Snowboarder, "Going up the Mountain"

Smooth McGroove sings Sonic 2

Hat tip to Space Cadet Joe.

In the Bloom of Madness Pt 2: Un-Raveling Bolero

In the Bloom of Madness pt 1: Louis Wain Before & After Schizophrenia

"He has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves."- H.G. Wells

Steve Reich, "The Desert Music"

As to the meaning of the text and music I hope that it speaks for itself. I have loved Dr. Williams' poetry since I was 16 years old and picked up a copy of his long poem Patterson just because I was fascinated by the symmetry of his name -- William Carlos Williams. I have continued reading his work to the present. I find Dr. Williams' finest work to be his late poetry written between 1954 and his death in 1963 at age 80. It is from this period in the poet's work that I have selected the texts for The Desert Music -- a period after the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dr. Williams was acutely aware of the bomb and his words about it, in a poem about music entitled The Orchestra struck me as to the point: "Say to them:/ Man has survived hitherto because he was too ignorant/ to know how to realize his wishes. Now that he can realize/ them, he must either change them or perish." When I began work on The Desert Music I thought those words were too grave to set and thought I would use a tape of Dr. Williams reading them instead. When the time came to compose the third movement in the summer of 1983 I did know how to set them because the character of the harmonies in the third seemed to generate just the right setting. I was very glad now I did not resort to using a tape. In the center of the piece is the text, also from The Orchestra, which says, "it is a principle of music/ to repeat the theme. Repeat/ and repeat again,/ as the pace mounts. The/ theme is difficult/ but no more difficult/ than the facts to be/ resolved." Those at all familiar with my music will know how apt those words are for me and particularly this piece which, among other things, addresses that basic ambiguity between what the text says, and its pure sensuous sounds. 

Daniel Johnston on Mind Control and the Spiritual World (with Gibby Haynes)

Sun Araw, "Horse-Steppin'"

My new Summer theme.

Deerhunter, "Nothing Ever Happened"

Alabama United Sacred Harp Musical Association, "The Last Words of Copernicus"

Gets me every fucking time, too. 

Ye golden lamps of Heav'n farewell,
   With all your feeble light;
Farewell thou ever changing moon,
  Pale empress of the night.
And thou refulgent orb of day,
   In brighter flames array'd;
My soul which springs beyond thy sphere
  No more demands thy aid.

Ye stars are but the shining dust
   Of my divine abode,
The pavements of those heavenly courts,
  Where I shall see my God.
The Father of eternal light
   Shall there his beams display;
Nor shall one moment's darkness mix
  With that unvaried day.
No more the drops of piercing grief
  Shall swell into my eyes;
Nor the meridian sun decline,
  Amidst those brighter skies.
There all the millions of his saints
  Shall in one song unite;
And each the bliss of all shall view
   With infinite delight.

And check out this experiment in echo I performed on the song.

Found out today by chance that there's a church that sacred harp singing right down the street from me. 

The Minutemen, "June 16th"

The world's wordiest novelist gets an instrumental tribute song.

Tweeting and Tumbling in the Widening Gyre

We're rocking a tumblr now. Check out Cosmic Debris for literature, esoterica, erotica, anarchy, and all-around trippy shit. Stay here stay stoned stay tuned for all your musical kicks.

Yeah, I am still planning on doing video episodes on Youtube.

Yeah, I am still doing full episodes. A megamotherfucker of an anniversery ep is gonna drop the 21st. 

Lennie Tristano, "Descent into the Maelstrom"

Recorded in 1953.

The Telescopes, "Flying"

Rodney Howard Browne & the Congregation of Revival Ministries, "Angels Sing all with People"

Holy shit. Via Music of Mind Control.

On the one hand, I think protestant evangelicalism is about the most religiously and culturally ignorant thing anywhere, and it sows idiocy wherever it it goes. On the other hand, I'm totally down with speaking in tongues, holy rolling, fiery sermons, snake handling, and this collective cosmic yodel right here. 

You Don't Know Yoko Ono

Most people only know the name Yoko Ono as a byword or a punchline. She is neither. I can't think of a single artist or celebrity with such a more undeserved reputation. If you don't know Ono, let me give you the skinny: Yoko hate is 1 part philistinism, 99 parts PURE SEXIST BULLSHIT. If you don't like avant-garde art or strange music, she won't be your bag. But neither (most likely) will David Lynch, Salvador Dali, Crispin Glover, John Cage et cetera. But these male artists don't get the kind of hatred Ono inspires, because it's expected that they are artists whose role it is to challenge and provoke. People don't think about Yoko Ono this way because, 1) she's a woman, and 2) she was John Lennon's girlfriend.

If you like the kind of crazy noise we often traffic in at Interplanetary Music, you should really give Ono's music a listen. Some of it is not good. Some of it is incredible, particularly the Plastic Ono Band album. The following documentary (you'll have to watch parts 2-6 on Youtube, because embedding is disabled for some stupid reason) helps debunk some of the Ono myths (and they are all myths, except for the one about her being a witch), but it doesn't do much in the way of appreciating her as an artist.

Nadja, "You Write Your Name in My Skin"

Miss Annihilisa now has a music tumblr, in addition to this. Have fun, space cadets.

Interplanetary Interlude #8: Songs of Innoncence

Playlist

1. The Boo Boo Song- King Coleman
2, Shortnin' Bread- The Ready Men
3. Chicken Licken- Okie Duke
4. Animal Kingdom- The Meat Puppets
5. King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O- Chubby Parker
6. Froggy Went a Courting- Danny Dell
7. Effervescing Elephant- Syd Barrett
6. Lonesome Cowboy Dave- Pere Ubu
7. Shaggy Dog- Mickey Lee Lane
8. Bullfrog Hop- Nervous Norvus
9. Since I Lost My Tooth- Daniel Johnston
10. Bike- The Pink Floyd
11. Cuckoo- The Monks
12. Bubbles- The Free Design
13. My Pal Foot Foot- The Shaggs
14. O Frabjous Day! (The Jabberwock)- Harry Partch
15. Jabberwocky- The Bards
16. Time for Bed/I Know You'll Do Well- The Apples in Stereo
17. Put a Straw Under Baby- Brian Eno

Download Interlude #8!

Yola Fatoush, "Table of Sisterhood Pt. 2"

This was wonderful to listen to on the train ride home from work today. Tip o' the hat to the dublab.

Hardcore Sax

Luc Ferrari & Otomo Yoshihide, "Archives Sauvees des Eaux"

Hat tip to my special ladyfriend, Space Cadet Anni.

Big Youth, "Train to Rhodesia"