Friday, April 13, 2007

Blowout sale at Atlantis Records GEMM site

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

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.

Monday, April 9, 2007

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

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.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

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

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...

Sunday, April 1, 2007

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

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

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.