January stuff

THE RESIDENTS – Tweedles (Tabasco) Instrumental – a download-only album from RSD, and it’s another gem – never been overly fond of the Tweedles song set that this apparently eventually became, but these three lengthy instrumental tracks are, for me, every bit as questing as The Ughs! set I loved a couple of months ago.  Only sadness about this release is that it hasn’t been given the CD outing (with higher quality audio) that it richly deserves. Now, where’s that Voice Of Midnight instrumentals set please – on CD!

THE RESIDENTS – Talking Light Live Santa Cruz – apparently several shows on the US leg of the Residents current tour are scheduled to be up for sale from their download centre. Don’t think I’ll be getting them all, but since Santa Cruz is the first date on the tour I thought I’d give it a whirl. Interesting mix of new and reworked older material, with the balance firmly in favour of the latter – although (if this is the entire concert) it’s pretty short.

With The Residents seemingly playing only a single show in the UK (and that at a holiday camp weekend festival), I’d been considering travelling to Italy to catch them there in May. But if I’ve already heard the concert and it’s only an hour or so long, going to all the expense becomes an issue (leaving aside the visuals, of course). Thinking cap on.

NURSE WITH WOUND – Space Music – one of Stapleton’s lengthy single track drone, crackle, bang and groan outings, this one apparently commissioned by Melbourne Planetarium. Beautiful limited edition box/signed card/book packaging from Beta Lactam, but it’s not a release that I’m likely to be returning to regularly.

BRUME – The Sun//The Moon – double CD from small UK imprint Elsie and Jack Records, a lovingly packaged edition.  Bought on the strength of a review in The Wire.

DAVID BYRNE/FATBOY SLIM – Please Don’t – download track from upcoming album. Hmm. Mixed

MOEBIUS – Tonspuren – from way back in the days before t’internet, when buying imported vinyl and even finding out about non-UK releases was a difficult business. This one passed me by completely, and damn, I wish it hadn’t. Superb, almost proto-techno electronica that’s already amongst my favourite of his releases. What else have I missed, I wonder?

MACHINEFABRIEK – The Breathing Bridge – 3″ cdep;  Slovensko – 3″ cdep; Nerf – 3″ cdep – probably amongst his most minimal work to date.

L/M/R/W – Drifts – A Machinefabriek collaboration, haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.

ERGO PHIZMIZ – The Faustus Cycle – a whopping 15 hour meisterwerk available for free download from Headphonica – merited a blog entry all its own (see earlier this month). Get it now, those of you with adventurous ears.

Fifteen hours of Phizmiz

One man musical genre Ergo Phizmiz recently completed his The Faust Cycle (or, The House of Dr Faustus), writing, composing, performing and producing it all himself – although there’re a number of collaborators, this is clearly the work of a singular visionary.

Where to begin with this – a monumental fifteen hours of radiophonic delight, unravelled through spoken-word, music, song, and sound-collage that’s been at least three years in the planning and execution.

In it, Ergo attempts to deliver a package to the house Dr Faustus and becomes embroiled in a series of surreal adventures inside his vast and labyrinthine house. Whilst I tend to favour the plentiful song-based segments, there’s plenty to recommend in its more ‘improvised’ instrumental passages. Interestingly, the cycle ends with a half hour of what sounds like slightly treated (or played from a vinyl lp) rainforest ambience at dusk – the bewilderingly rich soundscape perhaps a reminder that whatever Ergo can conjure from his fervid imagination, the natural environment is a match for him.

For those unfamiliar with Phizmiz (and there are, sadly, still far too many) for me he’s a 21st century standard-bearer for a long tradition of surrealist sound art, music and – crucially – comedy. Think Duchamp, Milligan, Monty Python, the Bonzos, Zappa, even Flanders and Swann and you’re beginning to get the picture.

And here’re a few of the intruments he plays across the cycle – Foot Harmonium, Indian Harmonium, Tenor Accordion, Toy Piano, Melodica, Balinese Xylophone, Violin, Viola, Banjo, Messiah Box, Ukulele, Euphonium, Harmonica, Voice, Acoustic & Classical Guitar, Bagpipes, Didjerydoo, Desk Bell, Mechanical Birds, Pixiphone, Horns, Recorder, Fife, Tibetan Flute, Kazoo, Autoharp, Cajon, Assorted Drums.

All fifteen hours can be downloaded (for free) from here - Headphonica. A real iPod-strainer at around 2GB in size, but it more than justifies the space and will keep you entertained for hours (at least fifteen of ‘em).

Don’t let this pass you by!  Here, from Phizmiz’ blog are 46 reasons not to…

1) It features a string quartet riding bicycles & playing Janacek.
2) We pay a visit to Trimalchio’s next dinner party.
3) Marcel Duchamp learns to rap.
4) Latvian songbird Margita Zalite sings Peggy Lee and makes it her own.
5) To hear the sound of a Moses basket made of gurgling babies in a sewer.
6) A walking gramophone.
7) The regular appearance of an 1832 Debain Harmonium.
8 ) A ukulele song about love and poo.
9) It took three years and nearly made my brain collapse.
10) It can be listened to closely, or allowed to linger in the background.
11) To hear the largest and most ornate bowel movement in history.
12) To hear Pete Um wax lyrical about opera and sing about cassowaries.
13) Where else would you hear a giant exploding pig?
14) To hear a singing child psychiatrist.
15) To hear a mambo duet between God & the Devil.
16) For Helen of Troy’s mime-only version of The Iliad.
17) For Igor Stravinsky’s stand-up comedy show.
18) If you’ve nothing better to do, you can nearly pass a whole day.
19) For Bela Emerson’s gorgeous cello & electronics improvisations.
20) To hear Joseph Cornell speaking entirely through sound-collage.
21) In order to find out what happens when a train comes to a dinner party.
22) Find out what happens with an aroused monkey backstage in an opera house
23) It has no cryptic references to the number 23.
24) Meet Mr Sausage.
25) It’s chock full of brand new pop songs locked within it’s fabric.
26) To hear Angela Valid’s electroacoustic hell kebabs.
27) What does a piano promenading through a sewer sound like?
28) To hear a mechanical doll careering out of control at 80 mph.
29) For a myriad marble runs.
30) For a TR606 improvising with a rainstorm.
31) To hear James Nye’s variations of Erik Satie “An Evening in Hell”.
32) Hear the Four Tops covered by Noel Coward and a Country & Western band.
33) Peer into the Devil’s pantomime kinetoscopes.
34) It’s not created by Simon Cowell. Or is it?
35) To hear me flushing myself down the toilet.
36) Martha Moopette monologues off Cole Porter lyrics.
37) It has no headlice in it.
38) It’s an iPod killer!
39) Hear the world gently, gently crack
40) For a malevolent talking Albatross, of course.
41) For insect recordings by Irene Moon, the singing entomologist.
42) Discover how to be a ventriloquist with no talent for doing so.
43) Hear Erich Von Stroheim over and over and over and over and over again.
44) To put Ergo Phizmiz at rest and give his poor, twittering fingers a break. (Contributed by the great Navia of Vanity)
45) Because Vulnavia Vanity says so.
46) For the 1940s style balloon dance of Emperor Rudolf II of Prague.

Strange Scottish Stovies

An unusual blog entry for me, but I thought it was about time I stashed this recipe somewhere on the net for wider consumption.

Scotland is not exactly known for its haute cuisine – and true to form, this recipe isn’t exactly haute cuisine.

What it IS is a recipe I came up with about twenty years ago, loved, and have returned to and ‘refined’ in the depths of winter ever since. I’ve not seen anything like it elsewhere.

I originally concocted it in a stoned attempt to get myself into the Sunday Post (don’t ask), entering their annual stovie-making competition with it. Turning up to the Edinburgh heat of the competition with the yellow-coloured dish in an orange tupperware container, I was greeted by competitors consisting entirely of female pensioners and schoolgirls (I stood a clear foot taller than them all in the press photo) who’d all aimed for the ‘traditional’ approach of grey potato, lard and beef dripping in a grey container.  The judges took one look at my effort – and presumably at me – and wouldn’t risk tasting it. Their loss, it was/is delicious. I did make it into the paper though.

This is great in a big gloopy pot on the stove during long cold winter nights -

STRANGE SCOTTISH STOVIES (serves 4/5, or keep it to yourself over several nights – it gets better with each reheating)
You will need : -

salt

pepper

vegetable oil

mixed herbs (teaspoon)

paprika (teaspoon)

cayenne pepper (teaspoon)

onion (medium-sized)

red pepper(medium-sized)

garlic (5 medium cloves)

potatoes (5 medium baking)

turnip/swede (medium-sized)

butter

milk

strong orange cheddar

frankfurters (pack of ten)

petit pois (large can)

Large cooking pot
Large frying pan or something similar

What you should do : -

Chop/cube the potatoes and turnip and boil in salted water until potato is soft enough to mash and turnip is ‘al dente’.

Slice the onion, red pepper and garlic (either coarse or finely) and lightly fry in a tiny amount of vegetable oil, adding salt, pepper, mixed herbs, paprika and cayenne pepper.

Mash the potato and turnip together with milk and butter and cheddar cheese until a lumpy / gloopy, slow-bubbling  consistency is achieved.

Stir in the mixture of onions, peppers, garlic and herbs.

Chop and add frankurters and petit pois.

Leave on low heat for ten/fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. You should now have a large pot that, if left on the heat, will bubble and plop not unlike a hot mud spring.

Serve in a bowl if it won’t settle on a plate because you’ve over-milked the mixture.

Add pepper and salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Will put a pic up next time I make it.

Like I said, I’ve made this every winter for years, and everyone who’s tasted is has loved it.

December stuff

A month treading well-worn paths, since I’m spending most of my time watching BAFTA screeners.

CLUSTER – Qua – a GIANT release snuck out on a tiny US label earlier this year. Was happy to see Cluster active and treading the boards again and was hoping they’d record new material, though I admit that my expectations weren’t high.  What a surprise – both referring to their past achievements and suggesting future avenues, this is already amongst my favourite Cluster releases.

CLUSTER – One Hour – had a cassette of this for years, worth getting again on CD.

HARMONIA & BRIAN ENO – Tracks & Traces 76: Shackleton remix – download of two tracks reworked from the ‘lost’ Harmonia/Eno classic. Passes the time, nothing special.

MUSLIMGAUZE – Uzi Mahmood – download of this triple vinyl only release on Soleilmoon – Muslimgauze’s attempt to go dancefloor.

MACHINEFABRIEK & TIM CATLIN – Glisten – no drop in quality, as per usual…..

MACHINEFABRIEK/SOCCER COMMITTEE – Clay – 3″cdep – ditto

MACHINEFABRIEK/GARETH DAVIS – Ghost Lanes – 3″cdep – ditto

MACHINEFABRIEK – Take A Closer Listen – book of brief ruminations on the favourite ambient sounds of selected correspondents.

THE RESIDENTS – Arkansas – limited Ralph website CD containing stuff that didn’t make it onto the Bunny Boy CD.

a November to remember…

here we go with November’s goodies….

MAPSTATION – The Africa Chamber – way back in the late 70s/early 80s I distinctly recall reading somewhere that Kraftwerk had almost completed work on an African-influenced album – although there’s nothing I can find on the web now to back up this odd memory.  The prospect of electronic-African hybrid music excited me, but I had to wait a few more years before Hector Zazou and Bony Bikaye’s groundbreaking Noir Et Blanc album on Crammed Discs went some small way towards satisfying my curiosity. Unless I’ve been missing something, this genre mix has remained seriously underexploited over the years, so I’m happy that someone with the pedigree of Mapstation seems to be heading in this direction. It’s not (to these ears) an unbridled success on this occasion, but my appetite has been whetted. More please.

KREIDLER – Mosaik 2014 – well, you wait for ages then two come along at once – well, not quite, but there are pieces of African-influenced electronica on this.

And speaking of Kraftwerk (as I was briefly, if you recall)…

KRAFTWERK – The Remasters box -  The presentation of the booklets and resleeved cds is stunning – a wonderful triumph of visual design/art, a monumental artefact.  Haven’t delved into the actual discs yet, unsure where to begin and mindful of the time it’ll take me to go through it all.

MACHINEFABRIEK – Music For Intermittent Movements & Bijeen & Blank Grey Canvas Sky - another three discs,  a recent release (BGCS) and two ‘older’ works, one apparently a compilation, though not of stuff I already have.

THE RESIDENTS – The Ughs! - I’ve been a fan since the mid 70s and continue to support them by buying their stuff and seeing them live on each tour that lands somewhere affordable in Europe – but I have to admit that in recent years I’ve not been too engaged by their efforts – the sonic palette a tad jaded, the choice of subject matter more miss than hit.  But every now and again, they pull something special out of the bag that reminds me why I’ve loved them for so long – and hooray, The Ughs is one such record.  I recall loving the instrumental backing for their Voice Of Midnight album – and this is the work that lead towards those VoM backings, shorn of that record’s annoyingly histrionic vocals/lyrics. Great to hear the Rez stretching out again – more please!!

THE RESIDENTS – Ten Little Piggies – a compilation taster of projects they plan to release in the next year (a couple of them out already). Seems that the Voice Of Midnight instrumental album I’ve been hoping for is due for a download release!

THE RESIDENTS – Is Anybody Out There? DVD – Haven’t sat down with this yet, but it’s their Bunny Boy series of YouTube videos collected – and messed with to (presumably) more couch-friendly effect.

XXX RESIDENTS – Attack of the Killer Black Eye Ball – cd & dvd, Japanese import. Billed as a ‘multi-media cosplay unit influenced by the original “The Residents”‘. With a track including Merzbow. WTF?  Try this wee video for a taster http://www.dax.tv/?item=3795 It’s a bit of a 4/4 fest, though heavy on Residents samples – and the final two tracks are noise and lounge approximations. Completists only (this would seem to include me).

DAO & CoH – Dzerzhinsk-9 - 12″ vinyl LP – WTF, you might ask, am I doing buying vinyl? Fair point, since I haven’t had a deck for years. But this is an extremely limited (60 copies + art print) edition of some of the earliest work from one of my favourite artists, CoH (Ivan Pavlov), and an email to the record label confirmed that they have no plans to release on CD. Dammit. So, very nice to look at and great to have, but……. all I can hear for the moment is an intriguing snippet on the label website. Will have to ask around and see if anyone I know’s still able to transfer from vinyl.  Also interesting to read that there’s a new joint work by Andrej and Ivan currently in the works.

THE FLAMING LIPS – Embryonic – nice faux-fur double edition with a lithograph. Only bought this when I heard that TFL had moved away from their poppier iteration towards something altogether rougher and looser.

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO – playing the piano/out of noise – more on this release after I’ve seen him perform along the road at the Queens Hall on 2nd December – I won’t be listening to this until afterwards so that the concert might offer some surprises.

THE BIRTHDAY – meets Love Grocer at On-U Sound, mixed by Adrian Sherwood – Japanese import cdep. Pleasant enough 5-tracker of pop reggae sung in Japanese, but little that obviously marks it as a Sherwood production. Love Grocer. Eh?

The Curse of Nine Rain…

…strikes again.

Recently spent a long weekend in Amsterdam, focal point of which was taking in a screening at the Paradiso of Eisenstein’s Que Viva Mexico with live score performed by Nine Rain, made all the more special by it taking place in conjunction with celebrations for the Mexican Day Of The Dead.

A wet Sunday evening and the Paradiso, a converted church in the city centre

was decked out for the evening with large skull mobiles hanging from the ceiling and an impressively adorned altar to Eisenstein front and centre below the stage.

A crowd of maybe around 300 gathered for the show, which began with two dancers ritually invoking the spirits.

And then the film – I’d not seen it before, and it’s a film with a ‘difficult’ past, probably best served over more than one viewing. Initially, the old city symphonies (Berlin: Symphony of a Great City – Man With A Movie Camera etc…) sprang to mind, and I wonder whether Eisenstein was perhaps intent on crafting a kind of  ‘country symphony’.

Nine Rain’s musical accompaniment provided a thought-provoking additional ‘layer’ of meaning, with some sections evoking the onscreen action and others acting as counterpoint. There were even a couple of passages of intentional silence to ponder. That the ’soundtrack’ didn’t end with the film points towards something else going on, a combined work in which vision and sound intentionally meet tangentially, creating an event that’s part film screening, part concert.  All extremely enjoyable, despite the occasions where the live sound mix briefly seemed to briefly ‘lose’ voice or instruments.

Was good to hang out with Isabelle, Steven, Alejandro, Jocelyne, Willem, Marianne and Greta in the bar of the Backstage Hotel (where the band were staying) afterwards, although the 4am finish effectively meant that I spent most of the following day in a bit of a stupor, rising late to bike around town with Jocelyne and picking up a DVD copy of Que Viva Mexico at a small film buff store we chanced upon.

We ended up, perhaps appropriately, having a leisurely dinner in Rose’s Cantina.

Sad to have missed a hastily organised ‘jam’ session at the Illuseum on Tuesday evening – I did try to rearrange my return flight, but discovered that my ticket type wouldn’t allow it, and a new single flight would set me back over £300. Ouch.  So I’ll have to make do with the two tantalising snippets that have appeared on YouTube, dammit.

And the curse?

According to Steven, every time Nine Rain play, it rains.  It certainly did when I caught the band at the Illuseum last year, and there was to be no exception this year. I got soaked through twice in the space of three days, though my decision to cycle everywhere probably didn’t help.

October audio

Here we go with this month’s goodies….

NINE RAIN – Que Viva Mexico – their soundtrack to the Eisenstein film Que Viva Mexico. Will be off to see them play  it in front of the film in Amsterdam at the beginning of November – can’t wait.

YELLO – Touch – continues their climb out of a fairly uninspired patch – loving the funky and ‘jazzier’ excursions in particular.

MOEBIUS – Kram – altogether fiestier stuff than I was expecting.

GONG – 2032 – well produced, and musically more muscular and engaging than I’d anticipated, although occasionally lyrically cringeworthy – or is my cynicism coming into play here?

Neat Japanese animated video to accompany one of the tracks…

THE RESIDENTS – Hades – download from their Robot Selling Device, apparently a reworking of music that was intended to provide an ‘ambient’ backdrop for the launch of Steve Cerio’s Residents toy figures. Compared to other recent outings, this is abrasive, ‘difficult’ stuff, I can’t imagine how it would have been received.

THE RESIDENTS – el Ano del Muerto – download from their Robot Selling Device, bits and bobs on a vaguely Halloween/Day Of The Dead tip.  A couple of things I don’t recognise, but given that I’ve only given cursory listens to some of their song-based albums in recent years, wouldn’t be at all surprised if I discovered that I have the tracks already. Nice and cheap though.

MACHINEFABRIEK - Rusland (3″) & Fabriek Bakker Fabriek (3″) & Piiptsjilling & Drawn & Pulses And Places – another 5 cds adding fuel to the fire…. has this man never produced a duff release?

and finally, speaking of duff releases…..

DAVID SYLVIAN – Manafon – Nope, sorry, I didn’t get this at all, despite repeated listens.  Loved his last three or four outings, but here the improv instrumentation and his voice seem to inhabit separate universes, with no meeting point. Sold on already.

September stuff

‘Normal’ service resumed after a relatively slow month, so here we go with a real mixed bag….

THE RESIDENTS – Anganok/Anganok Instrumental and Bridegroom Of Blood – mp3 downloads – from the Residents Robot Selling Device, some gems from the vaults. Interesting to hear a ‘non-Residential’ voice in play on the operatic Anganok. BoB compiles gamelan-based exercises from across the Rez discography.  I can hear the sound of scraped barrels approaching in the distance…..

MACHINEFABRIEK – Loops for Voerman 3″cd and Fabriek & Fabriek and Zeeg – another three releases in the bag as my obsessive love affair with the work of the ‘prolific Dutchman’ continues… more on the way…

PERE UBU – Long Live Pere Ubu – challenging, intelligent, burpy. Meisterwerk or curate’s egg? I’m undecided.

GONG – Angels Egg – remastered edition with added tracks, bought in anticipation of their upcoming show in Edinburgh.  Unfortunately, the bass has been brought too much to the fore. Did I ever tell you about the time Steve Hillage taught me how to communicate with a cabbage?

cabbages in animated conversation

onwards….

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE – Love Will Tear Us Apart – from the soundtrack to The Time Traveler’s Wife, a waltz-time reworking of the Joy Division song, surely now the most covered track of modern times. This one’s on a par with the excellent Gira/Swans version, great stuff.

THE ORB – Baghdad Batteries (Orbsessions Vol. 3) – it’s The Orb – what do you expect? Some updating of their sonic palette though.

HARMONIA & ENO – tracks and traces reissue – classic ’shelved’ session between Harmonia and Eno gets its second issue. The three additional tracks are certainly worth the price of admission, but I’m wondering what else has been done to spruce up this reissue – the whole set feels terribly ‘loud’, with even a modest increase in volume straining my ageing speakers.

VARIOUS ARTISTS/THIS IMMORTAL COIL – The Dark Age Of Love – other artists interpretations of Coil pieces.  Took me a while to get around to delving into this, such is my love for Coil – and my suspicion that these versions might somehow fall prey to the contemporary penchant for folky meandering.  For the most part they feel akin in tone to the originals, although there’s something indefinably not quite ‘right’, perhaps in the airbrushing away of Coil’s perfect imperfections, a dinner-table-ising of the music.

JOHANN JOHANNSSON – And in the endless pause there came the sound of bees – limited edition of his score for short film Varmints. CD was only available at dates on a US tour, but I managed to pick up a copy from Insound. Might be given a full release later this year/early next year.

KRAFTWERK AND THE ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION DVD – a history lesson in prospect for me – I followed Kraftwerk from Autobahn onwards, but haven’t seen any video/film footage from their earlier years. At 3 hours long though, it’ll be a while before I find the time to watch it all.

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry screenprints

In recent years I’ve successfully curbed my predeliction for purchasing original artworks, limited screenprints and the like… there’s no space left on the walls or shelves, a ******* (what’s the collective noun for packing tubes?) of unhung work fills a corner of one room. Enough, I’d said. Until I get a bigger house.

But……

Oh dear.  I’ve been following the audio activities of Mr. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry for the best part of 30 years now (I’ve around 100+ albums he appears on in one capacity or another), and have always loved his self-drawn/painted album sleeves and marvelled at his decoration of the Black Ark etc….

So when I discovered not long ago that he’d worked on a series of collaborative art pieces that are now up for sale on-line, I hied myself over to the artist’s website here to check the work out.

Did I like what I saw? Oh yes I did.

Did I like the prices?  Ouch.

The originals aren’t cheap – well, certainly beyond my price range for the foreseeable future -

but a couple of them have been produced as limited edition runs of 50 screenprints, each individually added to by Perry.

And so, dear reader, I hope to be the recipient of a screenprint of this wee beauty in the next few days…….

with apologies to the gallery/artists for my ‘lifting’ this image from the website, I do hope they won’t mind….

August stuff

Wow – unusual that a whole month goes by with minimal audio input, but there’s been the Edinburgh festivals in full swing – and I’ve been to a fair number of events, at the book festival in particular.

So, this is it….

DAVID THOMAS & THE PALE ORCHESTRA – Mirror Man Pt2. – download-only album from Hearpen. I attended a live presentation of Mirror Man as part of Stirling’s Le Weekend festival at some point in 2001/2002 – might well have been this set, but it’s too long ago to recall.

DAVID THOMAS & TWO PALE BOYS – Three Things b/w Life Of Riley – download-only ep from Hearpen consisting of two outtakes, one from the wonderful Meadville CD, the other from 18 Monkeys On A Dead Man’s Chest. You can never have too much 2PB.