Noise Radio

What is this?

PENNY ARKADE Not The Freeze (Sundazed) cd 16.98
You've heard this before: "lost, unreleased '60s psych gem discovered and finally released after 30-some years!" Many cds have made that claim...and, well, most of 'em simply demonstrate *why* the record wasn't released back when (and furthermore, why it shouldn't get released now, either). However, although skepticism is warranted, once in a while a genuine gem IS unearthed. Penny Arkade's 1967-1968 recordings, we're happy to say, fall into that glad catagory. While not as mind-blowing as, say, the Public Nuisance release two years ago, it's definitely gonna be a treat for fans of '60s California psych-pop. The Penny Arkade apparently were a popular act on LA's Sunset Strip, they were hip and cool, but while big in the LA scene -- and having "Talented Monkee" Michael Nesmith as their producer -- never ever actually "made it". And none of the music they recorded was ever released under their own name until now (more on that later). The liner notes (penned with detail and verve by Ugly Things editor Mike Stax) give the mundane reasons, but listening to their music you'll still wonder... These guys indeed sound kinda like the Monkees, with some Byrds and Buffalo Springfield in 'em too, and their material ranges from folky, countryish pop to kaleidoscopic psych (like the 12 minute title track) with some moments of bliss for you fuzz fanatics. (To make a non-'60s comparison, we'd have to say that some of this reminds us a bit of Olivia Tremor Control.)
Now, here's the weird part: ever hear of an obscure acid-casualty hippy singer-songwriter from the early '70s named Maitreya Kali? He issued two privately-pressed LPs, Apache and Inca, both of which were reissued a while back on cd, and interested many collectors of things psych...well Mr. Kali is actually Craig Smith, one of the singers and songwriters in the Penny Arkade, who dropped out of the band to travel the world and, presumably, do lot of drugs.
Apparently quite a few of the (really good) tracks on those Apache and Inca albums were really Penny Arkade recordings. One of those songs, the wonderful "Country Girl", was compliled on a comp called Yee-Haw! The Other Side of Country which we reviewed a few years back, and when I first heard this Penny Arkade disc I was like, hey, I know that song. Turns out Glen Campbell also covered it at one point, but what we were familiar with was the original, by way of Maitreya Kali. So if you were ever intrigued by Maitreya Kali, you need to check out this, the real deal (with better sound).
Kudos to Sundazed for another fine release! Keep diggin', guys!

that was probably Margo Guryan

http://www.southersalazar.net/art/images/margo.jpg

the bar 25 stream has been decidedly un-techno for the last couple of hours. black cock, roland sebastian faber, gavin russom, brian eno ~

http://rundfunk.bar25.de:8000/Station25.mp3

probably back to minimal as soon as you read this.

whoosh it’s Stanford radio’s day of noise, 24 hours of noise programming:

https://kzsu.stanford.edu

sorry, not programming, actual live noise