill
4/3 Magnolia Electric Co.
4/3-4 Brand New
4/4 Six Parts Seven
4/8 Isis/Jesu/Oxbow
4/12-13 Ted Leo
4/20 Trans am/Zombi
4/21 Art Brut
4/28 Drift /World's End GF/Mono
5/3 Caspian/Beware of Safety
6/20-21 Tortoise
6/22-/23 low

In Austin for SXSW Festival

So there won't be a show this week for 2 reasons. 1. School is canceled this week because of Spring Break 2. I'm in Austin for SXSW Music Festival.

I'll report back about any relevant bands next week.

Lastly, Rudy's is some good eatin'

Synchronicity Series: March 08, 2007

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Click Here To Download: Part 2

This week's show doesn't feature quite 2 hours of instrumental music but it was countered by the fact that Los Angeles instru-rockers Signal Hill were in the studio to chat it up with me. I apologize, I wasn't able to record the show, but I made up for it as best I could with a great playlist for everyone. A new Battles track and the first time I've featured Scraps of Tape and SJ5. Enjoy.

Bitte Baby Bitte - Turing Machine
If You Show Off the Milk, Who's Gonna Buy the Cow? - The Samuel Jackson Five
I Believe In Your Victory - This Will Destroy You
Death as it should be - Scraps Of Tape
California Is Too Long - Signal Hill
Race In - Battles
I Love The Smell Of An Autumn Forest Fire - We Followed Tigers
Flux and Form - Tracer AMC
Letters From the Earth - Souvenir's Young America
Frozen Twilight - God Is An Astronaut
Dawn Of The Dead Main Theme - Goblin
Salut! France - Errors
Birds Over Barges - Isan
You Have Cured a Million Ghosts From Roaming in My Head - Aarktica
I Hope - Laura
Everybody Daylight - Brightblack Morning Light
Suna - Radicalfashion
Tree of Life - Clint Mansell
Levee - Jack Rose

Signal Hill live interview this Thursday @ KSCR.org

The boys from USC's own Signal Hill will be stopping by the studio to chat and answer questions on this week's show. Be sure to tune in and i'll try to have the phone lines open for callers but you can always reach me live in the studio by instant messaging me at "KSCRlive" during my time slot.

Tristeza - En Nuestro Desafio

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With the ex-lead guitarist focused on The Album Leaf, the other 7 members of Tristeza follow up their wonderful release of A Colores with En Nuestro Desafio. While I don't have the means of uploading the DVD footage that accompanies the CD, I can assure you that you won't be missing much. This album is not great, but it certainly isn't offensive or annoying much like what is said about From Monument to Masses with their communist speeches laid over their otherwise beautiful instrumentals (that's another topic altogether). This album is simply harmless and enjoyable. "Organ Melts You" is a superb title for track 3 which contains simple notes from an organ (in addition to some electronic and percussion) but recorded or mixed in an unrefined manner which gives it a darker and more isolated feel which resonates with the listener. Clocking in under 2 minutes, this track, surprisingly, make you feel. Perhaps Tristeza realized the limited scope of the album and kept it 28 minutes on purpose. Perhaps not. Either way it's worth a few listens. Enjoy.

Mono - Hey, You EP

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Mono's on tour with world's end girlfriend probably supporting their September 2006 release of previously uploaded "Palmless Prayer..." collaboration. Many people haven't heard their Hey, You EP so I've uploaded it here. If anyone needs a tutorial on how to grab and hold the attention of a listener for 13 minutes... "Karelia" is your best bet. Enjoy.

Synchronicity Series: March 1, 2007

Click Here To Download: Part 1
Click Here To Download: Part 2

Today's show featured your usual cast of instrumental/post-rockers like Mono and September Malevolence for the first hour. The second half of the playlist was, like last week, more of an adventure into the different avenues artists take instrumental music. Bluegrass, country, electronic, noise, and even Japanese early-70s psych are all present, loud, and clear for your enjoyment.

Karelia - Mono
Firecracker - Unwed Sailor
Comfort Me, I've Lost My Heart - Upcdowncleftcrightcabc+Start
Death Rides a Horse - Russian Circles
Fire Alarm - Tungsten74
Sketch - Tone
Beauforts 9, And Rising - September Malevolence
Kaura - Beware of Safety
No Need To Cry Now - Silver Ray
Balabaristas - Tristeza
Oceans On Hold - Sickoakes
KIRAMEKI(miaou) / Below The Sea Remix - Miaou / Below The Sea
Rähinä I / Mayhem I - Pan Sonic
Cocaine Computer - Trans Am
Solar Jetman-Braveheart Level - The Advantage
We Are the Massacre - world's end girlfriend
Country Song - Dirty Three
Stones River - John Hartford & Mark Howard
I will Not Forget That I Have Forgotten