Atlantis Audio Archive

Sympathy Nervous - It's Second Coming (Negative Emission ne 1001T) 1980

2012-01-23T18:27:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to post this cassette for a long time. Last fall, I started the process of putting up the No More Expo tape until I saw it had been uploaded a few months earlier at Mutant Sounds.

Taking the title at it's word - "Sympathy Nervous '80 It's Second Coming", I presume this cassette was released or contains material recorded during or after the S/T LP on Vanity Records posted by Mutant Sounds.

The instrumentation here sounds closer to the S/T LP and their Polaroid 7" than No More Expo, which seems to have a thinner sound using updated drum machines & synths.

The label Minimal Wave recently released a Sympathy Nervous LP (Automaticism) that includes two tracks (Cabaret Voltaire & Extended Time) from this cassette. This LP is also a benefit for Yoshiumi Ninuma aka Sympathy Nervous who tragically lost everything from the Tsumani that hit Japan March 2011. His house, including equipment and recordings all washed away. I urge anyone who downloads this post to pick up Automaticism (Vinyl or download versions). I want to thank C.Patera and his blog Stalking Duppi for making me aware of this release and Yoshiumi's situation.

I won't go into detail about the music, other than to say it holds that same timeless quality other favorite electronic/synth albums of mine do like Conrad Schnitzler's Con, Monton, Kraftwerk and Dark Day, to name a few. Techno before techno and sounds that could just have easily been recorded 10-20 years later; dirty electro/minimal techno of Bunker/Clone/Sahko/Dum labels, Le Car, I-f, etc...

The tracklisting on Side A matches up to the music. The track listing on Side B indicates eight tracks, but I have them split into only six tracks. There are four tracks listed with Japanese titles that are part of tracks B2 through B4 (tks. 6-8 in the post). Track B6 (tk 9 in the post) is Extended Time. B7 & B8 are combined as Track 10 in the post. See included images for actual titles.

Tracklist:
Side A:
1 - Cabaret Voltaire
2 - Plastic Love
3 - Metal Beat
4 - I am a Fan

Side B:
1 - Room 3
2 - 4 Japanese titles
5 - Extended Time
6 - P.S. 1
- P.S. 2

Enjoy

57 Tone Flexi 7" (Joy FY-0002) 1983

2012-01-23T17:38:00.003-05:00

This flexi is from 1983. I couldn't find any info about 57 Tone online. I recall picking this up because the cover reminded me of the art for DDAA/IP label sleeves. I have to say, the music here well exceeded my expectations.

The A-Side falls right in with early 80's Factory/Fetish/99/Clock DVA guitar/bass/sax/drums combinations. The B side is more abstract and closer to something from the Vanity label. A part of this track was featured in my Final Procedure Mix from last year.

a: Spiral
b: 4 Reminiseences

Enjoy

Dead links

2011-10-27T16:32:00.002-05:00

If anybody finds a dead link, leave a comment either here (with title) or with the original post and I will begin to re-upload the files.

I've received several comments and e-mails about this and have already started to re-post.

DJ Set - Final Procedure Mix August 30, 2011

2011-10-27T15:58:00.004-05:00

Greetings!

Back briefly to post this DJ mix I put together a couple months ago. The event was the final Procedure at Cafe St. Ex in DC.
From the event info:

"This night first started some 10 yrs ago when Richard Chartier ran with an anti-concept - a DJ night that gave you none of what a normal club audience wants. It was called Filler, then it was called Mies, and finally Procedure. There were venue changes galore, but with a fairly consistent high quality of DJ line-ups, and all done with an artful gaze right over DC's head. Well... that'll be enough for now. "

For the final night, many guest DJ's from over the years were invited to play 15 minute sets. There were sixteen DJ's overall. I no longer live near DC so I contributed my set via internet. I have a lot of fond memories spinning at the various incarnations of this DJ night over the years, not to mention all the friends I met and opportunities for other DJ events. Thank you Mark for inviting me and Braulio for suggesting the remote DJ idea and helping me carry through with it.

There are a couple tracks here from releases I will post soon if I see nobody else has already.

Volcano the Bear - Tunnels and Wheels
57 Tone - 4 Reminiseences
Libido - Motionless
Leather Nun - Slow Death
Sympathy Nervous - track 6 from 'It's Second Coming '80' cassette

Enjoy

DJ Set - Vintage Mix 2009

2010-01-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

This is the mix CD I made to hand out last month to commemorate another year at King & I Thai.

Here is the link if you missed the dj mix for my 2008 Vintage sets at King & I Thai last year.

Like the mix last year, there is a lot of music from Brazil & Africa, as well as some Turkish & Hungarian tunes.

Enjoy.

Tracklist for Vintage 2009 Mix CD:

Xavier Cugat – Siboney

Baby Consuelo – Curto de Veu e Grinalda

Maria Bethania – Mano Caetano

Toquinho – Zana

Antonio Carlos e Jocafi – Tereza Guerreira

MPB4 – Agibore

Buari – Karam Bani

Sahara All Stars – Take Your Soul

Nora Dean & Duke Reid – Ay Ay Ay

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou – Mi Ni Non Kpo

Bonzu Sounds – Zinabu

Antonio Carlos e Jocafi – Xamego de Ina

Maxine Sellers – Some Kind of Fever

Sarolta Zalatnay – Hadd mondjam el

Kati Kovacs – Add mar Uram az esot!

Jorge Ben – Katarina, Katarina

Sigi schwab – Getting’ High

Baris Manco – Gonul Dagi

DJ Set - Bev's Wine Bar mix 2009

2009-10-11T14:24:00.006-05:00

Here is the mix CD for the re-opening of Bev's Wine Bar - a collection of tracks played at various Bev's Wine Bar sets throughout 2009.

And if you missed this one posted in January, here is the dj mix for my 2008 Vintage sets at King & I Thai.

And this time, I have the tracklist ready ahead of time....

Valente/Ros - Frenesi
Sirconical - Moondance
Kensuke Shiina & Irama Buyung - Cool Calm
Subtle Tease - Moodies Schwingt
Harold Robbins - Go Down Dying
Can - Turtles Have Short Legs
Jah Woosh - Woodpecker Sound
Kendra Smith - She Brings the Rain
Mighty Bop - Feeling Good (instrumental)
Gal Costa - Sebastiana
Stereolab - Cellulose Sunshine
Ricardo Marrero & the Group - Babalonia
Prince Far I - Throw Away Your Gun
Jimi Tenor - Fantom
Natural Calamity - And That's Saying a Lot

enjoy

MN Record Show - This Saturday, October 3rd

2009-10-01T14:22:00.002-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:
I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show this Saturday - October 3rd.
As usual, it will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St.

The show is open from 9am to 4pm.

I have lowered prices on almost every record from previous shows!!!

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there. A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as more goodies from my own collection will also be for sale. I spent the last couple days pulling more from my collection, so there will be many more records not at the previous show.

A link to their website.

Admission is only $2!!!

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar, MPLS - this Friday - September 11th

2009-09-09T22:26:00.002-05:00

The road construction still continues, but enough has been completed to allow Bev's to re-open again. This is my first set there since June so I am very excited to finally spin there again.

To mark the occasion, I created a 'best of' mix for the last year of my Bev's DJ sets. I will have plenty of copies to hand out Friday. I expect to post the CD here sometime next week, so stay tuned!!

Aside from the obvious wine selection, there is excellent local beer (Surly & Summit) and some tasty bread/salad/pizza dishes to munch on while soaking up the music and enjoying the view of the MPLS skyline - now that the weather is warmer, this is even more of a reason to check out Bev's.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai online set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive

Bev's Wine Bar

This Friday, September 11th @ 9:00

250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - Minneapolis, June 16th & June 23rd

2009-06-15T22:42:00.002-05:00

I will be dj'ing for the next two Tuesdays at King & I Thai: tomorrow, June 16th, and next week, June 23rd.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well. The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish).

I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days - lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday June 16th & June 23rd, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave.
Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar This Friday, June 5th MPLS

2009-06-04T15:46:00.003-05:00

Again, I forgot to plug my Bev's spot here the last couple months...

The road construction has yet to begin in front of Bev's, so I am able to squeeze in another night. Last I heard, there is still no definite start date for this work.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai online set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive

Bev's Wine Bar

This Friday, June 5th @ 9:00

250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

DJ Announcement - King & I Thai MPLS - Tomorrow May 19th 9pm

2009-05-18T14:26:00.002-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai tomorrow - Tuesday, May 19th.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well. The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish).

I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days - lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday May 19th, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave.
Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - MPLS, Tuesday April 21st

2009-04-20T20:18:00.003-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai tomorrow - Tuesday, April 21st.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well - an excellent place to celebrate on Inauguration Day.

The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday April 21st, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

MN Record Show - This Saturday, April 4th

2009-04-02T15:24:00.002-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:

I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show this Saturday.

As usual, it will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St.

The show is open from 9am to 4pm.

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there - many at reduced prices.
A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as more goodies from my own collection will also be for sale. I spent the last couple weeks pulling more from my collection, so there will be many more records not at the previous show.

A link to their website.

Admission is only $2!!!

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar MPLS, This Friday April 3rd

2009-03-30T16:06:00.003-05:00

So, I forgot to plug my Bev's spot here last month...

This month's set at Bev's might be my last for a month or two (or more). There is going to be road construction in front of Bev's soon. Apparently, they may be losing their sidewalk during this time and may be forced to close during construction. At this point, nothing is known for sure how long the construction will last, or if they will be closing.

Also, my set will start this time at 9 instead of the usual 8:30.

Aside from the obvious wine selection, there is beer and some excellent bread/salad/pizza dishes to munch on while soaking up the music and enjoying the view of the MPLS skyline.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai online set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive
Bev's Wine Bar
This Friday, April 3rd @ 9:00
250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - MPLS, Tuesday Mar. 17th

2009-03-12T20:25:00.003-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai on St. Patricks Day - Tuesday, March 17th.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well - an excellent place to celebrate on Inauguration Day.

The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday March 17th, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - MPLS, Tuesday Feb. 17th

2009-02-16T16:58:00.003-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai tomorrow, February 17th.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days.

Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, African, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage Tuesday February 17th, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

Minnesota Record Show - this Saturday, February 14th

2009-02-12T18:33:00.004-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:

I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show this Saturday. As usual, it will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St.

The show is open from 9am to 4pm.

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there - many at reduced prices.

A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as more goodies from my own collection will also be for sale. I spent the last couple weeks pulling more from my collection, so there will be around 100 records not at the previous show.

A link to their website.

Admission is only $2!!!

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar, MPLS - this Friday - February 6th

2009-02-05T02:04:00.003-05:00

Again, short notice.... I have another DJ slot at Bev's Wine Bar this Friday. Bev's is a nice cozy place in the Warehouse district of Minneapolis.

Aside from the obvious wine selection, there is beer and some excellent bread/salad/pizza dishes to munch on while soaking up the music and enjoying the view of the MPLS skyline.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai online set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive
Bev's Wine Bar
This Friday, Feb 6th @ 8:30
250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

Pataphysics - Divination LP (Malarkey NR 6379) 1975

2009-02-05T00:17:00.003-05:00

While digging through some stacks of records for dj fodder, I discovered this oddity that I could find no info about on Google or Discogs.

The music is all over the place. From various shades of jazz to cosmic folk-like pieces to a moog-backed jazz groover. The jazzier tracks wouldn't sound out of place on a label like ECM at the time. The second track, Visions in Jalapena, reminds me of Woo, maybe the way the guitars are strummed.

Thankfully the vinyl is in better condition than the sleeve.

Enjoy

DJ Set - VINTAGE 2008 MIX

2009-01-16T19:46:00.005-05:00

I recently made this mix for friends and to give away at my next Vintage DJ night at King @ I Thai (see next post).

The mix is a collection of tracks frequently played throughout my Vintage nights last year at King & I Thai in Minneapolis.

update 3/30/2009:
Recently realized I never posted the tracklist to this mix CD. Here it is:
Vintage 2008 CD Tracklist
Doris Moteiro – E Isso Ai
Antonio Carlos & Jocafi – Indagorinha
Nigerian Police Force Band (The Force 7) – Asiko Mi Ni
Ennio Morricone – Svolta Definitiva
Sly Dunbar – Mr Bassey
The Hykkers – I Want a Break Thru’
Abilio Manoel – Luiza Manequim
Fiorenzo Carpi – Improbabile
Machine – There But For the Grace of God Go I
Keith Hudson – California/By Night Dub
Jackie Mittoo – Disco Jack
Harmonettes – Can’t Go Halfway
Ely Camargo – Taieiras
Tom Ze – Happy End
Jorge Ben – Cinco Minutos
Enjoy

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - MPLS, Tuesday Jan. 20th

2009-01-16T19:22:00.002-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai this Tuesday, January 20th.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well - an excellent place to celebrate on Inauguration Day.

I will also have copies of my Vintage 2008 Mix CD to give away. It is also available as a download in the previous post.

The music starts at 9 now, an hour earlier and goes till close (1-ish). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday January 20th, 9 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar, MPLS - this Friday - January 9th

2009-01-08T22:28:00.002-05:00

A bit short notice.... I have another DJ slot at Bev's Wine Bar tomorrow. Bev's is a nice cozy place in the Warehouse district of Minneapolis.

Aside from the obvious wine selection, there is beer and some excellent bread/salad/pizza dishes to munch on while soaking up the music and enjoying the view of the MPLS skyline. Brave the MN snow and stop by to enjoy some good tunes.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive
Bev's Wine Bar
This Friday, Jan 9th @ 8:30
250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - MPLS, Tuesday Dec. 16th

2008-12-12T01:35:00.002-05:00

In addition to my set tonight at Bev's Wine Bar, I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai next Tuesday, Dec. 16th.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (1-ish). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks, music library LPs as well as some recently acquired Brazilian records form my recent trip to NYC.

Vintage
Tuesday November 18th, 10 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

Normal Brain Frottage Flexi 7" & Ready Made LP @ 45 RPM

2008-12-12T00:25:00.006-05:00

Several years ago when I first purchased and listened to the Normal Brain LP, my turntable was still set at 45 rpm after listening to another record. I didn't realize until later that the label lists 33 rpm. For the next few years, I then listened to the LP at 33 rpm, and ripped it at that speed when I posted it here.

Then, some time last year, I finally tracked down a copy of the flexi 7" for their track Frottage. The flexi lists the speed as 45 rpm, which turns out to sound the same as the LP version played at 45 rpm. Upon this realization, I then wondered if the LP was intended for 45 rpm playback all along. Some time has passed, and I finally recorded the LP at 45 rpm.

Given that the LP had conflicting track names and variations of the album title, perhaps the speed was listed incorrect as well - intentionally or not. The flexi version, and the LP version turn out to be the same length, but I haven't done a note for note comparison to see if they are 100% identical.

I'm now leaning toward the LP being 45. I'm curious what you think.
These were converted @ 320K as well.

The flexi was originally included with an issue of Rock magazine.

9/22/2011 - Expired link updated below...
Enjoy

DJ Announcement - Bev's Wine Bar - This Friday, Dec. 12th

2008-12-08T16:08:00.003-05:00

I have a new DJ night starting this Friday. It is at Bev's Wine Bar, a nice cozy place in the Warehouse district of Minneapolis.

Aside from the obvious wine selection, there is beer and some excellent bread/salad/pizza dishes to munch on while soaking up the music and enjoying the view of the MPLS skyline.

Musically, expect similar grooves to the Champion Superior Soundsystem days in DC and my recent King & I Thai set, as well as some indie/minimal/diy pop.

Atlantis Audio Archive
Bev's Wine Bar
This Friday, Dec. 12th @ 8:30
250 3rd Ave N. (off Washington behind Deja Vu & J.D. Hoyt's steakhouse)

Minnesota Record Show - this Saturday, December 6th

2008-12-03T17:29:00.003-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:

I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show this Saturday. As usual, it will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St.

Sales were pretty sparse at the last show, but I've been told he December is their biggest show of the year.

The show is open from 9am to 4pm.

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there - many at reduced prices.

A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as more goodies from my own collection will also be for sale. There will be at least 100 new records not at the previous show.

A link to their website.

Admission is only $2!!!

MLD - Perpetual Motion 7" (Kitchen Records DRUM 2) 1983

2008-11-20T23:14:00.004-05:00

Here is another Vanity label related 7".

This is what I wrote about MLD last year in the Paris Tokyo cassette compilation posted here last year:

MLD were Takayuki Shiraishi and Jun Sonohara. The duo also released a CD under the name Maximum Lunatic Desire and more recently as Musica Nova, contributing tracks to releases on labels NS-COM & Birds in Paradise. Shiraishi has many solo releases, some under his own name on NS-COM, BadOrb, etc... and also under others such as Planetoid on the Belgian ambient label - Apollo. It should also come as no surprise to readers of this site that there is a Vanity connection here. Shiraishi was also a member of the legendary BGM - contributing guitar, synths & vocals.

I compared their Paris Tokyo track to a cross between Liquid Liquid and early Meat Beat Manifesto. The A side of this single sounds like a harder Liquid Liquid with a rhythm and synth bass that reminds me of Disco Rough by Mathematiques Modernes. The B side is slower tempo and reminds me of the tension of earlier Einsturzende Neubauten.

Included in the post is a scan of the insert which appears to plug a cassette (I assume by MLD), also on Kitchen Records. I'm not sure about the rest of it.

Anybody know of other releases by MLD, or the Kitchen Records label?

Enjoy.

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai, Minneapolis Tuesday, November 18th

2008-11-13T21:34:00.003-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai next Tuesday, Nov.18th.

In appreciation of our recently elected #44, a local 'vintage' #44 graces the flyer this month.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (2 am). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, Arfrican, soundtracks, music library LPs as well as some recently acquired Brazilian records form my recent trip to NYC.

Vintage
Tuesday November 18th, 10 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

Symapthy Nervous/Anemic Session - OUTPUT Vol. 1 7" (Out Put D-0001) 1981

2008-11-12T23:07:00.004-05:00

This is the first of two 7"s on Out Put records that feature Sympathy Nervous. Other than the second volume of this series, I am unaware of any other releases from this label.

Here are the liner notes:

SIDE A: SYMPATHY NERVOUS (S.N.): YOSHIFUMI-NIINUMA (MACHINES) TATSUYA-SENZAKI (GUITAR, VOICE). THIS SIDE USES LOW FIDELITY AND HIGH DISTORTION RECORDING EQUIPMENTS. 1 MULUTI VITAMINS WITH MINERAL. 2 SONG

SIDE B: ANEMIC SESSION: S.N'S FRIENDS (VOICES, INSTRUMENTS). COMPOSED BY S.N. 1 ANEMIC PARTY. 2 ANEMIC SESSION.

STUFF: ENGINEERED BY YOSHIFUMI-NIIMURA. COVER PHOTO BY TATSUYA-SENZAKI. PRODUCED BY S.N. FACTORY 1981 OUT PUT RECORDS

The way ahead of it's time Sympathy Nervous LP on Vanity can be found here at Mutant Sounds, as well as a cassette they released on G.R.O.S.S. (run by Aube). After the Vanity label releases, these two Out Put 7"s and a couple cassettes, Sympathy Nervous appears to have not released anything for over 10 years. Sympathy Nervous re-emerged on (their own?) Negative Emission label in Japan, and then a couple years later on KK/Nova Zembla with a harder more contemporary industrial/techno style.

Yoshifumi Niimura has a website with a discography and mp3 excerpts of many tracks, including the Out Put Vol.2 contribution here. Mp3s of soundtrack material & sound effects are also there.

Enjoy.

Perfect Mother - You'll No So Wit 7" (Vanity VA-S3) 1980

2008-11-03T22:44:00.003-05:00

This is the last of the three 7" singles released on Vanity. There are also over ten flexi singles released in association with Rock magazine, where Yuzuru Agi (Vanity label head) was a chief editor.

Like Mad Tea Party, Perfect Mother also has one other known recording - a track on the Foam compilation posted here last year.

The first two tracks, Dark-Disco-da-da-da-run, and the title track are contemporary synth/industrial, sounding similar to many Vanity label recordings and other early 80's artists posted here at AAA.

The last track, Ephemeral Pieces, is just that, a collection of short snippets, many of which I'm curious how longer versions would have developed.

I will be posting some other singles related to Vanity artists soon.

Enjoy.

Mad Tea Party - Hide and Seek 7" (Vanity VA-S2) 1980

2008-10-30T22:49:00.004-05:00

This is the second of the three Vanity label 7"s. There isn't much info available for Mad Tea Party on the web. The only other recording I know of from them is their track from the excellent Foam compilation posted here last year.

As with the other two singles, this has a paste-on b&w picture glued onto the sleeve.

All three tracks vary in style. The first track, Hide and Seek, is a rock track with a garage sound and a punk-like bass line. It eventually cuts into an amazing break that I have not only sampled, but used as a ringtone for a while as well as my morning alarm on my Nabaztag. Yet another timeless gem from the Vanity label.

Modern Time's Pop is a drastic change to the previous track. A lighter piece with schoolgirl-ish singing and talking/muttering over backwards music. This is the closest to their contribution on the Foam compilation. I think it falls somewhere between Position Normal and Takako Minekawa.

The last track, In a Tea Bag, is structured around a version of Hide and Seek heavy on drum effects with minimal vocals.

So, as I mentioned above, I liked the drum break on Hide and Seek so much that I sampled it. A few years ago, I put together an instrumental edit version of the track. I also worked on a remix that I never quite finished. Recently, I dug into both of these again and cleaned them up a bit, removing some sections, making them flow better, etc... They are both credited to AtlantisAudioArchive to avoid mistaking these for part of the actual release. The edit is based entirely on samples from the original track. The remix features bits of the original in addition to a few other samples.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these. I promise the third 7" will be posted much quicker than this one....

Enjoy.

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai, Minneapolis Tuesday, October 21st

2008-10-15T20:11:00.003-05:00

I will be making another DJ appearance at King & I Thai next Tuesday, Oct. 21st.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (2 am). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of African, Brazilian and other funky, jazzy grooves including Krautrock, soundtracks and music library LPs.

Vintage
Tuesday July 22nd, 10 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

Sympathy Nervous - Polaroid 7" (Vanity VA-S1) 1980

2008-10-03T19:36:00.003-05:00

This is the first of three 7"s released by the Japanese label Vanity Records, all in 1980.

Sympathy Nervous released an amazing LP on the Vanity label, which is available at Mutant Sounds, as is a later cassette released on the Japanese label G.R.O.S.S.

The title track is proto-techno with a rubbery, yet metallic vocoder sound that carries throughout the piece. Track two, Polyester 35 Micron, is slower and reminds me of old Throbbing Gristle instrumentals. It also sounds the closest to their LP. The final track, d-b-TV, consists of out of control drum machines at full speed, synth growls and distorted vocals.

I included the title track in a dj mix last year.

The scans have an odd tint to them. The sleeve is b&w with a smaller b&w picture pasted on the cover.

Enjoy.

Minnesota Record Show - this Saturday, October 4th

2008-10-02T19:39:00.002-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:
I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show this Saturday. It will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St. The show will be open from 9am to 4pm.

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there - many at reduced prices. A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as more goodies from my own collection will also be for sale.

A link to their website.
Admission is only $2!!!

Walt Rockman - Biology LP (Sonoton SON 115)

2008-09-29T20:56:00.003-05:00

This is the last of the music library posts for now. It is an early Sonoton label release by Walt Rockman, who also recorded for other music library labels like Conroy and Coloursound.

I originally planned to post an earlier LP titled Underwater vol.1 in addition to this one. Fortunately, it is already available at Heino und Jerry. I also located a post of selections from Pollution, the Sonoton LP that followed Biology. They are available at Waxidermy.

The music here is primarily minimal electronics, and a couple tracks with more instrumentation, including a funky disco-ish track. My favorite at the moment is B12-Intact Nature, partly for reminding me of a passage to a Stereolab track. The inevitable addition of strings as it develops doesn't ruin the track, but this is one instance where leaving them out would have been a wiser choice.

I have to wonder, considering the implied intent of the title that these tracks are meant for shows/films that are biology or science themed in nature, if any of these ever appeared in educational, or commercial films. I imagine they were going with titles that would grab the attention of a music/sound producer looking for background music - Chromosomes, Cancerisation, Molecular Motion and Sea Life .

As I go through more music library LP in my collection, I hope to find some more that haven't been posted elsewhere. Next up will be the Vanity label 7"s (finally!!).

Enjoy.

Sammy Burdson Group - Space Fiction LP (Sonoton SON 106)

2008-09-28T22:48:00.005-05:00

Continuing from the last LP post, here is another Sonoton label LP from Sammy Burdson Group.

This one shares some similarities to the previous LP, but in addition to leaning towards Cluster or Woo, it (sadly for some) also resembles Euro space disco at times. There are also many electronic pieces that remind of Conrad Schnitzler that still make the LP worthwhile, not to mention some nice ambient tracks.

Several of the tracks with numerical variations are similar thematically. Typically, they sound like the same piece with different sound patches.

Another Sonoton LP on they way, and then finally to the Vanity label 7"s.

Enjoy.

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai - Minneapolis, Sept. 23rd

2008-09-20T13:33:00.002-05:00

I will be making my second DJ appearance at King & I Thai this Tuesday, Sept. 23rd.

King & I Thai is located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

The food is excellent and there are drink specials as well.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (2 am). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of African, Brazilian and other funky grooves.

Vintage
Tuesday July 22nd, 10 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

Sammy Burdson Group - Contemporary Sounds and Movements Vol 1 LP (Sonoton SON 104)

2008-09-20T12:44:00.003-05:00

Here is another 'music library' LP. This is the first of at least three early Sonoton label release I plan to post here in the next week or so. The Sonoton label released at least a couple hundred LPs from the 60's to through the 80's. It is the largest indepenedent German music library label and was founded by Gerard Narholz.

As with many music library albums, most followed a common theme for each release with the intent that a film, radio or TV producer could simply pull up a specific LP that matched the mood they were looking for (drama, tension, energetic...). Many of the earlier Sonoton albums had fairly flashy picture sleeves and succinct titles to go along with each themed release like 'Drugs', 'Biology', 'Under Water', 'Fast', 'Slow', 'Climax'...

This album is titled 'Contemporary Sounds and Movements Vol 1', but I'm grasping to think of much that sounds like this from what I imagine to be somewhere in the 70's. The closest comparisons that come to mind are Sky label era Cluster and Woo. A little bit cosmic at times, with a bunch of filtered drums. The cover in no way hints at to what this album actually sounds like. This looks like a record that would typically be confined to the shelves of a thrift store (easy listening, instrumental music).

Aside from Sammy Burdson, who also recorded for other music library labels like Conroy and Intersound, other notables that appeared in the Sonoton series are John Fiddy, Klaus Weiss, Claude Larson, Sam Sklair & Walt Rockman.

While looking around to see if any of these albums have already been posted elsewhere, I found these other sites that have good music library posts from Sonoton and other more 'sought-after' labels like KPM, Themes, CAM, DeWolfe, Telemusic, Coloursound (best known for several ex-Brainticket Joel V. LPs).

Here are a few sites, I am sure there are many more out there:
The Library Hunt
Painted on Silence
36 15 Moog

Look out for some more Sonoton posts soon. If there is a good response to these, I might dig a little deeper and post some other music library titles.

Enjoy.

V/A - Secrets LP (Illustra Son IS 860 912) 1986?

2008-09-17T22:37:00.004-05:00

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post. I keep pulling out records or cassettes to feature here, only to find they've been posted elsewhere.

I couldn't find any information on this specific album or the artists involved, but I did locate a current website for the Illustra Son label. The label features excerpts from many releases on their label, but not this one. After looking at the numbering scheme of the releases on their catalog page, it is possible this LP is from 1986.

The music here at times sounds like many other similar drama/tension/suspense-themed music library LPs, but there are a few tracks that have that edge or oddness about them that makes this a suitable post here. Some of the tracks here particularly remind me of music that appeared on the Multimood label, particularly Controlled Bleeding & Asmus Tietchens at that time.

I plan to post a couple other music library LPs in the next few days.

Enjoy.

DJ Announcement - VINTAGE @ King & I Thai, Minneapolis Tuesday, July 22nd

2008-07-20T19:40:00.005-05:00

I'm pleased to announce my first DJ night in Minneapolis.

It is this Tuesday, July 22nd at King & I Thai restaurant located in the Loring Park area of Minneapolis. The address is 1346 LaSalle ave.

I've heard the food is excellent and the cocktails are incredible and I am looking forward to experiencing both this week.

The music starts around 10 and goes till close (2 am). I will be spinning in a similar groove to the Champion Superior Soundsystem nights from my DC days. Lots of African, Brazilian and other grooves.

Vintage
Tuesday July 22nd, 10 pm - close
King & I Thai
1346 La Salle Ave. Minneapolis, MN
No Cover

ADRV (Crash Worship) & Randy Greif - Live in Chula Vista California June 2nd, 1991

2008-07-20T17:42:00.004-05:00

Here is the remainder of what I managed to record at the Zoviet France show back in 1991.

ADRV consisted of members of Crash Worship, and were originally based out of the San Diego area. I lived in SD a good portion of my life, so I had the opportunity to see many of their live performances - always an intense experience. I'm not sure if they are still performing/recording. Their Discogs listing ends several years ago.

Randy Greif runs Swinging Axe Productions in addition to releasing many CDs on the Soleilmoon/Staalplaat labels - the 5 CD Alice in Wonderland set being one of his best known titles.

Randy Greif & ADRV played separate sets, as well as together. There are four tracks split into two files. The first file is one long track (41 min) that is Randy Greif, and possibly ADRV as well. The second file contains three shorter tracks that appear to be just ADRV.

Also in the second file are scans of the Zoviet France interview I did for Technology Works and a Crash Worship interview that Paul Moore did for Technology Works. Eric Lanzilotta of, now sadly defunct, Anomalous Records (the absolute best mail-order/distro of experimental music in the US) also contributed to the Zoviet France interview. Eric has moved on to a new label and a magazine.

There is also a scan of a Crash Worship sticker I randomly found while digging around for my copies of Technology Works. The sticker appears to be from their Triple Mania II era.

Enjoy Part 1
Enjoy Part 2

Zoviet France - Live in Chula Vista California 1991

2008-07-17T23:02:00.005-05:00

Lately, I've been a little hesitant to post due to being so behind on checking out other sharing blogs and keeping track of what has already been covered. Here is a cassette from my archives I'm pretty confident nobody has posted. It is taken from the 1991 Zoviet France US tour. This was the June 2nd show in Chula Vista, California - located south of San Diego, near the Mexican border.

The performance took place at a Masonic Lodge in Chula Vista. It was truly an odd locale, but it turned out to be a great show.

The quality of the recording isn't the greatest, but one would never guess it was recorded on a portable cassette recorder with either a cheap or built-in mic. I brought the recorder to interview the group for a fanzine I contributed to at the time, Technology Works. Recording the concert was an afterthought considering the equipment I was using. I brought extra blank tape in case of an emergency and figured I might as well record as much of the multiple sets with the extra space.

I still remember, during the interview, they were hand decorating the first edition of their Vienna 1990 CDs.

There was a modern/interpretive dancer who performed during their set. I remember years ago seeing on-line pictures of her from other shows on that tour, but a quick GIS didn't produce any.

Also on the bill were ADRV (a trimmed down Crash Worship) and Randy Greif. I plan to post what I recorded from those sets in the next few days. If I can dig up a copy of the zine/interview, I will scan and post that as well...

There are about 80 minutes in total that I was able to record (pt.1 is 51 min, and pt.2 is 29 min). I do not recall how long the actual performance lasted. I think it is a great document of their style at the time, and hope you will appreciate it as well. If anyone reading this is not familiar with their output, but enjoys this post, I strongly urge tracking down their mid/late-80's to early 90's releases for starters, although there is probably very little of their music that I dislike.

Enjoy pt.1
Enjoy pt.2

Gran Guignol - LP (Pinakotheca PRL#9) 1982

2008-07-12T14:41:00.003-05:00

While rummaging through my HD, clearing space to rip some more vinyl, I found this LP I recorded last year and subsequently forgot about...

This is the 1982 LP from the Japanese group Gran Guignol. It was released on the highly sought-after label Pinakotheca, best known for the first Keiji Haino & Nord LPs. The LP is housed in a screen-printed outer plastic sleeve with red cherubs.

I don't know anything about this band, nor any connections to other contemporary groups.

This isn't the greatest material of the early 80's Japanese scene, and in no way holds a candle to other releases on this or the Vanity label, but I think there are still some ok moments, and interesting merging of styles. There is an overall new wave/80's 'feel' to the album, but there are prog, jazz and electronic elements as well.

The tracks are titled in Japanese. I have labeled them as OUT-1 to OUT-4 for the A side, and IN-1 to IN-4 for the B side. IN-3 and IN-4 segue into each other, so they are left as one track. Track OUT-2 oddly sounds like it could fit in with a lot of indie/modern radio airplay, even more so if the lyrics were sung in English.

Enjoy

Minnesota Record Show - this Saturday, June 7th

2008-06-04T23:19:00.003-05:00

Vox Populi!/Vox 231 - Ebats Spirituels Cassette (Cthulhu CR03) 1986

2008-06-04T22:49:00.005-05:00

This is a split release between Vox Populi! and Vox 231 (Vox Populi! w/ Pacific 231). I recently acquired this cassette in a trade (thanks Stefano!!) and am pleased to share it with everyone here.

One of the primary reasons I do this site is to expose music I truly enjoy and feel others will also appreciate. A big unexpected bonus to doing this has been the people I have met, both on-line and in-person.

Many readers are aware that some artists are not too pleased to see their work posted on these sharing sites. I understand the different opinions and reasons behind this, but I have to admit I admire those who are so generous in allowing their music to be shared for greater exposure and appreciation.

Axel Kyrou contacted me several months ago approving his music to be posted here and also providing information on his recent musical activities. For those not already aware, Axel continues making music under the name Gitanjali, going further into ethnic, mystical & ambient directions.

An interview with Axel appears in the comments to the Aither LP post here.
Axel himself has recently provided more info in the comments section here and here.
Axel has a myspace page located here.

There has also been a recent Vox Populi! archive release via the label Monochrome Vision which features a couple re-mastered tracks from this cassette. Also on the horizon is more remastered and unreleased/new material.

I asked both Axel Kyrou and Pierre Jolivet (aka Pacific 231) to contribute to this post.

Axel mentions:

Only 2 tracks from it (Ebats Spirituels) were featured on the Cd 'Cthuluh Revisitation' by Pacific 231 & Vox Populi! released in late 2007 by MonochromeVision.
We're gone have very soon (within a couple of weeks) our best - and longest- Cd so far released on the Infrastition label. It's called '1987-1990' and recollects 2/3 of Aither and Face to Face Lp's. As for the MonochromeVison item there is no contradictions or difficulty with the already downloadable items : first the tracks have been carefully mastered (in the 80's we never used any finalizing tools) and then there is 50 % of unreleased recordings, which are far from being leftovers. We were still very active in 1990 but didn't have a record label to release our stuff anymore.

He continues:

The 'Ebats Spirituels' cassette is not one of my favorite Vp! release, though I haven't heard it for a long time. In fact I find the Vp231 side a bit too harsh for my taste but it may appeal to some.

I do remember that we recorded the VP231 side at Pacific 231's bedroom, from which we had a
wonderful - dreadful for some- view of the big cemetery of Bagneux (a town in the suburbs of Paris). We were very much listening to tibetan religious musics at the time and I was getting more and more interested in budhism.

We had a female guest on trumpet on one of the tracks of the Vp231 side. I don't remember her name but I'm so thankful to her because she was the one who introduced me to the art and subtleties of breathing correctly. To make it short : to use mainly the bottom part of the lungs. When I say 'feed your hara, you'll be greatly rewarded', a sentence you can find on our
Myspace, that's what I mean.

Music making has always had for me a strong mystical resonance : Ebats Spirituels means approximately Spiritual Lovemaking. I'm also very thankful to Rose and Will I from the Cthuluh crew. At the time so many cassettes were released, but they were one of the very few labels to do it with great care. They hired a graphist for the cover of this cassette !! They even published a T-shirt with the 'Half dead ganja music' cover.

With this release now available on AtlantisAudioArchive, all our stuff from the 80's are now downloadable (see also http://nostalgie-de-la-boue.blogspot.com -see the very rare and full of
wonders La Cathedrale Morte cassette wich collects works made between 1979
and 1985- and http://thethingonthedoorstep.blogspot.com\).

We're 100% pro-sharing. As you may have guessed by the music, we never made all this for
money. For us music should be free of any rules. No limitations and total freedom. A breathing space compared to the limitations imposed on us by today's society. Honestly a couple of years ago, we thought we had been completely forgotten. Many thanks to empathic music lovers like David (of Atlantisaudioarchive) for making our recordings available again. Musicians
and bloggers hand in hand.

Yours friendly,
Axel

Pierre comments:

This was before the time I stopped to play with Vox Populi! live, rehearsal was taking too much of my time and I had to choose between Vox Populi! and my own projects at the time: Pacific 231, Ankh with Le Syndicat and of course my personal life. I recall the Vox 231 - Ébats Spiriuels side being a more personal artistic aspect from Axel and myself, a kind of fusion between our style.

Pierre has also provided several links that should be checked out for more info on his past and present activities:

Official Site
Blog
Discography
Biography & Title
Video extract at DOM, Moscow

Latest performances:
www.longarms.net/festivals/2007/
www.maisondesmetallos.org/Bruits-de-fond.html
www.studioforum.net/festival.html

Thanks to Axel and Pierre for their kind words, great attitude and talent. I hope everyone reading this will support them by purchasing their new releases.

The tracks on both sides more or less run together so I have provided rips with the tracks split up, and with both sides kept intact to satisfy either preference.

Enjoy:
Tracks split up
Sides left intact

V/A - Faith Will Never Die Cassette (Black Dwarf bdc 5) 1983

2008-05-20T19:29:00.004-05:00

This is a 1983 Black Dwarf compilation that I found buried away with some other tapes I forgot to unpack.

Unkommuniti contribute five tracks to this cassette. I don't have too much info on the other artists. One or more could be Tim Gane under different names. Some of the highlights:

Last Breath - lb: Rhythm track stripped down to just a drum machine & effects

Visitia - Tender: An early form of minimal hard techno. Mostly drum machines and noise, similar to Le Syndicat, Esplendor Geometrico.

Unkommuniti - War Cripples: String-based drones with garbled spoken word.

Unkommuniti - Winterkill 1 & 2: Pounding drum machines buried under slow pulses of noise

Jake Ray - Trip One: Moody piece with backward sounds and organ/keyboard

Kallous Kinema contribute three untitled tracks that range from minimal synth diy to the drum-less side of Metabolist

As with a previous Unkommuniti cassette, there is an extra track at the end which is not listed. I have labeled it as an unlisted bonus track (side B)

Enjoy

Black Dwarf Label Discography circa 1984

2008-05-13T20:15:00.005-05:00

I found this insert with the Uncommunity 7".

I'm not sure if this is all of the Black Dwarf releases or not. I'm pretty sure there is no more vinyl, but not sure about the cassettes.

I will post the Faith Will Never Die compilation sometime this week. If anyone knows of links to other files besides those provided below, leave a comment. I will update this page with any new info.

UPDATE 8/3/2008: A link to the two Kallous Boys cassettes on Black Dwarf was posted in the comments a while back. The Black Dwarf discography has been updated with this info. These two cassettes are provided in full for free from the Kallous Boys/Porkweasel website. They have new and unreleased music also available. Thanks to whoever left that link in the comments.

Cassettes:
BDC 01 Unkommuniti - Doktrine C90
BDC 02 Assailer - For Combat C60
BDC 03 V/A - Parlour Musick C60
BDC 04 Unkommuniti - Live Recession 23/11/83 C30
BDC 05 V/A - Faith Will Never Die C60
BDC 06 Unkommuniti - In the Shithouse C90
BDC 07 Kallous Boys - Kick It C60
BDC 08 V/A - Crusade C30
BDC 09 Moise Collectif - Primary Function C30
BDC 10 Unkommuniti - The Prime Advantage C60
BDC 11 Unkommuniti - Live Anarchist Bingo Hall / Soundtracks C60
BDC 12 Unkommuniti - Sense of Unmaking C60
BDC 13 V/A - Ars Magna et Ultima Vol.1 C60
BDC 14 Unkommuniti - Dhol Chants C60
BDC 15 Kallous Boys - Internal Damage C60
BDC 16 Clench - In the Garden C60
BDC 17 Unkommuniti - Ex Oblivione C60
BDC 18 Trilogy - Warped/Disease C30
BDC 19 Final - Maximum Hatred C30
BDC 20 Black Lung - Cope C30

Records
BDBG 1 Uncommunity - Brutality of Fact 7"

Un-Kommunity - In the Shithouse Cassette (Black Dwarf BDC 06/Freedom in a Vacuum)

2008-05-10T13:46:00.005-05:00

Another cassette, and another name variation from Uncommunity, the early 80's industrial/noise project from Stereolab founder Tim Gane.

Like the previous cassette posted, this is also a Freedom in a Vacuum label reissue, so it is likely a second generation copy from the original.

One side features studio recordings, the other, a live performance at 'The Shithouse'. Can anyone confirm if this was an actual venue, or the name of someone's garage/basement, etc...

This one is a bit noisier than the other tape, but has some decent moments at times.

There are two bonus studio tracks listed after the live portion. I worked my way backwards and split out the last two tracks and left what I thought to be the live part as one track. I can't guarantee the tracks are split out and titled as stated on the J-card.

I managed to dig up a Black Dwarf label compilation with Uncommunity and others. Will probably post that one next.

updated 5/13/08: cassette title and catalog number

Enjoy Side A
Enjoy Side B

Unkommunity - Ex-Oblivione Cassette (Black Dwarf BDC 17/Freedom in a Vacuum)

2008-05-06T14:44:00.005-05:00

Following up from their 7" I posted a couple weeks ago, here is the first of two Unkommunity/Uncommunity cassettes I've managed to uncover in my collection. I may have another one or two buried somewhere.

This cassette is titled Ex-Oblivione and was originally released on Tim Gane's own label, Black Dwarf. This rip is taken from the Freedom in a Vacuum reissue. I believe the reissues were merely dubbed off the Black Dwarf label originals, unfortunately making these second generation copies. Given the nature of this music, it may not make that much of a difference anyway.

Uncommunity are usually tagged as power electronics/noise music, likely based on their association with Broken Flag, etc... However, there is quite a bit more here than just noise. Many tracks contain heavy, almost tribal percussion, others minimal & arpeggiated synths & drones, and even a bit of guitar here and there. To be honest, some of these pieces, particularly 'Black Suggestion', could just have easily been released via Insane Music, sounding a bit like Human Flesh.

These are some of the tracks I still enjoy listening to:

Black Goat - Repetitive synth line accompanied by a slowly strummed guitar and some other noises.

The Hand Behind - Tribal-like percussion with some moody organ/synth and tapes/samples

Rats Above Scientists - Synth drones over discussion of tampered Mars candy bars

Turn the Inner Eye - Relatively ambient/drone piece

Black Suggestion - Tribal percussion accentuated with backwards cymbals and a buried melodic keyboard. I have always had a fondness for backwards cymbals...

Eidolon - Synths and other noise slowly building to a crescendo

New Awareness - More backwards sounds with some spoken word snippets - nowhere near being 'noisy'

There are eleven tracks on side A after I split them up. There are only ten listed on the cover (and on Discogs), so the last one is labeled as an unlisted bonus track. There is a chance two of these were to be combined as one. If anyone out there knows for sure, drop a comment.

updated 5/13/08: catalog number

Enjoy.

Uncommunity - Brutality of Fact 7" (Cause for Concern/Black Dwarf cdcg 1) 1984

2008-04-20T17:44:00.004-05:00

I hope this hasn't been posted already somewhere. This is the only vinyl release from Uncommunity, outside of a few compilation appearances.

Uncommunity was an early project by Tim Gane, who would go on to bigger and better things with McCarthy, and for the last 15+ years, Stereolab. This single was released in a numbered edition of 525 copies.

The a-side (title track) is an industrial mixture of machine-like noise, metal klangs and classical music.

The b-side holds up much better. The first track, Wall of Sleep (soundtrack), is a relaxing, yet slightly unsettling piece with guitar, a mic'd film projector, and some other plucked & scraped sounds. Anonymously dropping this track for someone could register so many guesses as to who it is, and Tim Gane would probably never be an early choice, if one at all.

The last track, The Price of Your Entry is Sin, is minimal electronics, backwards guitar and other sounds and occasional vocals. This track holds up to any number of French minimal synth groups from the early 80's who ventured into the darker, noisy side.

I have a few cassettes from Uncommunity. If anyone would like to see these posted, leave a comment here.

There is some unfortunate noise, crackle and a couple loud pops.
Enjoy.

Minnesota Record Show - this Saturday, April 5th

2008-04-03T20:33:00.004-05:00

For anyone in or near the Twin Cities area:
I will be selling records at the bi-monthly MN Record Show. It will be at the VFW at 2916 Lyndale Ave S. in Minneapolis, near Lake St. The show will be open from 9am to 4pm.

Most of the non-techno vinyl in my Discogs catalog will be there - many at reduced prices. A lot of other vinyl not listed there, as well as some goodies from my own collection will also be for sale.

A link to their website.
Admission is only $2!!!

V/A - Sound Cosmodel LP (Atelier Peyotl APSP-018) 1984

2008-04-01T20:14:00.005-05:00

Finally finished this album requested by many visitors. Sound Cosmodel contains 50 short tracks by a variety of international musicians.

The album includes a nice large booklet featuring 'postcard' contributions from each artist/group.

Musically, this collection jumps all over the place from industrial, noise, synth, no wave, jazz, improv, rock...

A few of my favorites tracks here are:

Woo - The Western (for those who aren't familiar, I suggest checking out Mutant Sounds for their excellent LPs)

Morgan Fisher - Africasio (Jon Appleton-like melodic electronic droplets)

Banana - Kenosuna (With a wicked dark bass stab that, for many years now, I still keep expecting a Ed Rush/Nico (or insert many other d&b artists)-type beat to drop)

Feliu Gasull - La Tigre sa de Berna (flamenco guitar music that provides am interesting contrast to much of the other music on this album. This is exactly the impression I had of his appearance on Angelic Technology cassette posted here last year)

Con - Hommage a Kyoto (Conrad Schnitzler's signature synth sound circa his Egg label LP)

Sonoko Yasuda - George Boy (aka Sonoko, who released an LP & 7" on Crammed)

Nasmak provides a track that reminds me of This Heat

Here is the full tracklist from discogs:

A1	Nasmak	The Only Thing I Remember Is Your Taste And Your Smell
		Bass - Theo Van Eenbergen Drums - Toon Bressers Guitar [Acoustic] - Joop Van Brakel Recorded By, Mixed By - Roland Smits Vocals - Henk Janssen*
A2	1/2 Japanese	Girl Athletes
		Bass, Written By - David Fair Guitar - Mark Jikling Saxophone - John Dreyfuss Vocals, Drums - Jad Fair
A3	Conventum '82*	Autobus 55: Visages
		Double Bass - Pierre Cartier Guitar [Classic], Composed By - André Duchesne Guitar [Electric] - Rene Lussier* Percussion - Carol Bergeron Recorded By, Mixed By - Jean-Romain Clark
A4	Pseudo-Code*	Nothing More "Pseudo Product 22"
A5	Vincent Units, The	Winter, From The Vincent Units Four Seasons
A6	Size (4)	Go-Go Girl
		Bass - Walter Schmidt (3)* Drums - Dean Style Guitar, Synthesizer - Carlos Robledo* Voice - Illy Godzilla
A7	Element/L	Bels
A8	Yung Tsubotaj	One From Ten
A9	John Bender	Nippon Projectile 1982
A10	Subject (2)	Fever
A11	Stefan Weisser	Oomoonoon
A12	Kevin Harrison	Dieplay Of Nerve
A13	Shoichi Serigano	Dance On Air
A14	Amos & Sara	Sylvia
		Composed By - C. D. Greyt
A15	Feliu Gasull	La Tigre Sa De Berna
A16	Human Flesh	N'Importe Quoi
A17	Chris Cutler	Setting Out, But Not Arriving
		Drums, Percussion - Chris Cutler
A18	Yochk'o Seffer*	Noces Chimiques
A19	Carlos Peron	Fake Jazz VI
A20	Masami Endow	Anata No Sobani
		Engineer - T. Imai
A21	Cortex (2)	Cortex/Y
A22	Sonoko Yasuda*	George Boy
A23	Sha'ul	Music For Organ And Tape
A24	Black Sheep*	Time Warp
		Bass - Rock Steady (3) Drums - Frank D. Kangaroo Featuring [Guests And Friends] - Headmasters, The Flute, Melodica, Voice - Major Porkchop Hatchet Feather Miss Guitar - Red Phantome Saxophone - Ego Dwarf Voice, Drums - Doctor Wasted
A25	Veedtharm Morgan Fisher*	Africasio
B1	Banana (4)	Kenosuna
B2	Uns	Live At Savoy Tivoli, S. F.
B3	Die Form	M
B4	Nurse With Wound	I Gan Noo Wha Ma Organ's Gan
B5	Jon Rose	Live In Holland
		Violin [Five String] - Jon Rose
B6	Tatsuo Kohki	Fluctuation
B7	Geoff Leigh	Time / A Wedding Every 20 Minutes
B8	Hamza El Din	Tar
B9	Art Zoyd	Etat D'Urgence
		Composed By - Thierry Zabitzeff*
B10	Dorothea M. L. Franck*	1 Min. From Piece Making Sense Making Peace
B11	Mamy	Exemption
B12	Goebbels* & Harth*	Watch Out
		Composed By, Performer - Alfred Harth* Composed By, Performer, Recorded By, Mixed By - Heiner Goebbels
B13	Walter Schmidt (3)	Loops 1979-1981
		Tape, Synthesizer [Micro], Performer [Filter] - Walter Schmidt (3)
B14	I Scream	Extract From "Collage"
B15	Con*	Hommage A Kyoto
B16	Woo (3)	The Western
B17	Balkan Rebels	One Minute Woodshed
		Producer - Johnny Jostins
B18	Deux Filles	She Slides
B19	Magneet Bond	245
B20	Fred Frith	Typical American Family
B21	Gahi	Gahi's Disco
B22	Biting Tongues	What You Mean, No Elvis?
B23	Ludus	Bloody Chamber
B24	Z'EV	Live In Berlin
B25	Bene Gesserit	From Belgium With Laugh

Unfortunately, there is some surface noise & pops on a few tracks. Ripped @256

Enjoy Side A
Enjoy Side B

Blah Blah Blah - In the Army 7" (Absurd 1) 1979

2008-02-25T22:44:00.004-05:00

I picked up this single at the annual WFMU record fair last year on a whim. The vocals aren't my cup of tea, but at times I find it to be humorous.

My brief comparison/review: early electronic/industrial like Throbbing Gristle/Cabaret Voltaire with less interesting programming/sequencing mixed with the aggression of a group like Whitehouse.

Cranio @ Thing on the Doorstep has posted their LP - you can find it here.

Tracklist:
In the Army/Why Diddle?

Enjoy

V/A - Sensationnel Vol.1 Cassette (Illusion Production IP012) 1983

2008-02-19T21:36:00.003-05:00

This is the first volume of the Sensationnel series released by Illusion Production in 1983. Volumes 2-4 of this series were posted by Mutant Sounds last year, and Volume 5 was recently
posted by Continuo.

Like all the other volumes, booklets and other inserts with contributions from the artists were included with the music. Paphio23 has provided a link to these for volume 1 here.

Standout tracks for me are the two synth pieces from Philippe Laurent, a Merzbow track with drum machines (another excellent early track), one of my favorite DDAA songs and the contributions from Rock Critics & Prince Emile de Ly (presumably Bernard C.).

The tracklist below is adapted from the discogs entry for this which appears to be incorrect. There are two tracks by Jacques & Bernard C, not one as listed there. I am only guessing that their two tracks are in succession, so there is a chance the tracklist is incorrect.

Side A:
A1 Philippe Laurent Exposition Partie 5
A2 Legendary Pink Dots, The A Day At The Dreamies
A3 P16.D4 Physisch Erschöpft
A4 Deux Pingouins 3 Essais Musicaux
A5 Kevin Harrison Signal Music And Collage
A6 Un Département Tu Veux Ma Radio
A7 Prince Emile De Ly Alaijozi Con Carmen
A8 Germain Hubert Ales Swinging Pool
A9 Jacques & Bernard C. Moiteur Tropicale
A10 Jacques & Bernard C. Humidité Urbaine
A10 Arsène Fée Merrie Melodies

Side B:
B1 Rock Critics Oasis
B2 Die Endzeitakrobaten Ein Friedhof In Zürich
B3 Ptôse Production Ecraser La Vermine
B4 Merzbow Envoise 24882
B5 DDAA Driving My Car With A Cigarette
B6 Blinddarm Intensivstation
B7 E.C.A. (3) Music Of The Deep H.P.
B8 Steven Parker To Turn In Her Girl
B9 S. Minimal Projet Drumming Animal
B10 Travis And The Nuns Reaction Overload Extrait
B11 Philippe Laurent Exposition Partie 2

Again, thanks to Mutant Sounds, Continuo & Paphio23 for the other uploads & everyone who visits here and enjoys the music. Now that I am getting settled in the very cold Twin Cities area, I hope to get back to posting regularly. I sure seem to have quite a list to begin with from previous requests...

Enjoy Side A
Enjoy Side B

Back online and ready to post - more requests?

2008-02-12T21:55:00.003-05:00

Greetings visitors/guests,
After a move from Virginia to Minnesota and a move to my new home, I am ready to start posting more titles. I'm at least 2-3 months behind on all the other sharing pages. Listed below are some titles I plan to post beginning this week, but I am not sure if they've already been posted by others. If anyone knows if these have already been posted, leave a comment. Feel free to post more requests as well, but limit them to cassette or vinyl releases pre-1990.

Here is what I am planning on posting:
V/A - Sensationnel Vol.1 (Illusion Production) cassette
Human Flesh - A Collection of Ambiant Music Vol.1 cassette
V/A - Insane Music for Insane People Vol.1 (and possibly a couple other volumes)
Gran Guignol LP (Pinakotheca)
Blah Blah Blah 7" (Absurd)
all three Vanity label 7"s
more??

DJ Announcement - Soundclash @ Marx Cafe Washington DC - Friday, Nov. 30th (tomorrow)

2007-11-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

I will be filling in for the Kaiser this week at Soundclash DC - the best Jamaican music night in the DC area.

It also looks like this will be my last local DJ appearance as well. I will be moving out of state soon, possibly by the end of the year.

Hope to see you there...

Some more info:

So, another mash-up of Jamaican stylings at Mt. Pleasant Corner is upon you. Who resists? No one. Not a single one. And neither did you last month when we had our impromptu dance-off for Ras Michael tickets - nice. If you haven't heard, btw, the Smithsonian's Museum for Natural History is showcasing a small exhibit on Rastafarianism. We encourage you to take a gander.

Now, on to our usual noble offerings. The mix you crave is up: http://dcsoundclash.com/, then click Soundclash 11.30 at the top. This month's flyer features original Skatalites tenor sax men Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso, hence we threw in a few tunes by them. Also just in is our very own Bobby Babylon's showcase piece on the Chicago band The Drastics. Check it: http://dcsoundclash.com/drstcs1130.html

And for this month's Soundclash, we have a special guest DJ, the Man from Atlantis (see http://atlantisrecords.com/). Rumors of Studio One 12-inches an ON-U Sound dub plates are at this point strictly rumors. Tantalizing though, huh?

WHERE: Marx Cafe, 3203 Mt. Pleasant St, NW
WHEN: Friday, November 30, 2007, from 10 pm to 3 am

NO COVER

Bernard C. - Prince Emile de LY de Magneville Cassette (Illusion Productions 013) 1983

2007-11-19T22:11:00.001-05:00

Here is a rare cassette from Bernard C. (Jacques). Not sure what the official title it as it differs between the front, back & spine of cassette case.

It is an early release on Illusion Productions (IP 013) from 1983. Bernard C. is probably best known musically via his connections to DDAA and the Illusion Productions label.

This one was archived a while ago and was due to be posted around the same time I posted the DDAA - Prehistoric Rejet Cassette back in February. However, the recording appears to be a bit lopsided. While viewing in an audio editing program, the sound appears to be mostly present, but not entirely, in one channel. It isn't too noticeable through speakers, but probably isn't that great to listen to with headphones. I was hoping to track down another one and see if this was just a bad copy, or if all were released this way. Is there anyone else who owns this tape that can comment???

The liner notes attribute Bernard C. with Claviers, Bandes, Traitements, Voix.
Fabienne Perret is credited with Alto Sax on one track.

Here is the tracklist as it appears in the insert...

Side A:
Les Chants Revolutionnaires Part I - VI

Side B:
Les Jardins D'espagne (EXT.)
Prince Emile de LY

9/22/2011 - Expired link updated...
Enjoy

Denier du Culte - Mission dans le Neant/L'Appel Cassette (K& 001) 1984

2007-11-19T20:57:00.000-05:00

Next up is a cassette from Denier du Culte, a trio featuring Philippe Blanchard (Lt. Caramel), Sylvie Loquet (La Sonorite Jaune) and Alain Basso. It was recorded in 1984 and released in a numbered edition of 400 copies.

Each side has a unique title. Here is the tracklist:

Side A - 'Mission dans le Neant'

1 - Contention
2 - L'Archange enflamme
3 - Le don de la souillure
4 - Affres
5 - Noctambule

Side B - 'L'Appel'

1 - L'Appel
2 - Nouveau culte
3 - Cadavres
4 - Lune du miel
5 - La peste
6 - Lien metallique
7 - Bellissima

Side B is left a complete track.

Enjoy

Geins't Nait - A Consumer Sans Moderation Cassette (SSS 17)

2007-11-19T18:22:00.001-05:00

To make up for my lack of posts recently, I will try to get a few posts up tonight. To accomplish this, I will keep my comments to a minimum.

Clearing out some disk space with some cassette I archived a while ago.

First off is an early cassette by Geins't Nait, or Geins't Na'i't, as spelled on this release. This is a lot better, and more interesting than I remember the last time I heard this.

Their LP Fishes can be found on Mutant Sounds here.

This one is left as two side-long rips. Perhaps at a future date, I'll repost it if I can get around to splitting the tracks apart.... Here is the tracklist per the entry in Discogs:

A1		Plus De Légumes
A2		Ardeur Au Travail
A3		Super Marchor
A4		Par Téléphone
A5		Interlude
A6		Splendeur Mécanique
A7		Fin De Week- End
B1		Désormais
B2		Quand Nous Serons Petits À Nouveau
B3		Les Dix Petits Nains
B4		Eat Tropic
B5		Ardeur Au Travail
B6		G. N.
B7		N'est Ce Pas?

Enjoy

DJ Announcement - Champion Superior Soundsystem @ Marx Cafe, Wash DC - Friday Nov. 16th

2007-11-15T19:58:00.001-05:00

A bit short notice here...
I will be spinning at Marx Cafe this Friday for the occasional Champion Superior Soundsystem.

I hope to have a new post up this weekend.
---------------------------------------------------

Hey kids!

Come on out and play Friday night as me and the boys rock Marx Café at The Champion Superior Soundsystem. The Champion Superior Soundsystem is a night of funk, freak, Brazilian, reggae and a beat-driven kitchen sink. It is more fun than drugs, but slightly less mind-altering than eating lead paint peelings off of kids’ toys. However, there is no cover to get in.

Check it:
The Champion Superior Soundsystem
Friday, 10 pm
Marx Café
3203 Mt. Pleasant St. NWDC
No Cover

Check
http://dcsoundclash.com/
For visuals and sound samples.

Metabolist - Live July 20th, 1978 - Action Space

2007-10-18T21:47:00.001-05:00

Here is a live recording of Metabolist from 1978!!!

This post is provided by the kind Frans de Waard.
A note from Frans:

'this tape was given to me many years ago when
Edward Ka-spel lived almost around my corner. He had a big box of
tapes and when browsing through it, I found this, and Edward said I
could keep it. The ink on the tape is worn out, but it reads
'metabolist 20/7/78' and then 'actionspart', although the word 'part'
is hard to read. This year I transferred it for a friend of mine, but
didn't index it - Frans de Waard'



I was going to try and identify as many titles as possible but I have been short on spare time these
days.  Here is what I have so far based on memory or titles announced on the recording:


Side A:

track one - Curly Wall
track two - Pinstripe??
track three  - Rainy Day (possibly a cover of It's a Rainy Day Sunshine Girl by Faust)
track four - ?? can anyone tell what he says this track is called at the end??
track five - I Can't Identify (Identify) (about 45 seconds)

Side B:
track one - I Can't Identify (Identify) (the remaining 90 seconds)
track two - ??
track three - ?? (over 20 min long, Eulam's Beat and 'Any News'??)
track four - I Don't Want To
track five - The Big One

If anyone else figures out the other track titles, leave a comment and I'll update the tracklist.

This is the first live recording I've ever encountered from Metabolist and the first time in over ten years since I've heard 'new to me' recordings from them. If you ever encounter Frans or Edward in the future be sure to buy them a drink and thank them for providing this recording.

Side A
Side B

update...
thanks to Mondara:

the gig that this is a recording of was at Action Space, Chenies Street, London. So the cassette must read "Action Space"

DJ Announcement - Taking the Piss 5 Year Anniversary @ Marx Cafe - this Friday Oct. 19th

2007-10-17T10:23:00.000-05:00

Some info on a DJ set of mine this Friday. It will be a short one (around 20 minutes) as they are inviting back all the guest DJs from the past five years to celebrate five years of the best indie/jangle rock/pop night in DC. Since the set will be so short, I plan to do all covers; either indie bands covering other songs, or indie songs covered by other bands.

Here is some more info from the Kaiser:

Well, as the story goes, the Pisser started a few months after Soundclash did, all those years ago. And actually, I wrote about that story already, so just go here and scroll down:

http://dcsoundclash.com/gigs.html

Also be sure to click on the 1019.mix for this month's "Streaming Piss" at http://dcsoundclash.com/. You know you like it.

And now for the event itself. We've invited back every deejay and guest deejay from our 5 year history. What's the end result of that? 15 deejays this Friday night (possibly more), each doing a 20-min set, putting their personal stamp on the evening and showing you the wide range of perfectly framed indie pop moments. We'll have much of DC's indie pop illuminati working it that night - musicians, deejays, and gladhanders like myself. Specifically, on hand will be representatives of Velocity Girl, Barcelona, Eggs, the Antiques, Lorelei, Boyracer, Parlor Scouts, BLISS, We Fought the Big One, the First Ladies DJ Collective, and that's enough already. Crazy rhythms, all night. Blink and you'll miss a set.

Commemorative pins are in the works. Come and get one and celebrate with us.

WHERE: Marx Cafe, 3203 Mt. Pleasant St, NW
WHEN: Friday, October 19, 2007, from 10 pm to 3 am

NO COVER

Camera 3 - Love Like Acid Cassette (Cassette King CK1) 1981

2007-10-09T22:50:00.001-05:00

Following up on the last post.... Here is the Camera 3 cassette - Love Like Acid released on Simon Millward's Cassette King label.

On this recording, drummer Mark Rowlatt from Metabolist is replaced by K. Shillingford. Needless to say, the drumming here is quite different. This could have more to do with the slower tempo on these tracks compared to the 7". The only time the tempo really picks up here (on the last track), the drums aren't quite driving the music along as they did on their previous recordings.

The title track begins with a bass kick and rim shots like Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead. This track ends abruptly into the next track (Exploitation), so they are combined in this rip.

Does anyone have any other info on Camera 3 or the Cassette King label?
This cassette was the first release on the label, # 2 was Stagmanaut by Metabolist and #4 was Dots on the Eyes by Legendary Pink Dots. Does anyone know what #3 was or if there were other releases after #4??

Enjoy

Camera 3 - Russians in Space 7" (Service Records SER 001) 1979

2007-10-09T21:45:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is the one (and only to my knowledge) 7" by Camera 3. There are several Metabolist connections here. The 7" was produced by Simon Millward and Anton Loach while Mark Rowlatt played the drums. This session was also recorded in the Metabolist studio.

Aside from Mark Rowlatt on drums, Camera 3 consisted of:

Paul Miller - bass
Graham Weston - guitar
Andrew Johnson - vocals & keyboards

The B-side, The Solution to All Problems has a strong Metabolist feel, both in the drums and the production, particularly the slight phase shifting of the drums that sound a lot like Neu! as well.

The slight distortion throughout both sides, especially in the louder vocal parts, appears to be in the pressing. This was just ripped today with a one week old needle and subsequent records played after this are not distorting.

Next up is their cassette - Love Like Acid.

Enjoy

DJ Sets from Procedure last week

2007-10-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here are re-creations of my sets from Procedure last week. They are also available as Podcasts at my website here with some other older DJ sets of mine.

Set 1 Tracklist:

Muslimgauze - Ensan Entahari

Asa-Chang & Junray - Tsugenipu to Ittemita

Martin Rev - Temptation

Nova Huta - A Day in Nova Huta

Chris and Cosey - Raining Tears of Blood

Dark Day - The Metal Benders

Colin Potter - I am Your Shadow

Sympathy Nervous - Polaroid

Cabaret Voltaire - Crackdown

Set 2 Tracklist:

Planet Jazz - B-Pop

Sympathy Nervous - Deaf Picture

Hikashu - Model (Kraftwerk cover)

World Standard - Japanese title

Elisa Waut - Russia

Moral - Stottet I Luften

Sprung aus den Wolken - A-i Ackam La

Mad Tea Party - Hide & Seek

Faust - The Sad Skinhead

Stereolab - The Extension Trip

Esplendor Geometrico - Moscu Esta Helado

Set 1

Set 2

Metabolist - Stagmanaut Cassette (Cassette King CK2) 1981

2007-10-01T20:05:00.001-05:00

Here is the other Metabolist cassette - Stagmanaut, released in 1981 on the Cassette King label. If I had to settle on one, this would be my 'favorite' Metabolist release, primarily due to the musical variety across the cassette.

Unfortunately, this also turned out to be the last Metabolist release. What have they done since? Malcolm Lane released an LP the following year w/ Max Headroom titled Max & Malcolm. Mutant Sounds posted this excellent LP a while back here. Malcolm (and Karl Blake) contributed guitar on the The Decoration of the Duma Continues LP by Pump in 1987. I have also seen a cassette titled Macac on various want lists (my own included), but have never seen/heard a copy.

Drummer Mark Rowlatt appears to have been the most musically prolific post-Metabolist. He has drummed for the following groups in live and/or studio settings: Shock Headed Peters, Camera 3, Luxuria, and Ectomorph (not the techno group(s)). Mark also contributed to a rock operetta (a la Magma) with a member of Ectomorph titled 'A Perfect Action', about, of all things - cricket!!!

Simon Millward appears as a producer on both the Camera 3 cassette and 7". I've also been told on good authority he has worked with the Legendary Pink Dots, but I'm not sure if this was studio or live (or if any of it has ever been released).

Any info about other post-Metabolist recordings/appearances is greatly appreciated!!!

The first side of Stagmanaut starts with the industrial soundscape of Cranes, which segues into Ymuzgo, a percussive and spacey piece (in a noisy sort of way), with some vocals and scraping guitars. Pigface builds into a percussion-driven pounder that, not to digress too far here, came to mind the other night while watching a live performance from These Are Powers, who hail from Brooklyn - probably because this track was still fresh in my head.

Side two begins with Johnny Loves You, a slower track with the oft-repeated lyrics "Johnny loves You, and that's fine". After a bit of an intro, Glory builds to bear a resemblance to Joy Division and is possibly the closest they came to sounding like a "rock" group with straightforward guitar, bass, drums & vocals. Quack Backwards ends the tape with metallic percussion similar to early 23 Skidoo percussion workouts and eventually cuts into what can be called 'post-rock in an era of post-punk' similar to some of the best output from This Heat.

If there is any interest, I can post the Camera 3 cassette & 7" - leave a comment!!!

Enjoy

Metabolist - Goatmanaut Cassette (Dromm Records) 1979

2007-09-28T16:05:00.001-05:00

This is the first of two cassettes released by the legendary UK post-punk group Metabolist. A lazy comparison of their sound would be a cross between This Heat & Magma, but they go much further than that. Always uncompromising, the Metabolist MO as they stated in Eurock magazine, was to refuse to be dictated to by fashion or establishing a 'Metabolist' sound and sticking to it forever.

I first discovered Metabolist around 1990 after buying a copy of their split 7" with Die Form. I purchased it for the Die Form track but ended up liking the Metabolist side more. A few years later, I traded that 7" away (perhaps to Dragnet records). Not long after that I found their LP and 7"s which reignited my interest in them. I then sought to track everything else they released including the split 7".

I launched a Metabolist web-site/discography on-line around 10 years ago in the hopes it would generate more interest in them and prompt a reissue campaign.

A CD that combines the LP, 7"s & compilation appearances exists. I figured it was a bootleg until I noticed it for sale at Amazon Japan. The Amazon listing mentions these are remastered recordings. I'm not sure if the band had any part of this reissue though as I've been told by one member that one or more other members had no interest in seeing Metabolist music reissued.

Next up will be their other cassette, Stagmanaut.

Enjoy

DJ Announcement - Procedure 3 year anniversary Wed. Sept. 26th @ Gate 54/Cafe Saint-Ex, Washington DC

2007-09-24T20:10:00.000-05:00

Quick plug for my dj set this week.

I am filling in for my friend Mark and joining Richard Chartier to celebrate the 3 year anniversary of Procedure this Wednesday at Cafe Saint-Ex (downstairs at Gate 54).

It has been a while since I've done a guest spot at Procedure and I am really looking forward to playing a lot of music I've posted here as well as some rare tracks I've found on other sharing sites.

I hope local visitors to Atlantis Audio Archive are able to check it out...

PROCEDURE (3.0)
"something for everyone... and nothing for some"

WEDNESDAY . SEPT 26

it all started back when we were called MIES at Blueroom. so much has
changed... yet everything is still the same.
so in celebration of this special day we are doing..... nothing special!
except providing audio in the form of something for everyone...
and nothing for some.

but don't let that stop you.... please come by and give us a hug.

nonchalantly sequenced melodies & noise:
Richard Chartier + oh wait we do have something special.... special
guest DAVID APPLEGATE dj

about mr applegate:
- founder of Atlantis Records (www.atlantisrecords.com)
- hosts Atlantis Audio Archive, a music sharing site featuring rare & forgotten electronic, industrial, wave & post-punk
- occasional musician appearing on over 10 releases
- radio/club dj for 20 years, most recently for the semi-regular Champion Superior Soundsystem @ Marx Cafe
- will be spinning timeless electronic music from the late 70's to the present recorded all around the world

once a month we present a quite laid back evening of lost and
forgotten music, ambient sounds, electronic whatnot, low brow tunes,
dark covers, b-sides, electric squiggles, bloopy unusual-ness,
blatant obviousness, avant garde obscurities, bubblegum oddities,
punk fun, unintentional hits and very intentional misses...and other
seemingly unrelated genre crossing nonchalantly sequenced.

listen. think. drink. repeat.

GATE 54 (downstairs at Café Saint-Ex)
1847 14th Street NW Washington DC
10pm-close / FREE / 21+

SAINT-EX: www.saint-ex.com
JOIN US ON MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/procedure

Vox Populi! - Aither LP (VISA UF 010) 1989

2007-09-15T13:37:00.000-05:00

This is the second LP from Vox Populi! released in 1989 on VISA records. This also turned out to be their last full-length release, not including the split LP w/ HNAS posted a while back by Thing on the Doorstep here. Also posted there more recently is their first LP Myscitismes.

This was the first Vox Populi! I heard aside from a couple compilation tracks and I've been a fan ever since. I picked this up around the time it was released and have been trying to find everything else they recorded for the last 15+ years.

I've never figured out why they fizzled out after this. Their musical output was limited to just a few compilation appearances after 1989. Anyone out there have some insight into what happened to Vox Populi!?

The first track Djamileh has always reminded me of Cocteau Twins. A Cup of Tea for Suzuki previously appeared on the Audiologie 5et6 - Ethniques Urbaines cassette compilation I posted in February. The last track, La Grande Plante Fibreuse, appears on the cassette compilation Mea Pulpa, but I am not sure if it is the same version.

Side B is left intact as one track. Here is the full tracklist:

Side A:
Djamileh
Tik & Tics (mis-titled in rip as Tik & Ties)
Le Nenuphare
Narme-Air
A Cup of Tea for Suzuki
Zen Dub

Side B:
Aither
Allo rechte?
Homo Religiosis
Akasha
Herrvoragende
Narguile
Toundra
La Grande Plante Fibreuse

Enjoy.

Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music - September 7-23, Washington DC

2007-09-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

The DC area is playing host to a continually expanding experimental music festival in the coming weeks.

This year, the Sonic Circuits festival stretches over two weeks at various locations and features many international artists like Christoph Heeman (HNAS, Mirror, Mimir), Frans de Waard (Kapotte Muziek, Goem, Beequeen...), Tony Conrad and over 70 more!!!

from the website:

The American Composers Forum Washington DC Chapter and volunteer coordinators/curators are proud to present an expanded SONIC CIRCUITS festival for 2007. Last year's event presented four nights of performances exposing District audiences to cutting edge experimental audio from local and international artists.

This year, DC SONIC CIRCUITS 2007 promises more! More genre-bending sounds and world-class performances! Additional venues! Film and Video! More adventurous music and exploratory visions from over 80 artists from the DC Metro area, across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Spain, & Lithuania!

Become our dear friend on myspace.

SUPPORT SONIC CIRCUITS - FEED AN ARTIST!

Running an international festival is one hell of an undertaking, especially on a shoe string budget. Show how much you LOVE experimental music by making a small donation. Give just $20 and receive one CD by a festival artist. Donate $30 and get THREE different CDs. Or you can always donate more!

Schedule

Artists appearing:

Txema Agiriano
Alexis
All Violet
AM Salad
Animental
Thomas Ankersmit
Gilles Aubry
Baseline
BLK w/ BEAR
Josh Bonnetta
Naila Borensztein
Brown Wing Overdrive
Buck Gooter
Arturas Bumšteinas
Cash Slave Clique
Caustic Castle
Tony Conrad & Violent Raid
Caution Curves
Cheapmachines
Ramon Churruca
Constant Mauk
Corridors
The Cutest Puppy in the World
Frans de Waard
Nick Didkovsky & Sirius String Quartet
Element Kuuda
Marianna Ellenberg
Ergo
Oier Etxeberria
Exploding Star Orchestra
Thorsten Fleisch
Iris Garrelfs
Gunung Sari
Christoph Heemann
Zan Hoffman
Koen Holtkamp
Humcrush
Insect Factory
Ironing
Michael Thomas Jackson & Brian Osbourne
Janel and Anthony
Antanas Jasenka
Kohoutek Percussion Ensemble
Kuschty Rye Ergot
Gunter Krüger
Lamathilde
Nick Lopata
Janel Leppin
Ida Lundén
Sarah Lundén
Hal McGee
Macronympha
Moljebka Pvlse
Murmer
Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind
Myo
Northern Machine
Noveller
o.blaat (Keiko Uenishi)
Ben Owen
People
Piasa
Pinko Communiods
Doug Poplin
Promute
Radio Shock
RDK
Safe
James June Schnieder
Scraping Teeth
Shelf Life
Spaceships Panic Orbit
Martijn Tellinga
36
This Bag is Not a Toy
TL0741
Esther Venrooy
VJ Poppins
Andy Wilson
Jack Wright & Michael Johnsen
xedh

Kallabris - Njonto LP (Jazztone JT137) 1988

2007-09-02T15:24:00.001-05:00

Here is the second LP from Kallabris, released in 1988. This LP is pressed on black vinyl and housed in a handmade lino-cut sleeve.

The music is less murky than the previous LP, but still quite industrial/ambient and briefly, at the beginning of side B, drifts into shoegazer drone territory. Accordion and vocals of various sorts are more prevalent here than the first LP. There also appears to be more control over the sound here as well. The metal or other found percussion seems to naturally fit here and doesn't become a distraction, or too overwhelming.

I have spare copies of this LP and their A Smile for Brandon cassette available for trade if anyone is interested - contact me via the comments section or e-mail to:

I also have both of their 7"s available for purchase here.

Enjoy

Kallabris - Untitled LP (Jazztone JT138) 1987

2007-09-02T14:24:00.001-05:00

Up next are the first two LPs from Kallabris. The first one is untitled and was originally released in 1987 in an edition of 500 copies on clear vinyl w/ a thin printed transparent strip. It was later re-released as a 'Merry Xmas' edition on red vinyl in 1993 in a lino-printed red sleeve.

I stumbled upon Kallabris after seeing their name on the CoC distro inserts included with Cranioclast records. They still exist and have titles available here, here & here.

Cranio @ The Thing on the Doorstep recently posted their only cassette, A Smile for Brandon, and the amazing Hafalgar 10" here. I was going to post these as well, but Cranio thankfully saved me the effort and time to concentrate recording something else.

If the guitar line is removed from the first track on Side A (and also the last track on Side B) you would probably get something close to NWW-Soliloquy for Lilith.

I haven't listened to this LP in at least 5 years, probably closer to 10. As a testament to how this record has been permanently etched into my memory, within seconds of track A2 starting, I anticipated the mix of spoken female vocals - 'no boys or girls - no fun, no food', the chants, Velvet Underground tape/sample, and tweaked classical recordings that followed.

Other parts of the album are primarily dark ambient/industrial & drone. Sometimes relaxing, at others unsettling with sounds of crumbling, destruction, metal...

The rip includes artwork from both editions and is from my (previously) unplayed red vinyl copy.

Enjoy.

Vox Populi! - Ectoplasmies 7" EP (VP 231 B) 1983

2007-09-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

Here is the first and only 7" release by Vox Populi!.

Regular readers here have probably noticed my obsession with Vox Populi! I started listening to them around the time their second LP was released.

Although there are eight tracks on this record, being a 7", they amount to just over 14 minutes of music.

Overall, this record is different than their later folk/world and industrial funk styles, having more of a dark minimal synth sound, as if the cover art doesn't already give that away. It hovers somewhere in the space also occupied by Monton, Dark Day & of course, the Vanity label.

This is ripped at 256K since it is shorter length. Unfortunately, a few tracks suffer from a bit of crackle and popping.

Side A
1 I, the Mad - Slow minimal synth & bass track w/ vocals - worth the download alone
2 Sine die, sane Corpore - dark synth/drum machine w/ minimal echoed vocals
3 Brave Old World - slow dark synth w/ vocals & bass
4 Hemoptysie - short uptempo synth track

Side B:
1 Ectoplasme II - slow instrumental piece
2 Ectoplasme I - synth arpeggio w/ a slight bit of noise added to the waveform accompanied by piano going through a delay
3 Ectoplasme III - Too short minimal synth track - one of my favorite VP! tracks
4 Ectoplasme IV - Backward tapes & vocals with other sounds

Enjoy

Vox Populi! - Imaginaires Cassette 1985

2007-08-22T22:33:00.001-05:00

I acquired this tape in a trade around ten years ago. It arrived with no artwork and over the years I lost track of any communication that mentioned the title. So, until very recently, I wasn't sure what release it was as it didn't resemble any cassette listed on discogs.com in length and/or track arrangement.

A few weeks ago there was a Vox Populi! cassette for sale on eBay. Not recognizing the title, I looked closely at the picture and saw the same mysterious Vox Populi! tape I could no longer identify. According to the auction listing, this cassette was included with the French magazine Imaginaires and released in 1985.

Some of the tracks on this cassette have appeared elsewhere (either before or after this release) on other VP releases or compilations in one form or another.

Here is the tracklist supplied in the eBay listing:

Quid (inclus les HITS (Campagnarde, Oyez Oyez, Scoubidou Bidou, Johnny pour toujours)
Ovan IV
Baby Sex
Achk
Samourai
Ovan III
Banafche
Tibetan Cowboy

In this rip, Side A is left as one track, and Side B is split into six tracks. There are eight/eleven tracks listed above so I don't know where Side A ends and Side B begins above.

If anyone else (maybe the winner of the auction) can share some info on this in the comments, I will update the post.

Enjoy

V/A - Necronomicon 2 2xCassette (Necronomicon N002) 1985

2007-08-19T18:26:00.001-05:00

Another request that was coincidentally almost ready to post.

A sure sign your music collection is too big: Several months ago I tried to bid on this compilation and was and did not win it. A few months later while browsing through some of my shelves, I pulled this out and was joyed & surprised to see I already owned it!

This compilation includes two cassettes and a 24 pg. booklet featuring text and art contributions from the artists. The tapes are split between US and European participants.

A lot of moderately well-known (Vox Populi!, P16.D4, F/i, Smersh, Architects Office, Psyclones...) and many unknown contribute one or two tracks to this collection including Coral Infantil Cantaires del Cadi, comprising of children with no prior musical experience and Catalonian musicians from Error Genetico, Macromassa and others.

Full tracklist:

USA Cassette

Side A:
F/i - Azazabee
F/i - Mood Sequence
Sombrero Galaxy - Buy a Gun
Architects Office - Hymnosis
Machinic Indices - Untitled Komposition iv
Psyclones - Slabtard

Side B:
Smersh - Holiday Task Dub
White Hand - Screams that Whisper
Architects Office - I Chris
Psyclones & Schlafengarten - Chicke Skin
Billy Club Puppet - Almost Dread Inna Belltown

European Cassette

Side A:
Die Welttraumforscher (CH)- The Return of Abdul Al-Hazred
Die Welttraumforscher (CH)- Natascha
El Obscuro Interior (E)- Olvido & Duda
P16.D4 (D) - Setebos Seconda
Recursos Ajenos (E) - Gatos
Non Toxique Lost (D) - Die 4 Tempramente
Tasaday (I) - Il Respiro Si Blocca
Coral Infantil Cantaires del Cadi (E) - Quan El Sol Es pon
Coral Infantil Cantaires del Cadi (E) - El Rellotge

Side B:
Avant-Dernieres Pensees (E) - El Lujo de Ser Olvidados
Vox Populi! (F) - Holkar
Linea Tactica (E) - Suiza-Geneve. Raspaduras En El Cuello, Friccion Dolorosa
Tasaday (I) - Spiragli in Spazi
Merz (E) - El Signo
Falx Cerebri (D) - Durch Schmerz Zum Orgasmus
Zusammewaschen (E) - Aurera Schrammaschine

USA Cassette
European Cassette

DJ Announcement - Champion Superior Soundsystem @ Marx Cafe, Wash DC This Friday (8/17)

2007-08-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

A plug for the semi-regular DJ event I co-host. Be sure to check out the mini streaming mix at DCSoundclash.com for a taste of what to expect this Friday....


















Yes, yes, yes! You read that right … come Friday, DJs
Dave From Atlantis, Braulio and I will be running
another grand and glorious Champion Superior
Soundsystem at Marx Cafe!

That means for no money down, you can get a night of
funk, freak and UFO sounds. That's right: It's
absolutely free!

You can preview the action at dcsoundclash.com: Just
click words "Champion Superior Soundsystem" at the top
and you'll be whisked away on a magic mix. Whisked!
Away! Really!

"What about the fine print," you ask … well, here it
is:
The Champion Superior Soundsystem
10 pm Friday, Aug. 17
Marx Cafe
3203 Mt. Pleasant St.
NWDC No Cover

So, first go to http://www.dcsoundclash.com, listen to
the mix — and while you're there, check out the new
reviews added today. Then, saddle up and ride on over
to Marx. Do that part Friday, though. If you do it
today, you'll be waiting awhile.

Frank Dommert & Marcus Schmickler - Nach Schweiz Cassette (Entenpfuhl EMM 002) 1988

2007-08-13T19:37:00.000-05:00

Another request...

An early cassette on the Entenpfuhl label featuring some of the first recordings by Frank Dommert & Marcus Schmickler. Nach Schweiz was released in 1988 in an edition of 100 copies.

Dommert still runs Entenpfuhl today in addition to the label Sonig. Aside from his many early solo works, Dommert has also worked with HNAS, Mouse on Mars, Esognomig, Kontakta and others. Mutant Sounds posted his excellent solo LP Kiefermusik here.

Marcus Schmickler has appeared on releases going back to 1988. I was first turned on to Schmickler through his work with C. Schulz in the early 90's. Schmickler has since made a name for himself on his own, or under his better known alias Pluramon, as well as other collaborations in a variety of styles from experimental sound collage to post- shoegaze/rock to minimal techno.

This should appeal to anyone familiar with their earlier work.

Side B is left intact as one track. Here is the tracklist:

Side A:
Pluto
Country Chicks
Fenster 3
Gehororgane

Side B:
Nach Schweiz
Part I - Ebertplatz
Part II - Reichenspergerplatz
Fenster 2
Treulos

Enjoy

Tolerance - Anonym LP (Vanity 0004) 1979

2007-08-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a request response.

This is a complete copy of the first Tolerance LP originally posted at another great site, Direct Waves, but apparently missing a large portion of side B

Tolerance were the only group to release two LPs on Vanity. This album really bridges the gap between the 70's & 80's. Starting off with hazy trips resembling the cosmic realm of krautrock and following through to more experimental diy thats sits aside the output of Sema and early Nurse with Wound.

In the liner notes to this album is the phrase 'Dedicated to the quiet men from a tiny girl' - a phrase that inspired the title of the third NWW album.

Here is the full tracklist - some of the tracks in the file are truncated.

Side A:
Two Owls
I wanna be a homicide
osteo-tomy
JUIN-Irenee
anonym

Side B:
Laughin in the shadows
through the glass
tecno-room
Voyage au bout de la nuit

I believe that leaves the first Vanity label LP (by Dada) that hasn't been archived to the web. After responding to a couple other requests here, next up will be the three Vanity 7"s.

Enjoy.

Requests?

2007-08-03T00:44:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd throw out a call for requests. I can't guarantee I'll have it, but I hope by now regular visitors will have a sense of the varying focus here at Atlantis Audio Archive.

Possibly on the horizon: Metabolist and Cranioclast releases not posted elsewhere already or released on CD, Kallabris, Vox Populi! cassettes and vinyl...

Nishimura Alimoti - Shibou Cassette (Vanity VAT 6) 1981

2007-08-02T23:39:00.001-05:00

And here it is, the last cassette in the Vanity box. In complete contrast to the previous tape, and just about every other Vanity release, this is much louder and contains very little electronics - the majority of the music here being guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Again, as usual, no info on the web on Nishimura Alimoti.

Like everything on Vanity, it is mostly on the lo-fi/diy side. To make some lazy comparisons, I'll throw out Metabolist, Joy Division (track B2 - Ninshiki Yoso particularly) and possibly the sludge bass/guitar of early Skullflower on a couple tracks (at least what I remember how they sounded 10/15+ years ago). There are probably many other comparisons to be made here as well, both contemporary to this release as well as a lot of semi-recent music.

Being on vacation right now and having very limited internet access, I will not go into much detail here so I can finally complete this post as I've been sitting on this one for a while trying to find time to do a proper review.

For anyone who wishes to purchase an original copy of this cassette, I have a spare copy for sale. Check the links under Atlantis Records in the side-bar for more details. I suppose providing a copy of this for download will not generate many willing to purchase the real thing these days...

And this concludes the Vanity box archive series - many more posts planned once I return from vacation: the three Vanity 7"s, more Vox Populi! and a few other titles I've hinted at posting in previous posts.

Enjoy.

Wireless Sight - Endless Dark Dream Cassette (Vanity VAT 5) 1981

2007-07-15T14:57:00.001-05:00

Here is the fifth cassette in the Vanity box. This is probably the lowest fidelity and the most minimal of any Vanity release. Wireless Sight is credited to Kunio Wakae, and as usual, no info appears to exist on him or this project.

A majority of the music here is accompanied by a metronome or some other time-piece and piano. Not much else, but it does provide some nice background music. The closest comparison (on Vanity) I hear is possibly Tolerance; outside of Vanity, perhaps a very stripped-down Robert Haigh/Sema.

Side A may in fact contain two tracks, but I've archived this tape one track per side.

Enjoy.

Invivo - B.B.B. Cassette (Vanity VAT4) 1981

2007-07-06T16:54:00.001-05:00

The fourth cassette in the Vanity box courtesy of Invivo is a great collection of varied minimal/diy styles from rock/punk to electronic, industrial and more. It was recorded in 1980 and includes one live track.

The liner notes (see scan) state side A is by Invivo and side B by Invitro.
Here is a track breakdown.

Side A:
B.B.B. - Invivo, like others in the Vanity Box also contributed to the Vanity Music compilation DLP. In this case this track appeared in much abbreviated form on the compilation. Repetitive drum machine either going through distortion or some other effect w/ slowly modulating synth waves and bass guitar.

Micoplasma (1983) - Low pinging rhythm with synth pulses and other sounds.

LD50 (live) - Lots of guitar, a bit of sax and some sort of live percussion. Before the sax comes in, this could just have easily been a Metabolist recording.

m.i.c. - This track segues with a gurgling synth line resembling the main guitar part from the previous one. The addition of a sax makes this a nice mood setting tune and is unfortunately a little shorter than I'd wish.

Macrolide (C H NO) - Slightly uptempo drum machine, synth and bass guitar.

Bacteroides - Drum machine and bass that sounds like a BGM or early Cabaret Voltaire outtake.

Side B:
Proteus - Slow pulsing snyth with guitars that works very well.

Amoxicillin - There is a bit between this song and the previous one that I wasn't sure where it belonged. Rather than keeping these two combined I included the brief sound burst at the end of B1 and the start of B2. What starts off as Jamaican sounding music, possibly another recording morphs into drum machine, synth, sax and more. The sax here, as in all but m.i.c. is very subdued and usually deep in the mix, not in your face.

Kiebsiella - Minimal synth and bass guitar.

Micoplasma (1979) - A slowed down version of similarly titled track on the other side. Like Conrad Schnitzler in 'super slo-mo'.

Dead World (LC M) - Minimal electronic contemplative piece that could have lasted 20 minutes rather than the two given here. In a way this one at the same time sounds possibly the most out of place in the entire box so far, and maybe my favorite from the set as well.

Enjoy.

Den Sei Kwan - Pocket Planetaria Cassette (Vanity VAT3) 1981

2007-06-26T22:24:00.001-05:00

Here is the third cassette from the Vanity box. More minimal diy electronics and a lot of shortwave radio.

There is a several minute section of silence after the first track on side A. I have excluded this portion in the archived version. There is a short two minute track after the silence consisting of French dialogue.

Tracklist

Side A:

Transparent Radio - slow repetitive distorted drum machine pattern & radio frequencies/noise. Reminds me of a slowed-down instrumental Throbbing Gristle, early Cabaret Voltaire/RH Kirk.

p x t x c = 1 - this may be the silent part between the two tracks.

thugu = rikwo - this is the track w/ the French dialogue.

Side B:

Sarava Tetudo - field and/or radio recordings w/ either a low grinding synth wave or a microphone experiment. Eventually a rhythm creeps toward the surface, but never quite bursting through. This track, and a couple others here, sound as solid as other diy electronic/industrial of the time and could also pass as new music on contemporary labels like Mego, Touch, Ash International....

Pocket Planetaria - Short noisier track, again primarily w/ radio sounds.

Plastic Garden - More radio experiments, the last five minutes of which is very faint.

Enjoy.

Soundclash Five Year Anniversary Friday June 29th @ Marx Cafe, Washington DC

2007-06-26T20:35:00.000-05:00

...and another plug for a big event this Friday - the five year anniversary of the best Jamaican music night in DC

First, go here: http://dcsoundclash.com/ - all you need to know in some ways.

Well, you know how when you reach the top and they ask you "did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine..." Except... we're not at the top. But hey, we still rule, like cool rulers, rocking steady for five years and all that. The five years have blown by quickly, and I won't regale you with the history except to say: we've always been at Marx Cafe, we started it all from scratch (Lee Perry reference!), and we've brought you the best in Jamaican music, and that's a fact. Plus our flyers rule the nation. To those that have been getting these emails just about the full five years: thanks for your tolerance. It's worked.

So here's what will be on splendid offer this Friday as part of the Soundclash 5-Year Jubilation activities. Exceptional, fantabulous, Sammy Gong-designed t-shirts. The image of the Upsetters band (Lee 'Scratch' Perry's studio band, which later evolved into the Wailers) adorns these stylish stare-grabbers and is attached for your perusal. Guys' Tees will be available in a light blue, women's Tees in white, light blue and a very tiny offering of pink (seriously - if you want one, best shout now; they'll be gone before the first three crackles on the first 45 is done). $7. You will love these, seriously.

And giveaways. We will be giving away special Soundclash cd mixes, a couple of Trojan Records boxsets, buttons, and a few T-shirts. To get in on the raffle giveaway, arrive before the Midnight Hour and get your raffle ticket at the designated raffle table. And buy a t-shirt there too.

Drink specials. Marx Cafe will offer up $3.50 Red Stripes. Additionally, I've convinced Marx to foolishly make a Jamaican rum punch. And will it ever.

And that's it. Hope to see you there. Taking pics of yourself with your fave Soundclash DJ's will be free. Just this once...

WHERE: Marx Cafe, 3203 Mt. Pleasant St, NW

WHEN: Friday, June 29, 2007, from 10 pm to 3 am

NO COVER

Procedure Wed. June 27th @ Cafe Saint-Ex Gate 54 Washington DC

2007-06-26T20:15:00.000-05:00

A plug for my friends' DJ night:

PROCEDURE (3.0)

"something for everyone... and nothing for some"

WEDNESDAY . June 27

nonchalantly sequenced melodies & noise:

Mark Williams + Richard Chartier

(and come help us say goodbye to Sam Reggio, one of our most loyal

listeners, as he leaves for Japan for 2 years)

once a month we present a quite laid back evening of lost and

forgotten music, ambient sounds, electronic whatnot, low brow tunes,

dark covers, b-sides, electric squiggles, bloopy unusual-ness,

blatant obviousness, avant garde obscurities, bubblegum oddities,

punk fun, unintentional hits and very intentional misses...and other

seemingly unrelated genre crossing nonchalantly sequenced.

listen. think. drink. repeat.

GATE 54 (downstairs at Café Saint-Ex)

1847 14th Street NW Washington DC

10pm-close / FREE / 21+

SAINT-EX: http://www.saint-ex.com/

FOR MORE INFO/SET LISTS: www.3particles.com/procedure

JOIN US ON MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/procedure

also this is the official after-party for:

JUNE 27, 2007 / 7-9pm

COLORFIELD REMIX: NIGHT #3 - Juried from open calls

by RICHARD CHARTIER + BRANDON MORSE

CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART / ARMAND HAMMER AUDITORIUM (NY AVE)

500 17th STREET NW / WASHINGTON DC 20006

7-9 PM FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

(*Presentation of $1000 KRAFT MEDIA PRIZE + $500 Honorable Mention)

ERIKA SUDERBURG + LINDA BESEMER (US)

Finalist, $1000 KRAFT MEDIA PRIZE

ALAN CALLANDER (US)

Honorable Mention, $500 KRAFT MEDIA PRIZE

CHRISTINA BATTLE (CA)

GREGG BIERMANN (US)

REBECCA CARTER (US)

JOHN DAVIS (US)

ERIC FLEISCHAUER (US)

KERRY LAITALA (CA)

OLIVER LYONS (US)

TONY MYATT (UK)

KAMRAN SADEGHI (WA)

SEMICONDUCTOR (UK)

CHAMPNEYS TAYLOR (US)

TeZ (NL)

Kiilo Radical - Denki Noise Dance Cassette (Vanity VAT 2) 1981

2007-06-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

Here is the second cassette in the Vanity box. This is by Kiilo Radical and titled Denki Noise Dance. Five tracks on this cassette also appeared on the Vanity Music DLP compilation (under the name Kiiro Radical) - four of those tracks appear here untitled and one track is part of the side titled Denki Noise Dance. At least a couple of the tracks appear to be different versions or mixes from the compilation.

I couldn't find much info about Kiilo Radical or Motida Masaaki other than a review of this cassette (but none of the others in the box) in Japanese here.

As for the music, it doesn't stray too far than the previous cassette - minimal electronics, some guitar, bass and sparse percussion. By comparison to the world outside the Vanity label - a less pounding, lower-fi Pan Sonic, ambient Mouse on Mars and side-projects Microstoria & Lithops with cruder instrumentation., and some tracks that could best be described as raw, lo-fi precursors to the minimal techno scene emerging in the late 90's (Brinkmann, etc...). When the guitar and homemade percussion pops in on untitled 5, I am reminded a bit of the loose/sloppy playing of DDAA (in a good way).

Side A, listed without a title is split into separate tracks but side B - Denki Noise Dance is not. At some points it was hard to determine when a track ended and another began.

Enjoy.

DJ Announcement - Champion Superior Soundsystem @ Marx Cafe, Wash DC This Friday (6/15)

2007-06-13T12:18:00.000-05:00

Another month with five Fridays means it is time again for Champion Superior Soundsystem.

I will join Sam & Braulio on the decks for another night of dirty funk dub space afro fusion.

Hopefully mother nature will cooperate this time. The last event was marred by a freak snow/sleet/icy rain storm that followed several days of pleasant weather.

For anyone curious about the music, I posted an older dj set a while back which you can find here. Hopefully this time, we will all remember to keep track of our sets so I can archive them here in the future.

The Champion Superior SoundsystemFriday, March 1610 p.m. - 3 a.m.Marx Cafe 3203 Mt. Pleasant St.NWDCNo Cover, No Escape

Hope to see some of the local readers out there on Friday....

Salaried Man Club - Gray Cross Cassette (Vanity VAT 1) 1981

2007-06-12T22:12:00.001-05:00

Now that the computer situation has been sorted out, I'll get back to business with a Vanity label post!

This is the first of six cassettes released on the Vanity label. I am not exactly sure about the history of these tapes. The six were released as a boxset in an edition of 70 copies. I have also seen them sold individually. So, the mystery is - did they release these as a boxset first and sold off the extra copies, or did they release them individually first and later packaged unsold copies as a boxset??

I've seen this boxset labeled Noise Box and Working on a Plan, which is taken from the inscription on the front flap: "Working on a Plan 1981 Agi Yuzuri". Agi was the founder of the label as well as the music editor for the Japanese magazine Rock Music, where Vanity artists and others were featured across twelve flexi-discs.

I will probably not post all six of these cassettes consecutively. There are a few other tapes archived just about ready to go as well which may be sprinkled in here. Included in this first post are a few extra photos of the box itself, which, as can be seen in the picture, has seen better days.

To be honest, until preparing this post, I haven't listened to these tapes in a long time. This first one is better than I recall, perhaps due to hearing for the first time and rediscovering so many other early 80's minimal electronic releases via Mutant Sounds and the like over the last several months.

The only other recorded appearance I know of from Salaried Man Club is on the compilation Foam posted here a few months ago. That track appears here in a different and extended form as the first track on side B (the entire side (4 tracks) is titled Gray Cross). I hear early Cabaret Voltaire & Throbbing Gristle at times, particularly in the bass lines.

The initial standout track (and the most melodic) is 'The Though of Y' (mis-titled in the zip file), featuring a nice combination of synth & human vocals.

Another crucial Vanity label release from the early 80's - contemporary with, and predating even more of some of the best of this genre.

Enjoy.

V/A - Case of Telegraph Product 2 LP (Telegraph TG-020) 1983

2007-06-11T23:11:00.002-05:00

Here is a nice varying collection of music from Japan circa 1983. This is the second part of the Case of Telegraph series, basically a sampler of the Telegraph Records roster including EP-4, Auto Mod, Pablo Picasso, Chance Operation and others.

Evolving out of the Vanity Label group RNA Organism, the two untitled abstract, industrial drone pieces from EP-4 (Unit 3) bookend this collection of mostly post-punk/no-wave tunes. 'Cineraria' by Be-2 is somewhat ambient in comparison to the rest of the tracks here as well and reminds me a bit of Haruomi Hosono's - Paradise View album.

The punk/no wave on the rest of the album sounds at times to those found on the Foam compilation posted here a while back.

Enjoy.

V/A - Alternative Funk-Folie Distinguee LP (Vox&Man/VP 231) 1985

2007-06-06T23:36:00.001-05:00

My hard drive has finally been replaced after several diagnostic tests could not locate the problem with the old one. I'm currently on a business trip in the middle of nowhere so I have found some time to work on new posts.

I mentioned this LP a while ago when I posted the Alternative Funk cassette. In hindsight, I think the cassette I posted earlier, which in essence were the 'rejects' to what made the LP cut here, is a bit stronger overall, but there are some interesting pieces here as well. For the most part each track is either synth-pop or 80's electro funk. I think the synth pop tracks stands up a little better over time than the funk tunes.

The most notable artists on this LP comp are Vox Populi!, X Ray Pop & Psyclones, who contribute my favorite piece with a fairly infectious bassline.

I will update this post with cover scans once I return home this weekend.

Enjoy.

Human Flesh - The Third Human Attempt Cassette (Insane Music/Aeon) 1984

2007-05-21T13:42:00.001-05:00

I'm back temporarily to post a cassette that I archived before my computer broke down that has been sitting in my Rapidshare folder for a while. So, here is an early cassette from Human Flesh aka Alain Neffe. This cassette is brought to you by the Kaiser (aka Mark - DJ for DC events - DC Soundclash, Taking the Piss and Procedure). He provided two other Insane-related cassettes for archiving/posting, but I am allowing him to write commentaries on those before posting.

No time for descriptions today....

My home laptop is currently 'in the shop' - I expect it to be ready in the next couple days and hopefully then posts will be back to a greater frequency.

Enjoy.

V/A - Autoplasie Cassette (Nuit et Brouillard NB 01) 1990

2007-05-01T21:49:00.001-05:00

Finally, another post. This is a later cassette compilation on the Nuit et Brouillard label from 1990 titled Autoplasie. The cassette includes a 56 page 8.5"x11" booklet including features on each contributor including discographies.

There is a wealth of information contained in the booklet. Many smaller releases, primarily cassettes that I had never heard of when I picked this up years ago. I have since found some of these releases, but there are many more I would love to track down (Vox Populi Live/Studio & Live/Interview cassettes!!, for example). There appear to be 300 copies of the cassette, 200 that include the booklet.

The music is primarily industrial, sometimes ambient or dark, other times rhythmic. Prior to archiving this cassette a while back, I hadn't listened to this tape in years and forgot that there are some pretty good cuts here. Contributors include Brume, Vox Populi!, Deleted, Free Mount 231 (Free Mount & Pacific 231) and others (see photo for line-up).

One question - does anyone know why Brume makes a point to mention "no sampler" in the liner notes for his tracks? Is this supposed to be impressive? There is plenty of music like this made during the era before samplers....

I hope to pick up the frequency of posts going forward - my personal computer is still down, but will likely be repaired this weekend. Another volume from this label with similar packaging (tape & large booklet) titled Interaktion will probably be posted once the computer problems are resolved.

A copy of this cassette without the booklet is available at Atlantis Records (check the links on the sidebar).

Enjoy.

Blowout sale at Atlantis Records GEMM site

2007-04-13T20:18:00.000-05:00

I should also mention that the entire Atlantis Records inventory listed at GEMM is on sale. From at least $1 to over 75% on all titles. Many are marked down to 'starting bid' prices.

Keep in mind that the prices in the Atlantis catalog at GEMM reflects their 15% surcharge. Orders paid via Paypal, outside of GEMM, will be 15% less (pre-shipping). Prices will stay at the sale rate until the catalog is updated again - probably 2-3 weeks. Lots of good stuff, over 1,600 titles.

V/A - La Bande Originale d'un Film Imaginaire Cassette (On a FAIM K011) 1989

2007-04-13T18:00:00.001-05:00

I decided to record this after the Video Aventures post as they both have a similar concept and package (and are filed next to each other). This is a single cassette release from 1989. It is packaged in a large video cassette case including a small booklet w/ synopsis and three photo prints - perhaps imaginary stills.

The approach here is different than the Video Aventures 'soundtrack'. Most of the tracks lack a thematic frame for visualizing to a film. The music is varied - dark minimal synth, industrial, odd-pop, a carousel-theme track...

There are intro/intermission snippets that are bunched with the tracks in the file. There is a slight chance the music is split incorrectly within the audio tracks on side B. The two Brume tracks might actually be just audio track B2 and Vox Populi! may be the combination of audio tracks B3+B4. There is an intro to the VP track (B4) that may indeed be an interlude between B3 & B4. Here is the tracklist per the cassette:

Face A:
"la mer"
P.et Golitre de Galine - Fun Metal Klakette 1
DDAA - Bruit du Bas Pa-Tat
M. Nomizad - Eaux Troubles
"vertigo"
Brume - Mardi 14h30
Decades - Petite Valse

Face B:
"Obsession"
P.et Golitre de Galine - Fun Metal Klakette 2
Brume - La Chambre
Brume - Death Theme
Vox Populi - Jube Man
Invisible Man - Arrivederci
"la belle de Rome"

Enjoy.

V/A - Audiologie No 4 Cassette (Vox Man) 1987

2007-04-09T23:02:00.001-05:00

This is the last remaining volume of the Audiologie series that I currently own - still looking for volumes 2 & 3. Volume 4, titled The Independant Psychedelic Trip was released in 1987 and features artists spanning the globe including one from Mars (a detail I just noticed). Musically it is all over the place, indie/pop, synth, industrial....

The biggest names here are probably Pacific 231 & Vox Populi!. Their contributions are ok, not some of their best material. I think this file is worth the download (or purchase if it can be found) for these three tracks alone, not to say that there aren't any others of quality here:

Jacki Moreau - Paris-Pop: To be precise, this track alone is worth the download. If I didn't know better, I could have been convinced this was some crazy late 60's/early 70's soundtrack to a hash/opium den scene w/ a hippy band jamming amidst a thick haze. They outdid Damenbart before Damenbart did it originally. To think how this track could have sounded stretched out past the three minutes recorded here. Jacki Moreau also contributed a beautiful track for Vol.5&6 of this series.

Donald Campau - Welcome to the Needle: somewhere between a CAN Ethnological Forgery Series (EFS) track and early/mid-period Tortoise.

Mitch Cooper - Mind Confection: The track that most lives up to it's own as well as the album's title. What starts as a jangly guitar pop song takes a left turn into space a little after a minute and then proceeds to drift further into space for five minutes before finally fading out. Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd is probably a good lazy comparison....

My Hard Drive started dying a week ago and is probably going to crash for good soon so new posts may be on a temporary decline for a while. I have a few files stashed almost ready to go, so hopefully the computer issues will be transparent to readers. For the time being I have to switch from my usual Mac G4 Powerbook to a PC computer, so file formats and other factors might not stay consistent until my MAC HD issue is resolved.

Enjoy.

Pacific 231/Berlinerluft - Nuit et Brouillard Cassette (New Wave/VP 231) 1983

2007-04-05T18:35:00.000-05:00

This is a split cassette of Pacific 231 & Berlinerluft titled 'Nuit et Brouillard' released on New Wave & VP 231 in 1983. From the liner notes, it appears the intent was to release a live performance of Berlinerluft from 4/10/83. It turns out the live tape of the Berlinerluft performance was 'unplayable'. Lucky for us, this cassette contains studio recordings of the tracks performed that evening. Perhaps the 'spur of the moment' factor from the live performance wasn't captured, but that is made up by what is likely a much higher fidelity recording.

Berlinerluft was a combination of two Vox Populi! members (Gnouf Tap & Bertrand Wolf) and Pierre Jolivet (aka Pacific 231). According to discogs.com, which may not be entirely accurate, this is the closest to a non-compilation release by the group. Their compilation appearances are limited to four tracks, three of which also appear on this cassette (although possibly different vesrions). The other compilation track was posted here a while ago.

The music by Berlinerluft ranges from darker industrial to minimial synth wave. Sometimes I wonder how these tracks would have sounded w/o the vocals. A couple tracks remind me of Monoton or Leer/Rental-The Bridge, others are much harsher.

The Pacific 231 side consists of the "pre-soundtrack intended for the Berlinerluft concert". It isn't made clear if this was for a Pacific 231 performance for this concert, or his contribution to the Berlinerluft set. I am assuming it is the former due to the liner notes crediting Jolivet with synth, rhythms & effects, but not tapes for the Berlirnerluft studio recordings. The music on this side, titled 'Thule Apocalypse' is noisy - a combination of noise and what sounds like various war speeches. I'm more of a fan of the other side. I think the concept of noise music contrasting with war/hate speeches was overdone, and then redone many times over...

Enjoy.

Video Aventures - Moonbeam Movies 2xCassette (ADN RECO 2) 1990

2007-04-01T18:28:00.001-05:00

Following up on the LP & 10" posted at Mutant Sounds recently, here is the only other release I know of by Video Aventures aside from a few compilation appearances (including Paris Tokyo which I just posted). Released in 1990 as a double cassette, it is housed in a VHS-sized plastic case including a tiny booklet.

Many artists have released soundtracks to imaginary films, and some have done it very well - C.Schulz's 4.Film Ton, for instance. What makes this album so interesting is each of the twelve tracks could be considered a separate film, or film genre. The 'films' here range from vampire, romance, film noir, western, etc...

Each track starts with a film projector sound effect, and each cassette side ends with the sound of a projector running out of film to add to the whole 'experience'.

In the interest of keeping the music here flowing as it does on the cassettes, I have not split the tracks up. Here is the full track-list:

Side A:
1. Some Never Fired
2. Allo, Veronica...
3. Oyakyodai no Urami

Side B:
4. Ready to Receive Guests
5. Vivere Oggi
6. Back to the Trail

Side C:
7. Embrasse Moi
8. Anschluss Halten
9. Tutsi Frutsi

Side D:
10. The Gause Mask Serves the Purpose
11. Three, Two, One, Zero...
12. Success to Crime

Enjoy.

V/A - Paris Tokyo Cassette (Tago Mago) 1983

2007-04-01T15:02:00.000-05:00

Given my fondness for early 80's music from Japan & France, it was only a matter of time before I archived this excellent cassette compilation released on the Tago Mago label in 1983. Paris Tokyo, featuring French and Japanese artists was intended to be the first volume of a 'Serie Cosmopolite'. Unfortunately, I believe this was the only edition ever realized. The Tago Mago label is probably best known for two sought-after cassettes by This Heat & Can, both of which have been reissued in one form or another over the years and the only LP from Video Aventures.

The cassette was limited to 2,000 numbered copies, which must have been a fairly large edition for this sort of release given that most titles from this era were usually limited to 500 copies or less. Also included with the cassette is a 'booklet' of loose prints (double-sided). The front & rear cover images feature an interesting collage figure that looks like a character one would find at Kid Robot or Toy Tokyo.

On to the music....

Paris Side:
Richard Pinhas - Joe Chip Meets K.B. (Pt.2): Light instrumental piece w/ keys & strings.

Jacues Doyen & Jacques Berrocal - Sacre!: One of my least favorite tracks here. A lot of spoken word w/ a bit of music in the background. Perhaps understanding French would help here...

Video Aventures contributes three short tracks, one of which sounds like Lithops or Mouse on Mars - 'Glam'/'Instrumentals' era.

Fondation - Contact: What starts off as a piece fit for an Insane Music compilation develops into something a little more sophisticated instrumentation-wise. Fondation members trace their lineage back to Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV), Spacecraft & Clearlight and may or may not also be known as La Fondation (can anyone confirm??) of which there are other cassette & compilation titles. There appear to be at least three cassettes by Fondation: Sans Etiquette, Metamorphoses & Le Vaisseau Blanc.

DDAA - La Roue de Bicyclette: One of ten DDAA compilation tracks that were deemed worthy of the band to be re-released on their LP, Objet.

Satellite - Surprise: A pleasing instrumental track. They also released a cassette on Tago Mago/Camouflage with Atom Cristal (is this a pseudonym for ADN' Ckrystall??).

Tokyo Side:
Merzbow provide two excellent tracks under the moniker of 'Vacation of Merzbow Lowest Music & Arts'. As with their contribution to the Angelic Technology compilation posted a while back, these two tracks stand out considerably from what I, and most people probably associate with Masami Akita and co. The first track here, Awa Dance, is basically no wave (scratchy guitar, drum machine & live percussion) - dare I say, groovy!! The second, Hannya-Haramitta, is just as unusual featuring synth, filtered percussion, a bass line and vocals!!! Stunning, in fact after listening to these for the first time in years, I might have to revise my previous statement in the Angelic Technology post- these are now my favorite Merzbow tracks!!!

Isansozokunin - Senjo no Mura (The Village of War): Tied w/ the Berrocal track as being my least favorite in this collection. Not much going on, sounds like someone doing a drum sound-check with a bit of other instrumentation and snippets of soldiers marching. At the time of this compilation, they had released three cassettes: Ikko, Poland No Sora & Red Communication.

Haco - Kasokudo no Etude (An Accelerating Etude): Haco was the founding member of the hugely influential band After Dinner. She is still writing & performing music today and a new solo CD is set to be released April 13 - Check out her MySpace page for more info.

Kumiko Suyama - Dance: another moving piano & vocal track. She also contributed a track to the Assemblee Genrerale 5 compilation posted last week.

MLD - Dynamo: Possibly saving the best for last, MLD were Takayuki Shiraishi and Jun Sonohara. The duo also released a CD under the name Maximum Lunatic Desire and more recently as Musica Nova, contributing tracks to releases on labels NS-COM & Birds in Paradise. Shiraishi has many solo releases, some under his own name on NS-COM, BadOrb, etc... and also under others such as Planetoid on the Belgian ambient label - Apollo. It should also come as no surprise to readers of this site that there is a Vanity connection here. Shiraishi was also a member of the legendary BGM - contributing guitar, synths & vocals. The music could be considered an early prototype of breakbeat techno, sounding somewhere between Liquid Liquid and early Meat Beat Manifesto ('Strap Down'??).

Enjoy.

Truth Club/Fote Split 7" (Le Rey LR 01) 1980?

2007-03-25T18:01:00.001-05:00

**Reissue update below** Incredibly crucial post-punk/diy split 7". Not only is this the first record on the highly sought after label Le Rey, it is also the first recorded work of Robert Haigh (that I know of).

Truth Club consisted of Robert Haigh and Trevor Reidy. Their contribution to this 7" is one of just two tracks they appear to have released. The other, To the Nile Sister, appeared on the United Dairies compilation - Hoisting the Black Flag, which Mutant Sounds has kindly posted here.

Fote, consisting of Haigh & Reidy from Truth Club, and augmented by Deborah Harding, were a bit more prolific (but not much). In addition to this 7", Fote released two EPs (Perfect Sense & Shaking the House) in 1981, both on Le Rey. If anyone wants to see these EPs posted, leave a comment!

Robert Haigh is probably the most familiar name here. After Fote & Truth Club, Haigh went on to record under his own name and as Sema for various labels like Le Rey, L.A.Y.L.A.H. and United Dairies. After a brief hiatus, Haigh re-emerged in the early 90's with a drastic genre switch as a drum & bass artist, most notably Omni Trio, Splice, London Steppers.

Trevor Reidy contributed percussion on recordings by Nurse with Wound, Danielle Dax, Shock Headed Peters, Chrystal Belle Scrodd and The Monochrome Set.

As for the music:

Fote - Lemon Kittens is a good comparison, off-kilter rhythms, discordant guitars, creaking female vocals.

Truth Club - Post punk w/ vocals similar to Two Daughters/Five or Six, basically music that could have fit on early Factory or Cherry Red (odd-rhythm drums eventually build into a snare-heavy march with guitar, piano and restrained brass squeals).

UPDATE (3/26): This 7", along with the other Le Rey releases are due to be reissued by Seal Pool out of Japan, and they have kindly agreed to allow this post to stay up. I encourage everyone who downloads this file to support the artist and label and purchase the reissues when they are released.

First up in the series is not a reissue, but a collection of new material. Robert Haigh and Silent Storm - From the Air will be released in an edition of 500 copies, 100 of which as a special edition with a bonus CD-R. There are two tracks available here to preview. They are future release and Evolution Crawls. I have to say that Evolution Crawls is a beautiful track - I'm really looking forward to this CD.

The first reissue will likely be Robert Haigh - A Waltz in Plain C, which these days seems to be harder to find than any of the other Le Rey titles (despite being the most recently released). Even though it features Haigh performing solo piano and doesn't fit the mold of 'difficult' listening like other Le Rey titles (or his label mates from United Dairies/L.A.Y.L.A.H.), it is a breath-taking collection of music.

Right now, while listening to this CD for the first time in around 10 years, I am in awe of how Haigh created pieces so simple with their minimal and restrained instrumentation that I still instantly remember the melodies building, drifting and playing off each other...

Enjoy.

Normal Brain - Ready Made LP (Vanity 0009) 1981

2007-03-24T17:43:00.000-05:00

Mutant Sounds has this posted as well, but it looks like it is missing side B. Here is the full LP, a vinyl rip @ 256K, which also includes extra pictures.

Looking at the insert creates more questions than answers. To start, the title is referenced as 'Ready Made', Lady Maid' and 'Lady Made', although not 'Ready Maid'.

The track titles also differ between the insert and the label for a few tracks. One title, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' (Beatles cover) is only listed on the insert. Perhaps a joke, or possibly a legal issue arose after the insert was printed and before the vinyl was pressed. In addition to this inconsistency, 'Thrift' is titled 'KE-300' on the label and 'Mist' is titled 'Fragment' on the label. The track 'Frottage SW', listed on the label does not appear on the insert, unless this is actually the Beatles cover.

At the bottom of the insert is the phrase: Let us sing songs together with Speak & Spell

From the magazine, Music:

'Normal Brain was a project of Yukio Fujimoto, using electronic gadgets like analog-synth, rhythm machine, and Speak & Spell. His music was intelligent and witty, traversing the fine line between modern art and pop. Fujimoto's minimalist approach also had a child-like playfulness and elegance, conceptually paralleling the music of early-Kraftwerk or Eno. Currently, Fujimoto is active as sound artist, producing sound objects and installations.'

Here is a description of a recent sound installation by Yukio Fujimoto (from the Venice Biennale 2001):

'If Belgium's pavilion feels like a picture gallery, Japan's suggests a miniature alternative space, crammed with a thematic show that scores only some of the time but is winningly earnest. "Fast and Slow" looks at the signs and costs of material progress. With the support of the McDonald's Corporation, Masato Nakamura has erected a ring of trademark golden arches, a warmly glowing circle that feels like a light-therapy chamber. Nearby are Naoya Hatakeyama's photographic murals on the changing physiognomies of Osaka and Tokyo. Ambient electronic sound is furnished by Yukio Fujimoto's electronic keyboards strapped to the walls. A smaller downstairs space treats the "slow" principle: Hatakeyama's shots of Tokyo's vaulted sewers, whose eerie grandeur recall Nadar's early photographs beneath Paris, and Fujimoto's Sugar, a little glass drum whose ceaseless rotations gradually reduce a sugar cube to powder.'

Fujimoto also contributes synths/electronics to the Morio Agata LP on Vanity.

Enjoy.