Sunday 18 October 2015

Suisse - "Alien Pulse" (MAP Tapes MAP9) 1982


After the 10 hours of the MAP 7 series, let us turn the spotlight on a frequent guest on those recordings, the mysterious female called 'Suisse' (Which I have mentioned before ,is the French word for Switzerland,but is probably a quirky way of spelling Suzie,akin to the the more famous Siouxsie?)
This reminds me of my early attempts at making a record while having no instruments. The short-wave station used brings back eerie memories of that same morse code call sign that we now know is a clandestine signal for some agent of espionage on one side of the Iron Curtain. ( V,V,V,B,B,K,is my translation of these dots and dashes ;what that meant would only be known by the spy with the decryption device.......check out my post on 'numbers stations', a truly weird music indeed.).
Instead of dots and dashes,this tape now comes to you as ones and zero's, and the decryption device is your brain;ironically transmitted to your home by one of the most useful inventions by the espionage network,...the Internet.
Mixed in with the recordings of ,I assume it was Suisse herself, walking in the street, and collages of radio reports from the 1981 riots,we are treated to Suisse and friend,singing some bizarre urban bluegrass tunes that are very reminiscent of The Shaggs second album.Also we have a couple of fine minimal synth moments, and a fine whispered 'hit' tune in 'Artificial Heart'. A murky and claustrophobically  intimate classic, which is best listened to while doing the washing up.....it says on the insert.

Track Listing:

01 Warning Systems

02 Sun Sacrifice
03 Salem
04 Knicker Two
05 Artificial Heart
06 The Apparition
07 I Went Walking
08 Pauline's Working at the Steam Press
09 Alien Pulse
10 News Flash on One
11 The Sweetest Gift
12 You Tell Me That I'm...
13 More Than Words Can Say
14 Live at Longbourn
15 Epilogue To Salem

DOWNLOAD  an aliens pulse HERE!

8 comments:

George Harold said...

Hi, I'm not sure if this has been asked before, if it has I apologize greatly! Is there any chance of an Angus Maclise record?

George Harold said...

Just seen the comments on Five Times of Dust, sorry!
On a side note, do you have any La Monte Young? I'd love to hear his stuff but they're incredibly expensive!

Jonny Zchivago said...

Ok here's Lamonte's "Well Tuned Piano" :
http://www.mediafire.com/download/823demtl1on9675/La+Monte+Young+1.zip
and
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nasvfzjk1a178jc/La+Monte+Young+2.zip

thats five discs worth>

"The Black record":
http://www13.zippyshare.com/v/6420589/file.html

Hope you've got a lot of time on your hands.
Enjoy

George Harold said...

Cheers!

Unknown said...

And now Suisse is to have a track, from this very tape, on the forthcoming Cherry Red compilation Close To The Noise Floor!
She will be the only solo woman on the whole of the 4 CD boxed set!

Jonny Zchivago said...

Its great that she's representing female kind on a box set. I love this tape. But, i do prefer the At Last machines version of 'Artificial Heart'.

Vaykorus said...

Thanks, thanks, thanks..

ychorus.blogspot.com

j tremblay said...

i have to say, this is really a fantastic tape. i kinda think "knicker too" is what i would like terrestrial radio to actually sound like. who needs the whole damn song of half the shit on classic rock radio? fuck it, give me 2 good seconds and move on. the dialogue section is pretty fuckin great too. what a tape!