Saturday 30 January 2021

Various Artists - "Tokyo Flashback 7" (P.S.F. Records ‎– PSFD-189) 2009


An essential document....it reckons... of the psychedelic,.....it says here,..... improvisation scene that existed in the deepest catacombs of the Tokyo underground in 2009! Includes live performances by six of the scene's most ungrooviest groups. Recorded live at the legendary Koenji Show Boat venue in Tokyo on May 31, 2009.
Included here mainly for 'Derakushi', which features your scribes' current favourite guitar wielder Kuzuha, who would go on to even greater things as part of Self-Deconstruction,Japan's premier female Power Violence trio.

Tracklist:

01 Le Son de L'os - "Still Water"
02 Bon-No-Kubo - "Untitled"
03 Derakushi - "Red Shoes"
04 Sabo Orimo unit - "Inochi"
05 Touyounomajyo - "White Light Spear"
06 Hasegawa-Shizuo - "Gray ray"

Friday 29 January 2021

Self Deconstruction – "Final" (Regurgitated Semen Records – RSR 198) 2020



In between the jap jazz,little excuse is needed for me to get back to Japanese Freestyle Grindcore band ,the wonderful Self Deconstruction.In fact it doesn't sound a million miles away from some Japanese free Improvisation,it just misses a few more tranquile bits. 
Was gonna rip my vinyl copy,but,felt i should encourage y'all to buy something from their bandcamp and my recommendation is their pre-line-up change album "Final" which is,for want of something more eloquent to say, "Fucking Brilliant". If you like your Grindcore Brutal and abstract,with enough tempo changes to satisfy a Gentle Giant fan,and populated by lovely ladies; then this should be your next purchase. I may have my opinion clouded,however, by my celebrity crush on guitarist Kuzuha,but the general feedback i've been getting suggests i'm not wrong......like always? There may be some vinyl left somewhere,which gets you a large in action photo of Kuz.....if i could call her that,and now departed(as in left the band),vocalist, Kubine at work. Boy, Kubine has a fine set of lungs in her,among other obvious attributes.There's also a lyric sheet,if you could call the short bleak phraseology 'lyrics'.....nonetheless great fun to scream along to.
As the live side doesn't seem to be available on Bandcamp, I may sneak that in here at some point in the near future.Played in one go it sounds not unlike some bizarre avant-garde sound collage....as does all of Self-Deconstruction's output in fact.

Tracklist:

Studio Side:
A1 My Inside
A2 Bleed
A3 Pigs
A4 Escape
A5 Growing Pain
A6 Where's The Unity?
A7 No Fear
A8 I End Me
A9 Ugly
A10 Suffer
A11 Waste Of Time

Thursday 28 January 2021

Kaoru Abe (阿部薫) – "Winter 1972" (P.S.F. Records – PSFD-158) 1972/2004


My introduction to the wild world of Abe Kaoru was this, remastered from vinyl, release on P.S.F.; Aided by the bleak Industrial style cover art one suspected this might be quite good. 
It was three tracks of a bloke going apeshit on a saxophone in a small room for fifty minutes. It certainly misses drums or guitar to add a bit of colour to the proceedings,but, this does give one a chance to accompany Kaoru oneself. As he allegedly never listened to anyone he improvised with,you should end up with a bona-fide improvisation of yourself and the legend going ape in your front room.....with the added bonus of sparse applause for your efforts. It's also good for sampling a nuts saxophone solo for your own work without having the misfortune in having a real saxophonist visit your home studio.Luckily,or otherwise,for me I have a brother who's a more than willing contributor of reed jiggery-pokery to any of my recordings.....like this one.

Tracklist:

1 No.1 24:17
2 No.2 4:27
3 No.3 17:54

Masayuki Takayanagi (高柳), Abe kaoru (阿部), and Hiroshi Yamazaki (山崎) - "Jazzbed (ライヴ・アット・ジャスベッド )" ( Jinya Disc – B-32) 1970/2020


Like Muslimgauze, new Abe Kaoru albums keep croping up on an almost daily basis long after his demise.
How this one has remained unreleased for the past fifty years is remarkable.Left to sleep in its 'Jazzbed' (see what I did?) since september 1970.
This time Abe gets to play backed up by the very able freeform guitar abuse of  Masayuki Takayanagi and very capable jap jazz legend, Hiroshi Yamazaki on the skins.
This is like a proper album rather than some casual jam session.Not too sure the word Casual is a word often used in relation to Kaoru's work,but you know what I mean....'cus I don't!?

Tracklist:

1 Jazzbed 1st (27:47)
2 Jazzbed 2nd (31:12)


Tuesday 26 January 2021

Kaoru Abe (阿部薫) ‎– "(Unreleased Sessions) 未発表音源+初期音源 4xCD Box (1970-73)" - ( Youth Inc. ‎– YOUTH-165) 2012


Yeah good isn't he? Because he's an artist he can do whatever the fuck he likes. Beating a Pregnant woman...way ta go maaaan. Being a general cunt to everyone....gimmie five maaaan. Or as Keji Haino reckons, a pretentious cunt who didn't listen to anyone he's improvising with....especially when it's improvised violence to women. Listening to this, Haino is correct, it's all about himself innit?...never heard of behaviour like that before in the Art community...only a small percentage of the self-indulgent bastards do shit like that,a minuscule 92% i reckon?But,just because an artist is a bastard,doesn't mean that one cannot enjoy the bastards' work...let me rephrase that....fucking about,artistically and sexually,most definitely NOT work . The main reason anyone goes into 'The Arts' is so they don't have to work for a living...real work I mean. It's the same as why I became self-employed when i left school...because I'm a Lazy bastard...but at least I don't beat women up.?......oh yeah, it happens to be fucking great stuff by the way...but does that make me an apologist for misogyny?...most likely yes,but i have a track record in that.....I still play Gary Glitter records for example,which are probably way weirder than this box set?But, alas, I still wouldn't argue against having the fuckers locked up. 
Tracklist:

1-1 –Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe 1970.7.9 Station '70  41:27
2-1 –
Masayuki Takayanagi & Kaoru Abe 1970.7.9 Station '70  41:46
3-1 –阿部薫 Solo 1973 (未発表音源) 3:36
3-2 –阿部薫 Solo 1973 (未発表音源) 25:07
3-3 –阿部薫 Solo 1973 (未発表音源) 21:38
4-1 –阿部薫 Duo (初期・未発表音源) 8:57
4-2 –阿部薫 Duo (初期・未発表音源) 31:27
4-3 –阿部薫 Duo (初期・未発表音源) 1:58
4-4 –阿部薫 Duo (初期・未発表音源) 16:22
4-5 –阿部薫 Duo (初期・未発表音源) 8:44


Self Deconstruction ‎– "Superficial" (Lost Rivers Product ‎– LRP 037 CD) 2012


 
Another album by my Power Violence combo of preference,featuring ones' new favourite Guitarist...or guitar-wrist in my case, Kazuha or 葛葉. Also she's better looking than Wilko Johnson,so, sorry Wilko, you momentarily slip to second place on my all-time list. 

The Lovely Kazuha

What category of Hardcore to put this in is debatable,but as the lovely Kazuha constantly plays with a smile on her charming visage,I volunteer the new pigeon hole of 'Grin-core'? 
Whatever it is to the purist,it is certainly an unerringly brutal,breathless and complex form of Grindcore.With no blokes in black tee-shirts and muscular arms,or male long-haired satan worshippers to be seen. A rare hardcore group devoid of Homoerotica for the borderline heterosexual Grindcore fan......unless Kazuha turns out to be a chap,which, these days, is totally possible......but I can overlook that.Either Love is blind,or I am?
Whatever!?...Superficial.....moi?....naaah......Ok Ok, I wouldn't listen to this if I didn't fancy the bird...so what?
With 13 songs in the space of 11 minutes there ain't enough time to ruminate on such nonsense.It's Great stuff,and its best not to reason why.

Tracklist:

1 Self Deconstruction
2 Human Hater
3 Merry Go Round
4 Slight
5 Delusion, Confusion, And...
6 Last Dance
7 Band Of The Night
8 Superficial
9 He Is Gone
10 The Anger Which I Wait For
11 Present
12 Hypocrite
13 Dirge For My Death


Monday 25 January 2021

Masayuki Takayanagi and Abe Kaoru - "(集団投射)Mass Projection" ( DIW ‎– DIW-424) 1970/2001


Its that Japanese Sid Vicious of free improvised Jazz again (Abe Kaoru). Seems he was a bit of an arsehole,.....correction, a lot of an arsehole, like a large number of musicians,and Artists give the impression of being.So Kaoru shouldn't feel victimized by my post mortem chastisement. It appears to be an important,and popular pre-requisite required to exist in these particular creative spheres.Where would we be without an arsehole or two to empty our bowels after a hard day at the Job Centre or queuing for an experimental vaccine? Without an arsehole we would be more full of shit than we think we are. 
Why we, the public, seem to be obsessed with these self important self-destructive deconstructavists i haven't the foggiest idea. Act like a complete twat for three or four years then die and you're made for life...or death, as seems the more popular career path to immortality than actually just making something great and being er...nice?...fuck that. Yet here we stand, drooling over these mentally dysfunctional attention seekers, hypnotised by the mystique of self-disintegration coming forth from this incoherant rage at the so-called establishment,these fuckers are as much a part of the establishment as we are. I guess that very few of these icons of filth ever actually follow through with their own funeral,so that explains the obsession,the t-shirts, and the endless post-mortem archive releases...of which this is one.
Kaoru looked, acted and sounded as if he was going to self-immolate,leaving a molten saxophone and a pile of ashes to remind us of the rage.At least he played some ferocious sax,and was honest enough to actually fulfill his destiny of sucessfully destroying himself...not that he didn't try to take someone else with him in between beating up his pregnant wife. Move on, nothing to see here,just a rather ruthless free jazz masterpiece that sounds like a Guitar and Saxophone being attacked by an angle-grinder for fifty minutes.

Tracklist:

1 集団投射-1 29:25
2 集団投射-2 24:38


Sunday 24 January 2021

Kaoru Abe / Motoharu Yoshizawa / Toshinori Kondo / Derek Bailey ‎– "Aida's Call"(Starlight Furniture Co. ‎– *09) 1978/1999


So now we know that Kaoru Abe or Abe Kaoru was a pretentious bore and a wife beater. Here he is in free improvisation with Derek Bailey in 1978 who, and i'm guessing here, was most certainly NOT a wife beater...not even sure he had a wife to beat.Could Google it, but don't you all think that google search has ruined all pub arguments......not that there's any pubs open to NOT argue in!?...If you're reading this ten tears from now, this was written during the pandemic hysteria that you all laugh about in the future.That one when we fucked up the lives of the enormous amount of survivors by destroying the world economy, when all we had to do was wash our hands regularly and stop hugging strangers for six months.
I don't know what I'm complaining about, its what us anti-capitalists wanted wasn't it? The planes are grounded, and now i'm moaning that i can't go anywhere,not that I went anywhere anyway,but its what was necessary to cut carbon emissions wasn't it? I also derided the angry mob of trump supporters who stormed the Capitol,but isn't that what we've been advocating for years.....it was just the Wrong Mob!
I'm just a hypocrite like everyone else,wanting a comfy life and something to help me feel superior to others. Yeah, bring back capitalism and lets party again while Rome burns...i think thats my new philosophy, and Free Improvisation is its perfect soundtrack......but yeah....Kaoru was misogynistic woman battering macho man.Another opportunity for us to separate the man from his art.An art that Keiji Haino said wasn't quite as good as others made out. So we can carry on turning a blind eye to our trumped up morals and take the easy way like we always do.....there are exceptions,and we usually follow their example to the point of naming a shitty park after them,or some forgotten street behind a shopping mall.......and why not? What makes them so special? Martin Luther King delivered his most famous speech,round about the same place that the Wrong Mob stormed the capitol building last week.The Wrong Mob needs a martyr....any volunteers? 
Kaoru was dead shortly after this concert,to claim his prize as a free Jazz martyr,and has suitably,from some quarters been awarded the much coveted jazz bores saxophonists's saxophonist choice as having  the most abrasive saxophone sound in Jazz history.The jury's out on that one,but being dead doesn't do any musician or artist any harm in the bullshitty myth stakes.....yeah he's got an abrasive sound,but so has Peter Brötzmann and John Zorn,but they ain't dead.


Tracklist:

1 Administratio 23:41
2 The Man From S.L.A.P.P.Y. 9:47
3 Spear-Core 6:27

Saturday 23 January 2021

Self-Deconstruction ‎– "Wounds" (Break The Records ‎– BTR-043-LP) 2018


As the last post (Masayuki Takayanagi), had, mistakenly on my part apparently, the word Deconstructive in the title.This gives me the opportunity to post some Japanese female freestyle Power Violence from Self -Deconstrution of Tokyo. Mainly because I have a minor celebrity crush on the guitarist Kuzuha who likes the colour Pink a lot,and plays a one woman show when not with the band, as....ahem......"Fuck Me Please!"......the little tease! Don't ask me what the difference between Power Violence and Grindcore, or even Hardcore in general is,as I can't tell you,but I like it...I like it alot!
Listening to the muiltichordunous and shifting tempo filled sub thirty second 'songs(?)' one can't help but wonder how the hell did pop music get to this place? They would have been burnt as witches in the sixties,but now its just some light entertainment......not for everybody I grant you,but they certainly put on a show......like this one?

Tracklist:

Disaster 0:38
Ain't It Fun 0:27
Spring's Trend 0:37
Pay Up 0:50
Dog 0:28
Vulture 0:44
Our Graves 0:48
Dear Weekend 0:41
Malice 0:41
Psychowhore 0:30
Taken For Granted 0:38
Deeper 0:39
Not For Me 0:33
You Deserve 0:22
Possession 0:27
It Was Rain 0:14
No Savior 0:51
The Burden 0:35
Hazard 0:47
Virtue 0:55
Force Fed 0:48
Mess 1:29
Grace Period 1:25

Friday 22 January 2021

Masayuki Takayanagi and Abe Kaoru (高柳昌行 阿部薫) ‎–"Deconstructive Empathy or Disintegration of the sense of intercourse,or Deconstructive exchange...I dunno! (解体的交感 )" (Sound Creators Inc. ‎– SCi - 10101) 1970


The Great Uncle of Japnoise has to be Masayuki Takayanagi,who took a parallel route to deconstructed guitar abuse that Derek Bailey took slightly earlier in the UK, but in Japan. Here captured in full abstraction with chum, free improvising and wild living,early dying, saxophonist Abe Karou,who never made it to 30.Leaving a short recorded legacy before taking satan's music to heaven in 1978;if the Japanese believe in such nonsense, of which one doubts very much.They have their own nonsense, Shinto,and even weirder forms of Buddhism....like the Kamikaze cult who, among other things, invented suicide bombing as a neat way to lose wars.
This music, non-music,(and so far I have received three different translations for the title:"Deconstructive Empathy or Disintegration of the sense of intercourse,or Deconstructive exchange"...I like the Empathy one personally)...I dunno!  would be a fine soundtrack to an unmade film that features Suicide bombers exploding in ultra slow motion.....i think I may make this unmade film y'know? Or did Sam Peckinpah already do that?Here's "Sam Peckinpah's Salad Days" anyway.
Anyone reckon this stuff may have had a tad of an influence on Keiji Haino by any chance?...that's Masayuki Takayanagi and not Monty Python's Flying Circus by the way.

Tracklist:

A Untitled
B Untitled

Wednesday 20 January 2021

Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Sonny Sharrock, John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Charles K. Noyes ‎– "Improvised Music 1981" (MuWorks Records ‎– MU W 1007) 1992


Sonny Sharrock with some downtown Manhattan artsy fartsy buddies from the IN-crowd. Or as the cognitively dissonant Redneck Trump supporting bastards would have it...Satan musick made by a bunch of Democrat supporting  Athiests and a Nigger,with a pair of Intifa Limey's who want to burn down the Whitehouse again,then spread their communism in the stolen state of Georgia...(the place named after George the Third,rather than Donald the Turd,the man who would be King)....and reinstate the Monarchy! USA,USA,USA!
Whenever I say anything,no matter how satirical;they,(white supremacists,NRA members,and bible belt xians etc) can't get satire,or even know what it is!Any satire,sarchasm,or irony ejaculated in the general direction of these poor manipulated oafs, usually gets one a torrent of potty mouthed abuse.So i'm strongly considering No-Platforming the bastards...no matter how stupid they make themselves look....along with the guy who keeps writing 'Penis'in the comments section. I'm sure Sonny Sharrock would agree,at least about the Racist fuckers.......Ok Sonny's Ghost, I'll let the 'Penis Guy' back!
Anyway,as those baseball cap wearing cro-maga-non cavemen only listen to Garth Brooks,who is, ironically, playing at Biden's inauguration today; I doubt they'll fine (sic) their way to a Free-Improvisation post on DieorDIY? They'd fight each other to play this record backwards and reveal the satanic messages hidden in the grooves to justify an attempted assasination of the President elect today.Any bunch of fools who can hear the words "You Lost" as "You Won!" shouldn't have any trouble finding a message to rival the "Turn Me On Deadman" that the twats' Twat himsrlf, Michael Mills, found in the Beatles White Album!?....I'm ashamed to be Human.
But blimey! Three improvising guitarists on one record.....that must be an...er......Record?...Surely?
Recorded Live at 'The Kitchen'.....where else?....in 1981. Even Laswell is suitably subtle.
Altogether now....USA,USA,usa,usa,usa.......suddenly I feel very alone.


Tracklist:

1 Untitled 1:21
2 Untitled 5:03
3 Untitled 4:32
4 Untitled 5:48
5 Untitled 6:40
6 Untitled 5:44
7 Untitled 3:48


Tuesday 19 January 2021

Sonny Sharrock ‎– "Monkey-Pockie-Boo" (BYG Records ‎– 529.337) 1970


You know, I don't have a problem when anyone,upon hearing this record,and hundreds like it, say that its a pile of utter shite. I totally understand.
Yeah, we 'sofistikatid'(sic) music bores (I'm so arrogant that I include myself in that category,but obviously not the boring part) can look down our smug noses at them (and MAGA-non's), alluding to their lack of intellectual depth,and scoff ;but they have a point.
It's not their fault that they haven't been exposed to such a huge volume of music in one's life so the Abstract becomes Pop reflected back at you from a mirror. You don't become entertained by stuff like this from year zero.One has to start with the childrens music, like U2 for example, then take another couple of decades re-learning how to listen to music that sounds like it was actually made by children rather than teenagers trying to be....,here's that word again.... "Sophisticated".
As Picasso said, and I've used this quote quite a few times over the years, "It took four years to learn to paint like Raphael,but a whole lifetime to paint like a child". Not that U2 is the musical equivalent of a work by Raphael, but "Monkey-Pockie-Poo" is certainly a Picasso,although probably more of a automatic painting by Pollock. A conventional piece of music cut up and reassembled  into something primal and challenges the definition of Music.....maybe even defining it as the "utter Shite" that the vast majority of Human kind would have us believe that this is. It helps that I like utter Shite as it happens,and am also a purveyor of the Good-Bad,like The Shaggs for example. This Sharrock outing is Good/Good,rather than Good/Bad. The Shaggs had no clue what they were doing, but there is some obvious thought behind this album at least.It may be just a case of 'Hey!Lets Do What Ornette Coleman does,but with Voice and Guitars",or it may be far deeper?Either way there is a concept involved.Even the adoring Linda looks like she knows what she's doing.Back on wailing vocalisations duty,and there's what seems to be a guest appearence by The Clangers on "27th Day".......but,you know what?There are times when I think I don't know what the fuck I'm going on about,or even why?....don't blame me, i'm writing automatically.....i'm THAT "sofistikatid"!

Tracklist:

A 27th Day 16:55
B1 Soon 8:00
B2 Monkey-Pockie-Boo 8:55


Monday 18 January 2021

Sonny Sharrock ‎– "Black Woman" (Vortex Records ‎– 2014) 1969



A rare breed in the sixties was the "Free Jazz Guitarist".Apart from Sharrock, Bailey, and maybe Keith Rowe, one would be struggling to name any. Nevertheless, Sonny boy was there more or less at the beginning as one of the bright sparks who thought that they could do an Ornette Coleman on the six strings that drew blood. If your fingers don't start bleeding upon hearing this ,like jazz stigmata,then the sound of his wailing missus will do the same to your delicates ,such as ears,wedding tackle and central nervous system. So beware yee uinitiated and start off with Django Rienhart before venturing further.
Not blessed with the same smouldering good looks as Derek Bailey, Sonny was evidently so delighted that he could pull a half-decent bird like Linda,that he put her in the band (normally a disastrous Idea). Husbands usually do this to keep an eye on the wife or girlfriend while they're on tour. Although, in the case of Paul McCartney, I can't believe that his Linda would have been shagging around behind his back somehow,but the demure ones usually turn out to be the most randy,so good oblique thinking there Paul,but not so great on the lack of any musical ability front;can't win 'em all I suppose?
Now, Sonny's Linda fancied herself as a wacky Free Jazz Vocalist,which ,along with standard Jazz Guitar,are the two most horrible sounds known to man; apart from the sound,and i'm probably risking my life by saying this, of Donald Trump having sex one may suggest somewhat warily?
You know that wailing bit in "Dark Side Of The Moon" ......yeah?......well she does that all the way through the album to the point where you just wanna scream SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!
Luckily, the smoulderingly good looking Sonny makes up for this with some inventive guitar abuse which distracts somewhat from reverb drenched Linda's vocal machinations.......ooooya buggar!
There are plenty of pictures of Sonny with a controlling arm around his wife,and putting her in the group gave him feelings of security which were in vain as she left him a few years later......Women huh?
Of course you know Sonny Sharrock was in Last Exit,so one can forgive him his human weaknesses;but he does wear his guitar far too high,like that slap bass fool in Level 42....a trait I cannot abide,no matter how easier it makes chord formation.......who needs chords anyway? Unless its a nice comfy corduroy jacket and matching pantalons.I was once the proud owner of a beige corduroy Levi's Safari suit in the nineties(with a handy boot flare).Very popular at disco's.That's the only chord I know of ,except the cord you plug into the amplifier of course.

Tracklist:

A1 Black Woman 5:11
A2 Peanut 9:14
B1 Bialero 4:49
B2 Blind Willy 3:18
B3 Portrait Of Linda In Three Colors, All Black 9:06


Saturday 16 January 2021

Jandek ‎– "Aarhus Sunday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0842) 2020


He gets around a bit these days does Jandek.
Here he produces a drifting, shimmeringly wobbly, set joined by fellow non-musician, Phil Todd, of Ashtray Navigations/Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers non-fame. As Phil has the same lack of conventional musical ability as the star of this evenings performance,the set rarely attains an cohesiveness at all. Like a breeze among the leaves of the Singing Ringing Tree blown by an evil dwarf,plus some atonal fairy dust heavily sprinkled by the 'Nerve Ending Fairy'.(sorry,there wasn't a proper clip on you tube i'm astonished to announce!?)
If the sound of limp appendages randomly stroking the strings of a guitar and the keys of a piano in a light breeze is your idea of fun then this is the 'Pet Sounds' of Outsider music.


Tracklist:

1-1 Your Scarf In Denmark 16:25
1-2 Gift Of Love 11:14
1-3 The Lady Wears The Jewels 13:55
1-4 All The Shadows That Be 13:00
2-1 Little Bit Crazy 10:06
2-2 Where You Want Me 15:19
2-3 I Still Have You 10:19
2-4 Why Not Here 9:40


Friday 15 January 2021

Jandek ‎– "San Francisco Saturday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0843) 2020


Hey guess what arrived in my letterbox?
Its one of the latest from Corwood,with a "Myth of the Blue Turtles" out-take photo on the cover.Is that Houston in the background?
As we're in a bit of a Free Improvisation kick at the moment,who better to join the party that Mr Outsider Improv himself,The Corwood Representative.
The thing about Free Improvisation is that you can bang out an album in an evening,every evening,if you want to. I imagine Jandek has a few thousand unreleased albums in the vault that will be released non-sequentially,immediately,and a long time after his death...which will not be annouced,so he can assume a form of immortality;rather like the guy who was Muslimgauze,who still releases albums long after he went to claim his 72 virgins.
I like this concept.
Like Voyager 1 and 2 ,he will continue to travel through the intergalactic void of musical infinity until some alien species discovers him and he's hailed as the Mozart of that particular planet.
Saying that, however, if this particular disc were sellotaped to the outside of any future intergalactic probe,beware who finds it. If they were anything like Earth Humanoids they'd send an invasion force immediately upon hearing any of the bleak tracks engraved within.But as this race may be technologically superior,they wouldn't be able to play it,because CD's are likely to be long obsolete,and they only have teak effect record players as required by their advanced consumer laws.So we'd be safe anyway.Although taking into account the vast distances involved the Earth would have been long consumed by our local dying Star.So,as there appears to be no Planet B within several thousand light years from Earth ,the Human race will be doomed.
Don't worry,this will take place a billion Earth years after we have destroyed ourselves, and turned the Earth into a lifeless rock,so lets bring back those handy CFC's instead of pissing into the wind with Green Energy initiatives that are too little too goddam late.
At least we have Jandek to enjoy as the ship's going down and the firing squad takes aim at our minds? Traditon has it that one member of the firing squad randomly gets a dummy bullet,so the whole squad isn't sure if they were the innocent party.Which is rather like the avid recycler on the street who recycles to assuage their guilt but drive everywhere and go on foreign holidays twice a year. Despite their wholly inadequate contribution to the planets future well-being,they feel no responsibility because they have put some bottles in the bottle bank.They're just the guy with the dummy bullet.
So,don't expect the two minutes standing ovation that Jandek gets at the end of this concert the next time you refill your recyclable water bottle.You're not trying hard enough.

Tracklist:

1-1 Call Them 10:14
1-2 Beside A Bottle 9:17
1-3 Stung 11:45
1-4 I Hate Myself 10:38
1-5 Curtains Down 11:30
1-6 Alone 13:12
2-1 This Nothing 10:39
2-2 The Dead Morning 10:34
2-3 The Leaving 10:34
2-4 Be Black 9:23
2-5 Be There 8:14
2-6 Stop Hurting Me 6:28
2-7 The Tundra 11:22


46,000 Fibres ‎– "Emanates" (Mongolian Tourist Board ‎– MTB 018) 1995


I was looking through the bargain box in the old Ultima Thule shop in Leicester,looking for some 50p Polish Folk albums and marked down Hungarian Prog back in 95',when I spotted this. Read about it whilst glancing through the Wire in WH Smiths' magazine section.....much better than actually buying it.
Free Improv it said,and so it was,with hints of This Heat and they obviously liked Can,two influences that tempt one to replace the CD back on the rack and ruminate once again whether to buy an Urban Sax album again....something that I still haven't done 25 years later.
I'm always suspicious of groups wearing their influences on their sleeves,it stinks of record collectors making music and other music bores......rather like myself.Look,if i wanted to listen to myself i'd go and knock out an album,so I don't need anyone else to do it for me ,comprend?
I was indulging in a facebook argument about some shit, when one of the participants said he was in a band...yep...guess what he was in 46.000 Fibres. I said 'hey I got a record of yours', "Emanates". He reckoned that this one was the shittest thing they ever did. I didn't disagree, but it's actually quite good;in fact if a group member says one of their works is shit, it usually means,contrarily,that its the best thing they ever did.Always pushing product ain't they? I got a new album out syndrome.....capitalist bastards all.
They're still going today...46.000 Fibres.....apparently.

Tracklist:

1 Psircus 4:13
2 Celebration Of Uncertainty 1:55
3 Spirit Of Dirk 9:44
4 Sink Or Fast 11:29
5 Them-Roc 9:43
6 Electric Spring 1:14
7 The Deliberate Strangler 13:46
8 Laughing Gas For The Unemployed 1:33
9 Shutdown 0:34
10 For Jean-Paul 8:45
11 Psircus Loop 5:24


Wednesday 13 January 2021

Descension ‎– "Live March 1995" (Shock ‎– SX029CD) 1995


The best thing you ever saw at a Sonic Youth concert apart from the Exit door, was Descension,who were basically  Ascension plus two......double bassist Simon H Fell, and saxophonist Charles Wharf. This is where they began to resemble an AMM tribute act; but an AMM tribute act who got to support Sonic Youth on tour once back in '96. Those indie kids didn't know what hit 'em.This makes Sonic Youth sound more like a slightly out of tune Nirvana rather than the Avant-Garde legends they think they are.
Descension are slightly less pleasing than cousin Ascension is, mainly because it sounds too much like Free Jazz compared to its sax-less family member....but a rather marvellous racket nevertheless.
 
Tracklist:

1 Walthamstow - March 10, 1995 48:19

Leeds - March 3, 1995
2 Set 2, Part 1 17:54
3 Set 2, Part 2 12:20


Ascension ‎– 'Broadcast' (Shock ‎– SX030CD) 1996



Two more catchy foot-tappers from Tony and Stefan.
I can see a day when there will be a dance craze based around this kind of music,all socially distanced of course,but by then the remanants of the Human experiment will have become used to new virus's and immune to 99.9% of them. All the useless appendages of the unhealthy, fat, and decrepit have been cleansed from the planet;which also included the ill-educated;mainly because there is now (I speak in the future present tense,rather like Footballers speak in the past/present tense)....there is now enough space to actually learn something that expands the mind rather than shit to get you a shit job. The labour force is fully automated, with strict controls on Artificial Intelligence,profits are shared amongst the citizens so the slimmed down populous of the world can indulge themselves in more pleasural persuits....something Nietzche was very keen on I gather? Embrace the Virus as our next stage in evolution.Granny,Grandad and Fatboy died so you could enjoy it.
Now get down that Free Music Disco and dance to an evening of Ascension, AMM, Harry Pussy,Derek BaileyFushitsusha,Nihilist Spasm Band and lashings of Coltrance,Shepp,Coleman,and Sanders and many many more....not available in shops.....especially as there won't be any.Also you won't have money to spend in them even if there were shops.It's all gonna be FREEEEEEEEEE....just like Die or DIY? is.



Tuesday 12 January 2021

Ascension ‎– "Five Titles" (Shock ‎– SX026CD) 1994



 CD's!...Shit ain't dey? High time this was released on wacky coloured vinyl innit?
Five titles of cheesegrater on teeth guitar abuse that Keiji Haino and Derek Bailey would have been proud of,by that bloke from Skullflower with the polish name and Tony Irving who ,evidently,hasn't got a Polish name at all.

"Jonny Zchivago's Disco Dystopia 31 and 32": December 11th and January the 8th Edition 2020/2021


Forgot to listen avidly to my festive radio shows did you?...well now there's no excuse,they're here like Jack Torrence smashing down your door with a fire axe.....HEEEEEERRRRREEEEESSSS JOOOOOONNNNNNNNYYYYYY!

Disco Dystopia Playlist : January Show 2021

BORIS JOHNSON IS A FUCKING CULT!:

LITTLE CINDY– “Happy Birthday Jesus”
KUNT AND THE GANG– The 12 Days Of Christmas”
CHURCH UNIVERSAL – “Invocation For The Destruction Of Rock Music”
DAVID KORESH – “Book Of Daniel”
LIL' MARKIE – “Story Of An Alcoholic Father”
JAN CROUCH – “No More Tears”
HEATHER NOEL – “Santa Came On A Nuclear Missile”
THROUGH JEWISH EYES– “I'm Proud To Be A Jew”
CHRISTINE WYRTZEN – “Obedience”
THE CHRISTOPHERS – “The Marriage Union (For Teenagers)”
LITTLE MARCY – “Am I In Heaven?”
THE KUNTS– “Boris Johnson Is A Fucking Kunt”

STREAM it HERE!

DOWNLOAD it HERE!

Zchivago’s Disco Dystopia (11/12/20) w/DIE or D.I.Y.?:

Disco Dystopia Playlist : December 11th Show 2020

An Hour With My Analyst:

1. THE MAGIC BAND– Frownland (Take 1)
2. PREGGY PEGGY AND THE LAZY BABYMAKERS– I Can't Relate
3. BILL ORCUTT – Pocket Underground
4. ASBESTOS ROCKPYLE – Insanity
5. JACK RUBY – Bored Stiff
6. THE HI SHERIFFS OF BLUE – Blue Door/Black Door
7. FIVE GO DOWN TO THE SEA – The Woodcutters Song
8. GUTURA – Des Vies Encastrée Fue Au Sol
9. THE DEAD C – Sky
10. WALKING SEEDS – Huge Living Creature
11. SHADOW RING – Mustard Hooves
12. HARRY PUSSY – Nazi USA
13. DNA – You and You
14. THE RED CRAYOLA – Hurricane Fighter Plane
15. CRASH ACTION WINNERS – Hurricane Fighter Plane
16. DANNY AND THE DRESSMAKERS – Edward Exposes Her Mammary Glands
17. DEREK BAILEY & SHOJA HANO – Angler
18. SUN CITY GIRLS – Let's Just Lounge
19. PERE UBU – Rhapsody In Pink
20. THE MAGIC BAND – Frownland (Take 3)

Background Music : JONATHAN BRILEY - “Blackfields”

or

Monday 11 January 2021

Ascension ‎– "Live / Dead" (Dirter Promotions ‎– DPROMLP31) 1993


Ran out of Pussy...again....so if you thought Harry Pussy was the only band in 1993 to sound like that,other than any group with Derek Bailey or Keiji Haino in,you is wrong.Using That oft-used phrase...'Meanwhile,In The UK', there was Ascension, featuring that bloke Stefan Jaworzyn from Skullflower,who, made a fairly similar uncompromising racket with Guitars and Drums.Think Pharoah Sanders but with electric guitars,as captured in a pub in Camden.Normally, this 'orrible noise would empty any public house of its public;but knowing 'The Monarch' this would have increased the audience to a barely legal 30,.... at best.
Shut a bunch of Chimp's into a room full of instruments and you'd get a similar result.....which is the intention I suppose? Rediscovering your inner primative,a musical re-birthing,a primal scream from within your life-force.....and No Bobby Gillespie needed.

Tracklist:

Live The Monarch, Camden 30.3.93 (First Live Show)
L1 1.
L2 2.
L3 3.

Dead
D Untitled Piece 11.5.93


Sunday 10 January 2021

Pussy Galore ‎– "1 Yr Live" (Shove Records ‎– SHOV 6) 1986



Any album with titles such as "You Look Like a Jew,Die Bitch,Kill Yorself,Just Wanna Die,Cunt Tease and Asshole has to be good right?
Well it is,in all its shit-fi majesty.It's a pity they went in a real studio after this,and a bigger shame that they seem to be Rolling Stones worshipers!?
As an impressionable 20 year old I thought all the kids in America were nihilistic street trash like Pussy Galore seemed to be.....but,no doubt they were art graduates from nice suburban homes,like the CBGB's lot,but the truth isn't something that's at all important in real rock'n'roll is it?
Turned out most American kids looked like the cleanest member of Nirvana when I eventually went there....shocking!
In 1985-7 the USA was the only place you could hear music like this, the rest of the music world had,allegedly, 'moved on'?! And things got worse in 1988 with that Eeediot Dancing on mdma cult that is still with us today!? Don't worry about Vaccines with nano-bots in them,the secret government had us controlled thirty years ago with the "Dance" craze which killed across the board subversion dead in its tracks...but so-what? The fuckers can have it all....doesn't affect me,or you I wager? I'm happy in my miserable bubble......as long as i don't hear any fucking 'Dance' music!......Having said that I could certainly dance ecstatically to "Spin Out" any day of the week.The sound of women shouting to the max always makes me cry too......Hey!Didn't Ultravox mark 2 have an awful single in the charts called "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" around the same time?....well that was me in a 'Spin Out' moment as described by Midge Ure.....didn't think he was watching me at that Rich Kids gig,but he must have been......"Ghosts of Princes in Towers (thats me with the curvy hips and white jeans at 2:06)" and five pints of cider were the catalysts responsible.....luckily no actual footage exists.


Side one:

1. "HC Rebellion" (instrumental version) 1:46
2. "Spin Out" 1:30
3. "Fuck You, Man" 2:00
4. "Constant Pain" 0:41
5. "Get Out" 2:11
6. "Teen Pussy Power" 2:21
7. "You Look Like a Jew" 1:59
8. "Kill Yourself" 2:41
9. "Spit 'n' Shit" 6:30
10. "Die Bitch" 2:06
11. "Alright" 2:10
12. "Get Off of My Cloud" 1:56
13. "HC Rebellion" 3:36

Side two:

1. "Really Suck" 2:34
2. "Pretty Fuck Look" 1:19
3. "New Breed" 1:55
4. "European Son" 4:56
5. "Cunt Tease" 1:45
6. "[untitled]" 5:58
7. "Get Out" 2:09
8. "Asshole" 2:18
9. "Just Wanna Die" 1:16
10. "Constant Pain" 2:18
11. "No Count" Wagner 4:57


Saturday 9 January 2021

Action Pussy ‎– "Hi!" (Union Pole ‎– UP10) 1994



Need some pussy action?......if yes, you've come to the very wrong place. The best I can offer is a nude selfie of myself  tucking my crown jewels between my rippling thighs, pretending to be a pretty young bearded lady,.....no tits i'm afraid, just impressively pulsating pectoral muscles. The only other thing I can offer is some cassettes by bands with 'Pussy' in their title. Harry Pussy was the previous post,so the second of which is by "Action Pussy',on an C46 called "Hi".....like the Daniel Johnston album that Cobain liked a lot, primarily to show how fooookin' cooool he was.
This Pussy contains two sides of largely improvised avant-rock/pop, with a Syd Barratt cover included....so that means that they're foooookin' coooool too. Couldn't be arsed to edit it into tracks,but it works well as two side long pieces.Warning, It has some interesting lurches in volume that can cause the listener to reach hastily for the volume knob.
Talking about 'Knobs',don't ask me for that selfie,I know you'd all like to rest your troubled heads on my chest cradled in my manly arms but......I was J-O-K-I-N-G!....CAPICHE!?

PS... if you were thinking of conspiring with your fellow tweet-washed colleagues and taking a gun to the capitol bulding on January the 20th...DON'T!...and kindly refrain from darkening this blog with your right wing Q-Anon stupidity ever again.
Personally I'd welcome a double dose of microchips in my vaccine rather than be ruled by these god fearin' Idiots and their pathetic Coup d'Etat! All 'revolutions',and I'm being generous in using that word,end in tears,without exception.Including the Industrial Revolution I may add.
Careful what you wish for,'cus you just might get it.

Tracklist:

A Hi! Side A (18:56)
B Hi! Side B (21:39)


Friday 8 January 2021

Harry Pussy ‎– "Vigilance!" (Chocolate Monk ‎– choc.35) 1993


For some people, only clearing a room with your godawful racket just isn't good enough, Harry Pussy, a name so terrible it's inspired, aren't satisified until they've cleared at least a small building,maybe even a modest sized village? 
Husband and wife duo of Bill Orcutt (Him) and Adris Hoyos (Her) did to the guitar and drums what sixties free jazzers did to the Saxophone,to make a torturous noise.The guitar screaming for its life and the drums being soundly clubbed to death with no apparent plan.
It's never a good Idea d to be in a band,or even work with, one's spouse.On one hand you end up with something like Wings, or on the other end up hating each other and divorcing,like Moore and Gordon of Middle-Aged Youth.......I'm surprised Thurston Moore doesn't make a guest appearence on this tape,as he always hangs around bands with good write-ups that he ain't in like a bad smell......maybe he did later in the Pussy's career.
Of course 'Him' and 'Her' divorced later,as marriage has the same effect on music and it does on a sex life....it kills the magick and you split up.
This C120 cassette has its eccenticities,which i thought was a tape fault,but apparently not? The sound keeps dropping out,and on some occasions music from another part of the session is inserted momentarily. I'm informed that this was a deliberate act inspired by the Films of Jean Luc Godard????? However, Bill adds: “It was also a useful way to pad out a short recording to fill a 2 hour tape, since we could reuse the snippets......I'm prone to accept the latter explaination personally.The guy from from Chocolate Monk,as quoted in the psuedo-intellectuals bible, Wire magazine, said: "...I guess the recording mechanism was a bit goofed up so a gap keeps appearing".
Its a pity Harry Pussy didn't do a collaboration with Jandek?At least, post split and divorce, Adris could have backed up the ginger one at one of the Corwood Rep's live appearences? Something for the near future I suggest?
Er...no....i'm not gonna mention the attempted coup d'etat in the USA yesterday by what looked remarkably like Jamiroquai with a degenerative brain condition due to their mom's ingesting some dodgy redneck pills during pregnancy.......listen to this instead, its far more coherent and relaxing than a bunch of terminally stupid conspiracy theorists with beards. 


Tracklist:

A Untitled (50:26)
B Untitled (50:28)


Monday 4 January 2021

La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela - "The Theatre Of Eternal Music ‎– Dream House 78'17" ( Shandar ‎– 83 510) 1974


 You want more don't you?
Here we have the mongolian style drone singing of the La Monte Young husband and wife team,with John Hassell joining in the fun on what sounds uncannily like a Kazoo?But i'm reliably informed that it was a trumpet?.....yeah right? I'm not as stupid as I sound,it's a Kazoo!
So technology existed in 1974 that could cram 80 minutes of drone on two sides of one vinyl 12 incher,which makes it all sound even shitter quality,and is rather crackly;which adds to its charm and not only gets rid of the normals from your personal space, but the audiophiles too. Its a win/win situation.
Again we have instructions on how to play your record....thanks 'La':

"For the maximum fidelity on Side B, reduce the treble controls on your pre-amplifier to minimum. Since the sine waves have no harmonic content, and all are below 202.5 Hertz, this will reduce the surface noise which is normal on most discs. Note: Be sure to keep the treble controls normal on Side A."

I did all that and it still sounds shit,but being a fan of Shit-fi I mind not.
So now you know what you've been doing previously is WRONG!...which is not too much of a pity because the Audiophiles have now left the room.....FOR GOOD!
Now, if you haven't been patronized enough here's an explanation, from 'La' to you:

"Side A. 13 I 73 5:35 - 6:14:03 PM NYC is a sub-section of Map Of 49's Dream The Two Systems Of Eleven Sets Of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery, begun in 1966 as a section of the even longer work: The Tortoise, His Dreams And Journeys which was begun in 1964 with The Theatre Of Eternal Music. Performed 17 January 1973 at La Monte Young's private studio."

"Side B. Drift Study 14 VII 73 9:27:27 - 10:06:41 PM NYC Three sine waves. Frequencies and voltages of the sine waves determined and tuned by La Monte Young using oscillators custom designed by Rober Adler to generate specific frequencies and voltages of great stability. Performed 14 July 1973 at La Monte Young's private studio."

Art-Club Rule number one....NEVER EXPLAIN YOUR WORK!
Art-Club Rule number two....NEVER EXPLAIN YOUR WORK!!

Tracklist:

A 13 I 73 5:35-6:14:03 PM NYC 39:03
B Drift Study 14 VII 73 9:27:27-10:06:41 PM NYC 39:14


Sunday 3 January 2021

La Monte Young / Marian Zazeela ‎– "31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM / 23 VIII 64 2:50:45 - 3:11 AM The Volga Delta" (Edition X ‎– 1079) 1969


 Another record you wouldn't wanna ask for in a record store due to its unmemorisable title and its wilful obscurity. The heads of a few vinyl grazing punters turn disapprovingly in your general direction, the sales assistant looks almost angry with a sneer of distaste on his lips (yes, they are all male).
He,with a barely consealed ounce of pure unadulterated glee utters a monosylabic"What?",and you have to say it again, coinciding with an audible titter from the chubby nerd in the Jazz Section.
"Ahhhhhh, you mean...."31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM / 23 VIII 64 2:50:45 - 3:11 AM The Volga Delta",says the record man,who had obviously been learning all these difficult album titles my heart,for just these occasions. 
"Yes thats it", one says, to be replied with a succinct, "Why didn't you just say "The Black Album?" ,he retorted with a smirk,then added a terse "No....Its Sold out.....in 1969".
I dunno why Music attracts the biggest bunch of twats out of all the art forms,but it does. 
Although Record Shops are nowhere near as bad as Music gear stores,which are full of angry failed pop stars,and they want you to know that they are better at music than you,and they know more about music gear than you,and you're gonna wait until they are ready to scoff and sneer at your requests.
Invariably there will be one of them playing something complex on a keyboard while you stand there watching.
"Be with you in a minute",they would interject.
After the completion of Rick Wakeman's entire "Six Wives Of Henry The Eighth",it's your turn.
"Nah you don't want that, its a piece of shit",they advise.
"I know its a piece of shit that's why I want it"......they wouldn't understand.
Luckily the Internet has done for these fuckers...I may never have to meet a musician again, Hurrah!

So......, I digressed somewhat......as I forgot to include La Monte Young's Missus,Marian Zazeela, in my females in electronics/minimalism section some months ago;Here's her collaboration with  Hubby, La Monte.Resonant Tuvan style vocals from our favourite minimalist spouces,mixed with bowed gongs,electronic drones, and more room emptying harmonics.
Here's a description from the sleeve info to further confuse you all:

Side A: This work was recorded at the date and time indicated in the title, at Galerie Heiner Friedrich, München 31 VII 69 10:26-10:49 PM - is a section of the longer work: Map Of 49's Dream The Two Systems Of Eleven Sets Of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery. Play this side at 33 1/3 rpm only.

Side B: We recorded this gong duet in our studio in New York City on the date and time indicated in the title. It is a section of a larger work: Studies In The Bowed Disc begun in September 1968. To listen to the live performance, playback at 33 1/3 rpm. However, this side may be played back at any slower constant speed down to 8 1/3 rpm, i.e., 16 2/3 rpm which is available on some turntables.

My record player only has 45 and 33rpm....!...so i can't add the 16RPM version of side B.....sorry.
Those crazy avant garde muso's huh?


Tracklist:

A 31 VII 69 10:26 - 10:49 PM 23:00
B 23 VIII 64 2:50:45 - 3:11 AM The Volga Delta 20:15


Friday 1 January 2021

Rhys Chatham & His Guitar Trio All-Stars ‎– "Guitar Trio Is My Life!" (Radium ‎– TOE-CD-813) 2008


 As Branca apparently got his inspiration from C.C.Hennix and other minimalist also-rans,let's find out who he really nicked stuff from;namely  Rhys Chatham.
For New Years Day here's ten rendition's of Chatham's self-defining classic "Guitar Trio", as played on the 30th anniversary tour of the original recording in 2007.
Fusing the one note drones and harmonics of Tony Conrad and, with the minimal one chord rock of Punk,this 'composition'....its called a composition if is its done by a music graduate,....is as if a three second morsel of "Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement" by that long-haired group from Queens, was looped for an indetermined number of minutes.One of the greatest serious Rock'n'Roll compositions of allllll time.
So, of course it should be played over and over again to further strengthen the concept to a level previously unheard. The Complete Funhouse Sessions by the Stooges did my head in to the point that I may never want to listen to "Funhouse" ever again!;but this I never get tired of.....I've even played a version of it it with my groop (Scouts Of Uzbekistan).If you don't wanna go down into the Guitar Trio Basment then you may as well stop breathing!It's as fundamental as that.......but don't forget "BORIS JOHNSON IS A FUCKING CUNT!"

Tracklist:

1-1 Guitar Trio Pt. 1, Brooklyn 19:27
1-2 Guitar Trio Pt. 2, Chicago 23:34
1-3 Guitar Trio Pt. 1, Buffalo 21:15
2-1 Guitar Trio Pt. 2, Toronto 19:20
2-2 Guitar Trio Pt. 1, Montreal 22:24
2-3 Guitar Trio Pt. 2, Cleveland 16:35
2-4 Guitar Trio Pt. 1, Minneapolis (Excerpt) 6:45
3-1 Guitar Trio Pt. 2, Milwaukee 19:04
3-2 Guitar Trio Pt. 1, Chicago 30:23
3-3 Guitar Trio Pt. 2, Brooklyn 16:27