Snatch my spirits back
GHOST "Guru in the Echo"
In 1990, my friends and I (Fabio Roberti and William Berger in particular, one of whom --I forget which-- was the first to turn me on to the thing when it was first released in Japan on PSF) couldn't believe a band in Japan had so wonderfully distilled the "free folk" and druggy German psych-rock we were digging a lot then. Not that we thought we were the only ones listening to this stuff or anything -- any look at a Bananafish or Forced Exposure from that era showed that this stuff was already pretty big (amongst a certain scene anyway) before Other Music opened up or the first Stereolab 10"s came out.
These records weren't yet insanely expensive, that's for sure -- I was in Germany in 1990 and never paid more than $8 for anything on Brain -- including four different versions of the first Neu! album, brought back for friends... Apologies for slipping into record geekageness. My point is that it was a total shock to hear someone make their own, awesome sound based more than a little bit on the propulsive freakouts of Amon Duul One.
The first Ghost album was/ is just so fucking good, and so unlike anything else being made at the time (that we knew of anyway). Drag City once again showed total acumen in releasing it over here... I like Dungen and Comets on Fire as much as anyone -- in fact I kind of love those bands -- but I've never felt that they totally shook out the past and reconnected it to the present in as weird, and weirdly spiritual, a way as Ghost did. That was lazily written but I have to get back to my real work and stop procrastinating, so it shall have to remain in such a half-assed form as that. The word "procrastinate" reminds me -- I have a copy of the Ghost DVD that I've never watched. I know what I'm doing later on!
NOTE: I've decided to post only decent quality MP3s from here on out. As I only have 20 megs of free online storage these days, that means at most about three songs will be available at a time.
In 1990, my friends and I (Fabio Roberti and William Berger in particular, one of whom --I forget which-- was the first to turn me on to the thing when it was first released in Japan on PSF) couldn't believe a band in Japan had so wonderfully distilled the "free folk" and druggy German psych-rock we were digging a lot then. Not that we thought we were the only ones listening to this stuff or anything -- any look at a Bananafish or Forced Exposure from that era showed that this stuff was already pretty big (amongst a certain scene anyway) before Other Music opened up or the first Stereolab 10"s came out.
These records weren't yet insanely expensive, that's for sure -- I was in Germany in 1990 and never paid more than $8 for anything on Brain -- including four different versions of the first Neu! album, brought back for friends... Apologies for slipping into record geekageness. My point is that it was a total shock to hear someone make their own, awesome sound based more than a little bit on the propulsive freakouts of Amon Duul One.
The first Ghost album was/ is just so fucking good, and so unlike anything else being made at the time (that we knew of anyway). Drag City once again showed total acumen in releasing it over here... I like Dungen and Comets on Fire as much as anyone -- in fact I kind of love those bands -- but I've never felt that they totally shook out the past and reconnected it to the present in as weird, and weirdly spiritual, a way as Ghost did. That was lazily written but I have to get back to my real work and stop procrastinating, so it shall have to remain in such a half-assed form as that. The word "procrastinate" reminds me -- I have a copy of the Ghost DVD that I've never watched. I know what I'm doing later on!
NOTE: I've decided to post only decent quality MP3s from here on out. As I only have 20 megs of free online storage these days, that means at most about three songs will be available at a time.
posted by Mike McGonigal at 4:37 PM
4 Comments:
Cool song. I've been trying to get into Ghost for a long time but they hadn't really hit me. That song did the trick. Thanks.
Not sure if this is old or new news but congrats on the Verse Chorus press imprint. That's really exciting and well deserved. Can't wait to finally see those Chemical Imbalance issues that I'd missed.
hey mike. any advice on where to start with amon duul?
à propos procrastinating: what will come out first, the next mbv album or your book on loveless, mike? btw i saw you on that thrill jockey dvd. your account was the weirdest, most amazing of all.
Post a Comment
<< Home