Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett

Formed in 1980, Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett seems to have been actively playing together for a rather long time, yet to my knowledge released only one record: 1982's self-titled album on GDR's Amiga. Consisting of Sven-Åke Johansson, Rüdiger Carl, guitar innovator Hans Reichel (not sure whether daxo.de ist his site) and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (who was something like the GDR's export free jazz musician, being one of the few who, among other locations, played in the U.S.; apart from the three other guys of the quartet, he also played in the Globe Unity Orchestra, etc.), the band delivers music so good it makes you curse the only-one-album thing and crave for bootlegs. Here are three tracks.



Download Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett - Empfindungen und Nachempfindungen (VBR, 5,35 mb)
Download Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett - Kalldautzki (VBR, 9,21 mb)
Download Bergisch-Brandenburgisches Quartett - Neapolitanische Schwermut (VBR, 12,6 mb)
(Amiga doesn't seem to list the record anymore. However, if you should find it anywhere new, keep in mind that Sony BMG owns Amiga since 1994, and thus probably their whole back catalogue. Sony BMG is a member of the RIAA; if you do not know what that is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Midrash Mish Mosh

Aaron Alexander presented a very, very fine album in 2004 with Midrash Mish Mosh, featured in Tzadik's Radical Jewish Culture series and situated somewhere in a place where klezmer meets avantgarde and jazz. There's a whole bunch of musucians on the record - here are the playful Peep Nokh A Mol and Balagan Balaban, which balances on a line between total chaos and extremely tight structure - imagine maybe a dozen of violent but fun madmen, all kept in a small room.


Download Aaron Alexander - Peep Nokh A Mol (192 kbps, 7,45 mb)
Download Aaron Alexander - Balagan Balaban (192 kbps, 9,97 mb)
Buy Aaron Alexander - Midrash Mish Mosh from Tzadik (RIAA-free!)

Die Kosmische Zygote

Another wonderful piece by Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf, this time in collaboration with Sascha Stadlmeier, also known as Emerge. This one's entitled Die Kosmische Zygote and is a double re-working of another original piece by Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf which, to my knowledge, hasn't been released. Enjoy.

Download Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf & Emerge - Die Kosmische Zygote (256 kbps, 42,4 mb)
Buy Die Kosmische Zygote from taâlem (RIAA-free!)

Man On Stilts

Shark Quest make instrumental music, heavy on guitars, banjo and mandolin plus sometimes strings; their sound is often referred to as soundtrack-like, although I really don't see that point. The music can, indeed, be working in the background, but for a soundtrack, it still isn't not "supportive" enough. Man On Stilts may not be exactly something you'd call an overwhelming record - depending on the mood, you might perceive it as either neat or just plain shallow - but it's worth a listen, and might be a fine record to wake up to. Two tracks off of it here today. Enjoy.


Download Shark Quest - Hugging Is Affecting China (192 kbps, 5,97 mb)
Download Shark Quest - Here Sparky (192 kbps, 8,33 mb)
Buy Shark Quest - Man On Stilts from Merge Records (RIAA-free!)

Im Schlachthaus Blümen die Blumen

So about a week ago, I was wandering around in the district of Leipzig I live in, to the bank, then shopping for food. It must have been Saturday afternoon, the party folk haven't yet arrived and the working folk have already called it a day so there was barely anyone out in the streets, and I was listening to Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf. The name would at first suggest some neo-kraut band but is apparently a reference to Günther Grass' novel The Tin Drum and the band is an experimental ambient/avantgarde sound collage group. I first heard of them via Drone Records and recently got some other records of them - beautiful. I give you the first track off Im Schlachthaus Blühen die Blumen.



Download Aalfang mit Pferdekopf - Yahonami (VBR, 27,1 mb)
Buy Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf - Im Schlachthaus Blühen Die Blumen from Ex Ovo (RIAA-free!)

Blyaha-muha!

Folks, I know what you have been asking yourselves in the last days. I know you couldn't sleep, and, while lying awake in your bed, you were occupied by just one thought. One unsolved mystery that, you knew it, wouldn't let you be, wouldn't let you lead your life normally if it wouldn't be resolved eventually. And today, I am ready to present you the answer - yes, Antificial Weblog 2.0 is, in fact, back on track and new posts hopefully will come in at least once a day.

Today I give you something I found on a sampler called "Soviet Punk Rock Anthology". I couldn't manage to find out anything about the sampler, however, I knew the song from a Russian math/indie-rock band Tequilajazzz who played it at a concert later released as the Moloko live album. The band's leader, Yevgeniy Fyodorov, played in a band called Obyekt Nasmeshek in the 80's and the early 90's; in fact, all three members of the original Tequilajazzz line-up did at one point or another.

Apparently, they were influenced by the New Romantic phenomenon at the beginning, then turned to punk rock. Both things show on the track; it's a neat punk-pop song, and people who like The Clash, The Soft Boys or the Buzzcocks sure will enjoy it. It's also sweet how the singer obviously imitates Johnny Rotten. Have fun.

Download Obyekt Nasmeshek - Blyaha-Muha (VBR, 4,90 mb)
Buy a compilation called "Legendy Russkogo Roka" by Obyekt Nasmeshek from RussianDVD.com (RIAA-free!)

Download Tequilajazzz - Blyaha-Muha (VBR, 4,04 mb)
Buy Tequilajazz - Moloko from RussianDVD.com (RIAA-free!)

Shut up! Don't cry.

Although the Monks only released one album in 1966, over the years they have become one of the most influential 60's groups to emerge. The Fall have learned a lot from them (also, they have overed their songs numerous times), and the Silver Monk Time tribute album features groups such as Mouse From Mars, The Raincoats, Jason Forrest, Faust and others. Among the many garage bands of their time, they also belonged to the most original ones. Just listen to those raw, repetative riffs. Three tracks off Black Monk Time.


Download The Monks - Monk Time (192 kbps, 3,81 mb)
Download The Monks - Shut Up! (192 kbps, 4,44 mb)
Download The Monks - I Hate You (192 kbps, 4,92 mb)
Buy The Monks - Black Monk Time from somewhere (RIAA-free!)

"I saw and heared; for such a numerous host Fled not in silence through the frighted deep."

My have I got stuff for you, being back from a three day hiatus or so. The whole first CD of The Hafler Trio's Normally, now isn't that something. I do not assume I have to explain who The Hafler Trio are, if I do I don't feel like it so go explore their site on Brainwashed.com or read Wikipedia or whatever. This thing is based on the voice of Blixa Bargeld, apparently just reading the same phrase three times, which apparently is "Hören Sie denn nicht diese entsetzliche Stimme, die um den ganze Horizont schreit und die man gewöhnlich die Stille heißt?", which, translated into English, would read something like "Do you not hear that horrifying voice screaming all around the horizon which is normally being called silence?" Well, read the description by The Hafler Trio itself:

""Normally" reunites The Hafler Trio and Soleilmoon for the first time since 1996, when "An Utterance of the Supreme Ventriloquist", a limited edition clear vinyl LP wrapped in hand-made Japanese paper was released. The first CD in this two disc set is based on the voice of Einsturzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld. A particular phrase was read three times, in Blixa's three trademark vocal styles: whispering, hysterical and ordinary. "Normally," the title of this CD, is a reference to part of what Blixa didn't say when he spoke his phrase, and also to the way the German word for "Normally" is used. Although there are seven titles associated with the album, the music flows as one continuous track. They refer to different sections in the piece, but some of the changes are subtle, and the listener is left to discover them on her own. Or not. The second disc, "Sphotavado", is also based on vocal recordings by the Einsturzende Neubauten frontman. Three "meaningful" vowels were taken and arranged according to certain rules of Sanskrit. By repetition of these sounds, vibratory rhythms are created in the body to awaken the psychic fields. Everything, from our thoughts and ideas all the way up to things like people, trees and mountains, is a result of these vibrations. Along with its energy, every object has its accompanying range of sounds. Vibration is therefore a result of sound, not its cause. The name "Sphotavado" is the name given to this concept of sound, and is referred to in many tantras. It forms the foundation of tantric mantras, which are a fundamental aspect of Vedic rituals. Like the music inside, the packaging for this release is at once subtle and complex, presenting a simple and clean exterior that opens and unfolds to reveal (or hide) its complex inner workings. Designed by The Hafler Trio mastermind Andrew McKenzie himself, the sleeve and accompanying artwork are an intrinsic part of the whole package. It is essential that the music be played back through speakers, rather than through headphones, where its effects would be negated. Likewise, conversion to MP3 will render the music ineffective, as the compression removes the most important information. Andrew McKenzie's favorite fruit is the pomegranate."

I am not sure exactly how different the uncompressed version sounds in this case, but the 256 kbps version sounds great to me. Here are the ~ 64 minutes of the first CD for you, enjoy.


Download The Hafler Trio - Hören Sie Denn Nicht Das Schreien Ringsum, Das Man Gewönlich Stille Heißt? (As When No One Is Speaking/Outside the Mazes With Unravelled Head/In No Wise Being Double/At the Other End Of the Great Chain Of Being/I, Thou, He, She, We, You/Nothing Continues To Happen) (256 kbps, 117 mb)
Buy The Hafler Trio - Normally from somewhere (RIAA-free!)

We Move Through Weather

I don't usually like these phrases, in fact, I hate them, but if you like Trans Am, you could enjoy Tarentel. The We Move Through Weather album is pretty stripped-down work with some ambient floating and even droning going on. Here are two tracks from it and you can also download a live version of A Cloud No Bigger That a Man's Hand (along with a bunch of other live versions) from their site.

Download Tarentel - Bump Fast, Cut Up Through Windows (192 kbps, 6,15 mb)
Download Tarentel - A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Hand (192 kbps, 20,70 mb)
Buy Tarentel - We Move Through Weather from Temporary Residence (RIAA-free!)

Mashup ideas II

And another one involving Pere Ubu, or even Rocket From the Tombs, for that matter. This isn't exactly a mashup idea since the songs are just based on very similar basslines. Still, it's entertaining and they're good songs, too, so here you go with Joy Division's Heart And Soul and Life Stinks in three different versions - the one from the Pere Ubu classic The Modern Dance, the original early RFtT version plus the one from 2003's Rocket Redux, a reunion album which actually lacks the raw kick of the early records, but which is enjoyable because of David Thomas' vocals. Enjoy.

Download Joy Division - Heart and Soul (192 kbps, 8,05 mb)
Buy Joy Division - Closer from CDUniverse (Warning!! Qwest Records is a member of the RIAA. If you don't know what the RIAA is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Download Pere Ubu - Life Stinks (192 kbps, 2,59 mb)
Buy Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance from CDUniverse (Warning!! Geffen Records is a member of the RIAA. If you don't know what the RIAA is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).
Buy the 5.1 surround sound version released by Silverline from Amazon.com (RIAA-free!)

Download Rocket From the Tombs - Life Stinks (original version) (192 kbps, 4,68 mb)
Buy The Day the Earth Met the Rocket From the Tombs from Smog Veil (RIAA-free!)

Download Rocket From the Tombs - Life Stinks (Rocket Redux version) (160 kbps, 3,05 mb)
Buy Rocket From the Tombs - Rocket Redux from Smog Veil (RIAA-free!)

Magazine & Pere Ubu?

Ever noticed how you could mash Ubu Dance Party and Magazine's I Wanted Your Heart? It hits me every time I Wanted Your Heart starts. If anyone did this I'd be freaking happy. And of course I am not going to miss this oppurtunity to post another Magazine track and, for the first time on this blog, Pere Ubu. Enjoy.

Download Magazine - I Wanted Your Heart (VBR, 7,12 mb)
Buy Magazine - Secondhand Daylight from CDUniverse (Warning!! Although neither Blue Plate nor Caroline Records are listed as RIAA members, RIAARadar.com says they are. Better be careful. If you don't know what the RIAA is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Download Pere Ubu - Ubu Dance Party (192 kbps, 6,63 mb)
Buy Pere Ubu - Dub Housing from CDUniverse (Warning!! Thirsty Ear Recordings is a member of the RIAA. If you don't know what that the RIAA is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Baikal Ice

A breathtaking field recording this is. Your feet start feeling cold from its first seconds on, and although the album is a slight bit unfocused, it does paint a beautiful picture. Peter Cusack, known both as a guitar improviser and a sound artist, here presents some results of his 2003's field trip to the Baikal lake when the ice was breaking, from what I can tell, completely unprocessed. Here you go.


Download Peter Cusack - Banging Holes In Ice (192 kbps, 1,33 mb)
Download Peter Cusack - Floating Icicles Rocked By Waves (192 kbps, 21,40 mb)
Download Peter Cusack - Coal Fired Generator (192 kbps, 2,28 mb)
Buy Peter Cusack - Baikal Ice (Spring 2003) from ReR (RIAA-free!)

Sandosa

Ah yes, Amon Düül. The first one this time. Get ready to be blown away by about 17 minutes of delightfully rattling speakers, ritualistic drums, vocals which remind more of clinical idiocy than of singing. Just in case you don't know, Amon Düül was the "band" (actually, it was more of a commune) preceding Amon Düül II, one of the most popular krautrock bands. In case you don't know what krautrock is, go read The Krautrockteam or something. AD released four albums, three of which were made from material recorded in one session and today, I'm giving you Ein Wunderhübsches Mädchen Träumt Von Sandosa from the first one, Psychedelic Underground.


Download Amon Düül - Ein Wunderhübsches Mädchen Träumt Von Sandosa (192 kbps, 23,4 mb)
Buy Amon Düül - Psychedelic Underground from CDUniverse (RIAA-free!)

Creeping up into the sky

A real classic for you. Spiderland showed many things which were later to be continued in the post-rock "genre". Six tracks, a rock record that sounds as still as the lake on the cover. Enjoy.


Download Slint - Breadcrumb Trail (192 kbps, 8,14 mb)
Download Slint - Nosferatu Man (192 kbps, 7,64 mb)
Buy Slint - Spiderland from CDUniverse (RIAA-free!)

Hiding My Nightingale

Here's something that is apparently supposed to be a Can single from 1968, yet it doesn't appear in any discography I could manage to find. However, both tracks appear on the Kraut! Demons! Kraut! compilation, although I currently have no idea how to track it down. But here you go with the two tracks. Lovely to hear Margareta Juvan sing about how she is hiding her nightingale. Enjoy.

Download Can - Kama Sutra (192 kbps, 4,00 mb)
Download Can & Margareta Juvan - I'm Hiding My Nightingale (192 kbps, 4,10 mb)

New York Eye And Ear Control

When I saw the cover, read the title of the first track and heard the first seconds or so of it, I thought that it could be a soundtrack and guess what, I was right. The whole session (Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Bud, Gary Peacock, Sonny Murray) was recorded for the same-titled movie by Michael Snow, visual artist and musician himself, from 1964, though before production. Here's what Moore had to say (from an interview with The Austin Chronicle):

"They [the NYE&EC musicians] all used to play "heads," you know, a tune of some kind, and then a solo, and then "head" again, and I found myself disagreeing with that. When I had them come to the studio to record the soundtrack, I was careful to tell them that I didn't want any themes, but as much as possible ensemble playing. They accepted and they performed this way, but, in my opinion, this is one reason for which the music is so great. I mean, they're great, fantastic musicians, but they were stuck in that business of the statement of theme, alternating with solos. That's when I started working on my own music, which is what you'll hear with my trio, CCMC. Hmm, see, this is what happens, everything gets confused in these interviews!"

As you've already guessed, I've never seen the film. I also have never heard CCMC, although I'm anxious to do so. Here for you are two tracks from the album. Ayler's discography isn't as extensive as some jazz musicians' so you should go for this one. Enjoy.

Download Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Bud, Gary Peacock, Sonny Murray - Don's Dawn (192 kbps, 1,31 mb)
Download Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Roswell Bud, Gary Peacock, Sonny Murray - A Y (192 kbps, 27,7 mb)
Buy New York Eye And Ear Control OST from CDUniverse or Amazon.com or stand by at ESP-Disk' to wait for their store to re-open (RIAA-free!)

He was eleven and I was fifteen

Once in a while you stumble upon an album that is so hopelessly deluded you wonder why nobody has told you about it yet and why the hell so few people know it in the first place. Marc Tucker's Batstew from 1975 is something like this. The whole album is based on and around Tucker's then-car The Bat and then-girlfriend Eva Bataszew; there are tracks based on the sounds of the car, there's a bunch of naive-sounding songs (including the gay anthem Sideways Love Forever), mixed with field recordings of the suburbs Tucker lived in (you can kind of feel the presence of his car even when it's not heard), speech samples, audio experiments. It's thrilling, scary and somehow haunting at once. Here are three tracks from it.


Download Mark Tucker - Sideways Love Forever (224 kbps, 6,70 mb)
Download Mark Tucker - I'm Nothing (224 kbps, 6,61 mb)
Download Mark Tucker - Submerged Bat Vortex (224 kbps, 22,70 mb)
Buy Batstew from De Stijl (RIAA-free!)

And speaking of sex change...

Yeah, speaking of sex change, Messer Chups, the Saint Petersburg-based "neo-easy listening" band that blends surf guitars with samples from Ed Wood's movies and the like, have released a new album in 2005, entitled Hyena Safari. Sadly, it shows a group that seems to be completely out of freshness, and the fact that the theremin that added much to their sound on previous albums is gone doesn't really help it either. I put out two tracks from it, Popcorno - the title says it - and a remake of Sex Change from 2000's Miss Libido. If you're really into stuff that sounds like a soundtrack to a bad car chase scene from a cheesy 50's b-movie, you'll probably get your kick out of it; otherwise, I also give you two tracks from the sort of more diverse Crazy Price plus a remix of Import-Export (from Black Black Magic) by People Like Us. Enjoy.


Download Messer Chups - Popcorno (VBR, 4,61 mb)
Download Messer Chups - Sex Change (VBR, 5,09 mb)
Pre-order Messer Chups - Hyena Safari on CDUniverse (the US version, out on April 17, it seems) (RIAA-free!)


Download Messer Chups - Sex Euro And Evils Pop (192 kbps, 4,02 mb)
Download Messer Chuos - Not Made In Japan (192 kbps, 3,22 mb)
Download Messer Chups - Import-Export (remix by People Like Us) (192 kbps, 4,76 mb)
Buy Messer Cgups - Crazy Price from CDUniverse (RIAA-free!)

Pick a number

Tribute albums are a terrible thing. Eberybody knows that. You get them because you like the band covered on it, and then you find out the cover versions suck. They do in most cases, anyway. Now, the Wire tribute entitled Whore seems to be somehow better; hey, it has a big name line-up: Band Of Susans, Lee Ranaldo (who seems to be keen of participating in tribute albums), My Bloody Valentine, Main and Bark Psychosis (with their cover version of Three Girls Rumba) are all on it. Indeed, although it's all not as exciting as the names would suggest at first, the record is kind of enjoyable. I give you three covers from it and the originals.


Download Bark Psychosis - Three Girls Rhumba (192 kbps, 6,38 mb)
Download Lee Ranaldo - Fragile (192 kbps, 1,47 mb)
Download Transformer - Outdoor Miner (192 kbps, 3,44 mb)
(I couldn't find any oppurtunity to buy Whore on the Internet; it was released by WMO).

Download Wire - Three Girls Rhumba (192 kbps, 1,90 mb)
Download Wire - Fragile (192 kbps, 1,78 mb)
Buy Wire - Pink Flag from Pinkflag (LP) or CDUniverse (CD) (RIAA-free!)

Download Wire - Outdoor Miner (160 kbps, 1,99 mb)
Buy Wire - Chairs Missing from Pinkflag (LP) or CDUniverse (CD) (RIAA-free!)

Tetchy Teenage Tapes

Sorry for not posting yesterday, an old friend of mine is here to visit me plus I seem to be a little sick, so there. More regular posts by the end of this week, but until then I'll still try and post once a day if I get to it.

Here for you are three tracks from The Tetchy Teenage Tapes of Felix Kubin 1981-85; this is not just a fancy name, it's actual recordings from when FK was 13 and such. So-called "idiot music" (hey! that's what that friend of mine and me wanted to make some years ago); some tracks are negligible, some are divinely stupid and sort of make you think of the young Andreas Dorau back when he did Fred from Jupiter or so.


Here's the text from Ski-pp:

"Felix Kubin's early works from debut80's. It's not 80's revival but a real collection of original low-fi Casio-Korg madness synthetized and performed by a german disturbed teenager ! Helped in his enterprise by his young brother and a couple of friends , involved in several projects like "die egozentrischen" and "x2" . . . . Felix Kubin , when he was 13 was not interested in Lowe and sweet serenade! Check out the dark side of the teen ! Visionary, amazing and playfull catalog of tracks !"

Do they still make 13 year olds like that?

Download Felix Kubin - Fernsehpropheten (192 vkbps, 4,57 mb)
Download Felix Kubin - Krematorien (192 kbps, 4,63 mb)
Download Felix Kubin - Japan Japan (192 kbps, 3,09 mb)
Buy The Tetchy Teenage Tapes Of Felix Kubin (1981-85) from A-Musik or Forced Exposure (RIAA-free!)

Sixteen Again

The Buzzcocks' Peel session album is basically something you don't actually need because you already have the early stuff with Howard Devoto, the Product box set and some live recordings and that's already more Buzzcocks you probably need but you grab it anyway because hey, it's Peel sessions. Well, actually, there are pretty nice tracks on it, even though most don't differ much from the album or singles versions; I give you Sixteen Again, where Shelley's voice sounds clearer and somewhat younger than on Love Bites. Enjoy.


Download Buzzcocks - Sixteen Again (peel session, 18-10-1978) (224 kbps, 5,26 mb)
(I couldn't find any opportunity to buy the album on the internet, but it was released by Dutch East India Trading which means it's RIAA-free.)

Moooohieee!

The singing saw, also known as the musical saw, is basically a wood-cutting saw or so, played with a bow and very reminiscent of the theremin in its sound. Now, the singing saw was basically nothing so much new in the 1920s when Sam Moore played it; still, this has its place in the history of early 20th century musical experiments and the sound of the saw to the accompaniment of a Hawaiian guitar is quite lovely. Laughing Rag, besides, sounds sort of like Hawaiian ragtime. Again, Japan-based Em Records released a compilation of Moore's recordings and here are three tracks from it.


Download Sam Moore - Old Black Joe (192 kbps, 3,82 mb)
Download Sam Moore - Laughing Rag (192 kbps, 4,04 mb)
Download Sam Moore - Mother Machree (alternate version) (192 kbps, 4,21 mb)
Buy Sam Moore - Moooohieee! - musical saw and Hawaiian guitar soli recorded in early 1920s from Em Records or Dusty Groove America (RIAA-free!)

Alan Silva

Alan Silva, a multi-instrumentalist who played with Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor and others, is also known for his recordings as a band leader. "Skillfullnesses", apparently also known as the self-titled record, features Silva on violin and cello; it's a two-piece album with some very fine moments to it. Here you go with the first track.

Download Alan Silva - Skillfullnesses (VBR, 35,6 mb)
Buy Alan Silva - Skillfullnesses from ESP Disk (RIAA-free!)

Sebastien Tellier

Released in 2006, Sebastien Tellier's Sessions shows that he, in fact, is still active and makes for a nice set of alternate versions, even though the studio albums are stronger. Lots of the songs selected for the piano, synth, bass & vocals treatment were already arranged with a piano as a foreground instrument on the albums; there are exceptions, however, and it is kind of fun listening to the pseudo-Spanish League Chicanos sung like a heartrending ballad. Sadly, the record gets sort of boring if listened to entirely, since the same formula is being applied to almost every track. However, the last one, Classic, is an entirely new track, held quite recognizably in the style of Tellier's first album, L'Incroyable Vérité, employing no drum machines but instead piano and synth and creating a darker feeling than on Politics. Very nice stuff. I've read rumors somewhere that a new album is expected in 2007; hopefully, this is true. Enjoy Broadway and Classic from Sessions.

Download Sebastien Tellier - Broadway (192 kbps, 5,95 mb)
Download Sebastien Tellier - Classic (192 kbps, 3,76 mb)
Buy Sessions from CDUniverse (RIAA-free!)

Trans Am

Trans Am released a brand new album this week entitled Sex Change. A mixture of retro-synths, krautrockish rhythms, sometimes heavy guitars and light pop harmonies, which probably inspired their often-claimed affiliation with the blurrish "genre" of post-rock. It's quite a fine record; I give you two tracks that, apart from the pop-melodic guitar parts, sound so much like NEU! it's suspicious.


Download Trans Am - 4,738 Regrets (VBR, 7,36 mb)
Download Trans Am - Reprieve (VBR, 7,20 mb)
Buy Trans Am - Sex Change from Thrill Jockey (RIAA-free!)

Zvuki Mu

Art rockers Zvuki Mu and Pyotr Mamonov sure had their moments. They have gained unterground notoriety in Russia and at the end of the 80s they shortly attracted attention of the western audience along with other groups in what is called the "Russian Revolution" or the "Red Wave" and what is so much hated by me for exotism and stupid clichés; however, a self-titled album was produced and released by Brian Eno which, by the way, didn't turn out that remarkable at all (almost seems be a rule for late-80s Russian stuff recorded in the US or western Europe). But have a listen to this track here from 1992's Transnadezhnost'. A blend of art rock and post-punk primitivism; gotta love the synths and the vocals. Enjoy.


Download Zvuki Mu - Lyusya (192 kbps, 14,0 mb)
Buy Zvuki Mu - Transnadezhnost' from RussianDVD.com (RIAA-free!)

With hysterical spasms of laughter

An old friend of mine once told me he wanted to make music using bird singing. Later, he gave up, saying what came out wasn't really convincing. However, as with almost all ideas of this kind, this already had been done, in this case in the 1950s by then-CBS musical director Jim Fassett. Semi-professional novelty collectors The Record Robot posted some Fassett stuff earlier and thus Tony from RR is the one I heard about Fassett from. Here's what the description on Em Records' web site says:

"CD reissue of the historical 1950s LP, featuring a three-track multi-speed tape collage "Symphony" made by ONLY the nature birdsongs (it's REAL), plus regular-speed and time-stretched field recordings, and explanations from the man himself. Jim Fassett was the musical director ob CBS radios in 50s-60s, and also famous as the author of another concrete works "Strange to Your Ears" in 50s. The kinda roots of recent field recordings/drones stuffs. Totally birdsong mania!"

Totally birdsong mania indeed. Basically, what Fassett did was - so he says in the explanations - altering the pitch and speed of the field recordings on a tape machine, and although you can't expect much concrete greatness here and it's more of a case for The Record Robot, I give you the "explanatory comments" included on the CD re-issue plus the first movement of the symphony.

Download Jim Fassett - Explanatory comments (192 kbps, 8,79 mb)
Download Jim Fassett - Symphony Of the Birds, First Movement (192 kbps, 9,41 mb)
Buy the Symphony Of the Birds from Dusty Groove America or from Em Records (RIAA-free!)

Baby please don't go

We're going into late evening here, and in case you're feeling blue here's a little bit of delta blues for you. In fact, listen to it even if you're not really feeling blue. Besides, deep down in your heart you probably are. Admit it already. This is "American Primitivism", as John Fahey put it; in fact, Bukka White's Mississippi Blues first came out on his Takoma Label and then has been re-released by various labels numerous times since. Three tracks from it here.

Download Bukka White - Baby Please Don't Go (VBR, 6,08 mb)
Download Bukka White - Shake 'Em On Down (VBR, 4,54 mb)
Download Bukka White - I'm In the Heavenly Way (VBR, 5,01 mb)
Buy Bukka White - Mississippi Blues from CDUniverse (RIAA-free!)

The Highway Is Jammed With Broken Heroes

Sadly, Jason DiEmilio, better known as leader of and essentially The Azusa Plane, has committed suicide in the end of last year. His music, starting from space rock/ambient drone works, developed itself towards noise and free improvisation later on. Today I'm giving you "No Future", one of the two tracks off The Azusa Plane's last album, "The Highway Is Jammed With Broken Heroes": quitar "picking", joined by what seems to be equipment noises. Enjoy.


Download The Azusa Plane - No Future (192 kbps, 39,60 mb)
Buy The Azusa Plane - The Highway Is Jammed With Broken Heroes from (K-RAA-K)³ (RIAA-free!)

Idylle und Katastrophen

A real candy here, Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano, wire piano, celeste) with Sven-Åke Johansson (voice, accordion, percussion). A whole firework display of grand jazz, this recording features, among others, Derek Bailey on guitar and Paul Lovens on zither and a singing saw. Not listening to this when you get this served I shall consider a crime. Listen.

Download Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sven-Åke Johansson - Der Schornsteinfeger/Im Taubenschlag/Entfernungen (VBR, 26,5 mb)
Download Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sven-Åke Johansson - Fichtengrün und Tannengrün (VBR, 15,0 mb)
Download Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sven-Åke Johansson - Der Westwind (VBR, 6,05 mb)
(Idylle und Katastrophen was released in 1980 on Po Torch Records on LP only and has never been re-released since then. So no buy link since it seems to be long out of stock).

Lord help us, help us lose our minds

In our series of Albums Previously Overlooked by me for a long time, today we feature Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues. To me, Talking Heads used to end with Remain In Light, most probably because the monumental The Name Of This Band Is didn't feature anything from their later efforts. So I felt like Remain In Light was a pretty perfect swan song and never really cared for what came after that.

In fact, though, the successor doesn't just consist of the band's probably biggest hit, "Burning Down the House", but instead delivers just the nerdy funk that you know from TH. I give you "Slippery People" (which sounds suspiciously close to "Houses in Motion" off the predecessor album) and This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody), which is just that - by the way, even it wasn't meant that way, I can't help but understand the lines "and you love me 'till my heart stops / love me 'till I'm dead" as an expression not of eternal devotion but rather of some kind of happy torture. But I guess this is what a lot of TH is about anyway.


Download Talking Heads - Slippery People (VBR, 7,30 mb)
Download Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (VBR, 6,92 mb)
Buy Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues from CDUniverse (WARNING!! Warner Bros. is a member of the RIAA. If you don't know what that is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

And while we're at it, here are three tracks from a great live bootleg from 1983.

Download Talking Heads - Heaven (live) (320 kbps, 9,52 mb)
Download Talking Heads - Slippery People (live) (320 kbps, 12,50 mb)
Download Talking Heads - Crosseyed and Painless (live) (320 kbps, 16,30 mb)
(These live versions are taken off a bottleg which you can download entirely from Dimeadozen.org. The time and place are 08-05-1983, Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY, USA).

Mongoloid once again

The Mongoloid post has been updated to now include Nouvelle Vague's sort of-rare cover version.

Volk

I hadn't really listened to Laibach for quite some time before I read on Said the Gramophone that a new album had been released in 2006. "Volk" consists solely of Laibach's versions of various national hymns plus the NSK hymn, which Said the Gramophone posted (be sure to pick that one up); it's more quiet than the previous records and better than WAT but still, Laibach aren't really discovering subtlety in their "messages", which thing they seem to have. I'm giving you two other tracks from the album.


Download Laibach - Germania (VBR, 5,49 mb)
Download Laibach - America (VBR, 6,86 mb)
Buy Laibach - Volk from Mute (Warning!! Mute belongs to EMI, which is a member of the RIAA. If you do not know what that is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

One chromosome too many

Devo tend to be sadly overlooked by journalists attempting to write popular music history. Which is weird. But there you go, and what I give you here is "Mongoloid", which by the way was a personal hymn of mine about 1,5 years ago. (SO MUCH TIME PASSED ALREADY?! What the hell?) Plus cover versions by psychobilly maniacs Demented Are Go! and Popchor Berlin (site's in German only) - the latter really gives the whole thing an apocalyptic touch. Plus be sure to go to Music for Maniacs and download Popchor Berlin's non-a capella cover. Plus the French cover band Nouvelle Vague with their version which I do not like at all, as I dislike Nouvelle Vague (I just don't get what is supposed to be so great or even funny about them), but since there has been a special request, here you go.

Download Devo - Mongoloid (256 kbps, 6,84 mb)
Buy Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! from CDUniverse (WARNING!! Warner Bros. is a member of the RIAA. If you don't know what that is, read on them before you consider buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Download Devo - Mongoloid (demo version) (256 kbps, 6,58 mb)
(It's from the "Hardcore Devo" collection. Didn't find any buy options for this, however, it had been released by RykoDisc, which is a member of the RIAA.)

Download Demented Are Go! - Mongoloid (128 kbps, 2,70 mb)
(It's from the "Who Put Grandma Under the Stairs?" live album. Didn't find any buy options for this either, but it's RIAA-free.)

Download Popchor Berlin - Mongoloid (a capella) (192 kbps, 2,51 mb)
Buy Popchor Berlin - Maxi #1 from Amazon.de (RIAA-free!)

Download Nouvelle Vague - Mongoloid (320 kbps, 3,61 mb)
(This version was recorded on the 01.06.2004 at a France Inter radio session which doesn't seem to be available for purchase. It's called the White Session).

"It's something like a porno bar mitzvah"

Glam prophet and former Antichrist Bobby Conn is here with an all-new album and although he, quite obviously, has always thought big, this time he's outdone himself, shooting a full-blown rock opera with Usama Alshaibi to the record.

"I am producing a full-length song-by-song video to accompany the record. The look of the video is inspired by 70’s era soap operas; we are using a very old tube video camera and shooting everything on very simple theatrical sets." (Thrill Jockey interview)

The album itself is, quite logically, a bit less song-oriented than The Homeland, but the stuff you know from the previous records, it's all there: sermons of something between a wild party and a religious sect, Conn's unmistakable voice and music which is seemingly so stylistically bad you start questioning your thought-of-as-good taste because you like it so much. Just listen, will you.


Download Bobby Conn - When the Money's Gone (320 kbps, 8,76 mb)
Download Bobby Conn - Anybody (320 kbps, 8,45 mb)
Watch the King for a Day promo and other videos from the upcoming rock opera on MySpace
Buy "King for a Day" from Thrill Jockey (RIAA-free!)

Drumming

Milford Graves is one of the better-known yet rarely-recorded jazz drummers, having played with Albert Ayler or John Tchicai in the New York Art Quartet. From sometime in the nineties on, he also played with John Zorn; the latter released Graves' albums on Tzadik. I'm giving you three tracks off the first album of Zorn's label, a recording of over an hour of awesome drumming plus a bit of vocals in the background, ending with the fading, hypnotic "Transcendence".

Download Milford Graves - Transcriptions (192 kbps, 7,36 mb)
Download Milford Graves - Know Your Place (192 kbps, 7,44 mb)
Download Milford Graves - Transcendence (192 kbps, 5,24 mb)
Buy Milford Graves - Grand Unification from Tzadik (RIAA-free!)

Aki Takase & Maria João

Another great jazz concert recording, this time piano/voice by Maria João and Aki Takase. Amazing set. The two swing back and forth between harmonical and atonal cascades, playing very well together. Good stuff, good stuff.

Download Aki Takase & Maria João - My Favorite Things (224 kbps, 13,7 mb)
Download Aki Takase & Maria João - Confirmation/Donna Lee/Au Privave (224 kbps, 14,9 mb)
Download Aki Takase & Maria João - Watashi No Obakasan (224 kbps, 6,55 mb)
Buy Aki Takase & Maria João - Looking For Love from Amazon.de (or better yet, from somewhere else, I just couldn't find any other place you can buy that. Once again, help with that would be appreciated).

Blue Zoo

Recording of a great concert in Zürich, 1996, with the incredible Borah Bergman on piano, which sometimes rumbles, sometimes flows here, and Peter Brötzmann and Thomas Borgmann on two saxophones, playing very differently and interacting with each other in a beautiful and intense way. Hear for yourself.


Download Borah Bergman, Thomas Borgmann, Peter Brötzmann - Right Now Is As Good As Any Time (256 kbps, 18,5 mb)
Buy Borah Bergman, Thomas Borgmann, Peter Brötzmann - Blue Zoo from Konnex (RIAA-free!)

Perverted by Lennon or what?!

Is there anything more perverted than The Fall covering the Beatles? Maybe the Stooges covering the Beatles? Or Pere Ubu covering the Beatles? People having sex with mincemeat? Yes, there are many perversions. Still, I think this is a little bit pretty twisted.

So does Mark E. Smith like or hate the Beatles? I, honestly, do not know; I seemed to remember having once seen an interview where he talked about them, but couldn't manage to find it when I searched Google. Although a member at the unofficial Fall site's forum seems to think he hated them. I tend to think so, too; so why the cover version? I don't know. So, there you go.

Download The Fall - A Day In the Life (256 kbps, 8,02 mb)

About the weather... again

Magazine's last album, Magic, Murder and the Weather, is a largely overlooked effort, and after having listened to it for the first time, I must say that is not without reason. The majority of the album sounds rather uninspired, and although I normally am absolutely not the guy who complains about bad production, here it lets the record sound flat and without energy. Still, it has its moments where the songs almost reach up to the level of their earlier records. And so, without further ado, I give you two songs from the band of the man whom Momus called "the most important man alive":

Download Magazine - About the Weather (224 kbps, 6,58 mb)
Download Magazine - Vigilance (224 kbps, 8,42 mb)
Buy Magic, Murder And the Weather from CDUniverse (Warning!! EMI Gold is a member of the RIAA group. In case you do not know what that is, read on them before you think of buying: Wikipedia; Boycott-RIAA.com).

Black Ships Eat the Sky

So, a newly mixed version of Current 93's latest labum, Black Ships Ate the Sky, has been released in December of last year, named the same except for the tense. In case you didn't have any idea they had this album, "Black Ships Ate the Sky" is probably the "lightest" thing Current 93 have ever done.


The new version didn't seem to sound THAT very different from the "standard" version to me on large parts (it does sound different, but the Durtro site said "this is an absolutely ALTERNATIVE version of the BLACK SHIPS ATE THE SKY album" - accentuation left, etc.), but then again, I haven't listened to the whole thing yet so it might very well be so. Anyway, some tracks do sound very elsewise and on the whole, it really has a more "acoustic" touch to it. Enjoy and don't get confused over the version numbers of "Why Caesar Is Burning", they put part I on the alternate version.


Download Current 93 - The Dissolution Of the Boat "Millions of Years" (192 kbps, 5,49 mb)
Download Current 93 - Why Caesar Is Burning, pt. II (192 kbps, 3,90 mb)
Buy Current 93 - Black Ships Ate the Sky (North American edition) from Durtro (RIAA-free!)
Buy Current 93 - Black Ships Ate the Sky (European edition) from Durtro (RIAA-free!)

Download Current 93 - The Dissolution Of the Boat "Millions of Years" (192 kbps, 5,13 mb)
Download Current 93 - Why Caesar Is Burning, pt. I (192 kbps, 3,87 mb)
Buy Current 93 - Black Ships Eat the Sky from Durtro (RIAA-free!)

Mountains and Rivers

Following yesterday's entry about Auktyon, here is a track made by band leader Leonid Fyodorov, keyboardist Dmitriy Ozerskiy, some guy called Voloshin and poet Anri (Henri?) Volohonskiy which is completely different from Auktyon. Although Fyodorov does sing the melody used in "O Pogode" without lyrics. Much rather, though, this is a piece of experimental ambient music with Volohonskiy's breaking voice seemingly recorded on some cheap device and blending with the sounds in the background. Beautiful and haunting from the beginning to the end.


I'm posting the title track.

Download Volohonskiy, Fyodorov, Ozerskiy, Voloshin - Gory i Reki (Mountains and Rivers) (256 kbps, 28,7 mb)
Buy Gory i Reki from RussianDVD.com (RIAA-free!)

Just for laughs

This is an older one I think, but if you don't know it yet, check out this cover version of Europe's "Final Countdown", my personal Second Most Awful Song of the 20th Century, on YouTube. Wait until the vocals kick in.

Globe Unity Orchestra & Guests

A mind-blowing 24:45 improvisation. Alexander von Schlippenbach, Peter Brötzmann, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker... The first sounds feels like they were scratching on the outside of your skull, attempting to get in.


Download Globe Unity Orchestra & Guests - Every Single One Of Us Is a Pearl (192 kbps, 34,0 mb)
FMP doesn't seem to list the LP anymore and apparently, there never was a re-release on CD. Now, that's a gap. So there you go, no buy link. If some of you folks want it, maybe I'll be able to upload the whole LP.

Auktyon

I don't think I'd ever written about this band in my previous blog. What do they do? Art rock? I'm not sure. What is art rock, anyway? Auktyon, however, sound just a little bit like Tuxedomoon mixed with the local mental home's rock band. Their new album - the first "regular" studio album in about 14 years - is due in April and is participated in by Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot, avant-garde saxophonist (and not only) Ned Rothenberg, John Medeski, klezmerdude Frank London and kontrabassist Vladimir Volkov, who played with Sergey Kuryokhin and many others and has collaborated with band leader Leonid Fyodorov (website's in Russian only) on a number of other recordings. What I am giving you today is two tracks from the 2002 release Eto Mama (It's Mum), "Fa-Fa (Eto Mama)" and "O Pogode" ("About the Weather"). The record was a pseudo-live collection of older songs and a couple of newer ones, not just capturing the distinct live sound of the band which developed over the years but also putting lots of songs in a newer musical perspective, employing more wind instruments etc. Plus you get a track from the forthcoming album where you can hear Ribot and Volkov alright, called "Zhdat'" ("Wait"); this track came up somewhere on the net a couple of weeks ago and I'm not sure whether it's the final version, but it's a fine teaser. The quality of all three files is 128 kbps, pitifully, but there you go. Enjoy.


Download Auktyon - Fa-Fa (Eto Mama) (128 kbps, 8,78 mb)
Download Auktyon - O Pogode (128 kbps, 5,39 mb)
I don't know where you can buy "Eto Mama" outside Russia, but it was released by Misteriya Publishing, which is part of Misteriya Zvuka, who have the distribution rights to Sony BMG Russia's production. They also have a "Sony BMG top 50" on their site. So be careful there, you know, what with the RIAA and stuff.

Download Auktyon - Zhdat' (128 kbps, 3,44 mb)
Stand by at the official english site to buy the album when it's released.

Happy Valentine's Day

Nothing quite very special, just a couple of classic and not-so-classic versions of a classic tune as a Valentine's Day's gift for you. Enjoy & happy Valentine's Day.

Download Charlie Parker - My Funny Valentine (128 kbps, 6,05 mb)
Download Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine (live at the Plugged Nickel) (224 kbps, 26,7 mb)
Download Elvis Costello & the Attractions - My Funny Valentine (320 kbsp, 3,4 mb)
Download Nico - My Funny Valentine (128 kbps, 3,19 mb)

Also go to Keep the Coffee Coming and get Ella Fitzgerald's version. NOW!!

Down by law

Just listened to the sampler "Angola Prisoners' Blues", recorded in the 50s in Louisiana by one Dr. Harry Oster, folklorist. It's a mix of improvised blues songs, traditional tunes and a story of a jail strike told at the end, all sung and spoken by the convicts. Blues straight from the bottom, almost surprisingly beautifully performed; oh well, just listen to Odea Mathews accompanied solely by her sewing machine or Robert Pete Williams in his spoken threnody before he breaks into song. Astonishing record. I put out three tracks for you. Amazing. Listen to it.

Download Robert Pete Williams - Prisoner's Talking Blues (192 kbps, 7,08 mb)
Download Odea Mathews - The Moon is Rising (192 kbps, 2,65 mb)
Download Roosevelt Charles, Otis Webster - Have You Ever Heard the Church Bells Tone (192 kbps, 2,57 mb)
Buy Angola Prisoners' Blues from Arhoolie (RIAA-free!)