Another World Of Sound

John Coltrane, THE OLATUNJI CONCERT: THE LAST LIVE RECORDING

2012-01-19T01:11:00.000-05:00

Impulse!, 2001; available

3 tracks, 63:46

While the late John Coltrane needs no introduction, this album definitely deserves a better reputation. Taking up tenor and soprano sax, Coltrane is accompanied by drummer Rashied Ali, pianist (and wife) Alice Coltrane, Bata drummer Algie DeWitt, bassist Jimmy Garrison, Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, and a percussionist who was possibly Jumma Santos*. This show was the first of two concerts performed on April 22 of 1967 at New York's Olatunji Center. After a brief introduction by Billy Taylor, the group launches into an extended free-form version of "Ogunde". Based on an Afro-Brazilian folk tune, it's completely ferocious high-energy jazz. Coltrane and Sanders trade screeches and fluid lines, with Sanders providing most of the former. Alice and Garrison do a good job, but admittedly the rough recording quality makes a lot of their contributions inaudible. The three percussionists, on the other hand, are VERY audible throughout. The constant crash of standard kit drums and exotic percussion never lets up, and by the time "Ogunde"'s twenty-eight minutes are over, you wonder how it could possibly get more intense. A brief respite comes with Garrison's extended introductory bass solo on "My Favorite Things". This mellow rhythmic excursion is soon transformed into an extended (34:38 with the bass solo!) version of that old chestnut. Don't expect this to be ANYTHING like the "My Favorite Things" you know! This is easily one of the most intense performances caught on tape, and by the time it's over you wish the second show of the day (and the May 7th concert, Coltrane's last) had been recorded. Unfortunately, the previously mentioned audio deficiencies have cast a negative light on this album. Most listeners have complained it's bootleg quality; well, this was recorded for a radio broadcast and not for general release. I personally think the sound quality adds to this particular recording's ferocity and energy, and wholeheartedly recommend it to free jazz fans.

*Yes, the credits say "possibly". Nobody seems to remember if this percussionist was Jumma Santos or somebody else, but the odds are in Santos' favor.

Jack Ruby, JACK RUBY

2011-12-20T03:53:00.003-05:00

ugEXPLODE, 2011; available

8 tracks, 24:51

Since it's almost time to say goodbye to 2011, I hereby declare this short CD archival release of the year! The legendary (and until now unheard on record) Jack Ruby was a strange meeting of minds. On the first four tracks, they are comprised of singer Robin Hall, bassist/guitarist Chris Gray (the only constant, it seems), and drummer/keyboardist/Serge synth player Randy Cohen. On the first track, 1974's "Hit and Run", this trio is joined by early member Boris Policeband* on electric viola (the credits say violin, but Robin Hall himself corrected this in the comments). "Hit and Run" is a wonderful slice of proto-punk, beginning like a perfect emulation of RAW POWER-era Stooges before Hall's deranged mantra of "And ya hit and ya run and ya hit and ya run...." leads into a meltdown of Serge noises, a mess of violin feedback, and guitars distorted beyond recognition. This puts them firmly as a proto-no wave act as well. The other three '74 tracks are no less intense, with the glam-punk of "Bored Stiff" and the noisy "Bad Teeth" being highlights. The last four tracks come from a 1977 rehearsal session. The band 's lineup has been changed to future Contortions bassist George Scott, drummer Nick, and Gray, with the latter taking on vocal duties. The sound quality is a little rougher, but that's not surprising as the earlier tracks were studio-recorded demos. "Hit and Run" and "Bored Stiff" show up again, but in drastically different forms. These tracks are more in line with punk and no wave, ditching the glam touches. It might be less surprising in context, but the musicianship is still top-notch and noisy in the best ways. Comparing the two lineups is interesting, and the two halves form a delightful whole. While the playing time is admittedly skimpy, the musical quality is worth every penny. I highly suggest spending the $10 to order this direct from ugEXPLODE. Kudos to Weasel Walter for continuing to find and release no wave obscurities like this!

*Apparently three tracks were recorded with Boris; why these weren't included is unknown, but it's highly possible the tape was damaged or the recording was otherwise unsalvagable. Weasel Walter mentions having access to other Jack Ruby recordings, but it's hinted that the most noteworthy made it onto the CD.

Cows, CUNNING STUNTS

2011-12-05T02:48:00.001-05:00

Amphetamine Reptile, 1992; out of print

12 tracks, 39:05

There was a time in my life (when I was 17, to be exact) when I thought Minneapolis' Cows were the greatest band ever. While I don't hold them in quite the same regard these days, they'll always have some nostalgic value, and the music is still pretty good. Headed by lunatic singer/buglist Shannon Selberg, Cows were one of the main acts on Amphetamine Reptile. Thor Eisentrager provided gnarled riffs bordering on pure sound to back up inventive bassist Kevin Rutmanis and a series of drummers. On CUNNING STUNTS, their fourth LP (third for Amphetamine Reptile), this spot is filled by Norm Rogers. While more consciously melody-oriented(!) than previous efforts*, Cows still made the competition look fairly tame. Opening with a slap and a crying infant, "Heave Ho" goes right into a raging bugle-led storm. "Walks Alone" and "Contamination" are no less intense, but "Mr. Canceled" and a cover of "Midnight Cowboy" are surprisingly restrained. Selberg's vocals are at their manic best on "Terrifique"; he punctuates each chorus with a throaty "Ugggggggggh!" followed by a high-pitched "TERRIFIQUE!" to fairly unsettling effect. The hypnotic closer "Ort" is another highlight on a completely solid album. Widely hailed as Cows' best, CUNNING STUNTS is a classic example of '90s noise rock at its best. The albums that followed it had their moments as well, but CUNNING STUNTS and earlier albums showcase Cows at their prime.

*DADDY HAS A TAIL!, EFFETE & IMPUDENT SNOBS, and PEACETIKA come highly recommended, but they are out of print as well. There was a twofer combining DADDY and PEACETIKA on CD (as well as a standalone CD of EFFETE), and the equally rare CD compilation OLD GOLD collects the best tracks from all three.

My transcontinental twin has a review blog now!

2011-11-27T18:01:00.003-05:00

http://chimeramusicmag.wordpress.com/. Go check it out! Metal, post-rock, post-punk, drone..... if these sound like your cup of tea, dive in!

Karlheinz Stockhausen, AUS DEN SIEBEN TAGEN

2011-11-16T00:18:00.000-05:00

Harmonia Mundi, 1969; available

2 tracks, 46:19

The late Karleheinz Stockhausen recorded this series of pieces after a long depression. Two are represented here; I'm not sure if they're different versions than those on the seven-LP (!) box. AUS DEN SIEBEN TAGEN (ON THE SEVENTH DAY) is a classic of intuitive music. Stockhausen gave his musicians instructions on how to play (based on mood, interpretation, and other non-notational methods) and then let them take flight. Jazz guy Michel Portal sits in on various instruments (bass clarinet, tenor sax, E flat clarinet, bass clarinet, basset horn, and taragod); the other musicians, mostly French avant-gardists (it was recorded in Paris), play everything from electronium to tam-tam to darabuka. Stockhausen himself controlled the filters and potentiometers, used to distort and manipulate the sound of certain instruments. Both pieces, "Fais Voile Vers Le Soleil" ("Look Towards The Sun") and "Liaison" ("Connection"), are wonderful examples of guided intuitive improv. There are long stretches with few instruments being played as well as noisy clusters. I consider this a nice preview of the mega-set, which contains all eleven compositions (some in multiple takes). However, as a standalone album this two-track distillation is a perfectly great addition to any avant-composition collection.

Alternative TV, THE IMAGE HAS CRACKED

2011-10-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

Deptford Fun City, 1978; reissued by Cherry Red with bonus tracks; available

CD: 20 tracks, 73:34

ATV founder (and mainstay) Mark Perry was the editor of the legendary punk zine SNIFFIN' GLUE. That being said, it's obvious he viewed punk more as an attitude than a sound, for Alternative TV rarely ever stuck to punk's "rules". The early singles "Life", "How Much Longer?", and "You Bastard" (all present, with the latter two appearing in different versions) are most definitely UK '70s punk, and fine examples at that! However, the debut single "Love Lies Limp" is decidedly reggae-influenced. THE IMAGE HAS CRACKED, their first album, veers all over the place stylistically. Some tracks were recorded in a studio, while others are either straight live takes or what appear to be collages of studio and live material. The straightforward punk rock of "Action Time Vision" and "Viva La Rock and Roll" are musically quite accomplished, but the experimental material makes thems somewhat tame. Opening track "Alternatives" starts with a synthesizer noodle (played by Jools Holland!) before going into a krautrocky instrumental track accompanied by Perry trying to get the audience to use the stage as a forum. He gets progressively angrier at them for acting up, finally exploding when a fight breaks out. There's also the interesting cover of Frank Zappa's "Why Don't You Do Me Right" and the hypnotic "Splitting In Two". My personal favorite is the atmospheric "Nasty Little Lonely", which has a nice slow buildup to an explosive release. One of the bonus tracks, "Another Coke", is a live number recorded for the album but rejected due to space. As a whole, THE IMAGE HAS CRACKED is a bit schizophrenic, but it does cohere into a great early post-punk album with repeated listens. After this, Alternative TV would shed their few "punk" tendencies and go deep into experimental music. The bonus track "The Force Is Blind" is much more in line with this industrial direction. It's hard to find, but the second album VIBING UP THE SENILE MAN especially shows this side of the band to great effect.

Pytolator, INLAND

2011-10-26T01:16:00.000-04:00

Ata Tak, 1979; available with bonus tracks

CD: 18 tracks, 59:48

Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke began his career in Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (specifically on PRODUKT DER...) and ended up dividing his time between his solo work and Der Plan. This, the second release on the Dahlke-founded Ata Tak (again, after PRODUKT DER...!), is his first solo venture. Unlike the later AUSLAND, this finds Pyrolator completely on his own. His arsenal of machines is quite impressive - an early Italian synth, an organ, a Korg MS20, two mics, and a tape setup. Interestingly, this completely instrumental album was intended as a protest piece against prevailing cultural views in Germany! The pieces themselves cover a lot of ground in a krautrock-influenced industrial way. The four "Inland" tracks, as well as "Minimal Tape 1/2.3", are masterpieces of early synth noise. On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are the dreamy ambient "Minimal Tape 1/8" and a couple of catchy synthpop numbers (my favorite of these is "Danger Cruising", which sounds remarkably like its name). "Bärenstrasse" and "Nordatlantik" round out the stylistic diversity with pioneering bits of dark ambience. The six bonus tracks are very worthwhile as well, with the droning "Die Einsamkeit Des Langstreckenläufers", "Struktur 01" and "Struktur 22" being particularly delightful. Most of these were recorded prior to INLAND, but soundwise they are along similar lines. While this is much more minimal (and nowhere near as lighthearted) than anything else Pyrolator ever did, it's a wonderful and enjoyable slice of eccentricity. It's also my favorite Pyrolator solo release, but nervous fans might want to start with AUSLAND or Der Plan's GERI REIG before going INLAND.

Hugh Le Caine, COMPOSITIONS DEMONSTRATIONS 1946-1974

2011-09-20T03:57:00.004-04:00

JWD/EMF, 1999; available

38 tracks, 73:56

The late Hugh Le Caine is one of the forgotten pioneers of electronic and concrete music. This release collects every known recording of his work, as well as a few recordings by other musicians using his instruments. Among these self-made wonders are a touch-sensitive organ, two types of artificial larynx (ie, a primitive vocoder), custom-built multi-track recorders, and the Electronic Sackbut synthesizer. The latter is especially noteworthy since, being created circa 1946, it is the earliest known true synthesizer. The tracks presented include musique concrete classics like "Dripsody" (based on a drop of water that is turned into a metallic symphony, and which is present in mono and stereo forms) and "Study No. 1 For Player Piano And Tape"; strange "humorous sketches" like "This Thing Called Key" and "Sounds To Forget"; electronic experiments like "Ninety-Nine Generators" and "A Noisome Pestilence"; and short demonstrations of the instruments. The highlights (such as "Dripsody" and "The Burning Deck", which both appear twice in slightly different forms) are incredible. It's worth noting that Le Caine didn't compose a whole lot of pieces; he fully intended to have more skilled musicians compose works on his instruments. Thus, there are a lot of demonstrations on here. While these are included more for historical purposes than listenability, they're still fun in small doses, and the occasional commentary by Le Caine adds a lot of charm. Taken as a whole, this collection is an essential insight into an unfairly obscure genius and comes strongly recommended to all fans of electronic music, since many roots of more recent acts can be traced back to these experiments.

MORE ARCTIC HYSTERIA/SON OF ARCTIC HYSTERIA - THE LATER YEARS OF EARLY FINNISH AVANT-GARDE

2011-09-20T02:59:00.021-04:00

Love Records, 2005; available

2 discs; disc 1 (MORE ARCTIC HYSTERIA):15 tracks, 76:07; disc 2 (SON OF ARCTIC HYSTERIA): 19 tracks, 73:48

Picking up where ARKTINEN HYSTERIA left off, this double-disc feast of experimental sounds covers 1970 to 1990 (with two bonus '60s tracks for good measure!). As the liner notes point out, the first disc leans more towards jazz and modern compositon, while the second is more on the rock side. Let's plunge into the track-by-track, shall we?

MORE ARCTIC HYSTERIA

1.Pekka Streng, "Olen Väsynyt" ("I'm Tired", 1970) - A weird bit of prog-folk from this psychonaut. The main almost synth-like drone is actually produced by a Jew's harp. Nice opening track!

2.Karelia, "Kahella Sarvella" ("With Two Horns", 1972) - This is a somewhat grating rendition of a folk song. It's fairly close to the Godz or the Fugs. Free jazz guy Edward Vesala is involved, though!

3. Samsa Trio, "Kiven Poiminta" ("Pickin' Up A Rock", 1972) - It's our old friend Pekka Airaksinen! Here, he teams up with fellow ex-Sperm members Antero Helander and Mattijuhani Koponen to play free jazz. It's very different from the Sperm and Airaksinen's solo work, but it's very nice indeed!

4. The Omar Williams Experience, "Democracy" (circa 1971-1972)- Airaksinen and Helander team up with American poet Williams for a more chaotic form of free jazz. This is also a really good track. It ends with a brief but amusing recital from Williams.

5. Osmo Lindeman, "Ritual" (1972) - Early electronic bliss! Lindeman's concrete gem is intended to gently parody religious services. It rightfully won an award (in Italy!) the year it was composed. I highly recommend this for fans of Xenakis et al.

6. Jarmo Sermilä, "Electrocomposition 1" (1976) - Another unjustly little-known piece of early electronic wizardry! Performed solely on the EML 101, this squelchy delight deserves to be heard. Thank goodness for compilations like this!

7. Åke Andersson, "Kaukonen Ennen Vanhaan" ("Kaukonen In The Old Days", 1977) - This guy was one half of the Finnish equivalent of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The song is a shifting electronic landscape meant to evoke a Sami village. It accomplishes everything the Residents' ESKIMO meant to in just six minutes and fifty seconds. Amazing!

8. Gandhi-Freud, "A" (1975) - Airaksinen again, here performing solo under an alias. This short track is just over two minutes of weird and wonderful synth squiggles. It's not Airaksinen's most impressive work, but it's fun.

9. Jone Takamäki Trio, "Bhupala 1" (1982) - Normally a chaotic punk jazz outfit, Takamäki and company played a more ambient style of free jazz on their second album. This track, based on an Indian traditional theme, is taken from that album. It's a great example of Indian-themed jazz, with definite raga touches and a drifting dreamy atmosphere. Very nice indeed!

10. Lauri Nykopp, "Y - Part V" (1982) - Taken from a bizarre free improv ritual recording (!), this features Nykopp playing a didgeridoo near a haystack. There's quite a bit of silence incorporated into the piece as well. It's atmospheric, strange, and completely fascinating.

11. Edward Vesala, "Maailman Reuna" ("Edge Of The World", 1982) - A completely unexpected proggy excursion from Vesala and company. It's barely over two minutes, but it's a blast of fun that resembles early Soft Machine mixed with equally early Henry Cow. I really want to hear the rest of this album!

12. Matti and Pirjo Bergström, "Virkamiehet - excerpt from The Forgotten Horizon" ("Bureaucrats", 1980) - A husband and wife duo scoring an avant-garde dance production with catchy-yet-strange synthpop. It's great!

13. Ilkka Volanen, "Kahlaaja - excerpt" ("Wader", 1982) - Oh man, I wish they included this whole track! This is ten and a half minutes from a twenty-four minute piece. What IS here is an amazing and moody sound collage. This easily rivals anything Nurse With Wound was doing at the same time. Wonderful!

14. Kaj Chidenius, "W" (1964) - One of the two '60s bonus tracks, this is a Dadaist prankster reciting Schwitters' poem. In other words, it's the Finnish equivalent of "W" being said in various funny ways for just under a minute. Amusing but not essential.

15. M.A. Numminen, "Oigu-S" (1964) - This, on the other hand, is absolutely essential! It's a collage tape assembled by Numminen and Erkki Kurenniemi. Originally used to back up Numminen's performance on Kurenniemi's "voice machine", it stands on its own as yet another fascinating sound collage from Finland's early avant scene.

SON OF ARCTIC HYSTERIA

1. Kollaa Kestää, "Tähtien Rauha" ("Star Peace", 1978) - These guys were known as a punk band, but here they perform drum machine-led spacey new wave with moody vocals. It's a lot better than that sounds!

2. Aavikon Kone Ja Moottori, "Rakkaudella Sinulle" ("With Love To You", 1980) - Weird group chanting with electronic backing is cut off by the sound of a bird cage being beaten by a relay. Strange, but not bad.

3. Kari Peitsamo, "Puinen Koira" ("Wooden Dog", 1978) - The puckish Peitsamo was mostly known for quirky pop. This is the absolute opposite of quirky pop! For seven minutes, he produces some awful screeches from a violin. It's noisy, it's irritating, and it's amazing.

4. Yhtye, "Apatian Tanssi" ("Dance Of Apathy", 1979) - Yhtye's drummer pounds a bass drum in a rhythmic way for fifty-eight seconds. I love this minimalist joke more than I should.

5. The Silver, "Do You Wanna Dance" (1980) - Oh boy, HERE'S a monster! Three teens ("Harry Angel", "Calamity Jane", and an unknown third member; yes, that's ALL the info available!) destroy the classic rock tune and record the results to some kind of cheap tape recorder. This one has to be heard to be believed, but imagine the Shaggs as punks/noise-rockers and you'll have an idea. The shrieking breakdown is especially amusing. I genuinely love this song, even though it's truly untamed and unmusical.

6. Hefty Load, "Schrecklich" (1981) - Apparently put together to use up free studio time, Hefty Load plays a weird and loose style of space rock. The synth player was also the producer, and he had never played a synth before. Interesting track, really!

7. Vaaralliset Lelut, "Alkuasukkaiden Lääkkeet" (1984) - Would you believe this is catchy instrumental dub reggae performed by Finns? Would you believe it's also really good? Well, whether you believe it or not, both are true.

8. Jaakko Kangosjärvi, "Musiikki Ja Urheilu" ("Music And Sports", 1981) - Silly minimal synthpop with female vocals sung in German-accented Finnish. Utterly disposable (and those synths sound CHEAP!), but absolutely endearing. I find myself listening to this one a lot.

9. Tapa Paha Tapa, "I Love It" (1983) - This was some sort of collective band, but only two members play on this track. It's a nice and moody number, somewhat like Heldon. I'd love to hear more of this group.

10. Swissair, "Baggage Claim" (circa 1981) - Another collective, these guys seemed to be the heirs to the Sperm's throne. One of them plays a repetitive guitar line while two others play his pickups and pedals. There's also a primitive drum machine clunking along. It's utterly hypnotic and could easily be mistaken for solo Airaksinen (which is a VERY high compliment!).

11. Harri Tuominen, "Lippukunta" ("Brigade", 1984) - Interesting post-punk collage piece. It was inspired by Expressionist cinema, and it's fittingly moody and cinematic.

12. Suomen Poliisit, "Mihin Sie Meet Keijo" ("Where Yuh Goin', Keijo", 1984) - This is actually the cult act Sleepy Sleepers under a pseudonym. For this project, they played in a gloriously noisy and amateurish fashion to parody punk and noise-rock. "Hey Joe" gets this treatment here, and the results are wonderfully sloppy and nasty.

13. Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio, "Kalinka" (1985) - It's probably no surprise that this band is usually referred to as KTMK! This furious hardcore number features some truly frenzied vocals and delightfully angular guitar. It does seem somewhat out of place, but I personally love KTMK, so I don't mind!

14. Joan Bennett Museo, "Empty Faces" (1984) - This is strange minimal pop that degrades into weird vocalisations. The group was an offshoot of a performance art troupe called Homo $. Decent, but not a standout.

15. 500 Kg Lihaa, "Pallokentällä" (1982) - Finnish no wave is the best way to describe this stunner. Maritaa Kuula gets progressively crazier with her vocals, at one point uttering shrieks that would put Galas to shame. The band nobly keeps up with repetitive organ, dual guitars, and a steady rhythm. These guys had a long career, and I intend to acquire more of their stuff.

16. Super Ladex, "Olet Valloissasi" ("You're In Your Power", circa 1981-1984) - This is an acquired taste, that's for sure! Three siblings made this chaotic burst: two boys, nineteen and ten respectively, and a six-year-old girl. They went around their house grabbing random junk and objects. It sounds like most of the lyrics (which come from labels, comic books, and the like) are screamed or shouted by the girl, but some of it could very well be the boys. It also sounds like this is possibly a bunch of smaller songs assembled together noisecore-style, but there's no proof that this was the intent. While it's pretty funny and even creative, it didn't really need to run for eight minutes.

17. Gagarin-Kombinaatti, "Raskas" ("Heavy", 1984) - Early industrial from the Neubauten school. It's sadly short at only two minutes, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an amazing bit of grinding metallic synths and real sheet metal being pounded and drilled. Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic got his start here as well, and it's definitely interesting to hear what he was up to previously.

18. Jimi Tenor and his Shamans, "Le Petomane (380v)" (1990) - The most recent track on the collection is an interesting industrial piece by Tenor and his gang. There's some weird instrumentation, but the definite show stopper is the Sirkka II custom-built drum machine. I can't figure out how it works by looking at it, since it resembles a spinning wheel, but its thudding beats propel this nifty little tune. This one could honestly be mistaken for Test Dept.

19. Reinin Myrkky, "Snorkkelijenkka: ("Snorkel Jenka", 1989) - Closing out the collection is Tenor and some freinds parodying a jenka tune. It's an amusing blast of polka-esque silliness, and it's over in twenty-five seconds.

Overall, there's too many winning tracks on this album to grouse about any of the lesser numbers (and those are at worst merely interesting). It's a wonderful companion to ARKTINEN HYSTERIA or a perfect standalone primer. I strongly recommend finding a copy at all costs and blowing your mind.

Karlheinz Stockhausen, KONTAKTE

2011-08-25T04:00:00.001-04:00

Wergo, 1963; available

Technically 2 tracks, 35:07

Well, it was about time Stockhausen ended up here! This disc is a performance of the title piece* spread over two tracks. Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig handle the electronics, while Christoph Caskel and David Tudor provide drums (and piano, in Tudor's case). For a hair over thirty-five minutes, this quartet manages to astound. The electronic sounds come in bursts, while Caskel and Tudor respond organically on their respective instruments. The effect is one of violence fading into tranquility, which is exactly what Stockhausen intended. It's short, sweet, and one of his most accessible works (!). I highly suggest this edition as a Stockhausen primer; if you're already familiar with his work, this is an important addition. There is another realization recorded in 1978 with James Tenney on percussion and William Winant on percussion. It' was released by Ecstatic Peace! on CD and vinyl in the late '90s. Some folks prefer this to the Wergo disc, but I find it to be a little less exciting.

*Composed in 1959, "Kontakte" exists in two versions: this one, for electronics, drums, and piano, and the earlier electronics-only version. The electronic sounds are identical, but it is worth seeking out the other version to hear how much the drums and piano add to the piece.

William S. Burroughs, BREAK THROUGH IN GREY ROOM

2011-08-21T22:54:00.001-04:00

Sub Rosa, 1986; available

15 tracks, 44:53

I'm going to assume everyone reading this knows who Burroughs is; if you don't, you should fix that! This album collects various sound experiments and snippets recorded between 1960 and 1976 by Burroughs and his assistant Ian Sommerville. The massive "K-9 Was In Combat With The Alien Mind-Screens" is an epic take on radio plays, cut-up style. Here, Burroughs and Sommerville mesh bizarre spoken dialogues with pecussive loops, static, and all sorts of noises; several other tracks on the comp get briefly sampled too. Different techniques are used on each song for a unique twist on audio manipulation. "Silver Smoke Of Dreams", "Recalling All Active Agents", "Present Time Exercises", and "Working With The Popular Forces" are the standouts. Each one takes a bit of spoken word and then proceeds to warp it in glorious ways. Some tracks are cut-ups interspersed with static and other noise, while others layer sound on sound or create strange tones by inching the tape forward or backward manually. Then there are the few tracks that stand out for not being manipulated. "Origin And Theory Of The Cut-Ups" is just Burroughs explaining the process, while "Junky Relations", "Burroughs Called The Law", and "Interview With Mr. Martin" are readings of his written work. The short "Joujouka" tracks are recording of that village's Master Musicians, made while Burroughs and Ornette Coleman were visiting Morocco. This whole collection is very hard to get into if you're not a fan of the avant-garde, and even a few dedicated avant fans will find this to be a bit much. However, it has immense historical value as an influence on industrial music (Genesis P-Orridge actually supplied a lot of the source tapes!) and as a fairly successful translation of Burroughs' written work into sound.

ARKTINEN HYSTERIA: SUOMI-AVANTGARDEN ESIPUUTARHUREITA

2011-08-08T15:14:00.008-04:00

Love Records, 2001; available

13 tracks, 78:09

This absolutely priceless compilation of Finnish experimental music (the title translates roughly to "Arctic Hysteria: The Early Finnish Avant-Gardeners"!) is a tough one to review. Each track covers different styles, which makes for a delightfully diverse listen. Thus, for a change, I'm going to do a track-by-track analysis. I will provide tranlsations of the titles (when needed) in each mini-review.

1. M.A. Numminen, Tommi Parko, Pekka Kujanpää - "Eleitä kolmelle röyhtäilijälle" (1961)
This "symphony for three belchers" is probably the weakest track here, but it's mercifully brief at 1:56 and historically important. The three madmen responsible (two of whom show up with later works on the next two tracks) burp over a folky strum. That's it. Still, it's pretty funny once in a while.

2. Sähkökvartetti - "Kaukana väijyy ystäviä" (1968)
Here's where things start to get interesting! The Sähkökvartetti was a four-piece electronic instrument created by Erkki Kurenniemi (more on him later). Translating to "Electric Quartet", it consisted of an "electric violin", a primitive drum machine, a photoelectric melody machine, and the "voice machine". The latter is some kind of microphone/photoelectric aluminum stick hybrid. Numminen and Parko are on voice machine and electric violin respectively, while Arto Koskinen and Peter Widén handle melody and drum machines. This is raw live electronics, made even eerier when Numminen's distorted voice joins the mix. The recording quality is rough, but that's perfectly suited to the material. Another version of this is on the PSYCHEDELIC PHINLAND 2-disc comp; both are recommended, since no two performances of "Far Away Lurk Friends" were alike.

3. Tommi Parko - "Hysteriablues" (1968)
Here's Parko for a third time! This is another mildly annoying track. It consists of jazzy/bluesy piano playing while Parko yelps in a falsetto. It's too brief to REALLY grate, though, and it is very amusing. It's actually VERY similar to the experimental vocal works of Henry Flynt.

4. Erkki Salmenhaara - "Information Explosion, prologue" (1967)
I enjoy this one a lot. It's an early bit of Finnish musique concrete bordering on plunderphonics. Several different sound sources pop in and out of the mix, but rarely at the same time. The overall feeling is receiving data in bursts. Salmenhaara (with some assistance from Erkki Kurenniemi) also gets points for a fairly unique take on musique concrete.

5. Blues Section - "Shivers Of Pleasure" (1967)
While it's somewhat out of place, this psychedelic gem is really cool. Backwards tapes, free sax playing, and an "atonal choir" combine with more traditional rock to great effect. Be warned that some other Blues Section material is nowhere near as innovative.

6. Erkki Kurenniemi - "Antropoiden Tansi" (1968)
Finally getting his own track, Kurenniemi was a true electronic wizard. This track uses one of his self-built early sequencers to create an odd masterpiece. The jumpy electronic tones sound remarkably similar to later glitch and IDM experiments, earning the title "Dance Of The Anthropoids" quite well. There's not a whole lot of Kurenniemi out there (he only recorded eleven pieces total), so having a taste here is quite a boon. If you're hooked like I was, try to find the complete collection ÄÄNITYKSIÄ/RECORDINGS 1963-1973.

7. Jukka Ruohomäki - "Mikä aika on" (1970)
This guy was Kurenniemi's assistant. Here, he uses the DIMI (Digital Musical Instrument), a synthesizer built by you-know-who. It sounds remarkably similar to Patrick Vian's solo work and is every bit as enjoyable.

8. Jouni Kesti and Seppo I. Laine - "Vallankumouksen analyysi" (1970)
This eleven-minute onslaught of free jazz is amazing! Recorded on a cheap deck in a living room, Laine absolutely roars on alto sax while Kesti attacks his drums in a nearly grindcore fashion. At one point Laine puts his microphone inside the sax, resulting in some truly filthy distortion. I wish I could find the B-side of the mini-LP this was taken from. If it's anything like "Analysis Of Revolution" (what an absolutely fitting name!), it would be a masterpiece. As it is, this is a lost treasure of truly brutal jazz.

9. The Sperm - "3rd Erection" (1968)
Ah, the infamous Sperm! This track is taken from their debut EP. P.Y Hiltunen makes some weird vocalizations (words? sounds? speaking in tongues?) while Pekka Airaksinen does his thing with a guitar. It sounds nothing like SHH!, but it's a great track. It's somewhat comparable to a noisier take on the Holy Modal Rounders or the Fugs.

10. J.O. Mallander - "1962" (1968)
This one's important due to Mallander's involvement with the Sperm, but it's truly mind-numbing and boring. A voice repeats "Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen" over and over and over. That's it. There's also a part two elsewhere that's essentially the same thing. It's a joke that works for its audience, but it loses a lot in translation.

11. The Sperm - "Kuoleman puutarha live (otteita)" (1970)
Oh man, what a find! This is basically a collage of excerpts from the Sperm's opera "Garden Of Death". It opens with a lecture, goes into an Airaksinen guitarscape via a rough cut, and then ends on a crazed jam accompanied briefly by another lecture. While it will obviously never replace seeing them live, it gives you a great idea of what the audience experienced. The cover photo of this comp is apparently from this performance, if that's any indication!

12. Pekka Airaksinen - "Pieni sienikonsertto - A Little Soup For Piano And Orchestra op 46,8" (1970)
This has already been reviewed, since it was on Airaksinen's ONE POINT MUSIC, but its presence here is definitely welcome!

13. S. Albert Kivinen - "Spirea" (1970)
Another jokey track. Kivinen sings about Spiro Agnew in an off-key voice over a folk song. It's not a standout by any stretch, but it's definitely not bad. It's probably also worth noting that Numminen shows up here yet again, this time on accordion!

Thankfully, the less-interesting tracks are all brief, while the lengthy highlights are over far too soon. This is an excellent primer on the Finnish experimental scene(s) and should be acquired by anyone with an interest in the avant-garde. You might also want to check out SON OF ARCTIC HYSTERIA/MORE ARCTIC HYSTERIA and PSYCHEDELIC PHINLAND. The former is a 2-disc set that continues where this one leaves off, covering works from 1970 to 1990. The latter is also a 2-disc set; disc 1 is more accessible hippie/folk/psychedelic material, while disc 2 features tracks by the Sperm, Airaksinen, Sähkökvartetti, and Mallander amongst others.

A.R. Kane, 69 and "i"

2011-08-04T00:52:00.005-04:00

Rough Trade, 1988; reissued by One Little Indian; available

10 tracks, 40:30

Rough Trade, 1989; reissued by One Little Indian; available

26 tracks, 67:51

It never ceases to amaze me that A.R. Kane aren't well known in the US. This duo (of Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala) were capable of some of THE most innovative music of the late '80s. The British press saddled them with the obnoxious moniker "the black Jesus and Mary Chain", which isn't even very accurate. Their early singles were slightly JAMC-ish*, but by the time of their debut LP 69, they were mining far stranger territory. Claiming to be interpreting the style of electric Miles Davis on rock instruments, they actually hit closer to a shoegazer/dub combination that was uniquely theirs. Perhaps Cocteau Twins would be a close comparison, but A.R. Kane are far more trippy and improvisational in nature. In fact, A.R. Kane coined the term "dream pop" just to describe their music! Five of the tracks feature extra instrumentation by other musicians, but this is limited to one or two extras per track. Everything else was programmed and performed by Rudy and Alex. The opening "Crazy Blue" and "Suicide Kiss" show A.R. Kane's versatility nicely. "Crazy Blue" is shoegazer gone pop, with a catchy beat anchoring the soaring vocals of Rudy (who starts off with some interesting glossolalia) and Maggie (his sister). At the other end of the spectrum, "Suicide Kiss" has a heavy industrial-esque beat and lots of feedback; Rudy's vocals here are another perfect match with the music. Other highlights include "Sulliday", with its controlled feedback and pounding drum programming, and the particularly psychedelic "Spermwhale Trip Over" (whose main lyric is the repeated "Here, in my LSDream"!) and "Baby Milk Snatcher" (the dub influence is especially apparent here). None of these ten songs has a wasted note, and if they had released nothing but the singles and this, they still would have had an impressive catalogue.

As it happens, 1989's "i" was a bit confusing. First off, the tracklist was divided into four suites of four songs, each represented by a card suit. There were also ten "jokers" ranging from five seconds to one and a half minutes. These interludes are mostly weird bits of noise and/or atmosphere (and they mostly fall in the thirty seconds or less range), but they are fairly entertaining. The songs themselves showed Alex and Rudy tackling a wide variety of styles. To be fair, they mostly succeeded. The unusually poppy first suite has some catchy winners in "A Love From Outer Space" and "Crack Up". However, "Snow Joke" and "What's All This Then?" are obviously weaker; the former sounds too much like generic late '80s dance music, while the latter sounds like a watered-down 69 outtake. The rest of the album gets better as it goes along, with plenty of unique pop ("Miles Apart", "Sugarwings"), moody psychedelia ("Conundrum", "Honeysuckleswallow), and high-octane thrash-gaze ("Supervixens", "Insect Love"). The main duo still performs most of the music themselves, but there are more guests here than on 69. The last three tracks are very nicely sequenced. "Sorry" is five seconds of record trickery and sampled dialogue, leading into the wonderfully dubby "Catch My Drift", ending with the sarcastic six-second "Challenge". True, they somewhat overstepped their limits here, but it's still a good album.

Definitely get 69 first, but once that hooks you, "i" should find a spot in your collection as well. The follow up REM"i"XES was a little too poppy for my tastes, and 1994's NEW CLEAR CHILD is a massively disappointing comeback. There has been talk of a singles collection, which is recommended should it ever be released.

*Alex and Rudy had their big break as part of M/A/R/R/S. This collaboration with Colourbox yielded the insanely popular "Pump Up The Volume".

Noah Howard, THE BLACK ARK

2011-07-11T20:21:00.001-04:00

Freedom, 1972; reissued by Bo'Weavil; available

4 tracks, 40:38

This legendary free jazz album is finally readily available, and boy is it a doozy! Having recorded previously for ESP-Disk', Noah Howard put together a radical septet in 1969 for THE BLACK ARK. It isn't certain why its release was delayed for three years. The other players are trumpeter Earl Cross, conga-player Juma Sultan (who also played with Jimi Hendrix), drummer Mohammed Ali (not the boxer, but drummer Rashied's younger brother), pianist Leslie Waldron, bassist Norris Jones, and the legendary Arthur Doyle on tenor sax(his debut performance!). Most of these players went on to other things, and all were obscure masters of their respective instruments. Definitely in the same category as Ayler or Takayanagi and Abe, this is jazz set to "destroy". The four tracks all begin and end with a more-or-less melodic theme; the funky "Domiabra" and Asian-tinged "Mount Fuji" (the longest tracks at 10:20 and 15:32) are most remarkable in this regard. The middles, however, all descend into noisy free-for-alls. Howard and Cross are every bit as riotous as Doyle, and each man's solo involves lots of shrieking and honking. The rhtyhm section holds its own nicely. Waldron attacks the piano in a percussive manner, while Ali manages to provide furious pounding and blasting or restrained rolling according to the other players' whims. Juma's conga adds another layer of strangeness, with its trippy delay effect creating a unique sound. The Bo'Weavil CD issue comes housed in a very nice thick card sleeve, almost like a mini-LP, with an inner sleeve for the CD itself; it's also available on vinyl. The reporduction of the orginal liner notes plus new commentary by Oren Ambarchi adds to the overall wonder of this album. If you're at all interested in free jazz, you probably need this and I heartily recommend it. I will even go on record saying I enjoy this one album far more than ANYTHING Ayler recorded!

The Blue Humans, LIVE - N.Y. 1980

2011-05-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

Audible Hiss, 1995; out of print

4 tracks, 68:50

Here's a recipe for you. Add two parts free jazz to one part no wave. Place the ingredients on a stage; let them boil for approximately sixty-nine minutes. This recipe yields one copy of this album.

Recorded live at Hurrah on March 12, this is the earliest document of Rudolph Grey's Blue Humans. Grey was no stranger to the underground; he had teamed up with Von LMO (in Red Transistor and Why You Murder Me) and Mars, providing his noisy guitar textures and occasional barked vocals. He had also performed with drummer Beaver Harris in a duo setting. Harris had an impressive resume, gracing sessions by Ayler, Shepp, and others. These duos were some of the first performances using the Blue Humans monkier (a few earlier performances featured a duo of Grey and percussionist Rashid Baker). Along the way, Grey had discovered/become a fan of Arthur Doyle; in fact, Grey was present at the Doyle show which was released as ALABAMA FEELING. Previously reviewed on this blog, Doyle's reed playing is absolutely in a class of its own. The review quoted by Grey in the liners describes Doyle as "dangerous" and "nasty"; no wonder Grey was intrigued! The three came together around 1980, bringing their crazed free jazz to post-punk audiences. On this particular night, all three players are in top form. Harris can provide a light atmospheric backing or the full-on clanging and bashing usually associated with this music. Either way, he never settles down, providing a near-constant percussive backdrop for Grey and Doyle. The former shows remarkable restraint; clearly Rudolph respected his fellow players, for his feedback-drenched strumming and slashing meshes perfectly with the others. That leaves Doyle, who goes about as crazy as you'd expect! Doubling on tenor sax and flute, Doyle's shrieks and flutters are always perfect. Fans of his ALABAMA FEELING or Noah Howard's THE BLACK ARK certainly won't be disappointed! Interestingly, there are several points over the long "tracks"* where one or more players will duck out to allow the others to shine. Mostly this involves Doyle and Grey leaving room for the other, but there are several points (in the third track, especially) where it's just Doyle and his horn. The recording quality is pristine; if it wasn't for the enthusiastic applause you wouldn't think it was live! This is yet another gem which has been allowed to go out of print; it's also quite hard to find for under $20. If you have even a passing interest in truly outrageous free jazz, the no wave scene, or the early days of punk/jazz fusion, I suggest you make the effort to get this.

Doyle would leave for France, briefly replaced by Charles Tyler. Grey and Doyle still collaborate to this day, though the Blue Humans seem to have fallen by the wayside. In particular, Grey's TRANSFIXED features a stunning Doyle performance, while the Arthur Doyle Quartet's LIVE AT THE COOLER documents Doyle, Grey, bassist Wilbur Morris, and drummer Tom Surgal in a particularly fiery '95 show. Other Blue Humans lineups have included Surgal, Alan Licht, Rashied Ali, Charles Gayle, and Jim Sauter. Particularly interesting is their sole studio album, CLEAR TO HIGHER TIME (with Licht and Surgal). Harris also appears on the Blue Humans' INCANDESCENCE (with Grey and Sauter; also highly recommended). He kept playing free jazz until his death in 1991.

*None of the tracks have names, and the four indexed have times of 21:02, 6:44, 29:46, and 11:15.

The Gordons, 1ST ALBUM AND FUTURE SHOCK E.P.

2011-05-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

Flying Nun, circa 1997 (sources vary for the compilation's release; see review for original release dates); available

10 tracks, 50:43

New Zealand has long been a hotbed for alternative music (when that term actually meant something). The Gordons emerged from this fertile scene, armed with homemade guitars and noisy ambitions. Originally comprised of bassist John Halvorsen, guitarist Alistair Parker, and drummer Brent McLaughlin, the Gordons were an unstoppable post-punk delight. The FUTURE SHOCK EP came first (1980, on their own Gordons label). The title track and "Adults and Children" are noise rock gems, combining ferocious drumming and driving basslines with distorted guitar blasts and Halvorsen's frenzied shout-sing vocals. The slow Parker-sang "Machine Song", which is no less amazing, is much more like their debut LP. Released in 1981 on Gordons, this was a seven song masterpiece. Opener "Spik and Span" starts out mellow and beautiful, turning into a frenzied rave-up towards the end. This is followed by the nearly nine-minute "Right On Time", which in a more-just world would be universally considered a classic post-punk epic (the vocals here sound uncannily like Peter Murphy!). The rest of the tracks veer from humorous sludgy rock ("Coalminer's Song", "Growing Up") to post-punk rave-ups ("Sometimes", "I Just Can't Stop"), ending with the remarkable distortion-heavy "Laughing Now". It's strange listening to them now; Sonic Youth and Live Skull seem to have picked up a few ideas from the Gordons, and if it wasn't for the NZ accents you'd think these songs came out of mid-eighties New York. Fans of SY, Live Skull, Dinosaur Jr., etc.: This is the missing piece of your collection. Acquire this at all costs; you can typically get it from Flying Nun or another reliable New Zealand-based retailer for around $17 US (that's INCLUDING shipping).

If you just wanted to read the review, you can stop here. The following is a somewhat complicated mini-history of the Gordons after these albums.

After FUTURE SHOCK and THE GORDONS, Parker left. Vince Pinker took over bass duties, and this lineup recorded GORDONS II. Curiously, GORDONS II has never been reissued (it seems to be pretty much disowned by the band), but this compilation uses a slight variation of its cover art. Both original covers are reproduced on the back and in the delightfully wacky collage-ridden booklet. After GORDONS II, they split up. In the meantime, Parker had formed Bailter Space. After the atypical-sounding NELSH BAILTER SPACE EP, Halvorsen joined up for the LP TANKER. By the second LP, THERMOS, McLachlan was drafted on drums, thus bringing everything full circle! Anything by Bailter Space is well worth investigating.

Zyklon, THE HEARTLAND

2011-04-24T02:26:00.000-04:00

GRiM, 2006; available

17 tracks, 71:02

Unknown to a lot of industrial fans, one of America's earliest groups of that sort came out of Grand Rapids, MI. Starting in 1979 as Art Damage, each member contributed vocals and a synthesizer. Steve Zuidema Zeeland used an ARP Axxe, Brian Younker a Korg MS-20, and Tom Purdy a Roland SH-1. Their obscurity is unfortunately easy to explain: Nobody was ready for them in Michigan, and audiences tended to be quite hostile*. This CD compiles Zyklon's self-titled 7" and the cassette-only HEARTLAND, both released in 1981 (plus one bonus track). Stylistically this is quite varied. "All Night War Film", "No Mexiko", and "Brand New Key" (yes, a Melanie cover!) fall on the synthpop side of things, with unusually emotive vocals accompanying the synth drones and blips. "Kelvin" and the HEARTLAND version of "Gary, IN"** feature factory rhythms as percussion; Purdy made these during his day job at a refrigerator plant. The two epics, "Amtrak" and "H", are each stunningly prophetic in their own ways. "Amtrak" is a Kraftwerk-inspired thrill ride, foreshadowing the later techno sound (and even Plastikman at times!). On the opposite end, "H" is a noisy slab of grinding sounds and drones; much later harsh and abstract noise can be traced to this track. Not a single experiment fails, and the whole compilation is a gem of obscure early industrial. This is especially recommended to fans of Throbbing Gristle, Ike Yard, and Cabaret Voltaire, but for historical value alone it belongs in every serious industrial library.

*The track "Zerfallen", which closed THE HEARTLAND, seems to capture one of these gigs. The audience doesn't cheer until Zyklon's power is cut!

**"Gary, IN" and "Part-Time" are present on the 7" and THE HEARTLAND, but in vastly different versions. The 7" version of "Part-Time", dating back to 1979, is the earliest Zyklon recording.

Din-A-Testbild, TV JUNK AND NEW BEAT FUNK

2011-04-14T00:21:00.001-04:00

IC, 1989; availability uncertain, but easily found second-hand

12 tracks, 68:25

Formed circa 1978, Din-A-Testbild were part of the weird side of Neue Deutsch Welle. Mark Eins has always been the sole constant throughout the years, though the original lineup was MUCH larger*. This compilation collects the highlights from their first three PROGRAMMs**, released between 1980 and 1983. They were on Klaus Schulze's IC label; Schulze also produced some tracks and contributed a bit of keyboard. Three tracks come from PROGRAMM 1, four from PROGRAMM 2, and five from PROGRAMM 3***. The PROGRAMM 1 tracks have been remixed, but it's to their benefit. Every song has some elements in common; namely, driving electronic rhythms, repetitive keyboard lines, occasional guitar, and Eins' speak-sung vocals. Consistency doesn't mean boring, and each track brings something new and unusual to the table. The nearly twelve-minute "Satisfactory" (from PROGRAMM 3) is my personal favorite. It's a Kraftwerk-esque blend of delightful sequences and bizarre sci-fi lyrics that isn't at all overlong. The strange piano-led "Tight Pants", with Eins' vocals at their most tweaked, and the ever-so-slightly sleazy "The Call Of Lust" are other highlights on this wholly listenable collection. If your collection has room for Der Plan and Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, you should be able to find a space for this. A good used copy should be easy and inexpensive to acquire. Anything else by Din-A-Testbild is also very much worth investigating.

*The rare "Abfall/Garbage" single shows this early industrial/punk side of Din-A-Testbild. Good luck finding this one!

**Most Din-A-Testbild releases are titled PROGRAMM #, the exceptions being LEIPZIG & COCA-COLA and SEX 'N CHAOS.

***Respectively, this leaves three, one, and three tracks left off this comp. These might be worth hearing, but they also may have been discarded for a good reason.

SunnO))), THE GRIMMROBE DEMOS

2011-03-14T22:08:00.000-04:00

Double H Noise Industries, 2000; reissued by Southern Lord; available

Southern Lord edition: 4 tracks, 72:29

This has the honor of being the most recently recorded CD on this blog! The duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley* were most heavily under Earth's spell on this album. Along with G. Stuart Dahlquist (making this a trio effort), these architects of doom set about reinterpreting EARTH 2, and somehow they succeeded in making an interesting album. Well, perhaps this really was meant to be a demo, but who cares? "Black Wedding", "Defeating: Earth's Gravity", and "Dylan Carlson" (obviously named in tribute to Earth's creative force) are massive slabs of blackened ambient. Bass levels are in the red, treble is almost nonexistent, and there are interesting dollops of synthesizer throughout. While there isn't a lot of variation in these tracks, fans of Earth et al will be enthralled. Southern Lord's edition tacks on "Grimm & Bear It"; it's not a radical departure from the album proper, but it's definitely more lo-fi and gritty. SunnO)))'s later masterpieces** make this pale in comparison, but many bands have had much weaker debuts. It's essential for a drone-doom collection, but not likely to convert anyone to the cause. Also worth seeking are Pentemple (essentially SunnO))) plus Sin-Nanna, Oren Ambarchi, and Attila Csihar) and Teeth Of Lions Rule The Divine (SunnO))) plus Justin Greaves and Lee Dorrian).

*They were previously involved in bands such as Engine Kid, Goatsnake, Burning Witch, and Thorr's Hammer; later, they would also be part (individually) of Ascend, Burial Chamber Trio, Gravetemple, and Khanate.

**The most recent, MONOLITHS & DIMENSIONS, is particularly stunning; ditto WHITE 1, WHITE 2, and the black metal-influenced BLACK ONE.

Pyrolator, AUSLAND

2011-03-09T23:38:00.001-05:00

Ata Tak, 1981; available with bonus tracks

CD: 20 tracks, 68:43

Pyrolator's name has shown up a lot here. A founding member of Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft AND a long-term part of Der Plan, the man otherwise known as Kurt Dahlke has had a big hand in the development of German new wave and post-punk. AUSLAND was his second album, following the minimal masterpiece INLAND*. For this gem, Dahlke recorded all the synth and drum machine programming into a proto-MIDI unit called the Brontologik. He then invited other musicians to add elements over the basic electronic tracks. What resulted was a varied blend of accessibility and quirkiness, with individual songs going from minimal synth to catchy electro-pop to almost no wave and everywhere in between. The majority of the tracks feature guest vocalists, ranging from the catchy to the almost grating. Other guests include Dahlke's co-conspirators in Der Plan and Frederik Nilsen from the LAFMS on "cross-string guitar"! Musically, it sounds much more high-tech than Der Plan; the synths dominate the proceedings, all sounding gloriously vintage nowadays. The instrumentals, such as the groovy "Elefantendisco" and the potent "180°", are the most effective pieces of music. Still, vocal tracks like the charming "Mein Hund", the trancey "Du Bist So... Ich Träume", and the wild "Die Haut Der Frau" are quite enjoyable! There's even time for sound collage with the odd "True Love". Eight bonus tracks round out the package. Some of these sound like outtakes from INLAND, and reflect that album's minimal electronic genius; I'm particularly fond of "Danger Cruising Part 2". Others are firmly connected to AUSLAND, and these are some of the best tracks on the disc! The closing "Programm No. 1" is particularly great, being a live performance with Fenstermacher on vocals. If you enjoy DAF and Der Plan, as well as no wave and the more out-there realms of synthpop, AUSLAND should be a part of your collection. If you have trouble finding it, try Ata Tak direct (they also sell the previously reviewed Der Plan compilation).

*INLAND is much harder to find, but as of 9/15/11 I FOUND IT ON CD! Expect a review soon! It's VERY differet from AUSLAND.

Der Plan, GERI REIG UND NORMALETTE SURPRISE

2011-03-06T16:19:00.000-05:00

Ata Tak, 1996 (see review for individual release dates); available

33 tracks, 75:46

This handy compilation collects the first two LPs by German oddballs Der Plan. After a crazy debut single*, Moritz Rrr (aka Moritz R®; real name Moritz Reichelt) and Frank Fenstermacher hooked up with ex-DAF synthman Pyrolator (real name Kurt Dahlke). GERI REIG came out in 1980, and it was a strange mix of then-current new wave/synthpop, electronic no wave, and pure eccentricity. Der Plan apparently used toys and other non-traditional instruments in addition to synths. "Adrenalin Lässt Das Blut Kochen" starts things off with eerie minimal synth sounds, only to be followed by "Geri Reig"'s goofy electro-reggae-with-funny-voices. Pretty much everything on here falls between those two extremes, with some time left for musique concrete experimentation along the way. It's something of an acquired taste, but the music should take precedence over the weird vocals. Fast forward to 1981, and Der Plan released their second LP. Well, maybe LP is a stretch; NORMALETTE SURPRISE would probably be closer to a mini-LP by today's standards. The A-side consisted of twelve short tracks, ranging from the catchy "Leb Doch" and "Das Insekt" to the odd "Ich Bin Ein Komputer"; it also played at 33 1/3. The B-side consisted of only three tracks, played at 45, and was just barely over five minutes long! Considering this side has the eerie "Zurück In Die Atmosphäre", that's hardly a complaint. Musically, NORMALETTE SURPRISE is more traditional synthpop, but with a distinct twist. For this CD, Der Plan included three bonus tracks. The disturbing "Rot Grün Tot" is from the B-side of "Da Vorne Steht Ne Ampel" (sadly not included, but worth finding!), while "8 1/2" and "Wir Werden Imme Mehr" are from the FIX PLANET! 7". This adds up to a lengthy exploration of the years when krautrock was giving way to Neue Deutsch Welle, and as such it's worth acquiring for fans of the more electronic side of new wave. There's quite a bit in common with the electro-no wave acts as well, so fans of that sound should consider investing in this as well. Maybe this will tell you if you want this or not: Think of a cross between early DAF and the Residents. Check back soon for a review of Pyrolator's solo album AUSLAND!

*The lineup for the single, oddly enough, consisted of Fenstermacher, Rrr, Chrislo Haas, and Robert Görl. Haas went on to DAF and Liaisons Dangereuses, while Görl stuck it out with DAF. This single is actually very close to a cross between early DAF and early Chrome. To drive the comparison home, PRODUKT DER DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHE FREUNDSCHAFT came out on Ata Tak as well!

Franco Battiato, SULLE CORDE DI ARIES and CLIC

2011-03-04T22:33:00.000-05:00

Bla Bla, 1973; reissued by BMG; available

4 tracks, 33:26

Bla Bla, 1974; reissued by BMG; available

7 tracks, 32:07

Battiato's amazing first two albums, FETUS and POLLUTION, were reviewed here a while ago. It's about time I got to the other two albums from his classic early quartet!

For SULLE CORDE DI ARIES, Battiato is joined on every track by percussionist Gianfranco D'Adda and guitarist/mandolinist Gianni Mocchetti*. He has several guest artists across the tracks as well, from violin to recited vocals. Battiato himself tackles the VCS3, guitar, prepared piano, and kalimba. A distinct retreat from the rock touches of POLLUTION, SULLE finds Franco somewhere between modern composition and cosmic pop-rock. The sidelong "Sequenze E Frequenze" is mostly an electronic pulse, anchored by drums and other touches. It easily rivals the best cosmic music from Germany, and might even surpass some of the better-known acts in that style. The B-side is made up of three shorter tracks. The instrumental "Aries" and moody near-classical "Aria Di Rivoluzione" show how much Battiato has progressed from the almost naive FETUS. "Da Oriente A Occidente" starts with a VCS3 whine and double-tracked, slightly out-of-phase vocals, leading to a wonderfully folky tune that ends the album quite unexpectedly. Definitely his most assured outing to this point, SULLE CORDE DI ARIES would be hard to beat.

Leave it to Franco to beat it! Dedicated to none other than Karlheinz Stockhausen, CLIC was Battiato's first real stab at modern composition. D'Adda and Mocchetti are back (with Mocchetti playing bass and guitar rather than mandolin); Juri Camisasca and Pietro Pizzamiglio are credited with vocal effects, and the Quartetto Ensemble del Conservatorio di Milano also helps out a bit. This time around, Battiato himself takes on piano, organ, mandolin, VCS3, "crystals" and "metals"(!). Only the stunning "No U Turn" features Franco's singing; the rest of the album is avant-instrumental music of a high caliber. "Rien Ne Va Plus - Andante" and "Ethika Fon Ethica" are brief but humorous sound collages; they may not be the best examples of this style, but they're still fun! Several tracks are absolutely gorgeous electronic pieces, including the minimal "Il Mercato Degli Dei" and the stunning "I Cancelli Della Memoria". "Propriedad Prohibida", while ostensibly a joking jab at the more-left-wing Italian prog acts, is a perfectly stunning piece of synth bliss. With CLIC, Battiato showed the world that he was indeed an artist to take seriously.

These albums are available as fairly priced Italian imports. Both are highly recommended, and with POLLUTION and FETUS they form an impressive early body of work. From here, Battiato would go further into experimentation; unfortunately, and as previously mentioned, for a while this meant whole sides of two piano notes being struck repeatedly. From there, he went into his pure pop phase and out of my realm of interest.

*D'Adda and Mocchetti were an essential part of the early Battiato sound; they also appeared on FETUS and POLLUTION. Sadly, CLIC was their final appearance on a Battiato album.

Damenbart, IMPRESSIONEN '71

2011-02-26T22:44:00.000-05:00

DOM Elchklang, 1989; reissued by Psychedelic Pig; apparently available

Psychedelic Pig CD: 8 tracks, 59:31

When it was released, this was claimed to be a long-lost krautrock artifact. In reality, it was recorded around the time it was released by neo-krautrock/industrial tricksters Hirscht Nicht Aus Sofa (better known as H.N.A.S.). One major clue is the supposed band photos; the fake beards are fairly obvious! While the hoax aspect does raise questions, this is still really good in a kraut-revival kind of way. With such lengthy tripfests as "Innovative Schwingungen" and "Marihuanabrothers", Damenbart manage to sound convincingly like a genuine relic rather than a then-current pastiche. Their sound draws primarily from the spacier realms of krautrock, but there's plenty of odd sounds and tape manipulation along the way. Only the advanced synths used truly give its real age away. For the CD reissue, four previously unreleased tracks have been tacked on. One claims to be "live in Sief, 1972" while the others are session outtakes, but I'm willing to bet they're all studio recordings. These blend perfectly well with the rest of the album; in fact, the supposedly live "Ich Bin Der Wind" is one of the best tracks! While not truly essential, this would definitely be of interest to krautrock fans and H.N.A.S. addicts. I truly am not sure about its availability, but several online stores list it as being still in print.

Robert Wyatt, THE END OF AN EAR

2011-02-26T00:41:00.000-05:00

CBS, 1970; reissued by Columbia; available

9 tracks, 47:03

This odd little gem was recorded by Wyatt between Soft Machine's THIRD (still their absolute masterpiece) and FOURTH. For this effort, he assembled quite the cast of Canterbury all-stars. Caravan's Dave Sinclair provides organ, while Soft Machine associates Mark Charig, Neville Whitehead, and the late Elton Dean respectively provide cornet, bass, and alto saxello. Percussionist Cyril Ayers and pianist Mark Ellidge* are also featured. Wyatt is credited with piano, drums, organ, and "mouth"; this last description is very accurate, since Wyatt doesn't sing any identifiable words on THE END OF AN EAR. Instead, he scats, chants, and croons wordlessly, all to excellent effect. The music itself is just as unusual. Bookended by two wild versions of Gil Evans' "Las Vegas Tango Part 1"**, this is definitely from the jazz-influenced side of Canterbury prog while being much more free-form than almost anything else from that scene. The songs are each dedicated to friends of Wyatt; charming titles like "To Saintly Bridget" and "To The Old World (Thank You For The Use Of Your Body, Goodbye)" are fun in and of themselves, especially when you figure out who each is dedicated to. While most of these tracks are in the two to three minute range, the aformentioned "Las Vegas Tango" pieces and "To Nick Everyone" exceed eight minutes, allowing for some delicious contrast. Each side feels like one unified piece, flowing from one song to the next. Certain themes and ideas reappear, and for the most part this sounds like a highly structured form of improvisation. Wyatt's later masterpieces (ROCK BOTTOM being my personal favorite) have overshadowed THE END OF AN EAR, and he himself says it's mostly a bit of childish fun. I beg to differ, and while ROCK BOTTOM really is a better introduction to solo Wyatt, this should be every bit as essential.

*The late Mark Ellidge was Wyatt's half-brother, as well as a photographer for the Sunday Times.

**Curiously, the first track on the album is "Las Vegas Tango Part 1 (Repeat)", while the last is simply "Las Vegas Tango Part 1". No research has uncovered the reason for this quirk.

Fritz Müller, FRITZ MÜLLER ROCK

2011-01-28T12:37:00.000-05:00

Teldec*, 1977; reissued by Revisited/SPV; available

Reissue: 15 tracks, 57:29

Eberhard Kranemann is an interesting character. Active in art and music since the Sixties, he's always managed to surprise. He was in early lineups of both Kraftwerk and Neu!, and his early band Pissoff counted Florian Schneider among its members. An archival release even documents him with avant artist Joseph Beuys! For this album, Kranemann assumes the guise of Fritz Müller. The rest of the personnel are too numerous to list, but it's worth noting that the legendary Conny Plank produced this, provided backup vocals, and contributed text to one song and music to another. As for the sound itself, well......... Imagine a cross between then-emerging New Wave, krautrock a la Neu!, and good old fashioned hard rock. I know this sounds like a train wreck, but it WORKS! Standouts include the rockin' "Postmann" and "Bratkartoffel Rock 'n' Roll", the spaced-out "I'm Sittin' By The Sea-Side", and the nearly punk "Yes, We Can". The album's definite masterpiece, however, is the completely unexpected "Fritz Müller Traum". This nearly nine minute gem sounds like a cross between cosmic music and musique concrete, and it's absolutely disorienting and wonderful. While a few tracks come across as slightly goofy, repeated listens should make you warm up to them. The CD reissue includes four bonus tracks. Two appear to be radio ads for Fritz Müller shows, and two were made by Kranemann in 2002 with a computer. The latter two are surprisingly amazing; the drum'n'bass-meets-didgeridoo "Blow Job" and near-EBM "Say No!" show that Kranemann is still VERY much active in music, and every bit as creative. Now that it's more widely available, every self-respecting krautrock fan needs this in their collection. If you'd like to get some early Neu!/Kraftwerk/Pissoff stuff with Kranemann, please visit www.fritzmueller.info or www.e-kranemann.de/ to contact the man himself.

*Originally, German tobacco company Roth-Händle were to release this, but that never happened. Even discogs lists that as the record company, but this is erroneous according to Kranemann.

Et Cetera, KNIRSCH

2011-01-27T20:27:00.000-05:00

Note: The reissue is credited to Wolfgang Dauner on the spine

MPS, 1972; reissued by HGBS; available

5 tracks, 44:55

Ah, Wolfgang Dauner. He's definitely been mentioned here before! The man has covered so much ground in his career, but his experimental work is what I like best (shocking, I know). This was the second album by his band Et Cetera. While they never had a truly set lineup, Dauner and usual percussionist Fred Braceful appear on all three of their releases. On KNIRSCH, Braceful and Dauner are joined by guitarist Larry Collyer, drummer Jon Hiseman, and bassist Günter Lenz. Coryell gets writing credit on opening number "The Really Great Escape", which is honestly quite out of place, being a scorching hard rock tune! The remaining four pieces are all written by Dauner, and they're far more abstract. "Sun" is a pretty jazz number, filled with inventive guitar lines and delicious interplay between the percussionists. The epic "Yan" takes things way out there, sounding something like a cross between Herbie Hancock circa SEXTANT and musique concrete. Richard Ketterer provides "sounds + voices" for "Yan"; good luck figuring out which is which. The equally epic "Tuning Spread" is excellent electro-jazz-rock fusion, while closer "Yin" slinks along in a distinctly Eastern way. Taken as a whole, this almost sounds like different tracks from different bands. Such is the Dauner way! Not a moment is wasted (even "The Really Great Escape" holds your attention the whole way through), and this would be a gem in ANY band's discography. Luckily, unlike most Dauner releases, this is relatively easy to find, and I highly suggest doing so. Now if someone would just reissue OUTPUT! (Oh, and if you can find it, I strongly recommend Et Cetera's self-titled debut as well!)

Earth, PHASE 3: THRONES AND DOMINIONS

2010-12-29T14:03:00.000-05:00

Sub Pop, 1995; available

8 tracks, 55:04

Completing the trilogy of early Earth releases, PHASE 3: THRONES AND DOMINIONS was widely ignored or trashed upon its release. This is definitely the least heavy of their early works; there's no bass, and most tracks are Dylan Carlson solo with his guitar. Still, being Earth, there's a lot of guitar power and distortion here! Opener "Harvey" is under three minutes, a massive change from the equally massive EARTH 2. It's a nice little number, coming across like a drumless Melvins outtake. Actually, half of these tracks are under four minutes, and the longest is just under fifteen. Quite a change from the three-song seventy-plus-minute leviathan that was EARTH 2! Tommy Hansen contributes additional guitar to "Harvey" and "Song 4"; the latter is honestly pretty, with its acoustic guitar touches and repetitive electric riff. "Tibetan Quaaludes" and "Site Specific Carnivorous Occurrence" (featuring Rick Cambern on drums) definitely prove this is the same band, with their heavy guitar sludge and droning amplifier buzz. The real surprises are the two epics. "Phase 3: Agni Detonating Over The Thar Desert..." is the sounds of a desolate and wind-blasted landscape for twelve and a half minutes, while "Thrones And Dominions" is a truly beautiful piece of heavy ambient music (and the longest track on here). The other two tracks, "Lullaby (Take 2: How Dry I Am)" and "Song 6 (Chime)", are pleasant little songs; "Song 6 (Chime)" is particularly pretty in a music box-esque way. The best way to approach PHASE 3 is as a transitional album; the following PENTASTAR: IN THE STYLE OF DEMONS mostly deserves its bad reputation, since it took the blueprints of PHASE 3 and made Earth more accessible than they should have tried to be. I'd think of PHASE 3 as Earth's true ambient album.

Deuter, D and AUM

2010-12-18T18:35:00.000-05:00

Kuckuck, 1971; available

5 tracks, 41:00

Kuckuck, 1972; available

12 tracks, 43:39

The enigmatic Georg Deuter has been previously mentioned here as a member of Maschine Nr. 9. Before joining that odd collective, he released two extraordinarily singular solo albums. Let's review them, shall we?

The first Deuter album, D, is also one of his most varied. Literally no two tracks sound much alike, and it's all the more impressive for that! The opening multi-part "Babylon" established Deuter as a true krautrock innovator. Over nearly fifteen minutes, he combines acid guitar, atmospheric organ, wordless vocals, and other sonic bits to create a true masterpiece. It's probably worth noting that every instrument was performed by Deuter; ah, the miracles of overdubbing! "Der Turm/Fluchtpunkt" is even better, being four and a half minutes of odd guitar sounds with steady drumming. This sounds almost like an Ash Ra Tempel outtake! Surprises abound, and "Krishna Eating Fish And Chips" is the first of these. Beginning with a droning organ, this becomes a ten-minute duet for said sound plus an honest-to-goodness sitar. What could be awfully cheesy in lesser hands is nothing less than a meditative piece of genius here. Next up is "Atlantis", which has Deuter's wordless "AHHHhhhhhhh"s accompanying hand percussion and a recording of the seashore. It's one of those pieces that truly transports you elsewhere, and it's another highlight on an album chock full of them. Finally, "Gammastrahlen-Lamm" ends things with a decidedly ambient and spaced-out synth. For sheer variety alone, D is incredible; luckily, the music itself bears this out.

Deuter's next album, AUM, took a decidedly different approach. Gone are the epic tracks, to be replaced by a series of mostly short pieces. AUM is also less varied, focusing mostly on sitar and hand percussion. The tracks were orignally arranged into three suites on vinyl; for the CD, they have been indexed seperately. The epic "Susani" (longest track here at eight minutes) is an exception to the rule, being a stunning piece of echo guitar soundscapes and wordless chants that would make Achim Reichel jealous. Other highlights include the trancey "Soham", the frenzied "Offener Himmel I/Gleichzeitig", and the atmospheric "The Key", but the whole album really should be heard in one go for the full effect. While this is much more in raga mode than rock, it's still an incredible listen. It also beats the hell out of a lot of later New Age, which it does resemble at times (though Deuter managed to avoid the schmaltziness that is usually associated with the genre).

Sadly, after this double knockout, Deuter would retreat into New Age music of a (in my opinion) cheesy nature. He definitely did this for spiritual reasons, which I do respect and understand. Certain later albums, such as SILENCE IS THE ANSWER and SAN, definitely have their moments, but most krautrock fans won't find much to like with the rest of his catalog. That's really a shame, since he showed such promise.

REST IN PEACE, CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

2010-12-17T23:36:00.000-05:00

Not the greatest human being, sure, but definitely one of the most original musicians EVER. I just found out he passed away today. I never met him, but I'm deeply saddened. At least his pain is over. Rest in peace, good Captain.

Einstürzende Neubauten, KALTE STERNE - EARLY RECORDINGS

2010-12-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

Mute, 2004; available

13 tracks, 54:10

Previously reviewed here, most readers of this blog know Neubauten quite well. This album is a compilation of singles, EPs, and unreleased material covering the years 1980 to 1982. What's interesting is how much more accessible they were at the start! "Fuer Den Untergang", their first single, is minimal as all hell: pounding drums, a Korg MS-20, bass, and slide guitar form the basis of this early industrial treasure. The apparently unreleased remix, "Tan-Ze-Dub", is also included, and it is indeed a dub reconstruction. "Zuckendes Fleisch" is surprisingly accessible post-punk (even with an amplified metal spring), while "13 Loecher (Leben ist illegal)" is the beginning of Neubauten as we know them. This brief track features guitar, metal spring, and an electric drill tearing up a wood board! These tracks* were solely made by blixa Bargeld and Andrew Chudy (as is the creepy "Tagesschau-Dub"); the rest of the album features Alexander Hacke and F.M. Einheit, though not usually at the same time. "Kalte Sterne" (from the eponymous EP, included in its entirety) is the biggest shock. With its pretty tinkling keyboard and restrained vocals, this very well could have received radio play. All bets are off by the final two tracks, taken from the THIRSTY ANIMAL single. "Thirsty Animal" itself is an absolutely disturbing piece of noise bliss. Featuring guests Roland S. Howard (of the Birthday Party, guitar) and Lydia Lunch, it begins as a slow drone. It proceeds to become a creepy repetitive mass of pounding percussion, bizarre electronics, and Lunch's howling agonized vocals ("We'll bring out the leeches to suck the bloodless, bring out the leechessss"). The B-side, "Durstiges Tier" (which means "Thirsty Animal" in German!) is essentially a dub reworking. Allegedly, Bargeld had his body covered with contact mics, while F.M Einheit pounded out the rhythm ON BARGELD'S BODY. It's not quite as disturbing as "Thirsty Animal", but it's still not the sort of thing to listen to if you're paranoid. KALTE STERNE comes highly recommended to listeners interested in where it all began, and the more open-minded post-punk and industrial fans out there would probably find a lot to like here as well.

*Apparently, tracks two through six are the previously unreleased material.

Royal Trux, TWIN INFINITIVES

2010-12-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Drag City, 1990; available

15 tracks (but see the review for details), 68:41

Emerging out of the notorious Pussy Galore, Royal Trux was essentially Jennifer Herrema and Neil Hagerty. At this point, their addictions (mostly to heroin, but I'm fairly sure pot and psychedelics were involved as well) had gotten the best of them. Not that I'm complaining; the sort of music contained on TWIN INFINITIVES probably couldn't have been made otherwise. Where their first album sounded like zoned-out junkies trying to rock, TWIN INFINITIVES is an absolute monster of noise rock. Tape loops, shards of primitive synth, overdriven drum machines, and scratchy guitars form the basis of most of these tracks. The results are far closer to a mix of early industrial and dub than any sort of indie rock. Opening number "Solid Gold Tooth" is two minutes of Flash Gordon-esque ray gun sounds accompanying what could be another synth or a severely distorted guitar and the atonal howls of Hagerty and Herrema. "Jet Pet" is all squelchy machine beats, echoed noise guitar, and Herrema's anguished indecipherable drawl. The absolutely disturbing "Osiris" has an almost incongruously pretty flute buried behind more of Herrema's glossolalia* and more bizarrely processed sounds. The epic quarter-hour "(Edge Of The) Ape Oven"** starts almost normal, and never gets quite as druggy as the rest of the album, but it's still VERY far from radio fare. Closer "New York Avenue Bridge" features pretty atonal piano and a relatively restrained Herrema vocal, resulting in what might be the album's calmest moment (despite some fairly nasty lyrics). Other tracks have titles like "Yin Jim Versus The Vomit Creature", "Lick My Boots", and "Ratcreeps". If you can imagine what the songs DESCRIBED sound like, you have a good idea what you're in for with the rest of the album. Curiously, since this was originally a double LP, the CD is divided into four tracks. Thus, songs one through five are track one, six through eight are track two, "(Edge Of The) Ape Oven" occupies track three, and ten to fifteen take up track four. This is actually for the best; once you start this album, you can't skip tracks if you want the full effect. I consider this an unintentional masterpiece, but you definitely want to sample it before investing. Nothing else (bar HAND OF GLORY) truly compares to it. After TWIN INFINITIVES, Royal Trux would become steadily more accessible, ending their career as a fairly straightforward hard rock band. Out of the three experimental albums, TWIN INFINITIVES should be the starting point; the debut is much more structured, and HAND OF GLORY is another kind of monster altogether.

*As a side-note, I'm 100% convinced Courtney Love copped her vocal style from Jennifer Herrema. At times they're nearly indistinguishable.

**The now-out-of-print HAND OF GLORY was a delayed reissue of what was supposed to be Royal Trux's second album. The first track, "Domo Des Burros (Two Sticks)" has the same beat as the first half of "(Edge Of The) Ape Oven"; the multi-part "The Boxing Story" is somewhat close to Merzbow meets musique concrete. Believe it or not, TWIN INFINITIVES truly IS more accessible, but HAND OF GLORY is recommended to braver listeners.

Psi Com, PSI COM

2010-12-04T17:15:00.000-05:00

Mohini, 1985; reissued by Triple X; availability uncertain, but easy enough to find

5 tracks, 29:56

Psi Com was a minor blip on music's radar, but the involvement of Perry Farrell ensured them some sort of posthumous recognition. Farrell provided vocals and percussion, mostly resorting to junk percussives such as engine blocks. The lineup was completed by guitarist Vince Duran, bassist Kelly Wheeler, and drummer Aaron Sherer. If you're expecting a dry run for Jane's Addiction and Porno For Pyros, think again! Psi Com finds Farrell and company making dark goth rock with arty touches. Perry's voice in particular is absolutely indebted to Peter Murphy; only on "Xiola" can you tell what he'd go on to. As for the music, it truly is goth rock, and perhaps not overly notable, but these guys certainly had a way with a tune! Opener "Ho Ka Hey" is the most upbeat track here, rushing along with force and attitude. "Human Condition" and "Xiola" are much more atmospheric, while "City Of 9 Gates" (my personal favorite) goes from dirgey crawl to rave-up at the drop of a hat. Closer "Winds" is perhaps too long, but it's a nice slice of droning gloom nonetheless. You'll probably be able to find this cheap, and I suggest you do. Psi Com may not have been overly original, but they're a perfectly nice listen anyway. This was also their only official release; some bootlegs exist, but I'd approach those with caution.

Earth, A BUREAUCRATIC DESIRE FOR EXTRA-CAPSULAR EXTRACTION

2010-12-03T10:58:00.000-05:00

Southern Lord, 2010; available

7 tracks, 55:05

Earth's masterpiece, EARTH 2, was one of my earliest reviews on this blog. This handy Southern Lord release collects Earth's out-of-print debut EP EXTRA-CAPSULAR EXTRACTION and also includes the other four tracks recorded during that session (these four tracks have been on various legit and bootleg releases over the years). For these tunes, Earth was guitarist/main member Dylan Carlson, bassist Dave Harwell (who was also Carlson's sideman on EARTH 2), and bassist/drum machine operator Joe Preston (later of Melvins and Thrones). Guest vocalists Kurt Cobain (!) and Kelly Canary appear on two tracks, but otherwise it's all instrumental. The session occurred in October of 1990; a year later, Sub Pop released the first three tracks as the debut EP. Clocking in at just under thirty-three minutes, these songs were extremely unique for the time. Taking the Melvins/Black Sabbath/Saint Vitus slow-and-heavy vibe to the next level, Earth did away with hooks and instead focused on the sheer power of amplifiers being pushed to the limit. Only Godflesh was working in truly similar territory, and they were nowhere near as minimal (or compelling) as Earth! "A Bureaucratic Desire For Revenge" was split into two parts. The first is a crushing instrumental, while the second features Carlson and Cobain's drone vocals and some truly frightening shrieks from Canary. "Ouroboros Is Broken", at eighteen minutes, was the first real indication of where Earth would end up. The chugging riff is reduced to one repeated phrase; when the drum machine leaves the mix, all that remains is buzz, hum, and that "riff". The remaining four tracks are no less impressive; the lurching "Geometry Of Murder" finds Earth at their most Godflesh-esque, while "German Dental Work" is amplifier noise and the drum machine. Final track "Dissolution 1" (yes, there were other "Dissolutions" down the line) is in similar territory, and all three should have been released at the time. The standout, surprisingly, is the compartively brief "Divine And Bright". This song is the most traditional, featuring Cobain's stoned vocals and Canary's painful screams (I wonder if she ever had to have corrective surgery; her work with Dickless was even HARSHER than this!). Being Earth, it makes sense that this was, in Carlson's words, "a love song written to the H-bomb"! While it's perhaps not as singular as EARTH 2, the material contained on this disc is every bit as vital to understanding how drone metal became so inspirational. It only makes sense that Southern Lord reissued this material, as most of their acts are in debt to Earth's innovations (which doesn't mean you should ignore those artists; most of them are amazing!). The songs have been remastered, so upgrading from EXTRA-CAPSULAR EXTRACTION to this wouldn't be a bad investment. After this, Preston would leave for Melvins, and Carlson would ditch the percussion as well. EARTH 2 is definitely the best place to start, but the timid may want to begin their exploration of Earth and drone metal here.

The Residents, DUCK STAB

2010-10-16T03:56:00.000-04:00

Ralph, 1978; reissued several times, most recently by Mute; available

14 tracks, 35:07

Let's face it, if you've kept up with me thus far, there's a 99.9% chance you know who these guys are. Which is funny, since the general public literally doesn't know who the members are! Anyways, the first seven tracks on this album were originally released as a 7" EP; later the same year, DUCK STAB was paired with the aborted BUSTER & GLEN EP to make a fourteen-track LP. Initially called DUCK STAB/BUSTER & GLEN, most reissues since have simply used DUCK STAB (and I hope this is the last time I write that title in this review!). This is from the stage in the Residents' early years when they primarily used synths for instrumentation. Musically, these tracks were the catchiest material the group had ever unleashed. This particular album shares a lot with minimal synth and electro-no wave artists such as Fad Gadget and Dark Day. Tracks such as "Weight-Lifting Lulu" and "Blue Rosebuds" are based around two or so synths at a time, accompanied by the singing Resident's unmistakable vocals. Guest vocalist Ruby turns in an inspired performance on "The Electrocutioner", and usual collaborator Snakefinger adds his inimitable guitar throughout, but otherwise it's just four guys and their synths creating a unique blend of avant-garde and pop on their own terms. If you're new to the Residents, this is probably the most accessible entry point to their vast catalog, but it does pale slightly in comparison to their other early work.

Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, THE BRIDGE

2010-10-09T01:05:00.000-04:00

Industrial Records, 1979; reissued by Mute/The Grey Area; available

9 tracks, 43:20

Scottish musicians Robert Rental (born Robert Donnachie) and Thomas Leer had each released an important indie single a year before this collaboration. Leer's offering was the poppy lo-fi "Private Plane"/"International", and Rental's was the weird industrial "Paralysis"/"A.C.C.". Having relocated to England, the two mavericks were lent 8-tracks by Throbbing Gristle so they could record this album. As the liner notes point out, this was recorded in a two week span (June 18th to July 2nd) in one of their homes; interestingly, the back cover notes "all blips & unseemly noises were generated by refrigerators & other domestic appliances & are intrinsic to the music"! Both musicians take turns on guitar, synths, "synth percussion" (more on that later), bass, and other noises. THE BRIDGE is divided into two distinct halves; the A-side features vocal work, while the B-side has four tracks of pure ambience. The vocal songs are definitely in a post-punk/synthpop mode. Leer sings lead on four tracks; the fuzzy "Connotations" and the bizarrely catchy "Monochrome Day's" are definite highlights. Rental takes the lead on "Day Breaks, Night Heals", and this creepy gem is the absolute standout. What's interesting about the percussion is that Leer and Rental didn't use a drum machine. Instead, they pounded out rhythms on synth and made tape loops of the results. While primitive, this technique lends a unique touch to these tracks. The flipside is a completely different story. Rental is credited with tapes, loops, and voice for this side, while Leer takes on synths, tapes, and voice (that's voice, not vocals). Long drones and loops, accompanied by TV sounds and those other "unseemly noises", flow effortlessly towards dark chillout bliss. The lengthy "Interferon" is the standout here, but the other three are amazing as well. Both sides add up to what is one of the best releases from Industrial Records; thank goodness Mute reissued it! Around this time, Rental released an extremely rare demo called MENTAL DETENTIONS; this completely instrumental gem of early industrial heaven also features Leer on a few tracks and DEFINITELY deserves a reissue. Leer still has a synthpop career, and for a while was in Act; some is worth investigating, some isn't. Rental would collaborate with the Normal (Daniel Miller, Mute head honcho) on a single-sided live album (rare but worth the hunt); his last output was the excellent "Double Heart"/On Location" single on Mute, featuring DAF's Robert Görl on drums and Leer on piano (also recommended). After this, he retired from music to raise a family, sadly passing away in 2000. The fact that so little of Rental's output exists is reason enough to buy THE BRIDGE, but the music more than justifies adding it to your collection.

Opus Avantra, INTROSPEZIONE (a.k.a. DONNELLA DEL MONACO)

2010-10-01T23:57:00.000-04:00

Trident, 1974; reissued by Artis and Arcangelo; available

Artis CD; 11 tracks, 46:07

The long-running Opus Avantra sought to combine the avant-garde with the traditional (hence AvanTra). Alfredo Tisocco is both the pianist/keyboardist and the musical mastermind; divine singer Donella Del Monaco* is the lyrical genius. Flautist Luciano Tavella, violinists Enrico Professione and Pieregidio Spiller, cellist Riccardo Perraro, drummer Pierdino Tisato, and percussionist/effects man Tony Esposito round out the group on this, their debut outing. While definitely within the classically influenced realm of most of their Italian contemporaries, Opus Avantra bring more than a bit of avant tweaking to their sound. The two-minute title track** opens the album; it's a bizarre bit of musique concrete, leading directly into the next song. Track two, "Les Plaisirs Sont Doux", features Del Monaco's gorgeous vocals singing French against a purely classical backdrop, accompanied by a spoken word double-tracking. From here highlights are hard to pick out, as the music veers from beautiful folk to ominous dark prog, always peppered with bits of odd production and sound effects. The drumming throughout is definitely jazz-rock inspired, which makes for an interesting accompaniment to what is otherwise a mostly classical lineup. The closing "Rituale" brings everything to a furiously rocking end, with proto-breakbeat percission and the most frenzied performance by Del Monaco. As a bonus, the Artis CD contains "Introspezione (Integrale)", which is the full six-minute version of the title track. In this form, it's an even more stunning bit of concrete experimentation. While all their albums are worth a listen, this debut outing is simultaneously Opus Avantra's most daring and enjoyable work. I love it, even if I don't understand any of the (mostly Italian) lyrics!

*Donella Del Monaco would be absent on Opus Avantra's next outing, but she's on most of their other albums. She also has a solo career that might be worth investigating.

**"Introspezione" (and by extension, "Introspezione (Integrale)") is credited to Tisocco, Esposito, Giorgio Bisotto, and Mireno Tisato.

Third Eye Foundation, IN VERSION

2010-09-01T00:59:00.000-04:00

Linda's Strange Vacation, 1996; out of print

5 tracks, 48:38

After literally searching for it for twelve years, I FINALLY got this at a good price! This is both the second 3EF release and the hardest to find (I've actually seen/heard the rare singles, but I'd never seen a physical copy of this until I purchased it). It finds Matt Elliott and Deb Parsons severely deconstructing tracks by Amp, Crescent, Hood, and Flying Saucer Attack (all of whom had connections to 3EF). Each of these remixes was made especially for this album. While the idea might seem strange, Elliott and Parsons have completely made these tracks their own, justifying its release as a 3EF album. Amp's two tracks are remixes from SIRÈNES; namely, "Eternity" and "Matilda's Shorts Wave" are recreated as "Eternity (I and I and Eye and Eye and Eye Version)" and "Short Wave Dub". I have yet to hear the source tracks, but based on what I know of Amp I'm pretty sure the original "Eternity" didn't feature drastically sliced-up vocals laid over absolutely savage drum'n'bass beats. Not that I'm complaining; this is a jarring and wondrous track that is over far too soon. On the opposite end, "Short Wave Dub" truly sounds dubby, with its wordless vocal trills layered over odd drones and blips. It's a very nice relief after the opening onslaught. Crescent's "Superconstellation" is up next. For this mix, Matt isolated a vocal sample from the end of the original song and plays with it over a looped drum kit-and-bass segment. That simplistic tweaking ends up working wonders. While the original "Superconstellation" is a fine track, Third Eye Foundation's version is even MORE powerful and gloomy, and fully deserving of its thirteen-plus minutes. According to Matt, Deb did the honors on Hood's "Eyes". This is the most intimidating remix, with samples from Hood* obscured by terrifying bursts of noise and ominous clanking. When a vocal refrain that sounds like "Where my eyes guide/Insiiiiiide" breaks to the surface towards the end, the effect is quite stunning. This track wouldn't be out of place at all on a Foehn album proper! Finally, at nearly eighteen minutes, Flying Saucer Attack's "Way Out Like David Bowman" closes the album. Truth be told, calling this an FSA remix is a little misleading. "Way Out...." consists solely of sounds that Matt recorded for FSA when he was still working with them. Dave Pearce rejected a lot of the material, so for this album Matt drastically processed his sources into a maelstrom of sound. Singing bowls, eerie trumpets/horns, unidentifiable drones and whorls of sound..... David Bowman was the main character of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and if you can imagine 2001 ending with him dying in a black hole, this would be the soundtrack. Why Pearce didn't want to use this material is beyond me, but thank goodness Matt ended up recycling it into a true masterpiece! Pearce wasn't amused and briefly threatened legal action, which probably explains why FSA is missing from the thanks list (Amp, Hood, and Crescent are all present; curiously, so is Deb!). The diverse styles of the mixes shouldn't work as a whole, but they do. I can't recommend this enough, but be aware it's going to take some looking to find an affordable copy. Elliott would release a similar album called I POO POO ON YOUR JUJU, remixing acts such as Tarwater and Yann Tiersen. While this IS enjoyable, it's much more representative of the later 3EF sound, whereas IN VERSION fits perfectly in between SEMTEX and GHOST. That being said, anything and everything with Matt Elliott's name on it is worth checking out. Happy hunting!

*I absolutely cannot figure out what song/songs were used here. When I asked him, Matt himself wasn't sure either!

Rune Lindblad, DEATH OF THE MOON: ELECTRONIC & CONCRETE MUSIC 1953-1960

2010-08-30T01:16:00.000-04:00

Pogus, 1997; available

8 tracks, 73:54

The late Rune Lindblad (1923-1991) was a true pioneer, yet he's all but unknown to the majority of music fans and scholars. Actually, none of the pieces collected here were released in any form until 1988! This is a true shame, for this disc contains some incredible examples of mixed electronic music. By "mixed" I mean Lindblad used both pure electronic and concrete sources. True, contemporaries like Dockstader and (earlier) Stockhausen did the same thing; however, at the time most composers favored one technique or the other, and they tended to be outspoken against the other. Audiences and critics hated his music at the time, but now it stands as a truly astounding body of work. As the title makes clear, DEATH OF THE MOON covers 1953 to 1960. The sound quality can be murky at times, but better than expected given the age of the source material. The pieces are presented in chronological order, and they definitely do plot a progression in technique and resources. My absolute favorite of the bunch is the incredible "Evening (Op. 7)"* from 1956. It's truly difficult to describe, but suffice to say it has some startling no wave-esque guitar alongside Lindblad's unidentifiable concrete sounds. The lengthy "Optica 1 (Op. 16)", composed from 1959 to 1960, also deserves mention. Apparently using actual video tape (as sound source or recording medium, I'm not sure), this squelchy sequence of bursts and blips sounds oddly like much-later glitch! From a technical standpoint, "Party (Op. 1)" from 1953 is the most primitive track, sounding like little more than bits of conversation fading in and out of a bed of feedback; rest assured, it's still a great listen! Early industrial music is the best possible comparison, and considering the age and obscurity of these pieces, it's sadly not shocking that Lindblad wasn't hailed as a VERY early pioneer of that genre. Now that his catalog is more available, everyone with even a passing interest in early electronic music can experience true masterpieces of the genre. Pogus' companion volume OBJEKT 2 covers 1962 to 1988, while the Swedish lable Elektron put out a two-disc eponymous compilation collecting unreleased pieces from 1960 to 1980. Both of these are as highly recommended as DEATH OF THE MOON. While harder to find, the 1975 LP PREDESTINATION is also worth hearing, but be aware it favors electronics over concrete sounds.

*With rare exceptions, most Lindblad compositions end in "(Op. #)".

Leo Coomans, BASEMENT RECORDINGS 1978-1982

2010-08-28T16:08:00.000-04:00

Ultra Eczema, 2009; possibly available still, but this was limited edition vinyl, so expect to search

5 tracks, 35:59

Alright, folks, we're into strange territory here. Coomans is a long-time player in the Antwerp jazz scene. Not much had been released up until this compilation, but what was available showed Coomans as an adventurous sax player. This comp, however, shows that he had a secret career, making music that bears extremely little relation to jazz in his own basement. Take "Aerosol", for instance. You see that thing on the cover? That's an aerosol machine which Leo used to treat his asthma. It's also what he sings into on "Aerosol", and it's STUNNING. It starts off with the ambient buzzing of the machine, but as the track progresses, Coomans' mouth movements and singing alter the sound. Voice and buzz combine into what sounds for all the world like a biomechanical Tuvan singer. "Watermuziek" is the other A-side track, and this one is fairly out there too! For this extended piece, Coomans plays "tubes", saxophones (baritone and soprano), and his own voice..... into a bathtub full of water!!!! What's shocking about this track is how much it sounds like musique concrete or even glitch at times; actually, parts of it even sound like a muffled version of Jac Berrocal's "Bric-A-Brac". The B-side starts off with "Het Geraas En Het Gebral", another extended piece. This one really must be heard to be believed, but if you can imagine Riley's "Poppy Nogood" in lo-fi devolving into a free jazz maelstrom with vacuum cleaner accompaniment, you're close to the mark (and yes, there literally IS a vacuum cleaner in there). "Zonder Titel" is a brief harmonica-and-overtone piece, strangely pretty in its own way while completely covered in fuzz and distortion. Finally, Coomans treats us to his cover of "Louie Louie", which is perfomed on vacuum cleaner, alto sax, "tubes" again, and a "tape recorder with accessories" (and of course Coomans' voice as well). You've never heard a version of "Louie Louie" like THIS before, especially since it doesn't even vaguely resemble that standard until the track's almost over! Full of outsider creativity and jarring sounds, this compilation really should be more widely available, and hopefully it will be. Good luck finding this one, kids, but if you love avant-garde music as much as I do, you NEED it.

Smegma, GLAMOUR GIRL 1941 + PIGFACE CHANT

2010-08-18T12:35:00.001-04:00

Japan Overseas, 1997 (see review for original release details); available

14 tracks, 70:06

Well, it's about time I got around to reviewing Smegma! This handy CD compiles their first two releases, GLAMOUR GIRL 1941 (1979, LAFMS) and PIGFACE CHANT (also 1979 but recorded in '74, Pigface Records) plus four bonus tracks. I'm not gong to type out everyone involved on these releases, but suffice to say Smegma has always had a fairly large and constantly fluctuating lineup and this is no different. PIGFACE CHANT takes up the last four tracks*. These are group vocal improvisations with very little (if any) musical accompaniment. Somewhat along the lines of certain tracks by Cromagnon, they're entertaining but VERY much an acquired taste. The lengthy "The End" (the bonus track) features improvised music along with the chanting, making it probably the most accessible PIGFACE track. The GLAMOUR GIRL material is mostly instrumental and covers a wide musical canvas. The opening "Difference" is fairly straight jazz improv, while lengthy closer "Half A Billion" is a fascinating organ-drenched song(!) that wouldn't sound out of place on a Can album. The brief "Die Wo-Wo" predicts Ju Suk Reet Meate's solo album (reviewed here previously), with its tape manipulations and surreal atmosphere, while "I Am Not Artist" has deranged vocals driving the title home to the accompaniment of another superb krauty jam. The other three tracks are no less intriguing, and they add up to a much more diverse experience than one would expect from a group like this. GLAMOUR GIRL's bonus tracks** are two pieces of plunderphonic/improv fusion (which, not surprisingly, use many of the same samples that Meate's solo album employed) and the epic live blurt "Flashback 79". Smegma are still making music and inspiring countless improvisational and noise bands***, but these two releases show that they were great from the start. Not just a tuneless noisefest, but nowhere near mainstream accessibility, this is the perfect introduction to one of the American avant-garde's true stalwarts. Even though this is a Japanese import, you can find it fairly easily and inexpensively. I heartily recommend that you do (even if most people won't be able to read the thick booklet, since it's entirely in Japanese).

*Well, technically, three tracks off the original single and a bonus track end the CD, but honestly, if Smegma felt the other two tracks were superfluous, I'm not going to argue.

**For the reocrd, tracks 1 through 7 are GLAMOUR GIRL 1941, and tracks 11 to 13 are PIGFACE CHANT. I'm sure you can figure out which ones are the bonus tracks! ;)

***Wolf Eyes in particular have both collaborated with Smegma members and named an album after one (BURNED MIND).

Jacques Berrocal, PARALLÈLES

2010-07-21T03:25:00.000-04:00

d'Avantage, 1977; reissued by Alga Marghen; available

Alga Marghen edition: 10 tracks, 61:14

Jacques (he wasn't Jac just yet!) Berrocal has been reviewed here before. This, his second album, is probably the single best-known thing he ever did. The reason for that is the avant classic "Rock'n'Roll Station", which Nurse With Wound later covered*. Here, it is scored for the powerful voice of Vince Taylor, Roger Ferlet's repetitive double bass, and Berrocal's bicycle improvisation(!). It's admittedly a great track, but it almost pales in comparison to the others. "Parallèles" itself is an improvisation by Berrocal and Ferlet, who trade off runs on valve trombone and regular trombone respectively for eight and a half minutes. Similarly, "Galimatias" is three minutes of Berrocal on solo cornet. It says a lot about Berrocal that these two tracks are endlessly fascinating despite their limited instrumentation. By contrast, "Post-card" has trombonist Berrocal and pocket trumpeter Ferlet accompanied by Michel Potage on guitar and voice. What's unusual is that this was recorded in a pigsty (yes, you can hear the pigs), and Potage recites the back of a random postcard. These four tracks made up the original A-side. "Bric-à-Brac" takes the honors of occupying the B-side, and it's a doozy for sure! In addition to Berrocal, Ferlet, and Potage (who play about fourteen instruments between the three of them), five other players are involved: cellist Philippe Pochan, double bassist Pierre Bastien, pianist Richard Marachin, and multi-instrumentalists Claude Bernard and Bernard Vitet**. True to its name, "Bric-à-Brac" is an epic noisy improvisation, never sitting in one place yet never really overdoing it either. It's subtitled "To Russolo", and that should tell you everything you need to know about how it sounds. Towards the end of the track, a version of "Rock'n'Roll Station" shows up. The album proper finishes on this delightfully unexpected note, but Alga Marghen has generously added five bonus tracks spanning '72 to '79. These range from the sound collage of "Villa Povera Naturale" to the electronic experimentations of "Cryptea IV" and "Lisylis Pavillion". The best, however, is "Occupé", a six minute gem from an unreleased Michel Potage LP featuring most of the players from "Bric-à-Brac". While this is a varied and unusual album, it's definitely a great representation of several sides of Berrocal. It's also my absolute favorite Berrocal album.

*Berrocal and Stapleton have worked together many times, going back to the second NWW album.

**Vitet, you may recall, was in the excellent Un Drame Musical Instantané.

***You may recall her from Jean Guérin's TACET; she also appears on Vitet's LA GUÊPE.

Sproton Layer, WITH MAGNETIC FIELDS DISRUPTED

2010-07-21T02:42:00.000-04:00

New Alliance, 1991; out of print

12 tracks, 40:14

This is one of those gems I find that wasn't truly released until years after it was recorded. Sproton Layer was a group of Ann Arbor teens (all between 15 and 17 when the project started in '68) deeply under the influence of Barrett-era Pink Floyd, free jazz, Beefheart, the Stooges, etc. Why should you care? Well, it just so happens that the brothers Miller comprised 3/4 of this group. Bassist/lead vocalist Roger went on to Mission Of Burma et al eight years later (after relocating to Boston), while drummer Larry and guitarist/vocalist Ben joined Destroy All Monsters for the seminal "Bored" single. The brothers had previously performed together as Freak Trio, which was apparently a mostly improvisational project. The remaining Sproton member was trumpeter Harold Kirchen, who brought an unusual yet completely wonderful touch to the band. As for the music itself, these guys put some "professional" groups to shame! Having performed live several times in the previous two years, Sproton Layer recorded this album in 1970. Simultaneously ahead of their time yet perfectly suited to it, Sproton Layer created songs that can be noisy and heavy or pretty and dreamy, often within the same short composition. Larry's unusual jazz-influenced drumming combines perfectly with Roger's chugging bass, while Ben has absolutely no problem either following along or going off on noisy tangents; he even delves into proto-noise rock and surf modes at times. Secret weapon Harold punctuates all the right moments with expert trumpeting, and while his presence is a little startling at first, after a few listens you notice just how much that damn trumpet adds. To their credit, there's also not a drop of filler on this album*. The lyrics can be pretty goofy in a psychedelic way (sample: "I know where there's a bush!/O-VER THERRRRRRRE!"), but given the heavy Barrett influence that's perfectly understandable. A Barrett-influenced Mission Of Burma is probably the best description I can give this, but it really should be judged on its own merits as a remarkable recording by a young band who never got their due. While this IS out of print, you should be able to get a good used copy for less than $5 (I did!). This was the last thing Sproton Layer ever did; New Alliance released a three-song single at the same time that shows off their improvisational side on a track or two, and this is also worth hearing. Once you hear Sproton Layer, you'll be glad ANYTHING by them survived to be issued at all! Music this good shouldn't go unheard; why is it out of print now?!?!?!?!?! It's probably worth noting that the Miller boys get together periodically as M3, so if you like this that should be your next stop.

*Sadly, though, none of the songs on WITH MAGNETIC FIELDS DISRUPTED shows off their improvisational side all that much, but oh well, that's what the single's for.

Richard Pinhas, CHRONOLYSE

2010-07-01T01:38:00.000-04:00

Cobra, 1978; reissued by Spalax, Cuneiform, and Captain Trip; Cuneiform edition available

9 tracks, 52:56

First and foremost: Happy 100th entry to my humble lil' blog! Hooray and all that! Okay, on to the review.

Pinhas' group Heldon has already been reviewed here (and most of you probably knew about'em already!). This was Pinhas' second solo album to be released*. However, it was actually recorded in 1976 somewhere between Heldon's IV and V**; it just wasn't released until two years later. Truth be told, it's not really even a solo album per se. Side one had "Variations I-VII Sur Le Theme De Bene Gesserit" and "Duncan Idaho". These feature Pinhas and his Moog, truly solo. The "Variations" are exactly that, most being quite short (with the exception of "Variation VII") and all featuring the same basic set of sequences. Don't let that deter you, as they all form into a mesmerizing and literally trance-inducing mini-suite of minimalist analog bliss. "Duncan Idaho" is similar, but features its own unique set of sequenced eletronic sounds. It's also much longer than any of the individual "Variations" at just over six minutes. So far this sounds like a true solo effort, but then the massive side-long "Paul Atreides" comes along. This thirty-plus minute behemoth is essentially a Heldon track, with longtime Heldon drummer François Auger and sometime bassist Didier Batard joining Pinhas. Richard himself tackles guitar, Mellotron, and ARP synths. "Paul Atreides" opens with eerie drones and what could be classic sci-fi sound effects, slowly progressing for several minutes before Pinhas unleashes his soaring Frippian guitar and Auger starts to provide a suitably motorik-style beat, with Batard completing a solid rhythm section. After a stretch of true space rock, the song comes full circle back to the space drone of the beginning. It's a truly intimidating listen, and it just may be the single greatest track in Pinhas' entire catalog. The rest of the album is great, too, making this one of the most important and enjoyable Pinhas-related releases. Oh, and if the track names seem familiar, Pinhas got them all from Frank Herbert's DUNE; he also "dedicated (this album) to all S(ci).F(i). freaks", for what that's worth!

*His first, RHIZOSPHERE, has its moments but is mostly inferior to CHRONOLYSE in my opinion.

**Yes, the titles are much longer, but for the sake of space and time I'm referring to them by number only.

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, DIE KLEINEN UND DIE BÖSEN

2010-05-18T01:08:00.000-04:00

Mute, 1980; available

19 tracks, 38:40

Wow, this certainly took me long enough! DAF's debut album, PRODUKT DER..., was the very first album to be reviewed here. Now, almost 100 entries (the next review gets THAT honor) and three years into it, I'm finally getting around to their sophomore release! Kurt Dahlke and bassist Michael Kemner had departed (Dahlke for Der Plan and the solo project Pyrolator), while singer Gabi Delgado-Lopez was back in. Along with drummer Robert Görl and guitarist Wolfgang Spelmanns, the lineup featured synth whiz Chrislo Haas, who was on Der Plan's debut single and later co-founded Liaisons Dangereuses. Legendary producer Conny Plank was behind the controls for this release, which is ironic since he produced many krautrock classics; the slight krautrock elements of PRODUKT had completely dissipated by this point. The seven songss on the A-side were produced in the studio, while the B-side featured a brief studio piece and eleven tracks from an absolutely unhinged live show. The latter was supposedly recorded by accident; the technician wanted to record Wire, who DAF was opening for. What a fortunate mistake! These chaotic bursts of noisy synthpunk are an absolute treat. Delgado-Lopez is at his most aggressive, very rarely singing in the deep voice he became known for. Most of the time he's screaming, howling, or blasting out the words at a rapid pace. The band is at the top of its game, with Görl providing furious punk drumming while Spelmanns and Haas create a frenzied mass of guitar noise and early synth squelching. For variety, the title track is a brief synth solo by Görl, while the closing "Y La Gracia" is performed by Haas and Delgado-Lopez alone. These two tracks, along with the brief and goofy "Volkstanz", provide some relief from the onslaught of the remaining live gems. A particular B-side standout is "Die Lustigen Stiefel", which has Delgado-Lopez singing about how "the funny little boots are marching over Poland" to the tune of "nanny-nanny-boo-boo" while the others provide a NY No Wave-style herky-jerky groove. The studio track, "Gewalt", is a nice bit of noise that's far too brief; a track of the same name appeared as the B-side to "Kebabträume", but they're different songs. The A-side of DIE KLEINEN is rather good as well; "Essen Denn Schlafen", "Co Co Pino", and "Nacht Arbeit" are early synthpunk bliss, and the lengthy atmospheric "Osten Währt Am Längsten" is both a great introduction and a nice bit of calm on what is otherwise one hell of a ride. After this, DAF would release two more punky singles (both with EXCELLENT B-sides as well!) before Spelmanns and Haas departed. Görl and Delgado-Lopez continued as a duo, releasing a couple albums of decent early EBM. They've reunited and had side projects and whatnot many times since, but PRODUKT and DIE KLEINEN are their most experimental and daring works. As a nifty bonus, the lyrics are provided in German, Spanish, and English!

Tod Dockstader, 8 ELECTRONIC PIECES

2010-05-14T00:13:00.000-04:00

Folkways, 1961; reissued by Locust; available

8 untitled tracks (of course!), 36:45

With this album, Tod Dockstader's unique brand of electronics was introduced to the world. Using both purely electronic and concrete sources, Dockstader brought his expertise at editing (picked up while working for cartoon companies!) to his music. It's impossible to tell what sounds are what. Different elements weave in and out, always giving way to fresh noises. It's not as random as this sounds; these are definitely electronic PIECES with a set structure and detectable progression. "Organized Sound" (the title of a later Dockstader LP) sums it up nicely. The lengthy seventh and eighth pieces are definite highlights, but there's not a single wasted moment on this whole collection. Even the monophonic recording doesn't blunt the impact of this disc! Folkways sure was bold to release this, but kudos to them. Dockstader would make more records, retiring for a long time after the stressful sessions for OMNIPHONY 1 (a story to be told in later reviews*). He's recently been active again and creative as ever. This is a pretty brief review, but know this: If you like early electronic music and you're unfamiliar with Dockstader, GET THIS NOW! For that matter, anything by Dockstader is guaranteed to please, so pick it up on sight.

*I have yet to acquire OMNIPHONY 1 or the compilations QUATERMASS and APOCALYPSE, but once I do they'll receive reviews as well.

White Noise, AN ELECTRIC STORM

2010-05-13T23:25:00.000-04:00

Island, 1969; available

7 tracks, 36:22

What do you get when you combine an expat American double bassist (with an interest in electronics) and two audio wizards from the BBC? Answer: This gem of an album! While future White Noise albums were mostly David Vorhaus (the expat) alone, this album also featured the legendary Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Derbyshire is most famous for her electronic DOCTOR WHO theme, while Hodgson created the enduring sound effects associated with the Daleks and the TARDIS. Those sci-fi credentials give you a hint of what this album is about, but nothing more. Painstakingly assembled the old-fashioned way from tape snippets, this is a masterpiece of pop concrete. For the first five tracks (the A-side, or "Phase-In" as they put it), the group delivers grade-A psychedelic pop. Maybe "pop" isn't quite right; there's no way they could have expected the cheeky "My Game Of Loving" to get any airplay with its combination of densely arranged blips and bleeps, Beach Boy-esque vocals, and apparently authentic orgy sounds! That lapse of taste aside*, the other tracks are just catchy enough to be better known while being just too bizarre for the mainstream. The vocals (courtesy John Whitman, Annie Bird, and Val Shaw) aren't always great, but they serve their purpose well enough. "Love Without Sound" predicts future trends like illbient and trip-hop with its slow smoky atmosphere and rolling drum track, while "Here Come The Fleas" is a short novelty track that thankfully stops just before it gets irritating (even if it does have a nifty distorted guitar in the mix). Side two ("Phase-Out"), on the other hand, is another story! The obvious highlight is the eleven-plus minute "The Visitation", a goofy-but-eerie epic with plenty of creepy whirring noises and a gloomy plot involving a deceased biker trying to talk to his grieving girlfriend.... and failing. It's somewhat like listening to an EC comic story as performed by Kraftwerk! It just so happened that this track took a while to make, and Island started to get impatient. After a year, the label demanded the finished album; under threat of a lawsuit, the band produced the final track in one night, with assistance from jazz drummer Paul Lytton (you might remember that name from my review of Area's EVENT '76). The resulting jam was called "Black Mass: An Electric Storm In Hell", a fitting title if there ever was one! It begins with ominous (though hokey) group chanting, leading right into Lytton's furious and free drumming. Lytton is accompanied by a droning tape loop, punctuated with random screams and bursts of noise. "Black Mass" is VERY out of place, but surprisingly it's one of the highlights and a worthy conclusion. The whole collection is an early electronic masterpiece that still sounds remarkably fresh. Derbyshire and Hodgson left White Noise after AN ELECTRIC STORM, while Vorhaus sporadically revives the name. Subeqent White Noise albums have their moments, but AN ELECTRIC STORM will always be the crowning achievement under that name. All other works by Derbyshire** and Hodgson are absolutely recommended, but unfortunately their works aren't easy to find outside of DOCTOR WHO-related compilations.

*While I'm not a prude by any stretch, this is one of THE goofiest attempts at sexiness I have ever heard. No kidding!

**The extremely rare ELECTRO-SONIC is one of Derbyshire's best works; if you can find it, it makes a great companion to AN ELECTRIC STORM.

SPK, LEICHENSCHREI

2010-05-04T07:44:00.000-04:00

Thermidor, 1982; reissued by Mute; available

14 tracks, 43:18

While I'm not the first to review it (see http://thetintinnabularium.blogspot.com/2009/02/spk-leichenschrei-1984.html , for example), I feel the need to assure everyone that this is indeed one of the finest early industrial releases.

Australia's SPK* were one of the first industrial bands. For this nightmare of an LP, SPK were Oblivion (a.k.a. main instigator Graeme Revell; various instruments), NE/H/IL (Neil Hill; electronics), and (James) Pinker (percussion). LEICHENSCHREI was their second LP, following some intense singles** and the primitive INFORMATION OVERLOAD UNIT album. Members allegedly worked in the mental health field, a theme that carries over to the music. A heavily percussive mass of sound is the result, with disturbing soundbites and samples weaving in and out of the mix. It's all very structured and rhythmic compared to most contemporaries, but that's the ONLY concession to accessibility. This is every bit as disturbing and grotesque as Throbbing Gristle, with the prominent rhythms doing little to blunt the impact of the other sounds and noises. Well, pehaps it's not COMPLETELY devastating; things calm down slghtly towards the end of the album. Highlights are hard to pick out, and the initial LP release was divided into two sides with no distinct tracks (one side ended in a lock groove). With that in mind, while it's harrowing, this is best experienced from start to finish. Be warned it's still every bit as paranoia-inducing as it ever was, and definitely be sure you're in the right frame of mind before playing this. I'd hate to see what could happen otherwise.

It's worth mentioning SPK's DESPAIR video here. This is essentially concert footage mixed with some truly nightmarish imagery. The parts with Revell tearing chunks off a skinned horse's head and chewing them onstage is one of the less disturbing images on DESPAIR, and while it's not grosser than many FACES OF DEATH-type collections, the atmosphere is absolutely nerve wracking and I've never been able to stomach the whole thing. If you think you can handle it, watch it, but be absolutely sure you know what you're getting into.

Revell would continue SPK with a revolving cast (plus his wife Sinan), eventually lapsing into fairly unexciting synthpop*** before disbanding. He currently does soundtrack works for major motion pictures, which isn't as surprising as it might seem. Hill took his own life two years later. Pinker appeared with a few other bands (most notably Dead Can Dance) and is apparently still active in music.

*For what it's worth, SPK stood for Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv for this album; the "Socialistiches" on the reissue is a misspelling. On other releases it's spelled out as Surgical Penis Klinik, SoliPsiK, SePpuKu, and System Planning Korporation.

**The compilation AUTO DA FE collects most of these tracks (including the particularly vicious "Slogun") along with some of the better synthpop-era tunes.

***With the exception of the excellent ZAMIA LEHMANNI: SONGS OF BYZANTINE FLOWERS, which shows Revell and company succeeding at ambient music.

Faust, FAUST IV

2010-05-03T17:47:00.000-04:00

Virgin, 1973; available, and the 2007 remaster comes with a bonus disc (see review)

Disc 1 (or the album itself): 7 tracks, 44:19. Disc 2: 9 tracks, 57:04.

Faust surely need no introduction here, so let's get to the facts! For this reissue, Virgin have put FAUST IV proper on the first disc while loading the second with outtakes, alternate versions, and a Peel session. FAUST IV never really got the same degree of admiration that FAUST, SO FAR, and THE FAUST TAPES received; hopefully this set will change that! Containing such grade-A pieces as the noisy epic "Krautrock" and the moody VU-esque "Jennifer", this isn't Faust selling out or going for mainstream acceptance, no matter what reviews at the time claimed. Certainly "It's A Bit Of Pain" (which is a perfectly sweet folky tune interrupted by loud atonal synth buzzing), the folky "Läuft... Heisst Das Es Läuft Oder Es Kommt Bald... Läuft", and the bizarre proto-new wave/ska hybrid "The Sad Skinhead" are more listenable than anything off the first album or THE FAUST TAPES, but that's overlooking the fairly accessible SO FAR. In fact, not a single one of these seven tracks is unremarkable, and any of them COULD have been on an earlier album. That alone makes FAUST IV worth revisting, but the bonus disc REALLY seals the deal. The first three tracks are a Peel session from 1973, featuring a version of "Krautrock" along with the jazzy "The Lurcher" and a delightful piece of avant-pop called "Do So". While this IS available elsewhere, it's nice to have it with other period rarities. Those rarities include a previously unreleased "Piano Piece" which by itself would have made a truly lovely bonus with its swirling percussions and abstract vocal touches (plus the gorgeous piano, of course!). The rest of the disc consists of alternate versions, some of which are radically different from the released versions. For example, the extended version of "Just A Second (Starts Like That!)" stretches the two-minute original to ten and a half minutes of burning psychedelia. The other really notable alternate is "Jennifer:, with emphasis on the guitar instead of the bass and the ending trimmed. It's arguably better than the version that ended up on FAUST IV. If you already have the first three and weren't sure about this one, trust me, it's every bit as essential. If you're new to Faust, this might even be a good place to start. Oh, and once again: DEFINITELY go for the double-disc edition and not the single-disc!

Heldon, INTERFACE

2010-04-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

Cobra, 1978; reissued by Spalax and Cuneiform; available

CD: 8 tracks, 51:28

It was only a matter of time before Heldon got reviewed here. Essentially the brainchild of guitar/synth wizard Richard Pinhas, Heldon was one of many French acts that were oddly similar to krautrock. Named after a town in Paul Spinrad's THE IRON DREAM, the project is definitely Fripp worship of the highest quality; in other words, the influence is there, but Pinhas remains VERY distinctive in his approach. INTERFACE is Heldon's sixth album (in three years of existence!), and it was recorded with a core trio of Pinhas, long-term drummer/multi-instrumentalist François Auger, and keyboardist Patrick Gauthier. This is usually considered Heldon's strongest configuration, and with good reason. Long-term bassist Didier Batard shows up on a track as well. Song-wise, this finds Heldon at the peak of their creativity. The three short, almost disco-esque "Soucoupes Volantes" tracks on the original A-side are still astonishing electronic pieces that haven't aged one jot. The two longer A-side pieces, "Jet Girl" and "Bal-A-Fou", are equally impressive. The two-part "Jet Girl" sounds particularly grand, slowing down and changing slightly about halfway through while maintaining an evil pulse midway between motorik and space rock. The original B-side was occupied by the nineteen-minute title track, and what a track! Starting with minimal drum and synth atmospheres, Pinhas' piercing guitar eventually swoops in for the kill. Not a minute is wasted, even if the final bluesy notes are a little out of place. For the Cuneiform CD, two extracts of a live performance of "Interface" are sandwiched between the original sides. These snippets isolate particularly ferocious live takes on the piece, and they don't disrupt the flow whatsoever. While most Pinhas and Heldon releases are worthwhile, INTERFACE is a personal favorite and an excellent entry point.

Destroy All Monsters, 74 76

2010-04-18T21:49:00.001-04:00

Father Yod/Ecstatic Peace!, 1994; reissued by Compound Annex; available but limited

Three discs, each with its own title. Disc 1 ("Gospel Crusade"): 25 tracks, 71:19; disc 2 ("Crying In Bed"): 27 tracks, 69:11; disc 3 ("To The Throne Of Chaos Where The Thin Flutes Pipe Mindlessly"): 24 tracks, 66:54

When mentioned at all, Destroy All Monsters are generally considered a post-Stooges Ron Asheton project. With all respect due to the late Mr. Asheton, DAM were actually past their innovative prime by the time he joined! The original quartet of Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara, and Jim Shaw assembled in winter of '74 with the intent of deconstructing rock music. Inspired in equal parts by European experimentation, proto-punk a la Stooges and MC5, and the outer realms of jazz, they created a truly unique sound that can't readily be assigned to a specific era. That being said, ths box does indeed cover the years 1974 to 1976; there's no indication as to whether the material is presented chronologically, but that's okay. Sure, there's a few fairly straightforward proto-punkers featuring Niagara's sultry vocals like "Vampire", "T.H. Queen" and "You Can't Kill Kill"; also, the apparently live version of "Shakin' All Over" is surprisingly faithful to the original. Don't be fooled, though; these concessions to accessibility are few and far between. The majority of these tracks are pure experiments in sound, whether it's the nightmarish tape manipulations of "Mom's and Dad's Pussy" or the self-explanatory "Drone" and "Crunch Drone". There's also room for dubby sound explorations and primitive drum machine exercises, along with nearly every other experimental style you can think of. It's almost impossible to pick standouts, since there is a LOT of material to pick through and even the lesser tracks are impressive with enough repeat listens. Keeping in mind that this predated punk and industrial as genres (to say nothing of later developments such as no wave), this is incredibly ahead of its time, and it's even more amazing to think none of this got released until 1994! About the only comparable contemporaries were Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle; there are definite similarities, but honestly all three were highly original outfits that started around the same time and were unaware of the others until later. In DAM's case, hardly anyone outside of the group itself was aware of their innovations until years later. Needless to say this comes highly recommended. While the reissue isn't as fancy as the original box, the music is all intact and it IS available again, and shouldn't that matter the most? Around '76 most of the members left except for Niagara, who continued Destroy All Monsters with new members (most notably Asheton and ex-MC5 bassist Michael Davis). This period of DAM is enjoyable, but don't expect it to sound a jot like the box. The original lineup has basically reformed and tours/records semi-regularly in their original proto-noise style.

Read the liner notes for this set (written by Mike Kelley himself) here: http://www.mikekelley.com/DAMthrone.html . http://www.mikekelley.com/compound.html has 74 76 for sale along with other DAM/Kelley-related products.

John Fahey, REQUIA

2010-04-11T01:23:00.001-04:00

Vanguard, 1967; available

8 track, 44:46

The late John Fahey has always been one of my favorite musical enigmas. Mostly kown for redefining folk (and hating hippies and New Age!), he had a surprisingly adventurous side. REQUIA (subtitled AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS FOR GUITAR SOLO, which isn't entirely accurate) is one of his best early forays into experimental turf. The A-side is typical Fahey: raga/blues/folk fusion guitar excursions played with flair and that distinct Fahey touch. The long "Requiem For Rusell Blaine Cooper" and "When The Catfish Is In Bloom" are particularly delightful, and "Requiem For John Hurt" is pretty good too! The B-side is where it gets weird. The four-part "Requiem For Molly" dominates this side, and it calls Fahey's distaste for psychedelia into question. This epic finds Fahey accompanied by "special effects", IE, musique concrete! Bits and pieces of old blues records, lions roaring, seals barking, public speeches, and other found sounds float under Fahey's irresistible guitar. Oddly enough, the melody for "Part Three" is actually "California Dreaming"! The Mamas and the Papas aren't credited, but there's no mistaking it; in the end that's okay since it actually adds to the collage effect. The effects never really match up with the playing, and Fahey would complain later that he was drunk at the session and the tapes weren't properly cued. However, Fahey was also his own harshest critic, and the piece still sounds remarkable today despite its flaws. The album closes with the brief yet delightful "Fight On Christians, Fight On", leaving the listener wanting more. Luckily, there is a lot more! GUITAR VOL. 4, THE YELLOW PRINCESS, and THE LEGEND OF BLIND JOE DEATH are especially good early works that mix brave experimentation and gorgeous acoustic playing, while the late-period CITY OF REFUGE, THE MILL-POND, and WOMBLIFE would appeal to far more adventurous listeners with their severely dark and abstract nature (the former has particularly aggressive notes by Fahey; I repeat, he REALLY didn't like hippies!). The one-off collaboration with Cul De Sac, THE EPIPHAY OF GLENN JONES, is also quite listenable and interesting. There really isn't a bad Fahey album, but REQUIA is definitely a nice cross section of the man's many sides and is probably the best introduction to his marvelous catalog.

Fear Of God, FIRST EP

2010-04-08T22:57:00.001-04:00

Temple Of Love, 1988; reissued by E.U. '91 Produzioni; available but hard to find and limited

CD has 21 tracks, 36:59; 11:08 of that is the actual EP, and there's also approximately twenty-one minutes of silence and a short interview (see review)

Believe it or not, my musical tastes revolved around grindcore, death metal, black metal, etc. for a while. These days I don't care for most death and black metal, but I still have a soft spot for grindcore. For those unfamiliar with the style, grindcore is essentially a hyperspeed blend of hardcore and extreme metal. Grindcore's defining trait is the blast beat, which consists of playing the drums so fast that only a blur of dull thudding and crashing cymbals can be heard. "Grindcore" was allegedly derived from "hardcore" and "grind", a term used by Mick Harris to describe the sound of bands like Swans. That's the condensed version anyway! The classic genre-defining grindcore bands* would be Japan's S.O.B., who were the punkiest of the early groups (and possibly the least interesting soundwise); America's nasty Repulsion; England's seminal Napalm Death; and this one, Switzerland's legendary Fear Of God**. Falling into the political end of grindcore, Fear Of God was a startling quartet of vocalist Erich Keller, drummer/screamer Franz "Osi" Oswald (also in Tenebre), guitarist/screamer Reto "Tschösi" Kühne (also in Messiah), and drummer/screamer Dave Phillips (also in Bloodstar and later an eclectic noise artist). Young, angry, and idealistic, the four madmen absolutely DESTROYED that which Napalm Death et al had created. Whereas Napalm Death's full-length debut SCUM was full of short noisy bursts, in hindsight its production was a bit too clean. Fear Of God intentionally recorded as noisily as possible, ensuring that each of these twenty-one tracks is covered in a nice layer of filth. Don't let that scare you off, because believe me, it suits the music! Whereas Napalm Death hid "You Suffer"'s one-second burst at the end of side one, Fear Of God come right out the gate with the seven-second growlfest "Rubbish Planet". From there it's a lightspeed blast through the remaining tracks, which you actually CAN differentiate after enough listens! Thirteen of the songs are less than thirty seconds, while only four (barely) break the minute mark. Lyrically, these tunes rail against women who wear fur ("Pelzfotze"), excessive and/or misdirected pride ("Proud On Your Pride"), the poor treatment of AIDS victims ("I'm Positive"), and other political injustices in an appropriately furious way. Erich's disturbing growled vocals are an acquired taste, but his frenzied delivery is a perfect match for the music. He's especially enjoyable on such micro-songs as "My Hands Deep In Your Guts" and "7 Up"; he truly DOES sound like he's singing for his life at times, or perhaps he's just an elemental force of nature unto himself? Don't sell the other members short though! Dave manages to get a catchy and even groovy bassline into every noisy gem, Osi's drumming probably made even Mick Harris nervous, and Tschösi is perfectly capable of playing recognizable notes and blurry waves of noise with equal aplomb. The extra screams that all three instrumentalists add are a nice touch to Keller's more guttural approach. Essentially inventing AND mastering the subgenre of noisegrind*** with this EP, this would be an essential introduction to grindcore for anyone curious about the genre. In my opinion it's an even better intro than SCUM or REEK OF PUTREFACTION! Fear Of God would have a short lifespan, breaking up in '88. There was a reunion a few years back, and Ipecac of all labels was set to release a Fear Of God discography disc, but that seems to have fallen through. MANY vinyl bootlegs of this EP exist, so I would suggest getting the authorized CD. By the way, about that silence: At the end of track twenty-one (the short and intense screamfest "First Class People), there is indeed about twenty-one minutes of silence, followed by a nearly six-minute interaction between some punk and a radio host . This has a small bit of music spliced into it, but otherwise it's just the punk and the host insulting/being confused by Fear Of God. A strange bonus perhaps, but with singular efforts like this I'm just happy to have it at all. All FOG releases are worth it****, but Erich himself has said more bootlegs exist than authorized product, so pay attention when shopping! If this sounds appealing to you, check Erich's music blog at www.goodbadmusic.com . He usually posts metal and hardcore, but there's a few Fear Of God rarities in there. Another truly interesting FOG-related project is Dave Phillips' THE HERMENEUTICS OF FEAR OF GOD, which reassembles the already-extreme source material into a nightmarish (though fascinating!) horror show; VERY much worth checking out, but use caution! Also worth hunting for is Erich's industrial/noise project Atta, which actually predates Fear Of God.

*There WERE worthy proto-grind bands like Siege, Deep Wound, Brigada Do Ódio, Kuolema, early D.R.I., and Corporate Whores; however, for simplicity's sake I'm sticking to the first bands to be categorized as grindcore proper.

**Napalm Death and S.O.B. turned more death metal over the years. Repulsion released one album (plus some demos and singles) before breaking up.

***Just to clear up a common misconception, Fear Of God don't fall under the "noisecore" umbrella like Seven Minutes Of Nausea or Deche-Charge. They were raw traditional grindcore with obvious noisecore and noise-rock influences. I've seen this style referred to as "noisegrind" so that's what I'm going with. For that matter, they didn't really consider themselves grindcore either, preferring to describe themselves as either a hardcore band or a noise band!

****Particularly worthwhile are the reissued demo KONSERVEN and the live PNEUMATIC SLAUGHTER, both of which feature versions of tracks from this EP. The rare BLAZING SWISS NOISE! tape has some of the tracks off the EP, two live shows, and a rehearsal set.

Recent music can be good, too: Sensible Nectar

2010-03-04T00:36:00.000-05:00

Justin Marc Lloyd is Sensible Nectar. A project oddly enough from VERY close to my former hometown(s), this is some ambient noise bliss. Depending on the track you can get gorgeous ambience, gritty and groovy space rock, or pure harsh noise. Or all. Or none. A LOT of ground is covered here, and it's all done VERY well. Go hear it here: http://www.myspace.com/sensiblenectar
And here:
http://justinmarclloyd.blogspot.com/2009/12/sensible-nectar-discography.html

Circle X, CIRCLE X and PREHISTORY

2010-03-01T21:23:00.000-05:00

Originally self-released with no label name, 1979; reissued by Dexter's Cigar; available but act quick

4 tracks, 11:35

Index, 1983; reissued by Blue Chopsticks; available

6 tracks, 35:57

These two releases were recorded within two years of each other by the exact same lineup; both were also reissued on sublabels of Drag City owned by David Grubbs. That's where the similarities end. Circle X (originally, the symbol on the EP WAS their name) have a fairly complicated history. They originated in Louisville, moved to New York, moved again to Dijon, and then relocated back to New York! Loosely associated with no wave, they really were always in a universe of their own. For these two early releases, Circle X was David Letendre, Rik Letendre, Tony Pinotti, and Bruce Witsiepe.

The debut EP originally was completely unnamed except for the cover symbol. It was recorded in Dijon while the band members were living there. The Letendre brothers are credited with guitar and "drum", while Pinotti does vocals and Witsiepe plays guitar. You hardly notice the lack of bass at first; the guitars are gnarled and nasty, and one guitarist tends to play twisted noise rock riffs while the other provides either storms of distortion or feedback drones. The drumming is fairly varied, with each song having a different style. Pinotti brings a different vocal idea to each song as well. The original A-side consisted of the almost-straightforward "Tender" and the hardcore-with-an-arty-twist "Albeit Living". The former sounds uncannily like the FAR later Laughing Hyenas with its sludgy groove and hoarse screaming/shouting, while the latter begins with multiple voices speaking the lyrics before launching into a ferocious little rocker. The other side was even further out there: "Onward, Christian Soldiers" predicts the kind of slow and heavy noise rock that Swans et al would soon explore, and "Underworld" features a bagpipe-esque drone, Pinotti's alternately spoken and shouted vocals, and a wonderfully processed guitar that sounds like a malfunctioning amplifier playing itself. It's all at least a few years ahead of its time, and it's also the most no wave thing they ever did. An auspicious debut, to be sure, and very much worthwhile.

Two years later, the band was back in New York. The lineup was intact, but the sound sure wasn't! The newly rechristened Circle X Internationale had gone from noise rock to industrial. They expanded to using tapes, further percussion, and even a bass on the opening "Current". The sound is much spacier and loop-based than aggressive; the guitars weave in and out of the mix, with atmospheric percussion providing most of what little structure there is. Actually, the production is very close to the spectral qualities of dub, with heavy usage of reverb and delay. Pinotti has also changed his vocal style, mostly going for a much more pained and haunting tone midway between a sigh and a moan. With these musical surroundings, his voice is a perfect fit. While all six songs are amazing, the definite standout is a remake of "Underworld". Retaining the basic structure of the original while more than doubling its length, this version features Pinotti's vocals getting basically the same treatment as the guitar on the original to great effect, and guest Jason Huang's eerie organ helps to make it much more atmospheric and incredible than the already impressive first version. The spooky bass-driven "Current" and oddly catchy "Prehistory Part II" are particularly great as well, but this is definitely a completely solid album. Curiously, this wasn't released until '83, two years after it was recorded; maybe no label was ready for it yet. If you can only get one Circle X release, this should be it.

Both of these are available at Drag City's webstore, http://www.dragcity.com/store . Please be advised that most Dexter's Cigar titles are long out of print, and the Circle X EP may follow suit soon. PREHISTORY should be easily acquired. Either way, these are ten EXCELLENT songs without a drop of filler, so maybe just grab both and sleep easier!

Circle X took an extended hiatus until the early '90s, when they reformed minus David Letendre. They proceeded to make music with a revolving cast of drummers until 1995, when Bruce Witsiepe passed away. The out-of-print CELESTIAL from '94 is pretty interesting. Even better are the 10" on Fractal and the "33/Puerto Rican Ghost" single. The former features a live show from '79, a previously unreleased outtake from the same year, and two unreleased '94 tunes, while the latter single has them tackling a Mars medley.

Steve Tibbetts, STEVE TIBBETTS

2010-02-25T13:37:00.000-05:00

Frammis, 1977; reissued by Cuneiform; available

9 tracks, 34:44

Steve Tibbetts is an acquired taste. Some of his work is incredible, while some is decent but unremarkable. This, his debut effort, falls squarely into the former category. Made when he was still a teenager (and originally released on his own label), this is a seamless piece of space rock bliss. Tibbetts claims he graduated while making this and had to sneak back onto his former campus to finish it (they had a Moog and a studio, after all!). The majority of the tracks are Tibbetts alone, but Tim Weinhold adds percussion on a few. Tibbetts is credited with "instruments", tape effects, vocals (VERY sparingly used), and engineering. While there are distinct songs, they seamlessly blend into each other to make two loose suites. Some tracks, like the folky "Sunrise" and "Interlude", focus on Tibbett's acoustic guitar with slight electronic coloration. On the opposite end, tracks like the trippy "Alvin Goes To Tibet" and "Gong" are entirely electronic, and fine examples of the genre at that! "Desert" and "How Do You Like My Buddha?" combine synths, tape effects and guitars in nearly equal measures to stunning effect. This is the place to start with Tibbetts; all of his albums have something to offer, but he was never quite this consistently incredible again. Who says a debut has to be rough? Kudos as always to Cuneiform for their continued dedication to keeping amazing obscurities like this in print!

JOHN GAVANTI

2010-02-19T18:43:00.000-05:00

Hyrax, 1980; reissued by Atavistic; available

14 tracks, 32:10

This would be the infamous "no wave operetta". I'm not sure who to credit this to; most sources list it as either Mars and DNA, Mars alone, or Sumner Crane. Some even list the band name itself as John Gavanti! Anyways, this bizarre concept album features a whole slew of New York no wave's finest. Sumner Crane of Mars does most of the singing; he also wrote the (included) libretto and contributes 3-string guitar(!), piano, and percussion. Also from Mars are Don Burg (see the Mars review for her other stage names; bass clarinet, abstract vocals) and Mark Cunningham (horns). Ikue Mori from DNA contributes strings and, on two tracks, percussion; on one of these tracks, DNA's Arto Lindsay and his brother Duncan also contribute percussion. The music itself is in a universe all its own. For the most part the tracks don't rely on guitar noise for their distinctive atmosphere, focusing instead on the assorted horns, bass clarinet, and string sounds. This actually is one of the closest things to free jazz in the no wave archives, since most of the arrangements are improvised around Crane's demented vocal performance, but it also veers towards avant-garde theatre. About Crane: His vocals are absolutely jarring on first listen, but they do grow on you. His style is best explained as a cartoonish monster/fake ethnic hybrid, coming somewhere close to a slightly more intelligible Joseph Spence. Given that the surprisingly coherent plot is a deranged remake of the classic opera DON GIOVANNI, his vocals are a perfect fit. However, I don't recall Don Juan seducing lionesses and grandmothers "in the beautiful autumn of life", but hey, artistic license. You really have to love an operetta with the classic lines "Oh Ancient Ocean!/You are nothing!/Vast you may be!/Next to me what are you?/I am beautiful pink and you are stinky green!" Did I mention the first thing John does, upon waking up in his volcano, is drink a glass of lava? Yep, you read that correctly. From that point on, Gavanti brags, boasts, travels the world, seduces literally EVERY female that catches his attention, is reunited with his long-lost assistant John Yellow, has his arm torn off by a white statue (but he has a spare at home, so it's alright!), and finally rides off into the sunset with the grandmother. Naturally, it's not quite as simple as that, but that's the general plot anyway. Burg contributes surprisingly tender lead vocals to "Mirror Mirror", and the track with the Lindsay brothers is a fairly straightforward samba piece, but the rest is pure avant-garde heaven for any experimental rock fan. It's worth noting that ths was recorded at Sear Sound studios, an all-vacuum-tube-equipment studio (most famous for being where Sonic Youth later recorded SISTER). You should definitely get the Mars and DNA retrospectives first before diving into this, but it certainly belongs in any good no wave/experimental collection.

Please visit the following link for Mark Cunningham's insight on the album, as well as some tidbits about the fan video (!): http://www.convolution7.ws/mark/bands/john.htm

Fluence, FLUENCE

2010-02-14T23:20:00.000-05:00

Pôle, 1975; out of print

3 tracks, 37:16

It's been a while since I reviewed something from Pôle Records! Fluence is essentially Pascal Comelade, assisted by different folks on different tracks. Side one consists mostly of the wonderfully titled "A Few Reasons To Stay - A Few Reasons To Split". Featuring a guest appearence from none other than Heldon's Richard Pinhas, this starts with a melodic and soft synth pattern that is soon accompanied by Fripp-esque guitar and what may be a treated guitar loop or a droning organ. It's a classic example of French-style '70s electronic rock, easily ranking with the best of Heldon, Ilitch, and Pôle's other artists. Finishing side one is "Barcelona Tango", featuring Ben Soussan and Ph. Besseme (unfortunately, only Pinhas is credited with any specific instrument; even Comelade's contributions are left unspecified). This is a short jazzy number, certainly enjoyable enough but very much out of place. "Schizo" occupies all of the second side, and it's every bit as cosmic as "A Few Reasons...". Comelade is assisted here by G. Ibanez and J.P. Barreda. Starting off with an electronic drone and several inventive synth vamps, it drifts along blissfully, soon accompanied by some truly soaring guitar. About midway, it gets a bit more chaotic, with the synth and guitar sounds battling it out over the drone to the very end. This too is a great song, and the obscurity of this release is a true shame. As with most things Pôle, a reissue is long overdue. Comelade continued to make interesting music and is still quite active today. His other work is very much worth checking out, but most of it is fairly hard to find. There IS a compilation called BACK TO SCHIZO (1975-1983) which has a five-minute excerpt from FLUENCE, but it's hard to recommend due to its haphazard edits and poor sound.

Yoko Ono, UNFINISHED MUSIC NO. 2: LIFE WITH THE LIONS and PLASTIC ONO BAND

2010-02-14T22:15:00.000-05:00

Zapple, 1969; reissued by Ryko with bonus tracks; available

Ryko: 7 tracks, 61:32

Apple, 1970; reissued by Ryko with bonus tracks; available

Ryko: 9 tracks, 65:36

I'm pretty sure you know who Yoko Ono is if you're here, so let's go straight to the reviews!

First up is the second of her three experimental albums with John Lennon. Coming at a time when Ono was a pariah, LIFE WITH THE LIONS didn't help her public image one bit. This album has the honor of being one of the most genuinely unlistenable albums I own, while also being one of the most conceptually interesting. "Cambridge 1969" is a bold opener: twenty-six and a half minutes of Ono freely vocalising over feedback, with slight sax and percussion by Johns Tchicai and Stevens towards the end. It also occupied all of side one. Side two is no more accessible. The sweet acoustic "No Bed For Beatle John" is up next to the self-explanatory "Baby's Heartbeat" and "Two Minutes Silence"; all were recorded in the hospital during Ono's troubled pregnancy. It's rather touching and sad to know that the baby didn't make it, which gives both the heartbeat and the silence that much more impact. The LP proper ends with "Radio Play", which is Lennon and Ono conversing while changing radio stations, even flipping around with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" at one point. Bonus tracks "Song For John" and "Mulberry" are returns to the sweetness of "No Bed For Beatle John". It's not something you put on every day, but as a work of art, this album merits investigation.

PLASTIC ONO BAND (not to be confused with Lennon's identically named album) is much more enjoyable overall. Five of the tracks feature a lineup of Lennon, bassist Klaus Voormann, and Ringo Starr; the other, "AOS", is a rehearsal recording from '68 featuring Ornette Coleman's quartet. "AOS" is the most out-there track here, with Coleman's trumpet coaxing Ono into a frenzy. Bassists Charlie Haden and David Izenzon team up with drummer Eddie Blackwell to maintain the wild feeling. The rest of the tracks are very ahead of their time, predicting all manner of post-punk mutations down the line. Starr and Lennon sound like they're having the time of their lives NOT sounding a jot like the Beatles! Lennon skronks and skrees to his heart's content while still finding time for trancier modes of expression, while Starr surprises with consistently innovative drumming, be it fast-paced rock pounding or motorik-esque pulsing. "Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City" and "Paper Shoes" both feature Ono's use of processed vocals over nearly krautrock soundscapes, while "Touch Me" and "Why" rival ANY '90s noise rock act for ferocity. The long "Why Not" is about equally divided between these extremes. Ryko put three bonus tracks on here. "Open Your Box" is a funky little number, originally intended for a single. "Something More Abstract" is a short snippet, and "The South Wind" finds Lennon and Ono improvising with acoustic guitar and vocals. This is the truly essential Ono purchase.

Check back for a review of UNFINISHED MUSIC NO. 1: TWO VIRGINS soon. This little gem is a collage piece that, while savaged at the time, is the better of the two UNFINISHED MUSIC albums. There's also THE WEDDING ALBUM, which didn't impress me very much, and the wild live albums LIVE PEACE IN TORONTO 1969 and SOME TIME IN NEW YORK CITY*. Anything else credited to Ono and Lennon (though not necessarily to Ono solo) is FAR more mainstream. Ono's massive FLY deserves special attention as well.

*This double LP features a side of Lennon/Ono/Mothers of Invention jams!

Friction, ATSUREKI

2010-02-14T21:46:00.000-05:00

Pass, 1980; reissued at least twice, most recently by Pass; available

10 tracks, 40:40

Friction was formed circa 1978 as a sort of Japanese answer to no wave. Bassist/singer/occasional guitarist Reck was in an early Teenage Jesus & the Jerks lineup and drummer/saxophonist Chiko Hige performed with the Contortions, so they definitely knew what they were doing! On their debut LP (which means "friction" in Japanese) Reck and Hige are joined by guitarist Tsunematsu Masatoshi. Sounding closer to Theoretical Girls or the Contortions, this is the more accessible side of no wave. That being said, this is a great listen and a unique take on the no wave aesthetic, with hints of Captain Beefheart and European post-punk. Every song offers something unique so the album never gets boring. It's also neat how the drumming sounds influenced by the motorik beat; Friction can lock into a groove and not let go, while at the same time adding plenty of skronk. The vocals are a mix of Japanese and English. Standouts include the manic "Cycle Dance" (with excellent drumming and sax; Hige must have double-tracked), noir-ish instrumental "No Thrill", and the epic (almost seven minutes!) closer "Out", which sounds like a collision between Soft Machine circa THIRD and Sonic Youth's first EP. The sound is perfect, thanks to producer Ryuichi Sakamoto(!). Good luck finding this, but snag it on sight! Friction is still going strong, with Reck and Hige stil on board. All of their material is consistently good, but the early material is best. A few equally intriguing live shows from '78 and '79 are out there, featuring rawer versions of ATSUREKI's tracks.

Hugh Hopper, 1984

2010-02-09T02:36:00.000-05:00

CBS, 1973; reissued by Cuneiform; available

Cuneiform CD: 7 tracks, 48:04

The late (and greatly missed) Hugh Hopper's first solo release, 1984 is in many ways one of his boldest and most fascinating works. This was a period when Soft Machine was devolving into basic jazz-rock; Robert Wyatt had already departed, and Hopper would depart himself the same year 1984 was released. According to Hopper's liner notes, CBS was enthusiastic about his solo album until they heard the music, forcing Hugh to take out a bank loan to produce it. Then again, a loose instrumental concept album about the Orwell novel does seem like a strange commercial prospect. Truth be told, calling it a solo album is slightly misleading; on most tracks Hopper is accompanied by a truly great choice of players, ranging from Pye Hastings and Gary Windo to Lol Coxhill and John Marshall. All of the tracks take their names from the ministries in the novel. The four shorter pieces are fairly accessible, with "Minipax I" being the most traditional-sounding thing on here. "Minipax II" has backwards and sped-up trombones in the mix, along with Hopper playing comb and paper, while both "Minitrue" and "Minitrue Reprise" are atmospheric miniatures. The two long tracks are probably what made the label nervous. "Miniluv" finds Hopper truly solo for nearly fifteen minutes. Obviously influenced by Terry Riley (he admits it in the liners), this is a moody loop-based piece for bass, percussion, and mellophone. Constantly shifting and twisting over its length, this is a natural progression from Hopper's experimental Soft Machine contributions. Good luck figuring out what instrument is making which sound! "Miniplenty" is just over seventeen minutes long, and it finds Hopper and Marshall exploring similar experimental terrain. This time, Hopper's heavily modified voice and what sounds like bells accompany his bass playing, which truly sounds not a jot like a bass for the majority of both extended tracks. They're excellent examples of dark ambient, and while they contrast with the shorter pieces for the most part, this is a delightfully different experience taken as a whole. The domestic CD reissue has "Miniluv Reprise" as a bonus, which is a shorter and more rock-oriented version of said track featuring an extended lineup. The Japanese CD features further bonus demo material, which I haven't heard.

Ju Suk Reet Meate, SOLO 78/79

2010-01-29T20:06:00.000-05:00

(Also referred to as SOLO 1978/79 and SOLO 1978-1979, but it says SOLO 78/79 on the digipak so I'm going with that. The liner notes provide "aka do unseen hands make you dumb?", which may very well be a real alternate title.)

Pigface, 1980; reissued with bonus tracks by De Stijl; available

CD: 4 tracks, 44:57

Most readers of this blog are probably familiar with Smegma (and if you're not, fix that quick!). For his solo outing, long-time member Ju Suk Reet Meate (pronounced "you secrete meat" just for the record) filled two vinyl sides with an intriguing mix of spare noise rock and Reichian tape manipulation. The sides each have a bunch of tracks, but they ebb and flow into each other and are mastered by side on the CD. Side one, subtitled "1978", features a nice contrabass solo and some nifty looped guitars in addition to the rather restrained (and thus highly listenable) sound collages. "1979" seems to be all collages, and it's by far the more experimental and twisted side. That being said, other reviews have pointed out how refreshing it is that Meate doesn't feel the need to go in the red with his noise, and that really is a nice change. Surprisingly enough it all sounds a lot like contemporary turntablist efforts! The De Stijl reissue comes with great liner notes (or "NOISE CLIFFSNOTES" as he calls them) by Wolf Eyes' John Olson, along with two bonus tracks. Both of these date from '79, and both have very descriptive titles, namely "Guitar & Loops" and "Short Wave". They're fairly good but not especially enlightening, considering both are under five minutes. That being said, this is a solid listen and definitely worth acquiring.

Ike Yard, 1980-1982 COLLECTED

2010-01-23T19:19:00.000-05:00

Compilation released by Acute(see review for individual dates), 2006; available

18 tracks, 78:50

Being the first band to be signed to Factory Records' American division, you'd have to be fairly special. Ike Yard doesn't fail in that department one bit! Ike Yard* was a quartet of Stuart Argabright (ex-Futants), Kenneth Compton (who was Madonna's boyfriend for a bit and appears in her "Burnin' Up" video!), Michael Diekmann, and Fred Szymanski. Their arsenal of instruments included the standard guitar, bass, and drum kit, but those are the ONLY traditional instruments used. Each member is credited with synthesizers (Compton specifically with bass synth), and other instruments include drum machines, found percussion, syndrum, and who knows what else. Both Argabright and Compton handled vocal duties, with Argabright getting the lion's share. Sometimes considered a no wave group, and having some common ground with that scene, Ike Yard was really in a category of their own. The first six tracks here are from the NIGHT AFTER NIGHT EP, released in 1981 on Les Disques Du Crépuscule; the exception is "The Whistler", which is a session outtake. These tracks find Ike Yard in full-on post-punk mode. The bass and percussion lock into powerful grooves, aided by synth pulses and colored by swooping guitar accents. It actually comes across as an American PiL or a punkier This Heat. "Night After Night" and "Cherish" would be dark club classics in a just world, and the whole EP is impressive. Fast-forward to 1982: Ike Yard have caught Factory's attention and have the honor of becoming Factory America's first signing. Tracks 7 through 12 made up the self-titled LP (often erroneously referred to as A FACT A SECOND, which is actually the catalog number). While still a decidedly American take on post-punk, these six tracks are far more influenced by classic dub and krautrock than by any contemporary groups (except maybe the early industrial and EBM scenes). The synths have a much more pronounced role; I was fairly certain there's no guitar or bass guitar on these tracks until Stuart Argabright assured me there is. "Loss", with its insistent bass pulses and steady electronic drones, is a standout; as the track progresses, random short-wave transmissions and Argabright's monotone vocals combine for a simultaneously disturbing and catchy tune. The remaining five tracks follow a similar path, with little quirks and kinks along the way to give each tune its own identity. As a bonus, this compilation features six previously unreleased outtakes from 1980 to 1982. None of these tracks would have been out of place on the proper releases; in fact, the eerie instrumental "Wolfen" is one of their best songs! I can't recommend this enough to fans of krautrock, post-punk, no wave, etc. You shouldn't have too hard a time finding it. Argabright would go on to Black Rain, Dominatrix, and Death Comet Crew (all worth investigating), and Szymanski made some recordings as Laminar. Diekmann also ended up in Death Comet Crew. Ike Yard made a recent comeback, and now consists of Argabright, Compton, and Diekmann. To hear some of the new tracks, please visit http://www.myspace.com/ikeyard. Their MySpace also has "Loss" and "Cherish", a demo called "Sweep" and an untitled live track from '81. The latter two are not on this compilation (possibly due to time limitations?), but both are very worthwhile. The Argabright-curated NEW YORK NOISE 3 features the otherwise unreleased "A Dull Life", as well as a Dominatrix track, alongside other no wave/industrial/art funk bands from '80s New York.

*The name comes from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, in case you didn't know.

UPDATE: Check the comments for Ike Yard news and links straight from Stuart Argabright!

Toy Killers, THE UNLISTENABLE YEARS

2010-01-07T03:27:00.000-05:00

ugEXPLODE, 2008; available

25 tracks, 67:36

Toy Killers was the percussionist duo of Mark E. Miller and Charles K. Noyes. When not providing dual percussion for artists such as John Zorn (on POOL) and Elliott Sharp (on ISM and CARBON), they created some of the most intense and deranged music from the no wave era. This CD compiles the only properly released Toy Killers track ("Victimless Crime", which appeared in '83 on the SPEED TRIALS compilation) alongside more than an hour of rare and unreleased studio and live tracks. Six of these WERE released as a cassette called HUMDRUM, but even Noyes and Miller are unsure when, and it's rare enough that ugEXPLODE's Weasel Walter has never seen a physical copy of it! The first eighteen tracks are a mix of short-to-average-length studio and live works, while the last seven are crazed improvisations. Everything was recorded between 1980 and 1983 (interestingly, some of the tracks aren't dated, but it's a good thing they were saved at all). Naturally, being limited to percussion would get stale after a while; luckily, Noyes and Miller had some great connections! Zorn, Sharp, Arto Lindsay, Nicky Skopelitis, Bill Laswell, and Wayne Horvitz are just some of the names that pop up on these tracks, each adding their identifiable mark while never overshadowing the core duo. One of the improvisations supposedly features Derek Bailey playing a bit and then walking off in disgust, but I can't tell which one. The liner notes by Weasel Walter and Anton Fier provide some great insight, Fier's being about a particularly spectacular glass-smashing incident. It's probably important to note here that "incendiaries", cocktail shakers, and saw are three of the instruments credited, and it's also worth noting that they occasionally set their drums on fire. The music is every bit as potent as that sounds, ranging from short bursts of DNA-esque skronk (Lindsay's vocals especially make the comparison apt) and rhythmic noise rock to such surprises as the sound collage of "24 Handkerchiefs For Roger Trilling" and a short but delightful collaboration between Miller and the Pe de Boi Samba Group (from HUMDRUM). Then there's the improvisations. At times they sound like early AMM jamming with the Blue Humans, and then some are even looser than that. Some reviews have expressed disappointment with the improvs; I think they're actually quite stunning for the most part. The sound quality is superb, and even the live tracks sound remarkably good. This disc would be a great addition to any no wave/Downtown scene fan's collection, and fans of the likes of Captain Beefheart might just like this as well. Look for new Toy Killers recordings soon, featuring Weasel Walter and Henry Kaiser amongst others!

Please visit http://www.myspace.com/toykillers; there are three tracks from this release up to preview alongside newer works, as well as a five-part commentary by Weasel Walter on this compilation's genesis. To purchase this for $10 (postage included!), go to http://nowave.pair.com/ugexplode/

Richard Maxfield and Harold Budd, THE OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAMS

2010-01-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

Two albums on one disc (see review for individual release dates); this compilation issued by New World Records in 1999; available

6 tracks, 66:48

It's an odd pairing, but this compilation works! Consisting of the late Richard Maxfield's ELECTRONIC MUSIC (issued by Advance in 1967 or '69; sources differ) and Harold Budd's THE OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAMS (also issued by Advance, but in 1972), this is an hour plus of important and little-known music. Maxfield has been previously discussed on this blog (see the review for NEW SOUNDS IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC). ELECTRONIC MUSIC compiled four of his pieces for a short but delightful trip through pre-synthesizer machine music. "Bacchanale" (created in 1963)is essentially musique concrete, with Edward Fields reading a poem over a strange tape collage. Meanwhile, fellow artists Nicholas Roussakis, Terry Jennings, Fahrad Machkat, and Robert Block provide instrumentation (respectively: underwater clarinet, saxophone, violin, and prepared violin). The liner notes claim no sounds are of electronic origin, but there definitely is some sort of mucking done to the tapes. It's a fascinating piece, but the material surrounding it is even better! "Piano Concert for David Tudor" dates from 1961 and finds Mr. Tudor playing a prepared (I think) piano to the accompaniment of tapes featuring Maxfield manipulating the strings of said piano. "Amazing Grace" and "Pastoral Symphony" (both from 1960) are full-on electronic explorations, sounding light years ahead of their time. "Amazing Grace" even uses a tape of a preacher before Steve Reich's "It's Gonna Rain"; the results are at least Reich's equal! Maxfield's works occupy just under half an hour of this disc, while Budd's massive "The Oak Of The Golden Dreams" and "Couer D'Orr" (from 1969 and 1970, respectively) fill up the rest of the space. These are much more drone-based than the work Budd is best known for, and that actually works in their favor. Budd appears to be heavily under the influence of Terry Riley on these pieces while still managing to establish a distinct identity of his own. "Oak" is performed solely on a Buchla synth played with both hands (one providing a rich drone, the other beautifully improvising), while "Couer" features two tape loops of different notes (D-flat major and B major) played endlessly while Charles Oreña provides a saxophone improvisation; towards the end, one of the loops stops to interesting effect. Both of these tracks are peaceful yet never boring, and they provide a welcome counterpoint to Maxfield's considerably more abrasive pieces. The Budd pieces are also an excellent example of minimalism's influence on later developments such as ambient. Every serious fan of electronic music, ambient, minimalism, and related genres needs to find this disc; you won't be disappointed.

Area, EVENT '76

2009-12-14T04:19:00.000-05:00

Cramps, 1979; reissued a few times on CD; availability uncertain

3 tracks, 39:39

Area was mostly known for creative prog rock. This release is certainly creative, but it sure isn't rock of any sort! Reduced to the impressive trio of Demetrio Stratos (vocals, though they're really used as an instrument here), Patrizio Fariselli (piano), and Paolo Tofani (guitar and synth), Area is joined by guests Steve Lacy (sax) and Paul Lytton (percussion)*. This is basically live versions of two pieces from the MALEDETTI album, "Caos Parte Seconda" and "SCUM" (here retitled "Event '76"). For "Caos", the band had pieces of paper with different "moods" to play in: silence, sex, irony, violence, and hypnosis. It's pure improvisation, with everything from crazy instrumental bursts to long stretches of restraint. Every player is in top form; extra consideration should be given to Stratos, who (as always) summons forth an incredible array of vocal effects and textures, not the least of which is some quacking early on. "Event '76" is no less free, but after the side-and-a-half of "Caos" it does drag somewhat. In all honesty this would be a bad introduction to Area's catalog for most since it's not representative of their work, but fans of free improv and the like can dive right in with no worries. For more traditional (but not less inspired!) prog, I'd start with CAUTION RADIATION AREA or MALEDETTI.

*Both Lacy and Lytton have several solo and group works worth investigating; actually, so do all three Area members present here!

John Cale, SUN BLINDNESS MUSIC

2009-12-04T17:16:00.000-05:00

Table Of The Elements, 2001; available

3 tracks, 64:31

Well, what a find this was! What we have here is a collection of John Cale's private recordings from around the time his tenure with La Monte Young and the Theatre Of Eternal Music was over; they are for the most part contemporary with his stint in the Velvet Underground. Naturally enough, influences of both his minimalist past and his avant-rock (then) present and future are detectable on this disc. Straight from Tony Conrad's tape archives, these three pieces are pristinely recorded (for the most part) despite dating from '65 to '68. They are also nothing short of incredible. The title track opens up the disc and occupies most of it, being a whopping forty-two minutes and forty-two seconds. It sounds like it could be awfully boring on paper: Cale experiments with his Vox Continental and a single chord. Don't let that scare you away; this is fascinating to listen to the whole way through. The chord has subtle variations added to it, whether it be another note or a slight decrease in pressure applied to the keys. What results is a constantly fluid improvisation that sounds remarkably like later developments in electronic music, all done with a cheesy organ and plenty of inspiration. It's a tough act to follow, but the other two tracks are up for the challenge. "Summer Heat" is a solo guitar performance, with plenty of hypnotic cyclic patterns and subtle tonal shifts. It's a little over eleven minutes and not a minute is wasted. In many ways this predates Dylan Carlson's stance of being an "amplifier player", and it also sounds (not surprisingly) very VU-ish. Even the rough cut-off at the end is charming. Finally, "The Second Fortress" brings us back to Cale and his Vox, possibly aided by a tape recorder set-up a la Fripp and Eno or Ilitch(though predating them by a good six years or so). This is an intensely abstract piece, recalling the primitive electronic wizardry of Richard Maxfield while sounding remarkably like the much later electro-abstractions of Aphex Twin, Boards Of Canada, et al. After ten and a half minutes, "The Second Fortress" is over, leaving you hungry for more Cale experimentation. Luckily, Table Of The Elements has released two more installments, STAINLESS GAMELAN and DREAM INTERPRETATION; also, the now-hard-to-find DAY OF NIAGARA features a rare (though poorly recorded) Theatre Of Eternal Music session. Other Cale recordings are interesting, especially the avant-skronk SABOTAGE-LIVE and the Terry Riley collaboration CHURCH OF ANTHRAX, but his experimental "New York In The 1960s" work on TOTE is the most daring and fascinating of his works, especially on SUN BLINDNESS MUSIC.

Arthur Doyle Plus 4, ALABAMA FEELING

2009-11-14T22:44:00.003-05:00

AK-BA, 1978; reissued many times; out of print on CD, available on vinyl from Rank And File

6 tracks, 37:52

Oh MAN, is this some intense jazz! Let's cover the "Plus Four" first. Arthur Doyle's brave sidemen for this outing are drummer Bruce Moore, electric bassist Richard Williams, trombonist Charles Stephens, and drummer Rashied Sinan. All of these players truly shine on their instruments, with percussionists Sinan and Moore doing especially well supplying inventive fills and improvisations. Stephens and Williams also shine on their instruments, with interesting non-linear basslines and surprisingly interesting horn support. Doyle, however, is the true demonic genius of this quintet! Credited as playing "tenor voice-o-phone, bass voice-o-net", and flute, his playing is truly not quite like anything else. The "voice-o" terminology refers to his style of speak-playing, using the tenor sax and the bass clarinet in an almost hindewhu* way. Knowing this makes you wonder just what the hell he's saying, because his playing is always at full blast, with the skronk-o-meter (to coin a term myself; I think?) at eleven. This particular set was recorded in 1977 at the Brook in New York. Being the height of the no wave period, this had to go over well with that scene; in fact, Rudolph Grey of Red Transistor was at this show and was impressed enough to recruit Doyle for the Blue Humans**. While there are titles and rough cuts at the end of each track, this is really best experienced the way it was recorded: all in one go at maximum volume. "November 8th or 9th - I Can't Remember When" opens the set with a particularly scorching performance by Doyle, and the supporting quartet surprisingly manage to match his energy. Other highlights include the multi-part "Development", which almost approaches AMM territory with its flute run and raging percussion, as well as the mostly solo sax piece "Something For Caserlo, Larry & Irma". The latter piece isn't exactly restrained, but compared to the other tracks it comes across as a bizarre moment of tranqulity. The recording isn't as great as it could have been, but it could have been a LOT worse. Good luck finding this, but free jazz fans can't say they know the genre until they do. Fans of free improv and no wave will find some common ground here; others might want to approach this with caution, but as with most albums reviewed here, it'll be worth the effort. Other Doyle albums are out there; some find him experimenting with his "Electro-Acoustic Ensemble", and some are very raw home recordings that border on outsider music. All of it is worth investigating. Harder to find but easily ALABAMA FEELING's equals are Noah Howard's THE BLACK ARK and Milford Graves' BABI MUSIC, which find Doyle laying down incredible performances as a sideman himself.*** Check the comments for a great link to an interview with Doyle (thanks, Roy!).
*From Wikipedia (credit totally being given!): "Hindewhu is a style of singing/whistle-playing of the BaBenzélé pygmies of the Central African Republic. The word is an onomatopoeia for the sound of a performer alternately singing pitched syllables and blowing into a single-pitch papaya-stem whistle." Which is a better definition than I could ever give! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindewhu

**The excellent (and unfortunately VERY rare) LIVE 1980 documents the trio of Doyle, Grey, and the incredible free jazz drummer Beaver Harris. Very much worth checking out, and good luck!

***ALSO worth investigating is Charles Tyler, founder of AK-BA. His albums for ESP-Disk' (CHARLES TYLER ENSEMBLE and EASTERN MAN ALONE) find him in ferocious and psychedelic modes, respectively.

The Red Krayola, THE PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND, GOD BLESS THE RED KRAYOLA AND ALL WHO SAIL WITH IT, COCONUT HOTEL, and LIVE 1967

2009-11-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

Originally released on International Artists in 1967 and 1968 respectively; PARABLE had 13 tracks, GOD BLESS had 20. My copy is a Charly reissue, which omits one of the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks for a total of 32 tracks, 77:10

Drag City, 1995; available

44 tracks, 33:23

Drag City, 1998; available

2 discs. Disc 1: 3 tracks, 43:56. Disc 2: 3 tracks, 64:50.

Texas was quite a strange place back in the Sixties. No band proved this point more than Houston's infamous Red Krayola. At this point consisting of Mayo Thompson, Rick Barthelme, and Steve Cunningham, the Red Krayola (Crayola on the first album before being changed for legal reasons) concocted a strange mix of current psychedelia and ahead-of-its-time experimentation. This mix is most rooted in psychedelia on THE PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND. Tracks like "Hurricane Fighter Plane", "Pink Stainless Tail", and "Former Reflections Enduring Doubt" could get radio play then and now, even if the musicianship is sometimes a little clumsy and Thompson's words are abstract at best. However, the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks between the songs push this into stranger territory. These are full-on slabs of cacophony featuring the "Familiar Ugly", an assortment of friends of the band including Roky Erickson from 13th Floor Elevators* on organ. Featuring everything from feedback to blown bottles to matchsticks rubbed together, these tracks are actually fascinating experiments which creatively flow into the proper songs; they are also the only recorded appearance of the Familiar Ugly. There is also the instrumental title track, which is built around what appears to be a percussive loop and is completely devoid of structure otherwise; this track almost seems like a blueprint for COCONUT HOTEL. As a whole, THE PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND is still a solid listen; it's also part of my personal Holy Trinity of Sixties Freak-Out Albums, along with Friendsound's JOYRIDE and Cromagnon's ORGASM/CAVE ROCK. The compilation EPITAPH FOR A LEGEND has some far more restrained (and folky!) demo versions of tracks from this album along with several other treasures of Texas-style rock and psych.

THE PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND was the Red Krayola's true freak-out album, but it did have identifiable ties to rock. COCONUT HOTEL was a complete rejection of rock norms, venturing further into free improvisation. This gem of an album was recorded in 1967, but International Artists rejected it for being too strange. Nothing on here is nearly as noisy as the "Free Form Freak-Out" tracks , but they aren't very musical either! With simplistic titles such as "Organ Buildup", "Free Guitar", and "Piano", most tracks deliver improvisations performed on the track's title instrument, though "Vocal" features some interesting effects and ambiance alongside "headphone vocals" by Frank Davis. The more abstractly named "One-Minute Imposition", "Boards", and "Water Pour" have more varied instrumentation but are no less adventurous in their search for pure sound. Then there are the "One-Second Pieces". Yes, these are exactly what you'd expect them to be: one-second bursts of noise, mostly performed on some sort of horn, piano, and drums. Some of the tracks feature more than one of these pieces, while most are just the blast of sound and then a few seconds of silence. Believe it or not, these are pretty entertaining, and they almost form a micro-suite after a few listens. More adventurous listeners (and fans of free improv in general) should find plenty to like on this disc.

LIVE 1967 is more intimidating. At two discs, these noisefests can be difficult to take in one sitting; it's best to tackle it one disc at a time. Disc one features their performance at the Angry Arts Festival on June 29, as well as two acoustics-and-voice recordings made in the band's hotel room that evening. Disc two finds them performing (believe it or not) at the Berkeley Folk Music Festival, July 2 through July 4. The first disc has its moments, mostly during the live show. The hotel recordings can be a little annoying when the vocals get carried away; while interesting the first time around, these attempts at abstract chanting overstay their welcome quick. These minor flaws are completely made up for with the second disc. Not only are the three performances excellent, but one has a guest performance by John Fahey**! The July 4 concert is especially amusing since it was from a radio broadcast. The announcer talks for quite a bit over the band, assuming they're warming/tuning up! All of the performances (except the hotel recordings) feature heavy use of feedback, one-second pieces, drones, improvisation, and other avant-garde elements. It was a bold move to perform such avant-garde material for festival crowds. The audiences, however, seem to love it, and the applause at the end of each performance is surprisingly quite enthusiastic. The recording quality is amazingly good consdering the age and circumstances of the recordings. One or two tracks have bits of audience chatter during the performance, but it doesn't interfere too much with the music. This is definitely an acquired taste, but fans of this sort of thing will absolutely love it.

After the preceding albums, Rick Barthelme left the band. Tommy Smith replaced him for GOD BLESS THE RED KRAYOLA AND ALL WHO SAIL WITH IT. Thompson and company come across as much more restrained here, but it's still as quirky as ever. None of the tracks are over three minutes, and eleven of them are less than two minutes. Most of these tracks have strange structures and rhythms, sounding very much like a product of the post-punk years rather than the psychedelic years. Strangely enough, one of the tracks is even called "Coconut Hotel"! Echoes of that album show up on two tracks: the self-explanatory "Free Piece", and "Listen To This", which is a one-second piece with an introduction. Another intriguing oddity is the EXTREMELY lo-fi "The Shirt", which has Thompson's voice and guitar accompanied by a Ferrari-esque "slice of life" recording. It's a solid album and a great listen, but it's also the least adventurous effort from this period. Then again, the least adventurous Krayola outings still make most other bands look tame and reserved! Fans of Beefheart, Zappa, et al may want to begin investigating Thompson's world here.

Mayo Thompson has kept the Red Krayola going over the years, working with everyone from Pere Ubu, the Rough Trade Roster, and several members of Chicago's post-rock elite. All of his work is worth checking out, but these four albums represent the genesis (some would say the apex as well) of his twisted musical vision. Start with THE PARABLE... and GOD BLESS... and go from there.

*The 13th Floor Elevators were the Red Krayola's only real competition; truth be told, while they are a great band, they're not really as out there as reviews would make you think.

**There is a legendary lost studio album recorded around this time featuring Fahey and the Red Krayola. Lelan Rogers (head of International Artists and Kenny Rogers' brother) refused to hand over the tapes, and their location and state of preservation are unknown. If this ever gets located and issued, you'll certainly find a review of it here!

This Heat, THIS HEAT

2009-10-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

Piano, 1979; reissued most recently by This Is; available

11 tracks, 48:30

This Heat are one of those groups who only got the recognition they deserved after they split up. Consisting of Gareth Williams, Charles Bullen, and Charles Heyward, This Heat were something of an enigma. Bullen and Heyward used to perform improvisations as Dolphin Logic, and that particular art form certainly carried over to This Heat. Their debut album is a mix of live and studio recordings; it's almost impossible to tell which are which (not a bad thing at all!). Bookended by the short droning "Testcard" pieces, the music covers a LOT of ground. Elements of dub, prog rock, krautrock, post-punk, and free improv all combine to form one of the more varied early industrial albums. Standout tracks like "Twilight Furniture", with its insistent drumming and minimal guitar coloration, and th brutal prog-punk stormer "Horizontal Hold" almost sound like different bands. Most tracks ebb and flow right into each other, providing a fascinating listen when played the whole way through. My personal favorites are the eerily atmospheric "The Fall Of Saigon" and the absolutely incredible "24 Track Loop", which takes a short drum loop and turns it into something that for all the world sounds like twisted IDM/drum'n'bass, YEARS before IDM or drum'n'bass even existed! The whole album is impressive, and it is the best This Heat album. This Heat would release one more album during their lifetime, the equally impressive DECEIT, which does lean more towards songs than atmospheres,as well as the more abstract HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY EP. The archival releases MADE AVILABLE (John Peel sessions, including alternate versions of tracks from THIS HEAT and DECEIT), REPEAT (basically an extended take on "24 Track Loop" and two more abstract pieces), and LIVE 80/81 are also worth checking out, as are the post-This Heat projects Camberwell Now (Heyward and later member Trefor Goronwy) and Flaming Tunes (Williams).

Luc Ferrari, PRESQUE RIEN

2009-10-18T19:50:00.000-04:00

INA-GRM, 1995; available

4 compositions spread over 10 tracks (see review), 77:13

The late Luc Ferrari had a gift for truly innovative recordings. While he definitely stuck to musique concrete, there's no mistaking a Ferrari piece for anyone else. This CD is a compilation drawn from four separate releases and covering three decades. "Music Promenade" and "Presque rien no. 1, le lever du jour au bord de la mar" date from the late '60s, "Presque Rien No. 2, ainsi continue la nuit dans ma tête multiple" is from '77, and "Presque rien avec filles" is the most recent, being completed in '89. Actually, the above dates for all pieces should say "completed in (year)"; each one apparently took quite a while to finish. However, the effort was worth it! "Music Promenade" is perhaps the most primitively conceived; essentially consisting of four tapes playing simultaneously, it is a densely loaded sonic collage of epic proportions. Prerecorded music, laughter, discussions, animal sounds.... yeah, everything shows up here, possibly even the kitchen sink! "Presque rien no. 1", by comparison, seems deceptively simple. It is, as the title makes clear, a recording of "dawn at the seaside" in a Yugoslavian village with VERY subtle manipulation. While basically a field recording, this is an intensely fascinating listen. Motorboats depart from the shore, the echoing of the motors creating electronic detritus in their wake (excuse the pun). People sing what seems to be a traditional song. Cicadas buzz and hum, providing their own form of music. At this point, the listener is probably wondering which sounds are left raw and which are processed and/or added to the mix. After twenty minutes, the tape abruptly cuts off, and the piece is over. But up to that point, you have been transported to the village, and the result of coming back is jarring. Incredible as "no. 1" is, it pales in comparison to "Presque rien no. 2". Subtitled "thus the night continues in my multiple head", Ferrari initially considered this too personal to release; thankfully he changed his mind! The recording itself is much more active on Ferrari's part. He actually carries the microphone and tape recorder, so his footsteps and softly spoken words are part of the natural soundscape. The sounds of birds, insects, and other animals dominate the piece, but these are often electronically manipulated and layered onto the initial recording. In addition, Ferrari seamlessly grafts such musical elements as organ drones and what could very well be electronic percussion onto the recording. For its entire 21:29 duration, "no. 2" is completely fascinating and not really like anything else being done at the time. "Presque rien avec filles" closes the disc, and it is a decent piece. However, the circa '89 production and electronic sounds haven't dated nearly as well as the preceding pieces. That minor quibble aside, "avec filles" is still a delightful listen, if far removed from the other two "Presque rien" pieces. The noisiest of the series, it begins with sheets of white noise and goes on to incorporate random electronic drums and other interesing touches, all surrounded by the sound of girls talking to each other. It's worth noting that the CD indexing divides all the compositions into multiple tracks. Thus, "Music Promenade" occupies tracks 1 and 2, "Presque rien no. 1" is on 3 through 5, "no. 2" is 6 to 8, and "avec filles" fills up 9 and 10. Any serious fan of electronic music, musique concrete, or modern composition needs these pieces, and this is the best place to get them all at once. Alternately, once you're hooked on Ferrari, you may want to purchase the 10-disc box set; it's reasonably priced (usually about $100, which is VERY low for a multi-disc set) and contains all the essential compositions. The compilation SON MEMORISE has "Presque rien no. 4", which is very much worth hearing as well; it also has a piece from the same period as "no. 2" and the incredible "Salicebury Cocktail", which was one of Ferrari's last works.

John Cage, VARIATIONS IV

2009-10-18T19:48:00.001-04:00

Legcay, 2001; available

7 tracks, 65:29

It's strange that John Cage recordings exist, considering his disdain for recordings in general. Yet here it is, two volumes of a recording of one epic performance, edited down into just over sixty-five minutes and combined on this CD. Assisted by David Tudor, Cage set up a very complex audio system in the Feigen/Palmer Gallery in Los Angeles. I'm not exactly certain on what was done here, but records and sounds picked up by ambient microphones do come into play, as do radio broadcasts. In the end, the result truly is better heard than described, sounding like where musique concrete, plunderphonics, and chance composition combine. If this review seems rather short and not overly descriptive, it's because this truly is a difficult experience to capture in words. Go find it and hear it and you'll understand.

Whitehouse, BIRTHDEATH EXPERIENCE

2009-10-18T19:10:00.000-04:00

Come Organisation, 1980; reissued by Susan Lawly; available, but tends to go in and out of print

6 tracks, 32:49

With this short album, Whitehouse were introduced to the world. At this stage, Whitehouse was William Bennett, Peter McKay, and Paul Reuter (this would be the lineup for TOTAL SEX and BUCHENWALD as well). Nowhere near as abrasive as the Bennett-Best-Sotos years, this may be the only Whitehouse album that could be called "charming" without any sense of irony. The comparitively minimal nature of this album is reflected by the equipment used: two EDP Wasp synths (legendary for their unique sound and mercurial nature, and one of which was modified by Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter), a tone generator, and an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man. "On Top" begins with some low feedback and squiggling synth noises, soon joined by Bennett's heavily reverbed vocals. His delivery is far less intense than it would later be, and he actually sounds slightly meek at times! The music, however, is anything but tame, constantly and subtly mutating over the six minute duration. Oddly enough, four out of the six tracks are just over six minutes; whether this was intentional isn't certain. "Mindphaser" has Bennet's vocals much lower in the mix, buried under a fuzz-and-feedback drone. On this track, that works to his benefit. He keeps intoning for the listener to "relax/elax/listen to the master/you like that/FEEL THE PAIN/and pleasure" etc. etc., and the effect is DEFINITELY not as unsettling now as it may have been twenty-nine years ago, but it's still an interesting (if flawed) track. "Rock and Roll" closes side one with some random yet strangely musical explorations, held together by the tone generator's steady pulse. Over this, Bennett delivers the album's most intense vocal performance, screaming his anger at the fallacy of rock for all to hear. Side two features another three songs in a similar vein. "The Second Coming" sounds like the best parts of side one combined, while "Coitus" is the noisiest track on the album. Then there's the title track, which closes the album and is the shortest track at three and a half minutes. It's also completely silent, not even containing the sound of tape hiss or vinyl playing. Whether this is a waste of space or a stroke of genius is up to the listener, but after playing this album it's certainly not unwelcome! As stated above (and as most of you probably know already), Whitehouse would go on to become one of the harshest groups in electronic music, coining the term "power electronics" and delivering such endurance tests as ERECTOR and MUMMY AND DADDY. BIRTHDEATH EXPERIENCE is a crucial look at their early years, even if it is rather tame by their later standards. It's also worth hearing to see how Whitehouse were influential in their own way on later strains of industrial and noise music.

Jean Dubuffet, EXPÉRIENCES MUSICALES

2009-10-15T21:27:00.000-04:00

Mandala, 1996 (see review); availability uncertain

9 tracks, 75:19

While mostly known as a visual artist and coiner of the term "art brut", Jean Dubuffet made some very strange recordings as well. This compilation is something of a "best of"; the original EXPÉRIENCES MUSICALES was a box set of six ten-inch records, and these nine tracks represent the cream of the crop. In the liner notes (reproduced in French, English, and German), Dubuffet admits his lack of experience with the instruments used and requests that musicians keep this in mind while listening. Regardless of his skill, Dubuffet creates dense masses of sound with a true arsenal of instruments(which range from flute, cello, and xylophone to more exotic instruments like cymbalon, "paper trumpet", and Chinese mouth organ). All recordings date from 1961, and while the sound quality definitely reflects this, it wouldn't sound right remastered. "La Fleur De Barbe" opens the disc with nearly twenty-four minutes of musical chaos and strangely intoned poetry. It's the only track to feature vocals, and it is quite a stunner, never locking into repetition once. The seven minute "Coq Á L'Oeil", by contrast, is a solo piano improvisation. Some tracks use only a few instruments while others simply say "diverse instruments" and leave it to the listener to decide what is being played. All of the tracks were achieved by multitracking and editing different improvisations; Dubuffet claimed to be ignorant at the time of musique concrete et al, but he came up with his own (intentionally) primitive version. Overall, it's a prime slice of free improvisation, residing somewhere between AMM and outsider music. Fans of Dubuffet's art, musique concrete, and free improvisation would be very much impressed with this effort; his MUSIQUE BRUT is also worth hunting down, though it is far more difficult to find. Good luck!

Edit: On the easier-to-find front, Dubuffet did the cover art for Jasun Martz' THE PILLORY, which is an amazing avant-prog/neo-orchestral masterpiece. Get this as well!

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, TROUT MASK REPLICA

2009-10-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

Straight/Reprise, 1969; available

28 tracks, 79:08

I'm pretty sure most of you know this one by now, so I won't be describing it too much. If you haven't, you probably should. It truly is as wild and wonderful as everybody says it is. When it was released forty years ago, it seemed there really wasn't anything quite like this in rock. Maybe some contemporary bands were much freakier with less recognition (the Red Krayola and Cromagnon come to mind), but TROUT MASK REPLICA still sounded not quite like anything else. Twenty-eight tracks were spread over two LPs (now on one CD), a good chunk of which are under three minutes; of these, three tracks are a capella, one ("The Blimp (mousetrapreplica)") has phoned-in vocals with music by the Mothers of Invention, and three are instrumentals. If you're familiar with the story behind the recording, I won't bore you; if not, you may want to read up on just how much of a control freak the Captain really was, and you should keep in mind supposedly none of this album is improvised. The real question is whether any of it still holds up. I truly think so; when I first heard it ten years ago, I wasn't quite ready to fathom what was going on here. Needless to say, that position has since changed. Noise-rock, no wave, the New York downtown scene, punk, post-punk... this album could fit into ANY of those categories, but it obivously predates them all by a long shot. An essential slice of avant-rock history!

Blackhouse, PRO-LIFE

2009-10-10T23:53:00.000-04:00

Ladd-Frith, 1984 (cassette release; also issued the same year in Europe by Le Syndicat); reissued by Minus Habens as a 2-track CD and by Ladd-Frith/Metal Field as a 3-track CD with bonus track "Not Available"; Ladd-Frith/Metal Field version available

Ladd-Frith/Metal Field CD reissue: technically 3 tracks (see review), 72:13

How to describe Blackhouse? Over the years, Brian Ladd (he basically IS Blackhouse; the credits to Sterling Cross and Ivo Cutler on early releases were a red herring) has covered a lot of ground in the industrial genre. He also is a devout Christian, which has at least guaranteed notoriety, even if some listeners question the truth of this stance; I prefer to let the music speak for itself. For this, Blackhouse's first release, he is mostly on the noise side of things. Roger Farrell is also credited, but I'm not certain if this is genuine or not. Supposedly, the concept of Blackhouse was explicitly music in the style of noise bands a la Whitehouse, but with a Christian slant instead of the often controversial lyrics so popular with the genre's practitioners. The Ladd-Frith/Metal Field version breaks the two cassette sides into two individual tracks. Thus, "No Rhythm" (the orignal A-side) is made up of seven individual songs, while "Pro-Rhythm" consists of six. True to their names, these sides focus on the early harsh industrial/drone/concrete/noise and proto-powernoise/atmospheric/rhythmic aspects of Blackhouse respectively. "Born Again" (the first song on "No Rhtyhm") could easily pass as an outtake from Whitehouse's BIRTHDEATH EXPERIENCE were it not for the fact that the painfully distorted vocals are praising God! The neat thing is how truly punishing the majority of the tracks are; this certainly would never get airplay on a Christian rock station! The fact that the songs have titles such as "The One Truth" and "Jesus Loves You" is truly deceptive, for they are truly disturbing and ear-splitting regardless of intent. "Pro-Rhythm" has a few harsh and drone tracks, but most of it is an intriguing sort of early powernoise. "Power Of The Lion" leads it off with a repetitive-but-catchy percussive loop accompanied by swooping effects. Closer "Be Good" is admittedly slightly goofy, with its stutterring Suicide-meets-the Normal beat and Ladd's amusingly delivered "Be good! Be good! Be good! Do what you should!" lyrics, but then again, most of the early industrial projects never had this much fun on record, so it comes across as charming more than anything else. As for the Christian lyrical content, Blackhouse may be slightly preachy, but the brutal delivery of the music on PRO-LIFE should satisfy ANY fan of early industrial and noise, be they Christian, Jewish, atheist, or what have you. Besides, the content of Whitehouse's lyrics doesn't seem to bother their fans, and indeed are considered part of the total package; Blackhouse's vocals should be treated much the same way if you don't like the message. As a strange bonus, Ladd-Frith/Metal Field's CD also comes with a 28-minute track called "Not Available". This is also made up of individual songs, eleven this time. Curiously, all of this material is from '94 to '97, far after PRO-LIFE's release. This material is fairly good, but nowhere near as innovative as the original tape; most of it is EBM-type material, with a bit of drone thrown in, but there are a few cool noisy tracks as well. As a whole, this CD would be a solid addition to any early industrial/noise collection. It might be worth investigating the rest of Blackhouse's output once you're hooked.

Disclaimer: I am not politically or religiously inclined whatsoever. I just review the music I like. That's all. I shouldn't HAVE to explain this, but sometimes people think you have an agenda if you review certain bands or genres or whatever. Anyways, there's the disclaimer. Enjoy the blog (and the music)!

Ilitch, PERIODIKMINDTROUBLE

2009-08-23T14:59:00.000-04:00

Oxygene, 1978; reissued and expanded to two discs by Fractal; available

Fractal edition: 2 discs. Disc 1: 7 tracks, 71:06. Disc 2: 12 tracks, 75:38

More French insanity! Ilitch was essentially multi-instrumentalist Thierry Müller. On their next album, 10 SUICIDES, there was a full band, but for the majority of PERIODIKMINDTROUBLE it's just Thierry and his arsenal of instruments. On two tracks he's assisted by his brother Patrick, and there is a rerecorded track with Laurent Saïet on guitar, but those are the only exceptions. The material was recorded between 1974 and 1978. The original LP consisted of a few of the "Innerfilmsequences" on side A, while the B-side was entirely occupied by "Periodikmindtrouble". For the reissue, "Periodikmindtrouble" itself is track 1 of disc 1, with tracks 2 to 4 being "Ballades Urbaines", followed by the two-part "A.B.ss" and the short "Micik Für Brokenpedalboard". Disc 2 is the entirety of the "Innerfilmsequences", including the five released on the original LP and two which were released on the severely rare P.T.M. WORKS cassette. As for the music itself, Ilitch comes across as the evil offspring of Terry Riley, NO PUSSYFOOTING and early industrial. At times this veers close to Heldon, particularly on "Periodikmindtrouble" itself, which is performed on organ and "destructed" guitar. That being said, Ilitch is still a uniquely creative entity. Disembodied voices are scatterred throughout "Ballades Urbaines", which is equally covered in distortion and effects, making for a truly unsettling mix. This was originally intended to be the B-side of the LP, and it would have been a fine release on its own. The remaining compositions on disc 1 are early recordings, both from 1974, and these are every bit as interesting as the rest of the material. Disc 2 goes into progressively more abstract territory. Harmonium, guitar, organ, synths..... all find their way into Müller's hands. It's interesting to note that Müller used a Revox A77 recorder, the same model Eno used for NO PUSSYFOOTING. Ilitch's material is similarly displaced in time, being shrouded in echo, reverb, delay, and all manner of modifications that combine to form an entirely mesmerizing and disorienting collection. It comes across in the end as a truly amazing cross between cosmic music, early industrial, musique concrete, and proto-dark ambient. Needless to say, this is highly recommended. Ilitch continues to release albums; the latest offerrings are more synth-pop, but still very worth a listen. Also worth hearing is their second album, 1980's 10 SUICIDES, which is like a demented outsider take on synth-pop.

Jean Guérin, TACET

2009-08-14T12:32:00.000-04:00

Futura, 1971; reissued by Elica; availability uncertain

8 tracks, 39:11

The French never cease to amaze and confound! Jean Guérin was mostly known as a drummer, appearing on quite a few free jazz sessions. For this, his only solo outing, he set out to make a soundtrack to a film called BOF. Having never seen the film, I'm not certain how much of the album was actually used. The soundtrack was released as TACET on the legendary Futura label (also known for putting out records by Jacques Thollot, Red Noise, and Mahogany Brain). His choice of musicians is absolutely impeccable; notable figures of the French scene like Bernard Vitet and Philippe Maté contribute their talents. Vitet even plays "underwater trumpet"! Guérin himself takes up a lot of instruments, from electric bass to darbouka to VCS3 and sound generators. Overall, TACET is full of strange sounds and even stranger arrangements. Françoise Achard contributes wordless vocals to several tracks, and most of the time her voice sounds like another instrument rather than a human being. The use of both contrabass and electric bass on some tracks provides an interesting sound, considering the electric bass is treated to sound nothing like it should (this isn't a bad thing!). It's hard to pick out standout tracks, since this all flows together perfectly and is best experienced all the way through. The first and last tracks, "Triptik 2" and "Gaub 71" respectively, both feature the same fast rhythm (which sounds like a mix of darbouka and primitive drum machine), but otherwise are different entities. "Gaub 71" is the more experimental of the two, with a constantly evolving structure over its eight minutes. "Triptik 2" is punctuated with the trumpets of Jean Paul Rondepierre and Vitet, and Maté contrubutes his saxophone. This is the closest that TACET comes to jazz, as the remaining tracks are pure explorations of sound, somewhere between free jazz and the cosmic explorations of Kluster et al. Truly an obscure masterpiece, TACET deserves a much bigger audience; other reviewers have pointed out that this points forward to Herbie Hancock's space classics MWANDISHI and CROSSINGS, which isn't very far off. It definitely points forward to post-rock as well, with its use of studio effects and loose structures. HIGHLY recommended!

Tolerance, ANONYM

2009-08-02T21:01:00.000-04:00

Vanity, 1980; out of print

9 tracks, 40:08

Tolerance were a mysterious Japanese duo consisting of Junko Tange on voice, synth, and piano and Masami Yoshikawa on guitar. There's a good chance both performed on other electronics too. For this, their first LP, Tolerance created an absolute masterpiece of minimal electronic atmospherics. The guitars alone cover a large variety of styles, ranging from gentle sliding to folky noodling to full-on skronk. The accompanying sounds also manage to cover quite a range, while all being decidedly experimental. Spoken female vocals (which seem to be in French!) mix in effortlessly with strange electronic rhythms and gentle Satie-esque piano, creating a unique sound. The electronics used truly aren't easy to identify, and may even be homemade. Each track is excellent, and they have some truly odd and interesting names. "I Wanna Be A Homicide", "Laughin In The Shadows", "Tecno-Room"..... really, the song titles alone should tell you this is great! This could even be considered Japan's krautrock album! Loose comparisons to such other visionaries as the Sperm and Moolah can be made, and this definitely holds a place as one of those truly unusual albums that every serious avant-gardist should hear. They went on to record another album, DIVIN, which is almost as good. Sadly, neither is available currently (there was a grey-area vinyl of DIVIN a few years back), and both are in sore need of a reissue.

Friendsound, JOYRIDE

2009-08-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

RCA Victor, 1969; reissued on grey-area vinyl a few times; availability uncertain

6 tracks, 34:43

It's hard to believe this was a Paul Revere & the Raiders side project. There's no real credits on the album, but yes indeed, this is Raiders members using the studio as an instrument. It sounds about as far removed from their main project as possible. What more can you expect, when "Brotherhood" is listed as producer?!?!?!? What few liner notes describe the recording of this album as "a musical free-for-all", which is as good a description as any! Beginning with the slow and druggy rock jam "Joyride", Friendsound soon leave any semblance of pop or rock behind. "Childhood's End" combines a mechanical rhythm (as in actual industrial machinery, not drum machine) and the chant "send me a dream" in a way that sounds a lot like what Cromagnon was doing; in fact, JOYRIDE as a whole has a lot of similarities to Cromagnon's only album (pop stars freaking out, chants and other non-traditional vocals, use of primitive sampling in doses). "Love Sketch" is an almost new agey instrumental, not too remarkable but not truly bad, and it goes right into "Childsong". This is a bizarre track made up of the sounds of a playground, chimes, flute or mellotron (it's hard to tell), and a LOT of tape manipulation. The kids' voices are subtly twisted, and the music grows louder while still exuding a calm beauty. This is a highlight of the album, and it ends side one on a great note. Side two consists of two tracks, and boy, are these weird! Both are about nine and a half minutes, and they're two different sides of the coin. "Lost Angel Proper St." has a bluesy organ, spoken effected vocals that get frequently eaten by the music, crazy electric guitar freakouts, and long stretches where the music changes completely, while still coming back to the original theme in a way. Last and definitely not least is "The Empire Of Light", which ends the album on its highest note; given the quality of the other tracks, this is saying a lot! Piano is the main instrument here, surrounded by all manner of sound effects. Everything from spooky organ to weird synthy squelches to unidentifiable tape manipulations comes into play, all with the meandering yet quite beautiful piano underneath. It's a truly amazing track, sounding remarkably like Moolah or Kluster. Far overdue for a reissue, JOYRIDE was a bold album that still sounds remarkably innovative. It's a shame they never recorded another album as Friendsound; they sure did continue on as the Raiders, but that's a little outside the scope of this blog. Perhaps that is for the best; this sort of thing is hard to capture twice. Consider this album a part of the 60s freakout holy trinity along with Cromagnon's CAVE ROCK/ORGASM and the Red Krayola's PARABLE OF ARABLE LAND, and until there's a proper CD reissue, try to hear it any way you can.

Negativland, NEGATIVLAND

2009-05-18T22:06:00.001-04:00

Each cover is handmade and unique, so a picture would be useless*

Seeland, 1980; out of print**, but a mass-produced version is supposedly on the way

20 untitled tracks, 36:47

Nowadays known for their masterful satire of mass media and pop culture, Negativland began as a much different prospect. For their debut album, Negativland was Mark Hosler, Richard Lyons (both of whom were 17 when this was recorded!), and David Wills; the liners inform you that "occasionally you will hear the talents of" Peter Dayton, W. Kennedy M., and Joan. The instruments range from synths, organs, viola, guitars, tape loops, and the mysterious "Booper". While definitely primitive compared to their later work, the debut album is quite incredible on its own merits. A majority of the tracks are bizarre sound collages, featuring everything from household appliances and electronic birdcalls to the ambient sounds of televisions and radios. A few tracks do break from the "norm": a mournful acoustic guitar ditty here, a relatively traditional new wave tune there, and then there's one track with jittery rhythms and blips accompanying such random observations as "Play.... Black Sabbath....at seventy.... eight!". The sound collages, however, are the main draw, sounding like the bastard offspring of LUMPY GRAVY, THE FAUST TAPES, and early industrial a la Cabaret Voltaire or Nurse With Wound. It's not really musical by any stretch, but then does it need to be? Most fans tend to sell this album short; admittedly, it's an acquired taste, but give it a chance and it should grow on you. Their next two albums, POINTS and A BIG 10-8 PLACE, follow along a similar path, with fourth album ESCAPE FROM NOISE being considered the beginning of the satirical sound that Negativland is known for. I personally prefer the early work, since it's much less preachy and more about the genuine joy of having a twisted musical vision and the equipment to express said vision (but you should still hear their other albums if you haven't already; they truly are impressive). Negativland themselves are promising a reissue of the debut; while it won't have the unique covers, the "music" within still justifies the purchase.

*The packaging for this is truly great. The box itself is a thick cardboard box, like old reel-to-reel tapes came in. My copy's cover is a black and white photo of a guy brushing his teeth, pasted over a square of black construction paper. On the back is a piece of wallpaper, under which is a red sticker with the band's name, the catalog number,copyright information, and a hand-written "serial number" identifying which copy is yours (mine happens to be #1622). Inside, along with the CD, there are four inserts and a pin. One is simply a recipe for a coffee torte, another is a transcription of a bizarre food-oriented dialogue. The others have the credits for the album and a modified picture of a guy in pajamas whose arms reach nearly to the ground. Much like the album itself, the package is random but intriguing.

**Apparently limited to 9500 LPs and 4500 CDs

Third Eye Foundation, SOUND OF VIOLENCE

2009-05-11T21:44:00.001-04:00

Domino/Merge, 1997; out of print, but two tracks are available on COLLECTED WORKS

4 tracks, 23:52

Following the extremely disturbing GHOST (reviewed previously here), Matt Elliott went further into the recesses of twisted electronics. SOUND OF VIOLENCE is perhaps the best non-LP 3EF release. Three of the tracks are over seven minutes long; the under-three-minute "Pain (Violence Version)" is the only track that feels like filler, but it's interesting filler nonetheless. The first two tracks, "Sound Of Violence" and "A Name For My Pain", are excellent progressions from GHOST. Frantic drum'n'bass beats are cloaked in whirlwinds of noise, from what sounds like the shrieks of the damned to jazzy bass and guitar accents. The sound is much cleaner than on GHOST; however, it takes a few listens to notice, so dense are the compositions. Little of Matt's SEMTEX-era sound remains (save for the amazing beats), and at times this sounds like what Stockhausen or Xenakis may have come up wuth had they dabbled in drum'n'bass. The final track is "Corpses (Version)". This is a skeletal remix of "Corpses As Bedmates", retaining the original's structure while massively reducing the noise and shaving off two minutes. It's much more effective than it should be, and its inclusion alone justifies this EP. Luckily, "Sound Of Violence" and "A Name For My Pain" are both well worth the price as well. This is an excellent transitional release, bidding farewell to 3EF's horrific and noisy early years while pointing forward to the less-frantic-but-still-jarring atmosphere of YOU GUYS KILL ME and LITTLE LOST SOUL. Unfortunately, this has gone out of print. "Sound Of Violence" and "A Name For My Pain" are included on disc one of COLLECTED WORKS along with GHOST and two tracks off the "Semtex" single, but you really should find the standalone release so you can hear "Corpses (Version)". A good used copy should be fairly inexpensive and easy to find.

Nico, THE MARBLE INDEX

2009-05-02T23:50:00.001-04:00

Elektra, 1968; reissued with two bonus tracks on CD, and with more bonus tracks as disc 1 of THE FROZEN BORDERLINE; available

Original LP: 8 tracks, 30:48; standalone CD reissue: 10 tracks, 37:48

Let me say it right now: I'm well aware I'm not the first person to review this album. Chances are if you're here, you've heard this and know whether you like it or not. If you have yet to hear this, be prepared. It's one of the most gorgeously depressing things I've ever heard. Most of the tracks are based on a minimalist framework of Nico's powerful vocals and spare harmonium arrangements, with ex-Velvet Undergound bandmate John Cale providing instrumentation as he sees fit. It's truly not related to rock of any sort; "No One Is There" is just Nico and Cale's viol work (not certain what sort of viol it is here), while "Lawns Of Dawns" finds her and the harmonium accompanied by distant crystalline sounds and atmospheric guitar noise. "Facing The Wind" has Nico's vocals electronically processed for a particularly disorienting effect. The last two tracks are the highlights for me. "Frozen Warnings" is an excellent piece of soothing drone-rock, Cale's multiple layers of viols building up to an excellent climax; "Evening Of Light", on the other hand, finds Nico's increasingly insistent vocals surrounded by a nightmarish mass of echoing strings and atonal guitar skronk, rumbling to a distinctly ominous end. Excellent, of course! The album was reissued on CD with two bonus tracks, neither of which is particularly essential; "Nibelungen", though, is an interesting example of how Nico sounded a capella. A much better way to hear this is THE FROZEN BORDERLINE; disc one is the remastered LP, plus alternate versions of several tracks (including "Nibelungen" with musical accompaniment, but excluding the a capella version) and some interesting outtakes. Disc two is Nico's DESERTSHORE remastered, plus demo versions of those songs. DESERTSHORE is almost as good as THE MARBLE INDEX, and the bonus material is mostly worthwhile, making THE FROZEN BORDERLINE the essential purchase.

Wolfgang Dauner, OUTPUT

2009-05-02T23:45:00.003-04:00

ECM, 1970; out of print

6 tracks, 37:35

Ahhh, Wolfgang Dauner! From his early free jazz albums (FREE ACTION being the best) to his insane combo Et Cetera (and of course the psych-jazz classic THE OIMELS), the man never fails to amaze and confound. On this album, he is joined by his usual (and EXTREMELY talented) drummer Fred Braceful and frequent cohort Eberhard Weber on various string instruments. Braceful was also a member of the insanely creative Exmagma. Both would later be part of Et Cetera as well. Dauner himself handles piano, Clavinet, and ring modulator. The results are absolutely incredible. Braceful's drumming can go from steady to insanely free-form at the drop of a hat. Weber is no slocuh on his instruments either, capable of both tasteful cello atmospheres and near-Sharrock freakouts; Dauner uses the ring modulator to occasionally turn his guitar sounds into something else entirely. Dauner himself is fine playing the piano in a relatively straightforward fashion, or using the modulator to heavily process its notes for an unearthly effect. He treats the Clavinet pretty much the same way, and its distinct tones are made even more alien in the process. Reviewing individual tracks is pointless, as everything from the murky "Mudations" to the closing "Brazing The High Sky Full" (co-written by Braceful and featuring his eccentric vocals) needs to be heard in one go for the full effect. Every track holds its surprises; one particular highlight is "Nothing To Declare", which manages to come closest to jazz. It's also the longest track at ten and a half minutes, not a second of which is wasted. It's somewhat surprising this came out on ECM, as the wild experimentation present here is far removed from the usual ECM sound. Fans of electronic jazz should find plenty to love here, as will adventurous post-rock fans; rock fans may be slightly put off, as this is by no means a rock record, but give it a chance anyway. Somebody really needs to reissue this pronto!

Patrick Vian, BRUITS ET TEMPS ANALOGUES

2009-05-02T23:44:00.001-04:00

Egg, 1976; out of print

9 tracks, 39:49

Six years after Red Noise's lone LP (reviewed previously on this very blog!), main weirdo Patrick Vian unleashed this electronic rock masterpiece. The son of musician/author/playwright/etc. Boris Vian*, Patrick decided to experiment heavily with Moogs and Arps, aided by a sequencer and some very talented sidemen. Georges Granier provides marimbas, scissors(!), "occult noises"(!!), and Fender Rhodes, while Bernard Lavialle contributes guitar and Mino Cinelu provides percussion. None of the other players shows up very often, with Cinelu contributing to a mere two tracks and Lavialle being easily discernible on just as many. While opening track "Sphère" implies this will be straightforward rock, with its introduction of a powerful riff and some frantic tinkling percussives, Vian soon enters on his synths to add some interesting coloration. This comes very close to sounding like a less Fripp-enthralled Heldon. "Grosse Nacht Musik", on the other hand, is all synth textures, comparing favorably to other electronic music of the time while remaining distinct. No two tracks really sound alike, going from the electro-exotica of "Oreknock" to the sleazy and bluesy "R&B Degenerit!" (this one REALLY sounds like its name!) and ending with the musique concrete of "Tricentennial Drag". Curiously, one of the all-synth numbers (and one of the highlights) is called "Tunnel 4 Red Noise"; it certainly doesn't sound like his former band, but the same sense of whimsy and wonder is present throughout. Every last note has aged gracefully, and there are some bands even now who would give anything to sound this amazing. It almost seems incredible that nobody has seen the need to reissue this; it certainly would give Stereolab, Pram, et al serious competition if it was a new release! This is truly unique electronic music from the period that defined the genre. For the record, the album's title means "similar places and times" in English.
*Do yourself a favor and listen to some Boris Vian. Tracks like the EXTREMELY dirty "Fais Moi Mal Johnny" certainly provide some insight to Patrick's bizarre sense of humor. They're also just plain fun, and catchy as hell!

Chillum, CHILLUM... PLUS

2009-04-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

Mushroom, 1971; reissued with bonus tracks as CHILLUM...PLUS by See For Miles; availability uncertain

CHILLUM...PLUS: 11 tracks, 66:27

This band has a slightly convoluted history. Keyboardist and vocalist Ken Elliott and drummer Kieran O'Connor were originally in the insanely creative Second Hand, a group that definitely remained psychedelic while also predicting prog rock. After two superb albums (REALITY and DEATH MAY BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS), Second Hand had lost their guitarist. Bassist George Hart, who joined on DEATH MAY BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS, still was in the group, so they auditioned new guitarists. Tony McGill clicked perfectly with the band, so perfectly that his audition evolved into an incredible twenty-plus minute piece of improvised rock, and apparently forced a renaming from Second Hand to Chillum. Coming close to some of the most out-there krautrock jams (Guru Guru and Amon Duul II come to mind), Elliott's pummelling organ and Hart's fluid bass combine with O'COnnor's fierce percussives and McGill's incredibly detailed improvisations. Given the name "Brain Strain" this originally occupied side one of the original CHILLUM LP; on CHILLUM PLUS, which contains the entire sessions, it is in an extended form. The first track on ...PLUS is a miniature bit of laughing contributed by two doctors who frequented the pub next door to the studio; only those present know if the laughter was their genuine response or a skit. Chillum continue on their weird path, at times using O'Connor's snoring as a percussion line (on "Land Of A Thousand Dreams") or giving him four minutes to show off his drumming chops ("Too Many Bananas"). "Yes! We Have No Pajamas" is another extended improv, firing off with no mercy until its ten and a half minutes have come to a stop. Suddenly, "Promenade Des Anglais" pops up, and you wonder if someone's recorded the wrong track. This little number sounds disturbingly somehwere between smooth jazz and muzak, but it is followed by a goofy voice saying "'ere, I thought that was RATHER GOOD! Oh super! What's next?". This nicely gives away the joke, and makes for an impressive end to the original album. The bonus tracks on ...PLUS are fairly good. "Fairy Tale' has interesting music, but is hampered by out-of-place vocals. "Celebration" sounds the most like the album proper, being a fiery improv, while "This Is Not Romance" consists solely of piano and wounded vocals, making for a nice contrast. "Incubator", two takes of which are included, was actually created by the engineer using an oscillator and a rotating speaker; they're interesting little tracks, but nothing more. Chillum essentially imploded during these sessions; O'Connor and Elliott continued on for two albums as the less interesting Seventh Wave and then disappeared. CHILLUM...PLUS, as well as all related projects, would mostly appeal to adventurous progheads and krautrock fans, and it comes highly recommended to them. Adventurous rock fans will probably find a lot to like here as well, but be aware this IS every bit as druggy and spaced out as the band's name implies (a chillum being a device for smoking hashish).

UPDATE: As of 2010, this has been reissued by Sunbeam. This edition restores the original cover and has four bonus tracks: "Celebration" and "This Is Not Romance" reappear, as do the previously unissued "Three Blind Mice" and "The Lone Commuter". I haven't heard them, but hooray to Sunbeam for making this more readily available!

Henri Roger, IMAGES...

2009-03-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

Pôle, 1975; reissued by Tapioca; out of print

4 tracks, 47:53

Ah, Pôle Records! I can never get enough of them! This stunner by Henri Roger (his only album for the label) continues in the grand Pôle tradition; hell, the word "Pôle" is rght there on the cover, larger than artist or album title! IMAGES... has a very unique setup. Roger fills side one with the twenty-two minute title track. This is a piece for electric organ, and Roger manages to get some truly impressive sounds and patterns out of his Yamaha. Never staying in one pattern for too long, and never overstaying its welcome, this track alone qualifies this as a masterpiece. Side two opens with "Au Dela Du Langage", for Mini Korg and Elka Rhapsody synthesizers. This nifty composition has a much funkier sound, until it becomes a strange ambient piece midway. Up next is "Ataraxie" for acoustic guitar (there's also either a tambourine or maracas in there). Standing out from the surrounding electronic experimentation, this is a nice little folky piece, constantly developing and providing a nice calm mood. Finally, IMAGES... ends with "Asyle Cosmique", the other obvious highlight. Over ten minutes, Roger layers synths, organ, and guitar to provide a track that effortlessly goes from classic Pôle-style cosmic synthscapes to neo-classical moods to a driving rock finale. At several points, this predicts and betters many later bands and movements; you could say this was a bootleg Tortoise recording and nobody would question you, except Tortoise NEVER sounded this good. IMAGES... is yet another high point in the Pôle catalog, and a must for fans of early electronic music. Unfortunately, as with most Pôle releases, this has been long out of print and is in dire need of a reissue. Henri Roger went on to make more music, all of which is well worth investigating, but IMAGES... remains his masterpiece.

Franco Battiato, FETUS and POLLUTION

2009-03-04T23:56:00.000-05:00

Bla Bla, 1972; reissued several times; available

8 tracks, 30:43

Bla Bla, 1972; reissued several times; available

7 tracks, 33:09

I always found the term "krautrock" to be severely limiting. Given all the weirdness going on in Europe during the '60s and '70s, you'd think a term like "Eurorock" or "continent rock" would have been more accurate (think about how often France and Finland turn up on this blog). Italy's Franco Battiato probably had some idea of what was going on elsewhere. However, he brought a distinct bit of pop to his cosmic sound experimentation. After a short career as a traditional pop singer, Battiato went off into far stranger territory in 1972. FETUS, with its slightly controversial artwork, finds Battiato achieving a blissful middle ground between the accessible and the avant-garde. "Fetus" itself begins with minimal synth and a heartbeat, soon accompanied briefly by Battiato's vocals. He sings entirely in Italian; though an English version exists, this isn't recommeneded, as the lyrics becomes less mysterious and more goofy when translated. Soon, the song becomes a synth workout worthy of prime ELP or Yes, but somehow both more minimal and more effective than either. After this, it only gets better! Given its short length, most of the songs are in and out with absolutely no wasted notes. Examples include the synth-led "Una Cellula" and the delightful piano-rhythm machine-and-violin romp "Cariocinesi". The one exception is the six-minute "Meccanica", which is essentially a mini-suite; it begins with a manic piano-led rush, goes right into a pretty acoustic guitar run, has a moment of piano-and-guitar interplay, and then suddenly slows down. A violin accompanies Battiato's account of having mechanical parts, punctuated with bursts of electric guitar. This gives way to a direct sample of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin talking to Houston and President Nixon. The whole track is one of the hidden treasures of prog, and it alone justifies the purchase; luckily, the other tracks are every bit as good.

Following FETUS, Battiato had intended to release the English version (which was delayed until fairly recently) and tour England with John Cage (!). Unfortunately, a car crash in England put a halt to these plans, leaving one of avant-garde's classic "what if"'s. Going back to Italy, Franco spent his time apparently pondering man's place in the cosmos, which was admittedly a big theme back then. However, his next album, POLLUTION, was far removed from the usual cosmic noodlings of the time. This time around, the pop touches are mostly absent. Instead, the sound is close to Faust-style krautrock, but with a distinct character all its own. The first four tracks (side one on the original LP) are essentially a suite, going from the musique concrete of "Il Silenzio Del Rumore" and "21 Dicembre 1999 - Ore 9" (which is just the sound of two explosions, and is about 20 seconds!) directly into the synth-and-backwards-pronounciations of "Areknames". This in turn leads directly into "Beta", which is the best early Pink Floyd song that they never wrote. The last three tracks are equally as good, despite lacking the unity of the first four; "Plancton" is a delightful cosmic ditty, the title track is an eight-minute epic/mini-suite, and it all ends on another musique concrete note. The same lack of traditional song structure is in full effect throughout. Both albums are recommended, and the Water reissues have amazing sound and great liner notes befitting such classic works.

Battiato would go on to release some more experimental works; SULLE CORDE DI ARIES and CLIC are also worthwhile, but the overly experimental albums that followed would find Battiato playing single piano notes for an entire side at a time. After this, he somehow went right back to pop music, to the point that the majority of his catalog would not interest fans of his early work.

Pekka Airaksinen, ONE POINT MUSIC

2009-02-24T21:03:00.000-05:00

1972, O Records; out of print

6 tracks, 39:25

Pekka Airaksinen's work with The Sperm has been previously documented here. Released two years after SHH!, ONE POINT MUSIC finds Airaksinen (assisted by A. Deblus and Antero Helander) still very much in experimental mode. Actually, this material was all recorded from 1968 to 1970, during Airaksinen's tenure with the Sperm. It also was primarily created in his converted sauna studio. Mostly featuring electric organ, guitar, and bass (though the source of most of the sounds is pretty hard to determine), these six tracks are mostly lighter in tone than SHH!, but they still feature plenty of unexpected and even jarring moments. The opening track (bearing the ponderous title "Pieni Sienikonsertto - A Little Soup for Piano and Orchestra op. 46.8"!) does indeed feature a piano off in the distance; however, it is obscured by some odd metal clangs and random bursts of strange noises (including some backwards guitar). "Somerain-Sedata" and "Skata" bear the closest comparison to Airaksinen's former group, consisting mostly of heavily effected and echoed guitar sounds. The remaining three tracks sound even more like industrial music that The Sperm ever did (and again, before the term was even coined), while also veering close to the likes of Smegma and Birgé-Gorgé-Shiroc in the '70s strangeness department. Sadly only ever pressed in a run of 120 copies(?!?!), this is nearly impossible to find and sorely in need of a reissue. Until then, this will continue to be a mostly unheard masterpiece.

No Wave Retrospectives: DNA, DNA ON DNA and Mars, MARS LP

2009-02-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

2004, No More Records; available

32 tracks, 63:04

2004, G3G/Spooky Sound; reissued by No More Records; available

11 tracks, 32:04

No wave was one of those fringe things that nobody expected to be remembered. Centered around downtown New York, no wave was a reaction to the staleness of punk (which had only existed officially for a little over a year!) and music in general. Several bands were completely self-taught; some were professionally trained, but they ignored this in a search for pure release through sound. Bands denied the name anyway, but history (and rock journalism) has made it stick. The scene was officially dead by 1982, and that's being generous. Some figures, like Lydia Lunch and Arto Lindsay, went on to other projects and relatively greater fame. Others faded into obscurity, making a few select appearances and nothing more. Strangely, around the time it died, no wave's impact began to be felt. The whole nihilism and deconstructionist attitude of the "movement" had been absorbed into many strains of experimental and extreme music, both in and outside of New York (see the late 80's downtown scene, the whole slew of noise rock bands, Silver Abuse, Blurt, Crawling Chaos, Fire Engines, Der Plan, D.A.F., Sonic Youth, Live Skull, Cop Shoot Cop, Swans, etc.). Even the more traditional industrial bands had started to show a distinct no wave influence. Fast forward to the early-to-mid-90's. A no wave revival has started in Chicago (see the excellent Lake Of Dracula and Quintron's truly bizarre debut LP I.F. 001-011). Japanese bands like Melt-Banana and Space Streakings are producing their own bizarre takes on no wave. Sonic Youth, admittedly the most successful no wave-inspired band, are considered godfathers of indie. Now look at the past nine years. Liars, Sightings, and other bands proudly declare no wave as an influence. Right when everyone was beginning to accept no wave as a minor but influential blip on the experimental radar, No More Records issued (well, reissued in the case of MARS LP) two retrospectives of the originals. The question is: How do they sound now, with the passage of time?

Surprisingly, DNA and Mars both still have the ability to enthrall, annoy, and disturb, usually all at once. Both compilations are arranged chronologically, and each contains the complete studio output of the band represented, along with very informative booklets. DNA is bolstered with an unreleased studio track and several live tracks. Only two of the tracks are over three minutes in length: the previously unreleased "Grapefruit" at nearly five minutes, and the live "Surrender" at just under four. Every other track is between fifty seconds and just under three minutes. However, not a single second is wasted: DNA knew how to get maximum impact out of every song, and even the rare moments of silence are important to the compositions. The progression is striking over the span of the disc. Beginning as a trio with guitarist/vocalist Arto Lindsay, drummer Ikue Mori, and keyboardist/vocalist Robin Crutchfield, DNA were comparable to hardly anything else. The debut single ("You & You"/"Little Ants") is perhaps the most extreme output; Crutchfield's bouncy electronics and Mori's tribal-esque drumming anchor the songs, allowing Lindsay to go wild on both guitar and vocals. The man can sound like a poet speaking abstract verse or a possessed preacher declaring fire and brimstone upon his pagan cult. Sometimes he does this in the same song, making for a delightfully odd contrast. The band's next recordings were four tracks for the infamous Brian Eno-produced NO NEW YORK compilation. This finds a more subdued DNA producing the garagey "Egomaniac's Kiss" and the punky "Size". However, "Lionel" and "Not Moving" (featuring a rare vocal turn from Crutchfield) are still fairly unhinged exercises in noise. Soon after this recording, Crutchfield left to form the excellent Dark Day (a synth-oriented no wave treasure best experienced on the unfortunately rare COLLECTED (1979-1982)); Tim Wright, formerly of Pere Ubu, was his replacement, and he was definitely a smart choice! Wright's bass playing was somehow rhythmic, melodic, and completely abstract. This is most evident on A TASTE OF DNA. This six-song EP contains under ten minutes of the most radical rock deconstruction ever committed to tape. Several songs feature Lindsay spouting Portuguese in addition to English, and Wright produces the kind of basslines many lesser bands would kill for. "Blonde Redhead" (yes, the band got their name from the song) and ""New Fast" particularly stand out, but the whole EP is a joyous burst of true creativity. Next up is the unreleased studio track "Grapefruit", which isn't a lost classic track by any means. Still, it does feature Lindsay's wordless chanting over a fairly minimalist instrumental track, and its length qualifies it as DNA's sole "epic", so it's a worthy inclusion. The following six tracks are instrumentals recorded for "the Squat Theatre's Obie winning MR. DEAD & MS. FREE", whatever that is; they also surfaced on the FRUIT OF THE ORIGINAL SIN compilation. They have an almost dubby production, most apparent on the pseudo-gothic "Delivering The Good". All six of them are well worth hearing as examples of DNA's restrained side. The remaining fourteen tracks are all live, featuring both incarnations of the band. Sadly, the legendary last encore cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" didn't make it (damn it!)*, but what did is truly fascinating despite a bit of questionable sound. Considering the source is original tapes, though, this is hardly worth complaining about. Only "5:30" from A TASTE OF DNA is reprised in the live tracks, and in a VERY different early version. The rest are unique to DNA's live sets, with the only other duplication being two versions of "Detached", one from each lineup. It's hard to pick standouts since all are great performances, but I particularly dig "Brand New" and "Calling To Phone". Given that it's basically DNA's complete discography, this is an absolutely essential CD.

MARS LP is barely half the length of DNA ON DNA, and it also contains no live recordings. However, the studio output of Mars was so awe-inspiring, it is perfectly suitable that it stands on its own. Originally formed as a nameless Velvet Underground cover band in 1975, and briefly performing as China, Mars can lay claim to being the first true no wave band. The band was formed by the late Sumner Crane (guitar and vocals), the late Nancy Arlen (drums), China Burg (a.k.a. Don Burg, Connie Burg, and Lucy Hamilton; guitar, vocals), and Mark Cunningham (bass, voice). Mars didn't get around to recording until 1977. That year saw the recording of their debut single. A-side "3E" was surprisingly normal, definitely betraying the Velvet Underground influence and giving little clue as to what lie on the flipside. That piece of music was "11,000 Volts", a shambling, discordant, shrieking mess of a song detailing a sadistic inventor and his robot slave. It is every bit as great as that sounds. Sadly, the release of this got delayed until 1978, during which time they got a slot on NO NEW YORK as well. Their four tracks showed a regression in sound, becoming denser and noisier while still maintaining an aura of professionalism. "Helen Forsdale" has guitars imitating the sounds of insects and "Hairwaves" simulates radio waves via feedback. Standout (and shortest of the four) "Puerto Rican Ghost" sounds like a coed Can during a drunken rampage, guitars violently see-sawing back and forth to angular drums and a throbbing bassline, with hallucinatory vocals not so much sung as shrieked in the voice of the damned. Finally in December of 1978, Mars was invited by Lust/Unlust Records owner Charles Ball to record an EP. Arto Lindsay was invited as producer, but since recording was accomplished via two binaural microphones set up in the center of an abandoned theater's stage, there wasn't much producing to be done. This odd recording betrays the sheer freedom that goes into these five tracks. Veering close to free improv and noise, tracks like "N.N. End" and "The Immediate Stages Of The Erotic" feature completely improvised vocal sounds (not lyrics, though) and the most abstract music on the disc. "Scorn" is based around the transcripted ramblings of a homeless friend of the band's and a horn played without its mouthpiece. Live recordings have revealed that there was a structure behind the madness, but it's not very apparent upon listening. This EP was delayed until 1980; in that time, the master became damaged in a flood, resulting in several lost frequencies. For MARS LP, a freshly discovered cassette master was used, allowing these recordings to be heard properly for the first time. Mars' studio output was previously reissued by Lydia Lunch's Widowpseak as 78, and then by Atavistic as 78+, but these releases were "reprocessed" by J.G. Thirlwell, which added heavier bass and more guitar noise; this was supposed to aid the lost frequencies of the EP, but the results are mixed. It also substituted live versions of "N.N. End" and "Scorn". It did have a few other live tracks that MARS LP is missing, but the MARS LP set makes it obsolete. This is also essential.

Mars did team up with Lindsay and Mori to record JOHN GAVANTI, a strange no wave opera which was heavy on wind instruments. It still has moments of guitar noise and lots of dissonant drumming, and it's also the closest no wave ever got to free jazz. Several Mars and DNA members ended up in post-no wave outfit Don King, producing a slightly more restrained version of what they had done previously. Crane and Arlen passed away, Crane in 2003 and Arlen three years later. Crutchfield continued to record as Dark Day and has released music under his own name. Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori both became darlings of downtown NYC, racking up impressive discographies (especially Lindsay, contributing impressively to recordings by the Lounge Lizards and the Golden Palominos, as well as his duo Ambitious Lovers). Cunningham and Wright have had sporadic recording careers. Burg makes a few guest appearances now and then on other former no waver's albums. DNA called it quits in 1982, essentially ending no wave proper. Mars had thrown in the towel after recording MARS EP back in 1978. Still, the music continues to provide insight into a period where everyone involved was absolutely free and interested in truly pushing music to its absolute limits.

Dedicated to the memory of Nancy Arlen and Sumner Crane.

*UPDATE: The double LP release of DNA ON DNA does include "Whole Lotta Love", along with three newly discovered tracks and the encore version of "A New Low" from the last show.

In Memorium

2008-11-14T01:14:00.000-05:00

As the year draws to a close, I would like to take the time to remember the following artists who passed away during 2008. There are MANY MORE I would have loved to add, but these few stay mostly within the confines of this blog (with a few exceptions).

IN MEMORIUM
Hector Zazou (ZNR et al)
Yma Sumac (queen of exotica)
Henri Chopin (master of audiopoems)
Jimmy Carl Black (formerly with the Mothers Of Invention)
Isaac Hayes (king of soul)
Michel Waisvisz (creator of the Crackle Box, Crackle Synth, Hands, etc.)
Mort Garson (Moog wizard)
Rick Wright (Pink Floyd's keyboard genius)
Rudy Ray Moore (the one and only Dolemite and a hell of a singer)
....and all other musicians, writers, and artists who passed away in '08. Thank you for your contributions to art, and though I hate to say goodbye, you deserve the rest.

Fripp & Eno, NO PUSSYFOOTING

2008-11-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

1973, Island; reissued by Discipline as a double disc; available

Original LP: 2 tracks, 39:38; double-disc Discipline reissue: 5 tracks indexed into different parts (see review), total of both discs 120:50

It's charming when you first hear something that still sounds as fresh as the day it was released. NO PUSSYFOOTING (fine, it's technically (NO PUSSYFOOTING), but the reissue varies on the spelling as well) is definitely one of those albums. When this came out, Eno was nearing the end of his time with Roxy Music and Fripp had gone on hiatus, temporarily disbanding King Crimson. Apparently Eno introduced Fripp to a unique dual Revox tape recorder setup. Similar in function to Terry Riley's time-lag accumulator, this setup allowed for layering of a bed of ever-evolving tape loops. These loops could have elements added or subtracted during the course of the composition. On top of this, Fripp solos to his heart's content, never veering into outright guitar god turf, but instead offering an emotional and very uniquely improvised tone. Hints of his Crimson work remain, but the result is distinct from that band's general sound. "The Heavenly Music Corporation", which occupied all of side one of the LP, is made up solely of this general setup. "Swastika Girls", spreading over side two and being named after a pornographic photo shoot (allegedly left behind in a studio and found by Eno!), also uses these elements. However, it adds a shrieking VCS3 synthesizer with a primitive digital sequencer as additional sound sources. The result is two wonderful extremes; "The Heavenly Music Corporation" is all soothing textures, while "Swastika Girls" has several abrasive (and almost proto-noise-rock, if there were such a thing) textures with hints of beauty. For the 2008 reissue (allegedly limited edition), Discipline has outdone themselves. Considering Fripp runs Discipline, this should be no surprise, but the deluxe reissue is amazing! NO PUSSYFOOTING has never sounded clearer, and the album will sound new even to old fans of it. However, this time, the bonus tracks are more than worth the fair price! Disc one contains the original album plus "The Heavenly Music Corporation"..... RECORDED BACKWARDS. The effect is truly otherworldly, and oddly enough it flows perfectly with the album proper. Disc two has another version of "The Heavenly...", but played at half the speed. This turns what was a beautifully soothing song into a deep droning mass of throbbing basslines and mysterious echoes. Oddly enough, it could pass for SunnO))) or Earth at this speed. This disc concludes with "Swastika Girls" given the reverse treatment. In this case, it's interesting to note how similar it sounds forward and backward, but a couple of listens will bring out the differences. As a strange bonus, all tracks are newly indexed so that you can skip ahead to your favorite segment. Thus, on disc one, tracks one through five are "The Heavenly Music Corporation", six through seven are "Swastika Girls", and eight through twelve are the reversed "Heavenly"; disc two has the slowed-down "Heavenly" occupying tracks one to five, and the reversed "Swastika Girls" on tracks six and seven. For those familiar with NO PUSSYFOOTING, the reissue is still highly recommended, as the alternate versions truly do make an interesting and vital addition. If you haven't heard it before, be ready; you'll never forget the first time you heard it, and even with the advancement of technology and Fripp and Eno's further collaborations, you'll never hear anything QUITE like it again. Needless to say, essential.

Albrecht/d. and Throbbing Gristle, a bunch of tapes

2008-10-10T16:38:00.000-04:00

Titles are 12 AND 18 JULY 1976, 23 JULY 1976, and 30 JULY 1976 (at least two are also known as MUSIC FROM THE DEATH FACTORY). All are cassette-only releases, and each is approximattely an hour long.

So where to begin with these cassettes? Well, if you're here, you're probably already familiar with Throbbing Gristle. If not, know that they coined the term "industrial music", and that the members all went on to various other endeavors after their brief but influential existence (Coil, Psychic TV, Chris and Cosey, CTI, etc.). Albrecht/d. was (still is to the best of my knowledge) an artist and musician associated with the Fluxus movement. Everything from tribal percussion trances to electronic drones has appeared under his name; both ENDLESS MUSIC and the live album with Joseph Beuys come very highly recommended.

As for the Gristle collaborative tapes, they're about what you'd expect. Each one has approximately 30 minutes of music per side, and each side sounds like an extended jam session. This is NOT a problem at all! Synth whines are accompanied by ethnic-sounding percussion, and deep bass drones are pierced by shrill violin runs. It's a very trance-inducing experience, and it's not nearly as painful as Throbbing Gristle's SECOND ANNUAL REPORT or D.O.A. can be. I'm not 100% sure what the circumstances surrounding these recordings were, but two of the tapes are supposedly live recordings, and it's been claimed that Albrecht/d. only recorded MUSIC FROM THE DEATH FACTORY without contributing any musical input (it's also claimed he did indeed contribute drumming). All three tapes are allegedly still available through Reflection Press (http://wikihost.org/wikis/sturclub//wiki/contact for info and address), and all three are essential parts of the Throbbing Gristle story, as well as being important evidence of the influence that Fluxus, Dada, and similar movements had on early industrial.

Philippe Besombes, LIBRA and CESI EST CELA

2008-08-09T19:59:00.000-04:00

Pôle, 1974; reissued by MIO with bonus material; out of print, but the CD is fairly easy to find

MIO version: 21 tracks, 75:44

Divox, 1979; reissued by MIO with bonus material; out of print, but the CD is fairly easy to find

MIO version: 10 tracks (11 technically; see review), 79:09 (with hidden track)

Ahhhh, more Pôle-related goodies! As reviewed in a previous post, Philippe Besombes was featured on the astonishing PÔLE album by Besombes-Rizet. LIBRA was another Besombes release on Pôle Records, and while it too is electronic-rock oriented, it's quite a different beast! Originally a soundtrack for a highly experimental film without any other sound (!), LIBRA originally consisted of seventeen tracks, ranging from just under two minutes to barely over six in length. Four of the tracks were written by Besombes' other musicians, and these all stick out. As part of the whole, they're not bad, but the slightly goofy "Tis A Song" and "Boogimmick" really don't add much; "Hache 06" and "Ballade en Velo" are much better additions. Oh, but the Besombes material proper! Everything from primitive synths and organs to sitar and electric guitar shows up in these miniature masterpieces. "La Plage" opens the album and introduces a recurring synth theme (this IS a soundtrackk, remember), surrounded by odd female vocals. "Raggacountry" is a startling synth-and-sitar duet, while "Ceremonie" relies on heavy organ for an unearthly atmosphere. The album alone is a true work of art, but the bonus tracks are very tasty indeed. "Chocolate Cream" and "Tamota Pie Pie" would fit in perfectly with LIBRA proper, "Orgue Hache 06" is seventeen seconds of a single organ chord, and "Piano Prepare" is an absolutely stunning twenty-three minute piece (performed on, you guessed it, a prepared piano!). If Besombes had only recorded this, his legacy would be assured; this is even better than PÔLE!

After recording the Besombes-Rizet album, Besombes got involved with writing pieces for ballet companies (an album of library music was recorded in there as well). In 1979, he released a couple of these as CECI EST CELA ("this is that" in English) on the Divox label. Originally intended to be self-titled (the album art backs this up, and MIO previously advertised this reissue as ESOMBESOMBES!), four of its five tracks are VERY experimental pieces that foreshadow the early industrial scene while simultaneously updating and refining classic electronic techniques. Synths drone and squeal and provide all manner of sounds, accompanied by musique concrete and distorted conversations and monologues. None are as whimsical as LIBRA or PÔLE, but they do show Besombes' by-now signature sound at its peak. Track one, however, is a strange (and rather out of place) comedic disco tune entitled "Princesse Lolita", which was included at Divox's unrealistic request for a hit single. A dialogue between a helium-voiced princess and a distorted dragon, it's a fun song, but it's also very conspicuous in its dissimilarity from the surrounding material. No wonder Besombes allowed MIO to place this track in the negative space before track one! This means you have to search backwards from track one to find it; most listeners will probably never listen to it again after one go (I've only listened to it twice). The bonus material on CESI EST CELA (yes, the reissue is deliberately misspelled; why is beyond me) is divided by year. There are two tracks each from 1972, 1975, and 1976. The '72 material was recorded as a duo with Jean-Francois Dessoliers (the duo was appropriately called PJF), while the latter bonus material shows the evolution from LIBRA to PÔLE to CECI EST CELA. This is definitely Besombes at his most serious and academic, but it's still eons ahead of most contemporaries and a fascinating collection from start to finish.

Anything Besombes-oriented is a must-buy, but the recent closing of MIO can potentially hinder that. As of this writing, Wayside Music (see link on this page) is offerring all three MIO Besombes releases for six dollars each (update: CESI EST CELA is now $16, which probably means the stock is running low, so you should still get it while you can). The mastering is perfect, and the bonus material is worth the purchase alone! Get them now so you don't regret it later!

P.S. While much harder to find, his library music LP LA GUERRE DES ANIMAUX is equally amazing, as are his contributions to the CITY AND INDUSTRY LP.

Birgé-Gorgé-Shiroc, DÉFENSE DE/LA NUIT DU PHOQUE/JUNE SESSIONS

2008-08-02T08:53:00.000-04:00

Grrr, 1975; reissued by MIO; out of print, but fairly easy to find

MIO edition: CD has 8 tracks, 73:54; DVD has 11 additional audio tracks plus a 42 minute movie, totalling roughly 6 hours (!)

This is the most formidable recording I have yet to review, but here goes anyway. Contained herein is every recording by Jean-Jacques Birgé, Francis Gorgé, and Shiroc. The former two went on to form the equally incredible Un Drame Musical Instantané with Bernard Vitet*, whereas Shiroc never recorded again after this. The first four tracks were the original LP, and when combined with the title they form a political message (I'll let you translate it yourself; wouldn't want to spoil it!). The music is..... well, it's unique, for one. Imagine a cross between the most out-there Sun Ra material, early AMM, a dash of Faust, and some of that French experimental flair. Then imagine a combination of those elements completely devoid of influences. That's fairly close to what you'll find on here! Shiroc's drumming varies from motorik pulses to free-jazz bashing, but is always tasteful and properly mixed with the other instruments. Birgé and Gorgé play an insanely wide variety of instruments; it's so varied, in fact, that a song-by-song instrument list is included! Electric guitar, synths, electric pianos, electric organs, tapes, alto and tenor sax (provided by Antoine Duvernet on two tracks), pipe organ, castanets, stylophones.... get the picture? That's also maybe a quarter of the entire list! Oddly enough, you can usually tell exactly what instrument is providing what sound, and the formlessness of the tracks works to their constantly evolving advantage. The bonus tracks are all leftovers from the album proper. Two of them were replaced with tracks featuring Shiroc, and the other two are alternate takes of "Pourrait Etre Brutal". Unlike most outtakes, these tracks are every bit as great as the album proper. The CD alone is an absolutely unique milestone of the avant-garde. The accompanying DVD, however, is the icing on the cake. Musically it features eleven more tracks, ranging from a fairly short ten minutes to a nearly forty-eight minute live track (also featuring second percussionist Gilles Rollet)! Shiroc, who was on half of the eight CD tracks, is present on every song on the DVD. Some of these "June Sessions" are even better than the album proper, and all of them would have made fine releases on their own. The experimental film "La Nuit Du Phoque" ("Night Of The Seal"), created in 1974 by Birgé and the late Bernard Mollerat, is also a very welcome addition. It's a comedic and surreal piece of art, featuring everything from a clown (I think) singing about "The Militant's Ballet" with a choreographed group of revolutionaries to Sir Isaac Newton scaring children in the park (and ending up stabbed for his troubles) all the way to a very bizarre cabaret performance with odd free jazz backing. It's a true period piece, and the fact that it exists and has been preserved is cause for celebration. Unfortunately, as stated in other reviews, MIO has ceased to exist. That makes this difficult to find, but if you search hard enough you will locate it (hint: Wayside has it for twenty dollars at the time this was written, and Birgé himself has copies for sale alongside classic UDMI material at http://www.drame.org/3GRRR/zDisco.html). An absolute must for all avant-garde fans!
*Vitet's LA GUÊPE is very much worth a listen as well!

Caspar Brötzmann Massaker, HOME

2008-06-22T16:56:00.000-04:00

Thirsty Ear, 1995; available

5 tracks, 53:48

Being the son of a free jazz legend, Caspar Brötzmann has skronk in his blood. While he isn't quite as unhinged as his father (and Peter Brötzmann tends to border on the lunatic side), he certainly has a charm all his own. Caspar growls and snarls and moans, but rarely ever sings per se. His guitar/amp skills (he does tend to play both) range from crushing heaviness through shrill piercing tones, and everything in between. Bassist Eduardo Delgado Lopez (who also does the occasional vocals) and drummer Danny Arnold Lommen somehow manage to provide a solid backbone to the guitar histrionics. HOME is notable for two reasons. First, it is made up of re-recordings of older tracks (all from the first two Massaker albums BLACK AXIS and THE TRIBE). The second point of interest is that these versions are vast improvements on the somewhat formless originals, with the band performing as a much tighter and unified whole. The remake of "Massaker" in particular quite frankly destroys the original, with some of the most unhinged vocals and the best breakdown on the album (oddly enough, this occurs while Brötzmann is bellowing "BREAK.... BREAK.... DOWN!"). Functioning somewhere between krautrock, doom metal and free jazz, HOME is highly recommended to more adventurous listeners. Also recommended is KOKSOFEN, which offers a looser but somehow more disturbing program.

Einstürzende Neubauten, KOLLAPS

2008-06-22T16:40:00.000-04:00

Zick-Zack, 1981; reissued by several companies over the years; available, but may be a different version than the one detailed here

13 tracks, 34:44; version with bonus track and STAHLDUBVERSIONS: 23 tracks, 56:01

Einstürzende Neubauten are pretty much a legend at this point. Taking "industrial music" to its most logical extreme, Neubauten (on here the trio of Blixa Bargeld, F.M. Einheit, and N.U. Unruh) used junk percussion, power tools, and extremely distorted guitars and bass to create a divine cacophony. KOLLAPS is widely acknowledged as their purest effort, and I agree. Very few tracks have a typical structure, or a melody for that matter. Instead you get mostly short (four minutes or less) tracks, combining the tools (no pun intended) of Neubauten's trade in bizarre and unusual forms. The main exception to length is the title track, which is over eight minutes in length and mostly revolves around a repetitive guitar mantra, punctuated by feedback and either a bass or a bass drum (it's never easy to tell what instrument is making what sound in Neubauten's music). "Tanz Debil" opens with Bargeld's impassioned yelping over some particularly nasty feedback, which then turns into a rhythmic storm of banged metal springs and whirring machine sounds. "Negativ Nein" features just the sound of water (rhythmically played water; you have to hear it to understand) and Bargeld's demented shrieks, repeating "negativ nein" in every conceivable variation. The shorter tracks like "Hirnsage" (all distorted guitar and Bargeld), "Vorm Krieg", and "Draußen ist Feindlich" are even LESS traditional in structure. This entire album STILL sounds as strange as it must have been when first released; if anything, the developments in noise and industrial since have shown just how right Neubauten got it the first time around. The version I have includes a nice bonus track called "Schieß Euch Ins Blut" that would have fit in nicely on KOLLAPS. The main bonus is the STAHLDUBVERSIONS tacked on at the end. Originally released on cassette (which curiously had the same program on both sides), these are nine instrumental dub versions of tracks from KOLLAPS. While some don't really add much ("Sado-Masodub" is basically the isolated rhythm track from "Tanz Debil"), others are truly interesting and bold experiments in combining Neubauten's approach with dub sound effects. It's a delightful addition. If you dig this, the compilation KALTE STERNE comes highly recommended; it's a collection of Neubauten's earliest recordings, and it's very much like KOLLAPS in sound and style.

NEW SOUNDS IN ELECTRONIC MUSIC

2008-06-08T17:34:00.000-04:00

Odyssey, 1967; out of print

3 tracks, 42:27

This early electronic compilation is mostly famous due to the presence of Steve Reich's "Come Out". That track was reviewed elsewhere on this blog, so I will attempt to describe the other two tracks. Richard Maxfield (1927-1969) was a visionary composer and artist who made the best out of pre-synthesizer electronics. His "Night Music" is only featured here (for now, anyway), and is a classic little piece of primitive squeals, bleeps, and whirs. The sounds gradually take on new and strange shapes, maintaining interest throughout. Pauline Oliveros' "I Of IV" sounds considerably less primitive, and stands as an early bit of ambient minimalism. Rising and falling tones make up the bulk of this twenty-plus minute monster, accompanied by cavernous throbs and ringing high pitched whines. It definitely points towards Oliveros' later experiments in "deep listening", and still holds up incredibly well. Reich's track is available on his EARLY WORKS collection, and Oliveros' track can be found in an extended version on her ELECTRONIC WORKS compilation. That being said, only six Maxfield recordings have ever been released, and every serious electronic and/or modern composition fan owes it to themselves to hear all six. Four other Maxfield tracks are available on THE OAK OF THE GOLDEN DREAMS, which also features two extended Buchla pieces by Harold Budd. These four tracks were previously issued in 1969 by Vanguard as ELECTRONIC MUSIC.

Horrific Child, L'ETRANGE MONSIEUR WHINSTER

2008-06-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

Eurodisc, 1976; out of print

3 tracks, 33:28

Look at that cover. Just look at it. Doesn't it just scream "incredible"? A brainchild of Jean-Pierre Massiera (also behind the equally amazing Les Maledictus Sound), Horrific Child was a complete anomaly. The "music" contained herein is three tracks of pure aural innovation. Massiera mostly assembled WHINSTER from previously recorded bits of tape, but it's all done very seamlessly. "H.I.A.", which occupied the entire B-side, has a bombastic orchestral introduction with heartbeat sound effects. It then goes into Goblin turf: all atmospheric wind sounds, footsteps, and echoing voices. After a while, some psychedelic drumming comes in, which leads right to operatic voices. This is followed by more drumming, more atmosphere, and eventually strange croaking male vocals. They're definitely cheesy, but like a good old horror film. This track features many more twists and turns during its seventeen minutes, ending on a rather sedate note. The A-side is no less impressive! "Frayeur" still features the "creepy" vocals, but this time they're accompanied by African-style drumming and chanting! Finally, "Angoisse." is all eerie synth, random percussion, and those campy-but-creepy male vocals. Apparently the lyrics are taken from Baudelaire and Lautréamont, but I don't speak good enough French to confirm this. The whole album stands up surprisingly well.; it also gains points for being incredibly unique. On the reissue of Les Maledictus Sound's sole album, there is a nine-minute excerpt from WHINSTER. Hopefully someone will have the good sense to give this a proper reissue.

UPDATE 2011: Finders Keepers had the good sense to reissue this with two bonus tracks! GET IT!

Controlled Bleeding, KNEES AND BONES

2008-06-06T11:26:00.000-04:00

Psychout, 1985; reissued by Dossier; out of print

Vinyl: 2 tracks, 49:54; CD: 3 tracks, 79:19

Controlled Bleeding was always an odd band. Starting off as a self-described cross between the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the Ramones*, they soon drifted even further into experimental turf. Most people know them for their early experiments in noise, which are harsh even by early industrial standards. KNEES AND BONES is the prime example of this. Paul Lemos and Chris Moriarty form the core for this release, with a couple of guests assisting (including future CB vocalist Joe Papa). The original LP was divided into two tracks, one per side, and naturally named "Knees" and "Bones". On the CD, these are seamlessly made into one just-under-fifty-minute track. I prefer the CD's version, since this really does need to be taken in one sitting. "Knees" is more harsh, with unintelligible vocals, extreme layers of feedback and distortion, and several unidentifiable sounds; the fact that two of the instruments listed are pneumatic drills and a cement mixer (!) should give you some idea of what you're in for. "Bones" is still uneasy listening, but quite a bit more sedate. It even features long stretches of calm, sometimes veering close to ambient! There's also some bits of metal percussion and sampled family arguments (apparently Paul Lemos arguing with his sister) thrown in for good measure. In fact, this side ends with a lengthy space rock keyboard section, followed by a cut-up of the argument! What's most incredible is how this sounds like it was recorded live in one take. That may or may not be the case, but there's a lot more structure and detectable progression here than with most noise. The CD came with two bonus tracks, both remixes of "Knees". "Knees Power Mix" takes the already extreme "Knees" and pushes it into the red; this is true power electronics and a harrowing listen. "Swallowing Scrap Metal Pt. 5 1/2" is equally harsh, but more abstract, chopping the source material into new and bizarre shapes while also adding "other sound fragments and shards of feedback - All for your listening pleasure" (yes, that is directly from the liner notes by Paul Lemos). The resulting remix is an abstract blast that compares favorably to Merzbow et al. Be careful playing the bonus tracks; they're VERY LOUD! While Controlled Bleeding veered all over the industrial/experimental map in later years (everything from ambient dub to dance-oriented harsh club music to atmospheric soundscapes), and it can be argued that they approached the levels of harshness on here, they never really betterred KNEES AND BONES for sheer power and purity of intent. Amusingly enough, outtakes from KNEES AND BONES have been released on several collections; of these, PLEGM BAG SPATTERED (sic) is the closest in spirit and sound to KNEES AND BONES**. Highly recommended, but not an easy album to like by any stretch if you're not already into noise or early industrial.

*The recently issued compilation BEFORE THE QUIET is comprised of recordings by this phase of the band; definitely worth a listen for a different side of Controlled Bleeding!

**The fairly recent SHANKED AND SLITHERING compilation has some more "Swallowing Scrap Metal" tracks, along with a great assortment of noise and experimental works. This is also recommended if you like Controlled Bleeding's noisier side.