Banten - Banten, 1972, Denmark

Another NWW List item. I have almost NO info about this release at all. I do, however, have a line-up:

Rob Van Der Broeck, Piano
Ernst Reijseger, Cello
Jurre Haanstra, Drums

I know nothing of any of the three members of this album, except that Reijseger and Van Der Broeck both released a few solo albums on their own (Reijseger in particular appears to have been prolific).

Personally, this was never one of my favorites from the List, but it is by no means a bad album. It is very atypical and floats through many different styles and moods, reaching its highlight on track 4. No good comparisons come to mind, but if you like other groups from the list from about the same period and in the same vein then you'd probably like this a lot.

Interestingly, they appear to do a much shorter, piano-only version of Monk's Mood.

Tracks:

Side A:
Music for Nita and Bert
Honna Song
Dig Dick
Side B:
Inconsekwenza
Monk's Mood
Kandring

This link contains more info about Reijseger, the head of the group, but doesn't talk about the Banten project specifically.

Download

So...

I haven't been on in awhile...what with the whole Broken Flag issue and all...anyone have any particular requests?

As far as the whole Broken Flag thing goes...it generated some interesting debate. I'm not going to take sides either way, because to an extent I agree with both Gary Mundy and with the people arguing against him and those who fell inbetween the two extremes as well, nor do I really feel like it's necessary for me to argue about it either way. I respect the man's choice and understand the reasons behind it even though I don't necessarily agree with it.

However, I never thought I'd see Gary Mundy himself posting on my blog :) So personally I think it's pretty cool, even considering what he had to say...

But once again...any requests?

No More Broken Flag Stuff

Apologies but it appears Gary Mundy himself doesn't want me to post any more BF releases...It is his right after all; can't blame the guy. I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to take it all down :( I'll leave the posts up to keep the comments but the links will be all gone. No future BF posts either.

Omar Khorshid and His Guitar - Rhythms From the Orient, 1974 (Lebanon/Egypt)

Just rediscovered this little gem of prog meets Middle Eastern music; thought I'd share. It's no experimental masterpiece but it's a great album nonetheless; it should be enjoyable to some. Some infos:

Omar Khorshid's 1974 release Rhythms from the Orient is the only Lebanese prog-related album that I know of. Omar Khorshid is a famous Egyptian musician who became well-known in his country both as a guitarist and as a film composer. While my CD doesn't contain too much historical information on Omar's history, it appears that at some point in his career he recorded a certain amount of music in Lebanon, and the music here is promoted as Lebanese music, though Omar is Egyptian(Thanks Bahy!). While Rhythms from the Orient might sound like a "solo guitar" album with gimmick percussion, Omar gave generous room for organ, Moog synth, accordion, along with percussion. Basically, the average listener will find an album with great guitar playing, and kick-ass keyboard/percussion interaction. Omar's style of guitar somehow mixes traditional Oud-like melodies with occasional 50s surf guitar(Dick Dale is of Lebanese ancestry, of course) and 60s psychedelia. The music is based entirely on traditional popular Arabic music, yet the influence of psychedelia, virtuoso organ playing, and Moog synth shows a noticeable western influence. The interaction between organ player and percussionists, though, really does it for me, and it will make the even the dullest Anglo-saxon dance to the rhythms. Try to imagine an organist playing bouncy syncopated Middle Eastern scales to percussionists who swing fast Arabic interlocking rhythms. And to top things off, Omar adds spacy Oud-like melodies with a guitar that's either clean sounding or hooked up to a vintage Swirl-producing pedal(and a unique one at that). Rhythms from the Orient is simply perfect music for your hash-filled(woops, I meant to say Narghile-filled) afternoons. Fans of the Turkish compilations Hava Narghile and Turkish Delights will love this stuff!
source

While it seems he is fairly well known by fans of exotica and Middle Eastern pop music (a couple of his lp's have made it to CD), facts about him are scant (in English, anyway) on the net. He apparently acted in and did music for film, yet I've been unable to find any soundtracks credited to him. Also, all discographies I've found seem to be incomplete. He has at least 8 lp's that I know of from the mid to late 70's. Some on the Greek label Voice of Lebanon, and some on EMI.
source

Download

Skullflower - Xaman, 1988

Not a Broken Flag album, but another good 12" from Skullflower nonetheless. Their fourth release. This contains the three bonus tracks from the 1990 CD reissue.

As requested

Broken Flag Cassettes Two

http://direct-waves.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-more-broken-flag-stuff.html

Maschine Nr. 9 - Headmovie

From wfmu:
Headmovie is a Nurse With Wound List item, a German Rock-audio collage of spoken word, electronic pulsations, psychedelic music, and borrowed bits from The Beatles White Album, among other things. The credited trio includes musician Georg Deuter, who at the time had released some great ethnic-flavored solo albums of instrumental music and was already veering towards "New Age." Krautrock luminaries Renate Knaup (Amon Düül II) and Daniel Fichelscher (Popol Vuh) also participated.

Crack in the Cosmic Egg:
Not a group, but a one-off sound-theatre project headed by Wolf Wondratschek, Bernd Brummbär and Georg Deuter. An unusual concoction of texts, sound effects and music, the title HEADMOVIE is quite apt, it is intriguing and bizarre: not least for some original Deuter music, weird singing by Renate Knaup, and fascinating tape-collage work including borrowed material like Roger Waters' "Several Species Of Small Furry Animals..." and John Lennon's immortal "number 9".

Line-up:

Wolf Wondratschek, Bernd Brummbär, Georg Deuter, + Vlado Kristl, Olimpia Hruska, Rolf Zacher, Waki Zoellner, Hans Noever, Temur Samy, Helmut Qualtinger, Peter Schranner, Thomas Schamoni, George Moorse, Alfred Edel, Hans Jürgen Diedrich, Louis Waldon

As interesting as it sounds, I can't help but feel that quite a lot of this album is lost to us non-German speakers, as most of the story is told through German dialogues. Nonetheless it has its moments...

As requested:

Link

Ray Russell & Friederich Gulda

Two more NWWL requests.

Friederich Gulda & Ursula Anders - Gegenwart, 1976, Germany



One often hears that a piece of music is "ahead of its time"; however, the claim is difficult to prove until a certain amount of time has passed. In January of 1976, the great Austrian pianist Friedrich Gulda recorded the album Gegenwart (meaning presence or present time), which can now truly claim, with its 1993 reissue, to have been ahead of its time. The album was a collaboration with percussionist Ursula Anders and producer Eckart Rahn; it was and still is a challenging, dramatic collection of improvisations.
Actually, past, present, and future, all come together in Gegenwart. Gulda's worldwide reputation as an interpreter of classic Mozart and Beethoven pieces certainly did nothing to prepare listeners for the music on this recording. From its recognizably pianistic sounds to the guitar like strumming produced on (or more accurately, in) the electric clavichord, Gegenwart is a musical snapshot of a musician looking toward the future. It contains no solo piano works and the conventional sounds of the piano are simply one of a number of textures that Gulda uses.

At times, dramatic and abstract, sometimes spare and lyrical, Gegenwart is full of surprises. For instance, the strings inside the piano imitate an electric-bass and the high swoop of a synthesizer at the end of Duo 1 and Duos 2 and 3 include an assortment of percussion instruments, recorders, and even some whistling. Although all of the pieces are completely improvised, this is not an album of conventional jazz. Gegenwart is about sound, not form; as its German title indicates, it's about playing in the moment - about the act of making music. Even now, the album contains some of the most unusual sounds ever coaxed out of a piano or clavichord. More important, the pieces sound like they could have been recorded last month; the music is as daring and imaginative now as it was in 1976.

Not personally one of my favorite list items, but should greatly please many.

Link

Ray Russell - Secret Asylum, 1973



Secret Asylum was Russell's most experimental solo effort, however it's one of the few that haven't been reissued. Very little info exists (not even on his own website!). Too bad, because it's a very interesting album full of jazz and heavy rock improvisations where all kinds of styles come together, meet and clash in their own very distinct ways. Line-up and tracklisting:

Ray Russell (g/b) - Gary Windo (ts) - Harry Beckett (tpt/flghn) - Daryl Runswick (b) - Alan Rushton (d)

1. Stained Angel Morning - 2. Spinetree - 3. Sweet Cauldron - 4. All Through Over You - 5. Nearer - 6. These That I Am - 7. To See Through The Sky - 8. There The Dance Is - 9. Children Of The Hollow Dawn

Anyone got a better pic?

Link

Broken Flag Pt. 3: Cassettes 1 (BF 01-10)

http://direct-waves.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-more-broken-flag-stuff.html

Broken Flag Part 2: Flexi

http://direct-waves.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-more-broken-flag-stuff.html

Cupol (Dome/Wire) & Anthony Moore

As requested...

Cupol - Like This For Ages/Kluba Cupol EP, 1980



Another NWW List Wire/Dome offshoot. Consists of one shorter track (about four minutes) and a 20 minute instrumental, stretched out reworking of the previous track. This is great stuff; if you like Dome/Wire or just experimental post-punk in general you should like it. The tracks carry a sense of hopeless dread with them and much of the instrumentation sounds very ritual and repetitive (in a good way). This goes beyond Wire's post-punk...

Download

Anthony Moore - Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom, 1971



"Moore is best known as a founder of the progressive rock band Slapp Happy but has also written lyrics for Pink Floyd. These albums are part of a theoretical trilogy written in Germany in the early 1970's (the third part, Reeds, Whistle And Sticks was unissued until a 1998 CD release on Blueprint). Although Anthony is of British origin, these can be viewed as essential Krautrock peripherals and are Historically Significant no matter how you look at it. Pieces features: Anthony Moore (comp/cond), with: Ulf Kenklies (vocals), Glyn Davenport (vocals), Gieske Hof-Helmers (vocals) & Werner 'Zappa' Diermeier (hi-hat). From Alan Licht's "Minimalism: The Next Ten", originally published in Halana #3: "Two great missing links in the incredible history of Uwe Nettlebeck's productions at Wümme, Germany. Slapp Happy founder Moore recorded Pieces From The Cloudland Ballroom a month after Faust cut their debut LP (fall 1971) and Secrets Of The Blue Bag a month before their second (with Slapp Happy's debut Sort Of following in May '72 and Tony Conrad/Faust's Outside The Dream Syndicate in October). Indeed, Faust's Werner 'Zappa' Diermaier and Gunther Wusthoff both contribute to Pieces, which is not a Krautrock or artrock LP but a bona fide minimal classic. Side one is 'Jam Jern Jim Jom Jum,' which has three singers chanting that mantra while Moore plays these odd, luminous repeating chords underneath. The first piece on side 2, 'mu na h-vile ni a shaoileas iad,' sounds uncannily like Richard Youngs' Advent with its quiet piano and piercing bowed sounds, while 'A.B.C.D. Gol'flsh' could almost pass for the trance rock classic that Moondog never got around to recording."
-forcedexposure

Download

Slight update

Everything in the previous post is fixed, all the links are available and should work now. Also the artwork for "Statement" is now up thanks to zubzub.

Broken Flag Pt. 1: LP's

http://direct-waves.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-more-broken-flag-stuff.html

So...

To get the ball rolling...I thought I would start off again by uploading material from the old Broken Flag label (Ramleh, Skullflower, Controlled Bleeding...etc.) because I've grown quite fond of the label as of late and I've also come to acquire the majority of its output, some of which is not only highly essential but also incredibly rare and should be of interest, if nothing else for its historical value (for lack of a better term). However, I'll try to put up other stuff too...but I thought I'd ask first what people would be interested in - in other words, I'm looking for requests. You guys point me in the right direction! NWW List stuff? NWW? Fluxus/Dada recordings? Kraut? French stuff? At any rate, new uploads should be on this site within a few days or less (I'm taking time to upload stuff now).

Secondly, whether this site's run is temporary or more permanent, things are probably gonna be a little different. For example, posts will probably be a bit less frequent and more sporadic, but a bit more freeform and based on user's suggestions. There won't be too much of a change though, I don't think.

Lastly, I apologize for leaving so abruptly. I probably should have at least left a notice saying that I wasn't going to be on for awhile, especially since I probably had the opportunity to. Anyway, the reasons for my abscence are complex and mostly point towards my time being consumed entirely with lots of crap and bullshit (it's been hectic the past few monthsin a lot of ways), not to mention my computer hasn't been the most stable recently either. Honestly, part of the reason was also because I just didn't have much left to upload from my collection (at least that which I had computer access to - if you'll remember me saying, I haven't had a vinyl ripper for months, for example...). Anyway, I'm excited to be back, even if it's with less frequency or only for a short period of time, and I think we can make things work again.

And also: I appreciate all the comments. I really do. I was surprised how many people still come to this site and how much some people liked it. Makes me happy, to say the least.

So...

Any requests? Comments? Suggestions? :)

Let's get this started...

The Return

Well, maybe. I'm planning on reviving this blog at least temporarily again to upload a few things I never got the chance to share. I'll try to explain why the blog went down for awhile, too.

tpm

Nurse With Wound Ensemble - Live in Portland

Recorded December 11th, 2004. As the NWW site says on this show: Steven Stapleton and Colin Potter appear on stage during the 4th Irr. App. (Ext.) performance for a rendition of "Cooloorta Moon". Colin Potter did a solo performance, whilst Steven Stapleton performed a unique DJ set. As it says, there's an Irr. App. (Ext.), Colin Potter, Nurse With Wound and Steve Stapleton solo set. Each is about 30-45 minutes. Again, there's no cover as it's a bootleg.

Part One, Part Two

Nurse With Wound - Live in Vienna, 2005 (Bootleg)

I didn't record this one myself; I'm just passing it along. This was recorded May 7 2005 at the Anatomical Museum in Vienna. There's only one track, a live rendition of Salt Marie Celeste. No cover as it is a bootleg recording.

Download

Un Departement - Je Serai... + La Cassette, 1981 & 1984, France

This is a great French band I got interested in over at mutant-sounds, who uploaded their S/T LP ("La Album") and a later CD called Au Menu that I highly recommend checking out. There's really no way to describe the sound of these guys, it's just sort of all over the place electronic percussive weirdness, but I really think they're once of the best French bands of the early 80's. La Cassette in particular is really great.

Je Serai Clement en Tent Que Dictateur 7" (1981)

La Cassette (1984)


I hadn't put up much in the past few days because I got really ill (twice...go figure) so I'm putting up a few things now to make up for it. This is going to be my last post for awhile though, I'm not going to be home for a few days because I have time off; I'll probably be back Saturday or so. Hope you guys understand.

Emergency Exit - Sortie de Secours, Pole Records

A friend send me this one not long ago, and I'm incredibly excited to have found it, so I thought I'd share...as far as I know this is the 16th (and last) record from the legendary French label Pole.

As for the music, it's mostly rock-oriented, maybe you could call it prog or psych, but it strays from straightforward prog at times into its own little musical area. Most of it incorporates jazz influences and parts are improvised as far as I can tell, spread over three tracks that range from 10-15 minutes. I can't say it's some great long-lost gem of prog music or anything but it's pretty enjoyable and it has its moments. If you've heard the Melody album from Pole it's sort of similar at times (which I'm hoping to put up soon too if I can).

If anyone could provide further info on this, like a date, cover, or the personnel, it'd be much appreciated.

Download

HNAS/DDAA - Die zwei Arten der Fettsucht 7"

Little info exists on DDAA...but they were a very important French experimental band that often get called "The French Nurse With Wound". HNAS doesn't really need an introduction, I wouldn't imagine. Mutant-Sounds has put up a bunch of LP's by both bands; go check them out.

The only picture I could find was some crap thing from eBay, so if anyone has a better one, it'd be great if they'd share.

Download

M.A.Numminen - Taisteluni + In Memoriam, 1967, 1970, Finland

Mauri Antero Numminen (born 12 March 1940, Somero) is one of the best-known Finnish artists, having worked on several different fields of music and culture.

In the 1960s M.A. Numminen was known particularly as an avantgarde/underground artist, stirring controversy with such songs as 'Nuoren aviomiehen on syytä muistaa' (the lyrics of which were taken directly from a marital guide) and 'Naiseni kanssa eduskuntatalon puistossa'. He was also a member of the band Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940. In his early days Numminen often consciously tried to provoke people. Here he succeeded well, for example by his interpretations of Franz Schubert's lieds, sung with his own idiosyncratic singing voice, or managing to create a scandal at the Jyväskylän kesä festival of Jyväskylä in 1966 with his song lyrics taken from a sex guide. Numminen also did music to the writings of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. M.A. Numminen founded in 1966 with Pekka Gronow the record label Eteenpäin! ("Forward!"), which released Numminen's own music. Later on Numminen's records were published under the umbrella of the legendary Finnish label Love Records.

Additionally, M.A. Numminen has been one of the unsung pioneers of Finnish electronic music, known for his collaborations with the composer and inventor Erkki Kurenniemi who built for Numminen a "singing machine" with which Numminen participated in a singing contest in 1964, and in the late 60s the electronic instrument Sähkökvartetti ("Electric Quartet"), the performance of which wreaked havoc in a youth festival in Sofia, Bulgaria. Sähkökvartetti can be heard on Numminen's track 'Kaukana väijyy ystäviä' (1968).

In 1970 M.A. Numminen founded with the pianist Jani Uhlenius a jazz band called Uusrahvaanomainen Jatsiorkesteri ("Neo-Vulgar Jazz Orchestra"), which is still in existence; taking its cues from the 1920s-1940s jazz, swing, foxtrot, etc. Now retired from the band are the members Aaro Kurkela and Kalevi Viitamäki. The current line-up consists alongside Numminen and Uhlenius also of the accordion player Pedro Hietanen, the fiddler Jari Lappalainen and the bassist Heikki "Häkä" Virtanen.

In 1970s M.A. Numminen became a popular favourite with his children's songs in the 1973 film Herra Huu - Jestapa Jepulis, Penikat Sipuliks, where he also played the main role, and in the 1977 TV series Jänikset maailmankartalle, where he played a hare. At the same time Numminen also gained success in Sweden with his song 'Gummiboll' (Numminen's Finnish version of this was called 'Kumipallona luokses pompin ain'): Numminen has recorded Swedish versions from many of his records. He has also made several songs in English, German and Esperanto.

Lately M.A. Numminen has made a return to electronic music and modern club sound. In 2003 Numminen started M.A.N. Scratch Band featuring his long-time collaborator Pedro Hietanen with young jazz musicians Olavi Uusivirta, Lasse Lindgren and DJ Santeri Vuosara (also known as DJ Sane). The duo M.A. Numminen & DJ Sane was started in 2004.

M.A. Numminen has appeared on Radio Suomi since 1984 together with playwright Juha Siltanen on their night show Yömyöhä. In 1986 he published a book called Baarien mies ("The Man of the Bars") on Finnish keskiolut lager culture, for which he visited 350 bars around Finland. The book had a considerable role in the birth of 1980s keskiolut beer culture in Finland.

M.A. Numminen has taken part in over 30 films, either as an actor, scriptwriter, composer or cinematographer.
-wikipedia

These are his first two albums, from 67 and 70 respectively...Honestly it's not my favorite thing that's come out of Finland but he was a key innovator for the Finnish avant-garde, up there with the Sperm and others, if nothing else for his involvement with other bands. As for the sound of this particular album, it's sort of like really fucked accordion music mixed with cheap 50's rock and oddball lyrics (in Finnish). It's an acquired taste I guess. If you're into the whole Finnish thing I think it's a necessity at least to hear though.

Download

Just Music - Just Music, ECM 1002, 1969, Germany

This is one of those free improv/experimental jazz gems from ECM's 1000 series that hasn't been reissued. I'm not very good at writing up jazz-related reviews but I'll just say that this album is all over the place and if you like the same kind of craziness on the Music Improv Company or Wolfgang Dauner's Output LP's you'll like this (both of which were released on the same series). The largely obscure personnel is as follows:

Credits: - Franz Volhard
Cello, Flute - Thomas Stöwsand
Guitar - Johannes Krämer
Percussion, Clarinet - Thomas Cremer
Producer - Just Music , Manfred Eicher
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet, Trumpet - Alfred Harth*
Trombone - Dieter Herrmann
Notes: Recorded on December 13, 1969 at the Nettekoven Studios, Frankfurt.
http://www.discogs.com/release/866243

There are just two side long tracks, titled Stock - Vol. - Hard and Just a Moment.

Download

Philip Corner - 3 Pieces for Gamelan Ensemble, Fluxus

Bio on Corner

"'Gamelan' means for Philip Corner more than the name for Indonesian orchestras. The composer uses the word the way, apart from Europe, someone might say 'symphony'. A basis of making music, adding a few wonderful ideas from the Orient: a precise relation between the scale of time and that of musical space; a simple formal concept, expressed directly through sensual attractiveness; some freedom, or mystery, added to the precision. 'Gamelan' is the name of the first piece. In 1975 at Livingston College where Barbara Banary, who had just constructed the earliest instruments for Son Of Lion, invited Philip Corner to compose a piece. Its opening gong stroke and long resonance has gone through several revivals over the years since, and has come to seem like a 'classic'. This piece is the link to the composer's earlier works, particularly those of struck resonant instruments, like Metal Meditations, which are intensely focused on the immediate presence of the sounds. What is added here is counting, although counting so long a length dissolves again into the intuitive. The second track on this CD is titled 'The Barcelona Cathedral'. The composer Tom Johnson wrote about it in 1978: 'A few weeks ago I attended a rehearsal of New York's own gamelan ensemble, Son Of Lion. One of the works I heard that evening was a new composition by Philip Corner. Corner was conducting in big slow beats that fell heavily once every few seconds. With each beat about ten mallets fell onto the metallic percussion instruments with a tremendous clang. A variety of pitches resulted, and the general effect was much like a big church bell. The piece went on for nearly half an hour, always with that same relentless beat, but with slightly different effects.' These first two compositions, first issued on LP for Lotta Poetica, have been remastered for this CD edition that also features a previously unpublished major work entitled 'Belum'. The author wrote about it: 'There is improvisation within a structure that only reveals itself over many repetitions. The melody is quite difficult, with many syncopations and rhythmic irregularities. We have learned it well, but since no one knows exactly how each will play, there is individual freedom and group chance results. Bringing together different cultures in a new kind of harmony. ...It [the music culture of Indonesia] has added to my previous development sense of music as wonderful-sound, the sense of music as wonderful-measure. Thanks to this, I now love numbers and with no diminishing of the senses...'.-Forced Exposure

Download

Gerhard Ruhm - Pencil Music, ? Records, 2003

This is the Gerhard Ruhm from the Roth Ruhm & Weiner trio off the NWW List, but this album is different from RR&W and his sound poetry works. As I understand it this is a collection of works attempting to connect that of the visual with that of the auditory, by capturing the audio made from Ruhm drawing automatic images. Forced Exposure writes provides this:

"I was surprised that it was possible to read the acoustic event from the object drawn, and some insecurity about the association of visual signs and sound phenomena (caused by the directional openness of the reading process) appears to increase even more the attraction of seeing them combined. The pencil-sound piece did not always remain the by-product of the dominating drawing-process. The dynamics of the sound sequence in its turn often influenced the development of the drawing and determined it significantly. You will probably notice that even carefully listening to the CD by itself, without producing the images at the same time, has its attraction and betrays its independent musical quality, in other words can be regarded as 'absolute music'. Inversely, it is advisable to look at the drawing independently at times, either as 'pure' visual events or as spatial traces of a hidden music, perhaps caused by energetic processes. This makes one alert and sensitive for the reception of the synaesthetic dimension of the perception of the phenomenal world." -- Gerhard Rühm

It's interesting nonetheless.

If I can find my copy I'll post the booklet because it shows the artworks that accompany each track.

Copies should still be floating around various places...

Download

Agata Morio - Norimono Zukan, 1979, Vanity, Japan

This is the fifth release from the Japanese Vanity label. It's one of the few from the label that's been reissued on CD (the only other being the Aunt Sally) but I can't find a place that even has this reissue available, including Morio's own website, so I feel it's fair game to upload.

Agata Morio, as I understand it, is fairly well known in Japan as being a Japanese folk artist with a sometimes experimental edge. I've heard nothing of his other work, but from what people tell me this is pretty distinct from the rest of his albums, and it's easy to see why: there are very few, if any, folk leanings on this album at all. In fact, it has more in common with synth pop, new wave, minimal electronics and the like than it does with Japanese folk-rock. That being said, it's pretty pop-based, and is probably the most accessible Vanity release after the Aunt Sally one, but it still has its experimental moments, verging into ambient and musique concret every now and then, and there are some non-electronic tracks as well. At any rate, it's another vital piece to the Vanity puzzle, and it's also very enjoyable. The booklet that comes with it is all in Japanese, so I can't reveal any of the information inside of it, including track titles...However on the back cover are a few English credits, including, notably, mentions to SAB and Phew (also from Vanity). They are:

"Norimono Zukan" Agata Morio

Agata Morio - vocal, compose, piano
Sab - synthesizer, strings, vocorder, clabinet, lead guitar, bass guitar, guitar synthesizer, bass synthesizer, rhythm box, echo, flanger, electronics & arrangement
Fujimoto Yukio - electronics, special synthesizer programming, effect synthesizer

Special Thanks to:

Phew + Idiot Girls - chorus
Mukai Chie - ko-kyu
Yasuda Takashi - drums
Taiqui - Synthesized drums
Punk Boys: Jun Shinoda & Kitada - side guitar

Roland Corporation - Osaka

Recorded at Studio Sounds Creation on November 1979
Engineered by Oku
Produced by Agi Yuzuru

Despite its pop leanings I feel this album should appeal to people interested in the other Vanity records anyway. The best comparison of it's sound I can think of would be an Aunt Sally with synthesizers mixed with BGM or RNAO, but that's just a generalization of course. The last track in particular sounds like it could have fit well into the SAB LP or the second side of Normal Brain if you allow for a bit of leeway.

Also: This is the wikipedia write-up on Morio, and this is his website for those interested.

Get it here

Costin Miereanu - Luna Cinese, 1975, Cramps

Another release on the Cramps label (the list is rife with them) from 1975. "An account of musical science fiction," as one writer called it, the two sidelong pieces anticipate the style of layered sound collage that would be so prevalent in experimental/industrial music 5-10 years later. The subtle electronics, acoustic instrumentation and voices blend effortlessly, with a gentle, flowing quality not usually found in similar works by contemporaries like Bayle or Parmegiani.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/adventures_in_t_1.html

Short Wikipedia bio

Another great album from Cramps. Can't seem to find a cover, any help?

Download

The Crazy People - Bedlam, 1968, Canada

The Crazy People and the album Bedlam is one of those mysterious projects released in the late 60's that has caused many collectors and music experts to speculate and create stories as to who the band really was and why the album was recorded. What is known about the band is very little but in fact they were most likely made up of Canadians. It is known that the album was recorded in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1968 and it was originally released on the small independent Condor label. The main theory that is upheld by many musicologists is that the album is the project was the brainchild of the eccentric Johnny Kitchen, an expatriated American, who was known to be in BC around the time the album was recorded, and a group of studio musicians from the Burnaby area.
On the original album all of the performers were uncredited but some of the song writing credits were given to Kitchen who was a very prolific songwriter at the time writing songs for The Crazy People as well as other bands that recorded on the Condor label . There is a confirmed connection to another American performer, Wild Man Fischer, the always strange acid casualty and L.A. based performer who recorded with Frank Zappa and released one of the weirdest albums of 1968. With many theories and conjectures, the Bedlam album remains a mystery to this day despite its current re-release on the Gear Fab label.

Musically Bedlam is a hodge-podge of weirdness and psychedelic soundcollages, comedy and political satire in the same vein as such acts as the early Mothers of Invention, the Firesign Theatre or the Fugs mixed with disjointed melodies and 60's exploito sounds. The songs may start off in a groove then all of a sudden this weird voice will jump in with mad rambling , sound effects and a political statement. While half of the album is pretty inaccessible , some of the music does shine through the weirdness and one realizes there is a talent behind this project.

Bedlam is a strange trip that would be more at home in the streets of Los Angeles or Greenwich Village than in the conservative western city of Burnaby, BC. One of the strangest albums ever to come out of Canada that still remains a mystery to this day.

This is great stuff; if you like White Noise, Red Crayola or other late 60's freaked-out weirdness with a humorous edge then you should enjoy.


Download

Dashiell Hedayat with Gong - Obsolete, 1971, France

Aahhhh! Here's another Gong album no one seems to know about, as this is basically Gong plus poet/musician Dashiell Hedayat (otherwise known as Melmoth). Evidently the lyrical content (especially on the suite "Eh, Mushroom will you mush my room?") is drug related, it, and the back cover of the CD urges the listener to listen to the album "as stoned as impossible." Regardless, if you are an early Allen-period Gong fan, you are sure to love this one as it is CLASSIC 1971 Gong replete with Malherbe sax solos and killer gliss guitar. Hedayat proves to be a good guitarist (the album was too early for Hillage) and keyboard player, and the long 20 minute track here is an incredible space flight. This album was exteremely groundbreaking as parts of it resemble the Kosmische music label such as Sergius Golowin's "Lord Krishna Von Goloka" yet it was years before. The best comparison would be to Timothy Leary and Ash Ra Tempel's "Seven Up" with its delerious lyrics (the opener sounds very similar to the "Downtown" part of "Seven Up") as it is an incredible parallel to the album. What a great reissue; sounds good, and well worth the wait. - Mike Mclatchey

This guy was on the Musical Insurrection in France comp I posted a while ago. At any rate it's a great gem of French prog.

Download here

V/A - An Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music Vol. 1, Sub Rosa, 2002 (1921-2001)

This is the first in a series of volumes released by Sub Rosa in an attempt to map out the history of electronic music in the 20th century, much like the OHM+ box set but this one came out a little earlier, I believe. This is the only volume that has not been reissued, and so copies are scarce and go for hundreds of dollars already. It's got some good stuff on it and even if you're already really familiar with the history of early electronic/noise music it's still very valuable, as it has many unreleased pieces that aren't found anywhere else. The actual CD comes with an extensive booklet detailing each piece and so if you ever find this for a decent price it's a good idea to snag it while you can. Includes unreleased tracks by Luigi Russolo, the Dream Syndicate, Einsturzende Neubauten, Sonic Youth, John Cage, Ryoji Ikeda and others. I personally find the comp invaluable for the Walter Ruttman track alone: it's an unreleased track, originally compiled in 1930 of, by his definition, a "silent film", which was originally played in a theatre in which the audience watched a blank movie screen the entire time; it predates many later works by Cage, Schaeffer and others. Here's the full Tracklisting:

Disc 1
Luigi Russolo and Antonio Russolo - Corale (1921) (1:57)
Walter Ruttman - Wochende (1930) (11:17)
Pierre Schaeffer - Cinq Etudes de Bruits: Etude Violette (1948) (3:18)
Henri Pousseur - Scambi (1957) (6:27)
Gordon Mumma - The Dresden Interleaf 13 February 1945 (1965) (12:43)
Angus MacLise, Tony Conrad and John Cale - Trance #2 (1965) (5:07)
Philip Jeck, Otomo Yoshihide and Martin Tétreault - Untitled #1 (2000) (6:06)
Survival Research Laboratories - October 24, 1992 Graz, Austria (1992) (6:11)
Einsturzende Neubauten - Ragout: Küchen Rezpt von Einsturzende Neubauten (1998) (4:08)
Konrad Boehmer - Aspekt (1966) (15:13)

Disc 2
Nam June Paik - Hommage à John Cage (158-59) (4:13)
John Cage - Rozart Mix (1965) (7:18)
Sonic Youth - Audience (1983) (6:00)
Edgard Varèse - Poeme Electronique (1957-58) (8:00)
Iannis Xenakis - Concret PH (1958) (4:40)
Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky (That Subliminal Kid) - FTP>Bundle / Conduit 23 (2001) (8:07)
Pauline Oliveros - A Little Noise in the System (Moog System) (1966) (30: 16)
Ryoji Ikeda - One Minute (1997) (1:00)

Download here and here

Whitehouse - Right to Kill (Dedicated To Denis Andrew Nilsen), 1983, Come

This is one of only two Whitehouse records that have never been released (supposedly because the original tapes were lost and Bennett didn't want to release them in the quality they would be in if they were directly ripped from vinyl). This one was only released in 200 copies, so luckily someone did rip it from vinyl, so it's available nonetheless. Psychopathia Sexualis was the other LP that has not been reissued (for the same reason). Apparently this is the rarest/most sought after Whitehouse LP.

Download

Martin Davorin-Jagodic - Tempo Furioso, Cramps, 1975

Davorin-Jagodic was a Yugoslavic/Croatian composer. I know nothing about this LP and can't seem to find much info either, just little references to his work here and there. But it's a great NWW List/Cramps LP featuring some creepy, sometimes droning, electronic musique concret and is one of my favorites from Cramps. Should make fans of musique concret (especially the early stuff) very happy. Neat stuff.

This is his only record. It consists of two side-long pieces and is ripped as such.

Download here

Aunt Sally - Live 1978-79

This is the same proto-no wave band from the Japanese Vanity label. This isn't as good as their studio album, and the sound quality isn't the best, but it's a nice item to have for those into the whole Vanity/Voice records thing, or those interested in no wave and the like. Includes covers of My Generation, Blitzkrieg Bop, and a few others.

Aunt Sally
Phew: vocals
Bikke: guitar
Mayu: keyboards
Kataoka: bass (1-9)
Yoshio Nakaoka: bass (10-18)
Takashi Maruyama: drums (1-15)
Yoshiyuki Kodera: drums (16-18)

Recorded live at:
Bahama in Shinsaibashi, Osaka on November 5, 1978 (1-5)
Bahama in Shinsaibashi, Osaka on December 28, 1978 (6-9)
Bahama in Shinsaibashi, Osaka on March 18, 1979 (10-11)
Seibu Kodo, Kyoto University in Kyoto on April 30, 1979 (12-15)
Yamaha in Motomachi, Kobe on September 30, 1979 (16-18)

Mastered by Tetsuya Kotani at Omega Sound
Produced by Keiichi Ushido
Photography: Yuichi Jibiki, Jin Sato, Takashi Suzuki, and others
Art direction and design: Takashi Miyagawa
Includes liner notes in Japanese by Shunichi Otaka, and a conversation in Japanese between Phew and Bikke

Released March 2001
http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/pvine/auntsallylive.html

Download

Erkki Kurenniemi - Aanityksia: Recordings 1963-1973 , Love, 2002

Erkki Kurenniemi (born 1941) is one of the most important characters in the history of Finnish electronic music. His mother was Marjatta Kurenniemi, the famous author of children's books. Erkki Kurenniemi founded an electronic music studio for the Department of Musicology at the University of Helsinki in the early 1960s. Alongside working on media art, happenings and short films of his own, Kurenniemi built several electronic instruments for himself and also for other people, such as M.A. Numminen, for whom he created first a "singing machine" with which Numminen participated in a singing contest in 1964, and in the late 1960s Sähkökvartetti ("The Electric Quartet"), which is heard on M.A. Numminen's track 'Kaukana väijyy ystäviä' (1968). An excerpt of Kurenniemi's own composition 'Dance of the Anthropoids' (1968) was heard on Finnish progressive rock band Wigwam's 1970 album Tombstone Valentine.

The most ambitious of Erkki Kurenniemi's projects was the series of digital synthesizers, called DIMI, in the early 1970s. For example, Kurenniemi's video synthesizer DIMI-O (1970-1971) converted any movements recorded by the video camera into real-time sounds and music. DIMI-S (also known as the "Sexophone") was able to generate sound and light by contact with the skin, reacting to the emotional state of the performers. Kurenniemi created the first commercially manufactured and marketed microcomputer already in 1973, which was two years before the American MITS Altair 8800. Nowadays many of the Kurenniemi-created instruments are in the possession of Swedish collector Ralph Lundsten, the owner of Andromeda electronic studio.

Alongside his musical career Erkki Kurenniemi has worked as an automation designer at the service of industry and also as a consult for the Science Centre Heureka in Vantaa, Finland. He has written several articles on such subjects as artificial intelligence and robotics.

In 2002 Finnish film director Mika Taanila made a documentary film on Erkki Kurenniemi, called The Future Is Not What It Used To Be.

---

One of the undeniable pioneers of Finnish electronic music is Erkki Kurenniemi (b. 1941), who founded The University of Helsinki Electronic Music Studio in the early 1960's. Kurenniemi built his own series of synthesizers, named as DIMI, which are nowadays mostly possessed by Swedish collector and electronic musician Ralph Lundsten, and published some of his experimental compositions like 'Dance of the Antropoids'. Alongside such Finnish pioneers as Eino Ruutsalo (for whose short films Kurenniemi composed music), Kurenniemi also did some early work on the field of Finnish media art and contributed to Finnish video art and happenings. Kurenniemi created the first commercially manufactured and marketed microcomputer already in 1973 -- two years before the American MITS Altair. These days Kurenniemi works as an independent researcher, specialising in such subjects as artificial intelligence.

One of the best and most experimental Finnish artists of the 60's and early 70's; up there with Airaksinen and the Sperm:

Download

J.K. & Co. - Suddenly One Summer, Can, 1968

In 1968, 15 year old guitarist/singer Jay Kaye trekked from Las Vegas to Vancouver, British Columbia. There, with a topnotch team of session musicians, he recorded Suddenly One Summer, a dark masterpiece of orchestral psychedelia intended to musically represent the life and death of a man.

The history of J.K. & Co. was little known, the details etched in admirably by Sundazed's CD reissue of their only album. The group was led by Jay Kaye, who was only 15 when he assembled J.K. & Co. in early 1968. With assistance from arranger Robert Buckley (also still in his teens), producer Robin Spurgin, and session musicians, he recorded a little-known album, Suddenly One Summer, for White Whale in Vancouver (to where he had briefly relocated from Las Vegas). His florid, melodic songwriting betrayed obvious debts to Donovan and George Harrison; his low-key vocals also recall George's late Beatle efforts. The sappier excesses of his lyrics haven't dated well, but his soothing arrangements (with low-key organs and saxes), beguiling melodies, and good-hearted, meditative ambience make him one of the worthier obscurities of the late '60s.
As a band, J.K. & Co. didn't really exist until after the album was completed, and Kaye formed a group to play the material live that included his cousin John Kaye on bass. Although the LP got a little bit of exposure on Californian underground radio stations, it was not well-promoted and remains barely known, even by many psych-heads. Their career was not aided by the label's bizarre decision to pull a 36-second-long track, the instrumental introductory piece "Break of Dawn," as the single. While they did play live in California, they broke up around the end of the 1960s, without releasing any more recordings. The rare album was reissued on CD by Sundazed/BeatRocket in 2001. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Download

Nurse With Wound - Nylon Coverin' Body Smotherin', Mi-Mort, 1984

Nice early Nurse cassette EP with some unreleased stuff and a Current 93 track. Includes an earlier version of Brained (the NWW cover of Brainticket's self-titled track with J.G. Thirlwell on vocals!).

Track Listing

A
Nylon Coverin' Body Smotherin' - Nurse With Wound
The Great In the Small - Current 93
A Token Sylvie and Babs Ditty Chicken In Drag - Nurse With Wound
B
Glory Hole - Nurse With Wound
Automating (Again) - Nurse With Wound
Well What D'ya Know Henry? - Nurse With Wound

Download

This week

As you've probably noticed there haven't been a whole lot of uploads this week, and that's because I've been really busy and have only managed to put up stuff when I've had time. I'm going to try to put up some albums later if I can, because I've been meaning to put up a few things for several days now.

There also won't be anything over the weekend (Friday - Sunday), because I'm going to be away with someone, but if I get to a computer I might put something up. I dunno. We'll see.

Hope you all understand.

TPM

Orchid Spangiafora - Flee Past Ape's Elf, 1979

As requested...This is another one involving voice experiments but is quite different from the last. Most of the album is done by manipulating various snippets of conversation, which all seem to come from movies and ads of the late 50's & 60's (but I could be wrong about that), all contorted into each other in often very humorous ways. You can definitely tell why this is on the NWW List; the title "Fashioned to a Device Behind a Tree" and many of Stapleton's vocal manipulations draw directly from this LP. The personnel is listed as "Rob Carey sometimes aided by Byron Coley & Chris Osgood (of the Suicide Commandos)". Reissued copies can be ordered here for those interested.

O.S. still seems to be active in some form or another, as his/their curious site has obvious recent political content in it. Check it out here.

Download

Le Grand Magic Circus - Le Grand Mechant Cochon et les Trois Gentils Petits Loups

Incredibly odd LP by French experimental performance group Grand Magic Circus; the title translates more or less to "The Big Mean Pig and the Three Kind, Small Wolves." Most of this album centers on humorous vocal experiments such as snippets of conversations, people yelling, all sorts of stuff but most of it involves vocals and speech; as well, most of it seems to have been done in the studio (no sampling from other sources, in other words). This craziness is backed by occasional instrumentation, such as piano, various sampling, rock snippets, etc. It's certainly one of the more peculiar items on the NWW List. Unfortunately the little information that exists seems to be all in French, and my French is not good enough to decipher entire articles...so information would be helpful. The humor of the album comes through even if you're not familiar with the language, however, and thus it is still enjoyable.

Download

Nurse With Wound - Alien 7", 1992, World Serpent

This is a very short 7" that collects a few excerpts from the unreleased Stapleton film "Lumb's Sister" (it was shown only recently but to my knowledge has still not been made available on any format). Much of the first side relies heavily on samples from Thunder Perfect Mind. Side A is listed as the "Art Side" and Side B is the "Act Side". It's nothing essential, but it gives a nice little glimpse into the Lumb's Sister film (of which more excerpts from the soundtrack may be coming soon). Split into three tracks rather than two sides.

Download here

NWW - Insect & Individual, Remix Version (1987)

Following the remix version of 150 Murderous Passions, here's the one for Insect & Individual Silenced. I believe this is also from the United Dairies Cassette Box Set from 1987.

Download

Nurse With Wound & Unveiled - Chance Meeting Of ... On Charlottenborg (2003)

Released in various editions of about 500 copies total. Side A includes a remix of the NWW track "African Mosquito" and then one remix of NWW material by Unveiled per side.

Side A
African Mosquito (Sub Mix) - Nurse With Wound
Kiss Of A Caring Nurse - Unveiled
Side B
Thoughts Of An Uncaring Nurse - Unveiled

The Unveiled tracks are based on Nurse With Wound material. The Nurse With Wound track is previously unreleased and made by Steven Stapleton
Cover art is by Steven Stapleton
Layout is by Martin Erik Andersen
This LP was part of an exhibition on Charlottenborg for the artists Steven Stapleton , Camilla Christensen, Greta Sørensen and Martin Erik Andersen.
There was also a concert by Unveiled.

Download

Davey Williams & LaDonna Smith (Transmuseq) - Transmutating, 1993

See earlier Transmuseq post here

This is the most recent Smith/Williams (aka Trans) album; they have not recorded anything together since. From their site: "Weaving their musical drama in the psychic automatism that is the true nature of their music, this CD will take you to other realms of the imagination." CD copies are probably still available here.

If you haven't listened to any Trans Museq yet, this is a good place to start.

Download

V/A - Psychedelic Phinland, 2-CD, 1967-74 (Sperm, Hector, Charlies, Wigwam...)

As promised...Lots of great unreleased tracks not even found on the Arktinen Hysteria comps:

The hippie ideals and that fiercer underground arrived to Finland in the mental turmoil of the end of the 1960s. Their blooming was cut short, but both left their permanent mark on pop culture. The 2-CD Psychedelic Phinland collects together the nation's first hippie troubadours, pioneers of psychedelic prog, vanguard warriors of anarcho rock, acoustic tribal musicians and the extreme daredevils of the arctic avantgarde. The album presents the mashers of the fringes of consciousness from Blues Section to Tylympi Kohtalo ("The Grimmer Fate"), the wanderers of stellar spheres from Pekka Streng to Jukka Kuoppamäki, the gravediggers for the Establishment from Suomen Talvisota 1939-40 ("The Finnish Winter War 1939-40") to Apollo, those who grasped the meaning of the holy simplicity from Those Lovely Hula Hands to Kruununhaan Dynamo ("Kruununhaka's Dynamo") and the midwives of sonic revolution from The Sperm to Sähkökvartetti ("The Electric Quartet"). It's a unique sound documentary of the alternative music of the turn of the 1960s and 70s. For those already familiar with Suomen Talvisota and The Sperm are offered some curiosities which amaze by their sheer existence. Everything essential concerning the topic is presented here -- from Jorma Ikävalko's no-holds-barred hippie comedy to the flute meditation reaching for the world spirit by Sikiöt ("The Foetuses"). This compilation produced by Jukka Lindfors includes 29 tracks from 20 different artists or bands, including self-releases, radio and TV performances and live recordings. The sleeve illustration is provided by Timo Aarniala, the court artist of Finnish underground. The whole it can be best described by the words of the poet Markku Into: "Everyone does their own thing. A symphony for every member of the family, for everyone their own alienation".

CD1

1. Topmost: The End
2. Hector & Oscar: Savu
3. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Kukkasen valta
4. Jorma Ikävalko: Hippijortsut pöhkölässä
5. Blues Section: Cherry-Cup Cake Twist
6. Wigwam: Must Be The Devil
7. Baby Grandmothers: Being Is More Than Life
8. Eero Koivistoinen: Pientä peliä urbaanissa limousinessa
9. Charlies: Taiteen kriitikistä
10. Apollo: Ajatuksia
11. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Kasvoton kuolema ja Sirhan Sirhan
12. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Tehtaan vahtimestarit
13. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Flaggorna fladdrade i gentlemannens WC
14. Tylympi Kohtalo: Näkemiin, voi hyvin ystäväni
15. Pekka Streng: Olen erilainen
16. Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int: Zeppeliini
17. Hector: Meiran Laulu
18. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Aurinkomaa
19. Markku Into: Olen puhunut utopiaa

CD2:

1. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Tarzan apornas apa / Tarzan gregah / Jane Porter sivistyksen muurilla
2. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Menevät miehet
3. Pekka Airaksinen: Fos 2
4. The Sperm: Heinäsirkat I
5. Sähkökvartetti: Kaukana väijyy ystäviä
6. Kruununhaan Dynamo: Simple Things
7. Sikiöt: Side One
8. Sikiöt: Trippin' Together
9. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Missä on Marilyn?
10. J.O. Mallander: Degnahc Ev'uoY



More info on specific artists at phinnweb.org

Download here, here, here, and here

Pataphonie - Live, 1978 (bootleg?)

I got this one from a friend...unfortunately I cannot find ANY information on it, not even a cover. As well, it's missing track seven, and as much as I hate incomplete albums, I feel this is rare enough to warrant an upload anyway.

Any help with infos?

Download

Additionally, their "Le Matin Blanc" album (the only other one aside from their S/T LP on Pole) is available on various blogs already.

Philippe Besombes - Cesi Est Cela, 1976 (Pole/NWW List)

This is Besombes' final album (that I'm aware of) that hasn't been uploaded anywhere yet, and IMO it's his best (yes, even better than Libra...). "Geant" still gives me goosebumps...

This review from head-heritage gives a nice overview of Besombes' work in general (but particularly Cesi Est Cela):

After the ‘Besombes-Rizet/Pôle’ album (see separate review), Besombes returned to working with Luc Ferrari and making music for contemporary ballet and the Groupe de Recherche Théâtrale de l’Opéra de Paris, when he could find the time. But, tiring of this, he bought some new synths and formed Hydravion (‘Seaplane’) in 1977, with the intention of going in more of an electronic rock direction. This group met with great commercial success in France, and they played live frequently, although the group line-up changed a lot. One memorable gig for Besombes was at a sky station, backed by classical musicians! Hydravion made two albums – ‘Hydravion’ [Cobra, 1978] and ‘Stratos Airlines’ [Carrere, 1980] – the first of which was the best, but still nowhere near as good or radical as his earlier work, including the album under review here.
It’s easy to imagine some bits of the Hydravion music being used for French television in the late 70’s, as much of it was, oddly enough (all tracks were used, according to Besombes – generally for sports, current affairs, news themes and the like – though I have to doubt whether they used the entire tracks, but rather the more accessible sections of each). Some of the cheesy synth rock sounds very dated and immediately reminiscent of the era in which it was born (oddly far more dated than Besombes’ more vintage music, which has barely dated at all), but dedicated synth music fans and hardcore Besombes worshippers will be able to lap it up with an amiable grin, as the whole album is by no means a commercial affair, and even the accessible bits are weirdly catchy. Many of the tracks still exhibited Besombes’ madcap unpredictability, and there are some great tripped-out diversions to be enjoyed that are hard to imagine encountering on mainstream television of the time! I do really like the first Hydravion album despite it not being as great as Besombes’ classic stuff; I haven’t yet heard the second Besombes album, which is reputedly not as good.

After forming Hydravion, Besombes was approached by the Divox label to release a solo album – which would be ‘Ceci est Cela’ – and he moved his studio to where it is to this day, changing its name to Versailles Station. This album collected some previously unreleased recordings Besombes had made for ballet and theatre since the early 70’s, with the addition of a more commercial track – the amusing and very cheesy disco joke song ‘Princess Lolita’ – following the misguided request for a ‘hit’ from Divox. The remainder of the album is prime experimental electroacoustic headfuck, different to his previous releases but still totally unique (though perhaps with hints of some Luc Ferrari in places, which is unsurprising given that they were making music together) and still likely to appeal to fans of ‘Libra’ and the Besombes-Rizet collaboration. Some people regard this as his best album, although I’m hard-pressed to choose a favourite between this and the previous two. I love it all! As I’ve said in the previous two reviews, I think Philippe Besombes, on the basis of these three albums, is one of the greatest electronic musicians and sonic creative genii that we have ever had, and he deserves greater recognition for his obscure accomplishments.

‘Princess Lolita’ [3:32], as I said above, was made solely due to the record company insisting on a track that could be used as a potential hit single. What were they thinking? Although this track in no way sits easily next to the remainder of the album, nor indicates what is to come, it’s pretty fun all the same and makes the record all the more diverse in its scope. What you get in this opening track is a funky disco groove on bass and drums, ridiculous male and female vocals, grotesquely slowed down and sped up respectively, alternately cheesy and trippy disco synth moves, cool handclap rhythms on the chorus breakdown, and a hilarious “nya nya nya nana na na na” schoolgirl chant. It’s all just so silly and obviously tongue-in-cheek that you can’t take it seriously, but you can both laugh at it/with it and dance to it, as it’s goofily catchy and grooved as well.
‘Géant’ [4:32] gets down to business with some more typical Besombes music, a semi-static gravity field of blobby throbbing synth clusters, mellotron and what sounds like a shimmering Theremin laying down an expansive, hovering cloud of beautiful soaring psychedelic gloom.
‘Pawa 1’ [12:09] follows with a crack of thunder that breaks up and keeps scattering like messy shards across the night sky, or maybe it’s the sound of a jet breaking the speed of sound and then dropping immediately back, again and again... it soon develops into a shuddering loop joined with synchronous atonal synth globs, before gracing us with a few moments of silence, making me think the track is over already. But no, read the playing time, it can’t be, and it isn’t, soon fading back in with sweeping wafts of droning electronic sound and processed human chanting, gliding across vast empty space like a solitary, lonely bird of portent. This builds and builds in tension as the sounds space out more and more, the pitch gradually steps up in subtle progressions, before petering out on a peak and flowing seamlessly into a forest of echoing electronics, through which a slow, emotionless but organic sequencer throb carries as though always having existed, like the subtle pulse of blood through cosmic veins. A strange, treated one-way conversation emerges, what sounds like a voluptuous and vivacious French girl speaking poor English, buzzing hard as acid kicks in and turns knees and stomach watery, but continuing to try to talk and occasionally falling into goofy, spunky laughter as technicolor rainbows spray across the room. This gets weirder and weirder, then suddenly POW! another portal slides open in 5 dimensions and with a gleeful “wooooo!” of multitracked women we slide through the hole and into an inner fun-world, jumpy synth sequences bouncing away all hyperactive and stoned, synth tones boing like springs and a joyous room full of happily chatting and laughing girls all talk at once, meshing into a non-threatening but overwhelming metropolitan acid party cyber cocktail extravaganza for the last couple of minutes of the track.
‘Ceci est Cela’ [14:41] begins side 2 gently and gorgeously, a slow subsonic ticking pulse upholding a smooth heavenly miasma of angel echoed flute, mellotron, feather brush sand dune synth palettes and gently trickling electronic cascades of sound. A few minutes later it all changes suddenly and almost imperceptively, all disappearing save the pulse, now more prominent and complex and less subsonic, as heavily treated French voices do strange things from ear to ear and random sporadic runs on the keyboards gradually coalesce into something with more form, albeit mysterious and ambiguous, all the elements of the whole shifting in and out of focus, morphing and giving birth to new elements that crawl around the nooks and crannies growing deep into your brain. Then it all speeds up suddenly, shifting into a chaotic gear before dropping us down into a murky underworld shadow of what came before, and receding, leaving us all alone, in almost total darkness, in the middle of fucking nowhere. Wait, what’s that, some kind of light and sound approaching? As uneasy drones groan, swell and hum, great washes of dusty wind sweep all around, greased sax squeaks and mowls, stopping and starting, joined also with glintzy, cheesy synth keyboard, a jarring two-note riff not really played in any regular rhythm. Shit, it’s a spaceship descending from above, not an approaching car, and as rolling drums step out of the dust and rage into the mix, it all picks up and starts spinning around in a vortex, as you are beamed up by Scotty, that ridiculous two-note keyboard riff going overboard like a little kid fascinated by repeating the same new swear word over and over again. Just as it seems like the beam-up must have fucked-up, you find yourself all of a sudden standing in a totally different world again, this time naked within a glass tube as alien children giggle, point and talk about you to each other, now a temporarily trapped zoological exhibit snatched from the planet you called home and they called a stopover, as a laboratory of electronics gabble in work around you. Then slipping away again, some narcotic substance taking effect as all that’s left are the children’s voices, getting more and more echoed and fucked up and distant as you slip out of this consciousness and emerge as a gloopy syrup ready for the next one.
‘Seul’ [5:08] is a slowly progressing submerged world of out of focus narcotic lumpen shapes, groaning and crawling sluggishly along in a strange sprawl, as percussion picks out a jungle rhythm beneath. Wet squelchy splashes of synth liquid squirt in toothpaste streams as though reverbing within a subterranean cave, dripping profusely from the ceilings, echoing off the walls and exuding nitrous oxide from the cracks between the rocks. After a while this begins to dull the senses as sounds gradually strip away and you groggily drop into semi-conscious slumber.

This album was recently reissued on CD for the first time by MIO, which is especially great because this is by far one of the rarest Besombes albums and the hardest to find on LP. Presumably because of being embarrassed by its existence, the first track – ‘Princess Lolita’ – is indexed as track 0 on the CD, and to hear it you have to press play and then rewind until the start of the track (which plays in the negative time preceding track 1). However, if you go just that bit too far it just resets back to zero and you have to try again. Also, annoyingly, it doesn’t play on the DVD player I’m currently using to play my CDs! It won’t let me go into the negative time. There’s not any reason bar vanity to have done this, as I’m sure many buyers of this CD will want to hear the whole album as it was originally, as I do, and if they don’t want to hear the first track again they could always have started from track 2 on subsequent listens. Although it’s totally different to the rest of the album, and is unfortunately embarrassing to its creator, I think ‘Princess Lolita’ is pretty cool and always makes me grin!
The recent CD reissue also features an album’s worth of previously unreleased recordings from 1972-1976, including 2 tracks by his old duo PJF (see ‘Libra’ review). This extra stuff is all excellent, but rather than try to describe any of it (which would be difficult anyway, and I’ve found these Besombes reviews difficult enough in trying to convey the music in words), I’ll leave it to surprise you if you buy it. Some of it sounds like out-takes or alternate mixes from the ‘Libra’ sessions. Incidentally, the CD reissue mis-spells the album title as ‘Cesi est Cela’, but the track of the same name has what I think is the correct spelling (Ceci est Cela).

After breaking up Hydravion at the start of the 80’s, Besombes made the album ‘La Guerre des Animaux’ [1982], and contributed some music to the various artists LP ‘City & Industry’ [1983], which also featured Bernard Paganotti (Magma, Weidorje, Paga Group) and Gilbert Artman (Clearlight, Lard Free, Urban Sax, Catalogue). I haven’t come across either of these records yet – if anyone reading this has or does, and can make me a copy (I’m happy to trade for rare un-reissued stuff), please let me know!
Besombes also continued to produce and engineer for other bands and solo artists, as he has since the late 70’s, sometimes working with groups as unexpected as Manowar and Whitesnake! He also started his own label which releases mainly French hard rock and metal, and released a techno/electro album under the pseudonym of Arno du Chesnay. His most recent recording project has been with the group Rondinara, with 6 CDs of beautiful music made for babies! Besombes also managed to slip in a solo album of sorts in 1999 without many people noticing, when Sony France approached him to do an album as part of their ‘Musique & Nature’ series of mood music CD’s. Each album in the series has some kind of theme, like ‘Oceania’ or ‘Extase’. Besombes did one for the theme of ‘Cosmos’, appropriately, subtitled ‘Mélodie de l’Espace et des Étoiles’. He’s been discreet about it, doing it all under the pseudonym of A. Boréalis and giving only P. Besombes as the composer of each track (not even giving his whole first name), although these names only appear inside the cover booklet and not on any external part of the package, so searching the internet or even the Sony France website for a Philippe Besombes album called ‘Cosmos’ will probably not get you far if you don’t bear this in mind. The music is pleasant ambient cosmic synth, only occasionally a little experimental, and occasionally cheesy on a few short tracks, but largely unclichéd, lovely stuff. Just don’t expect anything too close to his radical visionary 70’s work!

Get this masterpiece here and here

Transmuseq - 7. White Earth Streak + Song of an Aeropteryx 7", 1983 (NWW List)

See info and a download link for their fourth album here. This is the 7th of ten releases on their label. The CD version comes with their only EP, Song of an Aeropteryx, as well as a couple of bonus tracks. The CD (and vinyl reprint?) comes with a reproduction of the comic that goes with the EP of the same name. As well, this is their only album that has been reissued on CD.

Personnel on the LP: Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Gunter Christman, and Torsten Muller (Recorded in Hannover, Germany)
Personnel on the EP: Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith

Vinyls may still be in print here and CD copies might still be floating around on various sites; ebay, forcedexposure, etc.

More Trans/Smith/Williams stuff to come...

Download here