Direct Waves

how odd

2010-05-07T15:17:00.003-05:00

so i know this blog is more or less dead, but i've been going back and downloading some of my own stuff because i lost some of the files. has anyone noticed these wacky franz de byl comments at the end of all my posts? they're all about a year after this blog closed apparently. i heard he's been doing this to a lot of other blogs too, some people think it's a really bad joke. any ideas?

New blog.

2008-04-19T16:13:00.003-05:00

So I've started a new blog.

It's not a music blog. It has posts about music, but that doesn't comprise its subject matter solely.

I'm not sure how successful its going to be, or if it will even be successful at all. It might be a really stupid idea, in all honesty. I'm afraid it borders on being too ambitious, for one.

It's localesforecstasy.blogspot.com.

The idea behind it is kind of complicated, but it's basically a public version of my private explorations of all the wonderful things that have to do with art, society, and culture (music being one of them). It's a direct application of many of the ideas that the musicians featured on THIS blog espouse.

It might be crazy, it might be idiotic. Like I said, it's a bit more personal, and my persona might be rather distasteful to some. It's a version of my private interests made public so that other people might get something out of them as well. I no longer want to just listen, or read about things. I want to actually apply the philosophy to my life, to make THAT kind of music, to make THAT kind of writing, and so forth. I want to live it, and not just admire.

It's still very infantile, and there probably won't be a lot of posts until after mid-May. I have a lot of important dates coming up, and there's a lot of preparation involved in those dates. My time is being drained.

But if you're interested, read the intro post (and the one after that, if it catches your fancy).

I've also uploaded several albums; a few are NWW List gems I claimed to have a long time ago but could never upload. Well, now they're uploaded: the complete (well, almost) discography of Trans Museq, the Tamia LP, and so forth.

It isn't, however, a music-only blog, and I don't think many more upload posts are going to follow those. It's not another Direct-Waves. It does, however, encompass what Direct-Waves was, and what it stood for.

Happy blogging.

Banten - Banten, 1972, Denmark

2007-08-12T01:25:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-08-03T02:41:00.001-05:00

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

2007-07-12T12:57:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-07-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-07-07T21:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-30T00:53:00.000-05:00

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

Maschine Nr. 9 - Headmovie

2007-06-29T23:09:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-29T22:44:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-06-28T22:59:00.000-05:00

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

Broken Flag Part 2: Flexi

2007-06-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

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

Cupol (Dome/Wire) & Anthony Moore

2007-06-27T21:03:00.001-05:00

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

2007-06-27T01:43:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-25T03:21:00.002-05:00

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

So...

2007-06-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

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

2007-06-22T23:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-16T20:02:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-04-16T19:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-10T16:13:00.000-05:00

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"

2007-04-08T12:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-03T18:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-04-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-31T12:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-31T00:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-31T00:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-31T00:09:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-03-28T18:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-28T17:58:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-21T19:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-21T19:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-21T19:30:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-16T17:19:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-16T16:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-03-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-03-16T16:21:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-13T21:19:00.000-05:00

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...)

2007-03-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

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?)

2007-03-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-03-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-03-11T19:12:00.000-05:00

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

Jean Guerin - Tacet, 1971, Futura

2007-03-11T18:22:00.000-05:00

Another electronic gem from Futura...Info is almost nonexistant but I think these reviews from rateyourmusic sum it up nicely:

This album is psychedelic like an LSD trip. The music is atonal, a mix of acoustic instruments such as trumpet, saxophone, double bass, voices, strings, and absolutely stunning electronic sounds, echo, reverb, underwater bubbling sounds, even grooves (the otherworldly opening track!). The whole music sits uniquely between Jazz – that is, Free Jazz – and avant-garde concert music. One would expect the first generation synthesizers to sound dated - not so, they would still be the right choice if the album had been recorded only recently. Tacet is futuristic, surreal, an ultimately indescribable musical experience, an essential album for anybody interested in new sonic worlds.

Where had this album been all these years?! Why hadn´t I come across this before?
One reason is, Tacet had been the soundtrack of some obscure French movie (by Claude Faraldo) called Bof, anatomie d'un livreur and released in 1971 on Futura, a small French indie label. Another is that Tacet was far too strange for the masses, still is, and possibly Jean Guerin ran out of energy after witnessing how this enormous achievement went unnoticed.
Jean Guerin is a drummer and like that other drummer Robert Wyatt, capable of cooking up the strangest kind of music. Musically, there aren´t any similarities between those two beyond the `strangeness´ factor. The music on Tacet is much more closely related to Herbie Hancock´s Mwandishi sextet - not rhythmically but sonically; incidentally, Patrick Gleason participated in the recordings of Tacet. One can imagine Gleason to have played this recent recording to Herbie Hancock before they went to the studio to record Herbie´s new music. Tacet was recorded before Hancock´s Mwandishi albums! It doesn´t make those LPs less spectacular, but somehow it puts things in a different light. I had always thought that Herbie had been the pioneer launching himself and me into a musical parallel universe with Mwandishi, Crossings and Sextant, and nobody followed on that path, not even Herbie himself - with Headhunters, Herbie returned to planet Earth. Only Miles Davis and Weather Report occasionally recorded some kind of psychedelic Jazz and only for a short time: Miles went silent in ´75 and Weather Report went into fusion and that was that. German psychedelica such as Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh or Klaus Schulze pale into insignificance by comparison to Tacet.

Tacet has been re-released in 2001 on the Italian label Elica (ELICA 3560) and includes English liner notes. Make sure you get this “movie inside your head” before it becomes out of print and forgotten or a myth - again.

If you want truly unique music, this is it!

Yep, it's weird alright. Nothing quite like it - the closest comparison I can come up with is the free-jazz-in-a-reverberating-echo-chamber sound of Sun Ra's Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy combined with the extraterrestrial electronic experiments of Pierre Henry's Messe pour le temps présent, throw in some absurdist vocals, and ... I don't know. It's so odd. But then in all comes together in an entrancing future-primitive vibe, with bubbling water sounds, mysterious echoey effects and hypnotic rhythms (and non-rhythms). Perfect music for taking mushrooms on a rainy afternoon, watching the raindrops melt into asphalt, and then performing expressionistic modern dance moves in your undies. (Ha! And how do you spend your weekends?)

Download

V/A - Musica Futurista: The Art of Noises (Futurism)

2007-03-11T18:15:00.000-05:00

Musica Futurista: The Art of Noises is a 74 minute collection of music and spoken word from the Italian Futurist movement 1909-1935, including original recordings by Marinetti, Russolo and Balilla Pratella.
As well as vintage 'free verse' readings by Futurist figurehead F.T. Marinetti, the CD includes recordings of the celebrated intonarumori (noise intoners) created by Luigi Russolo, including the compostition The Awakening of a City. Russolo's public performances scandalized Europe in 1914 yet still resonate today. Although his extraordinary ideas met with fierce resistance, it is now clear he exerted a powerful influence on a number of leading avant-garde and experimental composers, initially Igor Stravinsky, George Antheil and Arthur Honegger, and later John Cage, Edgard Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Harry Partch, as well as non-classical electronica and avant-rock. As well as period recordings, the CD includes contemporary performances of other key Futurist works by Balilla Pratella, Antonio Russolo, Aldo Giuntini, Luigi Grandi, Silvio Mix, Franco Casavola, Alfredo Casella, Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli.
All material on this definitive collection has been digitally remastered. The deluxe booklet features many rare images, as well as detailed historical notes by noted author James Hayward.

Tracklist:

01 F.T. MARINETTI Definizione Di Futurismo
02 FRANCESCO BALILLA PRATELLA War (La Guerra)
03 F.T. MARINETTI La Battaglia Di Adrianopoli
04 LUIGI RUSSOLO The Awakening Of A City
05 ANTONIO RUSSOLO Corale/Serenata
06 F.T. MARINETTI & ALDO GIUNTINI Sintesi Musicali Futuristiche
07 ALDO GIUNTINI The India Rubber Man
08 LUIGI GRANDI Dogfight (Aeroduello)
09 SILVIO MIX Two Preludes/Dance Of The Monkeys
10 FRANCO CASAVOLA Prigionieri Prelude/Dance Of The Monkeys
11 ALFREDO CASELLA Pupazzetti
12 F.T. MARINETTI Parole In Liberta
13 MATTY MALNECK & FRANK SIGNORELLI Futurist Caprice
14 F.T. MARINETTI Five Radio Sintesi

Some of the piano pieces can sound a bit dated, but it's worth it for the wealth of Marinetti pieces alone...

Download

Fred Lane (Ron Pates) - Radio Car Jerome + From the One That Cut You, 1983 & 1986

2007-03-11T17:17:00.000-05:00

"If jazz is dead, it’s because Fred Lane personally killed it."

"As a radio station music director in the late 80’s, a record came across my desk that changed my life. It was called “Car Radio Jerome” by Rev. Fred Lane & His Hittite Hotshots. I simply didn’t know what to make of it, but I knew that I liked it and had never heard anything quite like it before.

The album ran the gamut of styles I wasn’t expecting to hear, from Sinatra-ish big band swinging (White Woman, Upper Lip Of A Nostril Man), to spaghetti western soundtrack anthems (The Man With The Foldback Ears), to depressing country ballads (Pneumatic Eyes), and even something that sounded like a kids record but for kids with demented parents (The French Toast Man). The artwork, the band musicians' names, and even the technical description of the album’s pressing included on the cover all led me to blissful confusion. I wasn’t sure if it was a comedy album, and if so, just who did Fred Lane think his audience was? This was comedy that was sure to go over most peoples heads. I wasn’t even sure if I “got it”. But at the same time, these were very well-written and arranged songs, played with a lot of feeling by what sounded like a group of questionably-competent musicians. In fact, some of the playing is so hysterically bad on the album, that I couldn’t believe anyone would seriously release it. I’m no stranger to music that’s “so bad it’s good”, but this was something different - this WAS good... period.

Not long after, another Fred Lane album showed up on my desk, “From The One That Cut You”, this time released under the name Fred Lane with Ron ‘Pate’s Debonairs. This album was even stranger than the other one, with song titles like Fun In The Fundas, Danger Is My Beer, I Talk To My Haircut and Meat Clamp Conduit. According to the album’s liner notes, the music came from a live musical stage production, a promo poster from which was tucked inside the jacket sleeve."

"The music itself is mostly swing but draws upon ridiculous modern country, fifties rock, hokey children’s records, and Mancini “spy” music, too – all sprinkled with some of the wildest free improvisation ever preserved on tape. In this case it’s a weirder combination than usual considering most serious disciples of the freer stuff (which applies for members of the Hotshots and Lane’s former backup band, Ron ‘Pate and the Debonairs) are typically rooted in bebop and the European avant-garde, maybe even rock, but they don’t normally go for swing. It’s too cheesy, too sleazy and schmaltzy compared to the sincere spiritual journeys of a John Coltrane or an Albert Ayler. Perfect for Fred Lane, though, and that’s why his songs are so original anyway. “I like to think of them as something I stained my shirt with,” Lane said. You stick to what’s acceptable listening in your scene, what you’re told to like by critic jerks like me, and you end up making the same old (new) music. Obeying the conventions of Free Jazz – imagine that!"

Download

Marcel Duchamp - The Entire Musical Works, Ampersand

2007-03-10T01:31:00.000-05:00

Duchamp needs no introduction...This is a nice compilation of his most important works, including full versions of Erratum Musicale, the piece that inspired John Cage to start performing his chance pieces.

Tracklisting:

Erratum Musicale (25:35)
1.3. Voices (4:38)
Erratum Musicale (12:22)
Musical Sculpture (4:31)

Download

Danny Ben-Isreal - Bullshit 3. 1/4, Isreal, 1970

2007-03-10T01:25:00.000-05:00

"By 1969 Danny Ben Israel recorded a Psychedelic masterpiece of an album Bullshit 3.1/4. This revolutionary ground breaking album is largely unknown, however the few people who know this GEM consider it to be one of the greatest Psych albums of all times and original vinyl copies of this album change hands for hundreds of dollars. The uniqueness of this album lies not only in its music -- also the weird and obscure pornographic fold-out cover artwork and the sometimes very trippy lyrics deal with the Israeli society and its hypocrisy, the fake emptiness of the Bohemian way of life, drugs, escapism and freaks. The most obvious theme reflected in his lyrics is the wish for freedom of all kinds (freedom of thought, freedom of expression and so on). The music itself mixes psych and avant-garde, full of fuzzed out and distorted guitars, studio effects, tape loops, tone generators etc. Ben-Israel sings, a scream, murmurs, whispers and moans throughout all of the tracks. His vocals are often doubled and used as an instrument like Tim Buckley, Alan, Sorrenti, Robert Wyatt and Peter Hammill, but in a totally twisted manner. The whole album (backed by the band 'Electric Stage') sounds like a big LSD acid trip, sometimes very spacey and very heavy almost industrial. Also raga-based compositions remind of some early Daevid Allen stuff with Gong on his Banana Moon album." CD version is on the MIO label out of Israel.

more info here

Download

Forced Exposure should still have copies of the reissue!

Juan Hidalgo - Rrose Selavy + Tamaran LP's, Spain

2007-03-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

Hidalgo was a leading figure of the Spanish avant-garde from the NWW List, who worked with sound poetry, prepared instruments and various other extensions. Of these two albums, Rrose Selavy is probably more relative to the List than Tamaran is, but they're both worth hearing.

Rrose Selavy is a simple yet brilliant piece of progressive minimalism in which a new repetitive rhythm is brought in by a new instrument every track - essentially, you're hearing the same piece over and over, just more complex each time until it reaches its cacophonous conclusion after six tracks. It's incredibly simplistic in idea but it's actually a surprisingly original listen. This is obviously dedicated to Duchamp and is littered with references to him; it's not totally unlikely that this was inspired by Erratum Musicale or similar pieces.

Tamaran is compeletly different and I know little about it other than it is essentially a piece for twelve prepared pianos. Excerpts from this are occasionally found on Fluxus compilations or similar. One of the performers happens to be Walter Marchetti, another interesting Cramps-related composer in his own right. Quite the ridiculous cover art, too...

Tamaran - 1974, Cramps Records

Download

Rrose Selavy - 1976, Cramps Records

Download

Philippe Besombes - Hydravion, 1977, Cobra

2007-03-10T00:38:00.000-05:00

After the ‘Besombes-Rizet/Pôle’ album, 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...
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.

Another great document of 70's French avant-garde by Besombes; a bit different than his Pole stuff:

Download

Maurizio Bianchi - Atomique Tape, 1980?

2007-03-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

This is another early MB release, one of his first after discarding the Sacher-Pelz pseudonym and continues the experiments under that name quite successfully, though it's less raw and the sound is clearer (the earlier tapes were undoubtedly intentionally bad quality though). As far as I know this hasn't been reissued yet.

Download

More M.B. stuff to come hopefully...

Pyramid - S/T, 1976, Germany

2007-03-07T20:58:00.000-05:00

This is another one of those recently recovered long-lost Kraut albums that makes you wonder how anyone would forget about such a great album in the first place. Unfortunately, it's also one of those long-lost Kraut albums which no one seems to know a damn thing about. This is all Forced-Exposure writes up:

Three more albums of "unknown" Krautrock from the early to mid 70s, from the Pyramid label archive. Pyramid features one 36 minute track, produced by "personnel unknown" on instrumentation of: Hammond organ, electric guitar, bass, drums, mellotron, mini-Moog, electric piano, and Tibetan bells. It's a long cosmic journey, etc.

It's not even on the net version of Crack in the Cosmic Egg.

Nonetheless, it's a lost classic, originally appearing on 8daysinapril, the king of Krautrock, so you know it's gotta be good! I'm not an expert on writing prog/kraut reviews, so I'll just let you form an opinion for yourself...

Download

Hot Thumbs O'Riley - Wicked Ivory, 1972, Charisma

2007-03-07T20:37:00.000-05:00

This is arguably the weirdest Finnish rock album I've posted yet, as the cover should hint at...

Here is a true fantastic album that I suspect will take a few listens for many before the pure beauty emerges. Jim Pembroke of course was the creative genius of Finland’s Wigwam and this album represents his first solo album…a work of pure creativity and genius. If you are familiar and enjoy with the music of Wigwam, then this album would likely work quite well for you. Hot Thumbs O’Riley is a quirky concept album narrated by Jim Pembroke himself and is essentially a cabaret setting where a number of different bands/singers are introduced. Pembroke draws on his fellow Wigwam members with Pekka Pohjola, Jukka Gustavson. Mans Groundstroem, Mats Hulden and Ronnie Osterberg. The end result is a pretty eclectic album with vast strangeness yet lovingly constructed and full of creativity.

***

Jim Pembroke, an Englishman settling in Finland, and soon joined the progressive musicians and ended up in Finlands most well known band WIGWAM. This album is one of the most bizarre ones coming out from the north. A simulated entertaining Southern American show features alot of weird musicians (all Pembroke himself of course) with rad names and musical directions without names on. All progressive in the bottom, but some tracks are more jazzy, some fast, some slow. Out of the Pembroke solo albums I've heard, this is the most interesting one ! Pembroke was backed by most of the WIGWAM line up incl. Jukka Gustavson and Pekka Pohjola.

Download

Pole Records, Part Three (of Four)

2007-03-07T20:31:00.000-05:00

This is the rest of the French Pole label I own...See the initial posts here and here if you haven't been following along. Like before, if anyone has the Subversion, Emergency Exit, Trans Europe Express or Melody albums, by all means share...

0013 Mahogany Brain - Smooth Sick Lights

0014 Philippe Grancher - 3000 Miles Away

Part Four will be additional albums by Philippe Besombes, Pataphonie, and other Pole-related artists (though probably not in one post).

Blues Section - S/T, 1967, Finland

2007-03-07T20:24:00.000-05:00

More Finnish/Love Records stuff...these guys were on the Finnish comps I posted not too long ago. This is their first album, and one of the best Finnish rock albums from that time period. Like Charlies & Suomen Talvisota 1939-1940, it's got it's own eccentric vibe, distinctly different from anyone else...

From PhinnWeb:

I think Blues Section would be THE Finnish band to fit best in the psychedelic underground and even garage spirit. Their career was short-lived (1967-69), in which time they managed to create some classic songs from Hendrix/Cream/John Mayall-influenced blues to pop and jazz-tinged psychedelia. Their 'Cherry Cup-Cake Twist' would well fit in its strangeness to any Nuggets or Pebbles-style collections; 'Semi-Circle Solitude' is one of the finest pop anthems to ever come out of Finland, and 'Hey Hey Hey' is pure, hard-biting electric garage.

Blues Section's saxophone player Eero Koivistoinen would record in 1968 the legendary Valtakunta album, with Hasse Walli and Ronnie Österberg of Blues Section among the musicians there. Jim Pembroke, the British expatriate vocalist and song-writer for Blues Section, would later form with Österberg Wigwam, the biggest progressive rock band in Finland; Blues Section's bassist Måns Groundstroem and Pembroke's vocalist successor Frank Robson would appear in Tasavallan Presidentti, Wigwam's greatest prog rival in Finland - but that's another story...

From Wikipedia:

Blues Section is considered a seminal and ground-breaking band in Finnish rock music. They started in 1967, formed around the vocalist Jim Pembroke, a British expatriate song-writer now living in Finland. The other members of the band were Eero Koivistoinen (saxophone), Ronnie Österberg (drums), Hasse Walli (guitar), and Måns Groundstroem (bass). Their influences came among all from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Jimi Hendrix, who had played a sensational gig in Helsinki in May 1967. One can also hear in Pembroke's British-flavoured song-writing some echoes from The Beatles and The Kinks. Blues Section released a self-titled album late 1967 on Helsinki's Love Records. In 1968 Groundstroem and Pembroke left the band, being replaced by Pekka Sarmanto and (another British vocalist) Frank Robson, respectively. Also Koivistoinen would leave the band during the same year, and by the end of 1968 Blues Section was over. The Blues Section members would continue in such acclaimed progressive rock bands as Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti. Eero Koivistoinen was to become an internationally acclaimed jazz musician, and Hasse Walli would discover world music, playing in such bands as Piirpauke.

Download

A-Musik - E Ku Iroju, 1984, Japan

2007-03-07T20:14:00.000-05:00

Great Japanese weirdness. Mutant-Sounds recently put up a great live album by these guys, which you should check out here (and thank them for it!), so here's another A-Musik album for those of interest, but this is a studio one. I don't have any info on these guys; just go to the link I provided for what little info exists.

Download

V/A - More Arctic Hysteria: Son of Arctic Hysteria, 2CD, Love Records, 2005

2007-03-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

...the later years of early Finnish avant-garde. Another incredible volume, following the inspiration and eye-opening 2001 CD Arktinen hysteria - Suomi-avantgarden Wsipuutarhureita. Pefectly packaged document of more utterly obscure electronic mayhem and theatrical intoxication, presented as near-high-art. "Now covered are the 1970s and 1980s. 34 artists. Featuring a lavishly illustrated leaflet of 20 pages. Compiled by Jukka Lindfors. Featuring Jimi Tenor, Läjä Äijälä and early Mika Vainio (Pan sonic), The Sperm activists Mattijuhani Koponen and Pekka Airaksinen, Edward Vesala at his wildest, Kari Peitsamo, Kauko Röyhkä and Sleepy Sleepers at their most experimental and many other musical alchemists from Pekka Streng to Reinin Myrkky - as a bonus some no-holds-barred sound experiments of Kaj Chydenius and M.A. Numminen from the '60s."

This is the follow-up to the original album posted here (click for info) and explores the next two decades of Finnish experimentation, and it gives a good representation of how the unique ideas formulated in the 60's Finnish underground changed into the next few years, as well as new ones that starting appearing at that time. If you liked the first one, you're gonna want this too! Here's the tracklisting...

CD1: More Arctic Hysteria

1. Pekka Streng: Olen väsynyt (1970)
2. Karelia: Kahella sarvella (1972)
3. Samsa Trio: Kiven poiminta (1972)
4. Omar Williams Experience: Democracy (1971-72)
5. Osmo Lindeman: Ritual (1972)
6. Jarmo Sermilä: Electrocomposition I (1976)
7. Åke Andersson: Kaukonen ennen vanhaan (1977)
8. Gandhi–Freud: A (1975)
9. Jone Takamäki Trio: Bhupala I (1982)
10. Lauri Nykopp: Y – part V (1982)
11. Edward Vesala: Maailman reuna (1982)
12. Matti & Pirjo Bergström: Virkamiehet (1980)
13. Ilkka Volanen: Kahlaaja ('Wader') – excerpt (1982)
Bonus tracks:
14. Kaj Chydenius: W (1964)
15. M.A. Numminen: Oigu-S (1964)

CD2: Son of Arctic Hysteria

1. Kollaa Kestää: Tähtien rauha (1978)
2. Aavikon Kone Ja Moottori: Rakkaudella sinulle (1980)
3. Kari Peitsamo: Puinen koira (1978)
4. Yhtye: Apatian tanssi (1979)
5. Silver: Do You Wanna Dance (1980)
6. Hefty Load: Schrecklich (1981)
7. Vaaralliset Lelut: Alkuasukkaiden lääkkeet (1982)
8. Jaakko Kangosjärvi: Musiikki ja urheilu (1981)
9. Tapa Paha Tapa: I Love It (1983)
10. Swissair: Baggage Claim (1981)
11. Harri Tuominen: Lippukunta (1984)
12. Suomen Poliisit: Mihin sie meet Keijo (1984)
13. Kansanturvamusiikikomissio: Kalinka (1985)
14. Joan Bennett Museo: Empty Faces (1984)
15. 500 Kg Lihaa: Pallokentällä (1982)
16. Super Ladex: Olet valloissasi (1981-84)
17. Gagarin-Kombinaatti: Raskas (1984)
18. Jimi Tenor & His Shamans: Le Petomane (380v) (1990)
19. Reinin Myrkky: Snorkkelijenkka (1989)

Disc 1
Disc 2

The Psychedelic Phinland compilation coming soon...

Friendsound - Joyride, 1969

2007-03-06T16:38:00.000-05:00

Self-produced, 1969's "Friendsound" makes absolutely no attempt to go down the commercial road and to ours ears may deserve to be noted as one of the first real "jam" albums. It's also one of those rare instances where the liner notes are dead-on ... "A musical free-for-all ... The idea for Friendsound came to us when we were in the early stages of creating our first album. We rounded up all out musician friends in the area and headed for a recording studio to have a musical free-for-all." That pretty much says it all. Exemplified by material such as the title track and "Childhood's End", the six extended numbers were largely instrumental in nature. Credited as group compositions, songs such as "CHildsong" and "Empire of Light" are full of studio experimentation, including backward tapes, sound effects and acid-influenced ramblings. Raiders members Levin, Smith and Volk were too grounded in top-40 pop to totally abandon such concepts as rhythm and melody, but it's pretty clear late night parting imbued them with a lot more freedom and creative latitude than your typical Paul Revere and the Raiders session. Not for the faint of heart, or top-40 junkies, but worth checking out for the more adventuresome of you out there ...

"Joyride" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Joyride - 4:15

2.) Childhood's End - 3:26

3.) Love Sketch - 3:26

4.) Childsong - 6:12

(side 2)

1.) Lost Angel Proper St. - 9:22

2.) Empire of Light - 9:40

Download

Iskra 1903, Wired, New Phonic Art - Free Improvisation, 3LP Box, 1974

2007-03-05T17:38:00.000-05:00

New Phonic Art 1973 - One disc of a triple-set released on Deutsche Grammophon in 1974 aimed at showcasing the contemporary improvised music in Europe by way of three combos: one French (New Phonic Art), one German (Wired - with Conny Plank producing) and one from Great Britain (Iskra 1903, featuring Derek Bailey). Each group was given a full disc to do their thing with seemingly no restrictions. New Phonic Art 1973 was a quartet that assembled notable 20th century composers Michel Portal, Vinko Globokar, Carlos Roqué Alsina (from Argentina), and Jean-Pierre Drouet. [Improvisation Nr. 2 mp3]

Iskra 1903 - Since the formation of this trio in 1970, the name Iskra (with an assortment of date-based suffixes) has been assumed for many different lineups, usually comprised of musicians from the Spontaneous Music Ensemble/Incus/Emanem extended family. Featured in the 1974 Deutsche Grammaphon triple-disc set mentioned above, Iskra 1903: Improvisations represents the original trio, with Derek Bailey (guitars), Barry Guy (bass) and Paul Rutherford (trombone).

Wired - Wired was the German third of the Free Improvisation boxed set (Deutsche Grammophon couldn't very well exclude their own countrymen) - a quartet comprising Harry Partch disciple Mike Ranta on percussion, guitarist Karl-Heinz Böttner on saiteninstrumente (stringed instruments), Mike Lewis on Hammond organ, and the aforementioned Conny Plank on klangregie (sound direction; this indicates the importance of the mixing desk in the session.) The Wired disc (minus the other two from the set) appeared within the last year as a "grey-area" LP, which is available here.

Part 1 - New Phonic Art
Part 2 - Iskra 1903
Part 3 - Wired

Pole Records, Part Two

2007-03-05T17:30:00.000-05:00

See the initial post here. This is the next five records on the Pole label (actually it's four, but one is a double LP and counted as two).

Pole - Besombes-Rizet, 0006-0007

Fluence - Fluence, 0008

Verto - Krig Volubilis, 0009

Potemkine - Foetus, 0010

Part three to come soon...

V/A - Arktinen Hysteria: Suomi-Avantgarden Esipuutarhureita (Finnish Avantgarde), 2001, Love Records

2007-03-05T16:34:00.000-05:00

Some people might already have this one, but it should be of interest to fans of Pekka Airaksinen, The Sperm, MA Numminen, even Charlies, Apollo, Hector, and other Finland 60's stuff. There's some seriously kick-ass stuff on here, with plenty of unreleased tracks (including a 13-minute unreleased live Sperm track). This is essential in my eyes. There's lots of great experimental thought going on here, much of it is very politically oriented, and could even be said to be nihilistic in a way: the attitudes and methods of some of these artists would not be a million miles away from that of the Dada artists of the 10's and 20's, but maybe you'll disagree with me on that one.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. M.A. Numminen, Tommi Parko, Pekka Kujanpää: Eleitä kolmelle röyhtäilijälle ("Gestures for Three Belchers", 1961)
2. M.A. Numminen & Sähkökvartetti: Kaukana väijyy ystäviä ("Electric Quartet: Far Away Lurk Friends", 1968)
3. Tommi Parko: Hysteriablues (1968)
4. Erkki Salmenhaara: Information Explosion, prologue (1967)
5. Blues Section: Shivers Of Pleasure (1967)
6. Erkki Kurenniemi: Antropoidien tanssi ("Dance of the Anthropoids", 1968)
7. Jukka Ruohomäki: Mikä aika on ("What Time Is", 1970)
8. Jouni Kesti & Seppo I. Laine: Vallankumouksen analyysi ("Analysis of Revolution", 1970)
9. The Sperm: 3rd Erection (1968)
10. J.O. Mallander: 1962 (1968)
11. The Sperm: Kuoleman puutarha live (otteita) ("Excerpts from The Opera 'Garden of Death'", 1970)
12. Pekka Airaksinen: Pieni sienikonsertto - A Little Soup For Piano And Orchestra
13. S. Albert Kivinen: Spirea (1970)

This site takes each track one by one and provides invaluable info on each and every artist and their contributing track (it's concise too).

The follow-up, More Arctic Hysteria, and a seperate compilation, Psychedelic Phinland will probably be uploded in the future too.

Download

Don Bradshaw Leather - The Distance Between Us, 1972, Distance

2007-03-05T16:20:00.000-05:00

The music on this bizarre double album from 1972 is somewhere between gothic horror and psychedelic. Don Bradshaw Leather was apparently some kind of British occult group who self-released this album with no credits. (Also, on the record cover the name is spelled "Bradsham-Leather," not Bradshaw Leather, as it is referred to in everything from the Nurse With Wound list to the book and web guide on early U.K. psychedelic rock -Tapestry of Delights.) The title track, which takes up the first two sides, begins with some spooky piano rambling and then more mysterious sounds are added in. Soon tribal rhythms pound away while an organ seeps in with more creepy tones. The track gets a bit more intense as the organ and piano jam with the rhythms. Though most of it is instrumental, some wordless female vocals appear toward the end of side one, as the music settles down slightly. The rest of Distance Between Us is quite similar -- spooky organ and keyboard chords, obsessive piano plinking, primitive drum circle-style percussions, and other mysterious noises and drones in the background, with an overall pervasive gothic ambience, a horror film/cinematic feel. At times quiet and restrained, other times full of freaked-out energy, parts of this would not be out of place on one of Shinjuku Thief's Witch albums. The obsessively scary mood is sustained over all four sides. ~ Rolf Semprebon, All Music Guide

Who the hell is Don Bradshaw-Leather? Not much is known about him, but his self-released LP Distance Between Us (Distance Records, 1972) is certainly one bizarre egg. It's on the infamous Nurse With Wound list of Steven Stapleton's favorite weird records, so it's no wonder that this was brought to my attention by David Late Tibet of Current 93 (and sometime NWW collaborator). David sent me a copy and described it as a strange DIY horror symphony beyond words, and it indeed is dificult to describe. There's hardly a thing about this double LP on the web besides want lists and offers for sale (it seems to be averaging around $200 for original vinyl), though rumor has it that Don was a wealthy hippie (some say a member of Barclay-James Harvest, which David refutes) who was squatting around London in the early 1970's, whereabouts unknown now. The four lengthy tracks here ("Distance Between Us" Parts 1 & 2, "Dance of the Goblins", and "Autumn Mist") are dense, swirling, and hellish tapestries of blurred instrumentation, squawking voices buried in the mix, and seemingly no layout of progression from point A to point B in various movements (i.e. it's all a giant progression, but almost like a dog chasing its tail in a mad frenzy). Tracks have the leanings of some epic Messaien pieces in some ways, though imagine Bradshaw-Leather taking his symphony and filtering it through some kind of lo-fi source like a boombox or something and then just went bananas in the post-mix. And if the front cover wasn't insane enough, he's again in Wolfman-garb on the back with a screaming topless woman. The whole sleeve package seems to be hand-cut and stitched as well.

Part One
Part One

Link fixed for Pole - Kotrill

2007-03-04T03:25:00.000-05:00

As the title says...

V/A - 30 Years of Musical Insurrection in France, 3-CD

2007-03-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

Released by Spalax. This is a nice document of French experimentation though the past couple decades, beginning with the revolt in 1968 and ending in 1997. The CD edition comes with a 56-page booklet, so it's worth hunting down! Contains plenty of unreleased stuff and tracks by a lot of overlooked gems. Here's a rundown of the tracks:

The 1st CD features the following (an * indicates previously unreleased material, or least unavailable on CD): Jacques Dudon (*, classic freak out guitar mania from '69), Red Noise, Ame Son(*), Gong, Dashiell Hedayat, Catharsis, Contrepoint (*, primitive free jazz), Lard Free, Dagon(*, great progressive psych from 1972 by this undocumented & legendary group), Fille Qui Mousse (*, live track from 72!), Mahogany Brain, Majhun(*), Jac Berrocal & Musik Ensemble (*, brilliant space-improv alternate take from his debut album for Futura in 1973), Schizo (*, pre-Heldon group featuring Richard Pinhas, doing an early 7"-only version of 'Le Voyageur' -- historic psychedelic rock with spoken text by Gilles Deleuze), Oedipe (*, undocumented Canterbury style from '76)& Metal Urbain.

The 2nd CD covers the eighties (1977-90) and a significant New Wave cadence starts to abound, featuring: Camizole (*, pretty wild associated of Etron Fou), Heldon(*, live from '78), Le Grand Nebuleux et ses Laveurs de Consciences (*, crazy electric jazz fusion from '78), Etron Fou, At et Technique (*), Jean-Marc Foussat (*, strange improv from '81), Video Aventures, Kas Product, Fall of Saigon (*, YMG-ish synth pop pleasure from '81), Les I (*), Tanit (*), Pascal Comelade (*), Clair Obscure, Dazibao(*), Alto Bruit (*), Cosmic Wurst & Catalogue (*, live from '90).

The third CD covers the nineties (1991-97) -- some okay stuff and some rather dire industrial rock material as well -- and features: Urban Sax, Jacques Dudon, M.K.B., Corman et Tuscadu, Francois Robert Lloyd, Vox Populi (*), Ulan Bator, Prime Time Victim Show, Alpes Patrice Moullet, Atta Sexden, Cape Fear, Ashtray Hearts, Viellistic Orchestra, Nicrik, Jean-Francoise Pauvros(*), Osaka Bondage (*) & Sun Plexus (*).

Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3

Nurse With Wound & Current 93 - Papal Ejaculations 7", 1989

2007-03-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

Contains unreleased tracks by both groups...This seems to be a bootleg like L'Age D'Or; nonetheless it's pretty rare.

Tracklisting:

A
Something Really Pretentious - Nurse With Wound
Cottonwood Hill - Nurse With Wound
B
Antichrist - Anitchristian
Imperium (Live in Italy)

Download

NWW/Whitehouse - 150 Murderous Passions, Remix Version

2007-03-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

I'm almost positive this is from the United Dairies cassette box from 1987 (see here)...So this is an official remix, and yes, it sounds quite different from the original; it's worth hearing.

Download

Charlies - Buttocks, 1970

2007-03-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

The Finnish scene didn't have much to offer back in the early 70s beside Wigwam and Tasavallan presidenti. I thought so for a very long time until this band came along. Charlies a 5 piece unit that made this album somewhere in the first half of the period in a recordingstudio in Lahti. I think this album was originally released on a private label, until Hell records (nice name for a label) re-released it on newpress. Buttocks is a heavy, hypnotic, progressive album with elements of Jethro Tull Aqualang era and great guitarwork. Some odd instrumentation on it like Sandballs(!), Tambourine, flute, Moroccan clay drums and a cowbell. Beside Jethro Tull there is also elements of early Sabbath, Grand Funk, Captain Beyond etc. A highly interesting extremely rare album, check it out.

A stunning 8 tracker from Finland here. And I always thought ELONKORJUU was the heaviest album from the early 70's from the land of the seas !! This amazing album features loud and wild guitars, screaming vocals, and can easily be described as the most outrageous Finnish album of the 70's not far away from Jimi Hendrix style. Very good!

One of the best prog LP's to come out of Finland,

Download here

The Sperm - 3rd Erection, 1968, Finland

2007-03-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

This is the same Sperm/Pekka Airaksinen that released the amazing Shh! LP. Not much to say about this one, this is the only other release besides their LP that I'm aware of (excluding some compilation tracks, which might get uploaded in the future). This is actually their first release too.

I can't seem to find a cover...any help?

Download

Woorden - S/T, 1968, Netherlands

2007-03-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

Info seems to be almost non-existant. Too bad, because this is a great LP, and there's nothing like it.

Download

Pole Records, (almost) complete discography, Part One (NWW List)

2007-03-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

This is the French label that released albums by NWW List greats Pole, Pataphonie, Verto and about a dozen others that aren't even included on the list but just as worthy of hunting down and hearing. This is the first five records, by Pole, Pataphonie, Philippe Besombes, and Henry Roger. Some of the earlier stuff may be available elsewhere, but most of it isn't so I'm just going to put up everything I have from the label (13 of 15 records, though one of them hasn't been ripped yet). The Pole discography is as follows:

0001 POLE Kotrill

0002 POLE Inside The Dream

0003 PATAPHONIE Pataphonie

0004 Philippe Besombes Libra

0005 HENRY ROGER Images...

0006/7 POLE Bezombes - Rizet

0008 FLUENCE Fluence

0009 VERTO Krig Volubilis

0010 POTEMKIN Foetus

0011 MELODY Come Fly With Me

0012 TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS Living For The Rock And Roll
0013 MAHOGANY BRAIN Smooth Sick Lights

0014 PHILIPPE GRANCHER 3000 Miles Way

0015 SUBVERSION Subversion

The two I don't own are the Subversion and Trans Europe Express albums, so if anyone would like to help me out I'd appreciate it. (The Melody album is the one I haven't ripped yet, and like I've noted earlier, it might be awhile before I ever get the proper equipment again, so if someone already has it and would like to help me out that would be great).

I particularly recommend the Verto, Pole, Pataphonie, Henry Roger, and Fluence albums but they're all great gems of 70's French electronic avant-garde experiments.

Here are the first five records:

Pole - Kotrill (link fixed)

Pole - Inside the Dream

Pataphonie - S/T

Philippe Besombes - Libra (with bonus tracks from the reissue)

Henry Roger - Images...

Lydia Lunch - Hysterie (Teenage Jesus, 8 Eyed Spy, Beirut Slump...)

2007-03-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

Out of print compilation containing all her most important no-wave stuff, including the entire Teenage Jesus & 8-Eyed Spy LP's and others...a necessity for the no-wave genre, get it here:

Download

GX Jupitter-Larsen & The Haters - A Song For Nihilism Now 7", 1980

2007-03-02T19:48:00.000-05:00

The very first Haters release...not much info can be found but this is just all-around minimal, frightening greatness from Larsen, different from a lot of the later stuff he was involved in.

Download

Snatch - Joey/Red Army EP + Snatch LP

2007-03-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

Great no-wave related group that collaborated with Brian Eno at some point or another...The thing of interest here to NWW List collectors is the EP, as the tracks on the EP are more experimental, jumping from weird funk/blues to punk rock to proto-techno from track to track. The EP was released on Fetish records, who put out other great records by 8 Eyed Spy, z'ev, and others. Note that the versions of the tracks that appear on both the EP and LP are completely different.

Red Army is quite possibly my favorite proto-techno track released in any decade, even including Tolerance and other obscure greats.

Snatch were originally if the News of The World was to be believed going to be called Cho-Cha before the sexually ambiguous name of Snatch was settled on. Snatch was Patti Palladin and Judy Nylon, a pair of US expatriates:

Live Speakeasy 1977
"I met Judy on the phone. I was having a transatlantic conversation on the phone with a friend in London. I was in NY at the time, and Judy was in his studio. When I came to London in about '74 we became good friends. We were trying our best to get something going, we were both creative chicks... We both had ideas of sorts.

For 2 foreign chicks living in London, what is there really to do? So that's why Rock & Roll! It was the obvious thing to do out of boredom. We thought about forming a band together. We worked on basic lyrics and melodies and things. But it was hard trying to find people who understood where we were coming from. At that time all the punks were suddenly beginning to appear. Everyone was into saying, "I'm a punk. I'm cool, I'm aggressive, we're going to change it" and all this shit. " John Savage Interview. Search & Destroy #8

They certainly had a refreshingly blasé attitude to the rock'n'roll business. Sporadic gigs and sporadic singles when they felt the need spanning from 1976-80 and a collaboration on a Brian Eno single. They even reached #54 in the charts with All I Want but made no effort to cash in. Both Judy and Patti were strong willed and committed individuals who never exploited their sexuality or the music industry they found themselves in unlike most of their punk contemporaries of the time. It was all on their terms.

Snatch was never a permanent set up. In fact it was really a collaboration between Patti, Judy and whoever else. Eventually they went their separate ways. Both are still recording and in the arts to this day.

Get the LP

Get the EP

Sphinx Tush - Crashville

2007-03-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, this is only one track, taken from the Pop & Blues Festival '70 live compilation. Sphinx Tush are one of two NWW List bands that have available only one track (the other one being Dadazuzu of course). And this is it. Maybe it's odd to only upload one track, but a lot of people don't seem to have this one...All I know about these kraut rockers is that they contained members of what would eventually become Tomorrow's Gift.

Download

Moolah - Woe Ye Demon Possessed, 1974, U.S.A.

2007-03-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

This has already been put up in a couple places, namely curved-air, but the links are dead now...I know I've said this about several items already, but this is really one of the best items on the NWW List. Here are a few reviews that should give a glimpse at how amazing this thing really is:

http://curved-air.com/2006/06/25/moolah/
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1276
http://gnosis2000.net/reviews/moolah.htm

From the back cover:

“by the mystic fire
ye wait . . . . yor hide
glistening with sweat
of strange endeavors
performing dances
to the sun and moon
licking blood drinking tears
sacrificing love on the
altar of tomorrow
eating fruits of stolen vineyards
with withered young mouths
that sing old songs
which were forbid

the whirlwind . . . . . . !”

“look the dark clouds
gathering
on the horizon of doom
winds cross trees uproot
plagues of flies invade
the land at hand
o day of judge men
see ye children
of the accursed
what sown be reaped
given ye gods ye chose the beast
and eternity plays the tune
of unnamed horror
for terror is real
and so is hell!”

Download

Blog running again + Mate & Vallancien post updated

2007-03-02T17:01:00.000-05:00

As the title says; posts should be coming again soon. The Mate and Vallancien post has been updated with a cover and tracklisting from lsettal, so thanks to him as well as everyone else that's contributed or left comments in the past couple days.

No posts till Friday + L. Voag post fixed

2007-02-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-26T17:49:00.001-05:00

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

2007-02-26T17:42:00.000-05:00

Not much to say...get it here

Jacques Thollot 4 LP's

2007-02-26T16:48:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-02-25T13:09:00.000-05:00

Short history

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

Download

Luigi Russolo - Die Kunst der Geraeusche

2007-02-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

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!

Download

L. Voag - The Way Out (1979)

2007-02-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

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.

Download

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

2007-02-25T12:49:00.000-05:00

"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?

Download

Copies can still be found at Forced Exposure

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

2007-02-24T18:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-24T17:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-22T21:56:00.000-05:00

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?

Download

Association PC - Sun Rotation

2007-02-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

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

Download

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

2007-02-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

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?

Download

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

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

2007-02-21T20:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-20T23:48:00.000-05:00

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

Download

Sally Smmit - Soundtrack to Hangahar

2007-02-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

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...

Download

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

2007-02-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-02-20T19:17:00.000-05:00

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!