NEIL FEATHER - Revelation of An Anaplumb @245 VBR [PRIVATE RELEASE, US, 2002] *REPOST*

One of my favorite drone pieces of the 00s.

Highly recommended and very obscure.

Enjoy.

DOLLY MIXTURE - The Demonstration Tapes @192 VBR [ROYAL MINT, UK, 1995] *REPOST*

Dolly Mixture was a British new wave band formed in 1978 by bassist and vocalist Debsey Wykes, guitarist Rachel Bor, and drummer Hester Smith. They started out as complete amateurs (rumour has it that they first got involved into the music business as the then girlfriends of The Damned members). However, they soon proved to be one of the most talented new-wave pop acts. Although they had their taste of Top 40 success as the backing vocals for the Captain Sensible's hit "Wot", as a band they remained neglected by the media and the general public alike.

01. Dream Come True
02. Ernie Ball
03. He's So Frisky
04. The Didn't Song
05. Will He Kiss Me Tonight
06. Miss Candy Twist
07. Shonay Shonay
08. How Come You're Such A Hit With The Boys, Jane?
09. Side Street Walker
10. Treasure Hunt
11. Never Let It Go
12. Angel Treads
13. Welcome to the Perfect Day
14. Step Close Now
15. Stareaway
16. In Your Eyes
17. Understanding
18. Never Mind Sundays
19. Spend Your Wishes
20. Day By Day
21. Wave Away
22. Sorry To Leave You
23. Winter Seems Fine
24. Grass Is Greener
25. Round the Corner
26. Remember This
27. Whistling In the Dark

This is the CD reissue from 1995 on Royal Mint, so no clicks and pops, as you would expect if this was a vinyl rip.

Great stuff and very difficult to locate at this superb quality.

Part 1

Part 2

Slow Uploading...

Does anyone know a way to upload files faster? I was only getting 3 kb/s upload speed today and gave up. It would take about 8-10 hours to upload just one album at that speed. I live in a more remote area, so I've got the only ISP available for my location.

My apologies for the delay in putting up new stuff. There just has to be a faster way to upload. My download speeds are sometimes 100 kb/s so I'm not sure why uploads are only 3 kb/s.

If anyone has any tips or programs I can download and install to help with uploading speed, I'd be most grateful and appreciative. I mean, I've got this music I want to share with you guys, but uploading takes forever and/or my uploads timeout after 30-50% of progress.

Thanks for any suggestions and sorry for the problems/delays. Hopefully I can get some new stuff up on Friday.

-OTM

AMC Link Removed Following Complaint

This is the only time I'm going to remove a link based on an Anonymous comment. From now on, you're going to have to sign up in order to make a comment on this blog. It's just too easy for anyone to fly in and complain about this, that and the other thing, all the while making unsubstantiated threats.

Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to complain and make low-level threats, that's perfectly okay, but at least do so with a User ID, instead of Anonymously.

For example, if you have a dispute with your neighbor over the legalities of the zoning of his property and your property, at least you both know who the other person is, when you're communicating. That's pretty important.

WOLF VOSTELL - De/Collage LP [Fluxus] @190 VBR - Multhipla, Italy, 1980(?)

Wolf Vostell (October 14, 1932 - 3 April 1998) was an important German artist after the Second World War. He was born in Leverkusen, Germany and died in 1998 in Berlin.

In 1959 he incorporated a television set into one of his works, Deutscher Ausblick (1959), which is part of the collection of the Museum Berlinische Galerie in Berlin. He was one of the pioneers of video art and the Happening and the Fluxus movement.

Vostell showed his environment "6 TV dé-coll/age" for the first time in 1963 in New York City. He is also famous for converting big American cars into sculptures of modern art such as Concrete Traffic (Chicago, USA), Ruhender Verkehr (Cologne, Germany), Beton-Cadillacs (Berlin) or VOAEX (Spain).

- Wikipedia

This LP generally sells for more than $500 whenever it turns up on eBay.

Very great and rare as hell Fluxus document.

Enjoy.

LUIGI NONO - Un Volto, E Del Mare / Non Consumiamo Marx LP @190 VBR - Rare Philips Release

Click here to view the rear cover in a large size. All the info is in French.

Not much more I could find on this one. Got it in a trade a few years ago.

Un Volto, E Del Mare (Side A)
Non Consumiamo Marx (Side B)

pour voix et bande electronique

Philips (Prospective Series?)

I seem to remember this LP selling for $200-$300 on eBay a while back.

After all, a search of "luigi nono philips consumiamo" on google turns up only 25 hits.

If anyone has any additional details, please feel free to add to the comments.

Enjoy.

MIRROR - I Paint For the Love of Colour LP @220 VBR - Idea Records, 2001, USA

Edition of 600 copies on black vinyl, another 200 copies on blue vinyl.

Both editions pressed on audiophile vinyl in a gatefold jacket.

Enjoy.

ANDREW CHALK / CHRISTOPH HEEMANN - The Mirror of the Sea - Picture Disc LP @190 VBR - Robot Records, 2000, USA

Picture disc in cut-out plain grey sleeve.

Edition of 286 copies.

Released under Christoph Heemann and Andrew Chalk's names.

Enjoy.

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB - San Francisco CD @190 VBR - Reprise, 1994, USA

This is a pretty mainstream album (when you consider all the drone/experimental, free jazz I usually post), but this is one of my favorite CDs of the 90s. Maybe you will enjoy it too?

Here's some background info:

American Music Club is a San Francisco-based band led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Although commonly lumped with other bands from the "slowcore" and "sadcore" movements, AMC is better known for mastering the disparate strands of American music into a wholly unique synthesis all their own.

Although born in California, Eitzel spent his formative years in Great Britain and Ohio before returning to the Bay Area in 1981. After a brief stint with the band The Naked Skinnies he founded American Music Club in San Francisco in 1982 with guitarist Scott Alexander, drummer Greg Bonnell, bass player Brad Johnson. The band went through many personnel changes before arriving at a stable line up of guitarist Vudi, bassist Dan Pearson, keyboardist Brad Johnson, and drummer Matt Norelli. This lineup would change over the next several years but Eitzel always remained the core of the band in terms of its vocals, lyrics and thematic focus with Vudi and Dan Pearson accompanying him on guitar and bass.

Their 1985 debut, The Restless Stranger, offers a rough outline of their increasingly eclectic sound and firmly established Eitzel's worldview, a harrowing vision of life as seen through the bottom of a shot glass. 1987's Engine honed the formula: the addition of producer Tom Mallon as a full-time member expanded the group's sonic palette.

American Music Club earned a solid cult following on the strength of 1988's California. Their next LP, 1989's United Kingdom, appeared only in the nation which lent the record its name and consisted of leftover material and live tracks.

In 1991 American Music Club emerged with the record that is widely considered their masterpiece, Everclear. Critical acclaim attracted the attention of several major labels. Eventually AMC -- now consisting of Eitzel, Vudi, Pearson, multi-instrumentalist Bruce Kaphan, and drummer Tim Mooney -- signed with Reprise in the U.S. and Virgin throughout the rest of the world.

Mercury followed in 1993 and, despite positive reviews, Mercury fared poorly on the charts and earned virtually no recognition from radio or MTV. In 1994, AMC issued San Francisco, an erratic collection which balanced confessional tunes like "Fearless" and "The Thorn in My Side Is Gone" alongside slick pop constructs. Like Mercury, the record floundered commercially and American Music Club disbanded as result.

In 2003, American Music Club reunited to record a new album, Love Songs for Patriots, which is described by reviewer Mark Deming as "a stronger and more coherent effort than the group's last set, 1994's San Francisco, and while it's too early to tell if this is a new start or a last hurrah for AMC, it at least shows that their formula still yields potent results. Here's hoping Eitzel and Vudi have more where this came from."

- Wikipedia

TRACKS:

1. Fearless
2. It's Your Birthday
3. Can You Help Me
4. Love Doesn't Belong
5. Wish the World Away
6. How Many Six Packs Does it Take to Screw in a Light
7. Cape Canaveral
8. Hello Amsterdam
9. The Revolving Door
10. In the Shadow of the Valley
11. What Holds the World Together
12. I Broke My Promise
13. The Thorn in My Side is Gone
14. I'll Be Gone
15. California Dreamin' (unlisted on CD)

Link removed due to complaint.

This is the only time I'm going to remove a link based on an Anonymous comment. From now on, you're going to have to sign up in order to make a comment on this blog. It's just too easy for anyone to fly in and complain about this, that and the other thing, all the while making unsubstantiated threats.

Don't get me wrong, if someone wants to complain and make low-level threats, that's perfectly okay, but at least do so with a User ID, instead of Anonymously.

For example, if you have a dispute with your neighbor over the legalities of the zoning of his property and your property, at least you both know who the other person is.

MIRROR - A Pilgrim's Solace CDR @ 258 VBR - Three Poplars, UK, 2003

Being an extremely limited edition and clocking in at about 32 minutes, this artifact by Chalk and Heemann is a trembling candle light, an uncertain look to a dubious future.

Contrarily to most of their records, where Mirror sooner or later take out their "big chord" after a while, "A Pilgrim's Solace" is all built around a single static cluster, a never resolving timbral group made of strings, metals and vibrating parts, giving very few clues to find a way out of the hypnotic trance.

It's music permeated with the usual sense of depth, a distinct sound that separates Mirror from any other self-defined "shaman" in the current "isolationist" area; any release by this duo is a marvel, a storm of thoughts, a movement at the bottom of your conscience.

The usual beautiful hand-made cover contributes to another piece of art.

Review by: http://spazioinwind.libero.it/

As always, this is my own rip. I don't borrow from other sites. So only the highest quality.

Limited to 150 (long sold out) copies.

Enjoy.

MIRROR - Pedestrian/Nocturne 7" @ 280+ kbps - Three Poplars, 2000, UK

The zip also includes the "Cassia Fistula" 7" on Idea Records (from 2002).

The "Cassia Fistula" release is Chalk doing a piece on one side and Heemann doing a piece on the flip side.

"Pedestrian/Nocturne" was limited to 253 numbered copies in the year 2000 and is long gone and rarely heard these days.

Enjoy.

MIRROR - Shadow CDR @ 192 kbps - Three Poplars, 2004, UK

CDR produced for the Scotland show, featuring the live recording of the performance in Nijmegen earlier that year. About 30 numbered copies were produced and came with handmade covers.

A second edition of about 40 copies was repressed with a different cover, but is not numbered.

This release is in no way related to "Shadows From the Album Skies" by Andrew Chalk!!!

Yeah, this is, um, quite rare and very sought after and very, very good!

Enjoy.

Christoph Heemann - Time Is the Simplest Thing CDR @ 192 kbps - Three Poplars, UK, 2003

72 signed copies pressed (only sold at the Jan 25, 2003 concert in Austin, Texas). An additional 30 unsigned copies were also released.

Experimental drone. A must for NWW, HNAS, Current 93, Mirror, Mimir fans.

Enjoy.

MIRROR - Islands 2xLP @ 225 VBR - Die Stadt, Germany, 2001

"Islands" finds Mirror returning to the guitar with much more successful results.

Sprawling across four sides of translucent blue vinyl, "Islands" seemlessly melts both studio sessions and live recordings from a series of recent shows in Austin, Texas.

Like all of Mirror's albums, "Islands" appears as a fragment of a much larger composition which extends well beyond the temporal constraints of any given media.

Complex ever-shifting drones and mercurial tonalities belie the instrumentation being solely guitars, as field recordings of rainstorms and shadowy metallic striations emerge within Mirror's thick ambient wash.

Of course, it's recommended.

- Aquarius Records, San Francisco

Sides A & B

Sides C & D

MIRROR - Front Row Center LP @ 210+ VBR - Die Stadt, Germany, 2000/01

The breathtakingly beautiful collaborations between Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heemann as Mirror have resulted in three superb deep listening / tonal drift records in a little under a year, with "Eye of The Storm" for Streamline, "Ringstones" for Some Fine Legacy, and this for Die Stadt.

While their production techniques revolve around blurring the sonic edges of arcane source material (highway field recordings, bowed metals, and tape machine backmasking), Mirror allows more of the source material to speak on its own with extended notes from orchestral warm-ups.

They have layered hazy passages for lengthy french horns, warm strings, and a handful of their own mysterious drones within a slow building composition. If you've fallen for Chalk's work in the past, this album will certainly impress you also.

Stunning work.

- Aquarius Records, San Francisco

MIRROR - Nights CDR @ 320 kbps - Three Poplars, UK, 2001

Sold exclusively at the Chicago shows on March 30/31, 2001.

And they only made 30.

Have at it...

"Islands" (2XLP) and "Front Row Centre" (LP) should be coming to this blog within the next 24 hours.

Please see the post below for more info on "Nights."

Thank you all for the supportive, kind comments....

I am hoping to do a new post (finally) later this evening. I really, REALLY appreciate everyone's kind words about this blog, and taking the time to comment.

I would have been back posting last weekend; however, I had a gall bladder attack @ 2AM last Saturday (10 March). I was in the hospital until this past Tuesday and am gradually getting my strength back. Apparently, you can resume your normal diet following gall bladder removal, so I think I will grab a beef and bean Burlotta and chase it down with two margarita's at the local Mexican hole-in-the-wall later tonight. :-)

Anyway....

The first post in two+ weeks will be a CDR which was limited to just 30 copies by Mirror (Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heemann). It's called "Nights." Even if you own "Nights" on vinyl already (you probably do), I ripped this CDR @ 320 for maximum fidelity and, unlike the vinyl, there's no snaps, crackles or pops in the limited to 30 copies CDR version, of course.

So, stay tuned. I think you guys will really like this one. And while I prefer other bloggers to use Rapidshare for when I go to download at their sites, I doubt I will use Rapidshare for uploading anymore. Maybe Megaupload, Turboupload, zShare, etc.

Again, thanks a million for all the positive comments and feedback (I think there's like 80 of 'em or so).

Stay well -- the Mirror is coming in a bit.

In the meantime, drop by Atlantis Audio Archive, The Thing On the Doorstep, Mutant Sounds and Direct Waves, if you haven't already in the past few days. Tons of new stuff...

-OTM

No new posts for a while

It's frustrating to see so many links dead already, having only started this blog 2 1/2 weeks ago. I can understand people complaining about the Herbie Hancock, but...

The Neil Feather?

The Alan Lamb?

9.9 out of 10 people don't even know who those artists are.

So, no new posts for a while. I may just close the blog down and start a new one this Spring/Summer. I'll have to think if it's worth it.

I appreciate everyone's comments about how to protect links, but it just doesn't work. And why should you have to go through the trouble of protecting a link to some insanely obscure release that's been out of print for years anyway?

I never did get around to posting the Charalambides "Union" LP on Siltbreeze or a lot of other extremely rare Fluxus type stuff. Maybe this Summer.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by.

Tony Conrad - Let's Trade Pants [Magic If, 2003, USA]

Really rare CDR from 2003 (later reissued on vinyl in an edition of 200 copies on Elevator Bath).

What we have here are abrasive, extended pieces for amplified, droning violin. If you enjoy the Tony Conrad box on Table of the Elements, then you'll love this.

I think only 100 or so copies of this CDR were pressed, but I'm not positive. And of course, it's long sold out and unavailable.

01. Let's Trade Pants (Improvisation #1)
02. Let's Trade Pants (Improvisation #2)
03. Let's Trade Pants (Improvisation #3)

RAR

La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela - The Tambura's of Pandit Pran Nath [2002, USA]

Eternal Music is a cumbersome concept. It is non-denominational, but religious, a sacred music that aims for a pure truth of sound. If all matter is interconnected, and no energy ever completely disappears, all sounds are occurring at all times. There is no necessary artistry or intention. It's just that somewhere in the universe, there is a 440-hertz sine wave tone that has been playing for all of time. And there are sine waves playing at all sorts of minute gradations in between 440 and 441. The whole sound spectrum, audible and inaudible, is all obliviously occurring, all the time, in the ether.

Yet, for many Minimalists, the appeal is in a certain compromise, the ability to mix culture and artistry with infinity and eternity. Draw a line from John Cale to Alan Licht and you have a strain of minimalism that deals with living in New York City as much as it deals with religiosity and transcendence. In the work of Phill Niblock, we see minimalism that deals, to some degree, with religiosity and transcendence, but it is likened to manual labor, and about the practical processes and working strategies just as much as about some sort of grand scheme of the universe. Henry Flynt, who has finally received his dues in the last two years, is particularly fascinating for his ability to infuse eternity into Americana. And this doesn't even begin to cover the more recent developments born out of Minimalist musical approaches, interest in junk collage, aggressive assault and near-complete silent resignation all have cropped up in surprising ways.

La Monte Young, on the other hand, is almost exclusively preoccupied with the grand scheme of the universe, the drone for drone's sake, the drone as an escape from the ego that seems to dominate so many other parts of his life. Whereas many other composers seem to be entirely visible in their work, La Monte's drones, perhaps due to their origin in collective group improvisation, have always seemed somehow depersonalized. Even Eliane Radigue, a decided transcendent-drone-purist, seems to seep in at the edge of her pieces, her delicate touch definitive and unmistakable. La Monte's touch is a little harder to pin down.

Perhaps nowhere is this more true than on The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath, a one 74-minute tambura drone performed solely by Young and long-time partner, Marian Zazeela. Like Young's other work, this exists in its own precious universe, a controlled environment, carefully meted-out to the public according to Young's uncompromising standards. These are the sort of stringent principles that have left this 20-year-old recording unavailable for so long, and these are the principles that have caused for any number of alterations that the 44-page liner notes go to pains to elaborate on. The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath is remastered, slowed down to slightly different pitch-ratio and edited together with extra material for the CD release, just to give an extra 14 minutes of eternity. This is the same type of obsessive artistic control that leaves so much of Young's work unavailable or unaffordable, prompting colleagues to simply ask, "What's he so afraid of?" and more urgent critics to accuse him of preserving a legacy through elite restrictedness.

Yet, for all of Young's reluctance to compromise, Tamburas is notable for being the first moderately-priced Young album in quite some time, retailing for roughly 22 dollars and considering the extended, well-informed booklet, it's not half-bad. But these earthly issues don't really concern La Monte, as he's made clear time and time again. There are only two issues of importance on this recording. The first is paying respect to his master, Pandit Pran Nath, and invoking him through a ritualistic music performance. The second issue is the rolling, endless drone that has captured La Monte's imagination ever since he listened to the electric power lines outside of his log cabin birthplace in Idaho, as the legend goes.

In many ways, this limited and narrow focus makes the music on this recording fairly easy to anticipate. The tambura makes what is perhaps one of the most recognizable sounds in Indian music, it is a purely harmonic drone, with no capacity for traditional melody. Performance on this instrument is entirely based on attention to excruciating tuning detail, a delicate balance that could be upset with the most imperceptible changes in room temperature or human touch. In the liner notes, we're assured that this recording is, in fact, miraculous; a document of a perfect tuning that reflects the heavens above and amazingly enough, remains at a perfectly static level throughout the entire performance. This build-up isn't totally unmerited; the 74 minutes do, in fact, contain a idyllic, hazy and harmonically-rich drone that solicits a particularly meditative state. Of course, if you listen closely enough, you can hear traffic moving outside of the recording studio, which, despite being ideally undesirable to La Monte, is a perfect example of what this music is missing.

By Ira Epstein

RAR

Street - School of Religious Studies - Jewelled Antler related (drone, noise) [Pink Skulls, 2004, USA]

Street follow in the dirge-y drone-y footsteps of NZ greats like the Dead C and Gate but add their own special something.

Huge warm swells of guitar, organs, effects and all sorts of other noisemakers, pulses and throbs, speckled with glitchy amp buzz and splattery industrial grind. Those same ingredients are somehow tamed briefly to force all that buzzing snarling fury into a rumbling, wheezing pop song, but a pop song pregnant with the possibility of total implosion.

The record stretches out and meanders a while, through a creaking soundscape of whining violins and rickety melodies, shimmering tonal buzz and distant clinking and clattering, before the riff drops, a basement, garage sale, no-fi Stooges dirge, with damaged guitars and tortured vocals.

- Aquarius Records

This is really, REALLY good! And was only limited to maybe 100 handmade copies, which are long gone now.

RAR

HERBIE HANCOCK - THE COMPLETE BLUE NOTE SIXTIES SESSIONS - 6 CD BOX [BLUE NOTE, 1998, USA]

This spectacular six-CD box set contains pianist-composer Herbie Hancock's entire recorded output as a leader for the Blue Note label from 1962 to 1969. This period parallels Hancock's legendary work in Miles Davis's band and documents his incorporation of Davis's concepts into his own ground-breaking brand of group improvisation.

Hancock's first recording, Takin' Off, with tenor master Dexter Gordon, yielded his first pop hit, the danceable "Watermelon Man." The next album, My Point of View, produced its similarly grooved follow-up, "Blind Man, Blind Man." Inventions and Dimensions--an underrated session--features Hancock and bassist Paul Chambers with Afro-Cuban percussion masters Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez and Willie Bobo, who marvelously marry the montuno to modal scales. Hancock's percussive pianistics pepper the anthemic, Afro-Hispanic rhythms on "Succotash," and on "Triangle," Hancock and his compadres draw a melodic sketch that moves from a 4/4 blues statement, to a Latin-tinged midsection, to the blues restatement. The bolero-ballad "Mimosa" highlights Hancock's chordal approach.

Hancock's Bill Evans/Bud Powell piano synergism emerges with his impressionistic compositional style on Empyrean Isles, which is backed by the deep-toned bass lines and cyclonic drumming of fellow Miles Davis bandmates Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The turbo-charged "One Finger Snap," the melodic musings of "The Egg," and the Motown-motored "Cantaloupe Island" are brilliantly navigated by Freddie Hubbard, on cornet, and the rhythm section. On Maiden Voyage, Hubbard switched to his customary clarion trumpet, with the towering, ex-Miles tenor saxophonist George Coleman completing the frontline. With the aquamarine imagery of the sea, Hancock and crew carve their signatures into jazz immortality on the hypnotically pointed title cut, the postbop swing of "Eye of the Hurricane" and the moving midtempo "Dolphin Dance."

Speak Like a Child features Hancock with Carter, drummer Mickey Roker, and some of finest players of the day, including trumpeter Thad Jones, flutist Hubert Laws, and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. Inspired by Gil Evans's ethereal horn arrangements, Hancock goes on an inventive improvisational magic carpet ride, from the bossa-nova-breezed title track to the subdued swing of "Toys." Hancock's last session, The Prisoner, continues the horn ensemble configuration with Buster Williams on bass and Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums in a darker, somber tone that echoed the turbulent times of 1969, as evidenced by "He Who Lives in Fear," and the Latinesque Martin Luther King tribute, "I Have a Dream."

Along with 12 alternate takes, the set also includes Hancock's recordings with other Blue Note artists, including mentor Donald Byrd on the hard bop waltz "Three Wishes"; alto and tenor sax greats Jackie McLean and Wayne Shorter on the blues-baked and elliptical "Yams" and "The Collector"; and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson on a straight-ahead rendition of the "Theme from Blow Up." A track from a failed 1966 R&B date, aptly entitled "Don't Even Go There," provides a forecast of Hancock's future forays in pop music. But for those who grew up on Herbie Hancock's funk-fusion offerings in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, this monumental collection is the treasure chest of his true jazz genius.

--Eugene Holley Jr.

TRACKS:

Disc: 1 [Here]

01. Three Wishes
02. Empty Pockets
03. Empty Pockets (Alt Tk)
04. Three Bags Full
05. Three Bags Full (Alt Tk)
06. Watermelon Man
07. Watermelon Man (Alt Tk)
08. The Maze
09. Driftin'
10. Alone And I
11. Yams

Disc: 2 [Part 1] [Part 2]

01. A Tribute To Someone
02. King Cobra
03. Blind Man, Blind Man
04. Blind Man, Blind Man (Alt Tk)
05. The Pleasure Is Mine
06. And What If I Don't
07. Succotash
08. Triangle
09. Mimosa (Alt Tk)

Disc: 3 [Part 1] [Part 2]

01. Mimosa
02. A Jump Ahead
03. Jack Rabbit
04. Oliloqui Valley (Alt Tk)
05. One Finger Snap
06. Canteloupe Island
07. The Egg
08. One Finger Snap (Alt Tk)
09. Oliloqui Valley

Disc: 4 [Here]

01. Maiden Voyage
02. The Eye Of The Hurricane
03. Dolphin Dance
04. Survival Of The Fittest
05. Little One
06. The Collector
07. Maiden Voyage
08. Theme From Blow Up

Disc: 5 [Here]

01. Riot (Alt Tk I)
02. Riot (Alt Tk II)
03. Riot
04. Speak Like A Child
05. First Trip
06. Goodbye To Childhood (Alt Tk)
07. Goodbye To Childhood
08. The Sorcerer
09. Toys

Disc: 6 [Here]

01. The Prisoner (Alt Tk)
02. The Prisoner
03. He Who Lives In Fear
04. I Have A Dream
05. Firewater
06. Firewater (Alt Tk)
07. Promise Of The Sun
08. Don't Even Go There

Organum/David Jackman Sol Mara Archives [Robot Records, 1999, USA]

Top notch experimental droning, as we have come to expect and appreciate from Mr. Jackman.

Limited (500) copies and likely sold out by now.

Includes the original version of "Sol Mara," along with 3 alternate mixes.

RAR

Mirror - Ringstones LP - NWW Related [Some Fine Legacy, 1999, Germany]

Vinyl rip of this vinyl-only limited release from Chalk/Heemann.

Fans of Ora, H.N.A.S., Mimir, Current 93, etc. should really enjoy this.

RAR

Giacinto Scelsi - Early Versions of his String Quartets [Fore, Double LP, 1983, France]

Beyond rare early 80s recordings of Scelsi's string quartets. When these performances were realized (July 1982) Scelsi was alive, even.

As gracious commenter DP noted:

Something notable about these, and I didn't see this in the description or link, is that Scelsi was alive for these performances, and this was shortly after people started attending to him in Europe. He was in contact with Arditti during these recordings, which suggests an authenticity that the new (year 2000+) recordings don't have (his notation is so difficult).

Another notable aspect is that Quartet number 5 is not finished at the time of these recordings, although he was working on it. This is why these are THE four quartets, rather than four of five.

The record label is Fore (France) and not many of these were pressed or released.

And I know I always say "Don't miss this one!" but this holds especially true here.

Vinyl LP #1
Vinyl LP #2

If you download both parts, you will get:

• Quartet No. 1
• Quartet No. 2
• Quartet No. 3
• Quartet No. 4
• Arc-en-ciel
• Duo per violino e violoncello

Arditti String Quartet

For additional info please check here.

Diesel Guitar - Stream Of Lights - Japanese Drone [FMN Sound Factory, 2002, Japan]

One of the BEST Japanese drone CDs ever - don't miss!


TRACKS:

01. [Untitled] Recorded Live At Koki-ji Temple In Osaka, June 2000 (8:39)

02. [Untitled] Osaka Zokei Center In Osaka, October 1998 (8:24)

03. [Untitled] Recorded Live At Koki-ji Temple In Osaka, June 2000 (19:59)

04. Osaka Zokei Center In Osaka, October 1998 (10:04)

05. [Untitled] Recorded In Niigata, June 2001 (14:35)

06. [Untitled] Recorded In Niigata, June 2001 (7:04)

RAR

Monos - Everyday Soundtracks - NWW Related - [NIL, 2001, UK]

Limited to just 50 or so handmade copies back in 2001.

Each copy had a different picture cut-out pasted to the front cover.

Three long untitled tracks.

Experimental, Minimal, Ambient

RAR

Eric Lunde - Suites For Solo Analog Cassette Recorders [Self-released, 2002, USA]

Limited to 30 numbered copies and housed in a wooden box.

The recordings are composed of 4 different cassette recorders recording themselves through their own condenser mic.

Each deck was placed into a sound-proof box and allowed to record the sound of their own mechanism for 30 minutes.

TRACKS:

1-1 1999 Aiwa RM-P300 (31:34)
1-2 1996 Sony CFS-B11 (31:49)

2-1 1986 Sony TCM-858 (31:39)
2-2 2001 Fostex F-14 Four Track (31:21)

Sorry - no picture.

Recommended, but get the Diesel Guitar above before this.

Disc 1:

RAR

Disc 2:

RAR

1/2 JAPANESE - 1/2 GENTLEMEN/NOT BEASTS - 2 CD BOX [T.E.C. TONES, 1994, USA]

Rock'n'roll started as a medium in which the three-chord song reigned supreme — until, of course, some wise guys got the idea that four chords, then five (and so on) would make it even better. It took years of such high-falutin' thought before a pair of Maryland-via- Michigan brothers emerged with just the opposite notion, paring rock'n'roll down to no chords — and promptly announcing their excitement over this development by issuing a three-record box set as their debut album. Jad Fair, America's preeminent and enormously influential idiot savant of revealingly primitivist rock, built a professionally amateurish career on a uniquely honest and unselfconscious approach to music making, originally with his brother David. (What must mom and dad Fair have thought?)

In the decades since Half Japanese took shape, it's still not entirely clear that "real" chords have ever really entered the picture. In fact, David Fair, who contributed sporadically to the band for many years, has been quoted as advising would-be guitarists not to feel encumbered by any rules at all, insisting, "It's your guitar, after all."

Half Japanese was indisputably at its most unsettling when the Fairs had no outside input. The 7-inch Calling All Girls EP crammed together nine id-bursts (like "Dream Date" and "Shy Around Girls") that rank among rock's most uninhibited expressions of sex as cause for terror, topped off with a title track that does pretty much what it promises — an extended salutation to Kate Smith, Ronee Blakely and Paloma Picasso (among dozens of others).

But even the unfiltered nature of that fusillade was no preparation for 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts, a 50-song portrait of the artist as a young man clawing to get back into the womb. As he rolls around on the rickety post-Shaggs bed of guitar and drums that comprises "Hurt So Bad" and "No Direct Line From My Brain to My Heart," Jad inflicts as much self-abuse as Iggy did with broken glass a decade before. Not that these are nihilistic manifestos. Quite the contrary: on songs like "I Love Oriental Girls" and "Ann Arbor, MI.," Jad comes across as the archetypal man who loves too much, a trait he parlays into stalker-like obsession on the tenaciously bent "Patti Smith." Although dotted with a goodly number of virtually unrecognizable covers (Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue," Springsteen's "10th Avenue Freeze Out"), 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts sounds absolutely like nothing that came before it — and little that's come since.

- Trouser Press

Disc: 1

01. No Direct Line from My Brain to My Heart
02. 10th Avenue Freeze Out
03. Ta Sheri Ta Ta
04. My Girlfriend Lives Like a Beatnik
05. Her Parents Came Home 06. Shhh/Shhh/Shhh
07. Girls Like That
08. RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
09. No More Beatle Mania
10. Tangled Up in Blue
11. Patti Smith
12. School of Love
13. Jodie Foster
14. Shy Around Girls
15. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
16. Bogue Millionaires/Cool Millionaires
17. TN TN TN TN Ki
18. I Can't Stand It Anymore
19. I Love Oriental Girls
20. Dream Date
21. Du du Du/ Du du Du
22. Ain't Too Proud to Beg
23. Ann Arbor, Mi
24. I'm Going to the Zoo
25. Shi Yi Yi
26. Rave On
27. I Ta Na Si Na Mi Eee
28. Till Victory
29. Rip My Shirt to Shreds
30. I Don't Want to Have Mono No More
31. She Cracked
32. BBBBBBBB/BBBBBBBBB

Disc: 2

01. Funky Broadway Melody
02. I'm Sorry
03. T/T/T/T/T/T
04. Worst I'd Ever Do
05. Live in Baltimore MD.
06. Live in Washington DC
07. Battle of the Bands
08. Worst I'd Ever Do
09. Ann Arbor, Mi
10. School of Love
11. Her Parents Came Home
12. Shy Around Girls
13. Dream Date
14. Bogue Millionaires/Cool Millionaires
15. Knock on Wood
16. Top Secret
17. Guitar Solo
18. Calling All Girls

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Jen Wood - Getting Past the Static [Win Records, 1997, USA]

Seattle-raised acoustic prodigy Jen Wood may speak softly, but she carries a big guitar. On her debut solo release, Getting Past the Static, Wood does just that, but not with raucous songs cast above the din.

Instead, she turns to the delicate power of acoustic melodies, vocal harmonies and spare song structures. At 21, Wood has an uncanny knack for zeroing in on moments of greatest emotional tension, crafting nuanced, haunting melodies that turn those moments inside out.

Before you run off crying "Jewel!" understand that Wood is neither overly-earnest nor precociously self-conscious. When she sits down to strum out the 10-minute "Caught Halo," it's actually worth 10 minutes of your time. --Nick Heil

I first came across this CD at an indie rock record shop in Washington D.C. in February 1999, while on vacation with friends.

It was an unforgettable discovery.

Really nice and contains several songs I could easily include on my Top 100 Songs Of All Time list.

Very intimate, unique.

TRACKS:

01. Invitation To Plastic
02. Caught Halo
03. Three Thorns Torn
04. Bend
05. Candy
06. Sent Over
07. Your Turn
08. Q Is For Question
09. Bullet Box
10. Spoken For
11. Stay
12. Ocean

Personal favorite songs on this are "Invitation To Plastic, "Three Thorns Torn" and "Bend" ... so don't miss those.

Really beautiful music. And hard to believe Jen was only 19 or 20 when she recorded this.

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Jliat - When We Focus On Nothing As Opposed To The Set Or Subset Of Infinite Events With Whatever Intellect... [Komrades In Noize, 2000, UK]

"When We Focus On Nothing As Opposed To The Set Or Subset Of Infinite Events With Whatever Intellect We Have In That Moment The Conscious State Becomes Aware Of The Alternative To The Infinity Of States Which In Its Apprehension Is Enlightenment."

Yeah, that's the actual title of the CD.

If you don't know who/what Jliat is, this is a nice place to start.

Electronic, Abstract, Experimental, Ambient

Maybe 200 copies pressed and long sold out, of course.

A classic.

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Monos - Promotion - NWW Related - [NIL 01, 2000, UK]

Second Monos release from 2000. Was limited to just 50 copies or so.

Fans of Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Mimir, Ora, etc. should really like this.

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Golden Ax's - 2 - [Audible Hiss, 1996, USA]

Two chicks in a Brooklyn apartment humming and strumming.

Something about the atmosphere here is quite sublime.

It's lo-fi out of necessity.

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PAUL PANHUYSEN / JOHAN GOEDHART - LONG STRING INSTALLATIONS - 3 LP BOX - FLUXUS [APOLLO RECORDS, 1986, THE NETHERLANDS]

Paul Panhuysen (Holland, 1934), a student of art and a painter himself, founded Holland's equivalent of the Fluxus movement. His early installations were inspired by Cage's dadaism and indeterminacy. He began experimenting with "long strings" (really long strings) in 1982, with more and more bizarre installations that hang strings both indoors and outdoors. The 3LP box-set Long String Installations (1985) collects his early installations, mostly collaborations with Johan Goedhart.

Long string instruments have been a popular form of working with the coupling of sound and space as a compositional subject. The basic principle they work upon is the amplification of longitudinal waves in strings rather than transverse waves. That is, what is heard is the expansion and contraction of the length of the string, not the perpendicular displacement of the string. Thus, long string instruments can actually be "played" by the wind, by sounds travelling through the air, or by merely brushing the string horizontally. Long string instruments exist all over the globe, with instruments on the Isle of Wight, Nova Scotia, New Zealand, Australia and germany. Some Americans who have worked in this medium are Ellen Fullman, Terry Fox, Phil Niblock, Tom Johnson, and Alvin Lucier.

Lucier's Music on a Long Thin Wire is the most well-known example of a long string instrument. It is a different implementation than the one described above. Instead of being excited via rubbing the string with hands or other objects, the string (necessarily metal wire) is placed between the poles of a magnet, causing it to oscillate as the polarity of the magnet changes. Different harmonics can be excited by different positions and frequencies of the magnet. Lucier's score calls for performers to "... design musical performances consisting of a series of any number of phrases which explore the acoustic properties of a single vibrating wire." (Lucier and Simon, p160) Two important artists working with this medium should be discussed in greater detail, because their work embraces broader compositional and technical concept, bringing the long string instrument to new technical and conceptual levels. Paul Panhuysen and Johan Goedhart have been creating site-specific installations for many years, with a body of over 40 different works. The work developed out of an invitation to do an installation in a particular space. Their response to the space was to highlight aspects of the architecture with strings. Panhuysen talks about this method of working: "A space always evokes a statement in me. There's always a dialogue. Sometimes a space is so beautiful that I just want to pay tribute to it, just want to emphasize its structure. Sometimes we like to change the idea of a space ... " (Van Peer, p. 133)

Their first long string instrument was an installation in Mainz. When invited to make a work for the hall, Panhuysen and Goedhart wanted to create something which would employ the specific architectural and atmospheric qualities of the hall. "We wanted to make an artwork from the entire space using as few means and interventions as possible, a drawing in three dimensions, and we chose steel strings, known as 'Swedish music wire' for our drawing material." (Panhuysen, p. 2) The inclusion of sound into the work was gradual, beginning with the chosen strings. Later, they found that "the strings seemed to be better visible when they were sounded." With the decision that sound should be a part of this environment, they began working with resonators and amplifiers for the hall. When they were finished, "The space itself became a huge instrument whose sound fitted the atmosphere of the building." (Panhuysen, p. 2)

Since then, Panhuysen and Goedhart have created over 40 string installations in the past 10 years. In each installation new technical features are included. The have experimented with many kinds of string, and various forms of electret and piezo-electric pickups for electronically amplifying sounds. They have incorporated various musical instruments into their installations, including guitars and a piano suspended via strings in their "Hommage to Franz Liszt". They have worked mostly with justly tuned strings.

An interesting feature of Panhuysen and Goedhart's work is that it does not continually generate sound. It exists as an instrument, silent until played by a person. In this manner it requires, and possibly invites action on the part of the viewer. The potentiality of sound exerts a force on the space. When the instrument is inactive it can still be appreciated for it's form, it's beauty; the existence of multiple states of the instrument broadens its possibilities. The different states have different energies, as the still life has different energies than the action drawing, which play off each other. When silent it sits like an inverted shadow, augmenting or outlining the architectural lines of the space. Or it looks like it's in repose, in an 'unnatural' stasis. When played, the room vibrates with the sound of the strings, which visually thicken when vibrating, producing a sort of glow. The performances intensify what was already there.

These performances are long, through-composed works incorporating the harmonic-rich sounds of the strings with the explosive sounds possible by "overdriving" the strings, causing them to vibrate against the tiny transducers which pickup the sounds and connect to amplifiers. The Macunias Ensemble, named after George Macunias, the founder of Fluxus, specializes in improvisation on Panhuysen and Goedhart's installations. They include their sparse instrumentation ('cello and voice) in the works composed for the installations. Other concerts on the instruments have been performed by dancers as well, choreographing the actions of playing the strings and movements between the strings.

This inclusion of so many 'genres' of art into one body of work seems unforced here. It is a natural direction of Panhuysen and Goedhart's working with space, and watever occupies that space. Arnold Dreyblatt, a German music reviewer discussed one of their works in Berlin: "At performances of these 'String Installations', it is often difficult to tell if the audience is 'in' the installation or is looking 'at' it; whether the performers are playing 'on' a string 'instrument' or are performing 'in' it. If the long strings are 'binding' the walls, columns, floors and ceilings together, where does the instrument end and the room begin? One often has the sensation of standing within the resonating box of a giant stringed instrument." (from Long String Instruments, liner notes).

An inspiring feature of Panhuysen and Goedhart's work is that it has evolved by acts of inclusion. Beginning with a purely spatial installation, they included sound because it directly coincided with their approach to outlining and exploring spaces. The inclusion of sound led to the inclusion of performances of music, due to the nature of sound production with which they were dealing. The inclusion of performance finally led to the inclusion of performed movement, or dance. What is important to note is that while Panhuysen and Goedhart have certainly created a hybrid form of art, their work does not fit any one genre, they have not excluded those genre's from their work. The long string installation at Mainz had multiple states; those states could be as an art installation, musical performance space and dance performance space. Panhuysen and Goedhart have not insisted on remaining boxed out of these arts, they have refused to be hemmed in by them.

This box has gone for $300 or more on eBay in the past, so here's a chance to preview it for free (someone in the UK is selling it right now, as a matter of fact). In addition, none of these pieces were ever issued on CD, to my knowledge, thereby making this an attractive, desirable set.

Side 1:

"The Twins" (20:40)
recording location: Metronom, Barcelona, Spain
date recorded: 5.6.1985

Side 2:

"Standing Waves" (10:48)
recording location: Kunstlerhaus, Stuttgart, F.R.G.
date recorded: 20.5.1985

"Circus" (10:13)
recording location: Ancien Cirque d'Hiver, Liege, Belgium
date recorded: 21.4.1985

Side 3:

"Two Symmetric Automats" (20:54)
recording location: Werkstatt Sudstadt, Hannover, F.R.G.
date recorded: 29.6.1985

Side 4:

"Jan Huygen I" (10:01)
"Jan Huygen II" (10:04)
recording location: Werkstatt Sudstadt, Hannover, F.R.G.
date recorded: 29.6.1985

Side 5:

"The Paal" (9:28)
recording location: Municipal Museum, Arnhem, The Netherlands
date recorded: 25.5.1985

"Day Glo" (6:23)
recording location: Werkstatt Sudstadt, Hannover, F.R.G.
date recorded: 28.6.1985

"Steelband" (5:18)
recording location: Het Klein, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
date recorded: 15.6.1985

Side 6:

"Spider" (3:00)
recording location: Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
date(s) recorded: 28-30.5.1983

"Splitlevel" (2:30)
recording location: Cultureel Sentrum, Tilburg, The Netherlands
date(s) recorded: 26-28.8.1983

"Carillon" (2:54)
recording location: De Kijkschuur, Acquoy, The Netherlands
date(s) recorded: 10.3-24.4.1984

"Gymnasium" (2:00)
recording location: Provinciaal Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Hasselt, Belgium
date(s) recorded: 8.6-8.7.1984

"Requiem" (2:30)
recording location: Espace Nord 251, Liege, Belgium
date(s) recorded: 20.4-15.5.1985

"The Paal" (4:56)
recording location: Municipal Museum, Arnhem, The Netherlands
date(s) recorded: 25.5-1.8.1985

"Two Symmetric Automats" (2:59)
recording location: Werkstatt Sudstadt, Hannover, F.R.G.
date(s) recorded: 28-30.6.1985

Note: The tracks on each side are not separated, so as to preserve the original listening experience.

Sides 1 & 2

Sides 3 & 4

Sides 5 & 6

All are @ 192 VBR

ORGANUM - BIRDS' WINGS WERE GLUED TO THEIR BODIES AND THEIR FEET FROZE TO THE GROUND - H.N.A.S.-related [DIE STADT, 1999, GERMANY]

Organum is the project of elusive composer and visual artist David Jackman. An artist who began his career in the U.K. with experimental group Scratch Orchestra alongside Cornelius Cardew. This seminal improvisational group was also the breeding ground for Amm and the New Zealand percussion composer Phil Dadson.

Jackman's work as Organum was documented on limited-edition vinyl LPs in the '80s, and in the '90s he released numerous CDs. The albums Submission, released by Complacency in the U.S., and Veil of Tears, on Matchless, exhibit a strongly minimalist aligned music, with an attention to the sonic effects of massed string drones and metal percussion. Many Organum recordings were made as location specific happenings, taking advantage of unusual reverberant spaces to enhance the music performance, such as tunnels, caves, and a highway overpass, as well as many outdoor natural environments.

Highly regarded in avant-garde music circles, he has worked with members of Nurse With Wound, Jim O'Rourke, Robert Hampson of Main, and Christophe Heenmann of H.N.A.S. This dark ambient drone music that at times recalls the minimalist violin drones of Tony Conrad or the electronic soundscapes of Mophogenesis, although it is often called post-industrial, it is far from the futuristic imagery conjured by such a tag. In fact, this music has roots in Medieval and Eastern ritual music, hence Jackman has titled one of his works "Kammer," which references the early music genre of the same name.

On the collaboration CD Crux + Flayed on Matchless, Jackman and percussionist Eddie Prevost used electronics to transform sounds of a drum and cymbal improvisation that results in a dense drone alive with overtones and harmonics. This approach differed from the heavily reverberated strings improvisations of prior works. Akin to the work of David Toop and Max Eastly, in that it is inspired by British minimalism, free improvisation, and sound sculpture, the music is Zen-like and can be simultaneously elating and dark.

- Sylvie Harrison, All Music Guide

Edition of 700 copies. Three [long] tracks, untitled.

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192 VBR

ZOVIET FRANCE - SHOUTING AT THE GROUND [RED RHINO, 1988, UK]

Zoviet*France: is an idiosyncratic collective of anonymous postindustrialists, dronologists, and pseudo-ethnomusicologists. Their investigations have taken them into fictional cultures where nothing is easily located and reality often slips into the hypnagogic.

Having secluded themselves in Newcastle, England since their inception in 1982, :Zoviet*France: have developed a radical relationship with the cheap technologies of old-fashioned tape recorders, homemade acoustic instruments, primitive looping and sampling devices, and basic dub trickery.

From these machines, the collective has crafted a distinctly unique vocabulary of postindustrial sonic hypnosis. Just as :Zoviet*France:'s sound was alchemic reconfigurations of inexpensive technologies, their vinyl packaging literally covered their sounds with aluminum, roofing shingles, and porcelain.

Members in alphabetical order Paolo di Paolo (1984-1986), Andy Eardley (1990-1995), Lisa Hale (1980-1981), Peter Jensen (1980-1984), Ben Ponton (1980-present), Mark Spybey (1987-1989), Robin Storey (1980-1992), Mark Warren (1995-present)

01 Smocking Erde (2:52)
02 Palace Of Ignitions (2:14)
03 Come To The Edge (8:50)
04 Revenue Of Fire (2:06)
05 Dybbuk (1:26)
06 Camino Real (1:50)
07 Stocc Blawers (2:22)
08 Fickle Whistle, Hand Over Your Ears (3:35)
09 Carole The Breedbate (1:47)
10 Marrch Dynamic (2:48)
11 Wind Thief (1:35)
12 Shamany Enfluence (21:03)
13 The Death Of Trees (15:14)

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192 VBR

ORA - DISTANCES - NWW RELATED [GNOME, 1999, UK]

Rare 1999 release. Five untitled tracks (none of the tracks on this release were ever titled). Nice ambient, drone music.

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192 VBR

MAURICIO KAGEL - EXOTICA/TACTIL [DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON, 1970/71, GERMANY]

Mauricio Kagel (born Buenos Aires, December 24, 1931) is an Argentine composer who has lived in Cologne, Germany since 1957. He is most famous for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance.

Many of his pieces give specific theatrical instructions to the performers, such as to adopt certain facial expressions while playing, to make their stage entrances in a particular way, to physically interact with other performers and so on. His work has often been compared to the theatre of the absurd.

Staatstheater (1971) is probably the piece that most clearly shows his absurdist tendency. It is described as a "ballet for non-dancers", though in many ways is more like an opera, and the musical instruments used include chamber pots and enema equipment. As the work progresses, the piece itself, and opera and ballet in general, becomes the subject matter. Similar is the radio play Ein Aufnahmezustand (1969) which is about the incidents surrounding the recording of a radio play.

Kagel has also made films, with Ludwig van (1970) being one of the best known. In it, a reproduction of Beethoven's composing studio is seen, as part of a fictive visit of the Beethoven House in Bonn. Everything in it is papered with sheet music of Beethoven's pieces. The soundtrack of the film is a piano playing the music as it appears in each shot. Because the music has been wrapped around curves and edges, it is somewhat distorted, but recognisably Beethovenian motifs can still be heard. In other parts, the film contains parodies of radio or TV broadcasts connected with the "Beethoven Year 1770". Kagel later turned the film into a piece of sheet music itself which could be performed in a concert without the film - the score consists of close-ups of various areas of the studio, which are to be interperated by the performing pianist.

Kagel has also written a large number of more conventional, "pure" pieces, including orchestral music, chamber music, and film scores. Many of these also make references to music of the past.

RAR [Exotica]

192 VBR

RAR [Tactil]

192 VBR