No posts till Friday + L. Voag post fixed

Unforunately I have a ton of work to do and so I can't bother to create posts for albums until Friday afternoon...things are still being uploaded at a steady rate however and you can expect more than usual on Friday/Saturday.

I still have the time to spare to respond to comments, however, so if you have a problem or anything like that, don't hesitate...

Also, the L. Voag post has been fixed, with the missing track and all the additional tracks that weren't there before.

V/A - An Afflicted Man's Musica Box, United Dairies, 1982

Anima, Foetus, AMM, Nurse With Wound, Berrocal, Operating Theatre...Again, what more is there to say?

Download

Nurse With Wound - L'Age D'Or/With All It's Special Effects (bootleg), 1985

Not much to say...get it here

Jacques Thollot 4 LP's

Brilliant jazz drummer that released a series of solo LP's in the 70's. The main one of interest here to NWW List collectors is "Quand le Son Devient Aigu, Jeter la Girafe a la Mer", as it is the most experimental and electronic of them all, as well as being released on Futura records. The others are more straightforward and jazz influenced, but still not unworthy of hearing. Additionally, he's played with Sam Rivers, Sonny Sharrock, Don Cherry, Steve Lacy and other greats in the past.

"Quand le Son..." is easily one of the best and most unique French experimental LP's from the 70's! Even if I could find an English review, I don't think it could create a description that would suffice...

His only other LP, Watch Devil Go, is the only one that hasn't been re-released that I'm aware of. I'd love to hear it if anyone has a copy...

Quand le Son... (1971)

Resurgence (1977)

Cinq Hops (1978)

Tenga Nina (1996?)

Reform Art Unit - Impressions, Three Motions (Anthony Braxton related)

Short history

Information is hard to come by...Anyone have any other RAU LP's?

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Luigi Russolo - Die Kunst der Geraeusche

This is a (bootleg?) collection of more or less all of Russolo's still surving works, and they're all original recordings as well (since none of his machines survive...). Barely over 20 minutes, but this is a nice little collection of arguably the very first experimental musician ever (sans maybe Erik Satie or the Second Viennese School)...So you don't have to buy 20 Dada/Futurist compilations!

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L. Voag - The Way Out (1979)

LINK HAS BEEN FIXED - NEW URL BELOW

It should be that calling a piece of music "punk rock" is much more specific than calling it simply "punk"; after all, the former term clarifies that this isn't classical, isn't jazz, isn't koto music. Yet mostly, the basic punk concept--- "I don't _want_ to pay for no goddamn lessons first!"--- was and is a rock concept, and the punkiest-sounding, most defiant efforts in other genres are, in fact, devised by people who've spent thousands, even tens of thousands, of hours becoming fully masterful at the traditions they wish to subvert. And L. Voag, at first, was yet another primitive driven to rock, leading the punk band The Homosexuals. But it didn't take him more than a year or two to ask himself "why can't a beginner-level jazz bassist, a bad clarinetist, a bad gypsy-violinist, an enthusiastic fledgling drummer or two, and an incompetent but versatile singer like me make jazz music?". It was a good question, and to judge by the evidence of this Wayside Music disc, he must've answered something like "because it would sound cruddy. But that's what studio tricks are for!".THE WAY OUT is a fairly quiet album anchored by thoroughly convincing, if simple, jazz bass and by quasi-jazz drums that are interesting because of miking oddities, weird artificial volume alterations, fake reverb or deadening applied for no more reason than "this sounds cool, eh?", cut'n'paste rhythm, and unusual choices in percussion: from snare to cymbal to tuned triangles to bicycle-bell to hospital beeping sounds to detuned banjo hits to pioneering equivalents of rap-music "scratching". Soft drones and tremoloes of many heretofore nonexistent types join in, and so does folky acoustic guitar. Altered vocal samples from unknown media are presented for sound rather than articulation (I especially like how "Franco's Prayer" alternates sung a capella, line by line, with what a swarm of insects would sound like if instead of buzzing they were arguing about sports at incomprehensible speed). But even at its most clamorous, say "Boxing And Sparring With The First Dimension" or whichever song has tuneful females singing "Hatred of all things fair! Destruction of nice hairdos!", every weird little element can be individually picked out, and plenty of songs allow tiny silences to crack their unpolished surfaces. Voag could quite possibly sing, but prefers to either squeak or intone like a Homer Simpson with less intellectual gravitas. It's entertaining that way, and this Mr. Science Blows Things Up Without Hurting Anybody approach to jazz does not require any previous appreciation for Miles Davis. Fortunately.

Originally posted on Insect & Individual, but the link is long dead.

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The Doo-Dooettes, Keiji Haino & Rick Potts - Free Rock, 1982

"Long-awaited archival collaboration from 1982." The Doo-Dooettes, mainstays of the LAFMS, were: Dennis Duck (drums), Fredrik Nilsen (bass), Tom Recchion (home-made instruments: mock cello & strungaphone), with Rick Potts (guitar) and Haino (guitar). Keiji Haino was visiting LA shortly after the release of his first solo album on Pinakotheca Records and this impromptu session was recorded on August 3, 1982. The first ever release of this one thirty-five minute piece (titled by Recchion: "Blueprint For The Shimmering Quivers Of The Deep Purple Ultraviolet Tuning Fork"), recently discovered in the cassette collection of Dennis Duck, unheard for 18 years. Liner notes & cover artwork by Tom Recchion.

What more needs to be said?

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Copies can still be found at Forced Exposure

Lawrence Weiner - Niets Aan Verloren/Nothing to Lose (1976), NWW List

Alternatively spelled (correctly or incorrectly) as Laurence Weiner, Lawrence Wiener, Laurence Wiener, etc...I have almost no info on this guy but I do know that this is one of the most interesting and puzzling sound-text compositions I've ever heard: The piece is continuous, ending on one side and restarting on the other. It consists of various people (mostly a woman and a man) spewing off various overlapped phrases (backed by a repetitive music box), most of which are very broad, general, undoubtedly metaphorical questions that could be applied to any part of life ("Is there justification for the mess?" "Does one collect when one passes go?" etc.) and various other responses that seem to be more like musings or additional information to these questions rather than real answers ("Niets Aan Verloren...Nothing to lose. Nothing gained, nothing lost...") But this is all so thick and complex that it takes several listens to really be able to hear everything going on throughout the whole thing. Just as puzzling as the structure and the purpose of the piece is the difference between each side - side B starts off exactly the same as side A and takes minutes to even become slightly different than the composition on side A, but ends being quite off kilter from the first side. It makes one wonder why the artist decided to create his piece in this fashion, as well as whether both sides are seperate compositions or just one long one.

This is one of the most unique things I've ever heard, and one of my favorites from the NWW List. If there's any album on this blog that needs more information, it's this one - I'd love to know more about the motives behind this madness, but then again, I could see how someone else might not be as enthusiastic about this one as I am...

Try it

Also: I think (but am not sure) that there are multiple Laurence/Lawrence Weiners...there are at least two; one of which who is an artist but has worked with sound on occasion, and this one...but there may be even another that works with music too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is just an FYI to avoid confusion...

Sacher-Pelz - Venus & Velours

His other two tapes under the name Sacher-Pelz...Here's info on each individual cassette:

On the "Venus"-tape (1979) MB is offering a very successful example of a "détournant"-like abuse of original sound material not recorded by his own - transforming it into a piece of atavistic "concrete music"...: In this very case MB had taken a track from KRAFTWERKS "Autobahn"-LP (1974) and stripped it bare of all its original meaning by the use of tape manipulation, slow recording and endless reiteration of single fragments. The final product of this "reworking" leaves the original piece in a state of destruction - being smashed beyond recognition! The adopted piece - called "Mitternacht" (midnight) - originally lasts four minutes only and appears to be a tiny, somehow spooky composition on the KRAFTWERK-LP...: By electronic sound dots and distorted violin screeches it is setting to music the morbid charm of an impending "ghost hour". Well..., after the "treatment" by Maurizio Bianchi that peculiar atmosphere has totally vanished from the piece! Instead of that MB fragmentarily "mutilated" this sound model into a subdued roaring context of "INDUSTRY" - here the stream of noise is dragging itself along in a relentlessly throbbing manner, lasting circa twenty minutes, and therefore rendering the tiny spooky "Mitternacht " much more technocratic (hence more "kraftwerkic") than even Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider themselves were able to achieve in their rather elegiac original version...!!! [2] --- The last minutes of the A-Side on the "Venus"-tape are devoted to a second adaptation of KRAFTWERK-material...: This time MB chose the track "Radiosterne" (radio stars) from the "Radio-Activity"-LP (1975). He exposed it to a similar rough montage, using primitive loops of recurring seconds and stop-and-go-treatments at the tape machine, unless the piece seems to constantly start and collapse at the very same time. The final result of this "operation" causes the cold cosmic remoteness of the original "Radiosterne" to drown into a staccato of mechanistic stuttering...!!! --- The B-Side of "Venus", however, is presenting no more reworking of "foreign" material, but some dim anti-noises of a repetitive nature that seemed to have been created and recorded by MB himself ... - these peculiar sounds already showed some obvious hints into the direction of a VORTEX-LIKE SOUND SMELTING that was to become the characteristic "trademark" of the later vinyl products by Maurizio Bianchi.

In contrast to that, the "Cease To Exist"-cassette (1979 / 80) featured subdued but nevertheless forceful tape loops consisting of concrete, mostly distorted voice- and sound-material... - a concept that, by the very first listen, reminds one of the unapproachable, enigmatic-complicated harmonies and dissonances on the first long player of BOYD RICE [3]. Here again MB stepped into a psychic nightfall - something that cannot be considered "sane" on a long-term basis but rather leads to the effect of "steeling yourself" within sickness...!!!

The forth tape - "Velours" (1980) - continued the experiments of "Cease To Exist" by directing them into the realms of an again stringent "Musique Concrète"...: This was achieved by the use of sound loops of simple piano-accords, percussion-sequences or the throbbing of a rhythm machine garnished with an overlay of noise-streaks --- Altogether this tape is no exception in the sequels of "derangements " that were always present in MBs output as "SACHER-PELZ" - obviously these early "sound carvings" were nothing else but a successful blueprint of the forthcoming "NOISE EMISSIONS" that Maurizio Bianchi produced and released between 1981 and 1984 using just his own name (or his initials MB). In this he set no compromises... - MB mostly achieved the most gutwrenching effects on his highly obscure records.

Velours
Venus

Sacher-Pelz (Maurizio Bianchi) - Cainus & Cease To Exist CS's

MB is the mysterious-autistic abbreviation of the name of an Italian "TONE CREATOR" from Milan, who - between 1979 and 1984 - recorded and released some highly obscure "music" that had actually gone far beyond that narrow term.
As initial influences upon his sound works MB quoted - amongst others - such teutonic-krautrockic "Elekktro-Akkustik-Okkultists" like KLUSTER, ORGANISATION and very early TANGERINE DREAM...

Apart from these "initial influences" the NOISE COSMOS of MB became a totally unique, basically unmistakable (but often hard to swallow) "brand of sonic austerity" that is simultaneously able to activate and atomise all kinds of neurosis, disgruntlement and depression within the mind of the listener of MBs records. This effect is always achieved by an aural CUT in unfathomable chasms of psycho-neural privacy...!!!

The "MUSIC" of MB (- going more and more astray from "musical definitions" the longer one is exposed to it -) is presenting itself without any (official) task to entertain... - but that goes not for those listeners who feel highly amused by the repetitive exorcism of monotony, dullness and boredom. As a matter of fact the soundscapes of Maurizio Bianchi are full of monotony, dullness and boredom, but without creating a boring, dulling or monotonous effect upon the listener. MBs pieces - often lasting twenty to thirty minutes in one go - are creeping into the ears and minds like a stream of lava slowly becoming cold. The recordings of MB might be loosely and historically associated with the field of "Industrial Music" - though you would neither do the MB-noises nor the term "Industrial Music" a big favour in assuming so.

By the means of his uncouth and overcastted "Tonkunst", MB is performing an exorcism on daily frustrations... - ejecting it out of his soul and also out of the souls of the listener by adopting and incorporating a touch of the MACHINE-LIKE that is always to be found in his streaky, surging and meandering compositions within a darkened, evaporating form. Therefore a certain AURAL AURA is created that hardly reaches the body by the hearing apparatus but is directly perceived as a physical signal...: "A MUSIC THAT IS RATHER FELT THAN TO BE HEARD".

From the liner notes to a re-issue of an early audio tape by MB (USA, 1992) [1]...:

"The emergence of MB, from Milano, heralds in a new era of experimental electronics emerging from Italy. MB's compositions are influenced by the power of industrial technology and its dehumanising effect on society and the individual. MB's electronic storms create images ranging from industrial power to chaos, confusion and violence." (Kent of Aeon)
MB in an interview (1982)...:
"I can define my sound as physiological disinfestation. You can't use my noise as background, only as foreground. In my radical works I try to electrocute the listener, to gurgle his blood and to violate his nervous system. This is sadistic you may think; but it's resolute, determined and without compromise. I'm living in a decrepit society and the superstructures everywhere try to bend my creativity. I come out with violence as the listener unconsciously needs this harsh raw treatment to dispel his doubts about life and death. (...) I can't call my sounds music, but only feelings in a wall of sound. They're progressing only in the measure that the listener remains tormented by their power and feels the need to change his life in a less blind manner. (...) I think my work expresses the fear of the forthcoming totalitarianism in life, in death, in the mind, and in art. I want to stay in my corner without compromise and to continue my daily struggle against superstructures and social lobotomy."
Maurizio Bianchi started his sonic "anti-art" in August 1979 under the pseudonym "SACHER-PELZ" by recording early sound experiments. His self-produced audio tapes were then distributed by MB himself on his own label "Marquis-Tape" which only existed a few years. I have at hand the C60-tapes "Cainus", "Venus", "Cease To Exist" and "Velours"...; the entire output as "SACHER-PELZ" comprised - according to MB - six hours of recordings...; they were situated at the very brink of aural doom...!!!
These four tapes (- with tiny dedications to such notorious people like Throbbing Gristle, Monte Cazazza, Marquis de Sade, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Charlie M. and his Family and Metabolist Device -) impress the listener - despite of a clear separation of titled pieces - by emitting an indiscriminate surge of dense and primitive "Musique Concrète "...; this goes without any academic pretentiousness in the fashion of Pierre Henry or Pierre Schaeffer. On these early tapes MB had already exercised his first etudes in grim inaccessibility...: By using monotony and dullness in a retrograde fashion to shape his sounds, an effect of negative hypnotism was achieved. This effect, however, was not at all suitable for entering a trance-like condition - it rather served as a means to expose and attack neurotic structures in the relentlessly bombarded mind of the listener - structures which were well known to MB as they seemed to be part of his psyche and should also be regarded as an important breeding ground for his creativity.

***

These are nothing like later Bianchi works. In my opinion they're just about the most radical and important documents even loosely tied to the early Industrial scene (sans Throbbing Gristle or early Boyd Rice)...As the description says...this goes way beyond any kind of "music" and is not meant to be thought of as such. You might hate it the first couple listens, but once it sinks in, you'll thank yourself. Or maybe I'm just giving it too much credit. I dunno, decide for yourself.

Cease to Exist was 1979-80 and I have no idea what the date is for Cainus. All four of his Sacher-Pelz tapes have been re-released as a set called "Mutation for a Continuity" (also credited as Sacher-Pelz) but I do not know if this is easy to find or even in print anymore.

Cease to Exist
Cainus

Anyone interested in more early M.B. tapes?

Also, what happened to the brainwashed.com/axis site (where this info came from)?

John Bender - I Don't Remember Now

Info is very scarce...this is a great minimal electronics/experimental LP by the obscure artist John Bender. Released on Record Sluts in the early 80's; you can find his other two LP's (Pop Surgery & Plaster Falling) at various places, including the great Mutant-Sounds. He seems to have really caught on in the past six months on various experimental music sites; people seem to like this guy's stuff...

I used to have a (fan-made) link with a decent amount of info on Record Sluts and each of his three LP's, but I can't seem to find it now. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

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Association PC - Sun Rotation

One of their rarest, and best LP's, along with Erna Morena; a great band led by Pierre Courbois that defies the boundaries of rock, prog and jazz...

"What you really have to get hold of is the moving force, the rhythmic tension of rock. Especially the ecstatic element which is basic to all rock rhythms provides a mode of expression which you just can't do without. I think it's clear by now that free jazz is not all that free. The free jazz musicians just threw overboard everything which had been there before but then found themselves with relatively little left to make a fresh start. Only a few of them, for example, made any use of rhythm or really tried to play around with it."

"When I started doing rock", remarked Pierre, "I noticed that there are really only a very few strokes which are played awfully cliché-like all over the world. That's why I have it almost up to here with the whole jazz-rock business. I try to get away from the usual rock clichés... The expression jazz-rock - that's crap."

You tell them, Pierre. Interestingly, this music in many ways sounds more exploratory today than it did when new. That is a devastating, though not at all surprising, commentary on what has happened to music (and other arts) in the period since 1970. Pierre's words are more pertinent today than they were almost thirty years ago.

http://www.underview.com/music/associationpc.html

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Maurizio Bianchi (M.B.) + Willliam Bennett - Examples of Cannibalism CS, 1982

tape 1982 Come Organization wdc883014 UK
Notes: The cassette sounds like a MB piece, over which William Bennett (Whitehouse) tells a story of a cannibalistic cult in Britain. The CDR was supposed to come out in an edition of 100 in RE's spoken word series, but Bennett threatened them with legal action if they proceeded. A few copies were shipped to people who had pre-ordered, though.

Any help with the cover or other info?

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More M.B./Sacher-Pelz tapes to come!

Hafler Trio & Gen. P-Orridge - Music & Instructions for Dreamachine + Downloadable Dreamachine

If you don't know what the dreamachine is/was, go google it now!

Download

Online booklet

Downloadable dreamachine (2 KB) - wish I could remember where I originally found this! Download

Anal Magic & Rev. Dwight Frizzell - Beyond the Black Crack

Beyond the Black Crack was the concept of Reverend Dwight Frizzell, a musician, film maker, Doctor of Metaphysics and minister in the Universal Church of Life. It remains a little known classic, and one of the most unique listening experiences in modern experimental music. Recorded between 1974 and 1976 in locations as diverse as factories, the pyramid opposite Harry Truman's grave site as well as more 'conventional' concert settings. Beyond the Black Crack is a dark, dizzying and exhilarating journey through free jazz, electronics and environmental sound, all shattered by Frizzell's radical tape editing. This CD re-release adds further material to the original LP: - "The Wandering Madness of Basilea", a suite from 1977 unheard until now, as well as unreleased material from the Black Crack sessions.

Beyond the black crack was originally released in mono in an edition of 200 copies by Cavern Custom in 1976 (cat. no. 6104-12), to commemorate the First Annual End of the World Celebration, November 18 1976.

BLACK CRACK AND THE SOLE SURVIVORS are:
Rev. Dwight Frizzell - tenor saxophone, clarinet, audio oscillator, chair, trash can, pins, soy beans
Mike Roach - clarinet, vocals with laughs, tenor saxophone, dancing
Kurt Eckhardt - mouth flute, percussion, pins, soy, alteration.
Featuring special guests:
Rev. Tommy Gomersall - tin cans, piano, vocals
Rich - lights and percussion
Rush Rankin - clarinet, imagistic inspiration
Rev. Jim Rogers - kazoo
Gary Jeffers - sousaphone, percussion
Bill Jones - sousaphone
Sylvia Thomas - harmonica
Radio Rich Dalton - guitar
Bill Scanlan - percussion, tape machine; and many others...

More info and reviews
http://www.stalk.net/paradigm/pd06.html

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Sally Smmit - Soundtrack to Hangahar

Sally Smmit & Her Musicians "Hangahar" (Groovy, STP 3, UK, 1980) LP

1980 great and mysterious experimental effort from Sally Timms (with her last name spelled backwards) of the Mekons, released on Pete Shelley's excellent Groovy label (which only released two other records that I know of: Shelley's Sky Yen, and the Free Agents' £3. 33). I believe Shelley was also involved with this LP, but except for "Smmit" and Lindsay Lee, the musicians are uncredited. I don't know anything about the film (if there actually was one), but the record is a classic of the UK DIY avant-underground, with primitive electronics, sound collages, wailing voices, dada-noise, and enough general weirdness / anti-rock / art-nonsense to justify its inclusion on the Nurse With Wound "influences" list, and to bring a smile to the face of any obscurist who's run out of Homosexuals side-projects to buy.

http://goanuj.topcities.com/nww/smmit.html

Sally Smmit and Her Musicians (1980) - Hangahar - This is The Mekons' Sally Timms like you've never heard her, long before she became the belle of skewed new wave-country music fans everywhere. Released on the ridiculously short-lived Groovy label (Pete Shelley's label, which also released his now ultra-rare Sky Yen album), the album is two sidelong pieces of shambling post-Yoko Ono, post-Can jamitude. Undoubtedly an influence on Kraut-pranksters Damenbart.



Without a doubt one of the best on the NWW List...

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Pete Shelley - Sky Yen (Free Agents/Sally Smmit related)

Side A: Sky Yen Part 1
Side B: Sky Yen Part 2

Vinyl 12 inch LP released in March 1980 in an edition of 1000.
Recorded in March 1974 and performed on a purpose built oscillator.

Long forgotten is the first solo release from Buzzcocks lead vocalist and songwriter. 'Sky Yen' was recorded six years before it was released for the purpose of supporting a film by Howard Devoto. The soundtrack was released by Shelley on his own label (Groovy records) during the time that Buzzcocks were becoming more angst ridden, abrasive and less 'pop'. This was a period when the band were experimenting with sound (Martin Hannett's 'tin' production on their final parts 1-3 singles) and concepts (shapes defining sides of singles rather than letters).

The Groovy records label released very few recordings. Those that came out included an LP '£3.33' (which was also the retail price) by 'Free Agents' (a loosely based group of musicians including Eric Random, Barry Adamson and Francis Cookson), a surrealist film soundtrack album called 'Hangahar' by Sally Smmit (Sally Timms) and Lindsay Lee, and 'Sky Yen' itself. The label operated in parallel with New Hormones records in central Manchester, UK, and was linked to the Secret Public (name given to Buzzcocks appreciation society and mail outs) whose staff and cohorts included Jon Savage and Linder Sterling (Ludus).

'Sky Yen' is one piece - split over two sides at 33rpm. The instrumentation is solely oscillator based with the device altering pitch and timbre throughout the recording. The modular sound often builds into layers. During the session listening to this record again, I've come to realise, even with the intense sound, that it is not a painful process, as the sound emitting gravitates between low and high end frequencies without any motivation for sonic weaponry on the agenda. Whether this was the idea, I'm not sure....but the production sound suggests otherwise. Sometimes the oscillations even produce rhythmical pulses which add new dimensions in places. However, that's not to suggest in any way that the piece develops a popular form. On the contrary, any anchors that seem to appear are quickly changed or drowned out by more oscillations. The composition remains in a state of flux throughout the duration.

If there is one criticism about the record, it is that Shelley put too many twists and turns into the piece, often making it sound cluttered and wayward. It works better when the pace is slowed to allow resonances to develop. This happens mainly on side two.

Comparisons with other artists would include John Cage and even Whitehouse, but having said that, the piece does remind myself of the more experimental elements of early Kraftwerk (i.e. Von Himmel Hoch) and Neu (opening 10 secs or so of 'Super 16'). Furthermore, it has been documented before that Shelley was appreciative of Can (see footnote).

'Sky Yen' also has a strong resemblance in sound and appearance, to the many stereo test records that were released in the 1970's to test bias and channel correction and phasing. In fact, the infamous 'Hi-Fi sound' (Howland West) featuring the 'needle' sleeve (which Stereolab stole for the sleeve of one of their own records) was released in 1974 and was packaged in a similar coloured sky blue sleeve to 'Sky Yen'.

Pete Shelley was always interested in the future. I remember writing to him and receiving back a letter explaining in great detail how the ZX Spectrum computer code containing an earlier graphics idea similar to todays' windows media player was transposed onto the vinyl edition of his later album 'XL1' and the studio effort that went into making this possible. When 'Sky Yen' came out in 1980, Buzzcocks' fans spoke about whether Shelley had lost the plot. He hadn't of course and was only following a similar lineage (in a more low key way) to the likes of Lou Reed (Metal Machine Music) and David Bowie (Low)......pop stars alienating part of their audience.

It's now thirty years since 'Sky Yen' was recorded and it's great to think that this 30 minute sound piece was composed by the same man that gave us the perfect 3 minute pop song.

head-heritage.co.uk

Very harsh stuff!

Download here

About Rapidshare...

I've gotten several comments from people asking me to switch to rapidshare because it's quicker (which is understandable)...the reason why I initially went with megaupload was because I've been having trouble uploading things to rapidshare for a long time, even though that's what I would have preferred to go with initially (because less people seem to have problems with it, including myself). I've tried screwing with it again and I think it's working for good now and I'm going to switch to rapidshare permanently if at all possible. Future posts should be on rapidshare instead...

Though I really do appreciate the suggestions...If there's anything else you think I should be doing differently then let me know!

V/A - Electro-Acoustic Music From Sweden, 2-CD (EMS)

An amazing compilation of text-sound and musique concret composers that usually aren't as well-known as they should be. There's some great stuff on here, pieces that rival even electro-acoustic works by Xenakis and others! Tracklisting/artists:

1.1 Bengt Hambraeus Doppelrohr II (3:53)
1.2 Jan W. Morthenson Neutron Star (7:21)
1.3 Sten Hanson Che (1:19)
1.4 Sten Hanson How Are You (2:21)
1.5 Åke Hodell Mr. Smith In Rhodesia (16:15)
1.6 Sven-Erik Bäck In Principio (14:12)
1.7 Lars-Gunnar Bodin Traces I (6:55)
1.8 Rune Lindblad Attack III (5:32)
1.9 Tamás Ungvary* Basic Barrier (7:30)
2.1 Bengt Emil Johnson Vittringar (7:14)
2.2 Ákos Rózmann Orgelstycke 1980 (15:43)
2.3 Pär Lindgren Rummet (9:02)
2.4 Rolf Enström Dagbrott (7:51)
2.5 Åke Parmerud Repulse (10:02)
2.6 Anders Blomqvist Lag (12:49)
2.7 Tommy Zwedberg Bavarde (12:49)

Additional works by these composers can be found on ubu.com and other places.

Download

V/A - Futura: Poesia Sonora (Sound Poetry 5 CD)

The king of all sound poetry compilations. Released by the legendary Italian Cramps label in 1978 and then again in 1989, now out of print. Anyone with an interest in sound poetry needs this! Tracklisting:

1-1 Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Battaglia / Peso / Odore (8:49)
1-2 Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Dune (6:01)
1-3 Francesco Cangiullo Il Sifone D'Oro (3:56)
1-4 Giacomo Balla Discussione Sul Futurismo Dei Due Critici Sudanesi (1:17)
1-5 Giacomo Balla Macchina Tipografica (0:23)
1-6 Giacomo Balla Paesaggio + Temporale (0:48)
1-7 Giacomo Balla Canzone Di Maggio (0:41)
1-8 Giacomo Balla Funerale A Piazza Termini (0:33)
1-9 Giacomo Balla Il Pigro (0:56)
1-10 Giacomo Balla L'Annoiata (0:36)
1-11 Fortunato Depero Tramvai (3:08)
1-12 Fortunato Depero SiiO VLUMMIA Torrente (1:12)
1-13 Fortunato Depero Verbalizzazione Astratta / Di Signora (2:45)
1-14 Farfa Tuberie (2:32)
1-15 Farfa Sincopatie: Innanzi Al - Le Rondini - Apersi - Il Mattino - Luna Erotomane (1:13)
1-16 Farfa Affaraffari (3:49)
1-17 Farfa Veni Vedi Viti (2:44)
Lo Zaum', Linguaggio Trasmentale
1-18 Vladimir Majakovskij Rumori, Rumorini E Rumoracci (1:13)
1-19 Vladimir Majakovskij Di Strada In Strada (1:04)
1-20 Vladimir Majakovskij Ordinanza All'Esercito Dell'Arte (1:51)
1-21 Velemir Chlebnikov Bobeobi (0:51)
1-22 Velemir Chlebnikov Esorcismo Col Riso (0:53)
1-23 Velemir Chlebnikov Il Linguaggio Degli Dei (1:50)
1-24 Velemir Chlebnikov Il Linguaggio Delle Stelle (3:43)
1-25 Vasilij Kamenskij L'Usignolo (2:25)
1-26 Aleksej Kručenych Dry Bul Ščyl (0:12)
1-27 Aleksej Kručenych Kr Dei Macelli (1:35)
1-28 Aleksej Kručenych Zanzera, Veleno (2:50)
1-29 Ilya Zdanevič* Asino A Nolo (Excerpt) (1:38)

Simultaneismo Francese
2-1 Pierre-Albert Birot Poèmes À Crier Et À Danser: Chant 1 - L'Avion - Chant III (1:05)
2-2 Pierre-Albert Birot Poèmes À Deux Voix: Mètro - Balalaika / Poème Prométhée / Crayon Bleu (3:47)
2-3 Arthur Pétronio Cosmosmose (14:26)
Precursori E Dadaisti In Germania
2-4 Christian Morgenstern (2) Das Grosse Lalulà Das Gebet - Das Hemmed Der Rabe Ralf Igel Und Agel Fishers Nachtgesang (4:53)
2-5 Paul Scheerbart Kikakokù - Zauberspruch I - II - Monolog Des Verrückten Mastodons (2:33)
2-6 Hugo Ball Versi Senza Parole: Karawane - Wolken - Katzen Und Pfauen - Totenklage - Gadij Beri Bimba - Seepferdchen Und Flugfishche (7:40)
2-7 Tristan Tzara , Marcel Janco & Richard Huelsenbeck L'Amiral Cherche Une Maison À Louer (2:30)
2-8 Raoul Hausmann Soundrel (4:17)
2-9 Raoul Hausmann Conversation Imagèe Avec Les Lettristes (6:40)
2-10 Kurt Schwitters Simultangedicht Kaa Gee Dee -WW - Boo - Naa - Bii Büll Ree - Obervogelsang - Niesscherzo - Hunstenscherzo - Cigarren - The Real Disuda Of The Nightmare (7:00)

L'urlo: Antonin Artaud
3-1 Antonin Artaud Pour En Finir Avec Le Jugement De Dieu (24:03)
L'urlo: Ultralettristi
3-2 François Dufrêne Un Retour À Mes Sources (10:22)
3-3 François Dufrêne Là Valse (3:45)
3-4 Henri Chopin La Civilisation Du Papier (7:07)
3-5 Henri Chopin Extrême Tension (4:28)
3-6 Bernard Heidsieck Vaduz, Passepartout (12:00)

La Poesia Sonora Oggi
4-1 Franz Mon Da Du Der Bist (13:00)
4-2 Gerhard Rühm Gebet, Hymne An Lesbierinnen, Blätter, Berührung, Verkütze Zeitspanne Mit Melodischen Extrakt, The Bird Of Paradise (10:43)
4-3 Nikolaus Einhorn Don't You May Be, The Essential Interview (4:57)
4-4 Ladislav Novák La Structure Phonétique De La Langue Tchèque (2:10)
4-5 Ladislav Novák Ceterum Autem (2:37)
4-6 Carlfriedrich Claus Lautgedichten (4:12)
4-7 Brion Gysin Pistol Poem (3:40)
4-8 Brion Gysin No, Poets Don't Own Words (0:58)
4-9 Brion Gysin Junk Is No Good Baby (2:03)
4-10 Paul De Vree Terrena Trou Bahj (0:50)
4-11 Paul De Vree Organon (4:36)
4-12 Paul De Vree April Am Rhein (3:33)
4-13 Paul De Vree Kids (1:53)
4-14 Bob Cobbing 15 Shakespeare - Kaku (8:52)
4-15 Isidore Isou Rituel Sompteux Pour La Selection Des Espèces (2:18)
4-16 Maurice Lemaître La Marche Des Barbares Blancs (2:59)

5-1 Altagor Discours Absolu (3:46)
5-2 Patrizia Vicinelli Sette Poemi (7:41)
5-3 Adriano Spatola Hommage À Eric Satie (7:43)
5-4 Maurizio Nannucci Definizioni (4:04)
5-5 Demetrio Stratos O Tzitziras O Mitziras (4:02)
5-6 Arrigo Lora-Totino L'Esperienza (7:35)
5-7 Arrigo Lora-Totino Clessidrogramma (6:20)
5-8 Arrigo Lora-Totino Lo Stato Sono Io (2:47)
5-9 Arrigo Lora-Totino Intonazione Cromatica (1:30)
5-10 Il Concento Prosodico Vocali (1:40)
5-11 Il Concento Prosodico Vetro Ben Temperato (3:40)
5-12 Il Concento Prosodico Fricative (2:55)
5-13 Il Concento Prosodico Xilofonia (3:55)
5-14 Il Concento Prosodico Tenzone Tropicale (3:07)
5-15 Il Concento Prosodico Siderodiafonia (6:00)
5-16 Il Concento Prosodico Vocali (1:17)

Discs 1&2

Discs 3&4

Disc 5

Problem Fixed

Not sure what was wrong, but everything seems to be better now! Albums should start coming up at a steady rate again.

Lack of posts due to uploading problems

There haven't been any posts yesterday or today because I've been having trouble with rapidshare again and surprisingly also megaupload, but it's working better now. Hopefully some stuff will be up by tonight.

Tolerance - Anonym, 1980, Japan (Vanity) (NWW List)

Their only other LP, Divin, has already been posted in several places, including Mutant Sounds, so here's their first one only.

That leaves only their one sided 7" "Today's Thrill" (also Vanity Records) being the only unavailable recording from their discography, which seems to be just about as rare as this one.

Anyway, this is a great improv/minimal electornics/proto-techno album, and one of the best from the NWW List. Hear it for yourself:

Download

DNA - Live at CBGB's

Recorded June 25th, 1982, but released by Avant in Japan in 1993. Out of print as far as I know, and this is the only official live document of this No Wave band.

Tracklisting:
1 Newest Fastest (1:37)
2 5:30 (1:12)
3 Detach (1:35)
4 New New (3:11)
5 32123 (1:13)
6 Brand New (3:16)
7 Horse (3:13)
8 Forgery (1:01)
9 New Fast (1:16)
10 Blonde Red Head (1:50)
11 Action (1:08)
12 Marshall (2:11)
13 Lying On The Sofa Of Life (2:14)
14 New Low (1:47)
15 Calling To Phone (2:24)

http://rapidshare.com/files/16656722/dna_-_live_at_cbgb_s.zip

La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano

One of the best works by one of the most important composers of the 20th century; unfortunately, copies usually go for over $500 now. Originally on Classical Connections, but the link's dead.

Discs 1-3
Discs 4&5

Kyle Gann's Explanation of the Tuning of the piece

Biography

Jean Dubuffet 2 LP's (Art Brut/NWW List)

Musique Brut
Experiences Musicales

Influenced by Hans Prinzhorn's book Artistry of the Mentally Ill, Dubuffet coined the term Art Brut for art produced by non-professionals working outside aesthetic norms, such as art by mental patients, prisoners, and children. He amassed his own collection of such art, including artists such as Aloïse Corbaz and Adolf Wölfli. The collection is now housed at the Musée de l'Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland. Dubuffet sought to create an art as free from intellectual concerns as Art Brut, and his work often appears primitive and child-like...
In late 1960-1961, Dubuffet began experimenting with music and sound and made several recordings with the Danish painter Asger Jorn.

The first tape produced in these circumstances is rather unusual as it is a poem, La fleur de barbe, which is declaimed, chanted and vaguely sung by several voices mixed together (which are all in fact mine) with occasional instrumental accompaniment. The subsequent recordings are the result of two diverging approaches which I hesitated between and which are probably both apparent in at least some pieces. The first was an attempt to produce music with, a very human touch, in other words, which expressed people's moods and their drives as well as the sounds, the general hubbub and the sonorous backdrop of our everyday lives, the noises to which we are so closely connected and, although we don't realize it, have probably endeared themselves to us and which we would be hard put to do without. There is an osmosis between this permanent music which carries us along and the music we ourselves express; they go together to form the specific music which can be considered as a human beings. Deep down I like to think of this music as music we make, in contrast to another very different music, which greatly stimulates my thoughts and which I call music we listen to. The latter is completely foreign to us and our natural tendencies; it is not human at all and could lead us to hear (or imagine) sounds which would be produced by the elements themselves, independent of human intervention. They would be as strange as what we might hear if we were to put our ear to some opening leading to a world other than our own or if we were to suddenly develop a new form of hearing with which we would become aware of a strange tumult that our senses had been unable to pick up and which might come from elements which were supposedly involved in silent action, such as humus decomposing, grass growing or minerals undergoing transformation. I should point out that in both these categories of music and even when I blend them into one and the same (never mind if this seems illogical), there is a clear preference for very composite sounds which appear to be formed by a great number of voices calling to mind distant murmurs, communities, hustle and bustle and hives of activity. I also have a preference for music without variations, not structured according to a particular system but unchanging, almost formless, as though the pieces had no beginning and no end but were simply extracts taken haphazardly from a ceaseless and ever-flowing score. I must admit that I find this idea very pleasing.

Mate & Vallancien - Cambodge '70 (NWW List)

Tracklist:
1 - cambodge 70
2 - bateke bojo
3 - endophonie
4 - sax hi-fi
5 - cyclothimie
6 - sanza sallée
7 - campus
8 - osakaphonie

Download

Tracklisting and cover thanks to lsettal

Trans Museq 4 - Velocities (1975) (NWW List)

This is seriously good stuff, and a must for all fans of free improv!

Transmuseq was mainly a duo comprised of LaDonna Smith (viola, violin, voice) and Davey Williams (guitar). These two took improvisation where it had never went before, applying automatic writing and other surrealist techniques to their music, using extended techniques, and other forms of experimentation. They were the ones who put out the periodical The Improvisor and have played with John Zorn, Ron Pates (of the NWW List), Andrea Centazzo (who plays percussion on this album), Jaap Blonk and others in the past. Mostly very rough, schizophrenic, and occasionally electronic, all of their records have a bit of Dadaist humor to them as well (with an occasional reference to Tristan Tzara or other dada artists).

If you like it, then go support these guys - they occasionally re-release older LP's in limited quantities, and they're still making new music, though not together. (LaDonna Smith recently put out a solo album for voice and viola improv titled Eye of the Storm, which is worth hearing.)

No promises, but if I ever get the proper equipment back together, I'll put up the rest of their discography (8+ LP's) sometime in the future.

Biography
Catalogue

Download

Milan Knizak - Broken Music (1979) (Fluxus)

"In 1963-64 I used to play records both too slowly and too fast and thus changed the quality of the music, thereby, creating new compositions. In 1965 I started to destroy records: scratch them, punch holes in them, break them. By playing them over and over again (which destroyed the needle and often the record player too) an entirely new music was created - unexpected, nerve-racking and aggressive. Compositions lasting one second or almost infinitely long (as when the needle got stuck in a deep groove and played the same phrase over and over). I developed this system further. I began sticking tape on top of records, painting over them, burning them, cutting them up and gluing different parts of records back together, etc. to achieve the widest possible variety of sounds. A glued joint created a rhythmic element separating contrasting melodic phrases... Since music that results from playing ruined gramophone records cannot be transcribed to notes or to another language (or if so, only with great difficulty), the records themselves may be considered as notations at the same time." - Milan Knizak

Rare collection of recordings from one of the most important artists involved with anti-records!

Download

Albrecht D - Endless Music, Samadhi, 1970-80 (NWW List)

Compilation, contains excerpts of collaborations with Joseph Beuys and Genesis P-Orridge but is mostly solo work. Anything else seems to be impossible to find.

Info and discography

Download

Brion Gysin - Poem of Poems (1958)

Released by the legendary Italian label Alga Marghen, also home to releases by Anton Bruhin, Isidore Isou, Walter Marchetti and Charlemagne Palestine. Never reissued.

T: Who produced the "Poem of Poems" through the tape recorder?
The text in The Third Mind is ambiguous.
Brion: I did. I made it to show Burroughs how, possibly, to use it. William
did not yet have a tape recorder. First, I had "accidentally" used
"pisspoor material,"fragments cut out of the press which I shored up
to make new and original texts, unexpectedly. Then, William had
used his own highly volatile material, his own inimitable texts which
he submitted to cuts, unkind cuts, of the sort that Gregory Corso felt
unacceptable to his own delicate "poesy." William was always the
toughest of the lot. Nothing ever fazed him. So I suggested to William
that we should use only the best, only the high-charged material:
King James' translation of the Song of Songs of Solomon, Eliot's
translation of Anabase by St. John Perse, Shakespeare's sugar'd
Sonnets and a few lines from The Doors of Perception by Aldous
Huxley about his mescaline experiences.

Very soon after that, Burroughs was busy punching to death a series
of cheap Japanese plastic tape recorders, to which he applied himself
with such force that he could punch one of them to death inside a
matter of weeks, days even. At the same time he was punching his
way through a number of equally cheap plastic typewriters, using
two very stiff forefingers . . . with enormous force. He could punch a
machine into oblivion. That period in the Beat Hotel is best illustrated
by that photo of William, wearing a suit and tie as always, sitting
back at this table in a very dingy room. On the wall hangs a nest of
three wire trays for correspndence which I gave him to sort out his
cut-up pages. Later, this proliferated into a maze of filing cases filling
a room with manuscripts cross-referenced in a way only Burroughs
could work his way through, more by magic dowsing than by any
logical system. how could there be any? This was a magic practice he
was up to, surprising the very springs of creative imagination at
their source. I remember him muttering that his manuscripts were
multiplying and reproducing themselves like virus at work. It was all
he could do to keep up with them. Those years sloughed off one
whole Burroughs archive whose catalogue alone is a volume of 350
pages. Since then several tons of Burroughs papers have been moved
to the Burroughs Communication Centre in Lawrence, Kansas. And he
is still at it.

http://webusers.physics.umn.edu/~duvernoi/cutup.html

click

Brion Gysin - Recordings 1960-1981

This collects some of Gysin's better known and more important works, as well as a few "interviews" and other pieces, some unreleased. Includes: I am That I am, Pistol Poem, Recalling All Active Agents, Junk is No Good Baby, No Poets Don't Own Words, etc. Nice little collection of one of the most important sound poetry artists of the last 50 years!

Released by Perdition Plastics in '95.

click

Dieter Roth - Musik, 1973-1991 (NWW List)

Just as promised! This is a compilation of Dieter Roth compositions, including excerpts from all three Roth, Ruhm & Weiner LP's, and some live stuff, among other things. Provides further insight not only into Dieter Roth's musical activities, but also the trio he was involved in. Sorry, no cover.

click

General information and works can be found at:

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2004/dieterroth/flash.htm
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/roth_dieter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Roth

Gerhard Ruhm - Several works & info (NWW List)

Ubuweb happens to have a handful of Gerhard Ruhm (of RR&W) solo pieces that some people may not be aware of (I wasn't for a long time, at least) and will probably would be interested in. They're all sound/concrete poetry, and he actually had some pretty interesting ideas going on with his works. All tracks are taken from the 5-LP Futura Poesia Sonora sound poetry compilation from Cramps records (which might be uploaded in the future). To download:

http://www.ubu.com/sound/ruhm.html

From Ubuweb:

Gerhard Rühm was born in Vienna in 1930. He now lives at Cologne and teaches at the Hamburg Superior School of Art.
In these pieces, Rühm imitates a lecturer who, while speaking, is continually interrupted by the censor; the public applauds with enthusiasm as if it was not aware of the manipulation. The six texts we present are lightning-fast phonic gags, with the exception of the last, "The Bird Paradise", and covers a wide range of the author's activities.
"Gebet" (Prayer), 1954, is an example of vocal constellation. The succession of vowels "a, e, i, o, u" repeated in this order is wrapped up in consonants to the point of producing syllabic coordinations. The title refers to the meditative nature of the composition. "Hymne an Lesbierinnen" (Hymn to Lesbians), 1956-75, consists of a sound text in three parts, at first in 1956, only declaimed, later revised in a recording studio. The three parts of the basic text are arranged in different tonalities and also in reverse and then mixed together in a new simultaneous version. "Blätter" (Leaves), 1965-73, is an example of visual poetry translated phonically. The word "leaf" - like a leaf that, falling from a tree, flies about and changes shape - gradually changes in tone and timbre as a result of electronic manipulation. "Berührung" (Contact), 1965-73, is meant to be the sonic ideogram of a contact. The words "to touch", "touched", "to have touched" (in German, naturally) are resolved into their phonemes, to which is assigned, from time to time, a determinate duration of sound or of interval. The whole is arranged in the form of a canon in diminuendo, dynamically differentiated so as to create a close counterpoint. "Verkürzte zeitspanne mit melodischen extrakt (Abbreviated pause with melodic summary), 1973, is based on the word "now" (in German "jetzt") pronounced in moderate tone, a tone modified on repetition. A short final part describes the melodic curve of the text: the "e"s of the "jeutz"s are aligned to provide a different tonal scale. This text is the sonic translation of an earlier concrete poem. "The Bird of Paradise" (1975), was suggested by Robert Ashley's "She Was a Visitor" and by Charlie Parker's jazz piece of the same name. It is dedicated to Valie Export. From a mechanically repeated phrase depart single sounds which gradually forms inversions in a higher tone and interweave to form a succession of new sound combinations. Unexpectedly there emerges the phrase " the bird of Paradise is dying", which suggests the situation it indicates.

Roth Ruhm & Weiner - 3. Berliner Dichter Workshop, 1973 (NWW List)

One of the rarer NWW list items. Unique sound poetry mixed with manipulated voice experiments, improv piano and a few other odd bits. Part of Viennese Actionism, and possibly Fluxus related. It's not one of the best list items, but definitely one of the most interesting and it deserves to be heard nonetheless. My only complaint is that whoever ripped it did so rather sloppily, as windows error noises pop up in places, like on the Iskra album, but that doesn't happen for more than a track or two.

click

No tracklisting. Any help?

Solo posts by Roth & Ruhm to come soon!

Hello

As it says, this is a blog dedicated to the sharing of hard to find and/or out of print (usually) experimental music that otherwise probably wouldn't be heard by most.

Of course, contributions/requests are welcome!

Also, this probably goes without saying, but just to be clear: if you feel that anything needs to be taken down, because it's either readily available or the owner does not want it shared...let me know in a comment and it will be done.

This is my first share blog, so let's see how it goes...