Sock Free Hideaway

 HALF TERM REPORT

MASSIV HATS off to Jason Boardman (again) for having the guts to start a label and another top drawer one, at that.

2 total gems in one mailer and I need never play my mighty J-Walk Mellotronique cassette again. Its mid 90s whacked out compilation cover affectations don't quite fit the unhurried reggae vibe and soulful summer stabs of the music and have been replaced by super sunnier fresh artwork that do. Dylan Woodall take a bow. If anything is going to wean me off my recent roots fix, it's revisiting this.  

I was more than a little gutted I missed out on the Tungusku promo but 'them's the breaks.' Before I Die is buy on sight. And memo to self 'check its social media pages more often.' 

A Torn Sail live CD is obviously a work of wonder and something I thought I'd actually dreamt up while I waited for it to arrive. It's reassuring to know there are enough devotees to make good shit like this actually happen. And enhance it. Cheers BJ Smith for making Coastal and Treasure sound both subliminal and important. They are. However, Mud People is even better still. Whether this CD is showcasing these less restrained new cuts or Jim's sparky inclusion is inconsequential. Just be highly thankful for it.   

Matt Timms has turned me onto my dream pop fix for the summer. Acopia's Chances is a spell-blindingly addictive listen. And looks superb too. Like all the best groups, this trio place you firmly in their world. A world of redemptive pleasures and pains. A world I'm more than a little at home in. Sheer bliss. 

Staying down under some wild reissues have landed. The stunning Efficient Space label has presented us with Hydroplane's Busy is Good  LP. A more experimental dream pop sound that at times cradles MBV and VU's light touch moments into   something truly ethereal and feather-light yet at the same time mesmerizing. A definite grower. Strangelove, not to be outdone, released Mindgames, Sjunne Ferger's masterpiece. Check Candlelight for some of the most meditative and transcendental new wave to ever surface. 

Om's incredibly dubby Older Brother From The Rock also got a timely reissue on the quality Sound Metaphors label and closer Brother That (Om Beats) is sending me off to head-nod heaven. 

One of Moonboots rarest finds Wilderness America: A Celebration Of The Land also saw light of day. Austrian label Ebalunga!!!'s 4.

7th Anniversary Edition doesn't disappoint. Choice cut Metropolis features luminaries from the gospel and jazz world; Walter Hawkins, Harvey Mason, Mike Melvoin, and Lee Ritnour. Yet their folk-funk resistance keeps getting ignored and admired in an unequal measure throughout the ages. Admire it, it's a record of rare beauty. 

Harry Harrison's riveting read Dreaming in Yellow: The Story of the DiY Sound System triggers me to crave nostalgia but also makes some generalizations that sit uneasily. I vividly recall Glastonbury 1990 and the excitement of finding anything resembling house music playing whilst getting ripped off continuously. I finally got high after a traveller type fell off his bike and sold me some litmus paper. I was definitely more Venus than Derbyshire quarry, but hardly a fashionista. Clubland was elitist for sure, but the freedom of ritualistic dancing under the starry night and hazy daylight in a time escaping trance became as limiting as real life itself.  

Unlike Harry, I failed to communicate with God when accidentally sampling Ketamine and was instead stuck on a bus for endless hours. Slender wires connected to both my left eye and the bus's front window put me in a state of constant friction by the toing and froing of passengers. Causing me to inner scream in a private anguish. 

Gordon King's signed copy of When Does the Mind-Bending Start? is in the post. Also, an apt title for my skirmish with Ketamine but thankfully definitely something to look forward to.