Electronic Hair Pieces (1969) ...
Multi-talented arranger Mort Garson was an early Moog enthusiast ...This is an album of Moog covers from Hair ...Good Morning Starshine ...
Let The Sunshine In ...
Monday 30 June 2014
League of Gentlemen
League of Gentlemen (1981) ...
Robert Fripp's post-punk band operating in 1980, recorded one album ...released as a double cassette with Let The Power Fall, an album of 'Frippertronics' ... It has never been released on CD in its original form... This band didn't last long but the music formed the basis for the later 1980's version of King Crimson...Inductive resonance ...
The personnel were:
Barry Andrews: organ
Robert Fripp: guitar
Sara Lee: bass guitar
Johnny Toobad: drums.
Our first commitment to work together covered the period March 19th to July 22nd, the second September 8th to September 24th and the third November 10th to December 4th. Johnny Toobad left on November 22nd and Kevin Wilkinson replaced him. On this album KW plays on all but Heptaparaparshinokh and Dislocated. The team played 77 gigs.
Minor Man ...
Side I
INDISCREET I
INDUCTIVE RESONANCE
MINOR MAN
HEPTAPARAPARSHINOKH
DISLOCATED
PARETO OPTIMUM I
EYE NEEDLES
INDISCREET II
Side II
PARETO OPTIMUM II
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
HG WELLS
TRAP
OCHRE
INDISCREET III
Studio: Amy’s Shack, Parkstone, Dorset
Engineer: Tony Arnold
Photo of the League taken at Gramercy Park,
New York, during July 1980 by Marjori.
Front cover by Danielle Dax.
Cover glue Rob O’Connor.
Hamsprachtmuzic on “Minor Man” by Danielle Dax,
courtesy of the Lemon Kittens.
Extracts from the Sherborne House talks by
J.G. Bennett courtesy of Elizabeth Bennett,
available from Claymont Communications,
P0 Box 112, Charlestown, West Virginia 25414
Strategic Interaction: Paddy Spinks
Indiscretions compiled by Robert Fripp
Produced by Robert Fripp
johncoulthart.com ...
Dislocated (live) ...
A live album of this band was later released as Thrang Thrang Gozinbulx (1996)...
dgmlive.com
"The League of Gentlemen was, as Fripp once put it, "a wonderful little bopping band" that played seventy-seven gigs in England, Europe, and America between April 10 and November 29, 1980, and produced one album. The personnel initially consisted of Fripp, keyboardist Barry Andrews (formerly of XTC, and who had played on Exposure), Sara Lee on bass, and Jonny Toobad on drums. Fripp had recruited Lee and Toobad after hearing them play in London in a band called Baby and the Black Spots. If Frippertronics was primarily a music of the mind, with the League of Gentlemen Fripp was interested in a music of the body, music of sexual energy, "energy from the waist down," as he called it. In another formulation, he said that "The League of Gentlemen works from outside the music inward, while [Frippertronics] works from the inside outwards." He added a remark on social setting: "It is very difficult to play Frippertronics to drunk people at rock'n'roll clubs."
For Fripp, the League of Gentlemen represented a sort of musical populism - a populism, however, not of a naive sort, but of a reflected, thoughtful quality. Much of his work with the musicians of King Crimson had involved virtuosity at a self-conscious level, but Fripp had come to be suspicious of displays of artifice for their own sake. He expressed the dilemma in terms of the contrast between competence and ideas: "I've found that musicians who can play 10,000 notes tend to play them, and the 10,000 notes I hear I don't enjoy." Better to have a limited set of chops and through them to express something of real significance." ... progressiveears.com ...
Sunday 29 June 2014
General Strike
Danger In Paradise (1984) ...
David Toop and Steve Beresford released this cassette album on Touch, TO:02 in 1984..."As General Strike, the duo crafted elaborated miniatures from dub-like bass-lines, exotic keyboards and toy instruments, throwing in many references to dub, film music, Riuychi Sakamoto’s neo-classicism (on #3 Next Day), Sun Ra on 3 covers (where Lol Coxhill contributes saxophone). The Sun Ra covers are minimalist and playful – the Shy Ones play Fire Music, sort of. ... Jon Wozencroft and Panni Charrington designed the booklet in a decidedly Cold War mood which is a little puzzling compared to the music but adds another dimension to the tracks." ...
continuo. review (of cassette version) ...
My Other Body ...
Interplanetary Music (Sun Ra cover) ... sax by Lol Coxhill...
- Artwork By – Panni Charrington
- Bass, Piano, Glockenspiel, Organ [Farfisa], Trumpet, Synthesizer [Prophet], Flugelhorn, Piano [Toy], Organ [Euphonium], Percussion, Vocals, Melodica, Noise, Producer – Steve Beresford
- Guitar, Percussion, Flute, Flute [Alto], Glockenspiel, Vocals, Tape, Producer – David Toop
- Photography – Martin Proctor
- Producer – David Cunningham
Mixed June 1982, additional mixing October 1984.
Sea Hunt ...
Golden Palominos
Drunk With Passion (1991)
Drunk With passion is the fifth album by Anton Fier's supergroup, featuring Richard Thompson on guitar, Bob Mould and Michael Stipe on vocals, Carla Bley, Bill Laswell and many more ... "Mazzy Star with more punch" ...Alive and Living Now (Michael Stipe) ...
The Haunting (Alison Kramer) ...
"On their fifth album, Drunk With Passion, the Golden Palominos are still not really a band, and it still doesn't matter. The concept remains simple: Invite an array of hipster musicians into the studio, anchored by the thundering rhythm section of drummer Anton Fier and bassist Bill Laswell, and see what sparks fly. The group's new album, Drunk With Passion, opens with ''Alive and Living Now,'' matching R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe with guitarist Richard Thompson and jazz keyboardist Carla Bley. The song, Stipe's ode to that special someone who re-energizes you after all seems lost, virtually explodes with a kicky blast of newfound love, and it's a thrill to hear Stipe, who enunciates every confessional word, go out on such an emotional limb. (By comparison, most of R.E.M.'s tame Out of Time sounds like a John Denver tribute album.)" ... ew.com ...
Dying From the Inside Out (Bob Mould & Richard Thompson) ...
silent-watcher.net ...
Hearts of Fire
Dreams of Leaving (1985) ...
Staying in Pop mode, but in a totally different dimension, Hearts of Fire were one of those hopeful 'jangly' bands from the UK mid-eighties, but they have a very definite edge that most did not ...there are far too many guitars on here, in a good way ...and Syn D'Cody's vocals are what makes it ...You Promised Me A Camera ...
“Mitch and Mike were school chums…Mitch didn’t know whether to play with his dinky or his fire engine. Mike asked Billy if he played guitar — after all, it was the hope & anchor…and he wore Roger McGuinn sunglasses. They were introduced to Syn at a Brixton rodeo. Even cowgirls sing the blues…They wrote songs in a house full of aardvarks. Mitch didn’t know whether to play with the band. They twisted his arm, but he could still play guitar. They needed a drummer — luckily there was a fresh delivery from Canada — A. F. Tolson was on it. An aardvark introduced them to the midnight rumbler. They made a record in Alaska with Dave. Here it is…” ...that's all she wrote ...
Saturday 28 June 2014
Popular Mechanics
Insect Culture (1985) ...
Popular Mechanics () was a large scale multimedia group project by Leningrad musician and composer Sergey Kuryokhin ...Insect Culture, an experimental big band/performance art piece was released by Liverpool record label Ark in 1985 ...Pop Mechanics on BBC (1985) ... Clip from Insect Culture ...
"In December 1985 BBC 2 showed 12 episodes of Comrades - an epic documentary about life in the Soviet Union. Glasnost was just being conceived, and when Director Richard Denton wanted to feature non-conformist musician Sergey Kuryokhin as the main character in one of the episodes, he run into serious problems with the Soviet authorities. He didn't give up but was forced to shoot in semi-underground. The resulting film titled All that Jazz turned out to be all the more intense, magic and fascinating. Inflamed by the energy of the "wild Russians" which only heated his own enthusiasm, Colin Fallows contacted the filmmakers and through them git in touch with Kuryokhin. He offered cooperation and Kuryokhin immediately agreed .
Fallow's and Fulwell's idea was in the attempt to revive the spirit of El Lisitsky, Rodchenko, Mayakovsky, Agitprop and Blue Blouse: to consummate in the 1980 what was so organically coherent in the 1920s - the union of the avantgarde and the mass appeal. For Sergey Kuryokhin and his Leningrad friends: Africa (Sergey Bugaev), Timur Novikow and many of their artist friends from the newly found Mayakovsky Friends Club, Collin's and Peter's ideas hit home. The mass appeal for them did not so much mean success at home which for ideological reasons was then impossible. They amied at recognition and success in the West" ... A history of Insect Culture ...
Final section of Insect Culture ...
Sergey Kuryokhin on Russian TV, 1987 ...
Pop Mechanika in Liverpool (1989) ...
"BLIND ARMY ANTS, following each others trail by smell and touch, are made to march in an endless circle by placing a laboratory dish in their midst. Once started in this way on a smooth surface, they will continue marching until they die." ...from label of vinyl album ...
Sergey Kuryokhin discography ...
The Ways of Freedom (Leo Records, LR 107 (Great Britain) LP)
Introduction in Pop Mechanics (Leo Records, LR 146 (Great Britain) LP)
Popular Zoological Elements (Leo Records, LR 148 (Great Britain) LP)
Pop-Mechanics N 17 (Leo Records, LR 158 (Great Britain) LP)
Полинезия. Введение в историю (Мелодия, С60-28241 (Россия) LP)
Polynesia; Introduction to history (RCA Victor (Japan) CD)
Some combinations of fingers and passion (Leo Records, LR 179 (Great Britain) CD)
Опера богатых (Курицца Рекордс, R 60 00695 (Россия) LP)
Опера богатых (Caravan Records, CAR 023 (Россия) CD)
Popular Mechanics, Insect culture (ARK, Dove 5 (Great Britain) LP)
Популярная Механика, Насекомая Культура (SoLyd Records, SLR 0108 (Россия) CD)
Popularnaja Mechanica , What so funny about (SF 57 (Germany) LP)
Popularnaja Mechanica with Westbam — Live At Leningrad (Low Spirit, LC 8711 (Germany) EP)
Comrades (BBC Enterprises Ltd., RESL 180 (Great Britain) SP)
Morning Exercises In The Nuthouse (Sounding of the planet, SP 7138 (USA) СА)
Sparrow Oratorium (SPI and Kurizza Records, SPI-101-2 (Norway) CD)
Pop-Mechanics — Live in France Iblivyj Opossum (Kurizza Records, KRCD 002 (Russia) CD)
Трагедия в стиле рок (студия Союз , SZCD 0670-97 (Россия) CD)
Просто Опера (Long Arms Records, CD LA 96030 (Россия) CD)
Divine Madness (Leo Records, CD LR 813-816 (Great Britain) 4 CD)
Два Капитана 2 (Поп-Механика, PMC 98001 (Россия) CD)
Господин Оформитель (Поп-Механика, PMC 98003 (Россия) CD)
Eyeless In Gaza
Caught In Flux (1981) ...
More psychedelic minimalist pop, with simple guitar backed by bouncing single synth ...Martyn Bates and Peter Becker's second album (plus EP in original format) ... Quite intense vocals of Martyn Bates sound stark against the simple backing ...the soulman of eighties indie pop ...Rose Petal Knot ...
The Decoration ... ...and more ... Tracklist and artwork ...
"Radical but clear, Eyeless set the examples for others to follow by eradicating standard rock structures and starting out from now tangents. Accessible experimentalists whose work roughly moulds fresh shapes of things to come, they don't seek to advance or change rock. They seek to destroy it completely. Their alternative is to present frail labyrinth of subtle sound, a strange menagerie of modern mood music that holds melody, has poise and a lot of style. All of which is enhanced by Martyn Bates' distinctive vocals which are as versatile as they are uniquely employed. Whether crooning along to some reflective ballad or spitting out some punchy polemic, Bates' alluring voice is an awesome focus of attention" ...1981 review...
Interview 2010 ...
cherryred.co.uk ...
Reviews ...
Felt
Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty (1982) ...
Band led by Lawrence Hayward from Birmingham, England ...the first album, instrumentally minimalist (like a psychedelic rhythmless Young Marble Giants here) ... Simple two guitar meandering melodies, they became more complex, even poppy later on, but this sound is a favourite ...Evergreen Dazed ...
Templeroy ...
Friday 27 June 2014
Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes
Paix (1972) ...
French prog with a Pink Floydish sound and very intense vocals/poetry from Catherine Ribeiro (very Grace Slick or maybe Patti Smith) ... Paix was their second album, and the first of seven on the Philips label ...Paix ...
Drums: Michel Santangelli
Engineer: Andy Scott, Gilbert Preneron
Organ - Patrice Lemoine
Percussion [Percuphone], Bass Guitar: Jean-Sébastien Lemoine
Performer [Cosmophone], Guitar [Acoustic]: Patrice Moullet
Paroles: Catherine Ribeiro
Musique, orchestration et direction du groupe: Patrice Moullet
"Alice ou la dernière fugue", de Claude Chabrol (1977)
Thursday 26 June 2014
The Passage
Pindrop (1980) ...
Post-punk Mancunian art rock ...led by Halle timpanist Dick Witts...Watching You Dance (Carnival of Souls) ...
pindrop is a murky, swirling, pulsating mass. drums are pounded urgently, with organ and voice wavering in and out of the mix like some kind of aural phantasy. composition plays second fiddle to the lyrics, which are often buried in the mix anyway. alienating, even disorienting! and engineered to sound like it was recording in the same olde back alley recording studio where lynch's eraserhead soundtrack was mastered. pindrop is easily one of the most mysteriously brilliant albums ever" ... thepassage.co.uk
Fear ...
ltmrecordings.com/pindrop
Pindrop ...
Dead Can Dance
Aion (1990) ...
Formed in Melbourne but operating mainly from London since 1984, produced an ethnic-drum driven 'medieval ambient' guitar music with deadpan vocals and wailing vocalese from main members Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard ... Not fitting any genre (often labelled Goth, though more Gothic sounding), definitely post-rock ...Black Sun ...
Fortune Presents Gifts Not According To The Book ...
Fortune presents gifts not according to the book
Fortune presents gifts not according to the book
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
What various paths are followed in distributing honours and possesions
She gives awards to some and penitent's cloaks to others
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Sometimes she robs the chief goatherd of his cottage and and goatpen
And to whomever she fancies the lamest goat has born two kids
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Because in a village a poor lad has stolen one egg
He swings in the sun and another gets away with a thousand crimes
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Fortune presents gifts not according to the book
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
What various paths are followed in distributing honours and possesions
She gives awards to some and penitent's cloaks to others
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Sometimes she robs the chief goatherd of his cottage and and goatpen
And to whomever she fancies the lamest goat has born two kids
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Because in a village a poor lad has stolen one egg
He swings in the sun and another gets away with a thousand crimes
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles
Salterello (14th century Tuscany) ...
discogs.com ...
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Jon Hassell
Fourth World Volume 1: Possible Musics (1980) ...
Jon Hassell's collaboration with Brian Eno... Beyond 'world music', jazz or folk descriptions this is a synthesis of a 'new' music which trumpeter Hassell called Fourth World. Lots of Eno effects, especially over the trumpet throughout, and lots of 'ethnic sounding' rhythms in the backing which you can't quite place ...Predates 'My Life In the Bush of Ghosts' and is superior to that more famous Eno 'world ambient' collaboration ...Delta Rain Dream ...
“Jon Hassell is more than a superb musician, and more even than a gifted composer. He is an inventor of new forms of music — of new ideas of what music could be, and how it might be made. His work is drawn from his whole being, and, by implication, from his whole cultural experience without fear or prejudice. It is an optimistic, global vision that suggests not only possible musics but possible futures.” — Brian Eno
Jon Hassell interview ...
Phil Ranelin
Vibes from The Tribe (1976) ...
American jazz trombonist based in Detroit ...formed an avant-garde jazz group called The Tribe ...Mostly ignored until John McEntire (of Tortoise) reissued this album on Hefty, and subsequently remixed by Prefuse 73 ....Vibes from The tribe ...
Wife ...
"Vibes From the Tribe is a fine record. The title track (here versioned three times, and I'm not complaining) is lusciously, greasily funky and stands in pretty stark contrast to the kind of airbrushed fusion that was in vogue at the time. "Sounds from the Village" is even better (and dirtier), showcasing Ranelin's oily trombone gymnastics and a viciously fuzzed guitar solo. "Wife" features Phil's singing and is oddly reminiscent of Frank Zappa's writing on Sleep Dirt; an affecting, snaking melody topped off with a beautiful solo from the leader, whose playing here has the grace of Bob Brookmeyer coupled with the agility of George Lewis." (BBC)
and Prefuse 73's remix for Hefty ...
Tuesday 24 June 2014
This Heat
This Heat (1979) ...
First album from pre post-punk pre post-rock experimenters/innovators ...24 Track Loop ...
"we needed some way to stop it from being a heads-down jazz-rock group and turn it into something adventurous and out-reaching, with overtones of performance art"... Charles Hayward
An interview from Simon Reynolds excellent Totally Wired book ...
Horizontal Hold ...
Not Waving but drowning ...
Dalek i Love You
Compass Kum'pas (1980) ...
More Liverpool genius minimal electropop from late 1970s early 1980s ...a blend of early OMD and early Teardrop Explodes... The first album from the Dalek lovers ...Destiny ...
You Really Got Me ...
Although the band's name, Dalek I Love You (sometimes just Dalek I), inspired a radio drama and a book around Dr Who themes, their music had really no connection to Dr Who ...so it's safe to come out from behind the sofa, and enjoy ...
robinparmar.com/dalek-i-love-you ...
Monday 23 June 2014
Moacir Santos
Coisas ('Things') (1965) ...
On a Brazil theme, Moacir Santos (1924 - 2006) was a Brazilian composer. Coisas ('Things') was recorded in 1965 and represents all styles of Brazilian music ...Coisa Nr 5 ('Nana') ...
"In 1965 Mr. Santos recorded the album “Coisas” (“Things”), one of the great accomplishments of modern Brazilian music, though underrecognized at the time. It mixes marches, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, strong melodies, jazz syncopation and bracing harmony of an Ellington-like concision; it gestures at different kinds of Brazilian regional music but is overall a highly original work.
“Coisa No. 5,” from the album, was later retitled “Nanã,” given lyrics by Mario Telles, and recorded by more than 100 artists, including Sergio Mendes and Eumir Deodato." ... (Ben Ratcliff, New York Times, 2006)
Sergio Mendes 'Nana' ...
Quiet Sun
Mainstream (1975) ...
Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Bill MacCormick (Matching Mole), Charles Hayward (This Heat) split up in 1972, but reformed in 1975 to record their only album (NME Album of the Month) ...Sol Caliente ...
RongWrong
- Backing Vocals – Ian MacCormick
- Bass [Electric & Treated Bass], Backing Vocals – Bill MacCormick
- Cover – Nigel Soper
- Drums, Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals – Charles Hayward
- Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Piano [Steinway Grand], Organ [Hammond & Farfisa], Synthesizer [Vcs3] – Dave Jarrett
- Engineer – Rhett Davies
- Engineer [Assistant] – Robert Ash
- Guitar [6 & 12-string & Treated Guitars], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Phil Manzanera
- Mastered By – Porky (5)
- Photography By – Richard Wallis
- Producer – Quiet Sun
- Synthesizer, Performer [+ Treatments & Oblique Strategies] – Brian Eno
- Recorded at Island Studios, London, January 1975
Bargain Classics ...
"Informed by the progressive jazz predilections of its band members — yet rooted in the distinctive textural playing of Manzanera – the album sounds like little else of its era. Imagine if Caravan rocked (a lot) harder, and you begin to get a sense of this music.
Largely dispensing both with vocals and pop song convention, the songs on Mainstream aim for the challenging end of the pool, and nearly always hit their mark. At
times the songs feel improvised, and while tracks like “Sol Caliente”
move in multiple directions at once, they’re carefully thought-out
pieces. Manzanera’s guitar shrieks and screams while the band engages in
some tricky, jazzy playing underneath. Like modern jazz, each player’s part is inventive and worth individual attention. Like prog, there’s power and fury in much of the playing. Yet like rock, it, well, rocks." ... Rocking caravans ...
British Electric Foundation
Music for Stowaways (1981) ...
The early eighties ipod, the Stowaway was a personal cassette player with no speakers... This album was a cassette only release, as many albums at the time exploited the boom in cassette players... BEF were Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, ex of the Human League...Groove Thang ...
Wipe the slate clean ...
Titled UN (The Future 1977) ...
A previous version of Wipe the Slate Clean, from pre-Human League days ...
Sunday 22 June 2014
Joel Vandroogenbroek
Computer Blossoms (1981) ...
Library album on Coloursound label from Joel Vandroogenbroek, Belgian classical/jazz pianist and founder of band Brainticket ...Dancing Electrons ...
"Coloursound record company was created in Germany to produce records of
ambient music for documentaries, films, and for TV producers to use as
underlay music for their projects. Those records, LPs at the time, were
stored in sound libraries of TV stations and radio stations all over the
world. Those LPs were not to be sold to the public. For the artist,
this was open to any kind of music imaginable. It gave me the
possibility to explore and study all kinds of directions I liked. I let
my creativity through music go from imaginative lost continents, to old
Egypt, to Mesopotamia, to the Middle Ages to modern times with computer
music productions and space fantasies. I had complete liberty in my
work. Later, the company was sold and somehow, those records began to
appear in public. "
David Sancious & Tone
True Stories (1978) ...
David Sancious, former Bruce Springsteen Band member, and his band Tone. Vocals by Santana singer Alex Ligertwood and probably their best album ... Joyful, ecstatic, really crackling throughout ...Fade Away ...
Sound of Love ...
Gerald Carboy was the bass player of Tone ... mp3s here ...
Saturday 21 June 2014
Cluster
Zuckerzeit (1973) ...
Cluster came out of Kluster, a trio formed by Conrad Schnitzler... The new duo Moebius and Roedelius joined with Michael Rother of Neu!, to form Harmonia, and between two albums from that trio, produced the third Cluster album, Zuckerzeit. Produced by Rother it's quite different to previous Cluster works, more rhythmic and shorter melodic instrumentals ..."In 1973, the pair left the industrial environs of Berlin and Hamburg to live in the rural German village of Forst and establish a private studio. They were joined by guitarist Michael Rother of the German avant-pop group NEU!. Cluster's next release, Zuckerzeit (1974), (recorded with instruments "borrowed" from Rother while he was away) clearly reflected the change of locale.
The short, tuneful tracks are outright toe-tappers in comparison to the foreboding sounds of their previous albums. With persistent rythmn-machine grooves at the front of the mix on almost every track, Zuckerzeit reflected and perhaps anticipated the electronic pop sound that would soon be popularized by Kraftwerk on their album Autobahn." ... A short history ...
Rosa ...
Rotor (video from Marcel Duchamp) ...
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