Pedro for President 2016 - It's on, Bitches!!

Pedro's Picks: "A downloadable catalogue of my introduction to Psychedelic Music"

2011-01-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

First off this is not about Psychedelic Rock, if anything it is Psychedelic Folk with an emphasis on Experimental arrangements - some of these bands dip into the rock aspect but they are definitely more experimental than rock. If you want Psych-Rock look out for 13th floor elevators, Electric Prunes, and The Seeds. Psych-Rock is also more associated with Garage rock.

Aside from freaking out my coworkers with my music selection, I spent a majority of my college weekends in record stores talking to 60 year olds about music that was made 20 years before I was born. For those who are interested as to how I started down this road I'd say it all began when I was a teenager listening to Leonard Cohen and The Stooges.

(Starter albums)

Leonard Cohen, "Songs of Leonard Cohen"

The Stooges, "Funhouse"

Somehow when I was 19 I stumbled across Amon Duul 2. Then, when I was 21, my friend Colin (Chopper, Hollow Stars) sat me down and played Brian Eno's "Another Green World" and ever since then I've developed a very specific taste for Psychedelic/experimental/folk. My love for the Stooges and Brian Eno seemed to ask me questions and I had to fill in the blanks and connect the dots to find the answers.

(Early-on curveball albums, listen to these again after the next set)

Amon Duul II, "Yeti"

Brian Eno, "Another green world"

To find the answers I had 3 resources: 1. College Radio 2. Record store owners 3. Internet.

There are a couple of Prog/Pysch radio shows on Album 88 (wars), I remember hearing Kevin Ayers for the first time on "Tower of song", So I started looking for his stuff at record stores and discovered he worked with John Cale (Velvet Underground), Nico, and Brian Eno. Along with Soft Machine I started listening to Robert Wyatt, Gong, and King Crimson. It's ironic that I remember seeing the covers for all these albums when I was a punk teen and thinking to myself "Stupid Hippy Shit", years later they're some of my favorite albums.

(Absorb these listen to them a lot!!)
Nico, "Chelsea Girl"

Kevin Ayers, "Joy of a Toy"

John Cale, "Vintage Violence"

Velvet Underground, "White Light/White Heat"

Soft Machine, "Fourth"

Robert Wyatt, "Rock Bottom"

Gong, "Angel's Egg"

King Crimson, "In the Court of the Crimson King"

I had accidentally stumbled across the Incredible String Band earlier in life around the time I graduated high school (there was a public access show that would play old psych videos). It took several years to wrap my head around their body of work especially cause of their immense backlog of songs. Eventually after hearing a few of their albums I was able to pick out what I liked and didn't - that's the beauty if ISB, you listen to the songs you like until they wear on you and then you find things about their songs you didn't like that turn you on again.

The Incredible String Band, "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (first I ever heard)

The Incredible String Band, "Liquid Acrobat as regards the air" (my favorite)

By this time I had made friends with Ted at Full Moon records, I used to spend saturdays in the back area of his store sitting on a couch as he played me mind-blowing albums like "Neu 2", "Celestial Ocean", "the United States of America", "Electric Lucifer", and "the Fool". They were albums from his personal collection and when I inquired about purchasing them he would shake his head and explain how every record on his shelf was worth about a hundred dollars apiece.

(If you've liked everything so far then these are great for you)

Neu!, "Neu 2

Brain Ticket, "Celestial Ocean"

The United States of America, "S/T"
Bruce Haack, "Electric Lucifer"

The Fool, "S/T"

While searching for a way to hear these albums on my own time I discovered Psychedelic Music Blogs, many of which offer free downloads of extremely rare albums. I was just hopping from page to page reading about each album and then downloading it. It was trial and error because at this point I had developed a taste about what I like in psychedelic music with a emphasis in Textures/Sonic Soundscapes/Songwriting - I knew the Jazzier and Jammy type shit wasn't going to appeal to me that much.

Anyways here are some other albums I've discovered with a small description of each one, below are a series of Music Blogs I recommend if you want to find more on your own.

It was through these blogs that I found out about:

Fresh Maggots, "S/T": Beautifully textured folk with some heavy highlights.

Gandalf the Grey, "S/T": Typical psych, a fun listen.

Limbus 4, "Mandalas": Psych done.

Sunforest, "Sound of Sunforest": Eclectic pop music, wide range of styles, mixture of some beautiful and silly songs.

Forest, "Full Circle": Psych-folk-pop with non conventional instrumentation. If you like Sunforest and Nico then you'll love this.

Pearls before swine, "Beautiful Lies you could live in": Beautiful folk music, simple and pretty with good textures.

Philippe Besombes, "Libra" (soundtrack): Instrumental experimental, always interesting with surprisingly good melodies when present.

Sibylle Baier, "Colour Green": Folk Singer songwriter, good shit.

Subway, "Subway II": French electronic, apparently their first album was very folky but I haven't found it yet.

Caravan, "In the land of grey and pink": Canterbury area psych rock/pop.

Hawkwind, "S/T": members of Amon Duul 2, a little more structured than amon duul but still psychedelic as fuck.

Thanks to Julie Hines, I was introduced to Gandalf, who only released one album but it's still one of my favorites to this day.

Then there is the music I found out about through "Tower of Song" and "Jet Lag" two radio programs on Album 88:

Writing on the wall, "Power of the Picts": Really good listen, not really sure how to define it - a little bit of everything (Jazz, Rock, Pop, Experimental, Folk, Spoken word).

Kevin Ayers: Probably my favorite artist from this period, all of his albums are amazing except a few in the 80's.

"Shooting at the Moon"

"Bananamour"

"Whatevershesingswebring": Part 1, Part 2

"Confessions of Doctor Dream"

J. K. and Co, "Suddenly one summer": Chill, still getting a feel for this one but the first two tracks are the shit.

Nino Nardini & Roger Roger, "Jungle Obsession": also a good listen.

That's it for now, if you'd like to explore more I've included some excellent Psych Music Blogs below, you can download almost any album you read about on these blogs so enjoy.

http://nostalgae.blogspot.com/

http://hippy-djkit.blogspot.com/

http://tyme-machine.blogspot.com

http://peppermintstore.blogspot.com/

http://theredhippieteenager.blogspot.com/

List: Reasons why Terminator Salvation was the WORST of the entire series.

2009-12-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

Why Terminator 4 was the worst one ever.

After I watched Terminator 4 I found myself thinking strange thoughts such as, "This isn't the terminator I remember", and "Something feels off".

So I went back and watched the originals over again - which I really think the new writers and directors should've done. Now I understand that the newest film let's call it "T4" was rewritten more than 9 different times but GODDAMN let's cover some ground rules that will prove that T4 IS A ROYAL FUCK UP OF A MOVIE.

1. T4 takes place mostly during daytime.
In the FIRST Terminator Movie, Kyle Reese explains that they only go out at NIGHT because it's harder to be spotted by the Rovers (those huge flying ships) - this vision stays consistent with the battle scenes from T2 - but for some reason T4 looks like it was shot in IRAQ in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY!!!!

2. Bullets?? ? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

Ok so, this movie takes place 14 years after skynet kills off most of the worlds population. So who the fuck has been sitting around making bullets for the last 14 years? The robots? No, because their smart enough to realize they should be using lasers like in movies 1 and 2. The Humans? No, I'm sure they've got bigger problems than trying to figure out where to get gunpowder. Yet everyone in this movie are using bullets - where the fuck are the lasers??

3. The dog doesn't recognize the terminator??

In the first film Kyle Reese said that they keep dogs around because they can tell who is a terminator - Ok cool I got it - basic ground rule, even in T1 the dogs alert them to the terminators presence. In T4, Kyle Reese has a dog and he spends half of the movie with a dude that turns out to be a terminator and. . .. . . Nothing. Why the fuck is the dog even in the movie if you can't follow the plot lines set up in the original movie? Are you trying to look like you don't know what your doing? Cause it's working.

4. Technological Inconsistencies.

So they don't have time travel yet in this story line - I can buy that, but how come they have humanoid terminators? No lasers but bullets? In the original films the human resistance were seen living in foxholes and underground fall out shelters, yet in this film they have helicopters and nuclear powered submarines.. It makes me so mad I can't even finish this list

Fuck you McG!! You destroyed possibly the greatest Sci-Fi series of all time. The series will live on but parts 5 and 6 will be done right and for the rest of our lives everyone will regard the 4th Terminator movie as a FUCKING JOKE, the worst in the entire series.

How the movies should go(assuming that there will only be 6 and that they should be self-fulfilling):

Movie 5: 2029, The terminators have discovered time travel - The resistance learn this by using robotic spies implanted with a b-chip which blocks skynets control over machines.. they use the chip to start modifying terminators to fight for them. Kyle Reese leads an offensive to the plant to shut down the time machine - but not before a terminator is sent back in time - Kyle Reese enters the time machine on the heals of the terminator shortly before the plant is destroyed.

Movie 6: The Final War. In 2031 a final battle takes place against skynet, thanks to the b-chip the human resistance has built an army of Human-friendly Terminators. However the only way to destroy skynet is to take out the satellites orbiting earth - without the satellites the shared consciousness of the terminators is very limited leaving them open to attacks. Guess who sacrifices himself to destroy the satellites? John Conner.

LIST: Five horror films that are influential to me.

2009-11-27T21:57:00.000-08:00

1. Night of the lepus

Giant radioactive mutant bunnies kill a whole bunch of people and you'd never guess how the humans win - very awesome concept, pulled off well for 1972 standards.

2. Sorority House Massacre 2
Shit doesn't get better than this, unless it's giant killer bunnies. This film is 1 part cheezy cliches, 1 part "T & A", 1 part Gore, and 1 part dry wit; this film is entertaining, hilarious, and creepy. This is my gold standard for comedic horror flicks.

3. Army of Darkness

When I first saw this film I was like "Damn!! I would've never thought of that." It mixed the fervor/madness of the first 2 evil deads while keeping the humor and timing and then put it back in time in a medieval vortex. Fucking amazing.

4. Phenomena
Visually stunning - the intrigue and mystery kept me in just long enough to make me almost throw up. I've seen a lot of Italian Horror but the ending of this movie is probably the sickest thing your could ever imagine, it's like my worst nightmare.

5. Night of the Creeps

Original, Well-done, this movie is a standout among conventional horror flicks of the 1980's.
Runners up include the original Friday the 13th, The Sentinel, My bloody Valentine, and Black Christmas.

LIST: Places I plan to travel to.

2009-11-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

1. Japan

Nuff said.

2. Isle of Skye, Scotland

I can't explain this one, I saw a few pictures and that was it.

3. The Faroe Islands
See #2

4. The Kingdom of Bhutan

One of last paradises on earth, this region is located deep within the Himalayan mountains and you need special permission from the government to enter the sacred land. It is what many refer to as "Shangri-La" as defined in the 1933 novel "Lost horizon" by James Hilton.

5. San Z hi, Taiwan

Home to the abandoned futuristic resort.

Looking back I've noticed that 4 out of 5 of these are islands, what can I say that's how I roll.. Other runners up that are also islands include: New Zealand, Fiji, Iceland, any of the Balearic Islands, and of course the Aleutian Islands.

LIST: My Favorite New Bands To Listen To

2009-11-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

1. Basia Bulat:

I saw a poster of her in a music store and looked her up - the lyrics and music are amazing and she's got a new album coming out too!

2. Pink Mountaintops

I found this band almost by accident while researching Black Mountain. They are somewhat a mix of Shoegaze and Country but it sounds much better than the description.

3. The Dutchess and the Duke

Jack and Julie put these guys on my ipod right before we drove down to ATL from NYC, after listening a few times I couldn't get them out of my head. They have a new album out but I have yet to hear it.

4. Brian Eno and John Cale - Wrong Way Up

Ok it's not a new band but it is in many ways a dream come true as I love Eno's Vocal work - which I had exhausted by listening to all of it. So imagine my joy when I found out that two of my favorite people got together and made an album which is actually really good and compliments each others talents. This album is definitely a 9.5 out of 10.

5. Beach House

Yet another gem from Jack and Julie. It reminds me of Fall and the West Coast - two of my favorite things.

LIST: Movies I'd Like To See Made

2009-11-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

1. Seagal, Seagal (pronounced seagull, seagull).

Steven Seagal is the ultimate killing weapon but the government knows he will one day perish and constructs a clone of him, only the clone is a baby. The government pulls the plug on project and due to legal stipulations Steven Seagal gains custody of his own clone. The small town family with which he leads a double life is turned on it's head with the arrival of the cloned Steven Seagal baby and hilarity ensues until the Russian mob sends an assassin to kill the cloned baby and only one man can save them, Steven Seagal. (like twins meets three men and a baby)

2. Adventures in Babysitting 2: Tokyo Fever.

Elizabeth Shue reprises her role as "Chris: The Babysitter", when, on a business meeting to Japan her young niece (Miley Cyrus, who happens to be with her on the trip) is kidnapped to be sold on black market as a sex slave. Elizabeth Shue teams up with Chuck Norris to teach the Yakuza that they picked the wrong babysitter to fuck with.

3. Back to the Future 4: The Cure for Parkinsons Disease

With Michael McFlys Parkinsons Disease worsening he goes to Doc's old Lab (Abandoned and falling apart) and finds the original blue prints for the "Flux Capacitor". With the help of Stephen Hawking they go back to the future to try to find themselves a cure but are they ready to deal with the consequences?

4. Rod Stewart and the Mole Men of Africa.

Singing sensation Rod Stewart teams up with a Frat Jock with telepathic powers to battle mole men who have recently been killing miners in Africa. Yep.

5. E.T. 2: Fuck You!!!

E.T. is back and holy shit is he pissed! E.T. has come back to settle the score with the government that tried to dissect him and he brought a few hundred warships. E.T. attempts to reconnect with Elliot only to find that Elliot has been declared clinically insane for almost 20 years (he just couldn't shut up about how an alien used to touch him with glowing fingers.).. Now E.T. must find away to undo the many years of therapy and rescue his younger sister, Drew Barrymore, from a life of drugs and prostitution all while attacking this U.S. Government who has placed E.T. on the suspected terrorist list. Shit just got real for E.T.

Polar Bear Attacks Crazy Woman

2009-04-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

A crazy woman jumps into a Polar Bear Cage and gets attacked. Really they attacked her? Who would've thought? Anyways I'd like to take a moment to thank all the crazy people who make this kind of footage possible.

2009-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I can't really think of words, I just want to watch it over and over..

5 minute meals

2009-04-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

This is an idea I've had for a while. There is basically no one out there that teaches "speed cooking" and "multi-tasking". As a Cook with almost 10 years of experience I can make my own meals in 10 minutes or less, so I thought: Why not make a video series that teaches people how to make quick, healthy food in less than five minutes?..

This will most likely be an internet series that I will post on YouTube, as of right now I have the following ideas: Vegan Philly Cheesesteak, Traditional Noodle bowl, Soba Spaghetti

Goals in film.

2008-12-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here are my goals while in the film industry.

1. Create a super amazing surrealist film that uses blends audio, sensory images, rhythm, and color to convey story. I haven't found away to make it yet but if already been exploring some different methods.

2. To complete the sci-fi subgenre film, "Killer kittens from Iscandar".

3. To create "Drunk sorority Massacre", a movie I've written.

4. to make "the wedding", the movie

4. To develop My indie rock sitcom idea.

2008-10-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 3 month since my first post. Since then I've done the audio for a play, filmed a short movie I wrote, visited my brother in Seattle, filmed and are currently editing a music video for the Falcon Lords, and flown to Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis. This week I am playing a Spooks show on Halloween - It's our record release party and I'm pretty excited, we've been working on this Album for 4 years and the first version I recorded