From left to right are : L. Gordon Cooper, M. Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra and Donald K. Slayton. The photo was taken just after the astronauts finished survival training in Nevada, circa 1960. Their clothes are fashioned from parachutes and the training was intended for them in case they landed in an extreme environment. Also? The Right Stuff is still one of the best movies ever made. [via reddit ] Tweet
Shimmering. Always shimmering. Impossibly shimmering. I mused to myself, 'I have figured it out! They sprinkled the electric piano with fairy dust and the vibraphone mallets are fairy wands with sparks spewing from the cloth heads!' Alright... Maybe no fairy dust, just very proficient musicians with a vision, releasing an album after seven years of silence. This post-rock equivalent to a bottle of glitter is vaguely reminiscent of Tortoise. Non-climactic, propulsive rhythm-driven songs. Moods varying from melancholy to optimistic to tranquil. The percussion work on this album incorporates complex in-the-pocket rhythms that are performed so tastefully that they [...]
"In the ponds, at all times, lotuses of various colors as large as chariot-wheels are in bloom. Blue flowers radiate blue light, brilliance and splendor; yellow ones radiate yellow light, brilliance and splendor; red ones radiate red light, brilliance and splendor; white ones radiate white light, brilliance and splendor; four-colored ones radiate four-colored light, brilliance and splendor. Shariputra, that Buddha-land is full of such glorious adornments of supreme qualities, which are most pleasing to the mind. For this reason, that land is called 'Utmost Bliss.' The Sutra on Praise of the Pure Land and Protection . " [...]
Last week saw the first DC performance in over five years from Florida's nimble musical conjurers, The Mercury Program. Fans had been hoping against hope that the reality of their longstanding hiatus was in fact, just that and nothing more dire. So they could not have been happier to hear both the fact that the group had signed to Lovitt Records to release a new album, and that The Mercury Program was also celebrating by going back on the road. Their stop in DC saw them performing with another much beloved group, also with [...]
One of the most sickest bands I've ever seen perform live is now touring...nowhere near me. =( Oh well! It's a great time to revisit their amazing 7-track LP called Chez Viking which you can get in 150 gram white or blue vinyl-still! Fresh. The Mercury Program is one of the bands I discovered while checking out Japanese electronic music back in the late 90's during high school and they are still kicking it in 2010! If you get a chance to see these guys on tour with Fin Fang Foom, don't hesitate your monkey ass! Just [...]
So it's almost June and you're wondering what you're going to do with yourself, right? Well if you're in Montreal or NYC we've got you covered. Below is part I of the NYC Summer Show Guide. Enjoy. TUES 6/01 - JAY ELECTRONICA @ Red Hook Park (Brooklyn, NY) | FREE | 7PM WED 6/02 - AIR WAVES @ South Street Seaport (Manhattan, NY) | FREE | 1PM WED 6/02 - [...]
of course they can also be prone to pretentiousness and a general air of self-importance, but sometimes you need that in a band, you know? ::: godspeed you! black emperor - storm ::: ganger - cats, dogs and babies jaws ::: maserati - 12 16 ::: rodan - tooth fairy retribution manifesto ::: dianogah - eating cake ::: god is an astronaut - radau ::: the mercury program - over this land ::: shipping news - the march song ::: emery reel - his hammer is my axe ::: set fire to flames - steal compass / drive [...]
:: Getting really amped about that Neko Case cartoon on Adult Swim. :: So the Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery quit the band, and Duff McKagan is taking his place . :: The Almost covered Tom Petty for Punk Goes Classic Rock , and it almost didn't. Nah, I'm kidding. It sucked pretty bad. :: If you wondered what those David Bazan house shows are like , you can find [...]
Last November Lovitt records released new albums from The Mercury Program and Fin Fang Foom — Chez Viking and Monomyth respectively — and now the two groups are about to embark together on their first tour in five years. Following the dates below, the bands have plans to tour the northeast in June. Links: The Mercury Program | Fin Fang Foom | Lovitt Records Listen: Arrived Departed | Magnetic North Tour Dates [...]
MP3 : The Mercury Program - Arrived Departed Seems like most people I talk to got their introduction to instrumental post-rock through bands like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. My initiation, however, was at a show in Richmond, Virginia by a band called The Mercury Program when they were touring on the album A Data Learn the Language (awesome title, btw). The show floored me at the time and remains stuck in my brain today - overlapping guitars drenched in delay, intricate/intense drumming, masterful dynamics and the best use of [...]
![The Mercury Program: Chez Viking [Album Review]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2362190_lg.jpg)
After an extended leave of absence from the recording world, The Mercury Program are back in full effect with their latest release, Chez Viking . With an intriguing blend of atmosphere-filling sounds, these experimentalists by nature bring forth something of a fondue pot of boiling and bizarre collaborations between vibraphones and a taunting rhythm section. Their style would almost seem simple by nature if it didn't leave you with an out-of-this-world, hand job from an alien-like euphoria after one listen. When experimental, non lyrical, [...]
The Mercury Program son rehenes de su propio estilo. Ya por algún tiempo vienen desarrollando material en formato instrumental y con un sello bien particular de loops y mantras de sonido matemático, cuyo espacio casi mayoritariamente se restringe a capas de sonido añadiéndose y extrayéndose en una intro, un desarrollo y una conclusión. La fórmula, muchas veces efectiva, se ha escuchado extensamente desde el debut The Mercury Program (Boxcar, 1999) hasta el muy logrado y recomendadísimo A Data Learn The Language (Tigerstyle, 2002). Chez Viking marca su retorno después [...]
Wow. How is it possible that there was this much good music released in 2009? I've been frantically trying to play catch up throughout the Fall and have just been overwhelmed. Even so, this list was relatively easy to compile. It's made up of 30% what you might call punk albums, 32% what could loosely be classified as some type of Americana or alt-country, 10% are of the heavier variety, and the remaining 28% are all over the place. Additionally, the overwhelming majority of albums on my list were released by independent labels (41) but I [...]
I saw The Mercury Program at the Fireside Bowl years ago with The Firebird Band and swiftly grabbed a hold of almost their entire discography to that point, and then... nothing. A whole lot of nothing coming from the band. So just imagine my surprise when I found out the Gainesville, FL band just released their first new material in almost seven years in the form of a new album, Chez Viking . I'm happy to report that Chez Viking picks up exactly where the band left off years ago. Their [...]
Hi friends. Did you have a swell Thanksgiving/Thursday? I did. It was our first in our home. We celebrated with friends since my family headed to Zion. As we ate dinner I put on The Mercury Program's new record " Chez Viking ". I hadn't heard of this band until my guilty pleasure omgvinyl posted about it. I'm pretty sure that site is going to bankrupt me. I think I've already ordered 5 records from that site in a week. Including the Blue version of " Chez Viking " [...]
Given the volume of music available for consideration on One Track Mind, we invariably have to pass on a lot of tasty morsels.[tweetmeme] In a desire to share even more great, free music with you, the Sunday Sampler will offer a handful of tracks without the usual critical and biographical write-up. Less talk, more tunes: Solid Gold "Matter of Time" from Matter of Time digital single (released on 10/20) [ download ] [...]
The Mercury Program is an instrumental post-rock outfit from Gainesville, Fla., and this month the band dropped Chez Viking (Lovitt), its first album in five years. With intricately woven melodies, funked-up beats and an ethereal vibraphone, all rising and crashing like ocean waves, this music would be the perfect soundtrack for people-watching at an airport [...]
As the year winds down, the number of artists releasing each week dwindles as well. Many musicians turn to "Best of" or reissues, which is all fine, but it really forces us to reevaluate every ... Related posts: New Album Releases For Tuesday 6/30/2009 New Album Releases For Tuesday 11/17/2009 New Album Releases For Tuesday 10/27/2009
The time has come for us to share our best of lists. It's been one fucking hell of a year for some damn good music. So hard that it's almost entirely impossible to make a cohesive list of the limited top picks. Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure you've seen some of the same albums if you read other music blogs. And the artists deserve the credit whole-heartedly for putting out amazing music. If you haven't heard of an album in the list[s], I highly suggest visiting some friends at your local record shop. If you don't have a local [...]
Words: Gareth O'Malley They say that you should never judge a book - or in this case, an album - by its cover, but if you were to make assumptions about The Mercury Program 's fourth record, 'Chez Viking' based on its cover displaying an image of tranquility, guessing that within lay an album heavy on ambience and atmospherics, you would be absolutely spot-on. The US-based quartet (from Gainsville, Florida, to be precise), consisting of Dave Lebleu on drums, Sander Travisano on bass, his brother Whit on vibraphone and piano, and Tom Reno [...]
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