Nadja – "When I See The Sun Always Shines On TV" (The End Records – TE134) 2009

As it says on the sticker on the front......"Toronto ambient/shoegaze/drone duo NADJA illustrate their diverse roots by covering some of their favorite artists: My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, A-ha, The Swans, Codeine, Slayer, Elliot Smith and Kids In The Hall. This album contains eight carefully-selected covers re-imagined through NADJA's unique sonic blueprint." 

Oh How they try....I love this sentence from the promo sticker..."carefully-selected covers re-imagined".Right. 

When a musician has lost their Mojo,and are scrambling for ideas,they either steal them from lesser mortals and claim them as products of their undoubted genius, or they stoop to the 'Covers Album' reset mode and claim they are paying a humble tribute to the artists who inspired them in their formative years. David Bowie is one of the few artists who have done both in their lauded career,always being seen around where the action is before releasing another album in the series before the person he stole from,and even having them in the band,which made it easier.He also made "Pin Ups",his covers album,when he was devoid of ideas, and use his star power to cajole any gullible chums to nick the odd riff off;with no credit of course.

They've all done it those genius's, even the magnificent Duran Duran,with their sickeningly disingenuous "Thank You". Voted the worst album of all time by the equally sickening "Q" magazine,which included the famously cloth-eared recording of "911 is a joke" as made by  millionaire white guys making a joke out of the rap classic about systemic racism.Don't you just love 'em.....I do and I ain't joking.

Last years bogie man Nick Cave ,when failing to find a way to not sound like every solo album he's ever made, tried to show us ignorants his impeccable taste by predictably recording tastefully selected forgotten country classics and crooning blues dirges;but also joining Duran Duran in fucking over a Velvet Underground number......that at least deserves some respect......not a lot....but some?

Elvis Costello did a drearily dreadful album of Country classics did he not? Another burk in the impeccable good taste club.

An accusation  we can not repeat about Metallica whose consummately terrible taste, is responsible for wiping their arses on classics from Killing Joke, Motorhead and Black Sabbath? No clever reconstrustions of  non-rock tunes done with a splash of humour like The Melvins' borderline 'good' "Everybody Loves Sausages" from 2013, when Buzz must have hit a creative wall.Notable high spots were a Throbbing Gristle Cover which is not actually a cover but an "interpretation", and a not to be missed version of 1st album Jam's "Art School",where the boys show off their finely honed English 'Oi' accents......I don't remember Dick Van Dyke being in The Jam,but apparently he was? I suppose I should name a cover versions collection that doesn't suck balls in any way whatsoever hadn't I,or you might think me a right cynical ol'Bastard twat Cunt?......The answer is not a musical version of 42, even though it certainly is.....i'm gonna have to say that "For Ladies Only" by the beyond great Killdozer is indeed the best covers album ever made.....go on,change my mind!.

It's all just a bit of fun innit,we all wanna make a covers album don't we?......here's one for the boys.....what would you put on your covers album? 12 tracks limit, answers on a postcard,entries arrive no later than the moment Putin's successor activates the Nuclear codes.

Although I could write about cover albums by narcissists 'til the cows come home, we are being distracted from the subject of this post,about the Covers album by Canadian Dreamsludge duo Nadja.

A duo whose sub-genre definition falls between many stools,but on this occasion, maybe just Shoegaze is appropriate,and cleansing in its simplicity.Especially as it opens with a crawling "My Bloody Valentine" cover dowsed in treacle played at 16rpm (why do these modern record players no longer have 16 or 78 as an option?).In fact if there is one criticism, it's that it's not slow enough.

Underrated Norwegian Pop Trio, A-Ha, get dragged through the sludge to great effect, as,predictably,does Swans.Maybe a Swans cover played in the style of The Wedding Present would have been a better idea methinks.....we know very well they're influenced by Michael Gira's slothful combo,and we know what they sound like too.

I had to look up Elliot Smith(track 6)......a dead bloke,who plays fragile minimal acoustic numbers. I suppose it makes a change from Syd Barratt?.......although one would have loved to hear a Dreamsludge version of "Dark Globe" one must admit.

Alas, as with all these cover albums, one,as the listener, is rapidly titillated at what these crazy katz are gonna do with your favourite songs,that it very quickly fizzles out then fades away,and we return to the original versions with a new vigor,'cus cover version are crap aren't they?

So as 'pop' music becomes the new Classical,and we all run out of tunes and new ideas, and music returns to the art of Interpretation only, as it has been in the Classical music world for the last two hundred or so years. No-one can berate the ol' Ludwig Van for having no new material anymore, except via those in the medium community of rip-off merchants and exploiters,who regularly channel new Beethoven pieces from the spirit world......even though some Pop Stars,musicians and their like, evidently think that they ARE Beethoven reborn.

Still waiting for that 10th Symphony Lud.......if possible an Ambient Doom version please Vielen Danke in advance.

Tracklist:

1. Only Shallow 6:35
2. Pea 4:09
3. No Cure For The Lonely 6:56
4. Dead Skin Mask 10:06
5. The Sun Always Shines On TV 6:01
6. Needle In The Hay 4:45
7. Long Dark Twenties 6:35
8. Faith 12:47

DOWNLOAD the sun shines out of their arses on TV HERE!

Nadja – "Radiance Of Shadows" - (Alien8 Recordings – ALIENCD72) 2007

One day we will look back at the CD era with fond affection for the times we selected a CD from the endless racks in HMV or Virgin megastores ,endured the minuscule text,and proceeded to listen to an hour and twenty minutes of whomsoever the lucky band were,but pressing stop on the remote at around the  40 minutes mark whilst stifling yawns .....ironically, the length of two sides of a vinyl LP. A natural ending point for any album in the modern age of pop.

There was a compulsion for artists raised in the Vinyl era to put as much material as possible on this new extended format,even if it was the shite usually reserved for the 'Bonus Disc' of  an anniversary remaster.

So what we have here is an artist determined to fill up every nano-second of memory space provided by the aforementioned Digital Compact Disc format,rather than just satisfying the ever shortening Human attention span. Mine is currently about twenty minutes max of anything.A limit I have always adhered to in the live arena. Twenty minutes, then its off to the bar.

First wave Ambient Doom originators Nadja, are very typical of the CD age .Releasing a dumpster full of very similar sounding drone metal versions of wonky airport noises that very rarely clock in at less than twenty minutes a track,like a fuzzy Tangerine Dream fed through a cheap Flanger.

One of  those unfortunate groups who sadly fall between several stools of the 'Metal' category,so frequently get labeled as any one of the following: Doom Metal.,Ambient Metal,(my personal favourite) Dreamsludge (?), ambient-doom, and shoegaze-metal.

Sounding more like My Bloody Valentine rather than Sunn O))) , the Metal label is becoming a more and more tenuous a description for any experimental Rock band,but if it contains any hint of a 'Heavy' riff it's 'Metal',filtered through a barrage of pro-nouns ,prefix's and suffix's.

Topical Oppenheimer references aside, It has it's quiet moments,so Ambient Doom is arguably the most accurate sub-genre of the available choices? Not a large section in your resurgent vinyl store, but I'm sure it exists somewhere?

Am I getting too mainstream?

Tracklist:

1 Now I Am Become Death, The Destroyer Of Worlds (23:26)
2 I Have Tasted The Fire Inside Your Mouth (27:26)
3 Radiance Of Shadows (28:59)

DOWNLOAD and become not death metal but a destroyer of sub-genres HERE!

Sound Ceremony – "Sound Ceremony" (Celestial Sound Production – RWG2) 1979

Like 100% of this end of the century post millennium madness crop of 'Outsider' musicians,also known as,rather less pretentiously, as Crap musicians;but also Increasingly, as Crap Musicians who now think they are newly discovered genius's.They mistakenly,as do a lot of Outsider fans also,think that this upsurge in interest means there is some artistic content within this wildly amusing rubbish. Those types who don't know the difference between Laughing WITH you,and Laughing AT you!

I mean just look at this guy! As it's his own self-release,probably on a self-release from the Funny Farm too,as in...He escaped;but he must have chosen these cover shots himself, thinking that he looks good? It's that fashionable 'I'm On Heavy Medication chic' again.The front cover shot is more in the realm of a lost, undiscovered third world psych album from the Muslim half of Kashmir in 1992 rather than a UK post-punk classic.

This, his second record (1st one here!) is that truly brain-damaged winner that we've all trawled through unsorted vinyl dumps to find.The record surely fits somewhere into the 'right place wrong time' category in the UK punk explosion of the day, but it also looks back to the mid-sixties rock that Ron cut his rotting teeth on and ahead to some sort of maniac future form of entertainment that perhaps had not been invented yet.....now it has,namely Outsider Rock/Punk. Ganderton's mildly "out of it" stream of consciousness lyrics show a clear lack of self-censorship or political correctness, but that's really one of the albums strongest assets. He has created this character for himself as a huge rock star and sex symbol, and who are we to deny his claims,apart from the fact that he is clearly neither? The band chugs along amiably as Ganderton covers such terrain as his beating heart (it's made of rock), his distaste for education (he'd prefer to teach a lesson in bed,he obviously wasn't getting any) and his electric brain (which happens to be insane). If you've never heard a singer do a count-off all the way up to seventeen, then now is your big chance! Features what is perhaps the greatest anti-cigarette song of all time,or wot? 

He comes across as a bit of a dysfunctional,but charming arsehole,if that's possible?.....on meds....Who says there's no place for drugs in music? 

When you have people like Wrong Ron and his unsound ceremony to do it for you,there certainly is.Learning from others mistakes is certainly safer than making them yourself.....unless you're really stupid,like most Pop car crashes are and were.

Ron is now the celebrity that he craved to be,and can be seen hanging around record shops in Vancouver waiting to be recognized, marker pen at the ready and a armful of his re-released work from 1978-81. He deserves to make a living,unlike most other Rock Stars.Hell! I even bought one!

Tracklist:

1 Rock Work
2 Virgins Do
3 School
4 Rock Heart
5 Sorry
6 Our Song
7 Dance
8 Bet On Life To Win
9 Tobacco Man
10 Electric Brain
11 Motor
12 Sound After Death
13 Invitation To The Bizarre

DOWNLOAD and get a lesson,hopefully not in bed,from Ron HERE!

Ron Warren Ganderton / Sound Ceremony – "Guitar Star" (Celestial Sound Production – RWG 1001) 1978

Praised by private-press hunters, esoteric appreciators and “out of time” searchers alike.Canadian and legend in his own extended lunchtime,Ron Ganderton,and his output hold echoes of monotone  proto-punks such as Jonathan Richman and Lou Reed,but without the good looks(*?), or the charisma,...or even the questionable talent of those aforementioned fellow travelers....*check out that boatrace# girls!? 

Similarities to outsider cult acts such as the extremely nutty but clued up Armand Schaubroeck and the less nutty but completely clueless Kenneth Higney,are as inescapable as they are wrong.....Ron.

Ron was fortunate enough to have the Subway Sect's drummer Bob Ward, and later, Martin Chambers of the excellent Vacants,and the later,but lesser combo, The Pretenders; to back his Velvets out-take tunes and keep him in roughly four four time.....which is a talent very few outsider Rockers seem to embrace.Ah bless him, he's trying his best,but he's missed the wave again....several times by the look of him.

The usual tactics are involved in the new wave cred myth building stakes,as the punk before punk hands shoot up in the room, claiming that this record was made in 1974,so Ron Warren Ganderton must have invented Punk,right?...along with Death(the group), The Modern Lovers,Stooges, and many other proto-punk pretenders.The "I was a Mod before you was a Mod" syndrome. Ron was never a Mod,and he's obviously tried to jump on any bandwagon that was going before the wheels fall off; but Ron's Wheels fell off long ago by the sound of it,and he also fell off the noo wave bandwagon too.Especially when you hear his second, and truly dysfunctional outsider classic album,simply called, just, "Sound Ceremony".

Maybe Lou reed ripped him off and we've all got it so very wrong.....Ron?.....somehow I doubt it!

NB;

# Boatrace is cockney for Face

&

Get the even nuttier second album HERE!

Tracklist:

A1 Guitar Star
A2 Letter To Moma
A3 Concrete Rodeo
A4 Miss Vickey
A5 Come The Change
A6 Feelings
A7 Love
B1 Blues Miss Your Mind
B2 Fool
B3 Lonely Road
B4 Booze, Drugs And Sound
B5 The Lady And Me
B6 The Devil
B7 I'll Go To Hell For Your Love My Lady

DOWNLOAD wrong ron ganderton HERE!

Tonto's Expanding Head Band ‎– "Zero Time" (Embryo Records ‎– SD 732) 1971

Tonto is the name of the enormous twenty foot by eight foot synthesizer invented by Malcolm Cecil (Tonto's Expanding Head Band founder). T.O.N.T.O. stands for The Original and New Timbral Orchestra due to its amazingly expansive symphonic sound.
I am led to understand that the traffickers of this pre-synth era kraftwerk trumping duo, are ....as they say these days...'Of Colour';which in this epoch of 'taking the Knee' for Black Lives Matter, and using the knee to asphixiate an offender,means that Black culture invented Electronic music,and all other electronic albums must be thrown into the murky waters of Bristol docks.
Indeed, its now ok to press the History Eraser button and forget all the naughty men who had the prescence of mind to behave in the accepted ways of their time.So we can now repeat their mistakes.
So,yeah,Tonto's Expanding Head Band invented synth Pop,and electronic music in general,so Depeche Mode never existed,so we are doomed to repeat their many mistakes all over again.
I must also apologize for the clumsy use of the adverb 'Traffickers' in reference to the purveyors(clever use of synonyms there?) of this new form of music;it alludes to drug use, and I'm only using it because its a reference to 'People of Colour',and apparently I'm not of colour.....so shame on me,so i will take the knee every day for a fortnight to make it all better again.
Sure 'Black Lives Matter', no-one said they didn't to my knowledge, but this 'movement',slash fashion cult, is causing more of a rift rather than healing it.Whitey is gonna find it even more awkward to relate to their black chums,for double fear that they are gonna say something unacceptable.So what we end up with is more incentive to keep to your own,and divisions increase.
Don't have a go at me because of your slave trade guilt Honky!!!I'm doing my bit by erasing electronic music history from before and up to Tonto's Expanding Head Band,d'you understand Kemosabe?
Fucking imperialist slave trading White Bastards!Its a modern  version of the concept of 'Original Sin',but just for Whites.Born with 'racist' tatooed on their foreheads.
I'm thinking of sueing all scandinavian countries for what those Vikings did to my ancestors. If there's a few quid to be made we'll find any ol' excuse to be offended.
Micro-agressions like, "ooo aren't you articulate' are indeed unwitting racism by stealth,just as the word 'You' is abused when referring to past injustices done by the 'White Man' to 'The Black Man'.'You',as in 'Me'.....i'm not aware of owning slaves,or not employing someone because of their skin colour.This is unhelpful to the BLM cause is it not?.....cue the Honky bastard who accused me of racism because I don't like Hip Hop,Soul or Reggae......hot off the press, we're all racists,it's in the DNA,it just depends how you manage your inate tribalism problem.Sort it out, or don't,its a subjective problem,and legislation won't alter anything,except build even more resentment.Nothing's gonna change!
Answer this profound problem, with honesty please, to test your racism levels....You're in a boat,There's a white family, a Black Family,an Asian Family etc, bobbing about in the ocean and you've only got room for one...which do you choose to save and why?

Oh yeah...if you're wondering...NO, Tonto's expanding Headband did NOT invent electronic music!!!?...jeeeez!

"We're all Coloured,otherwise you wouldn't be able to see anyone" (Don Van Vliet,1972)

Tracklist:

1 Cybernaut 4:30
2 Jetsex 4:14
3 Timewhys 4:57
4 Aurora 6:48
5 Riversong 8:00
6 Tama 5:23

DOWNLOAD and expand your head kemosabe HERE!

Four Horsemen ‎– "Canadada" (Griffin House ‎– IPS 1004) 1974

What is it that when you see an unkempt beard with long hair wearing hippie clothing doing performance poetry, one automatically thinks...'Smartarse'!?
Here we have four Hippie Smartarse's enthusiastically showing us how smart they are.
This includes Steve McCaffery, who went on to do some less showy-offy sound poetry that bordered on minimalism.
This sounds like a bunch of university graduates who thought they were the only persons on the planet to have discovered Hugo Ball's Dada manifesto......hence the Cana-dada title.
Just to rub it in there is a 'dedication to the memory of....' printed on the sleeve.
This is a bad case of Borderline Performance Art Disorder, or B.P.A.D.,as a music Psychologist would abbreviate it.Its up there with 'Contemporary Expressive Dance Syndrome' (C.E.D.S), as the ultimate cringe. After a few years, performance art got its act together and dumped the well-read hippies,and smartened up their approach,dumping the really annoying show-off stuff, and making it into something less about themselves and more about the art......nah!They still exist,but there's certainly less of them.
At least The Four Horsemen were trying something different,and rejected guitars and drums.It was just the approach to it that needed honing somewhat.Like a spot of de-hippification for starters.


Tracklist:

A1 From Beast
A2 Matthew's Line
A3 Allegro 108
A4 Seasons
B1 Coffee Break
B2 Theme
B3 Monotony
B4 Michael Drayton
B5 In The Middle Of A Blue Balloon

DOWNLOAD dada data from canadada HERE!

Steve McCaffery ‎– "Wot We Wukkers Want/ One Step To The Next" (Underwhich Audiographic Series ‎– No. 2) 1979

Steve translates the basic principles of Marxism into the dialect of the west riding of South Yorkshire, from whence he came originally.
I would love to have seen the reaction of the kind of Yorkshireman he's parodying in "Wot We Wukkers Want" when confronted by his standard Abstract Sound Poetry. Performing this stuff in one of those northern workers club,he would have been lucky to escape with his life. Rather like the Sex Pistols playing in those redneck towns on that ill-fated US Tour.
Of course most of Urban Yorkshire used to be reliable socialists,so the translation of Das Kapital wouldn't have been too controversial.It could in fact be seen as a comedy turn. Yorksire was also, strangely enough,the motherland of Industrial music, with Cabaret Voltaire,and Clock DVA in Sheffield, and Throbbing Gristle coming from Hull. The 'Holy City' of Leeds was a Goth Hotspot with The Sisters Of Mercy and The March Violets, not to mention commie agit-poppers Gang Of Four.
But, despite the general population of 'Gods Own Country', as they call it, having the reputation of racially intolerant simple folk, it was a hotbed of left-field creativity,where men first wore make-up to go out;this included the Steel-workers too.
Of course, all this has gone now, including the Steelworks, and is a microcosm of little-englander Brexit and Tory voting nationalists. They could do with listening to "Wot We Wukkers Want", because I don't think they know anymore!


Tracklist:

Wot We Wukkers Want
A1 Wot We Wukkers Want
A2 Midnight Peace
A3 A Hundred And One Zero S One Ng

One Step To The Next
B1 One Step To The Next
Performer
B2 Emes
DOWNLOAD whenever you workers want HERE!

Steve McCaffery ‎– "Research On The Mouth" (Underwhich Audiographic Series ‎– No. 1) 1978

No this is not a guide on how to kiss a young lady,or even a young man,or both, depending on your gender preference.Or any other use of the mouth in a sexual context.
I know I've already lost half of you already. Thats what made the Internet such a raging sucess, or suck cess......not acess to all information, be it inaccurate or otherwise, but easy access to porn.
The two things that have driven human advancement,if that's what you wanna call it, are War and shagging. So anything that makes these two thing more possible is gonna be a big hit with the sex crazed human animal, predominantly the sex-crazed, MALE, human animal.So if they don't get these basic male requirements they're gonna get violent and take it.Dangerous bastard is the Human male.
This is not a criticism but an observation of the bleeding obvious. I like a bit of the old in-out every now and again,the odd spot of War too. To live in this increasingly feminized world I am drawn to violent music as a portal for this natural predisposition towards violence,Catharsis is necessary to keep the illusion that we are a step or two above the other apes, going. Another more positive route is the male's sex driven need to create.So 'Art' is another important distraction from the need to destroy ones rivals for the mating rights. The basic needs for the human Female to create Art are completely different,and just as basic. to be loved and appreciated, to gain status as the woman most likely to bare the healthiest cubs.To be 'Noticed' by the Alpha-male artist. Most Artists are dictators in their own world, and most dictators think are artists.They need to be in control, and control the hareem.No scenario captures this animalistic behavoural trait better than the legions of young ladies screaming at the Pop Star at a concert during breeding season, who enjoys the choice of any female from the 'pride' to mate with. No matter how aware of this inate drive to carry the Alpha-males baby, its quite out of the womans control. The genetics say you must keep your eyes on the prize,and sacrifice your sisters to get there.Ruthless.
So for those of us males who don't have simperingly good looks and a hit record in the charts, they, I don't refer to me of course...I'm gorgeous......'They', turn to more introspective pastimes, like Abstract Impressionism, or making Sound Poetry,like Steve McCaffery. Not blessed with the looks of Brad Pitt, our Steve, a displaced South Yorkshireman in Canada, channelled his natural male violence and sexual need into research on the topography of the sounds that the human mouth can make. A far more admirable direction than plaster casting the erections of Rock stars.The plaster casters wouldn't have bothered making a cast of a sound poets erection.They only sought out the Alpha male,not the interesting 'Beta' variety. But as I said, this is a completely natural behavioural pattern that wouldn't be out of place in a group of Chimpanzees.
As a Beta male myself, i can heartily recommend this fantastic tape....but it won't get you laid. So you can forget that idea right now!.....unless you've got a hit in the charts or, a Ferrari?


Tracklist:


A1 S.I.S.M.A. (Movements 1 & 2)
A2 Portraits 1 - 34
A3 S1Z2Z1E1R2Z3
A4 Names For Cricket
A5 Structure Of Incident: A Little Valentine / Pleasant Ode For Vincent Trasov / S.I.S.M.A. (Movement 3)

B1 Aupe Relationships
B2 Black Aleph 1 & 2
DOWNLOAD from the mouth HERE!

Owen Sound ‎– "Sign Language" (Underwhich Editions ‎– No. 22) 1984

It proudly proclaims a liberal use of the Dolby Noise Reduction system on the insert!?
David St. Hubbins wife told us that "(Sound Poetry) should never be recorded in Dobly"....which is probably true. 
Is Tape Hiss part of the performance? Is it as important as the other 'sounds'?
There have been at least two or three cassettes that comprised entirely of Tape Hiss.One tape of pretentious Tape Hiss that particularly stands out in my mind, was by 'Anti-Art' Artists, The New Blockaders' " Epater Les Bourgeois " . Although what happens to that concept when you switch the Noise reduction ,on, is another matter entirely.The Dobly, or Dolby,to be accurate,noise reduction system was always pretty shit anyway.Not only did it suppress the tape hiss on the cassettes,it also suppressed the frequencies of the music.You lost most of the high-end when that button was pressed,and everything had a muffled quality,no matter which version you used, 'A,B,C or professional'.So embrace the Hiss,and swith the Dobly,and the Dolby,OFF!.
Hiss aside, this tape features Richard Truhlar in his group of Canadian Sound Poets, Owen Sound.Captured live from 1976-78 in places like the "Cabaret Voltaire" Art Gallery,mmmmm fancy(?),in Toronto.Which is a nod towards the Dada-esque origins of this kind of vocal sound manipulation.And before the more well know Cabaret Voltaire had released a record.
I can reveal,however, that the over-riding and essential ingredient of Dada is indeed present here;which is ,'a sense of humour'.The audience seems to find it amusing anyway,which suggests a dirth of Art Luvvies to spoil it all for everyone.
So the moral of this text is, dump the Dolby and bin off the luvvies....for the greater good of everybody.

DOWNLOAD some sound powentry HERE!

Richard Truhlar ‎– "Kali's Alphabet" (Underwhich Audiographic Series – No. 14) 1982

This is the kind of Sound Poetry that I appreciate.
None of that facial gurning,throat straining, and spittle expectorating phonetics and lip vibrating nonsense. This is more in the found sounds with text form of the genre. 
Its all processed through various modulators,synths and tape echo's,so much so it reminds one of early industrial music rather than Sound Poetry. A lot of this wouldn't have been out of place on any of the official Throbbing Gristle albums.
Calling this Sound Poetry automatically lumbers it with the 'Pretentious tag', which isn't entirely unfair.Especially as there's a quote from French intellectual Roland Barthes,of whom normal people would never have heard of without a 5G internet connection; and the young lady who provided the looped voice for the opening track is credited as 'Poet' ,Sharon Theson,rather than just Sharon Theson. Poets have a disquieting tendancy to add this epithet to their normal names.The only reason for this I can think of is a attempt for they to elevate themselves above the herd. You'll never find the ordinary blue collar operative entitling herself 'Welder' Marjory Dawes for example.....(I consciously tried to be non-gender in my role assaignment there.....won't happen again!).....In France this can be a nightmare.Once they find out that one has 'Artist' written as one's profession on one's tax statement, they virtually fall at your feet proclaiming you as a great 'createur' for all to praise. This sickening grovelling to even the worst Artist or Artisan,of which France is brimming over with, is so deeply embedded in French Culture that there really is no escaping it.Personally I dislike 'Artists' as much as I do Musicians, except non-artists,Dilettantes and non-musicians of course,to whom this blog is dedicated.

DOWNLOAD in alphabetical order HERE!

Richard Truhlar ‎– "Growling In The Roofbeams" (Underwhich Audiographic Series – No. 10) 1984

Canadian Sound Poet and electro acoustic composer Richard Truhlar, made quite a few cassttes during the 80's and 90's, of which this is one of the more Sound Poety ones,although with a slightly industrial edge,which helps to stop one's mind from wandering. Loops of phonetic mouth noises are repeateded in a very Boyd Rice kind of fashion.This makes this a far more interesting direction to listen to as opposed to the unaccompanied voice which can be rather cringeworthy,and makes one whince at its awkwardness...as in whincing for the performer rather than oneself.I'm very comfortable at not being a sound poet thank you.
The cover looks like a still from "The Exorcist" and some of the music could easily be mistaken for the voices of the demon's one conjoured up during those winter nights during the power cuts of 1973 with a Waddington's Ouija Board.


Tracklist:

A1 Berlin Abstract
A2 Glaucoma Sonata
A3 King of Hell
A4 Thousandyear Eve
A5 London Trilogy
A6 Vasarely's Nightmare
A7 Gitr
B1 Ai
B2 Accident In America
B3 Raskolnikov
B4 Asthma
B5 Variations On A Word From James Joyce's "Ulysses"

DOWNLOAD cus satan wants you for a roofbeam HERE!

Brion Gysin ‎– "Recordings 1960-81" (Perdition Plastics ‎– PER 004) 1995

Here we go again.....anyone called Brion,not Brian,or Bryan, is certainly posh and reeks of privilege. With a brief bit of research these suspicions were confirmed.Educated at a Fancy public school near Bath (UK),and by the age of 18 he was studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. Hangin out with the likes of Max Ernst's missus, Salvador Dali and Picasso in the "Surrealists Group", from which he was inexplicably expelled by André Breton,as happened frequently were i came from,all at the age of 19. Needless to say,if you were of modest means it would be extremely doubtful you would be anywhere near André Breton, never mind being expelled from the community centre for crimes against Surrealism. I, for one,was never sent home from the local underclass abstract expressionism club and ,thankfully,never had to explain to my mum that Mark Rothko had me expelled for not being abstract or expressive enough,and could I invite Willem de Kooning over for beans on toast later? 
The only art happening where I came from, was the odd swastika sprayed on a wall over the admitedly abstract phrase of "Pakis Out"*. Nowadays those very same 'Pakis' are spraying stuff like 'Brexit Now' to get rid of the Poles. Epitomised by the new tory Home Secretary, a child of ugandan asians,who is determined to shut the door on any more poor immigrants...like her parents were? Fucking Insane!
I don't wanna go through Gysin's life story, but lets just say, he never seemed to need a job,and drifted effortlessly around the globe meeting up with famous artist and bohemian types of all statures.
Most famed for the re-invention of the Dada-ist 'cut-up Technique, which was in fact nothing new,and gave it to William Burroughs to mess around with.Burroughs explained that Gysin was "the only man that I've ever respected in my life. I've admired people, I've liked them, but he's the only man I've ever respected."...slightly arrogant?
I suspect that Burroughs was the victim of that intellectual arrogance that all Public School boys,and upper class twits in England get drip fed at birth,even if they know fuck-all,which generally is the case.I'd say Bill respected Gysin because he was intellectually intimidated by those insideous British upper-class vibes,as most Americans are.
As far as I can see Gysin was just more inventive in his stealing from the past,and could explain it all away as his own doing, without actually saying so.
However These writings and sound experiments were a considerable influence on the Industrial Music,and culture of the late seventies......so says I.
Gysin enjoyed messing with language ,what makes a word a word,and how easily words change their meaning,or effect, by just rearranging a few letters or their speed.One short phrase could be transformed into a new language......or,as is the case in most of these pieces,into complete stuff of nonsense.
The same could be done with sounds,as in the Pistol Poems,with vari-speeded recordings of a gunshot,which he made for the BBC. A resurrection of another Dada-ist idea,'The Sound Poem'
This CD has all of Gysin's most influential recorded moments collected in one place.
Best listened to with one of Gysin's other claims to fame, he and Ian Sommerville's "Dream Machine",which was probably just the work of Sommerville,and Gysin named it afterwards?:

Build your very own Brion Gysin Dream Machine HERE!


*Paki is a derogatory term used generally for anyone from the asian subcontinent,and is even used for Arabic and semetic people by the ignorant.The equivalent of the 'N' word but for asians. I've even heard it used by Indians as an insult to white people, as in "White Paki"......its crazy ol' world out there innit?


Tracklist:

1 I've Come To Free The Words 1:16
2 Vocal Cut-Up 6:14
3 Where's That Word 1:58
4 Thoughts On The BBC 2:50
5 I Am That I Am 4:35
6 Pistol Poem 1:29
7 Pistol Poem - Part 2 0:39
8 Recalling All Active Agents 1:25
9 Thoughts On Censorship 1:53
10 No Poets Don't Own Words 1:01
11 Thoughts On Jean Genet 8:55
12 Readings At The October Gallery 5:36
13 Kick That Habit Man 1:08
14 Junk Is No Good Baby 2:04
15 Thoughts On Surrealists 5:27
16 Thoughts On Modern Art 2:29
17 Thoughts On The Dream Machine 4:19
18 Thoughts On The Value Of Art 2:29
19 Sound Poem 1:46
20 Duet 0:41
21 In The Beginning Was The Word 1:49
22 I Am This. . . 2:02

DOWNLOAD our brian's recorded life HERE!

Lite Storm ‎– "God Is Love" (Beverly Hills ‎– BH 1136) 1973

I fear we must return briefly to Religious Exploitation,but with a psychedelic flavour, with this tribute to Christ reincarnation and kiddie fiddler, Sai Baba.(Checkout one of his fabulousy creepy albums HERE!)
What did Kali Bahlu do after her supremely child-like psychsploitation album "Cosmic Remembrance"? You have no doubt been asking yourself? After much tossing and turning at night, Sai Baba sent me the answer from the child abusers Hell he now finds his soul trapped in.
Kali Bahlu, or Kallasu Wintergate,was in a Psychedelic Xian duo with her husband John Wintergate or Johnima .P Bahlu, called 'Lite Storm' ,stupid!
I think they like Sai Baba.....a lot. What their thoughts on said cult leader today are not known;but they've dedicated a whole album dedicated to praising this now deceased God on earth,complete with Afro.

Here are the Bahlu's with their god,dunno where Sai Baba's hands are? Watch out Kali,who's on the left,and her hubby,on the right, bares more than a passing resemblance to Jesus H. Christ. Sai Baba, centre,looks a bit like Kevin Keegan during the Hamburg years.

Kali, at least seems to have matured as a singer since the 'Cosmic Rembrance' album,and is far less irritating on this outing.If you can see pass the obvious madness, this is actually a pleasantly weird record by this folky twosome.Oh they're soooooo 'Happy'!?
Om Shanti.

Tracklist:

A1 Ode To Our Love
A2 Baba's Song
A3 Ride On Into Joy
A4 Aum
A5 Who Is Sai Baba?
B1 Swamiji's Song
B2 Soham
B3 God Is Love
B4 My Sweet Jesus Christ

DOWNLOAD some love HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Vancouver Complication" (Pinned Records ‎– PIN 79330001) 1979

As with most things north american, one almost always has to cross the border,northwards, from the USA to find better ways of doing things.
As i've just inflicted two, yes TWO, volumes of frankly terrible local band compilations from Seattle on y'all; the natural remedy is to go north to Canada, and Seattles nearest neighbour, Vancouver, to discover a rather good manifestation of the local comp pandemic of 1978-82.
Its very 'Punk rock' (whatever the fuck that is?) orientated, but as long as its done well, that ain't no drawback.
Vancouver had an advantage as they did have one of the better first wave North American Punk bands in DOA, which is a good start.
Having visited Vancouver, I find it hard to understand why anyone would be angry who lived there. It's nearly perfect. I even went around the druggy areas, and even the junkies seemed happy...or was that because they had just had a hit?
I'm sure 'anger' is a subjective thing. So yeah, even in heaven there are probably some Punk bands moaning about boredom and the torture of the prospects of eternal life....or eternal boredom. No future????....'Too much Future', sings Heavens first Punk Band.
Indeed, Canada is a great place, and i won't listen to any Canadians who say otherwise.....you've never lived in the United Kingdom, or other shitholes like that...so shut it!

Tracklist:

A1 –Pointed Sticks - The Marching Song
A2 –Exxotone - Big Shot
A3 –D.O.A. - Kill, Kill, This Is Pop
A4 –Active Dog - Fun While It Lasts
A5 –Wasted Lives - Wirehead
A6 –Subhumans - Death To The Sickoids
A7 –U-J3RK5 - U-J3RK5 Work For Police
A8 –Private School - Rock & Roll Radio
A9 –No Fun - Mindless Aggression
A10 –Dishrags - I Don't Love You
A11 –Biz - Untitled

B1 –Exxotone - Sideways
B2 –The K-Tels - I Hate Music
B3 –Active Dog - Nothing Holding You
B4 –Subhumans - Urban Guerilla
B5 –The Shades - New Clientelle
B6 –Tim Ray & A.V. - 1/4 To 8
B7 –U-J3RK5 - Naum Gabo
B8 –D.O.A. -I Hate You
B9 –No Fun - Old 0:36
B10 –[e?] - E 925

DOWNLOAD some complicated vancouvans HERE!

The Winkies ‎– "The Winkies" (Chrysalis ‎– CHR.1066) 1975

What connects Brian Eno to the Pub Rock phenomenon? Answer is "The Winkies" who were briefly his backing band, for one tour and a Peel Session.
The Winkies included another errant American(Canadian actually), Philip Rambow, who found a home on the London Pub scene in the early to mid-seventies.
He and his band made a 1975 form of power pop; short focused rock songs, of which there was a dearth in this cultural desert of a year. Just what the average discerning Pub Rock punter wanted to hear, while getting legless . Although if they bought the Album, which no-one did of course, it would have had to be stored immediately in the back of your K-Tel record selector, so as to avoid displaying the uncomfortable Homo-erotica proudly emblazoned on the front cover.

Tracklist:

Trust In Dick 3:39
Mailman - It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry 4:11
Put Out The Light 4:57
Twilight Masquerade 5:43
North To Alaska 2:55
Out On The Run 4:31
Wild Open Spaces 4:05
Long Song Coming 4:08
Davey's Blowtorch 3:22
Red Dog 5:00

DOWNLOAD illegally HERE! Nudge nudge Winkie Winkie!

The Shriek ‎– "Sex Sells" (Rude Records ‎– REP 1) 1980

As mentioned in the "Gorgons and Gargoyles" post, Blair Petrie was in the Synth Punk group The Shriek before his collaboration with Port Said's Stefan Tischler.
Obviously the short lived west coast of North American fad of Synth Punk, stretched to Vancouver. This is a world away from the work Petrie did in the mid eighties, using sweary words, a couple of dessert spoons full of aggression, and the shameless use of the word 'Sex'. Pretty passable punk rock it is too, with suitably crunchy bass guitar and crude synth playing. Unfulfilled potential,but a nice change to the rather effete art electronics i/we have been listening to of late.

Tracklist:

A1	All Fucked Up
A2	Fuck Up
A3	1980
B1	Lost Control
B2	Kids
B3	Intermission

DOWNLOAD and shriek HERE!

Throbbing Gristle ‎– "Alien Soundtracks(Radio Special)" (unofficial release) 1981

Here we have a two hour Canadian Radio Throbbing Gristle special from 1981. A veritable greatest hits package interspersed with dated TG for beginners banter between the two Schlock Jocks (Alex Douglas and Peter Morer)on the “Alien Soundtracks” show based in Vancouver BC.

As radio waves travel at the speed of light,this will have travelled 33 light years by now, reaching Exoplanet UCF 1.01. So these really would be Alien Soundtracks if any lifeform out there has a radio antenna, tuned to 102.7FM, pointing towards Earth.

Nevertheless an interesting selection of Live and studio material, that appeals to TG veterans and TG virgins. Jesus, this sounds like a Ronco advert; but at least this gives me a once in a lifetime opportunity to say.....”Not available in shops!”.......but it is available here. Thankfully not by Ronco or K-Tel,but by Die or DIY?

(fittingly this is post number 666 on Die or DIY?2)!

Tracklist:

A	Radio Special (parts 1&2)
B	Alien Soundtracks (Parts 3&4)

DOWNLOAD before exoplanet UCF 1.01 hears it HERE!

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!