Interview with Farmer Dave Scher (All Night Radio, HOO)

Los Angeles musicians Farmer Dave Scher and Jimi Hey had played in a string of bands together in the nineties, including Strictly Ballroom and Beachwood Sparks. But it was as duo All Night Radio that the pair were able to give full flight to their creativity. All Night Radio's sole album, Frequency Spirit Radio, was released on Sub Pop Records in 2004. Admired by those in the know at the time, the record's stature and reputation is such that it's now getting bespoke vinyl release later this month thanks to UK label Big Potato Records. You can hear it's psychedelic majesty via the embedded player below, or click over the jump to read the full interview with Farmer Dave about how the album came to be.

(CLICK OVER THE JUMP FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH FARMER DAVE)

Morgan Delt - Phase Zero

(This review first appeared in issue 58 of Shindig! magazine)

Sub Pop LP / CD / CASS

Despite the implied clean slate, Delt already has a self-released six song cassette and a full length LP to his name. Yet this latest outing makes the best starting point, with Delt having honed his mix of home-made bedroom psych and trippy soft rock. Experimental but never at the expense of melody, with his falsetto vocals low in the mix the ten songs are performed entirely by Delt in his Topanga Canyon studio. It's a modern take on west coast psychedelia, avoiding retro re-hash errors and sound-a-like faux pas.

The poppy 'I Don't Want To Know What's Happening Outside' begins the inner journey before giving way to the heavier, more ominous tracks that characterise the rest of the album. Coming across as the Californian hippy cousin of Jacco Gardner, Delt has created a comforting blanket of sunshine dappled lo-fi layering, albeit one that hints at darkness in the sunshine state.

Eric Matthews - Fried Out Broken Girl (1995)

Well I finally got round to starting a blog. Where to start? Well I'm gonna indulge myself. Eric Matthews LP "It's Heavy In Here" from 1995 has been one of my favourite album of all time. I bought it on vinyl (yeah baby!) when it first came out. The hole was slightly off centre so listening to it could be a little disorientating. But the songs were all pure gold. It was on Sub Pop, though not grunge and stood apart from everything else at the time. (Think superstar DJ's, industry boybands, too cool for school trip-hop, and chirpy throwaway britpop). It somehow had "weight". Emotional and yet detached. It was indeed Heavy In There! I don't know how well it sold and I always thought liking it was somehow membership of some minority club, but Radio One DJ Mark Radcliffe dug it too from what I recall. He always seemed to be playing the single "Fanfare" on his late night show. Not too long after buying the LP I thought the songs deserved to be heard without the distracting wow and flutter so I bought the CD.

Fast forward to early March 2011 and I'm burning a CDR of the album for a pal of mine whose opinion I respect and welcome. He has an open mind and open ears. A week later he tells me that he's had an out of body experience while listening to what he refers to as "track 6, the one with the brass on it".

Folks I give you track 6, the one with the brass on  it...