Drawer 2
sea the sky
includes:
SLOWDIVE, MOJAVE 3, ADORABLE, POLAK, BREATHLESS, SPIRITUALIZED, RIDE, VERVE, BABY BIRD, CRANES, LUSH, MOGWAI, SPECTRUM, SPACEMEN 3, ASTEROID#4, KENT, ECSTASY OF SAINT TERESA, LEVITATION, CHAPTERHOUSE, DROP NINETEENS, BETHANY CURVE, THE FIELD MICE, AUBURN LULL, DAVID SYLVIAN, MOOSE, MERCURY REV, KITCHENS OF DISTINCTION, SOPHIA, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, FLYING SAUCER ATTACK, COLOR WALL, ARNOLD, COMPILATIONS ETC...
(Note: I am willing to trade recordings of most of these groups. My unofficial stuff of them you will find on: My Trading Page)
This is Music which I've been listening to the most these days. The Music which brings to my mind two blue infinities - SEA and SKY. Things I've lived with for my whole conscious life, sometimes they seem to be the sense of life for me. The Music from this drawer is endless, extremely dreamy, painfully full of space, air and waves. From The Cure things I could put to this drawer 'Disintegration'. And just like with The Cure I remember exactly "my first time". I met my friend one day. He was The Cure freak just like me. We talked a bit and then he put out his walkman saying: 'listen to this...'. And then gave me the headphones. Oh man, it was like a perfectly starry sky watched on a desert. Pure Heaven. And just a second earlier I was standing in the middle of the crowds in the city centre... This Music steals my mind completely every time I put it into my CD player, broadens my unreal perception, takes me to the deepest and to the highest. This first song I heard that day was 'Avalyn I' from the first EP of
SLOWDIVE
- my favourite band from this drawer. Slowdive for me equals
dreams and reality about the sea and the sky. Not a single note of 'dirty' guitars, just
an excellent, clean wall of guitars' sound. Plus an angel's voice of Rachel, so
beautiful... She is able to make the rain salty.
Starting in '89 unfortunately Slowdive split in '95 after releasing 3 brilliant albums and
a bunch of equally great EPs. I love 100% of their Music. Here's what I own:
EP / Slowdive / 90 / vinyl / 19
EP / Slowdive / 90 / CDR / 19
EP / Morningrise / 91 / CD / 15'01
EP / Holding Our Breath / 91 / CDR / 19
LP / Just For A Day / 91 / CD / 43.47 / that's my favourite Slowdive album, very regular,
hypnotic Music and this Voice... plus dreamy lyrics, definitely my number 1 LP of this
drawer
EP / Outside Your Room / 93 / CD / 20.19
LP / Souvlaki / 93 / CD / 40.46 / more diverse album, also beautiful and full of space;
Dagger (the last song) was covered in '98 by The Hope Blister (4AD project)
LP / Souvlaki (US edition) / 93 / CD / 57'10 / the same as above plus 4 bonus tracks
EP / 5 EP / 93 / CD / 16.41 / that's a pretty big switch in Slowdive Music - this EP is a
pure ambient for me; the guitar space changes into synths space, but the same Rachel's
voice remains, and makes it so beautiful again... "the rain keeps on falling in the
heart..."
EP / 5 EP (In Mind Remixes) / 93 / CD / 18.34
LP / Pygmalion / 95 / tape / 49 / that's unfortunately the last official release of
Slowdive so far, also pretty different from the previous ones, with a sound space replaced
by the silence space; but, in spite of that, very 'slowdive-ish', filled with great
vocals; very beautiful album; song Blue Skied An' Clear was also released on the 'Doom
Generation' soundtrack - and it can be heard very well during the film (along with Alison
from Souvlaki not put on the CD); it was really great to hear these songs during the film;
that kicked in the head, yeah...
Slowdive split, but not to the very end. In fact 3 basic members of the group (Neil, Rachel and Ian) decided to change their Music direction and founded
MOJAVE 3
(and in the same time switched their contract from Creation
to 4AD). They gave up spacious Music and started to play acoustically. I must admit Neil
(the main author in the group) has a real talent for writing brilliant ballads and Mojave
releases are all very beautiful. But well... they are definitely very far from Slowdive
Music. In spite of the fact I love Mojave Music, I hope some day Slowdive will release
something new, something filled with this one and only Space...
So far Mojave 3 released 2 albums and 2 singles (both to the second album):
LP / Ask Me Tomorrow / 95 / CD / 41'16 / definitely one of
the most beautiful albums of the 90's, almost 100% acoustic, great lyrics, songs to listen
together in happiness or alone in sadness
EP / Who Do You Love / 98 / CD / 19'49
EP / Some Kinda Angel / 98 / CD / 11'51
LP / Out Of Tune / 98 / CD / 39'50 / very long awaited album by me, more electric sound
and equally beautiful songs; pity you can hear Rachel in barely one (two?) songs; such a
beautiful voice, that is really shame...
Yeah, time for the second important group from this drawer. And another very well remembered "first time". Afternoon the 1st of January '95, the same friend (God, so much Music I owe to you...). We are sitting on a couch in silence, drinking the rests of vodka that remained after the greatest New Year's Eve party in my life, and listening to 'Homeboy'. We both felt exactly the same. The only things that we could do were shaking our heads in astonishment and repeating only one word: "O, Kurwa" (more or less "Oh, Fuck"). I felt helpless with this Music. The guy who was singing was soooooo fucking REAL in his singing. I couldn't believe one can sing such things that way. From whispering to shouting about love and hate. So much energy and so real, so real. Yeah, reality of his singing kicked my head the most. Plus the lyrics, so ideal to sing to a perfect woman. Just, you know, one word only remains... perfect. And of course the Music filled with guitar sound, also very spacious though in a different way then Slowdive. More single instruments' sounds and much more energetic. I wouldn't be myself if I didn't also add that
ADORABLE
was an English group but the frontman (vocalist) was Polish - Piotr Fijalkowski. Their history is quite similiar to Slowdive. They released 2 brilliant albums and a bunch of EPs and then... well, their Music wasn't popular enough (Fuck money in Music!) and they split up. Anyway, I own:
EP / Sunshine Smile / 91 / CDR / 10 / that's very rare,
originally it was 12'' single released in 800 copies; my friend got the original (for hell
lot of money) and I copied it from him - the first signs of the group genius
EP / Sunshine Smile / 92 / CDR / 10 / with other songs
EP / I'll Be Your Saint / 92 / CD / 10'17
EP / Homeboy / 92 / CD / 12'22
EP / Sistine Chapel Ceiling / 93 / CDR /
LP / Against Perfection / 93 / CD / 40'13 / perfect record if you wanna start with
Adorable
EP / Favourite Fallen Idol / 93 / CDR /
LP / Fake / 94 / CD / 41'43 / great continuation of the 1st record
EP / Kangaroo Court / 94 / CD / 12'32
EP / Vendetta / 94 / CD / 10'56 / and again unfortunately the last release of Adorable so
far, but!...
Just a couple of months ago I found that Piotr together with his brother Krzysztof (bass) and a couple of friends founded a new group called
POLAK
I hardly could believe these news. They were to release their 1st single in a month when I heard about it. Oh, man! What is it gonna sound like? I couldn't wait. Only 1000 CD copies released (plus 1000 on vinyl), all hand-signed by Krzysztof. Fuck, I have to have one! Eventually I ordered it in 2 places and got ... 2 copies, as you can guess. But that's not a big problem for me :) And what does it sound like? :)))))) Yeah, you could call it Adorable. I was happy as hell when I heard this EP. The same sound, the same energy, the same voice power. I loved it:
EP / 2 Minutes 45 / 98 / CD / 15'17
And in the end of October they released their 2nd single (1500 copies, only CD this time, 1000 signed):
EP / I'm Sick / 98 / CD / 11'24
And in the beginning of '99 they released their 3rd single:
EP / Impossible / 99 / CD / 11'33
And a bit later they released an album - compilation of
these 3 EPs. And so far that's all from Polak (btw Polak is a Polish noun which means...
well, a male person from Poland). Hopefully soon there is a brand new album of them!
Another band I put into this drawer was
BREATHLESS
Nice name, isn't it? Yeah, and definitely the proper one.
That's rather unpopular band among traders. To be honest I have never met a trading list
with even one bootleg of them. Let me know, please if you got anything or if you know
anyone who does, ok?
What about the Music? As I said, Breathless really can make you breathless. With very
lyrical Music filled with guitar walls (of course :) ). Their songs are mainly about love,
this perfect, this missed, this undone... Very well sung by Dominic Appelton who you may
also know from the first album of This Mortal Coil. He owns a very dictinctive and warm
voice. Breathless seems to still exist but I haven't heard any news from them for quite a
long time (note: Yes! The new great album is out...). Anyway it's 15 years since their
first single. At the very beginning they sounded a bit more crude, I would even say pretty
cold wave. Later their Music became more warm and smooth reaching its peak in
"Between Happiness And Heartache" album. Very beautiful one. One of my favs. But
apart from this little style change Breathless has put 'this thing' into their Music
throughout their whole career. The best description of 'this thing' that comes to my mind
now is a special kind of atmosphere. Atmosphere that steals your mind and buries it deep
down below the sense of reality. And then you don't dare to even think about coming
back...
EP / Ageless / 84 / vinyl /
EP / Nailing Colours To Wall / 86 / vinyl /
LP / Three Times And Waving / 87 / vinyl / 45 / their second album, never released on CD
(shame!), rather cold than warm
LP / Chasing Promises / 89 / CD / 61'45 / that's US edition of this record, it contains 2
bonus tracks from earlier singles; very intriguing atmosphere, almost warm but still cold
LP / Between Happiness And Heartache / 91 / CD / 40'51 / that's the first album of them I
listened to, very warm, ideal for listening together during cold winter evenings with warm
socks on feet and woollen sweater on body; yeah... can you see it? :)
LP / Heartburst / 94 / CD / 70'24 / that's a collection of songs from the whole career,
quite interesting, imo the best to start with Breathless Music
EP / Magic Lamp / 99 / CD / 9'35
LP / Blue Moon / 99 / 2CD (limited edition) / 59'16+49'25 / brand new album after 5(!)
years of silence... yeah... and still hits... the album is beautiful... seems time has
nothing to do with beautiful music
That's all I got from them. If you feel SEA THE SKY Music I truly recommend each of the
above albums. They stole a big piece of my heart. I'm sure they would do the same with
yours. And it's worth it...
SPIRITUALIZED
They are the first group from this drawer which is quite popular now (at least in the UK). For sure much more popular than the former groups I wrote about. I discovered them (again thanks to my friend) around '95 when their released 'Pure Phase'. I must admit I didn't feel this album from the very beginning. I had really mixed feelings. But well, I knew that the most precious albums need time to grow inside. Fortunately I felt this small grain put somewhere under my chest which told me to buy the album. And it grew. Now I find Spiritualized my fav group currently existing in the UK (apart from Cure of course). They can create brilliant guitars space but that's not everything. They add lots of hypnotic static sounds, synths spaces, harmonious vocals, beautiful lyrics. Yeah, definitely I love their Music very much...
LP / Lazer Guided
Melodies / 92 / CD / 61'02
LP / Fucked Up Inside / 93 / CD / 46'55
LP / Pure Phase / 95 / CD / 68'06 / those days they used more complicated name -
Spiritualized Electric Mainline and this CD you can meet in a very characteristic box made
from fluorescent plastic (at least that's what i got); Music that comes from your once
disheveled once well-combed mind, once loads of sounds - 10 orchestras in the same time,
once one single note lasting for hours; yeah, almost whole life in a one record...
EP / Lay Back in The Sun / 95 / CD / 18'16
LP / Ladies And Gentelmen We Are Floating In Space / 97 / CD / 70'02 / that's my fav
spiritualized album, a drug for both your dark and bright days, be careful! - very
addictive; sometimes I create kind of tape compilations for myself or my friends and since
this LP came out all of them have had at least one song from this album; extreme beauty, I
think this LP is a must if you like this feeling; this CD you can also find in a special
'drug' box
EP / Electricity One / 97 / CD / 17'34
EP / Electricity Two / 97 / CD / 24'54
EP / I Think I'm In Love / 98 / CD / 19'21 / that's a brilliant song, I love its lyrics;
on this EP you can also find great mixes made by The Chemical Brothers
EP / The Abbey Road EP / 98 / CD / 11'34
LP / Live / 98 / 2CD / 46'05+49'20 / another perfect album; I am really short of words to
describe it; ca month ago after Mercury Rev concert in Hamburg I talked to a guy from this
group about this album - he was also deeply impressed, sometimes when you listen to such
an album you only realize how poor your language is, just it is impossible to find the
right words, and the same happened that night - we could only find old, used cliches like
'awesome', 'brilliant', 'beautiful' etc, yeah... the only advice for it is just to listen
and feel...
Spiritualized was founded by Jason Pierce who had played in
Spacemen 3 earlier, also a group from this drawer - you can find it below along with
Spectrum - another great group founded by Sonic Boom - the second member of Spacemen 3.
RIDE
That's one of the first groups I got to know from this drawer. It hit me by several guitars playing in harmony (kind of :) ) in the same time. Here is a small exception comparing to the above bands - I don't like everything from Ride. Especially I don't like stuff released after 'GBA', it lost its spacious atmosphere and it bores me. But well, anyway these releases are definitely among the masterpieces of my Music collection.
LP / Nowhere / 90 / CD / 52'14
EP / Today Forever / 91 / 19'53
LP / Going Blank Again / 92 / 50'27
Yeah... another band-history. I met their music a couple of
years ago along with Adorable, Slowdive, Spiritualized. This was, I remember another band
which had to grow on me. And it grew... :). The starting point was their Glastonbury '95
gig. It showed me one of the most beautiful-psychodelic music I have ever listened to.
Very dense, spacious guitars, distant vocals and lyrics. They stole my mind completely
that day. And despite I think that the earlier stuff the more psychodelic stuff I love all
of their music. Despite the popularity they haven't lost anything from their charm.
Unfortunately ther is a negative side - they split some time ago. Now I wait for a solo
album of Richard Ashcroft - their vocalist and frontman. We will see...
I wouldn't recommend anything particular from their releases. I simply adore every single
one record.
EP / All In The Mind / 92 / CD / 17'20
EP / She's A Superstar / 92 / CD / 19'40
EP / Gravity Grave / 92 / CD / 22'02
LP / A Storm In Heaven / 93 / CD / 47'05
LP / No Come Down (B'Sides And Outtakes) / 94 / CD / 44'19
LP / A Northern Soul / 95 / CD / 64'09
EP / This Is Music / 95 / CD / 11'59
EP / On Your Own / 95 / CD / 20'08
EP / History One / 95 / CD / 19'22
EP / History Two / 95 / CD / 16'37
EP / Bitter Sweet Symphony One / 97 / CD / 23'19
EP / Bitter Sweet Symphony Two / 97 / CD / 18'44
LP / Urban Hymns / 97 / CD / 76'00
EP / The Drugs Don't Work One / 97 / CD / 22'04
EP / The Drugs Don't Work Two / 97 / CD / 14'36
EP / Lucky Man One / 97 / CD / 24'23
EP / Lucky Man Two / 97 / CD / 15'01
EP / Sonnet / 98 / CD / 20'47
This is a pretty strange pick for this drawer - many people who know these bands would say so. Yeah, and I could understand that. You won't find any spacious guitar sound here - just a single guy who sings, plays a guitar, samples and uses a synthesizer to create his own music. His first solo albums were released only in 500-1000 copies, so they were pretty hard to find (and pretty expensive too). To be honest each of them I happened to buy in various places - one in London, one in Hamburg, one in Paris and two in Barcelona. The later stuff was recorded as a band (named as one word - Babybird) and more commercially. And definitely with a bigger success - most people know such hits as 'You're Gorgeous' or 'Candy Girl'. I like them too (especially 'There's something going on') though I prefer the earlier solo albums. Very simple music and in the same time brilliant, created by a kind of freaky guy you would say. A lot of ironic humour sung by one of the most interesting vocals that I ever heard! Once you can hear "a woman", once a nervous guy, once a romantic lover, once... You can't be bored by this music at all.
LP / I Was Born A Man / 95 / CD / 46'33
LP / Bad Shave / 95 / CD / 50'01
LP / Fatherhood / 95 / CD / 60'01
LP / The Happiest Man Alive / 95 / CD / 60'16
LP / Dying Happy / 97 / CD / 42'06 / my fav of the solo albums, the earlier LPs are very
differentiated, this one is even; atmosphere is rather sad in a beautiful way - Cure fans
should love this album :)
LP / Ugly Beautiful / 96 / CD / 70'37
EP / You're Gorgeous / 96 / CD / 15'46
EP / Candy Girl / 96 / CD / 16'12
EP / Cornershop One / 97 / CD / 15'06
EP / Cornershop Two / 97 / CD / 16'05
LP / There's Something Going On / 98 / CD / 51'43
EP / Bad Old Man One / 98 / CD / 13'05
EP / Bad Old Man Two / 98 / CD / 15'54
EP / If You'll Be Mine One / 98 / CD / 13'14
EP / If You'll Be Mine Two / 98 / CD / 12'43
EP / Back Together One / 99 / CD / 11'34
EP / Back Together Two / 99 / CD / 11'57 - there's a brilliant video to this song;
although i love a lot of videos of various bands this one is definitely MY FAVOURITE VIDEO
OF ALL TIME (sorry Tim Pope...); as simple as pain, and so extremely beautiful... i was
completely smashed when i saw it...
This is a band that I know thanks to The Cure. Why? Well, they were a support band to The Cure during the Wish Tour in 1992 and one of the fav bands of Robert Smith that time. In addition Robert mixed 'Jewel' - one of their singles. This is kind of "4AD" music filled with one and only Alison voice (imagine a nice girl singing like an 7 years old child) singing sad songs about lost love with beautiful lyrics. And add a simple music with strong drums, bass and guitar. I was lucky to see them live in a small Hamburg club some time ago - a perfect place to see their concert. All of their albums are great, however the most popular remains 'Forever' and 'Loved' I believe. If you want to start sailing with Cranes I would recommend one of these two.
LP / Self-Non-Self / 89 / CD / 27'04
LP / Wings Of Joy / 91 / CD / 44'15
LP / Forever / 93 / tape / 45
LP / Loved / 94 / tape / 45
LP / Population Four / 97 / CD / 45'18
LP / EP Collection volumes 1&2 / 97 / 2CD / 43'52+67'29
Classic 4AD band. Music with a lot of guitars, nice harmonic women voices. Great band. My fav album is 'Split'. And for The Cure fans - check 'Love at the first sight' - B'Side from 'Split' included also on 'Cookie' - you will be amazed...
LP / Spooky / 92 / CD / 48'29
LP / Split / 94 / CD / 52'22
EP / Cookie / 96 / CD / 35'22
LP / Lovelife / 96 / CD / 45'59
This is the second band that amazed me in the last 3 years (after Baby Bird). Almost instrumental music based on hypnotic guitars. The same notes played on and on and on and then... it HITS! Another very simple music that has THIS THING in itself...
LP / Young Team / 97 / CD / 64'37
LP / Ten Rapid / / CD / 33'22
EP / No Education = No Future (Fuck The Curfew) / 98 / CD / 21'49
LP / Come On Die Young / 99 / CD / 67'39
LP / What Came Before After / 93 / CD / 74'01
LP / Sound Of Confusion / 89 / CD / 40'03
LP / Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To / 94 / CD / 70'33
LP / A Tribute To Spacemen 3 / 98 / CD / 65'22
- with bands like Bowery Electric, Asteroid #4, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Low, Amp and others...
LP / Asteroid #4 / / CD / 59'17
This is probably the poppiest band in this drawer. However in a positive way poppy. Coming from Sweden they released a very nice album in '98...
LP / Isola / 98 / CD / 53'54
EP / If You Were Here / 98 / CD / 11'56
That's an interesting band. Coming from Czech Republic (my neighbours) and sounding like a classic British band. Their first album is a kind of MBV sound, though I prefer them than MBV(!). But imo their best release is 'Fluidtrance Centaury' EP - recorded for John Peel as far as I remember - one of the best shoegaze releases ever! Must have for a shoegaze fans.
LP / Susurrate / 92 / CD / 38'30
EP / Fluidtrance Centaury / 93 / TAPE /
LP / 3-D Original Soundtrack (not complete) / / TAPE /
LP / Need For Not / 92 / CD / 46'02
LP / B'Sides Compilation / / CDR /
Another band that was good in creating guitar walls of sound. On 'Whirlpool' you can also hear Rachel from Slowdive singing as a guest.
LP / Whirlpool / 91 / CD / 39'32
LP / Rownderbowt / 96 / 2CD / 69'12+77'50 / that's a very interesting compilation of
B'Sides and rare stuff...
An American band playing like... British... :) Very good album.
LP / Delaware / 92 / CD / 43'42
That's an interesting band - also from US. This album which I own is, I'd say, extremely full of guitar space. I admit I was astonished when heard it for the very first time...
LP / Gold / 98 / CD / 67'38
That's a compilation of rare tracks, b'sides etc... A Nobel prize for a guy who made up the title of this album... :) Anyway - simple, nice music with beautiful lyrics... just like the title...
LP / Where'd You Learned To Kiss That Way? / 98 / CD /
78'51+78'37
That's a brilliant album. Hell knows how people are able to create such music... Must have for all who love dreamy music for long winter evenings with your dear beside you... or... when sitting on a remote desert beach by the sea... alone you admire... :)
LP / Alone I Admire / 98 / CD / 47'24
Man-history. I don't find myself a proper person to desribe his music. It's just very beautiful...
LP / Dead Bees On A Cake / 99 / CD / 70'05
LP / Deserter's Songs / 98 / CD / 44'46
I got these 3 EPs compiled into 1 CDR...
EP / Sonny & Sam / / CDR /
EP / Cool Breeze / / CDR /
EP / Bang Bang / / CDR /
LP / Strange Free World / 90 / CD (promo) / 43'28
EP / When In Heaven / 92 / CD / 18'40
LP / Cowboys And Aliens / 94 / tape / 50
LP / The Infinite Circle / 98 / CD / 47'17
You might be surprised, but MBV is not really a band I like a lot. Don't know why, but this music simply is not "my music" - I don't feel it. This is the reason why I own only one EP. However this one is a kind of magical EP and I couldn't miss it. Besides they were one of pioneers of this kind of music...
EP / Tremolo / 91 / CD / 18'46
EP / Outdoor Miner - Psychic Driving / 95 / CD / 16'01
EP / Flower / 96 / CD / 14'47
LP / Hillside Album / 98 / CD / 53'03
LP / The Doom Generation Soundtrack / 95 / CD / 74'37
- includes stuff from Curve, Verve, Slowdive, JAMC, Lush, Love & Rockets, Cocteau
Twins and others...
LP / Kranky Kopilation / / CD / 76'25
- includes tracks from Windy And Carl, Low, Amp, Jessamine, Bowery Electric etc...
LP / NME Clean Sweep - Live At London Astoria in Jan '98 /
98 / CD / 76'59
- songs from Mogwai (here i heard them for the first time!), Spiritualized (with Suicide)
and others...
LP / Radio Dedicated, 36b fm - promo / 97 / CD / 58'44
- songs from Spiritualized, Cranes, Mulu, dBh and others...
LP / Sharks Patrol These Waters - The Best Of Volume Part 2
/ 95 / CD / 76'06+79'25
- tracks from Slowdive, Spiritualized, Ride, Lush, Cocteau Twins, St Etienne, Radiohead
etc...
LP / Space Age Recordings - The New Atlantis / 96 / CD / 67'27
- includes tracks from Spacemen 3, Spectrum, Jessamine, Bowery Electric etc...
LP / Strange Fruit - Hut Recordings and Peel Sessions / 92 / CD / 38'40
- sessions of Verve, Moose, Smashing Pumpkins and Revolver
______________________________________________________
As I wrote in the beginning I am willing to trade recordings of most of these groups. My unofficial stuff of them you will find on: My Trading Page.
If you wanna learn more about these groups check their web pages - you'll find them here.