The Nihilist Spasm Band – "7x~x=x" (United Dairies ‎– UD 016) 1985

No surprise that Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton likes the Nihilist Spasm Band now is it?
They are probably listed on that silly trainspotter attractor, 'The NWW list' that is bandied about on the internet.
But, don't let that put you off, cus The 'Die or DIY? list, says they are good too.
What you get is more of the same as previously showcased on their first couple of recordings.Mainly, everyone improvises in different time signatures,different tunings, on homemade instruments,with the usual Nihilistic ranting here and there. Verging on the formulaic, which is ideally not what improvising is about in a Nihilistic dystopian universe? There is an order in chaos theory, hence the formula explained below:

7x~x=x: the unique object not identical with itself.

This concept of an impossible object was introduced by Gottlob Frege, an eminent German logician, to designate something arbitrary for improper descriptions to refer to.
Understood?......No?......correct answer.

Tracklist:

A1	This Is A Test	0:46
A2	An Appeal To Reason	2:12
A3	Enough Is Enough	13:40
A4	Fretful	3:33
B1	Stop And Think Shit Heads	9:15
B2	Sinister	9:25

DOWNLOAD this unique object that is unlike itself HERE!

The Nihilist Spasm Band ‎– Vol. 2 (Music Gallery Editions ‎– MGE 13) 1979

 The 'difficult second album' is always an incredibly unfunny phrase used in boring, clichéd "rock band" talk. The ten year wait, if anybody was waiting(?), for The Nihilist Spasm Bands follow up to "No record", was, if anything, 'less' 'difficult to listen to, if 'difficult' to produce.
The concept remains the same, basically a free for all on homemade instruments, as do the politics, if politics exists in a Nihilist utopia? Just say 'No' kids.
The tracks mostly start off as a kind of a Free Rap manifesto, berating Canada and Stupidity. Then they start to disintegrate into something like a Recording of the Sooty Show fed through a scrambling device (mmmm, come to think of it, I'd quite like to hear that!). And,what is that thing that sounds uncannily like Sweep, the dog from the aforementioned 'Sooty Show',losing his temper?
This is Nihilism in practice, rules are for fools, and police yourselves please.

Tracklist: 

A1	No Canada	5:30
A2	Stupidity	13:00
B1	Dum-De-Dum	17:00
B2	Elsinore	5:00

DOWNLOAD and play it with some volume too HERE!

The Nihilist Spasm Band ‎– "No Record" (Allied Record Corporation ‎– RECORD NO. 5) 1968

"NO" is a fine word to use in the advancement of the musical form. Say "NO" to accepted conventions,"NO" to corporate rock, "NO" to popularism.This record says a big "NO" to all of these things, and more;maybe even to itself!
Like biological evolution, where spontaneity and random actions lead to something better and beautiful; improvised "music" on improvised instruments lead to something similar.
If one had an infinite number of Nihilist Spasm Bands, we would end up with everything from Mozart's 40th to a Tony Conrad one note drone,or even "The Birdy Song".
Its NO coincidence that AMM and The Nihilist Spasm Band evolved at the same time,and have record covers with an inordinate amount of yellow on them! Evolution has a habit of producing a similar version on different continents,in different ways; and its also no surprise that it took both groups a decade to get another recording out. The new and unpopular is always shunned by the thronged masses, until it has either died or disappeared,or something even less desirable has evolved. The rise of Punk Rock related artworks in the late seventies made these groups seem relevant and even intellectual,when compared to the anti-intellectual stance of the charting Punks. A new market for extreme music rose from the ashes of the New Wave, and we could even be seen buying the new albums from AMM and that Nihilist Spasm lot.
What greater up yours to corporate rock could one have? A group that,in addition to the DIY home-made instruments, the members are encouraged to improvise,and the range of the improvisation is such that instruments are not tuned to each other, tempos and time signatures are not imposed,and the members push the ranges of their instrumentation by engaging in constant innovation.
Ahhhhhh, Freedom!

Tracklist: 

A1	Destroy The Nations	8:00
A2	When In London Sleep At The York Hotel	5:30
A3	The Byron Bog	10:40
B1	Dog Face Man	7:20
B2	Oh Brian Dibb	4:00
B3	Destroy The Nations Again	12:30

DOWNLOAD no download HERE!

Keith Rowe ‎– "A Dimension Of Perfectly Ordinary Reality" (Matchless Recordings ‎– MR19) 1990

Prepared "Table top Guitar" specialist,Keith Rowe from AMM fame, freaks out with said guitar, torturing it with various tools and effects units. All this racket and plenty of random Radio dialling, add to a heady cocktail of something from 'out-there'. He also manages to fit in a Cornelius Cardew composition too (Ode Machine No. 2), which ain't no bad 'ting.
This was his first 'solo' album I think, sticking it up the proverbial arse of conventional musicality; and has been pretty prolific ever since. Still doing it well into his mid seventies........whoever said cutting edge music is a young man's game obviously hadn't noticed that, actually, shite music is the young man's game in these sad old post-music, post everything, days. Just connect their brains to a sony x-station and they'll be happy to slowly fade away, oblivious to the creeping Orwellian existence that is being stealthily inflicted on everyone. That's the ordinary reality that the late Cardew was talking about when he provided the title of this splendid LP; envisaging a kind of  'people's liberation music'.

Tracklist:

1	Untitled	24:03
2	Ode Machine No. 2	7:28
3	City Music	11:08
4	'73	17:37

DOWNLOAD some ordinary reality in perfect dimensions HERE!

AMM ‎– "Ammmusic" (Elektra ‎– EUK-256) 1967

The granddaddies of free improvisation bring us a scraping droning noise from 1967. What this bunch of uber intellectual free jazzers and composers were doing on the same label as The Doors I dunno? It may have had something to do with the fact that they supported The Pink Floyd (when they[the floyd] were basically a Free improvising unit as well) at the UFO club, and Jac Holzman thought they were the next psychedelic big thing? 
However, they were soon dropped when this sold approximately ten copies.
Undaunted, this radical free/spontaneous music ensemble carried on regardless in this unpopular direction, and are still going to this day.Releasing records on drummer Eddie Prévost's Matchless Recordings label.
Keith Rowe being a particularly influential member, refusing ever to tune his guitar, and performing 'Radio' , as well as table top guitar! Probably the ultimate in de-constructed guitar technique, just beating Derek Bailey, who allegedly 'tuned' his guitar quite regularly.

Tracklist:

A - Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset  21:03 B - After Rapidly Circling The Plaza  20:31

DOWNLOAD "that music's lost its favour so try another flavour"(adam ant 1980)- ammmusic HERE!

Thee Outside - "Deaf Disco" (Year Zero Records YEAR002) 1997/2010

Did someone say Drum'n'Bass? This gives me the opportunity to plug this D'n'B ignored underground classic from 1997; re-released in 2010 on Year Zero records.Bizarre dark Drum'n'Bass stylings with a splash of Black Humour. Still sounds remarkably fresh, maybe because it isn't yer bog standard Drum'n'Bass format. Fused with Electronica,with a dash of Exotica,found sounds,noise samples, crossed with a drop of only the best in Elevator Muzak.You could even dance to this if you were so inclined and on drugs.Probably the most commercial record on Year Zero! Think Luke Vibert, Aphex Twin , Squarepusher and U-Ziq as musical references.

(This is now the fully restored and remastered version as of 08/10/2020) 

Tracklisting:

1. Testcard (3:24)
2. Sectioned (4:58)
3. Empty Mind (5:48)
4. Intruder (5:33)
5. Instructions From God (6:33)
6. Its After The End Of The World (8:55)
7. The Grey Room (The Deaf Disco) (3:11)
8. Towers Open Fire! (14:36)
9. This is Your Saviour Calling (7:28)
10.In the Beginning (5:28)
11.Wormhole (3:53)
12.A Short Song About Death (9:54)  

DOWNLOAD a piece of thee outside HERE!

Derek Bailey ‎– "Guitar, Drums 'n' Bass" (Avant ‎– AVAN 060) 1996

Predictably,this is my favourite Derek Bailey record. Even though the Jungle backing track, by some brummie d'n'b producer called DJ Ninj(who?), is incredibly unremarkable,verging on the bland. This only helps to emphasize Bailey's nutty guitar improvisations, laid over the top of a DAT mix of Ninj's drum'n'bass by numbers, in Laswells studio in New York; after an aborted session in, ex-Napalm Death drummer, Mick Harris's studio in the west midlands.When ,apparently Mick had no idea what he was doing, and seemingly, was not too displeased when Derek suggested that they call it a day, after three full takes failed to be recorded properly, or even at all!
The discipline of the programmed beats, focus's DB's trademark fret abuse to the edge of accessibility.
Bailey freely admits that this record would have been A LOT better if he'd been able to release an album of improvisations with the folks on his local jungle-list pirate stations.; but that may have either eclipsed the guitar work, or created an electrically charged duel between two differing musical cultures,the like of which,we will never hear again?
Ninj, of course, was never heard from again.

Tracklist:

1 N/Jz/Bm (Re Mix) 3:33
2 Re-Re-Re (Up Mix) 1:35
3 Dnjbb (Cake Mix) 13:46
4 Concrete (Cement Mix) 7:02
5 Ninj (De Mix) 11:29
6 Pie (Amatosis Mix) 1:38

DOWNLOAD ninj'n'bailey HERE!

Keiji Haino & Derek Bailey ‎– "Songs" (Incus Records ‎– CD 40) 2000

Thanks to Jan Maarten, we now have the Haino/ Bailey collaboration.A true gent.On behalf of all, we bring you gratitude in bucketfuls.

Two guitar hero's that are as far removed from Jimmy Page, and those other incredibly boring standard axe wielders, than you can imagine.
This is like taking any guitar solo from the first fifty years of Rock music, feeding it through a hardcore pulverising unit, and separating the dust and the shards, gluing them to a music box cylinder, playing it once, before smashing it with a sledgehammer.
It has NOTHING to do with conventional guitar traditions whatsoever!
Haino's vocalising is similarly split into micro-syllables and splinters of words that seem to mimic its six string equivalent, and vice versa.
If in your world, Jimi Hendrix was from Mars, then this is from an exo-planet sucked through a wormhole from an anti-universe somewhere that barely exists.

Tracklist:

1 Yume Ga Ichiban Muchi
2 25 No Seimeitai
3 Aru Kanashika No Juni
4 2 To Mugen No Torihiki
5 Zen'i No Yokubo
6 Boka Ga Nejirekireru To Ai
7 Zureteyuku No Ha Watashi, Soretomo Ima
8 Ten To Tomo Ni Ishoni Itagaru Shugo
9 Egatai Kanashimi O Te Ni Ireta
10 Chotto Burusu Ni Aisatsu
11 Kotaerarenai Hazu Na No Ni
12 Ichi O Tashikamete Kara...
13 Fukuzatsu To Iu Zurusa
14 Tsumasaki Kara No Keikoku

15 Kikiakasarerarenai Koto
16 Massugu Tte Kore De Ii No?
DOWNLOAD some songs HERE!

Evan Parker / Derek Bailey / Han Bennink ‎– "The Topography Of The Lungs" (Incus Records ‎– 01) 1970

UK Free jazz legends Parker and Bailey, plus obligatory dutch percussionist, recreate the sound of emptying refuse trucks at an illegal landfill site.
This was the first release on Parker and Bailey's ground-breaking Incus Label, way back in 1970.
It's an every man for himself improv-off,with clattering drums, scratchy guitar, and gargling saxophones, battling for the foreground. There are welcome tranquil moments, which showcase Bailey's interest in harmonics, and Parker's more subtle side; but overall this is a landmark album for underground UK experimental music, both musically and entrepreneurially  
Unavailable for years after the split. Parker re-released the album following Bailey's death in 2005 - dedicating the cd to his old sparring partner. Strangely, despite this noble sentiment, the record appears under his name alone and is not accredited to the original trio......mmmmmm?

Tracklist:

A1	Titan Moon
B1	For Peter B. & Peter K.
B2	Fixed Elsewhere
B3	Dogmeat

DOWNLOAD some topographical lung squeezings HERE!

Derek Bailey ‎– "Improvisation" (Cramps Records ‎– CRSLP 6202) 1975

"Twang, plink,weeeeeooooooooo,scratch, p-tang,p-ting,bing bonggggggg,tik tik-a-tak-tak ting toooong,ddang,dddong, wooooooooooo,zing."

So goes a Derek Bailey improvisation, onomatopoeically.
Ever one for choosing  obscure album titles,like, "Solo Guitar,which features a.....er..... solo guitarist (DB); here we have a record called "Improvisation", featuring DB.....er..... improvising!?
These are better recorded(in Italy), more confident,and more interesting improvisations than those on his début solo LP. Showcasing a de-constructed and harmonically splintered guitar craft that was never heard 'Before Derek'.....B.D.
All together now......

"Twang, plink,weeeeeooooooooo,scratch, p-tang,p-ting,bing bonggggggg,tik tik-a-tak-tak ting toooong,ddang,dddong, wooooooooooo,zing."

Tracklist:

A1 M1 1:30
A2 M2 2:32
A3 M3 4:13
A4 M4 3:40
A5 M5 2:40
A6 M6 2:05
A7 M7 1:40
A8 M8 2:18
B1 M9 4:42
B2 M10 2:46
B3 M11 2:08
B4 M12 4:04
B5 M13 4:12
B6 M14 3:55

 DOWNLOAD improved improvised bailey HERE!

Derek Bailey ‎– "Solo Guitar" (Incus Records ‎– 2) 1971

The English version of Keiji Haino, or rather,version of the Japanese version of Derek Bailey; is.....er.....the late,Derek Bailey. Who did for the guitar, what Coltrane and Ayler did for the Saxophone.
Another fine example of an artist ploughing the same furrow, in the face of  hostile indifference; if that exists?
The DIY connection here is that Derek Bailey and Evan Parker started their own record label called Incus Records in the early seventies; one of the first artist-run outfits, of which this LP was the second release.
Once upon a time I was woken from a dream by my guitar seemingly playing itself in a strange disjointed plinky-plucky harmonic stylee. On illuminating the situation, i caught sight of the culprit. It was a mouse clambering on the strings, searching for food I assume.
Had I heard this record before this experience, I would have expected to see the ghost of Derek Bailey sitting down in the corner of my room, knocking out an improvisation. For this was what it sounds like.
Personally I prefer Bailey's work when it has a bit of distortion involved,and you can only wonder if the Fushitsusha guitarist modeled his style on Derek’s great quest for the unknown chord.
There was even a Keiji Haino and Derek Bailey collaboration album, released on Incus records in the late nineties.Definitely an influence on the Japanese underground methinks.

Tracklist:

A1 Improvisation 4 2:02
A2 Improvisation 5 7:50
A3 Improvisation 6 5:37
A4 Improvisation 7 3:19
B1 Where Is The Police? 8:25
B2 Christiani Eddy 5:50
B3 The Squirrel And The Ricketty-Racketty Bridge 6:31

Bonus Tracks:

8 Improvisation 3 2:41
9 Improvisation 8 4:19
10 Improvisation 9 1:52
11 Improvisation 10 3:04
12 Improvisation 11 2:16
13 Improvisation 12 3:46

DOWNLOAD solo guitar by yourself HERE!

不失者 (Fushitsusha) ‎– "悲愴 (Pathétique)" (P.S.F. Records ‎– PSFD-50) 1994

Yes, all the covers are the same, and to the untrained ear, so are the contents.
Yet, here we have a full spectrum Fushitsusha workout. Starting with the slow descent into hell to find that we are already there, march, of track one.
Then we have what a Punk Rock anthem would sound like if it was made of glass and smashed violently on a steel floor.
"Song" number three shifts from a "catchy" yet dissonant, descending, mantra-rock groove into more improvised, feedback bliss at all the "right", “wrong” moments.
Finally, at well over 40 minutes, track four stretches out a solid ocean of distortion into one of those “timeless / infinite moments”that make the terrifying  prospect of eternal life seem almost desirable.
Probably my personal favourite 不失者 album,less sprawling, and to the point than the other epics.
What I can't work out is how "悲愴" translates into bloody french? This has to be bollocks, surely?
To ease this minor irritation the album is also referred to as "4" or "Hisou"; which is anglicised Japanese for.....mmmm....Pathetic! 

Tracklist

1	Untitled	5:00
2	Untitled	9:35
3	Untitled	15:59
4	Untitled	44:21

DOWNLOAD this pathetic/pathétique album HERE!

不失者(Fushitshusha) ‎– 寓意的な誤解 (Allegorical Misunderstanding)- (Avant ‎– AVAN 008) 1993

Fushitsusha captured in laid back form, in a Studio. Noisey freak outs are replaced by medium paced,disjointed, improvised cleanish guitar slashing; backed up by barely syncopated bass and drums. 灰野敬 (Haino Keiji) interjects with his trademark tortured whispers and anguished screams, to make a kind of Japanese Blues, totally devoid of any afro-american influence.This is a good thing is it not?

Tracklist

1	Magic I	2:42
2	Magic II	8:45
3	Magic III	1:11
4	Magic IV	3:32
5	Magic V	5:34
6	Magic VI	4:04
7	Magic VII	3:28
8	Magic VIII	2:33
9	Magic IX	13:54
10	Magic X	2:44

DOWNLOAD and misunderstand allegorically HERE!

不失者 (Fushitsusha) ‎– "不失者 (S/T Live 2)" (P.S.F. Records ‎– PSFD-15~16) 1991

The follow up to 不失者 (Fushitsusha), also titled 不失者 (Fushitsusha), like the 1989 debut.Also live, and in the same cover,with the same improvised free rock noise workouts.Sometimes referred to as "Live 2" or, "Number 2" (not a reference to toilet habits I suggest; ie the next on the scale from a number 1).
A Paint peeling, room clearing racket, like Rock'n'Roll is meant to be.

Tracklist:

1-1	Untitled	10:28
1-2	Untitled	14:42
1-3	Untitled	11:57
1-4	Untitled	13:46
1-5	Untitled	12:23
1-6	Untitled	9:34
2-1	Untitled	16:37
2-2	Untitled	9:04
2-3	Untitled	6:17
2-4	Untitled	6:49
2-5	Untitled	9:41
2-6	Untitled	11:25
2-7	Untitled	14:13

DOWNLOAD disc one of live 2  HERE!
and now......
DOWNLOAD disc two of live 2 HERE!

不失者 (Fushitsusha) ‎– "不失者 (Fushitsusha, or Double Live)" - (P.S.F. Records ‎– PSF-3/4) 1989

After all these Jandek posts, one turns ones mind to similar artistes from other country's of the post-rock'n'roll world. You know the one's, who plough the same deeply unpopular furrow continuously for decades irrespective of public, or critical opinion.
For example, I can think of Whitehouse,or even Mark E. Smith (but maybe he's too popular?) , from the UK, The Dead C from New Zealand, Magma from France,and 不失者, or Fushitsusha from Japan.
I suppose there's also Merzbow,but even that's got the smell of Industrial chic that is increasingly popular these days. Fushitsusha straddle that awkward no-man's land middle ground between, Noise, Metal, incompetence, and the Avant Garde.
Keiji Haino (灰野敬) is the Jandek of Metal, who plays his guitar as if the instrument was being tortured for information, emitting screams and yells as he applies the electrodes to its genitalia. The vocal sounds Haino regurgitates are also from a similar place, like a political prisoner before he's dunked in the bath of shit.
Also admirable is the fact that this group(formed in 1978) played live for a decade before they even released a record(this is their first release!),and even longer before they even ventured into a recording studio.Hardly a commercial thought entered their pure little minds.
The thing about improvisation, is that there is a very real need to keep it in the moment; a once only experience, never to be repeated or relived. That is the purest form of improvisation in a live environment. Here it has been caged for this insane double album, so we can stare through the bars at this trapped animal; and what a vicious wild beast it is.
The exception for improvised music, is if it is done in a studio direct to record,as it needs an audience to exist.Fushitsusha managed to hold on another few years before they took that route.
Enjoy this primal blast of Free ambient freak out noise rock, created in the moment, and captured for you to reanimate in the future.

Tracklist:

A1	あっち	12:32
A2	暗号	10:21
B1	すきにやればいい	11:38
B2	とどかない	10:27
C	ここ	26:06
D1	ふわ　ふわ	8:04
D2	なったんじゃない	7:46
D3	迷子	10:03

DOWNLOAD this absolute racket HERE!

Jandek - "Staring at the Cellophane" (Corwood 0744) 1982

To complete this horrific journey into the dark planet that is Jandek, its back to 1982,for one of the very best early period albums; and boy is this a downer!
The downward spiral continues, this is ghost town music... Spooky, personal, honest,reminiscent of a miserable sunless week in a Gulag, in Siberia, in February.Yes.... that much fun?
The focus here is on a very singular mid-tempo acoustic-guitar sound, with special attention to finger pickin’.The big exceptions are the muted hard-strum violence of “Sound I”, which is mostly instrumental but quite different from the melancholy plucked-string approach; and a weird history lesson called “Nepoleon in Russia” [sic].
Another of the best Jandek  records,with classic title, and classic cover art.

Tracklist

A1	Michael	2:57
A2	This Is For You	3:10
A3	Riddles Riddling Me	2:44
A4	Basic Themes	2:50
A5	I See Lights	2:34
A6	Rather Be Blind	1:53
A7	Away	2:18
A8	Don’t Get Too Upset	2:35
B1	A Letter	2:23
B2	Nevermore	3:01
B3	Sand I	2:30
B4	Nepoleon In Russia	3:05
B5	Split To The East	2:55
B6	Number 14	2:43
B7	Blood And Bone	3:17

DOWNLOAD some cellophane to stare at HERE!

Jandek - "Living in a Moon so Blue" (Corwood 0743) 1982

In my rush to post all the Jandek LP's I have, I missed a couple of the very best, and now I've fucked up the chronology!
 "Living in a Moon so Blue" is where Jandek gets more assertive,even aggressive, bashing his acoustic to the point of distortion. Like a unissued recording from Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk, recorded in a 1930's mental institution.
This is where Jandek's stuff starts to get really ‘difficult’ and damaged.Lots of pissed-off down strokes, tracks that build into blister-inducing dirges and into a seriously fucked up mess of naked psychoses.
All in all, Living in a Moon So Blue is one of his best, the presentation and approach seemingly from a different time altogether, like some greyish Eastern Bloc country, around 1962?” 

Tracklist:

A1	Gretchen	2:47
A2	One Step Ahead	2:06
A3	Suppression	2:06
A4	Strange Phenomenon	3:09
A5	You Can Stop Now	2:20
A6	Comedy	1:49
A7	Sailors	1:47
A8	Bludgeon	1:50
A9	All In An Apple Orchard	2:37
B1	She Fell Down	3:30
B2	Professional	2:25
B3	Anticipation	2:43
B4	Alexandria Knows	2:34
B5	Quite Nonchalant	2:16
B6	Relief Of The Night	3:18
B7	Crime Payes	3:00

DOWNLOAD and live in a moon sooooo blue HERE!