The Max Factory – "Tudor City" -(Ecstatic Yod – actuel 5) 1995

The Max Factory is Alan Licht with or without friends.....that's what it says on the inner gatefold cover of another of that "Ass Run" series on that Father Yod label what we all dig so much.

So if you've ever been Licht by anyone called Alan,you'll know what to expect.If you haven't been Licht by someone called Alan,firstly 'Why Not?!',and secondly expect lots of spontaneous guitar noise akin to the sound of nails being scraped down an amplified chalk board.

If you have sensitive teeth, i advise caution when approaching this fine beast.

Tracklist:

Side A:
A1 I Lack The Power (7:41)
A2 A Perfect Herbert (5:14)
A3 Coma (4:03)
A4 Derf Scratch (3:50)

Side 1:
B Tudor City (23:04)

DOWNLOAD at max speed HERE!

Shit Spangled Banner – "No Dolby No DBX (Ass Run 1)" (Ecstatic Yod – actuel 3) 1994

'Eavy Metal never sounded good in Dobly',and that goes even more for Noisy Improv like the appropriately named Shit Spangled Banner.

I Had DBX on my first Portastudio, the otherwise fantastic Tascan Porta One, and it was shite,removing some of the music/noise as well as the Hiss.It made it all sound like it was trapped inside a wet cardboard box.

Its a bit of a No-Brainer to not use Noise Reduction on a noise recording.

So,wisely,Shit Spangled Banner not only doesn't use 'Dobly',they state this fact proudly on the inside of this facsimile of a  BYG/Actuel sleeve.

BYG/Actuel was the French Jazz imprint that saved the creative lives of the New Wave of Jazzers like Archie Shepp and buddies in the late 60's....if you didn't know already?

The other respectful tip of the hat goes to the Father Yod/Ya Ho Wa 13 references;who were an Hawaiian based free love cult ,who played improvised acid rock,recorded it, and put it onto vinyl,which remained largely unsold.

So I suppose with all that hinting at non-conformist form of modern music,Shit Spangled Banner are gonna improvise the shit out of you until that imaginary alternative Flag self-combusts.

Apparently, Thurston Moore runs this label!?....but don't let that morsel of truth put you off you silly sod....this stuff is certainly my cup of tea,with the Tea Bag left in please.

Sorry for the Spinal Tap references,i'm a neurodivergent nerd, I can't help it! Tracklist:

1 What Makes Love Grow 1:07
2 Ghost Meat 16:12
3 Wooden Teeth 4:14
4 Heaven Often Manifests As Silence 2:15
5 Cuntshine 12:12
6 Smallpant Fields 5:20
7 Broken Goodtime Kid 4:52
8 Untitled 0:47
9 Untitled 0:52

DOWNLOAD some shit spangled noise HERE!

Mahogany Brain – "With (Junk-Saucepan) When (Spoon-Trigger)" (Futura Records – RED 02) 1971

 

Mahogany Brain ARE,and this statement could be controversial, the Best band ever to come out of France. This I truly believe,and would arm wrestle,or play a winner takes all game of Casdon Soccer with anyone who disagrees.

I probably said the same about Helden and Magma,but this time I mean it maaaaan.

What's more is that I think they are genuinely French and not Belgian,as is usually the case.

Like a Red Krayola from french-rock hell,they deconstruct the 15 years pre-Mahogany era of the evolving Rock'n'Roll cliché and spit it back out in the eye of the discerning pop consumer.Slipping from the womb fully formed, and fully dee-formed enough to put 99% of the fuckers off music,..... forever!

If this fact doesn't even make you fantasize about leaving the room in faux-disgust and slamming the door in a pique of crypto-anger, then you're already dead,or,a bastard,or, a musician,or, all three.

Epic,Absurd,Pretentious,Unsane;i'm running out of adjectives here!

If your significant 'Other' doesn't hate this record's gutz within the first 5 minutes of your stylus making contact with these grooves,then i will send you a ten shilling postal order made payable to myself and me mam.All entries to be written on the back of a Casdon Soccer's wildly undulating pitch and sent to BBC Television Centre, Teddington Lock, NE3 from 4, Milton Keynes.

I'll Repeat that!.......alright,is it that obvious? I'm getting ready to write about The Moving Gelatin Plates,aka,The French "Caravan" innit? This could be my Waterloo,who knows?

Tracklist:

1.Bloody Hide And Seek In The Rain 0:30
2.Wrong Reincarnation 5:15
3.Hot Milk Elbow (Part I) 3:15
4.Sky-Fish 2:30
5.Unbottoned Eyes 2:30
6.Screaming Zenith 2:40
7.The Child With The Wind, The Snow, And The Yellow Top Waiting For The Magical Toy 4:47 
8.Universe (Naked Speed) 0:25
9.The Secret Body Of Wind 3:10
10.Hot Milk Elbow (Part II) 2:53
11.Head Of Night 2:50
12.Zevagho Chzechago 3:35

DOWNLOAD this rare wood as rare organ HERE!

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

DOWNLOAD from the tundra within HERE!

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

DOWNLOAD with your new high speed fibre connection HERE!

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

DOWNLOAD and descend HERE!

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 Bailey, Fushitsusha,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.

DOWNLOAD and broadcast the good news HERE!

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.

DOWNLOAD with the five fingers of love HERE!

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

DOWNLOAD ascension decending HERE!

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)

DOWNLOAD some action HERE!

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)

DOWNLOAD vigilantly HERE!

Jandek ‎– "Manhattan Saturday" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0835) 2020

 Looking like a shadowy characterisation of Evil from a David Lynch TV series,Jandek is recorded giving the downtown trendies of Manhattan a rendition of classic Jandek,as he returns to the trusty out of tune guitar as if its being played by limp appendages blowing in a stiff breeze. Of course,New York is a place where one can find endless queues of under-employed improv muso's who look like they were extras in 'Friends', willing to sell their granny to have "Played with Jandek" writ large on their meagre CV's. I imagine everyone in the gentrified quarters of Lower Manhattan has some pretentions at being a proficient improviser,in between bursts of banking ,insurance brokering and doing some lines with trendy buddies of,buddies of John Zorn, listening to Ornette Coleman records.....on vinyl, naturally. Jandek is pushing strongly to dislodge Coltrane and Coleman as the essential accessory for the pretentious Artphag in Soho and Tribeca these days. The man is living art I guess after all,accidently,or, by pure bloody minded persistence,like a redneck Gilbert and George,haunting the Bourgeois art spaces of where-ever will have him......it can get quite bitchy between gallery mangers I have heard.

So here's another triple CD set of Jandek being Jandek, to further moisten the brown stained tongues of hipster art directors everywhere.

Tracklist:

1-1 All The Boxes 23:40
1-2 The Gentleman 21:47
1-3 The Corners 25:05
2-1 Incarcerated 16:14
2-2 Chips Of Paint 12:56
2-3 Action Justified 11:32
3-1 No Bond 16:03
3-2 Controlled Addict 16:14
3-3 Hours Of Pain 22:20

DOWNLOAD america's answer to Gilbert and George HERE!

Last Exit ‎– "Cassette Recordings 87" (Enemy Records ‎– EMY 105) 1987

Oh Jesus! How shit is this new Blogger thing wot they've paid some 'expert' to re-jig!? Fucking Hell!

Remember MySpace? This is going the same way. I start a new post with a childlike excitement, then quickly give up in a childlike strop after trying to select labels for my new post.....click and wait technology......But, I won't let the 'Man' get to me with his power games...oooooh no! So here's a transitional Peter Brotzmann work, recorded on the humble cassetten,yet never released on a humble cassetten. Yup, it's Jazz Metal soopergroop , 'Last Exit' innit?

Do I hear a Groan?....unfortunately,yes, Bill Laswell does makes a traditional appearence with anything to do with downtown jazzy types.He's the Thurston Moore of Jazz,although I think Thruston Moore reckons that his-self is in fact the Thurston Moore of Jazz too? What is it with these serial collaborators? They crop up like a bad smell in a toilet,and usually contribute nothing......the jury's out on Eno however,'cus i'm a bit of a fan of our Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno.....but.....with a name like that he is obviously rather Posh,which gave him full Progressive rock qualifications above and beyond the call of duty. Never trust anyone with more than two christian names. A case in point is the beyond awful posh bloke whose childhood ambition was to become Prime Minister of Britain,and worse still, actually did!?......Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson......which is code for 'Bastard'.

Who the fuck has a realistic childhood fantasy of being a country's leader other than that priviliged line of human aliens with the reptilian DNA? Little undernourished Tommy Atkins from the council estate with the abusive parents' greatest ambition was to learn to read, not study Greek History with a bunch of Oxbridge cronies,and future leaders,and, do it all with a smirk on his face!? Why didn't someone slap those smug jowels at kindergarten and nip this horror in the bud? It might not be too late?

Yes, anyone can become a leader, except the Kings won't let it happen.

So, here we have a group, proudly displaying moustaches and beards when it was patently 'Unhip' to do so, wearing clothes that would impress only Michael Bolton's wardrobe assistant. Their debut sooper pooper groop eponymous debut was rather good in its musical napalm tendancies. This outing is less so,with rather too much of Sonny Sharrocks metally guitar work,and his even worse singing, but it has its moments.Brotzmann's sax is, for once, well mixed,and not stage front.Peter's other main contibution is likely to have been the very Brotzamannesque song titles of "Sore Titties" and the terribly rude, but laughable, "My Balls/Your Chin"!!!?

Recorded at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Copenhagen to cassette,so it has that nice saturated cassette sound that's so hard to reproduce in any other medium.We like cassettes here......sorry about the Laswell though.

Tracklist

1. Line Of Fire
2. Big Boss Man
3. Sore Titties
4. Ulli Bulli Fooli
5. Ma Rainey
6. My Balls / Your Chin

DOWNLOAD the last exit to copenhagen HERE!

Son Of ZOG - "Son Of ZOG" (Year Zero Records YEAR 044) 2019

Resting briefly from more Ken Nordine, on the subject of "Son Of...." projects, your non-award winning esoteric blogger, thats right 'Moi'; has done a 'Son Of...' project himself (Note use of the third person). Ones Improv Noise rock group, called "ZOG", has a jazzier offshoot, called...you guessed it, "Son Of ZOG". Its got a sax player in it ,so we can't escape the Jazz label being slapped on it.
Some cheeky bastards reckon its better than the group that fathered it,ie ZOG, father of the Son and the holy grossed.
Its on the esteemed Year Zero Records for free download, as always....but now you can get it here, in another shameless act of self-promotion and agrandisement.
Hopefully there will be the appearence of actual physical ZOG product later in the year,on vinyl, courtesy of Siltbreeze records....but will believe it when we see it.
Deconstructive Constructive criticism welcome....just don't make me angry thats all!!!

Personel:

Christophe Medina- Drums
Phil Allison - Sax
Jonny Zchivago - Bass
Nadine Aleman - Electronics

Tracklist:

1.Pain Patisserie
2.Horses In Love
3.Mechagodzilla vrs Son of ZOG
4.Do The Fukashima Slide
5.Spunk Bucket Hostage
6.Silent Music
7.Jonny 3:16
8.Toga Party Refugees
9.VooDoo is DooDoo
10.Love Supremacists

DOWNLOAD and meet the son of zog HERE!

Jandek ‎– "The Ray" (Corwood Industries ‎– CORWOOD 0832) 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR????? HAPPY NEW JANDEK!!!!!!

Another new year brings forth usually three or four new Jandek albums, so as a new years treat here are last years Jandek albums to try and keep pace with the Ginger One.Including this new studio album!?
I think I have all of the Jandek releases,but not sure,so if anyone out there notices a gap in the collection,feel free to point out this unforgivable oversight.
Its a relief to know that Sterling, in his 75th year, hasn't given up on studio work,and its good to hear his meandering psychedelic outsider folk without that sparse applause at the end of each long track,and even worse the boistrous cheering as the Corwood Representative takes the stage.....yeah very good boys and girls.....mainly white boys it has to be said.....you have a shared secret in that you pretend to like Jandek, well done.One witnessed the same hive-minded behaviour at Sun Ra concerts,Residents shows and Fall gigs.Like a Nuremburg rally for geeks and nerds.
The Ray, the album and the Track, is a,you guessed it, meandering avant folk psychedelic foray into the unknown that clocks in at just over an hour in length. It comes with no information,but I suspect that Jandek plays all the instruments,with maybe Sheila Smith on drums? Could this be the start of a new era in the Corwood release schedule.....I hope so,as it is a rather fine room emptying piece of unsychopated outsider rock.
People like Henry Flynt,the works of whom we have been digesting over the preceeding days,have spent a career searching out the embodiment of the American Primitive.Well Henry, here he is.More profound than the unknown meaning of life,'it is because its like that'.There is no meaning,just as the American Primitive doesn't exist. Jandek's music is the closest thing to an answer I've come across.......just 'Be'.....and keep turning up......which, as it happens, is Woody Allen's mantra on how to be successful.

Tracklist:

1 The Ray 61:40

DOWNLOAD the first ray of the new year sun HERE"!

Guru Guru ‎– "UFO" (Ohr ‎– OMM 56 005) 1970

Probably my favourite Kraut Freak-out album from Rocks golden era is "UFO",This is how to abuse an electric guitar,whilst walking a delicate line between control and chaos,with a loose but tight rhythm unit rumbling along behind the electric storm clouds of Ax Genrich.
The sister of a now deceased German friend of mine, Uli, who looked not unlike a member Guru Guru; told me at his funeral, that Mani Neumeier  (the drummer of Guru Guru)once suggested that she have sex with him.A request to which, she understandably refused vigorously.Looking at the band pictures its a wonder any of these Free Rock legends got laid at all.
From this peak,they slowly decended that well trodden down escalator to Jazz Rock Hell.

Tracklist:

A1 Stone In 5:42
A2 Girl Call 6:15
A3 Next Time See You At The Dalai Lhama 6:10
B1 Ufo 10:15
B2 Der LSD-Marsch 8:25

DOWNLOAD then U F Off HERE!

Guru Guru ‎– "Essen 1970" (Garden Of Delights ‎– CD 075) 2002

Looking at the repulsive band shot on the cover,This is what I always imagined West Germans looked like. Rather like Americans and Japanese think Brits always run around in suits,wear Bowler Hats and carry an umbrella......and worse have an errant son with a red Mohawk who hangs out sniffing glue in Camden,with the rest of the Artful Dodgers gang of pickpockets.
And of course its nearly all true, because most every German I've encountered looks like a member of Guru Guru,but I can't find a Bowler Hat for myself that actually fits!
Despite, what dull commonsense retorts I may receive to the contrary, its a laugh to be able to spot any nationality from any generalistion at 1000 yards. See a dirty Hippie, and a pound to a pinch of shit they'll either be French or German.Get closer and the smellier ones will be the French version.Also the French version will have, invariably, some ali baba balloon pants, and a scarf adorning neck and shoulders, singing the praises of Zer Doorsss,and Soopertrrramp.
The Germans have better taste in music,so they're easier to spot.
Guru Guru, like Jimi Hendrix a lot,and it shows in their particular style of Free Rock mixed with a bit of Ornette Coleman theory;both big names to drop in late sixties universities.
Ax Genrich,not anywhere near Hendrix's level of guitar craft,is mixed rather low in the mix for this Live outing at the 'Essener Pop- & Blues-Festival in Essen 25/10/1970;but he does manage to make some jolly pleasurable noises,that would have made a great soundtrack to the thousands of tonnes of TNT the RAF dropped on Essen in World War Two, many of which were dropped by my late father.So, sorry to any family member of the very polite audience who got killed by my fathers bombing....after all, he was "Just Obeying Orders!?"

Tracklist:

1 Stone In 12:00
2 Der LSD-Marsch 14:22
3 Bo Diddley 11:27

DOWNLOAD the essence of guru guru HERE!

Ash Ra Tempel ‎– "The Private Tapes Vol. 6" (Manikin Records ‎– MRCD 7016) 1996

Three Ash Ra tracks, the first of which sounds like some guitar hero wanna be playing along with a home organ enthusiast. The other two are from a concert  in Berlin in 1979, and benefits from some crisp live drumming, but strays into very dodgy Carlos Santana areas that should be strictly Verboten,especially for Carlos himself.
The live classic Ash Ra Tempel line up treat us to a lo-fi recording of Klaus Schulze's last ART concert in Bern from 1971, before going solo.I have no smart arse comments to add to this uninspired piece of blurb...track four's good anyway.

Tracklist:

1 –Ashra - Hausaufgabe (1978) 11:47
2 –Ashra - Ice Train (1979) 6:26
3 –Ashra - Phantasus (1979) 5:26
4 –Ash Ra Tempel - Ein Würdiger Abschluss (1971) 54:16

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Ash Ra Tempel ‎– "The Private Tapes Vol. 5" (Manikin Records ‎– MRCD 7015) 1996

Out comes the echo-box again,as Manuel strives for that Dave Gilmore sound once more.
Oh yeah!..There's a live Ash Ra Tempel track recorded in Cologne in feb 1973 that has its moments,but thats about it for volume 5.

Tracklist:

1 –Manuel Göttsching - Ultramarine (1978) 22:24
2 –Manuel Göttsching - Lotus (1976) 19:41
3 –Manuel Göttsching - Ivresse De Lune (1973) 2:27
4 –Manuel Göttsching - Ivresse De Soleil (1973) 2:59
5 –Ash Ra Tempel -  Ooze Away (1973) 28:00
6 –Manuel Göttsching - Interview (1989) 2:59

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Ash Ra Tempel ‎– "The Private Tapes Vol. 4" (Manikin Records ‎– MRCD 7014) 1996

They all do it at some point don't they?
Get ideas beyond their station and Go Jazz Fusion!?.......but not the good Jazz Fusion like Miles Davis etc,this is awful Pat Methany style Jazz Rock fusion.Krautrock Legends, Guru Guru also befell this same fate on their 1974 "Dance Of The Flames" album,terrible stuff.Even Zoot Horn Rollo went 'Jazz' on his sole solo album a few years ago, but he's a better guitarist than Göttsching,so he got away with it.Basically, Jazz and electric guitar shouldn't be said in the same sentence.....ever!
I suppose there are some Pat Methany fans who will take offence at my use of their hero as the comparison point for 'awful' on the Jazz Fusion barometer of shite; but thats how it is on these pages.Heaven knows the pain just a few notes of any Methany tunes have caused the boredom sector of my delicate frontal lobe,so he deserves it.
As terrible the first three tracks are, its more than made up for by  repetitive sequencer driven proto-trance number "Niemand Lacht Rückwärts".
Finishing off this episode we have a rather below par Ash Ra Tempel freak out.....sounding...dare I say....a bit Jazzy(!?)in places....not good.

Tracklist:

1 –Ashra - Club Cannibal (1979) 14:48
2 –Ashra - Sausalito (1979) 3:40
3 –Ashra - Ain't No Time For Tears (1979) 7:12
4 –Manuel Göttsching - Niemand Lacht Rückwärts (1979) 11:56
5 –Ash Ra Tempel - Dédié à Hartmut (1973) 39:59

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