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Irmin Schmidt - Filmmusik Volume 4 & 5
Irmin Schmidt releases Filmmusik Anthology Vol 4 & 5 on Mute / Spoon this week.
A panoramic view of the CAN founder's soundtrack works over the last decade.
This double CD release, Filmmusik Anthology Vol 4 & 5, follows 1994's Anthology Soundtracks 1978 -1993 and contains a selection of Schmidt's works over the last 10 years for 20 different films for both the big screen and television. The anthology includes tracks from the critically acclaimed German TV series Bloch and Tatort and the award winning film Schneeland.
These pieces of music are a fascinating insight into the art of film score music from a veteran who has honed his craft masterfully over the years as well as being a wonderful album to just sit, relax and enjoy.
Filmmusik Anthology Vol. 4 & 5 also includes eight tracks from the original score of the latest Wim Wenders film, Palermo Shooting, which premiered in the Official Selection of the Cannes film festival 2008. The original film score is available digitally on Mute.
Irmin Schmidt has been commissioned by the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele (Ludwigsburg Castle Festival) to present an evening of orchestrations of his work for film in summer 2010. A selection of pieces (some included on the album Filmmusik Anthology Vol 4 & 5) will be transcribed for orchestra and the concert will be conducted by the composer himself. This exclusive event is being organised in co-operation with the Baden-Würtemburg Film Academy. In addition Irmin Schmidt will be holding a series of workshops at the prestigious film school.
Limited signed copies available via Mute Bank
http://www.irminschmidt.com
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On December 8th, Trans Am will be releasing their first live album called "What Day Is It Tonight?" which chronicles their tours and music from 1993 through 2008. The DVD features a sets worth of songs from different shows spliced together with backstage footage and memories long forgotten (and recently unearthed). It also features two entire live sets. One from a very early Chapel Hill gig in 1993 and another from the 2004 Liberation tour in Heidelburg. This album will not be available on CD and is packaged together with the DVD and limited to 1,500 copies. Expect a NEW full-length in SPRING 2010!
"What Day Is It Tonight?" Album Track Listing:
01. Conspiracy of the Gods
02. Outmoder
03. Futureworld
04. Shrigley
05. Firepoker
06. Idea Machine
07. Positive People
08. First Words
09. June
10. Tesco v. Sainsbury's
11. Television Eyes
12. Slow Response
13. Play in the Summer
14. Köln
15. Don't Bundle Me
16. Simulacrum
17. City in Flames
"What Day Is It Tonight?" DVD Track Listing:
01. Extreme Measures
02. I Want It All
03. Stereo Situation
04. Prowler
05. Armed Response/Enforcer
06. Futureworld
07. Play in the Summer
Whole Live Sets:
Heidelburg 2004
Chapel Hill 1993
The touring experience can only be truly appreciated from a first-hand perspective so Nathan Means has helped shed light on what touring is really like. He's also provide us with a little history and some advice for those thinking about touring:
Set Up The Scene For Me. It's 1993. Why Start a Band?
Good question.
Um...We didn't really start playing together right then. That was earlier. But we did all live together in a real shit-shack in Chapel Hill that summer. Seb's room was infested with fleas. Phil and I worked at a cafeteria for minimum wage and minimum hours. We were broke. I started stealing cereal boxes and apples from work. Our landlord's dog, Ginger Snap, sometimes came over and stole tampons and condoms out of our garbage. It was hot. Seb became vegan. But we wrote the first Trans Am songs then and played our first live shows.
Advice: Start a band when you are young and have lots of time to waste. But remember that you are actually wasting it.
Where were these shows?
A frat house. It was summer and not many people were around. Fortunately, the keg was in the audience. I broke a bass string - E, the lowest, fattest string - on the first note of the first song. This is something I could never, ever do again if I tried. Also, my amp head blew up. I'm not sure how the other guys did.
Our second show was later that summer at a bar called The Cavern. Phil (age 20) got carded. I didn't drink because I was scared of getting carded.
When Was Your First Real Tour?
That was a self-booked loop into the Mid-West. I remember leaving the Pennsylvania Turnpike - always cause for celebration - and seeing a sign that said "Ohio and West." We are from the East Coast. I felt like a pioneer.
On that tour we drank a lot. We slept on filthy floors next to dried dishes of cat food and beer cans stuffed with cigarette butts. We played in basements and small clubs. In Detroit, while we sat on the front stoop of the club drinking, a big, insanely drunk guy wandered past us. He happened to be Native American, although Detroit has the potential to turn people of all ethnicities, religions, and races into fuck-ups.
Anyway, he started causing trouble and the guy from behind the bar jumped out with a baseball bat. I forget exactly what happened, but we ended up sitting on top of the guy waiting for the Wayne State University cops. They seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor - cynical but joking the whole time. I guess you gotta laugh if you're a cop in downtown Detroit. They ended up macing the guy and putting him in handcuffs.
Advice: Trading 10% or 15% of your show income for having someone book your tour is the best thing you'll ever do. Unless your booking agent is insane or a thief or forces you to open for bands you hate.
Where is Europe?
Somewhere past England...
Anyway, in winter of 1996 Tortoise were on a super-long, super-successful bus tour of Europe and they invited us to open for them. To them, I guess we were like a combination of slightly annoying little brothers and wind up toys. We were loud and they wanted to sleep. We got the remaining bunks near the toilet, which, predictably, was backed up and smelled and sounded exactly like several gallons of sloshing urine. Tortoise's soundman kept plying us with hash, which was really unnecessary.
One day, their tour manager asked to talk to me privately. I thought she was hitting on me, but actually she just wanted us to stop drinking all of Tortoise's beer while they were on stage.
Two of my remaining memories: After a show in Germany, I stuck my head out of the top of the bus and saw Dave Pajo - at the front of the bus - almost get decapitated by a traffic light. Then, before our show in London, we wondered around and got completely wasted because it was England and they have those cool pint glasses and it just seemed right. Our show was awesome - and everyone knew it.
Advice: That was our peak of popularity in London. Our next show was decimated in print by their hateful, inaccurate, but sometimes funny, music journalism machine. So enjoy it while you can.
What's Wrong With England?
When you drive around the country, every single town has birthed at least one band that you love. And that's the problem, too many bands. It's like being traded on a commodities market - nobody gives a shit about musicians and they get paid and treated accordingly.
In October 2001, we did a three-week tour of the UK and Ireland with The Champs. Our plane actually went right over the gaping hole and floodlights where the World Trade Tower had been. I love Indian food, beer, socialized medicine, and New Order but it's fair to say that Ireland was the highlight.
Advice: It turns out that "New England" was named after "England." OK. Now imagine a three-week tour of Connecticut and Massachusetts. OK. Now imagine that you're paying for everything on the tour in the rupees you made at your uncle's car wash outside of Mumbai. That's about right.
Is There Anything Good About England?
The crowds are good. Also, breakfast.
Once, when we used to light Seb's cymbals on fire, things got a little out of hand in Liverpool. The lighter fluid container itself caught on fire and then fell behind his kit. We could see it burning right next to some long, plush curtains and a power strip. Fortunately, we had lots of beer on stage, so we doused the fire without Seb even dropping a beat. When you're 27 and beer comes in that handy, it gives you a brief feeling of universal harmony.
Advice: The fact that Phil never burned his hands off while lighting Seb's cymbals on fire proves that lighter fluid isn't really that dangerous. I think we even flew with the container in our luggage a few times by mistake. It's completely safe.
What Do "Soundmen" Really Do?
Well, sometimes they just decide to sing and play out-of-tune keyboard over your show without telling you. Sometimes they fix your otherwise totally broken amp. Sometimes they are incredibly bummed out on your entire tour. Sometimes they tell the nagging promoter who is worried about the decibel limit, "Fuck off. I don't get paid to turn it down."
Advice: Soundmen/women are pretty important. Invest in a good one.
Why Do You Always Get into Fights With Each Other in Minneapolis?
There are a couple of theories. One is that, of course, there is some kind of negative spiritual vortex there. Like a site of harmonic divergence. The other, which seems pretty farfetched, is that no matter which way you are heading, Minneapolis is a long drive which either precedes or follows two super-long days of driving and you're just tired of everything - especially those unbelievable assholes you've been on the road with for three weeks.
Advice: You can't avoid Minneapolis, so just suck it up.
Why Do You Get Along So Well in the Southwest?
Lots of sun. Plus in Albuquerque, Seb, our soundman, and once I got pulled over by a bunch of cops and then individually ordered out of our van at gunpoint, handcuffed, Mirandized, and put in squad cars. Then we all had a big laugh when it turned out they wanted a different white van - except Seb, me and our soundman.
In Phoenix, we decided to leave a particularly sketchy Motel 6. There was a big party going on at 3 AM when we got there. I think it was basically an open-air drug market, but we didn't stick around to find out what they had.
While I was getting the cash refunded outside the night window, some big guy got out of his Camaro and repeatedly offered to kick my ass. It was the Futureworld tour - maybe he didn't like my Mexican Nike gold sweatsuit and hightops? Anyway, you got to play it cool down there and stick together.
How Many Times Have You Pissed Yourself on Stage?
Hard to say. It's the sort of thing where you hope your memory will be really spotty. More than once, less than 10, and not since 2000?
Advice: Keep beer or water around so you can pour it all over yourself as a cover-up. It's a lot more attractive than piss - which isn't saying much.
Remember When Seb Was Doing that GWAR Thing in Pittsburgh?
Yes. Seb was really sick and by the time we got to Carnegie Mellon, he ran straight to the bathroom. He had tried to re-hydrate with some sort of sports drink so his vomit was this perilous, almost radioactive shade of green. It was all over the floor. The bathroom looked like the set of an alien slasher flick.
Eventually, a university security officer came in. She looked at Seb and then asked calmly, "Is he the drummer?"
Anyway, Seb went to the hospital and we played with the drummer from Zombi, Tony, in a steeply terraced lecture hall.
When Can You Trust Airlines?
Only when they answer in the positive. When they say "No" - or especially when they cite "The Rules" - they are not being truthful. There are no rules. They are just being lazy or overworked - probably both. They could fix everything and charge you nothing if they really wanted to.
Advice: Just get past the ticketing counter. Those people are useless for everything but disputes over baggage charges. The real power lies with the gate attendants. They are magical.
Is Any International Border Less Pleasant Than America's?
Not so far.
However, Britain does deserve mention. Unlike the rest of the EU, they have work permits. Also, their border agents can be quite snooty and overzealous. Once, we had two young agents parading a bag of Seb's vegan protein powder around border control. I guess they thought we had just forgotten about that pound of heroin sitting on the floor of the van?
So they took apart our van - like unscrewed the door panels and such - while they ran some tests. Eventually, I was informed in a very grave manner that, "We've run several tests and one said 'well perhaps it is [drugs]' and one said 'probably not.' So we're giving you the benefit of the doubt." Then they asked for some posters or other promotional materials.
Also, the award for Single Most Intimidating Border Guard goes to "Serbian Guy." Thanks again for not shooting us, by the way.
Advice: Wear glasses. Cover all tattoos. In the US, always have a football clearly visible and hide Frisbees (hippy disks) and hacky sacks. Tell anyone who asks that you sound "sort of like ACDC." Don't mention acid jazz. Wipe your Facebook and Wikipedia entry of any drug references.
Why Don't More Famous People Come To Trans Am Shows?
It is surprising, but they probably wouldn't pay anyway.
At an early Thrill Jockey festival in New York, I remember "Fred" from the B-52s stepping over Seb doing push-ups backstage. He wasn't there for us and didn't seem excited that Seb was in his way.
I also remember an all-ages show we played with Braniac in LA where Mark Hamill's kid was hanging out with John Ritter's kid. That was sort of perfect. They were there for Braniac.
What Band is the Most Annoying to Tour With?
Depends what you mean. Is it annoying or funny when Six Finger Satellite kicks a stink bomb into the middle of your already tiny audience in Charlotte, NC? What about if later on they do a drive by - shooting bottle rockets out of PVC pipe - while you're carrying an 80-pound amp head? What about when a no-talent, cashing-in-on-her-name wanker like Kelley Deal call you out in St. Louis for being "stage hogs"?
Also, there's the question of blame. Is it Soul Coughing's fault that out of 1,500 people who politely watched us open for them in 1996, only one person bought a CD? Is it the Fucking Champs' fault that one of their guitarist's feet could stink up an entire room of sleeping guys? Is it Tortoise's fault that they all snore, thus earning the name "Snortoise"?
And really, who is being annoyed? We annoyed a lot of promoters by cashing in on an otherwise financially disasterous mid-December co-headlining tour of the Midwest with Har Mar Superstar. During a split bill with Don Caballero, our mere existence on stage seemed to antagonize the entire city of Cleveland as the Indians lost the World Series, but we were fine with it. Was it just annoying to Canadian border agents that someone traveling with Zombi tried to cross with an enormously small quantity of weed? They did lecture him that, "you can buy better weed here."
What's the Most Extreme Thing You Ever Did on Tour? Like, Have You Died?
Yes. Seb and I were once killed in Iceland. It was on the way to the airport. We later learned that the driver was really depressed because his mom had just died. He was coping in classic Nordic fashion by getting completely wasted (wasted even by Icelandic standards). Unfortunately, we didn't notice any of the warning signs - like when he asked us if we had any drugs for the 45 minute drive to the airport. It was snowing heavily and things got shaky and then we spun around in the middle of the highway a few times. I could see some oncoming headlights (the ones that had been behind us). Then that was it.
Fortunately, Tim Soete from The Champs was also in the car and he led us to an ancient taxi driver who kept his fingers just barely on the steering wheel and made constant incremental adjustments for the snow. So we were dead, but we didn't miss our flight.
Speaking of which, I successfully fought depression on the TA tour through regular doses of the Extreme Combination of Red Bull, Mountain Dew Code Red, and Vodka … and then any other uppers that were around.
Advice: It didn't really work. At nine in the morning after our final show, I was walking home in DC. I was asked to sign a petition. Then, later, I had a debilitating panic attack. It was a very strong effort, though.
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Despite its new prominence, remixing has already served as a vehicle for Boredoms’ restless experimentation. What’s new is that the actual band sounds conservative in comparison. This wasn’t a problem when group leader Yamataka Eye handled to majority of the remixes. His felt more like Boredoms songs than reinterpretations. Super Roots 10 deviates in that it comes padded with work by outside DJs. While this may be standard for dance and hip-hop singles, here the practice hurts the band; they are shown-up on their own record.
It is telling that the most bizarre moments on Super Roots 10 aren’t provided by Boredoms but by the Norwegian disco producer and DJ Lindstrom. His remix of the EP’s main track, “Ant 10,” supplies all the exciting but questionable experimentation that used to be expected from the band. The track is a ten-minute blown-out funk jam, complete with popping bass, synth-strings, and diva vocals. Despite Boredoms never dabbling in the genre (at least in its pure form), Lindstrom’s remix has the insane, slightly-stupid feeling that characterized the band’s best work from the early '90s. As a demonstration of Lindstrom’s skill, the track is fantastic, but it hurts the source material by making it look lackluster in comparison.
As for the track itself, “Ant10” is by no means the worst Boredoms have done. In fact, the sprawling nine-minute piece sums up their recent work well. The band’s rhythm section is still awe-inspiring, plunging listeners into torrential cymbal washes and cascading tom-tom rolls. Eye’s production work is still distinctive as well. He continues to arrange soothing electronic soundscapes out of even the most piercing tones, an alchemy as easy to enjoy as it is hard to grasp.
While the richness of their sound has not abated, Boredoms ability to express it in unexpected ways has. They haven’t made any drastic changes in style since Vision Creation Newsun back in 1999. This doesn’t necessarily pose any problems. Their formula, basically a drum-circle accompanied by chanting and spacey electronics, could support 10-20 more years of music making but this is a retreat from what Boredoms best typified: freewheeling provocateurs willing to take chances for the sake of staying vital.
Nevertheless, it is still tough to fault Boredoms for sticking with what works. They are arguably more popular than ever, judging by the flurry (by their standards) of touring and record reissues during the last few years. Regardless of how played-out their current style is, a return to the absurdism (or idiocy) of earlier works like Soul Discharge and Chocolate Synthesizer would also be a retreat.
Perhaps the biggest change for Boredoms has been the in the music world rather than band themselves. Now, countless bands trade in noise, kraut-rock, free-improv, and abstracted dance-music. To a large degree, they have Boredoms to thank for gathering a new audience for these genres during the reign of “alternative music” in the '90s. Back then, they could be counted on being among the most innovative bands working in avant-garde rock. As powerful as they still are, other artists have now taken up the challenge of innovating for them. While Super Roots 10 is adequate for a left-field DJ set, listeners wanting consciousness-raising power must look elsewhere.
samples:
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A three track EP clocking in at just over 20 minutes, the A side features two moderate length tracks, while the third is a longer, slow building piece of stoner sprawl. The slow droning feedback that opens "Skyling Slip" belies the balls out rocking that is about to follow, an overdriven bass and drum led track that picks up the pace rather quickly and falls into a noise rock groove. The sound bridges the LSD tinged rock of Loop with the THC laced riffs of old school Black Sabbath, and buries the whole thing in reverb thick enough to give a contact high. Through the Geezer Butler like bass melodies and the over-wah’d guitar soloing, there is a little hint of Hawkwind that pops up.
"Fever if Fire" slows down the pace, with a meditative pace that leans more on the space rock side of Naam’s sound, opening the mix to give breathing room, the distant vocals giving it more of a '70s rock sheen. The flip-side is the 11 minute "Kingdom," which begins with rudimentary bass playing and twangy guitar soloing that gives way to distant, Ozzy-esque vocals. The pace changes a few times, but the track gets locked into a very looped/repetitive sound, which is exasperated by the mantra like vocals.
This is one of those pleasant little surprises that I ended up enjoying more than I had expected. While this might be the absolute archetype for "stoner rock," it is executed in such a way that any lack of innovation doesn’t matter. It doesn’t do anything different, but it does the same things very well.
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There is little difference notable between the A and B sides here. Both feature Spacek as a trio, consisting of stalwarts John Wiese on electronics and Corydon Ronnau on vocals, with Charlie Mumma on drums. Mumma delivers blasts that sound more like machine guns than snare drums, on the second half especially pounding out some mechanized beats, which goes well with Wiese’s electronics, which more closely resemble the sounds at a metal recycling factory than anything else. Ronnau’s vocals are rather low in the mix, but are the expected guttural jibber-jabber for the genre, though they sound somewhat more processed on the b-side.
In the end, Epistasis is more along the lines of early Napalm Death or Agoraphobic Nosebleed taken to the n-th degree. What little traditional musicality from those acts has been thoroughly excised, and what remains is the detritus of voice and rhythm that one hears lingering after a massive blow to the head. Which is a good thing.
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VagusNerve is the collaboration between avant guitarist Li Jianhong and laptop musician Vavabond, who together weave dense, multifaceted textures of sound which, for all their layers never completely obscure either artists’ contributions. For a label that has so expertly cornered the dark drone market, here the sound is much lighter and diverse, thus coming as quite a surprise.
The eight minute introductory piece "In the Summer of 2006, Li Made a Dream About a LoPan and a UFO" begins with force: an immediate surge of grinding laptop noise and traces of gentle, buried guitar. The track remains a complex, extremely diverse recording throughout, with dense layers of serpentine sound constantly slithering. It is only towards the end that the track begins to wind down and separate into a more rudimentary mix.
The second track, "Vavabond Felt Some Magical Power Hiding Between the Symbols, Numbers, and Text on the LoPan" errs more on the side of aggressive sound, with the guitar playing being obscured by hollow reverbs, electronic pulses and other digital elements. While the guitar initially is just as dissonant of an element, sounding mostly like siren squeals, the track eventually evolves into more “conventional” territory. The latter third of the piece especially demonstrates more traditional guitar sounds and less abstract laptop elements, to weave an extremely mutated form of post-rock that has a familiar feel, but sounds like nothing else.
The final (and longest) piece, "No Doubt, the LoPan is a Universe" mixes multiple elements into a single, near half hour track. The opening of fuzzy guitar drones and digital static are not an especially unique sound, but they transition into a heavy form of ambience that mixes conventional guitar and untraditional electronics together. The center segment amplifies the digital noise far more than anywhere else, pushing the track into laptop squeal along the lines of John Wiese or other practitioners. Then, the guitar enters the fray once again, creating a brand of ambient guitar rock that, when combined with the laptop sounds, comes across like a song just a bit off on the radio dial, and no fidgeting with the knob will get it to lock into place. The gentle ending to the album is one of the few overt moments of breathing room here.
The most remarkable aspect of LoPan is how adeptly it blends sounds that are on their own rather harsh and dissonant, and yet the two artists mold and shape them into something far greater than the sum of its parts, and into a sound that feels somehow inviting and familiar, yet completely alien. Rarely is there something that could be truly described as "ethereal noise," but this is a prime example.
samples:
- Li Made a Dream About a LoPan and a UFO
- Vavabond Felt Some Magical Power Hiding Between the Symbols, Numbers, and Text on the LoPan
- No Doubt, the LoPan is a Universe
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While perspectives may differ, I considered Government Alpha as being one of the first "traditional" Japanese noise artists that was influenced by existing bands of the genre. I always considered the likes of Merzbow, Hijokaidan, and the Incapacitants as the "classics," and GA, along with contemporaries like Pain Jerk, being directly influenced by the older artists, without being contributors to the genesis of the sound. In this regard, the different projects went off in their own directions, capturing the essence of "Japanoise" but taking their own specific approach. Yoshida’s work has always been one of hyper-kinetic energy, diametrically opposed to the frozen, massive clouds of noise the Incapacitants or Hijokaidan specialize in.
Each of the four discs of this set are thematically and chronologically separated. The first, Quickening, is perhaps the most diverse and obtuse of all included. Consisting mostly of unreleased early material and self-released tape tracks, here is the artist finding his voice. While there are somewhat one dimensional harsh noise tracks, like "Bruise" and "Thing Origin," there are more experimental moments, like the treated guitar and pitch wobbling "Funeral March" and the jagged house techno synth line that underlies the feedback and junk metal noise of "Mixed Parentage." "Artificial Fertilization" and "Crystalization" are heavily loop-based and come across like a more stripped down, mellow Pain Jerk. Other tracks sound more in league with musique concret and modern improvisation, like the long "Burial Ground" mixing abstract ringing metal textures and other incidental noises with passages of pure noise holocaust.
Sprout, the second disc, marks the period in which Government Alpha became more prolific and ended up gaining more notoriety in the scene. It is here that the sound takes on the dynamic noise quality that Yoshida is known for. Opening with the brutal "Liquefaction," which seems mastered louder than the tracks that follow, there is the immediate bombardment of overdriven low frequency static and shrill sine pulses and feedback. While many who are not acolytes of the genre proclaim that all noise is the same, this is the kind of material that renders their argument null. Even a casual listen reveals a multitude of different layers, tones, sounds, frequencies, textures, etc, that are intermingling throughout. While far more improvisational in their approach, the aforementioned track, and others on here such as "Abortion" and "Insomnia" structurally feel more in league with the best of free jazz, using electronics rather than horns and traditional instruments to generate the sound. A few oddities stick out among the chaos, like the more restrained cut-up piece, "Irregular Behavior," and the almost rhythmic framework under "Electrocardiogram." A few others, like "Siesta" feel a bit too rudimentary to be as enjoyable, but those moments are few and far between.
Disc three, Chaos, is a further refinement of Government Alpha’s harsh noise. Here a "style" begins to emerge, one that layers lower frequency static crunches with higher pitched feedback "solos" that come across as an enjoyable perversion of conventional music. "Quoit" and "Quickening" follow this formula, but mix more mechanical crunching noises, like a factory near meltdown, in the other structures. "Vaporizer Pt. 1" steps outward a bit more and adds slowly flanging tones and '70s sci-fi echoes to tinge the sound with just a bit of psychedelia. "Death and Afterimage" displays some semblance of a rhythm, mostly in the form of repeated panning crashes, that painfully shrill squeals appear over.
Diffusion, the final disc, lives up to its title, with the now established Government Alpha "sound" absorbing new and different elements, while still retaining its characteristic action. "Setting Sun" and "Sidewinder Part 2" continue the meld of low and high frequencies, but with a more prominent low end that gives a physical impact. "Thrombosis" demonstrates what sounds more like a basic synth sequence to drive the proceedings, putting an almost industrial sheen on otherwise raw noise. "Stormy Sunday Morning" is lead by what almost sounds like a horribly neglected and processed church organ solo throughout, and "Shine 1" features actual undeniable bass drum rhythms at points throughout. There is a greater diversity to the sound here, but the tracks never sound like anyone else.
Again, credit is due to Lasse Marhaug for his wonderful presentation of the material. Not only is the audio crystal clear and sharp as humanly imaginable, the discs come in a luxurious, foil printed clamshell box (like the Incapacitants box from earlier), while each individual disc is packaged in a glossy sleeve adorned with full color Dada-ist collages from Yoshida, which are also featured in the accompanying booklet, along with liner notes from both him and Tommy Carlsson, in addition to pictures of the original cassette and CDR covers. This is a beautifully presented collection which not only emphasizes Government Alpha’s contribution to the noise scene but also further establishes Pica Disk as one of the pre-eminent noise labels active right now. Lasse, you think it might be time to revisit some old school Pain Jerk?
samples:
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There are two fundamental flaws that immediately and irrevocably sabotage Seconds. The first is a distinct lack of stylistic focus. A plausible explanation is that this album is culled from a haphazard retrospective of material that Gary has written over a span of decades, but that doesn’t make it any less jarring for his heart-on-my-sleeve folk rock to coexist with the Santana-isms of “Don’t Wanna Lose” or the bad-acid-meets-Disney-soundtrack keyboard atmospherics of “Squirrel.” The second, and infinitely more damning, problem is that Gary’s lyrics can be singularly bad. The most uncomfortable moment for me is probably when he strains at the upper limit of his vocal range to convey the words “she came to me on a ten-speed, she came to me on a centipede” with painful earnestness. However, the entire album is a veritable minefield of clumsy rhyming couplets, regrettable poetic flourishes, and awkward bluntness (“puke in the trunk of your car”). The lyrics to “Squirrel” are in an unfortunate category all their own, but I will give it a pass because it hopefully was intended as a children's song (the clumsily and unfortunate psychedelic studio effects remain unpardonable though).
Notably, however, Gary begins “Mister Blew” with the spoken declaration “now there’s just one thing I want everybody to know: it just doesn’t fucking matter” and he makes a good point. The Gary Higgins that made Seconds is a completely different person than the fellow that recorded Red Hash: there is no attempt here to make “art.” Instead, Higgins seems quite content with the fact that he is simply playing music again. Despite its many shortcomings, Seconds shows Gary is still a pretty good guitarist and a rather charismatic and likeable singer. While he never comes close to approaching his past work, genuinely good songs like “3am Trilogy” show serious potential for a creative resurrection. Higgins can be quite endearing when he writes straightforward songs about his own life and his enthusiasm is often difficult to resist. However, I would be remiss if I did not state that I am mystified as to why he dragged his best song out to 13 minutes or how the same person that wrote the words “unassisted moral suicide” could also write “why was the little squirrel so dumb?”
The tragic irony here is that Seconds is actually a much more unique and “outsider” album than Red Hash. Gary Higgins certainly wasn’t the only guy making freaky folk music in the early ‘70s: he was part of a larger counter-cultural zeitgeist. This album, however, is the work of a man who has seemingly stepped out of time and is completely disinterested in the culture around him. While an undeniable failure, it is quite an interesting one. In fact, Gary’s embrace of hopelessly dated synth sounds is perversely charming and actually made me like him more. I guess he just needs some more time to shake off the rust.
samples:
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Satie’s Vexations was overlooked for many years as a joke; one musical motif played 840 times with no variation. It was only in 1963, 70 years after it was written, that John Cage organised an 18 hour 40 minute rendition of the piece. The seeming impossibility of any one man performing the whole piece was solved by having 11 pianists take it in turns to play a number of repetitions each. This recording of Vexations, as the title suggests, sees Ginsburgh perform 42 variations of the piece. His performance is clear and deliberate, obviously taking into account Satie’s sole direction as to how to play the piece: “In order to play this motif 840 times consecutively to oneself, it will be useful to prepare oneself beforehand, and in utter silence, by grave immobilities.” This could be directed at the listener too; in order to hear the piece as intended, the CD needs to be repeated 20 times (not 12 as indicated in the sleeve notes) which is over 23 hours of intense repetition (I have not tried this yet...).
Compared to Alan Marks’ recording of Vexations, this recording is superior in terms of sound quality and in performance. Ginsburgh seems less hurried and lets each note sing out with all its splendour. As I stated in my review of Marks’ performance, it is difficult to expect what will come next within each repetition of the motif as Satie made Vexations into quite a complex and unpredictable piece of music, an amazing feat considering the huge amounts of repetition required.
Also included with the CD is a comprehensive essay by Matthew Shlomowitz on the relationship between the works of Satie and those of Cage, detailing how without Cage’s interest in the piece it would have remained unknown and unappreciated. As it is an extract from a larger thesis, it is quite academic in tone but it is still a fascinating read to the layman. Overall, this is the definitive production of Satie’s Vexations until someone actually puts out the whole thing in one recording.
sample:
- Vexations (3 minute extract)
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- John Kealy
- Albums and Singles
In 2008, many news sources carried the story of a recording made in 1860 of a woman singing the traditional song “Au Clair de la Lune.” The scratchy and frankly unearthly sounding recording was barely recognisable and later it was found that the recording had been digitised at the wrong speed; it was a man singing and not a woman. That man was Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, the inventor of the phonoautogram. This obscure recording device predates Thomas Edison’s phonograph by 17 years but instead of recording by putting indentations onto foil (Edison’s method), the phonoautogram recorded onto paper using soot from a smoking lamp. Scott de Martinville’s efforts lay buried in the archives of the Institute of France’s Academy of Sciences until last year when special software was designed to read the recording.
This 7” contains the full recording but that is not saying much. The 20 or so seconds that the recording lasts is anticlimactic; without knowing what it is I was listening to, this is only a piece of sonic debris. Even taking into account the importance of the piece, I do not feel that pressing Scott de Martinville’s recording onto a piece of vinyl is particularly fitting. The irony of releasing “Au Clair de la Lune” on the technology Edison invented seems to be lost on Parlortone. That said, the 7” format has allowed for some nice reproductions of the original notes and recordings on the sleeve and the historical account included here is far better than any of the articles published in the mainstream media. However, this is at the end of the day a scientific curio rather than a piece of art made to be enjoyed so needless to say the replay value is minimal.
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- Administrator
- Albums and Singles
The first indication that Al Cisneros has been seriously working towards expanding Om’s sound comes instantly, as God is Good opens with the sound of a sitar. Given the band’s conspicuous historical avoidance of anything other than the core bass and drums, this is a rather surprising sound to hear. However, the cavalcade of unexpected developments continues unabated throughout “Thebes,” as the sitar is soon joined by piano, double-bass, and tabla. My initial gut reaction was dismay, as Indian instrumentation is such an obvious and hackneyed signifier that rock bands have employed for years to make it clear that their music is “mind-expanding” or “spiritual”. However, I quickly forgot that, as “Thebes” unfolds into one of the best songs that Om has ever recorded.
At over 19 minutes, this massive opus takes up more than half the album, but displays such a masterful command of dynamics that it never starts to drag. Cisneros' bass playing continues to reach new levels of quiet virtuosity, alternating between clean, melodic passages and crushingly heavy, throbbing grooves. During the rare times he stomps his distortion pedal, he plays riffs that constantly shift and evolve to such a degree that they are no longer really riffs anymore: just the right notes intuitively played at the right time. His somnambulantly chanted vocals are equally striking, as he wrings an impressive degree of menace from words like “minaret” and “avatar.” Notably (and much like Jorge Luis Borges), Al wields language with such erudition and skill that his lyrics often border on impenetrable (“Ablutes the sequence house of being-sheaths”). Fortunately, they still sound very convincing when he sings them. Most importantly, Emil Amos makes it quite clear that Chris Hakius's departure was not a mortal wound for the band. While Amos' drumming is certainly less aggressive and improvisatory than that of his predecessor, his relaxed and spacious playing complements Om’s newly heightened clarity and melodicism quite beautifully.
The second song, “Meditation is the Practice of Death,” shows similar promise, as Al and Emil immediately lock into a laid-back and hypnotic groove. Amos is particularly amazing, as his slow-motion ride cymbal beat and inspired fills completely obscure the fact that the whole song is essentially a one-riff vamp. The trend of startling and unusual elements is continued, but the divergences here are lamentably not quite as successful. The notable exception is the inspired dub-influenced studio tweaking of Amos’s fills into echoing rumbles. However, there is also some fairly inconsequential guitar(!) and a lengthy flute outro that proves to be the song’s downfall. Actually, the flute solo is quite welcome and enjoyable at first, but it goes on for entirely too long and ends the song in a frustratingly anti-climactic fashion. It seems like Cisneros was at loss as to how to finish the song and just shrugged and stopped when he ran out of lyrics. The raw material for a truly killer track is amply evident, but feels like it was prematurely rushed to completion.
The flaws of “Meditation” are maddeningly exacerbated by the fact that it is essentially the last “real” song on this four-track album, as the second half consists solely of two faux-Middle Eastern instrumentals. The two segments of “Cremation Ghat” certainly have flashes of excellence (particularly the fluid, melodic bass playing in the second part), but they are also a bit one-dimensional and bombastic and certainly do not play to the band’s strengths. They seem to occupy a stylistic no man’s land between Tortoise and Muslimgauze that I suspect few are eager to see filled. While I am pleased that Om are aggressively pushing their sound into expanded realms, these experiments are not compelling enough to fit on the same album as what came before them and would have been better left unreleased or issued as bonus tracks.
That said, I still cannot stop listening to this album (though I usually start it over again when the flute solo comes in). Notably, God is Good was produced by Steve Albini, yet it is perversely the least raw album Om has ever made. It is a stunning sounding release anyway, as literally every nuance of Emil’s drumming is audible. Some listeners may miss the churning intensity of Om’s previous work, but I don’t perceive any substantial decrease in power: the focus has merely shifted from artificial strength created by volume and overloaded signals to the much more human force of Al’s portentous, shamanic vocals.
samples:
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