Pisces - Sounds of the Zodiac

The 'Sounds of the Zodiac' is brand new to the blog. It's a series of soundtracks for the Astrological Calendar composed by some of the heavy hitters from Detroit's music scene.

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We start in the last house of the astrological calendar - Pisces (18 Feb - 21 Mar), the sign of the twin fishes. Presiding over the occasion is Mr. Chris Koltay, who serves up a doublemix of tracks packaged neatly to drop right into your itunes library. Himself more of a psychadelic bear than a fish, Koltay still manages to show a keen grasp of this introspective watery sign.

Some words about Koltay: He runs Case Quarter recording studio in Corktown and gets his late night drinks at Slows and LJ's. Once in a while Chris takes a field trip down the street to the Lager House to see a rock show. Or up to Canada to record Akron Family in a country farmhouse. Or along some foreign coast with Deerhunter. It's hard to keep track. Along the way, Koltay's gathered quite an eclectic bag of music. See/Hear when you press play.

The download will take a few minutes. Please be patient. Enjoy.

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Click to drop the mix in your itunes: http://homepage.mac.com/claszlo/filechute/Pisces%201.zip

Sample tracks:
"Back Street Mirror"
"Historie A Suivre"
"If I Were A Carpenter"

1) My Time- The weirdest thing that will stick in your head all day long. Like lemonade that's a tad sour. Really sticks with you. (2) Echoes- Gene Clark was in The Birds. Then he made this killer record of am gold. (3) Golden Earrings- No idea about Gandalf but if you don't like this song you are probably not very much fun to hang out with and the people you spend time with know it. So does the rest of your band or the other bartenders at the bar where you work. (4) Back Street Mirror- David Hemmings is this british actor who put out this spacious gem. Like Lee Hazlewood if he was a british gentlemen with a smoking jacket. (5) The First Thing I Do In The Morning- This Joyce Williams track is clearly not about Marijuana, but every time I hear it I swear it is. (6) Don't You Feel Me- Damon is the Abercrombie & Fitch trustafarian college freshman kid that jams acoustic with his buddy Zane at the Phi Cheetah Cheetah house. Also, oddly enough, some '70's band kicking out killer sexual psych jams. (7) Sam- Pisces. Obvious choice. This song made Broadcast and Management sob lightly. It was a faint mist. Very Heavy. (8) Massive Place- Sic Alps simply rule. Totally. (9) Before- Jim Schoenfeld was a goalie for the Buffalo Sabres. Hard to imagine him making a record that's worth it's salt. Well he didn't. It sucks. This song however is gorgeous. (10) Histoire A Suivre- The Honeymoon Killers. French, hot, and difficult. So redundantly incredible. (11) If I Were A Carpenter- Tim Hardin sings songs that stop time. If I never hear the Bobby Darin version of this song again it will be too soon. Tim's version is amazing. (12) Armenia City In The Sky by The Who. Untouchable. (13) Silver Birch- Del Shannon's music is not my idea of a good time. Your mom referred to this guy as dreamy at some point. Silver Birch is really quite the jam. (14) Extention 68- No idea about Glass Prism. Smokin' fuzz solo. (15) Funky Woman- Awesome Parliament early recording from Osmium. This one is about a woman who has funky drawers. Unreal. (16) Wichita Lineman- You know this Glenn Campbell song. Written by Jim Webb (see Richard Harris below). (17) Call Me Animal- You know this MC5 song too. Well you should. You live in Detroit. I'm from Ohio and I had this shit years ago. (18) Tell Your Mama- Dave Hamilton is also from Detroit. He made some amazing songs you know and this one you might not. (19) I Am The Marshal- I know nothing about Elton Motello. This ended up on my iPod somehow. If you like Eno's early albums this is up your alley. (20) Okolona River Bottom Band- Bobbie Gentry. Again no idea. Sounds like a lot of stuff. Something really infectious here. (21) Air- Aphrodite's Child is Vangelis' old band. He wrote Chariots Of Fire. Totally great. (22) Give Me Daughters- Remember that great Walkmen record that came out that you liked for longer than 20 minutes? Neither do I. But these guys do. It's the same guys with singer who isn't a chump, basically. And better jams. (23) Paper Chase- Richard Harris played Rafer Janders in the movie The Wild Geese. He also made a few great records with Jim Webb. Mr.Webb wrote songs for Glenn Campbell.

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Click to drop the mix in your itunes: http://homepage.mac.com/claszlo/filechute/Pisces%202.zip

Sample Tracks:

"I've Been Out Walking"
"You Keep On Looking"
"Red Tuesday"

(1) The Be Colony- Broadcast have been making amazing music forever. They are staggeringly good. (2) Green Crystal Ties- The Zachary Thaks make pretty good garage rock most of the time. Occasionally they do something brilliant. This is the case with Green Crystal Ties. (3) I've Been Our Walking- Awesome Jackson Brown early demo. (4) The Plague is my favorite Scott Walker song. Hooky anthem about the plague? Sign me up. (5) To Love Somebody- Dara Puspita are like The Ronettes if they were Indonesian. (6) Hurry, Tuesday Child- I know nothing about Deena Webster but this song is striking to say the least. (7) Moon Beeps- The Intelligence are almost singlehandedly saving rock and roll one show at a time. (8) You Keep On Looking- Gary Wilson. The weirdest pimp you could ever imagine singing the hottest nerdy make out jam. (9) Brigitte- Brigitte Fontaine is killing shit on this mellow psych folk number. (10) Down To The Wire is easily the best Neil Young cut from the early solo era. (11) L'Abandon- This Jean Le Fennec song encapsulates so much of what is good about french psych. (12) Highways- Jim Sullivan make this great loner folk rock. (13) Las Habladurias Del Mundo- Pescado Rabioso is some amazing Argentinian '70's rock. His name means rabid fish in english! The whole record is totally solid but this is my favorite. (14) Heaven Is In Your Mind- I hate Steve Winwood. Everyone does. Traffic rules though and this one rips. (15) Patience Is Virtue- William S. Fischer allegedly made this record soon after getting back from Vietnam. Astonishingly kick ass slow funk. (16) Storm Cloud- Not so much about Wolf People. (17) Videsh O.S.T.- Seriously authentic old sounding psychedelic rock made in 2008! Bali Tima blow the roof off the joint with this Indian funk rager. (18) The Author In Her Ear- Strapping Fieldhands hail from Philadelphia. They make amazing rackety pop jams. (19) Requiem Pour Un Con- Serge Gainsbourg is undeniable. This one still gets me. (20) Technique Street- The Homosexuals are the best band ever. Proof positive that England does more than deep fry candy bars. (21) It's A Dream- This Little Ed song is a total mindblower. Daytripper funk. (22) Chain Of Circumstances (Replacement Version)- Camper Van Beethoven are california art hippy rock. They covered Tusk in it's entirety. (23) Magnificent Dreams- Television Personalities made the scene with Part Time Punks. Their first record blew minds. This is from their second equally as incredible record. (24) Red Tuesday- I liked this Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve band live and this song just seemed a nice outro.

Thanks for listening. This was written at 3 am on little sleep after a long day of tracking The Dirtbombs who also happen to be nine ways of awesome. Apologies for the ramble. Long live the Fish!

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Chris Koltay

Clients-

Studio-
Holy Fuck, The Dirtbombs, SSM, Akron Family, City Center, The Readies, Lee Marvin Computer Arm, Afghan Whigs, Hermano, My Morning Jacket, The Intelligence, Shoe, Mirror Twins (Sisters Lucas), Demolition Dollrods, Augustana, Vaux, Thin Lizzy, Gardens, etc.

Live-
Akron Family, Deerhunter, Enon, Holy Fuck, Broadcast, Liars, Women, The Dirtbombs, The Intelligence, Sick Of It All, A Place To Bury Strangers, White Williams, Vaux, Vega 4, The Selmanaires, etc

Recording Studios-

1995-2001:

Ultrasuede Studios
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

2005-present:

Case Quarter

Corktown, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Fall 2008:
Petit Eglise
Farnham, Quebec, Canada

Winter 2008:
Trout Recordings
Brooklyn, New York