maxim

Sometimes the underground is a surreal place to be.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Frankie Knuckles - Live @ Ministry of Sound 1991


Frankie Knuckles - MoS '91 mix

Last post before the move (maybe, we'll see what I do before I tear down the rig tomorrow. got one more singles thing in mind.), among my favorite mixtapes and one of the biggest factors that lead me into house music. Absolute fucking deck wizardry. I was going to put this up on zshare for active listening but it failed twice, so here are two klf videos and a dl instead. Enjoy.





Knuckles analog classic: Your Love

also, check

Friday, March 27, 2009

Lio - Premier Album


Lio - Premier Album (1980)

Bit of synthy electro-pop from this belgian starlet, featuring some help from superstars TELEX. From the booklet:

Born out of a belgian comics writer's imagination, the character of Lio soon became known all over Europe as the alias of glamour pop icon Wanda Maria de Vasconcelos, a 18 years old, smart and provocative singer. Teamed-up with belgian songwriters Jacques Duvall, Jay Alansky and Marc Moullin (from the electro-pioneer band TELEX), the alchemy was soon to be accomplished with their first single "Le Banana Split", a light-hearted sugary pop tune co-written by Alansky and Duvall - also known as Hagen Dierks. The first hit was launched, soon to be followed by plenty of others which would all hurl Lio at the top of european charts. The second single, and probably the most successful in France, was the now classic "Amoureux solitaires", a refreshingly naive and at the same time deeply emotional song. The text is signed by Eli Medeiros and the music is produced by Jacno (from the french infamous pop-rock duo "Eli et Jacno"), resulting a catchy halting beat with a minimalist melody which will be engraved in your memory as soon as you hear it.

Anyway, one can feel a clear and distinct touch of contemporary atmosphere all over the record, a certain kind of 'Avant-Gardism' which is not without reminding us the later oversea productions of electro legends as New Order, Yaz, Human League, etc. Intresting patchwork of typical french pop ("Si belle Et inutile", "La Petite Amazone") and dance oriented songs (see the amazing break part of "Comix Discomix" or the twisted beat of "La Panthere Rose"), this debut effort also includes, among other things, the more languid and ambient cover of Gillespie and Coot's "You Go To My Head", later interpreted by Billie Holiday.

I've got a stack of similar bits of euro and japanese electro-pop, probably start ripping more of it in the next month. Think of it like the minimal fan's answer to twee, only a lot more fun.

VA - So Young but So Cold


VA - So Young but So Cold (2004)

My first foray into minimal synth when it came out. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the original rips I did and the CD hasn't fared well, so it's missing the final three tracks. Otherwise a good rip. I'll update it if I can get the missing songs. Not a single bad track, but the one which caught my ear at the time was the Artefact track, "Mae". I'd listen to that over and over back then. To this day, I aspire to it. The rest of the tracks are amazing to me now, given a few years to increase my familiarity with the genre and contextualize. If you've never gotten into minimal synth, here's your starting point. Hit it.

The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms


The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms (1980) Unfortunately, this post earned me a DMCA notice. With any luck, this amazing album will be re-released soon.

This is one everyone ought to have by now, but it means so much to me that I've got to post it. I found a copy of the 1990 cd release of this in a used bin in my hometown when I was 14, before I'd ever heard the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, or even the original Rolling Stones version of Paint it Black (shit, I think I was still listening to Blink 182 then. I picked up the album because the cover resembled the first Weezer album. I'm young. Forgive me my transgressions). Possibly before I'd ever heard Led Zeppelin, not that they're relevant but to give a proper picture of the impressionable mind that discovered this. This is one of those rare albums that surpasses the scene which allowed it's conception. It's one of those albums that probably shouldn't exist, the kind of thing that drives home how impressive a group of friends making their own kind of music can really be. Easily the greatest influence on my own guitar style after the Beatles and Hendrix, and only then because that was all I had until I was 12. Their later albums weren't nearly as impressive, that version of the Feelies only had two of the original members and fell into a bit of an REM-esque Athens-type rut in my opinion (though still retaining the style and approach that made this). The rips come from my original WAVs of the album, which was stolen many years ago. There has never been another album like this, and somehow I doubt there ever will be. Enjoy.

Aquai - Afrocaribe Beat


Aquai - Afrocaribe Beat (1985)

this is one of my all time Vortex finds, from the first trip i ever made there. i'll let the back liner notes speak for themselves. might do a re-rip at some point but for now, enjoy.


When asked to write the liner notes to this album, I questioned myself: "Am I the Nat Fletcher of Highlife Music, or is my prowess as a music critic being tested?" However, after listening to the album several times, I was obviously convinced that the RENAISSANCE of Highlife Music has finally arrived. The art has been dormant for over a decade. Attempts have been made by amateurs to revive the music, but their efforts contributed to its further decline in quality and texture.

There is no need prodding into Mr. Aquai's musical background; my colleague Mark Duodu took care of that on Aquai's premiere album "Wodo, Yi Ye, Odo" released in June 1984.

It is not an overstatement to compare the man "Aquai" and his music to Van Gogh and his painting. In a nutshell, it is a blend of artistic discipline, innovation and the interweaving of the sum of the parts that make Highlife a unique art form from Ghana to Guyana.

The frequency by which Aquai is releasing LP's and the quality of his compositions and arrangements is testimony that the man has a large REPERTOIRE and obviously has more surprises for his fans.

Music as a universal language has always been Aquai's central theme. As a composer and arranger, he makes sure there is a musical element in his work that touches the musical foundation of people from different ethnic and cultural background. Notice his treatment of "Mutea Masam". A mixture of African, Caribbean, Latin and Western contemporary ballad.

Although some of the lyrics are in Fanti or Twi, the message is about love and life as opposed to hatred and death. Isn't that what living is all about?

Against a warmly lush backdrop, Aquai instills, emotion, grace and depth; just other words for perfection.

This album celebrates the return to musical activity and creativity by a truly great keyboardist. The calmness and serenity that embodies the music of Aquai is merely an artistic extension of the inner peace of the man. This inner peace is translated into musical statements of delicate beauty. Aquai has this passionate infatuation about his heritage as an African. His parents are from Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone. No wonder his lyrics are constantly directed towards his love for the African Continent and its people. He once confided in me that an artist should serve his or her people through the arts and not capitalize on their fantasies.

Some of the songs on this album are a collage of themes based upon Aquai's childhood experience of the joy, sufferings and aspirations of the black race south of the Sahara.



Sam Arthur Jr.
Tracy Towers
Bronx, N.Y.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Series 2: Acid Singles


Well, not all acid, but for the most part.

Series 2 #4: Acid Singles

First up is a lesser-known single from one of my favorite pop stars who jumped on the acid bandwagon early on, Enzo Avitabile. You've probably heard his much bigger single 'Blackout' on the Baelaric Beats comp or just around, it was a Shoom fave back in the heyday of the Second Summer of Love and one of my favorite acid tracks. I'm not even sure it was intended to be an acid track originally, but this one certainly was. Alta Tensione, with the great cover art and the perfect "I know what acid is!" opening line, takes the Blackout vibe one step deeper into acid house with Enzo's trademark wild sax and guttural vocal delivery. Hell of a lot of fun. Dropped in '88 for those concerned with authentic 2nd SSOL anthems. Always looking for Enzo LPs by the way.

Next, one of my favorite thing finds. Mitsou - Bye Bye Mon Cowboy, french language acid house sung by a japanese woman in a cowboy hat and a miniskirt. The tracks here are the Shep Pettibone remix and are lightyears better than the original pop version (included as last track). I love the stereo effects (especially on the second and third tracks, the House mix and dub versions) and the singing is top notch, turns out Mitsou was Québécoise. This was a major Canadian hit at the time. The things we learn from Wikipedia! This one's way uptempo, by the way, former owner's sticker lists it as 133 which was high for the time ('89 is what the cover says, I don't trust wikipedia on their '92 assessment and discogs says '88 but frankly who gives a shit).


Third, a favorite of mine (becoming a pattern) and one of the few solid justifications for the existence of belgian New Beat if you ask me. Zazou-Bikaye was the collaborative project between belgian popster Hector Zazou and african bandleader Bony Bikaye, who happened to be putting out an album just as acid hit big in '88. Presumably they wanted to gin up some hype for it, so they handed over the tapes on Na Kenda to a belgian producer by the name of Mr. Big Mouse for a b-side. This produced one of the earliest instances of the collision between african music and acid house that was later found on No Smoke's incredible International Smoke Signals LP (still searching for a copy of that myself...) and would appear here and there throughout the last twenty years (such as on MAW's incredible deep house remix of Expensive Shit, which I'll be trying to rip tonight) until today when Kwaito and African House are getting recognition and honest respect i.e. Township Funk single on Warp. Anyway, the good bit here's the Afro-Acid b-side, which is a jittery bit of 303 & 808 laden techno acid house that just works perfectly. A side is fun too, don't get me wrong. I've got a New Beat comp someplace, where I found this single which has several other Mr Big Mouse productions, so I'll toss that onto the rips list once I get settled at the new place. Looking for the LP on this too.




Up next we have another neat thing find, a really left-field acid single from the Groove Robbers by the name of 'How Far Can We Go?'. Caribbean-tinged sampladelic hip-house, bits ranging from Sparks and Talking Heads to Jimi Hendrix and Star Trek. Arthur Brown in there somewhere too.

Finally, to bring us home from our late-80's global tour and fill out the list is a single that isn't quite acid, really. A friend of mine heard this and was very interested in getting a rip, so here we are. Blue Clocks Green, a late 80's alternative-synthpop band from upstate new york, apparently toured a bit in support of this Hemingway single and had a small college radio hit with it back when that still meant something. There's an uptempo (138bpm) club mix here (best of them if you ask me) so it's still sticking with the theme. Wonderfully dour lyrics about misogyny and suicide, certainly the happiest song featuring a chorus about blowing one's brains out I've heard. At one point you could still buy copies of it from the artist, but I believe he's had trouble with a flood which ruined his remaining stock. If this isn't the case, please support him by buying up one of the few remaining copies of this awesome single.


This is probably the greatest acid post I'm ever going to be able to make, if you get any of my house posts GET THIS.

Series 2: WBMX Style singles


Gonna do one last big batch of rips tonight before I have to start breaking down my setup in prep for a move this weekend. Hope it stops raining before then.


VA - WBMX-Style

Huge file on this post, planning on two others tonight but we'll see what I get through. This singles post is not precisely WBMX but all of them fall under what I'd consider the 'style' they used to work within, a mix of electro-funk, early house and cut-up party mixing. First, my favorite track of the lot, is State of Grace - That's When We'll Be Free. A sparse sort of down-tempo electro-funk jam, the kind of thing you'd drop at the beginning or the end of a late night set. Very deep disco track. Next is Mr. K/Special G - Rock the House, a bootleg of old school turntablist funk cut-up. Then there's Morgan's mid 80's electrofunk soul jam Wanna Love Ya. So Tranquilizin' provides an uptempo bit of proto-house sampler overuse with a ripping guitar solo, from Jamaaladeen Tacuma produced by Francois Kevorkian. Don't know why the fuck discogs says it's 'Acid Jazz/Dub' but I don't know how to fix their shit and they get pissed like wikipedia editors about it when you do it wrong. The final two are proper house jams, It's Getting Better by Tammy Thomas squeezing into the WBMX era by a hair coming out in '87 and This Time Around by Deneen (not even listed on discogs, that one!) missing it by a bit at '89.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

VA - The Streets of Tokyo

A bit of vintage cultural tourism for tonight, another roommate request. Cigarette Blues (love that organ) and Farewell to Tokyo are the standouts to my ear, along with Black Flower Petal. Enjoy.

VA - The Streets of Tokyo (195?) (if anyone has any info on Capital T10250 let me know, it's nowhere to be found online. Mono LP.)

From the back:
Authentic Japanese pop songs and international hits in Oriental dress by Nippon's favorite singers... as you might hear them on THE STREETS OF TOKYO


TOKYO'S BUSY STREETS reflect the pulse of this modern metropolis of almost nine million. Besides being the economic and industrial center of the orient, Tokyo is also a fantastically active center of the lively arts.

Almost any evening in Tokyo you might choose your entertainment from many theaters offering traditional Japanese forms of drama and dance - kabuki, no, or bunraku - or lavish modern spectacles like the Takarazuka troupe; you might prefer to choose from some dozen nightly events of Western style symphony concerts or opera; or you might scan the brilliant marquees of the thousands of movie houses in the city, for the Japanese love both imported movies and their own fine dramatic and musical films.

Movies, radio, television, and especially long-playing records have stimulated the rise of many musical personalities. Splendid engineering facilities are producing records of excellent fidelity. Top stars compete for places on the best-seller lists, and the public is responding with devoted enthusiasm (and yen) for their favorites. Here are two girls and four young men who are among the very top artists in Japan today, singing a dozen of their hits that have won extreme popularity.

There's no international language like popular music, and just as American pops reflect many other countries - think of Morgen, Vaya con dios, and Gomen-Nasai - so Japanese pops are well up to date on European, American, and Latin-American trends. Some of these songs are characteristically Japanese, and others are Japanese versions of imported favorites. They are sung mostly in Japanese, with a chorus in another language now and then.

The older Japanese style, always fresh to Western ears for it's rhythmic brightness and its supple vocal style, is represented in this album by The Nikko Folksong and Farewell to Tokyo. The main current of Japanese pop music, with its characteristically "minor" keys and dark moods, is typified by Lullaby of the Birds and Cigarette Blues, while a strong American pops feeling is apparent in Black Flower Petal and Brown Leaves. Most of the other tracks are European and Latin hits subtly transformed by Japanese imagination and sung both in the original language and Japanese. Passion Flower is an even more fascinating transformation: it's based on the familiar piano piece of Beethoven, Fur Elise.

These then are the songs you might hear on the streets of Tokyo, piped out of the record shops and theaters. As crowds hurry by in kimono or Western style clothing they pause to hear their favorites, which belong to the world as much to Japan.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sachin Majumdar - Yoga

Sachin Majumdar - Yoga (1958)

Sort of an early Hemi-Sync type recording without the 'binaural beats' backing, here replaced by record hiss accrued over the last fifty-one years. Guided meditation with Yogi Sachin Majumdar. Side one features chants along with the spoken word, side two is more focused on physical relaxation. Enjoy.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Daisuke Suzuki - D.D.D.


Daisuke Suzuki - D.D.D. (2001)

Academy, couldn't pass this one up. Two sides of field recordings.

"Duck! Duck! Duck!"
Recording date: Winter 1997 at Zenpukuji Lake, Suginami-Ku, Tokyo.
Recorded with a sony digital audio tape-recorder TCD-D8, and an Aiwa stereo microphone CM-53.

"Cricket Voice"
Recording date: Audumn 1996 at Saginomiya, Nakano-Ku, Tokyo.
Recorded with a Sony digital audio tape-recorder TCD-D8, and a Sony stereo microphone ECM-909A.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

King Sunny Ade - Synchro System


King Sunny Ade & his African Beats - Synchro System (1983)

An Academy find (of course). Pretty good shape, classic album from one of the bigger names in 70's Juju music. Got another one of his (Aura) I'll rip someday, but until then you can find a tape rip of it here and the previous album (out of the three he recorded while on Mango) Juju Music here and here. Lots of hand drum/machine drum interaction here, with some synth work. Anyone who knows Ade knows what a wizard he was on guitar, and he's in full effect here.

One off the album:


Original version of the title track:

Friday, March 13, 2009

VA - House Factor


Various Artists - House Factor (1989)

Ripping this was a bit of a fight, so I'll rip the Ade LP tomorrow. There's a skip on the first track that I can't seem to shake, so I've just included it anyway. I will re-rip upon request but this was a Thing find so the quality sort of 'is what it is' as usual (don't even have the original cover). Some epic tracks here, absolutely stellar deep acid comp. Enjoy.

Series 2: Synth Singles


Today it's four singles, two by classic belgian group Bernthöler, one belgian-only Section 25 release, and a classic Italo track off the 7" release. I'll also be trying to rip a House comp from '89 and a Sunny Ade album later on tonight. For now the singles, apologies for the quality but they were all Thing finds.



Bernthöler - Japanese Garden (1982)

My favorite of the lot, I believe Japanese Garden is done with a 606 while The Other (which sounds like an earlier composition given the punky live instrumentation) is a DR-55, based on this site. The synths are monos, probably Roland but I can hardly ever tell. The single is mis-labeled as "the Others" and the band name was supposed to be Bernthøler. For fans of Tuxedomoon and their assorted side projects, I can really understand why they made the move to Brussels around this period.





Bernthöler - My Suitor (1983)

This is their later song and a much bigger hit for the group. By this point they had moved past the minimal synth-pop of Japanese Garden and moved into live orchestral instrumentation, which has not aged as well if you ask me. My least favorite of the singles in this post, instrumentation notwithstanding it's just not a particularly interesting song (although it has been called one of the most important Belgian singles and apparently covered many times). Video confirms my previous suspicion, that's an SH-101 he's playing at about 40 seconds in.


Section 25 - Crazy Wisdom (1985)

Belgium-only Section 25 release from 1985, and the only 12" of the lot. First side is a great bit of Factory synth material while the second is a ripping sort of disco track (I suppose an example of what got the goth JD fan carryovers here in the US music press so disenchanted with them around this time) and a pretty little guitar/flute/drum machine peice.


Fokewulf 190 - Body Heat (1984)

Youtube
Forgot that this was an Italo track last batch, otherwise I'd have included it. Fits this era a bit better anyway. I love arpeggiators. Probably Roland polysynths (Jupiters in the studio I imagine), Korg filters of the time tended to be a bit muddier. Could be a Prophet but I don't know how those went over in Italy.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Series 2: Disco Singles


I've decided to just make this a singles series, so it won't just be things classified as house. Tonight it's Italodisco, next time it will probably be minimal synth and euro post-punk. Two singles on tonight's roster are not technically italodisco, one is american funk (check it on the zshare links before you download the whole thing. or in addition to something if r-s gives you trouble.) and one is polish electronic stuff which is kinda disco, kinda not-quite.

first, you can get/preview the funk tracks without dealing with rapidshare:
Wisdom - Nefertiti
Wisdom - What-cha-gonna-du-about-you


Now for the full set: Wisdom - Nefertiti (4:09)
Wisdom - What-cha-gonna-du-about-you (3:21)




Universal Energy - Universal Energy (5:50)
Universal Energy - Disco Energy (6:51)



Osibisa - Dance the Body Music (3:24)
Osibisa - Right Now (3:08)



Theo Vaness - It's Now or Never (3:24)
Theo Vaness - I, Who Have Nothing (3:32)



C. Niemen - Mleczna Droga (3:14)
C. Niemen - Dorozka na Kisezyc (5:17)


you can still see the academy recs price tag on the last one/first one, but the rest of them were thing finds. one great trip there, haven't been so lucky since.

i can put it up in one file upon request.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

VA - More Protein Sampler & Spiral Tribe - Respect to the Hardcore Mother Earth

Today we've got two of the most ridiculous extremes of the anglo-rave movement.



Various - Closet Classics Volume 1 - The More Protein Sampler (1992)

First, the More Protein Sampler which is mostly an outlet for MC Kinky's decadent drug-laden rave-ragga toasting over extremely campy rave techno (she was a Boy George discovery, this is out on his label of the time as a matter of fact). Starting off with the so-awful-it's-hilarious 'Everything starts with an E' camp rave tune, the sort of thing that says more about the entire line of people that it had to get through to reach production than it does about the blissed out gang of ravers who managed to produce it. Rest of the disc isn't nearly so bad, but it's camp soulful house divas to the last. Funny thing to point out: nearly all the vocalists on the album are black, and yet all the people on the cover are white. Including Jesus. Disgraceful.



A Thing find, of course. Still keeping an eye out for a Queen's English single. Haven't got the slightest idea why Madonna still has a career and Boy George doesn't after that, but maybe the english are a bit more attentive to their respective undergrounds and know who to punish when things go too far.



Spiral Tribe - RESPECT TO THE HARDCORE MOTHER EARTH!

Second, the Spiral Tribe's final album Respect to the Hardcore: Mother Earth (also included is Tecno Terra, their debut). These were a gang (always 23 of them) of ravers who ran a travelling free techno soundsystem and preached a techno-holistic worldview. Essentially they attempted to fuse the early 90's brand of pagan earth-worship environmentalism with the concurrent techno-millenialism on a vaguely revolutionary line. Still amazes me that anyone took such nonsense seriously, since computer technology wreaks terrifying havoc on the environment and requires a global class division between the poor laboring nations and wealthy technological countries to produce and consume it. Chalk it up to the self-centered thinking that dominated the US and UK during and after the Thatcher/Reagan years, or just drugs.

As for the album, the tracks are thankfully more enjoyable than those of the Protein sampler for the most part. There's a few camp tracks ('Forward the Revolution' - thanks, you educated non-laboring children of a former colonialist power) and some weird pseudo-environmentalist duds ('World Adventurer Traveller', though that might be more of a 'traveller' thing, I'm too much of a boorish American to understand all these weird subcultural deals the English have going), but much of it's interesting and the punk-infused vibe can't be denied. Certainly better they preach contradictory nonsense with some positive aspects than the pure hedonism of their Club bretheren, though pure hedonism does enter into it all a bit too often to be forgivable. Either way, it's never boring. Still looking for my own proper copy of this, something more reasonably priced than the $200 discs I've seen on ebay. A bit of googling reveals this is still available, so I've taken it down. Please support Spiral Tribe and buy the double CD set here! It's cheap as hell and worth the listen if you have any interest in this period in techno.



Turning Shrines - Cinnabar & Porcelain


Turning Shrines - Cinnabar & Porcelain (1988)

Turning Shrines was the name of Fred Giannelli's home recording experiments up until he joined Psychic TV. The album contains three songs and four tracks (one of which is side-long) of sampler experimentation. The sampler stuff isn't of much interest, coming off like a very low rent tape collage (which, twenty years on, we now know to be what it always sounds like anytime someone without much idea what he's doing sits down behind a sampler). Forgiven of course because sampler use hadn't been much refined by that early date and he clearly found his footing in very little time. The proper songs are a bit more interesting. Are You Experienced? was redone as an acid single with Carese P-Orridge's vocals to good effect. The version here is an early 4-track instrumental. Mystification and Iron Nights are both good-if-a-bit-amateurish sequenced synth tracks, great inspiration to me in my own amateurish sequencing attempts. I'd guess this is all FM synth and sampler, but there could be an analog in there somewhere. Wish I had access to his sample library from the time.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Series 2: House Singles


This is the first post of a second series I'm starting. Today's rips are early 90's house and techno, rave-y stuff for the most part. Next time I'll rip some proper 80's acid tracks or maybe some wbmx-style italo and hi-nrg singles. All of these were dug out of the basement of the Thing.

In this pack:
Turntable Hype - I'll Bass You/Turntable Hype - Get it
The Scientist - The Exorcist (white label) - Get it
Frequencey - Where Is Your Evidence? - Get it





Friday, March 6, 2009

Digital Trip - Crusher Joe


Digital Trip - Crusher Joe (1983)

Now I don't know if you're familiar with it, but 60's bargain label Pickwick used to put out weird bootleg versions of popular film soundtracks. I've got a fifty-cent copy of their Clockwork Orange knockoff, easily among my oddest finds just because it sounds so unlike what you would expect from a cut-rate version of Wendy Carlos' classic. I can't imagine they made much money off of it at the time but it provides a precedent for this album. In the same series as the previous 'synthesizer fantasy' post, this is an earlier LP consisting of sequenced synthesizer covers of the soundtrack to the film Crusher Joe, an animated science fiction story based on a series of novels according to the wiki. Laid to tape in June of '83 according to the insert, this is 100% pure, delicious analog synth. Were I to guess, it was probably done on Roland synths with multiple MC-4's given the complexity of the programming/compositions and the sequencers available at the time. Could be some Juno-60s off DCB, could just be a stack of monos running off CV. Only thing I'd be willing to lay odds on is that drum machine being an Oberheim.

I've got a few more of these I'll be posting in the future, and I might try tracking some others of the series down from Japan if my limited import connections find them in stock. If anyone happens to have one I don't, I would be interested in picking it up.

This is highly recommended (required?) listening for anyone who is a fan of John Carpenter, the Legowelt soundtrack sideprojects, italodisco (Bloodbath Highway, Panic in Disco), and analog synthesizer recordings in general.

The Sandals - Endless Summer


The Sandals - Endless Summer (1966)

This one was a request from my new roommate, once he heard I had a setup to rip vinyl he pulled this out (with a few other lps) and asked me to hook him up. He'd never been able to find a copy on any other medium and a quick googling confirms this. Classic soundtrack to the classic surf movie.

Pierre Takal - Music to Watch Over


Pierre Takal - Music to Watch Over (1988)

This is a tape I found with the pleasant woman who sells odds and ends out in front of 'Love will Save us all' in the village. Had some good finds with her through the last few years, which i'll be posting in the future. I can only assume that the Pierre Takal credited here is the same composer who has provided music for NPR's This American Life and other shows, check out the site for more info on his current work. This is presumably an old demo reel of his, marked from 1988 and chock full of late model analogs (filters sound like Alpha Juno/MKS-50 which would be about right for the time) and some DX-7, with what must have been a tremendous rack of samplers given the usual memory size of the period. Some great songs here (Pleasure, Going Nowhere, the ambient bits like Desert Plateau and Lawn Gone are also good), but mostly interesting to me for the technique. Wasn't sure what was what with Laughing All the Way so you've got two tracks instead of one. There's a fault on the tape on the first track, apologies but that's what you get when you're shopping out of bins on the street.

Series 1: Tape Noise

First in a series of noise/pe posts I think I'll try to do. Today we have some old tape rips I've got lying around. Old hard drive is dying so I need to archive these somewhere safer anyway. Next I'll try to put some vinyl comps into the stack waiting for a rip & post.



1. Yuzuru Syogase - 1983-1985 (1988)

Easily among my favorite noise recordings, never released on vinyl. Alternates between proper 80's tape noise and overloaded & self-oscillating analog synthesizers. Not a clue as to the equip but if I'm gonna roll on that gimmick I'd guess a polysix or juno type polysynth, lot of arpeggiated blipping that you probably couldn't squeeze out of a mono. very, very highly recommended as an intro to this period in noise.

2. Graveyard - Anal Fucking (1987)

Power electronics with a drum machine, heavy heavy broken flag influence on this. Check out his ebay page, he's been selling off his collection for years now (possibly copies rec'd on contemporaneous tape but such an amazing collection i can only thank him for it). If anyone else was lucky enough to get the Direct Waves broken flag posts back when he dropped them, you'll enjoy this. Samples a speech by hitler (marked "untitled" since it wasn't listed as a track, in case you'd like to avoid it) for a few seconds but is otherwise free of such. Judging by sound it's a homemade modular or early monosynth with a few different delay effects and a cheap microphone, maybe a hacked up consumer keyboard going off the drums. classic 4-track material.


3. Volksfront - Kampf Field

More from the same guy who produced the Graveyard album. I can only assume that he listened to the SS Leibstandarte MB tapes and didn't get the joke, because it's PE similar to the Graveyard material with nazi speeches played over it. Bits of nazi speeches interspersed with a japanese guy screaming in broken english through a self-oscillating delay effect, circa 1988. First side is mostly speech samples and Second side is one long analog noise track with a continuous nazi speech fading in and out and a tick-tocky analog drum machine beat run through a ton of delay.

I do want to make a point of saying that I do not support whatever political message you might take from this incomprehensible mess, and staunchly support the death/slaughter of fascists everywhere. Snapshot of a time in production and all. Enjoy, if that's the word.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Droll Yankees - A Steamboat Leaving Newport on a Foggy Morning


I'll make another Droll Yankees post later, but for now here is an awful quality copy of this 7", which I found at the Thing in Grünpunkt. Please buy a better copy on ebay or something and rip it!

A Steamboat Leaving Newport on a Foggy Morning

Along the Shore

Appo Sound Project - SF Animethology '86

Was gonna post my rip of this mud hutters LP i found at the vortex (go figure) but, welp. No shame in being beaten by the best. Lots of shame in this post, though. I Shop At Academy Records, y'all.

LOOK AT THAT FUCKING THING

Appo Sound Project - SF Animethology '86

Medley of instrumental tracks from the earliest era of MIDI, apparently a mix of background music from contemporaneous scifi movies and anime with some pop songs? At the time, a cheap cash-in by a broke studio. Now, a snapshot of a bygone era of music production. feat. Emulator II, Oberheim X-pander, Yamaha TX-816, three DX-7s, Roland Super-Jupiter (MKS-80), Roland HP450 Piano, Simmons SDS-9, Yamaha RX-11, Roland TR-727. Also used an NEC PC-9801 and six PC-8001 MKII's, either for sequencing or tone generation, does not mention.

nerds.

im a nerd too y'all

One of several reasons i try to avoid letting people pick through my records (how can you not buy nazi lps? fucking wfmu fair). a similar lp inspired the blog title reference. much love, loronix.

Solid Space - S/T

Posted on the amazing (and highly inspirational) no longer forgotten music blog a few years ago, tossing up now because it's been on heavy rotation lately. hit it there before you hit it here.


Solid Space - S/T (1982)

Minimal synth is gonna make a comeback any day now you just watch.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Baby Ford - Ford Trax


Baby Ford - Ford Trax (1988)

Long out of print 10 track Acid classic from Baby Ford. all kinds of mks-50 bass tones in this. Spirit of '88 lives, get right on one, etc.

many thanks to coup for this great rip.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Stella - S/T



Stella - s/t


another old rip, sorry about the quality will rerip upon request

Monday, March 2, 2009

Omar Khorshid - Tribute to Oum Koulsoum

a leftover on the acct while i upload the first post

v0 tape rip

Vincent/Lang - Nights of Babylon


Vincent/Lang - Nights of Babylon

g+ to vg- quality imo

found this in a bin at the vortex in w-burg, will try to do a better rip sometime on request. enjoy

post.

UPDATED 6/15/11 with mediafire DL