William S. Burroughs, BREAK THROUGH IN GREY ROOM

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.

Destroy All Monsters, 74 76

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.

Luc Ferrari, PRESQUE RIEN

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.

Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, TROUT MASK REPLICA

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!

Various artists, HOLLERIN'

Rounder, 1983; available

24 tracks, 59:21

For years I've known of this album. I had MANY misconceptions about it. For one, I was under the impression it is just a live recording of the National Hollerin' Contest (it actually seems to be field recordings a la Alan Lomax). I also assumed it was going to be an awful recording only good for a laugh. In my defense, one of the tracks IS credited to "Dan McLamb & His Three-Legged Dog Percy". The truth is that this is an extraordinarily interesting and poignant document of an unknown American folk tradition. Hollerin' (that's the actual spelling) has its origins in the pre-mass communication days and was centered in Spivey's Corner, NC. Most people today feel they can't live without a cell phone; the farmers who created hollerin' didn't even have home phones or walkie-talkies. The style orginated as a way of communication and bonding, since hollerin' can be very loud and heard for miles. It can be divided into four basic subcategories: Distress hollers, used to announce death, accidents, emergencies, etc.; functional hollers, such as animal calls; communicative hollers, the hollerin' equivalent of "hiya, neighbor!"; and expressive hollers, which can be original or traditional songs in holler style and other purely fun hollers. Most of the tracks, especially those by Leonard Emanuel and O.B. and Dewey Jackson, share a lot in common with other unusual vocal styles such as throat singing and sacred harp. If you can picture throat singing done with high pitches rather than low pitches, you have a solid idea of what this is like. The functional hollers are as unique as each artist; no two truly sound alike. Along with animal calls, there is an example of a holler used to "mock a fox". The original expressive hollers obviously had care put into their creation, including Leonard Emanuel's touching-but-snarky "I Wish I Was Single Again". The traditional expressive hollers include "Shortnin' Bread", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", and even versions of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "Happy Birthday To You"! Both Emanuel and H. H. Oliver present distress hollers; it's easy to see why these would draw attention. The communicative hollers have some of the most lilting passages, and the spirit of camaraderie literally pours out of the performers. For being recorded in 1975 and 1976, the sound quality is impeccable, lacking the defects which sometimes tarnish older field recordings. There are ten different performers, each with a hollerin' style all their own. Names like O.B. Jackson and Dewey Jackson (yes, they are related) are probably unknown even to serious folk scholars, but they shouldn't be. While many listeners seriously just won't be able to get into this, students of folk music and even outsider music fans need this album. It truly is one of the most amazing documents of American folk I have ever heard and it deserves to be more widely known.