I’m finally listening to the “new” record(s) from Six Organs Of Admittance, called “RTZ” which means “Return To Zero” in analog.

Well, I’m listening to side one. Over and over. There are reasons for this.

For one thing, “RTZ” is a compilation of sorts. Of music we are unlikely to have heard. Limited editions, split singles, that kind of thing. And each of the six LP sides is a set unto itself. So I am concentrating, for now, on the first one. I will eventually move on. But it could be weeks before I do.

Anyway, it’s great. This is not a surprise, although it is a bit of a relief. For all I knew, this was going to be an unlistenable set of “experimental” avant garbage. But it’s beautiful and melodic and raw and weird and in-and-out-of-tune in all the right ways at all the right times. I am pleased with my acquisition. Thank you, Six Organs Of Admittance!

And even if the rest of it listens like Royal Trux’ “Twin Infinitives” as a misguided hangover cure… well, I bought that one the same day so I guess can’t complain.

I seem to be in a band…

It’s been a little while since that happened. I am enjoying myself. We were a trio, then very briefly a quartet, and now we are a duo until we find another drummer or drummers. The bandleader / singer / songwriter is a woman named Cricket. I play the electric guitar.

More info (and some duo recordings) is/are available here:
http://myspace.com/cricketandthe219

“The 2:19,” by the way, is a reference to the folk-blues ditty called “Trouble In Mind,” particularly I am told to the version by Nina Simone, and comes from this verse:

I’m gonna lay my head
on that lonesome railroad line
and let the 2:19 train ease my worried mind

I’m doing some experimentation, this year, with cosmic rhythms… By which I do not mean taiko drumming or the percussive works of Milford Graves, but rather the movements of the Earth as per the Sun. (We in the Snoose Junction collective are sun worshippers, as you may recall…)

So it worked out that I played my first show of the year on January 31, 2009 - right before Groundhog’s day, which puts us with in a stone’s throw of Imbolc, a so-called Celtic cross-quarter day which falls halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox… And if you know what those are, you’ll understand what that means… in terms of Where We Are.

We are also within a slightly longer stone’s throw of the lunar new year, aka Chinese New Year, which is to say: Happy Year Of The Ox!

So energies are high, and they are all around us. In my case, they are taking the form of an acoustic show at C&D’s Welcome Cafe in Redondo Beach. It’s low fidelity, but you’ll get the sense of it. You can hear it at this place:

http://www.archive.org/details/5-Track2009-01-31

…and here are pictures:

It is my intention to continue posting shows on archive.org … so if you’re into that, you can keep up with it. I will do my best to make them all different, and all worthwhile. In case you’re into that.

Thanks to those who were there and dug it. I dug it right back atcha. And here’s to many more.

love and good luck
5-Track

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it’s “psychedelic” music
www.5-Track.com