WOODEN SHJIPS "This was the first full-length recording project we had taken on as a band, so it was somewhat daunting for us. We didn't have a lot of time to prepare material, as we had been playing a bunch of shows and everyone had work and other things going on." Wooden Shjips are from the San Francisco area, and play trippy psychedelic acid rock that is reminiscent of Spaceman 3 & Loop, but also Jefferson Airplane. Wooden Shjips took the front cover for their debut album sitting on the steps of their Haight-Ashbury house, as a homage to those 60s photos of bands in San Francisco. Seems pretty cool to us. Wooden Shjips will play the 013, Tilburg on Wednesday, July 16th w/ The Heads. "The original idea for the Wooden Shjips was to gather a group of non-musicians, to play very primitive, improvisational psych rock", says Ripley, "That lasted for a couple of years, but we never released anything or played live in public. After that iteration broke up, it happened that my friends Dusty and Omar [both accomplished musicians] were looking for a casual music project. I resurrected the Wooden Shjips and brought them onboard, along with Nash on organ. Nash had played guitar in the original line-up, and had never played organ before." "Once the first two vinyl releases received some positive reviews, we started functioning as a more typical band --playing shows and releasing material on a regular basis. Our first show was in January of 2007 at the Cafe Du Nord. For our third show in March, we were lucky to be opening for Roky Erickson as part of the Noise Pop festival. We then played the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, did a few more shows, and recorded the album. Wooden Shjips self titeld debut album is out on Holy Mountain Records. Words | Ripley This was the first full-length recording project we had taken on as a band, so it was somewhat daunting for us. We didn't have a lot of time to prepare material, as we had been playing a bunch of shows and everyone had work and other things going on. The good thing was that we had a deadline to meet, which kept us motivated, and the shows we were playing helped tighten us up a bit [although we were mostly playing different songs]. We recorded the album ourselves in May 2007, in our rehearsal studio in the SOMA district of San Francisco. I think we have the largest room in the building, which at about 12 x 10 feet isn't saying much. We shared the space with the Fucking Champs, and they had all their gear in there as well. So we had to do a lot of breaking down and setting up over the course of the recording. For a recorder, we found an old Tascam 80-8 8-track machine on an online classifieds site. It came with a free Teac Model 5 board which we also used. The machine was not in working condition when we got it, but it was fairly cheap and thankfully Dusty was able to fix everything. The basic tracking was done in different combinations: drums, bass and guitar; drums and guitar only; guitar, bass and organ. I don't really remember the details at this point. It was impossible to get separation in such a small room, so we just had to go for it and hope everything mixed well. We didn’t have a good monitoring system in the room either, so there was a fair amount of guesswork going on. We mixed at Dusty’s house in Bernal Heights, using a Soundcraft 200B board. For musical gear, we mostly used our live setup: Bass: 1970's Ampeg SVT, with 8x10" cabinet, Gibson hollow body bass. Keys: 1970's Ampeg V-4 head, Fender 2x12 cabinet, Ace-Tone electric organ, old analog delay, Moogerfooger MuRF, old flanger, some other things. Guitar: 1970's Fender Quad Reverb amp, Eastwood Airline 3-pickup copy, 1960's Gibson SG, various effects pedals. Drums: Vintage Ludwig. WOODEN SHJIPS > On to the songs... We Ask You to Ride This is a song about liberation: letting go of the things that are holding you back and letting your freak flag fly. Losin' Time Death is coming. Live now while you can. Lucy's Ride This is loosely about a trip. And discovering who you are and letting go of any false baggage that's holding you back. Blue Sky Bends This is about how things are constantly changing and passing away, but also how that's alright. Accept it and not try to hold on to everything. Shine Like Suns A hopeful journey. Moving towards the light. Peace and love. WOODEN SHJIPS > Albums of Influence... Angus MacLise – "Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda" This is maximalist music from a so-called minimalist, or perhaps it's just minimalism at its rawest and most soulful. There's a looseness and improvisational element here that isn't generally found in classical minimalist music. Few other musicians can make bongo drums sound heavy. The title track is from an Ira Cohen film which was released on DVD last year by Bastet, and is also tops. Les Rallizes Denudes – "’67-’69 Studio et Live" Legendary and mysterious rock band from Japan, that combined groovy, repetitive bass lines with a Sister Ray-like aural assault. This bootleg collection contains some of their earliest performances, both live and in the studio. The live songs, like the 19-minute Smokin'Cigarette Blues, contain typically exhilarating aural blowouts, but the studio tracks are fairly unique to their catalog [almost all of which is bootleg-only]. It reminds me of some of the weirder [and better] tracks to be found on various '60's garage-psych comps. Finding this particular release may be a challenge, but the recently released best-of, Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go, AKA Flightless Bird Needs Water Wings [10th Avenue Freeze Out], is widely available and contains some of the same tracks. It's a good place to start with Les Rallizes. Shin Jung Hyun and The Men – "It's a Lie" Shin Jung Hyun is known as the godfather of Korean rock, having purportedly started the first rock band in Korea in the early '60s. I believe this release is a compilation, taking three longer tracks from two separate early '70s albums [and jettisoning the shorter pop tracks]. The songs themselves are an unusual blend of pop melodies, deep grooves, and amazing extended organ and guitar solos. San Ul Lim – "2" San Ul Lim is another South Korean treasure, and deserving of wider appreciation. Their first three albums [S/T, 2, and 3] are all great --I picked 2nd because I've just listened to it recently. Ranging from straight-up rockers to ballads, most of the songs have particularly catchy grooves, with great bass lines, fuzz guitar solos, vintage organ sounds, and highly emotive singing. They have a distinct live-in-the-studio sound, that's also quite dry, with little or no obvious overdubs. Like the Shin Jung Hyun album, this is a '70s release, but contains a distinctly '60s psych-garage influence. Jonathan Kane – "February" This is the first solo album by the Swans co-founder, and some-time drummer for Rhys Chatham and La Monte Young. Propulsive drumming combined with slow-morphing sub-blues riffs, and hints of country twang --this is hypnotic rock minimalism. It's also music that transcends genre and presents a fully realized and personal vision. The follow-up EP, "I Looked at the Sun", is also great.