Iva Bittová & Pavel Fajt - Bittová & Fajt

Label : Bonton - 71 0535-2

Country : Czech Republic

Year : 1997 (1988 orig)

Format : CD

Is there a more dynamic duo in the field of avantgarde reimaginings of cultural folklore? I think not. Truly some beautiful and soulful music, much less of an academic look into this particular world than some takes from their contemporaries; A homely offering.

That isn't to say that the vaguely generalized label I attributed to their so-called "contemporaries" (whom I probably couldn't name in the moment despite being sure of myself) is meant to diminish them in comparison. Tons of great music came from this arena of the avant music scene circa 80s.

You might recall the mesmerizing "Morning Song" from Fred Frith's encapsulating "Step Across The Border" verite film... It's in here!

I apologize a bit for the lack of activity for the past month or so, I got more stuff to post in time.

Here

King Frog - Silver Gelatin

Label : Oblique - Oblique-001

Country : US

Year : 1997

Format : LP

"Suburban Gamelan", a phrase stuck to this particular project that then stuck into my head for awhile. An interesting concept, and I think it befits this just a little bit. The visuals and some of the sounds come to mind as a bleak cityscape.

I went out of my own usual way for this one--I heard a rip of this LP a year or so ago after being interested in the King after first reading about it in Blastitude. The 128kbps rip found on slsk was serviceable and I ended up really liking the sound, so I went and bought a copy to get a more "definitive" sound. I guess.

The whole album has a sound that I can cling to. A sort of unholy cacophony of almost early 20th century clamor. I liken some aspects to some choice 80s tracks from Band of Holy Joy and ZGA's excellent "Gloom". The art book that comes with is also a great companion piece in its sort of amateur expressionism. Also some of the tracks sound like Casio demos, which is quite charming.

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(Man, formatting on this site is annoying)

Die Welttraumforscher - Drittes Bewusstsein

Label : Das Moniflabel - PP058

Year : 2012

Country : Switzerland

Format : LP

As of now the last entry in WTF catalogue, and a fine entry at that. Even folkier than usual, with the expected blurry synthpop coalescing with the whimsical arrangements and playful vocalizations.

Third Consciousness is about right. An astral spectral spectacle. What more is there to say other than to leave it all to the waveforms found in this el-p? Pretty-pretty.

Here

Rеinhold Brunner - Klаnger 1996-2008

Label : Bad Alchemy - Nr 77 / Attenuation Circuit - ACRB 1001

Country : Germany

Year : 2013

Format : CDr

Certainly a collection of sounds. Concrete or midi, and field recording mixed high and low. A bit difficult.

This CD-recordable has a lot of air to breathe, its compositions (a decade's worth written and performed between) are experimental in nature and a bit of a skeleton at times. Some finished and some unfinished (feeling).

This is not Brunner's first go around on Bad Alchemy, having first released a 7 inch single with Thomas Hintner called "Spirograph" (or is that the duo's name?) with the 33rd issue in the ongoing series of zines. The Spirograph projekt continued so to speak with the netlabel release Spinnen.

Here

Various - No Idea Festival

Label : Spring Garden Music - 011 / Coincident Records - NI-001 / Ten Pounds To The Sound - 002
Country : US
Year : 2004
Format : CD

A thought popped in my head listening to this. Whether or not I can craft the right sequence of words to reflect this thought is anyone's guess. It goes like this, the best free improv/eai/etc. has a sound or timbre similar to that of the noises old rusty buildings or frameworks make.

Whether that was a fabrication can only be known to me, I never really consider releases like these to be especially memorable but that did stick in my head (not my craw) a bit. A compiling of various musical performances in Texas for the No Idea Festival in 2004, featuring my man Jack Wright and his various friends. One word I would use for Jack's brand of free jazz improvisation is vacuous, not in the sense that it is vapid or shallow but a timbral quality of his recordings. It just sounds empty, not in the sense of.... It sounds good, the saxophone is in its own little world in the space of the other noisemakers about around it. Stop and start.

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Die Welttraumforscher - Ohm Olunde

Label : Zauberhaus (Das Moniflabel) - PP052

Country : Switzerland

Year : 2005

Format : LP

Old dawn fades, new dusk rises. The cosmic deep field of Welttraumforscher expands, the stars are coming undone and it's a beautiful thing. Really, it is. I love the little world he has made, even though I can only see it through a small window.

Not much has changed in terms of sound, that is the sound which I have described several times over in various euphemistic phrases. You know, folky synth-tunes from a cosmic forest, etc, etc. Not to say it's derivative, not at all really, or even a complacent difficult 32nd album, nor is it par for the course. Something different this way comes, I say.

Here

Though in the process of ripping this for your pleasure I am reminded of the frustrations that entails the vinyl format for what I do, it was all worth the effort.

The 1985 - Obscured By Pink Clouds

Label : Progeria Records - prg002 / Carbon Records - CR21

Country : US

Year : 1999

Format : CD

Before 1975, there was 1985.

Not having heard this in awhile and hard of total memory (wild year, that), I can only give vague past impressions. But I can also speak about the group itself, though I have little info on them despite being "from" the same place.

I suppose it is a rather alien document amongst the scuzzbucket-pigfukkit noize rockers, the standard abrasive punx interspersed with bizarre minimal-electro synth motifs (Recalling at least a tiny bit at points the brilliant Brainiac) make this a worthwhile get. But that's just me. The CD version added all that stuff after the fact for all I know.

The (rightful [if I cared about "sequencing"]) closer on the vinyl platter, "Shooting Blanks" is a noise rock masterpiece in every sense for all I care... Looking now, I made a mistake in the above blurb: what was tacked on was the nameless little snippets after the seminal ender. Although I still do like em fine, it does lessen the impact of hearing the cops raid the band's recording studio/garage.

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Pelthead International Conspiracy Theory - Pelthead International Conspiracy Theory

Label : La Bande Magnétique

Year : 1994

Country : Canada

Format : C60

 The second half as promised in the last post, just in time for the prelude to Christmas sunlight. As I mentioned before, this auction was somewhat of a crapshoot, an unknown. It was well worth the few 10s of dollars spent for both of em, two winners. At least I'd like to think so, without the fog of buyer's remorse and bargaining. But really, there is some interesting stuff going on here.

 Music for art installations, like the last one somewhat, but that doesn't take away the listenable aspects of this. Stray samples, strange synthsounds, and autre alliterations abound. The grand mystery revealed itself in a surprise of familiarity: one of the fellows involved in this project is a musician I know (not personally) from a few tapes from the noise-arch archive, Gerard Leckey. Here, under the alias Gabrel [sic] Angel with his partners in croime Patrick Harrop (who did the cover art here as well as the SLOD tape) and Paz Paisley (who has been putting some stuff from this group n perpendicular, including stuff from then and now), it is not too dissimilar to how I remember his own music sounding: collage, minimalism, and electronic overall.

The last tape had this nice little advertisement too but I felt it more appropriate to include it in the finale to the 2 episode miniseries.

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