As followers of our blog know, we never do an 'End of year poll', but as it is our 15th year we have decided to put together a list of our favourite (non rocket released) musical discoveries. So it could be a track, an EP or an album and not necessarily released in 2013!!
So here we go, in alphabetical order, both Johnny O and Chris's choices:
African Head Charge - My Life in a Hole in the Ground
(Psychedelic kraut reggae, on Bristol's On-U-Sound label)
African Head Charge
Can - Waiting for the Streetcar
(Neil Fish from Gnod chucked this on the record player at some ungnodly hour...and it has barely left the stereo ever since)
Can
CoH – Strings
(From futuristic dirty electroinics to more string based musical soundtracks)
CoH
Destruction Unit - Sonic Pearl
(Proper Heads punk meets The Horrors shoe gaze psych...one of the best bands live all year too, proper fuzz n roll)
Destruction Unit
Evil Blizzard - Sacrifice
(A firm favourite track of the year...The Fall, Pil, Hawkwind and Gnod all come to mind...stunning live too by all accounts, as this footage shows where they open their set with Sacrifice!)
(Top marks to Rockets Johnny for finding this unknown gem and maybe Funkadelic's best ever tune. Love playing it out and watching peoples faces as that fuzz kicks in...closest Fuzz attack to Beau's 'Silence Returns' I have heard))
Funkadelic
GR & Full-Blown Expansion – s/t
(Bo Diddley meets Faust, polyrhythms, psych surf guitars, hypnotic and chaotic freak kraut)
GR & Full-Blown Expansion
Hey Colossus - Cuckoo live life like Cuckoo
(This came out of the blue...always been fans, but this album has raised the bar...the inclusion of a Hi-Fi Killer, a Shit and Shiner and a Part Chimper created a stunning album of kraut infused noise rock)
Hey Colossus
Holden - The Inheritors
(This album oscillates between buzzing pastoral elegance to harsh rhythmic propulsion)
Holden
Lay Llamas - Tape Crash (Split tape with Eugenoise)
(Big fans of Lay Llamas and the tracks on this tape prove what an exciting and original band they are)
Lay Llamas
The Lijadu Sisters - Danger
(Female psychedelic fuzz guitar afrobeat)
Lijadu Sisters
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe - M'Bondo
(Visionary neo-tantric synth minimalism and afro-futurist rhythms)
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Craig Leon - Nommos
(We can't give this album enough praise...how has this stunning piece of work been hidden for so long!!)
Craig Leon
Negra Branca - Duro / Beira Beira
(Marlene Ribeiro from GNOD's avant pop side project)
Negra Branca
William Onyeabor - Who is William Onyeabor?
(Talking about hidden gems…this album is completely jaw dropping amazing, every home should have a copy!!)
William Onyeabor
Powell - Fizz
(Massive fans of Powell, a lot of this new techno stuff that is being raved about brings nothing new to the table in my mind, ok there are some good ones out there, but fronting that pack is Powell...and Fizz is an amazing track! The best kraut rock track of the year...and not a motorik in sight thank fuck!!!)
Powell
Robedoor - Primal Sphere
(This is Robedoor's best work in our view, a great album which to our ears sounds like Gnod meets Massive Attack meets John Carpenter…glad we got to see them play it live too..easily the best electronic live act we've have seen this year)
Robedoor
GA Rodigon - Imagini Din Vis
(Stand out track on the GA Rodigon comp….over the top fuzz n' electronics and heavy breaks makes it a real 'Nothing is…' floor filler)
GA Rodigon
Gunter Schickert – Uberfallig LP
(Imagine if the Necks had a Jam with Can sometime between when they made Future Days and Babaluma)
Gunter Schickert
Various - WFMU Country Fuzz Spectacular Vol 1 and Vol 2
(Two amazing playlists of 60's/70's fuzz filled country music….really, really enjoyable and essential listening)
Vol 1
Vol 2
Theo Verney - TVEP/Heavy Sunn
(Theo's music has not left our ears since we first heard his TVEP tape. His follow up Heavy Sunn, plus the free download tracks and his album demo tracks that we have heard have all blown my mind. This man knows how to rock out in a good Sabbath way, psych out like the Elevators but most importantly he knows how to craft a bloody catchy song like the Kinks…definitely one to watch in 2014 I think)
Theo Verney
Thought Forms – Ghost Mountain
(Stunning album of psych drones and noisegaze pop)
Thought Forms
WHOK - Devisions
(Fantastic album of kraut repetition and psyched out electronics…up there with the best of Gnod if you ask me)
WHOK
Igor Wakhevitch - Hathor
(70's dark synthesizer rituals that sound like they could fit neatly into most modern electronic albums)
Igor Wakhevitch
Barney Willen - Moshi Too
(Great album of afro influenced psych jazz…Little Dirty from 'Nothing is…' played it one month and Chris rushed out and bought it the next day, great album)
Barney Willen
Happy xmas from us at Rocket…see you the other side!!
Illustration by Kilian Eng
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