Nadja – "When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV" (The End Records – TE134) 2009

As it says on the sticker on the front......"Toronto ambient/shoegaze/drone duo NADJA illustrate their diverse roots by covering some of their favorite artists: My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, A-ha, The Swans, Codeine, Slayer, Elliot Smith and Kids In The Hall. This album contains eight carefully-selected covers re-imagined through NADJA's unique sonic blueprint." 

Oh How they try....I love this sentence from the promo sticker..."carefully-selected covers re-imagined".Right. 

When a musician has lost their Mojo,and are scrambling for ideas,they either steal them from lesser mortals and claim them as products of their undoubted genius, or they stoop to the 'Covers Album' reset mode and claim they are paying a humble tribute to the artists who inspired them in their formative years. David Bowie is one of the few artists who have done both in their lauded career,always being seen around where the action is before releasing another album in the series before the person he stole from,and even having them in the band,which made it easier.He also made "Pin Ups",his covers album,when he was devoid of ideas, and use his star power to cajole any gullible chums to nick the odd riff off;with no credit of course.

They've all done it those genius's, even the magnificent Duran Duran,with their sickeningly disingenuous "Thank You". Voted the worst album of all time by the equally sickening "Q" magazine,which included the famously cloth-eared recording of "911 is a joke" as made by  millionaire white guys making a joke out of the rap classic about systemic racism.Don't you just love 'em.....I do and I ain't joking.

Last years bogie man Nick Cave ,when failing to find a way to not sound like every solo album he's ever made, tried to show us ignorants his impeccable taste by predictably recording tastefully selected forgotten country classics and crooning blues dirges;but also joining Duran Duran in fucking over a Velvet Underground number......that at least deserves some respect......not a lot....but some?

Elvis Costello did a drearily dreadful album of Country classics did he not? Another burk in the impeccable good taste club.

An accusation  we can not repeat about Metallica whose consummately terrible taste, is responsible for wiping their arses on classics from Killing Joke, Motorhead and Black Sabbath? No clever reconstrustions of  non-rock tunes done with a splash of humour like The Melvins' borderline 'good' "Everybody Loves Sausages" from 2013, when Buzz must have hit a creative wall.Notable high spots were a Throbbing Gristle Cover which is not actually a cover but an "interpretation", and a not to be missed version of 1st album Jam's "Art School",where the boys show off their finely honed English 'Oi' accents......I don't remember Dick Van Dyke being in The Jam,but apparently he was? I suppose I should name a cover versions collection that doesn't suck balls in any way whatsoever hadn't I,or you might think me a right cynical ol'Bastard twat Cunt?......The answer is not a musical version of 42, even though it certainly is.....i'm gonna have to say that "For Ladies Only" by the beyond great Killdozer is indeed the best covers album ever made.....go on,change my mind!.

It's all just a bit of fun innit,we all wanna make a covers album don't we?......here's one for the boys.....what would you put on your covers album? 12 tracks limit, answers on a postcard,entries arrive no later than the moment Putin's successor activates the Nuclear codes.

Although I could write about cover albums by narcissists 'til the cows come home, we are being distracted from the subject of this post,about the Covers album by Canadian Dreamsludge duo Nadja.

A duo whose sub-genre definition falls between many stools,but on this occasion, maybe just Shoegaze is appropriate,and cleansing in its simplicity.Especially as it opens with a crawling "My Bloody Valentine" cover dowsed in treacle played at 16rpm (why do these modern record players no longer have 16 or 78 as an option?).In fact if there is one criticism, it's that it's not slow enough.

Underrated Norwegian Pop Trio, A-Ha, get dragged through the sludge to great effect, as,predictably,does Swans.Maybe a Swans cover played in the style of The Wedding Present would have been a better idea methinks.....we know very well they're influenced by Michael Gira's slothful combo,and we know what they sound like too.

I had to look up Elliot Smith(track 6)......a dead bloke,who plays fragile minimal acoustic numbers. I suppose it makes a change from Syd Barratt?.......although one would have loved to hear a Dreamsludge version of "Dark Globe" one must admit.

Alas, as with all these cover albums, one,as the listener, is rapidly titillated at what these crazy katz are gonna do with your favourite songs,that it very quickly fizzles out then fades away,and we return to the original versions with a new vigor,'cus cover version are crap aren't they?

So as 'pop' music becomes the new Classical,and we all run out of tunes and new ideas, and music returns to the art of Interpretation only, as it has been in the Classical music world for the last two hundred or so years. No-one can berate the ol' Ludwig Van for having no new material anymore, except via those in the medium community of rip-off merchants and exploiters,who regularly channel new Beethoven pieces from the spirit world......even though some Pop Stars,musicians and their like, evidently think that they ARE Beethoven reborn.

Still waiting for that 10th Symphony Lud.......if possible an Ambient Doom version please Vielen Danke in advance.

Tracklist:

1. Only Shallow 6:35
2. Pea 4:09
3. No Cure For The Lonely 6:56
4. Dead Skin Mask 10:06
5. The Sun Always Shines On TV 6:01
6. Needle In The Hay 4:45
7. Long Dark Twenties 6:35
8. Faith 12:47

DOWNLOAD the sun shines out of their arses on TV HERE!

Shit And Shine – "Shit And Shine" (Judgement Dispenser – JD#003) 2009

 As 'Industrial' music goes,it's hard to distinguish which 21st century acts display an acceptable face of product development as opposed to a bunch of Metalheads who heard Second annual report and a whitehouse LP,and mistook them for the new Sunn(((((0 album.

You can't blame 'em i suppose,as Metal inhabits the same musical dead-end as  Industrial musik does, and almost the same preponderance to invent as many sub-genres as possible to counter the valid accusations that it all sounds the fucking same!? 

The source of much of the problem is a wanton lack of a sense of humour, in both genres and their related,and very very silly, Sub-generic kissin' cousins .

Basically there's also so fucking much of this stuff, especially within the Industrial bracket,as its i actually a lot easier to make than almost any other form of Rock'n'Roll and its derivatives.You do actually have to have some basic skills to make a Doom Metal record,whereas in the grey Industrial hinterland, you need nothing except a lap top these days.In the old Skool tapes, that consisted of a double cassette deck, an echo box,a mike, and a distortion pedal, which actually looked better perched on a couple of Milk crates than the now standard two twats and a laptop,

Can't really think of any Metal bands with a sense of humour actually,but there are a few Industrial derived combo's who show this admirable trait, even if it is lost in the diaspora of uncountable generic Industrial MP3 files that are threatening the existence of any musical maldives out there in this too much of everything world we are saddled with for the near to mid-term future...if you can call it a 'Future'.

I can think of Smell and Quim and various offshoots, and this multi-drummer drone-psych-noise unit similarly tongue in cheek combo from the UK, Shit'n'Shine.

It could have been the name of a seventies cleaning product were it not for the naughty word,like a power electronics version of the Shake'n'Vac song.

The first side of this C-40 treats us to a unifying blend of Doom Metal as it should sound,and soul-crushing noise. Side B, is more yer power Electronics, but without the fucking silly murder stuff.Its brutal,and doesn't take prisoners or itself too seriously.Sadly,my only criticism is that this combo do that 21st century thing of releasing too many records, and they are on the great diluter site of Band-fucking-Camp. You can get dozens of the same thing here if you're so inclined.....it's all good,but not allllll good if you get what I'm sayin'?

Industrial culture has been watered down so much there's nothing left to cancel,and the product description is verging on the illegal.I wager even yer bank manager has invested in an original Leather Nun cassette,and a few VOD Sutcliffe Jugend box sets.Its all about as subversive as a Jeffrey Archer novel.

Recorded live in Belgium I gather?

Tracklist:

Side A (20:01)

Side B (20:08)

DOWNLOAD to do the shit'n'Shine to put the odour back HERE!

Henry Cow – "A Cow Cabinet Of Curiosities" (ReR Megacorp – HC1000) 2009

All you lot already have all the Henry Cow albums right?...bit of a shit band name really innit?

Never liked portrayals of socks either.

Just the name 'enry cow invokes within me the whiff of patchouli oil joss sticks and ethnic art objects;not because 'Enry were a bunch of smelly hippies,quite the opposite...almost.....the basement shop that i first encountered album sleeves with unpleasant reimaginings of socks aboard was situated underneath the most unashamedly Hippie apothecary in post-punk Leicester....the "Very Bazaar"...geddit?....Underneath the whiffy smokey atmosphere of street level Very Bazaar,lay the only place in Leicester you could buy Whitehouse records,Recommended Records, Half Japanese, reggae Dub 10 inchers,The Residents  ,and Henry Cow!?.... When i got my first Dole Giro, to the value of 32 quid...I cashed it in, got on my Bike and went to the subterranean Very Bazaar record shop,with its matt black painted brick decor and homemade record racks.(the upstairs bit still exists!?)A bit as i imagine a gift shop run by Crass would have looked. The record bit was ran by an amiable mustachioed chap called Steve,and Lydon's mate ,Jock MacDonald's brother Martin,who loved Lynard Skynard previously, before he encountered johnny Rotten in the Pub next door to the shop (the Globe),then suddenly he became a Punk Rocker overnight.The record shop also became a one room Bollock Brothers tribute ,as brother Jock was a member.Last i heard of Martin he was wanted in Greece for drug offences,and was running away to hideout in Ireland.

Anyway, I digress;on giro(my benefits cheque) day,I came away with, the Cravats In Toytown, This Heat's Deceit, Metabolist "Hansten Klork","Whitehouse's Dedicated to Peter Kurten in yellow vinyl, and Henry Cow's "In Praise Of Learning". I think there may have been a Pink Military 12inch in there too.....ah blood and lipstick.And i still had two quid left for a lemon split bun and an ice cream soda,how punk rock is that(?) from Brucciani's....RIP!

So,as you lot have already got everything by 'Enry, here's that limited edition bonus disc from the 50th anniversary box set thingy, which you've already got of course. If you haven't i might upload the box set with an iTunes style bit rate of 192k,'cus it's massive and i'm running out of storage space.

Here's a 1972 style review of the album to finish:

"Track one sounds like Soft Machine,but the rest doesn't."

Notes:

Tracks 1 & 2: recorded in our rehearsal place probably in 1972
Tracks 3, 4, 5 & 6: extracted from a forgotten tape I gave to Steve Feigenbaum in 1978. The original recordings were presumably made on cassettes run from the mixing desk.
Track 7: out-take from "In Praise Of Learning" mixed by Tim Hodgkinson at Cold Storage in 1984.
Tracks 8, 9 & 10: recorded at a public concert for NDR Jazz Workshop, Hamburg on 26th March, 1976
Track 11: recorded at a public concert at the Sendesaal, Studio F, Radio Bremen, on 22nd of March, 1978, for New Jazz Live.
Track 12: extract from an Unrest out-take mixed by Tim Hodgkinson at Cold Storage in 1984.

Tracklist:

1 Pre Virgin Demo 1 3:55
2 Pre Virgin Demo 2 1:02
3 Unidentified Improvisation 1 1:30
4 Unidentified Improvisation 2 5:37
5 Unidentified Late Composition 2:04
6 Exploded Amygdala / Teen Introduction 3:37
7 Lovers Of Gold 6:29
8 Hamburg 6 5:33
9 Ruins Extract 8:24
10 Hamburg 7 9:44
11 Half The Sky 5:03
12 Extract From The Glove 2:19

DOWNLOAD and hear this crazy moozic straight from the cow's mouth HERE!

Orphan Fairytale ‎– "Ladybird Labyrinth" (Ultra Eczema ‎– Ultra Eczema 67) 2009

 As it turns out, Ultra Eczema is a rather splendidly good label....I mean they released a vinyl Preggy Peggy album!!?

I like the album cover for this one, a psuedo for one Belgian Bird,Eva Van Deuren, who tinkles menacingly on her keyboards,and electronic gear, to make sinister soundtracks for imaginary kids programes.

The tunes remind me of the discomfort one felt when re-watchig "The Singing Ringing Tree",(East Germany's Greatest moment?), or sitting cross legged on the floor in the assembly hall,watching ITV 's programmes for schools..the most creepy being "Picture Box", especially that theme tune!

Good cover, good tunes, good record,good label.....not said that for a long time.Love you all XX.

Tracklist:

A1 Phantom Shapes
A2 Happy Go Lucky
A3 Crybaby Needs A Hanky
B1 Bubble Memory
B2 Glorious High

DOWNLOAD an orphans eczema HERE!

Josef Anton Riedl ‎– "Klangregionen 1951- 2007" (Edition RZ ‎– Ed. RZ 1020-21) 2009

Another pioneer of concrete and Early electronic music composition, Riedl co-founded and became music director of Siemens Studio für elektronische Musik in the nazi homeland of Munich (1956-66)...good to hear that Siemens' massive war profits from slave labour were invested in something worthwhile?

The 'music' on this retrospective has the same problem as most of the Musique Concrete lot,an inate inability to repeat any of the sequences to suggest at least, some, musicality,rather than just piling one noise after another so it becomes more like a sound effects record rather than an articulate piece of modern composition. The dark ambient pieces apart, the stream of funny noises does tend to get on one's proverbial tits somewhat....an accusation that admittedly doesn't just fall at the feet of Herr Riedl.There are many other guilty parties in the early Electronics gang.

Nonetheless there are many atmospheric and interesting works among these 24 tracks worthy of admission into the Electronic Hall Of Fame.

I'd better end it there before I start ranting on about Nazi's ,who's a Nazi, and who isn't a Nazi,again....I'm beginning to sound like an Industrial tape in flesh,but without the tape echo effects!?

However,this doesn't change the fact that without Nazi's there'd be nothing worth watching on TV, and next to nothing to accuse each other of, which would make for a very boring life. 'Nazi-Fatigue is as real a thing as 'Holocaust Fatigue';don't let it get cha!

Tracklist:

1 Paper Music I 4:28
2 Studie 59 I 2:39
3 Zeichnen - Klatschen / Zeichnen - Zeichnen 4:00
4 Aus Landschaftsbeschreibung I 4:58
5 Mix Fontana Mix 4:58
6 Silphium 4:08
7 Lautgedichtfolge G) 4:52
8 Ausfluss, Niederschlag, Spur, Nachhall I 4:17
9 Douce-amère 3:06
10 Komposition Nr. 2 10:15
11 Polygonum 1:25
12 Leonce Und Lena 1:44
13 Vielleicht - Duo 3:16
14 Musique Concrète - Studie II 2:27
15 Musique Concrète - Studie I 2:53
16 Leonce Und Lena B 3:38
17 Folge Von 4 Studien: Studie 62 I 2:07
18 Folge Von 4 Studien: Studie 62 II 5:46
19 Klangsynchronie I Studie 59 6:16
20 Studie 61 I 2:08
21 Komposition Nr. 3 6:49
22 Ideir Notna Fesoj 51:02
23 Elektronische Musik - Studie II 2:17
24 Elektronische Musik - Studie I 5:46

DOWNLOAD some german electronics with very few nazi references HERE!

The Orkustra ‎– "Adventures In Experimental Electric Orchestra From The San Francisco Psychedelic Underground (Mexican Summer ‎– MEX 019) 2009/1967

Bobby Beausoleil actually was involved in a rather interesting group before he murdered someone under Charles Manson and LSD-25's influence.An abstract Free rock psychedelic folk mix up that reminds one of the New York minimalist rock avant garde,such as Angus Maclise or ,from the twenty-first century, The Dirty Three.
It's really rather good for California in 1966/7.Although they played extensively around the Bay Area and at many festivals, they never released anything during their lifetime.
It included David LaFlamme of 'It's a Beautiful Day' Fame whose violin playing gives it that crucial melancholic edge.
This collects everything they had ever commited to tape in their short existence, before fame and infamy befell at least two of its members.A moment in time showcasing a juxtapostion between realised and unrealised potential, fate and fatality.Like 'The Convergence of the Twain',Beausoleil was heading for the Iceberg, while LaFlamme missed the boat and boarded another ship.

Tracklist:
A1 Flash Gordon 4:57
A2 Bombay Calling 5:48
A3 Punjab's Barber 6:46
B Gypsy Odyssey (Performed Live At St. John's Church Christmas Eve, 1966) 25:45
C1 Bouzouki Blues Experiment 3:33
C2 Hungarian Stomp 3:32
C3 Flash Gordon (A Practice Session) 7:38
C4 Freeform Improvisation (While Watching An Experimental Underground Film) 3:35
D1 Flute Player Audition (Practice Jam Session) 5:14
D2 Dancing In The Park 3:16
D3 Gypsy Odyssey (Practice Session) 12:13

DOWNLOAD bobby's life before he did something really stupid HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Portland Thursday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0798) 2009

What were you doing on the 20th of April, 2006?
If you were celebrating Hitlers Birthday, then you're an idiot.If you were watching Jandek at the Hollywood Theatre Portland Oregon, then you're not so much of an Idiot; more an inspired Idiot, or a Lucky idiot. There are people out there who think Jandek is an Idiot,well I am inclined to place such people in the same category as those who would celebrate Herr Schicklgrubers latest landmark.
As with all the early 'live' Jandek recordings, this one sounds like Jandek's studio records but meated-up by competent improvisers.
Some of this even 'Rocks-Out','kicks-ass', or whatever other hyphenated adjectives do the rounds in American Rocker circuits.
Fear not, there are ladles of misery and self-pity to pour over those specific carbunkles to conteract such unpleasentness, like gravy neutralising the chopped liver alongside your potatoes.

Tracklisting:

1-1 I Like You Too 13:29
1-2 Cut Up 12:01
1-3 Someone 13:58
1-4 I Asked You Please 13:22
2-1 Trouble Away 10:56
2-2 The Distance Is Gone 8:28
2-3 Come True 11:03
2-4 Whose Mister Is This 8:56
2-5 Can I Be With You 8:25
2-6 Eddie 10:06
2-7 Highway Going Home 6:51

DOWNLOAD jandek in portland through this digital portal HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Camber Sands Sunday" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0800) 2009

FUCK!.....Scott Walker's just died!!!...how depressing!?
Nevertheless...life goes on......
Hi-De-Hi, Ho-De-Ho, It's Jandek as a Pontins Blue Coat providing anti-matter  entertainment for the campers at Pontins Holiday camp, Camber Sands 2006.These holiday, concentration camps,were a relic from 1950's Britain, when the UK was skint due to World war two.Having spent all that stolen wealth from the empire in defeating Nazi Germany for everyone, austerity measures meant that no-one had any money.I notice that the bad guys in WW2 got plenty of free money from the USA...the uk got a massive loan which was finally paid off a few years ago...we should have joined the Axis it seems?)
These camps provided brief cheap light relief for the downtrodden populous,as portrayed in TV comedy classic "Hi-De-Hi"(hear Peggy from He de Hi mentioning Mercury Rev here).
Camber Sands was a Pontins holiday camp,and their 'Blue Coats' who entertained the public.Rival Butlins, had 'Red coats', and fictional camp, 'Maplins' had 'Yellow versions. In a desperate attempt to stave off bankruptcy, some bright spark thought of having an alternative music festival in the grounds, off-season;this was a major sucess, and even transferred its formula to the USA.
Also it provided an opportunity for an early concert from the newly 'outed' Jandek
This was at the "All Tomorrows Parties" festival, and sadly Jandek was on the DEVENDRA BANHART DAY, rather than the J.Macsis Day, alongside Eater! Oh No, he had to share the bill with nonsense like Bat For Lashes and Vashti Bunyan. Bert Jansch was also on the bill, and one can only imagine his thoughts on Jandeks guitar technique...he (Bert) died soon after this.
The Corwood Rep had various unnamed support musicians, trying their level best to out-Jandek each other, but it all adds up to a rather pleasant mess. He-De-Hi campers!

Tracklisting:

1 Pragmatic 11:24
2 The Crushed Image 8:45
3 The Idea Of You 11:19
4 Hair Of The Dog 11:05
5 Gone Waiting 6:37
6 The Rapture 8:56
7 My Party 10:53
8 Stolen Powers 7:09

DOWNLOAD jandek at the seaside HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Hasselt Saturday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0795) 2009

Sorry Christians, but 'Jandek Monday' falls on Christmas Eve this year.And to keep with the recent 'Belgium' theme, this is another performance the representative treated the Belgian people to on November 12th 2005, in Hasselt.
It's all been sent to test your fragile faith, so as a penance,you must listen to the whole of these voice and piano improvisations, twice, to show how much you love Jesus.Or,alternatively, how much Jesus hates.....you.
Like those faux-modern art exhibition pranks, where a bunch of credulous art critics were invited to give their opinion on a bright young artist who,secretly, happened to be a chimpanzee. These keyboard fumblings could also be taken either seriously, or as a joke, and could easily have been made by a Chimp placed in front of a grand piano....vocals included.
These eight 'parts' are more listenable than his instrumental only piano pieces, purely because Sterling treats us to some of his improv poetry as an accompaniment.
See it as an alternative christmas sermon,guaranteed to clear any christmas dinnertable in minutes. Leaving family members quietly sobbing in the corner of a room,or staring blankly at a wall in silence.
Thats my kinda Christmas folks!

Tracklisting:

The Places You Left Me
1 Part One 10:14
2 Part Two 6:44
3 Part Three 7:07
4 Part Four 7:42
5 Part Five 7:59
6 Part Six 7:41
7 Part Seven 7:29
8 Part Eight 10:01

DOWNLOAD some abandonment issues HERE!

Gods Gift ‎– "Pathology 1979-1984" (Hyped To Death ‎– Messthetics #218) 2009

Jandek Monday is sadly cancelled today,due to unpalatable weather conditions!.....he will return next monday,internet willing.
So,to wrap up the subject of Manchester we have......
Another Manchester Musicians Collective band, as heard on "Unzipping The Abstract",who patently wish they were The Fall,but the best they could do was The Fall without Mark Edward Smith...ie 'Ark' (I think they were called)...or even worse, 'Brix Smith and the Extricated'!!!!?
Track one ,however, could have been a stadium yob-rock anthem, a la, Kasabian,and there are plenty of other jolly entertaining DIY alt-pop songs to help one pass a cosy evening when the internet is down....like it was today after a rather voilent thunderstorm.
My village was full of panicing peasants as if an asteroid had appeared in the sky hurtling towards us.....the end of the world....or....Gods gift?

Tracklist:

1 Anaesthetic
2 Clamour Club
3 Jaqueline's Admission
4 No God (12" Version)
5 Discipline
6 The Strong And The Weak
7 People
8 Soldiers (12" Version)
9 Good And Evil
10 People (7" Version)
11 Creeps In
12 Man Of Two Men
13 Then Calm Again
14 Nico
15 Deicide (Their Soul Is Hate)
16 Disturbed 4:31
17 Working Class Man

DOWNLOAD this gift from god HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Helsinki Saturday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0796) 2009

All hands on Jandek, its monday, so......
let's listen to our hero improvising on piano with unamed harpist (Iro Haarla), while the crowd chatter constantly throughout the whole hour.
Yet another unexpected turn in the Jandek discography.I don't think there's been any recording artist in history who has managed to dumfound everyone during the whole of a forty year career.If anything he's getting more unpredictable.
Again, this is one for your pretentious friends to chin-stoke to, or to impress the pseudo-intellectual in your life.
As outsider-garde goes,its a pretty good one to play in the bathroom with scented candles chucking out lavender enfused gas to lull you into a deep sleep as you sink below the surface of your dirty bathwater. Like most Jandek records, he's never too far away from making soundtracks for loners with suicidal tendancies, and this one is no exception;just slightly more stealthy in its effect. The fact that it has an audience, kinda makes this a type of 'reality music', like they're peripheral spectators of a suicide as entertainment.
What better place to perform such a show than one of the world capitals for suicide, Finland?

Recorded Live: Gloria Kulttuuriareena Helsinki Finland November 19, 2005.

Tracklist:

1 Sleeping In The Dawn 1:03:32

DOWNLOAD this hell sinking ship HERE!

Jandek ‎– "What Was Out There Disappeared" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0799) 2009

It's Monday.....so that must mean......????
Yup, Jandek wants to fuck you up.
On this selection, the pied-piper of negativity leads our children into a world of permanent autumn, or is that autism?
If Jandek isn't on the Asperger side of the Autistic spectrum, I'll eat my record collection.
There's something in Jandek, I think, that most of us,who can bare to listen for more than 30 seconds, can identify with. I too have had my long periods of voluntary isolation.Awkwardness in the public arena.Expressing oneself through the medium of sound,whilst being so obscure ,its pointless making any product,......but whats that got to do with you lot? How dare you read this?......basically who gives a flying one?
In this episode of moaning and howling over a never-tuned guitar, playing ,seemingly, completely random notes; our Aspergers-chic troubadour, complains about going to 'Edinboro' ,and I don't blame him. Then threatens to stop taking photographs of himself.....in fact, most of those hundreds of album cover photo's have obviously been taken by a third party.Did he ever tell us he was actually a loner, or am I reading between the lines?There was the mysterious chanteuse called Nancy who appeared on a few lp's in the 1980's after all? Is this an 'Outsider Rock'n'Roll swindle'?......not too keen to learn the truth, as I always prefer the myth to the bland reality. I don't wanna know who the Residents are! I don't wanna read about behind the scenes in the Trout Mask replica house! Or who 'Banksy' is!?....but the fucking Internet will make sure you find out. What is it about the Human character that craves turning everything colourful into magnolia woodchip wall paper,like a dog who rips its favourite ball to pieces. Who really would give a fuck if we ever found out what happened to the Marie Celeste's crew? Unsolvable mysteries are a human right that is being snatched away from us, along with everything else that makes life magical.
Jandek is one of those enigma's.
Yes,even after he started appearing in concert too.

Tracklist:

1 Going To Edinburgh 8:14
2 Girls Wore Gowns 5:13
3 Will There Be No More Photos 14:30
4 Your Eyes 6:18
5 Broken Leaves 5:54
6 Jumping Off 5:23
7 Painstakingly Critical 4:39
8 Lucky Cat 7:03

DOWNLOAD before it disappears HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Not Hunting For Meaning" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0797) 2009

JANDEK MONDAY??????

Jandek's difficult 59th album, or could this be called an EP?

I like the title a lot.Hunting for meaning is the main cause of human misery in my book.Accept your situation like Jandek obviously does, and you will become happier. Nihilism can bring one peace if you, or society, allows it. Find comfort in the meaninglessness of existence.Its like this because IT IS....more philosophically referred to as the Anthropic Principle, if you wanna get fancy about it?

Music-wise,if 'Music' is an appropriate adjective for this aural torture? The 'Corwood Representative' treats us to more untuned solo acoustic guitar and wolf like vocals that sound like he's shitting broken glass. The guitar sounds almost in tune on this one, but I wouldn't hunt for any meaning beyond expressions of Isolation, grief, and emotional torment.

Pop this on at your party when you want the fuckers to leave.

That's what the 'Front porch Shimmy' is I suggest?

Tracklist:

1 Front Porch Shimmy 4:10
2 Stay Me Here 4:55
3 Silent Wander 29:23

DOWNLOAD to find more questions than answers HERE!

Throbbing Gristle ‎– "The Third Mind Movements"(Industrial Records ‎– IR 2009/4) 2009

I shuddered at the news that Throbbing Gristle were 'reforming' back in 2003!
The track record of such reformations is shaky to say the least.The worst being, obviously, The Sex Pistols. Which in one act of greed, marked as irrelevant, a whole swathe of modern pop culture.
'Please don't do this TG', I would have cried out if I gave a shit.
The reality of seeing a bunch of middle aged pre-op Transsexuals and bourgeois former hippies dressed like Chumbawumba  reviving themselves as "Wreckers of Civilisation"(or the wreckers of Industrial Culture?) was not quite as bad as the Pistols; because they had some new material that wasn't too bad......mainly because it sounded like Coil.
The influence of the late 'Sleazy' Christopherson is very evident, as he was the only TG member not to lose it artistically during the previous 25 years.
The little old lady of the group, no not Cosey, is the Gen-der reassigned Genesis P. Orridge. Who still manages to speak projecting an Oscar Wilde at customs-like impression, that we, and he/she, are listening to a undeniable genius.
The music of TG from 1975-1981 was as close as you can find to totally original and undeniable genius-like in its conception and delivery. A rare, and genuine reflection of the world in which we lived in; and bizarrely, is probably more relevant today that back in the day it was made.
In a way, the new(-ish) TG recordings are also a reflection of the sick abortion that is contemporary society. Represented here by the crystal clear digital blocks of over processed electronic sounds, almost devoid of Human Beings.
Yep, the music on this album is a very antiseptic version of Coil with Guests Genesis P., and Cosey Fanni Tutti on that fucking awful guitar she tends to muck about with every now and again.
I suppose it brings in a bit of cash, so why not?....but don't pretend its anything more than going to work at the office to bring home the bacon.
Industrial Records, aka Chris and Cosey, managed to write me a nasty legal e-mail once threatening legal action, or aktion(?).......an act up there with the Pistols' "Filthy Lucre" tour for making a previous career totally irrelevant. Did they ever listen to their records?

Tracklist:

1 The Man From Nowhere 7:20
2 PreMature 8:36
3 Secluded 7:08
4 Perception Is The Only Reality 9:51
5 Not That I Am 4:33
The Third Mind
6 First Movement 8:00
7 Second Movement 7:07
8 Third Movement 7:29

DOWNLOAD the wreckers of Industrial music HERE!

Consumer Electronics ‎– "Crowd Pleaser" (45rpm 12" vinyl - Hand To Mouth 1) 2009

Well, might as well have something from the reactivated version of Consumer Electronics.
This is from 2009,on limited edition vinyl.Its very short but rather ferocious.Philip Best busts several bloodvessels in an attempt to fill the hole left by  an absent Whitehouse.
The fuuuuuming Mr Best is LIVID. Ranting over the usual minimal electronic noise, spitting out words with venomous bitterness and ruthless sarcasm. Edited together like a a machine gun firing out digital spittle in your direction. Like a BNP(British working class nazi's) member confronting an asylum seeker.
Crowd pleaser this probably isn't, except for the small gatherings who loyally turn up for this abuse.The vast majority of the population would run a mile from this onslaught.That is why they are now found touring with Sleaford Mods, who are a more poetic,tuneful, and danceable version of Consumer Electronics basically;but they guarantee a crowd to please, or otherwise. 

Tracklist:

A1	Hand To Mouth
A2	Cockpit
A3	Crowd Pleaser
A4	Parking Lot
B1	Oily Possibilities

DOWNLOAD this shower of digital spittle HERE!

Crash Course In Science ‎– "Crash Course In Science" (Vinyl-on-demand ‎– VOD67) 1979-81/2009

"Kitchen Motors", as played on the John Peel Show back in '79,was one of those epiphanal moments on the peel show, between the crap reggae and anecdotes about shagging schoolgirls in the sixties, when everything stops, and you think, or even say,"What the Fuck was that?"One of those "What the fuck was that?" moments,that ranked up there with hearing such delights as Blah Blah Blah's "In The Army" for the first time; high praise indeed.
This is electronic avant-pop as it should sound.Starkly minimal futurism without the boiler suits.Raw analogue circuit frying electronic bleeps and clangs,played by hand.Augmented by wired up toy instruments and Kitchen appliances, blending a kind of electronic folk music for an imagined modern age of the near future.It still sounds like the future to these ears;a preferable one to the version we are going to get,where the only drones we will get are the surveillance drones circling your suburban hutch,packed to the rafters with information gathering tech........for your own 'security' of course.
This download includes everything this fine trio recorded,plus vinyl rips of their two official ep's from the groups actual lifetime.So think yourself blessed this is available below,accessed by just one click with your mouse finger. Now that IS technology put to a good use; hopefully it comes to you without any porn links or tempting messages from some charming capitalist.
This is the Future.A Future with mobile phones,smart phones, talking tablet computers,automatic doors(all first seen on Star Trek) and the internet; technological marvels, yes? But what do we do with them? Gossip,buy crap,order Russian Brides, and watch Pornography.
The only other thing that came true fifties and sixties scienec fiction is that we are listening to Crash Course in Science, with their buzzy, boingy,electro fuzz anti-music of the 21st century.The only problem being, that it was made in the 1970's; and only now is it being appreciated.
Oh yes, they came from Philadelphia by the way,and I don't know what their favourite colour was,is,or will be.

Tracklist:

	Signals From Pier Thirteen
A1	Cardboard Lamb
A2	Crashing Song
A3	Flying Turns
A4	Factory Forehead
	Bonus Track
A5	Pompeii Spared (Original Demo Version)
	Bonus Tracks: 1981 Demos
B1	Near Marineland
B2	Second Glance
B3	It Cost's To Be Austere
B4	No More Hollow Doors
B5	Force The Habit
B6	Jump Over Barrels
	Live Recordings
	Opening For Phillip Glass Ensemble, Harrison Auditorium_University Museum, Philadelphia, Pa. November 15, 1980
C1	Crashing Song
C2	Cardboard Lamb
C3	Alarm
C4	Digital Information
C5	Two Panes Of Glass
C6	Pompeii Spared
C7	Pressure Point
C8	Basic Device
C9	Mechanical Breakdown
	FOPPEM Electronic Music Festival, Tucc Cinematheque, Philadelphia, Pa. December 19, 1981
D1	Near Marineland
D2	Someone Reads
D3	Jump Over Barrels
D4	No More Hollow Doors
D5	Sputnik In Orbit
D6	Cardboard Lamb
D7	Second Glance
	Near Marineland
E1	Near Marineland
E2	Second Glance
E3	It Cost's To Be Austere
E4	No More Hollow Doors
E5	Force The Habit
E6	Someone Reads
E7	Jump Over Barrels
F1	Pompeii Spared
F2	Near Marineland Remix
F3	Second Glance Remix
F4	Jump Over Barrels Remix
	Cakes In The Home
G1	Cakes In The Home
G2	Kitchen Motors
G3	Mechanical Breakdown
	Rehearsal Tapes
G4	Streetcar 4 A.M.
H1	Bumpster
H2	Beat Filter_Instro
H3	Wait A Minute

DOWNLOAD a crash course in a crash course in science HERE!