Giuseppi Logan, THE GIUSEPPI LOGAN QUARTET

ESP-Disk', 1965; available

5 tracks, 48:10

The enigmatic Logan was long the source of mystery. He recorded two albums for ESP as a leader*, performed a bit as a sideman, and then disappeared for about forty years. He was discovered alive, well, and playing in a park in 2008, even though general opinion was that he had passed away. This album is his first ESP recording, and it's a gem! The other three players are pianist Don Pullen, bassist Eddie Gomez, and legendary free drummer Milford Graves. Logan tackles five instruments: alto and tenor saxes, bass clarinet, flute, and "Pakistani oboe". His playing style comes from a different place than Ayler's et al; there's not much spiritual or folk influence. Most of Logan's lines sound like they came from Indian, Asian, and Middle Eastern music. This is especially pronounced on the opening "Tabla Suite", the strangest composition here. Graves performs innovative improvisations on the title instrument, while Gomez and Pullen go along their own respective paths. Logan blows freely and sinuously on what I assume is the oboe, somehow following along with the others while remaining absolutely free of structure. The remaining tracks are much more in traditional free jazz territory; however, they're amazing examples of the genre. "Dance of Satan" and the lengthy "Bleecker Partita" are especially noteworthy for their catchy leads and descents into a sort of controlled improvisation that's uniquely Logan's. Highly recommended to jazz afficianadoes; anything else by Logan is worth a listen too. Logan also provides excellent sideman duties on Patty Waters' COLLEGE TOUR and Roswell Rudd's EVERYWHERE; the latter has an interesting version of "Dance of Satan".

*Actually, he recorded a third unreleased album leading a classical-influenced string-heavy ensemble. One of these days this might be released; it certainly sounds intriguing!

Karlheinz Stockhausen, AUS DEN SIEBEN TAGEN

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.

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

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 description, 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.

ARKTINEN HYSTERIA: SUOMI-AVANTGARDEN ESIPUUTARHUREITA

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, so having a taste here is quite a boon. If you're hooked like I was, try to find the collection ÄÄNITYKSIÄ/RECORDINGS 1963-1973 (and look for a review of that here soon!).

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.

Noah Howard, THE BLACK ARK

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

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.

Leo Coomans, BASEMENT RECORDINGS 1978-1982

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!

Ju Suk Reet Meate, SOLO 78/79

(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.

Toy Killers, THE UNLISTENABLE YEARS

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/

Area, EVENT '76

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!

Arthur Doyle Plus 4, ALABAMA FEELING

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

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

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).

Jean Dubuffet, EXPÉRIENCES MUSICALES

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!

Jean Guérin, TACET

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!

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

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.