Bodycocktail - "Many See Lies" (ZH27 - Bodycocktail #23) 1996

Hoffman's dysfunctional journey into the realm of 'Pop' takes the form of his Bodycocktail project.Described by the man himself as "bent-out-of-shape proto new wave",since 1993 he has released close to 200 Bodycocktail releases;and continues to play many live shows all over the civilised world,in several languages.
The music on "Many See Lies",the 23rd Bodycocktail release, has wonderful drifting time signatures that make it impossible to dance to in a conventionally funky way. Full of human inconsistencies with no attempt to 'tidy' them up to the modern standards of machine music....this is how it was entered on the computer.
Zan's voice reminds one of the kind of singer you'd hear in a Futurist/New Romantic group around 1981,like Classix Nouveaux,but obviously devoid of any pretentiousness
I was playing this the other day and my girlfriend asked me,"Doesn't this get on your fucking nerves?".
I didn't answer,but it probably outstayed its welcome after about twenty minutes.....but then again nearly everything does.That's why Teenage Jesus and The Jerks never played longer than 20 minutes; a natural timespan for the art of 'Pop'.

Tracklist :

1	Woman Looking At A Vase Of Flowers
2	Picking Up Poochies
3	Neversink
4	(Time To Say) Bye Bye
5	Loopy Zinnerhyme
6	Music Uplifted (Muted)
7	Collect All 23

DOWNLOAD this unfunky cocktail HERE!

Agog ‎– "Magnetic Phenomena Of All Kinds" (Spagyric) 1987

Agog, was Damian Bisciglia, frequent collaborator with mail art legends Minoy and Zan Hoffman. His tapes are a sound collage of field recordings, random speech samples,and electronics that dart,pitch and yaw in unexpected directions, never taking the same path twice. So don't expect a catchy chorus or hummable melody line,because this is aimed at the mind rather than the body. If you can watch several TV's at once,like the man who fell to Earth,or,if you are a man who fell to Earth, then this is for you.......you weird fucker!

Tracks:

A - Untitled (30:40)
B - Untitled (29:56)

DOWNLOAD some digital phenomena of the mp3 320 kind HERE!

Zan Hoffman/Agog - "Fragment 2" (N D Magazine C-45) 1990

Less a collaboration than a two artist collaboration for now defunct experimental arts magazine N D.
Although, Zan Hoffman and Agog definitely did collaborate on a few recordings under various nom des plumes, this is more of a showcase for each artist,or entity. Both very reliant on the sound collage method of creating their trademark abstract sound vistas, the differences between them both are subtle. Hoffman's approach seems a little more lo-fi and chaotic than Agog's; who does allow more space to appear among the glitchy sound theft flotsam and jetsom than the former.

Tracklist:

A	–	Raw Felt	(23:38)
B	–	Untitled (23:25)

DOWNLOAD these fragments HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy - "Caught In The Throat Of The Beast" (ZH27 ‎– 425) 1989

Music from the Rail terminal at the edge of the universe,with indecipherable announcements gasping for air in between the waves of teeth grinding metal fatigue. The speaker system in the infinite waiting room struggles to convey the directions to which we are all heading,be it Oblivion, Hell, Heaven  ,or to repeat it all over again as a Slug. The musical interludes are reminiscent  of  Holgar Czukay's experiments with found radio voices, and the way they disappear beneath the audible range remind one of Gavin Bryars' "The Sinking of the Titanic".
This is my favourite Minóy\Zannóy collaboration, less jet engine in a tunnel with more subtlety and space;allowing the weirdness to breathe.

Track:

1- Caught in the Throat Of The Beast (30:46)

DOWNLOAD a Heimlich manoeuvre on the beast HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy - "Zemzimmazu-kerzanminoy!" (Elavation of Anxiety EOA 11) 1987

Is it me or are all these Minóy\Zannóy tapes starting to sound the same? Is this another jet engine powered vacuum cleaner set to warp 9, sucking all life from a subterranean tunnel system?...well...yes!...But it sounds so fucking good.Its a classic sound,that ranks up there with the Mini-Moog bass, Overdriven Guitar power chords,TR808 handclaps,and Jean Jacques Burnel's fucked up speaker cab. Don't mess with the classics and they'll always serve you well, be it Godzilla's paint stripping scream, Doc Martin's, the Tardis's appearing/disappearing noise (Courtesy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop), or a cheeky Trilby hat,worn at a jaunty angle.Get the picture?
Track 1, "Zemzimmazu" certainly displays that classic V2 underground test bunker vibe,that is Minóy and Zan Hoffman's default setting. VU meter's well into the red,saturating the cassette tape into a murky soup of rampaging debris,not unlike an audio version of those amateur video's of the Japanese Tsunami.
Track 2,Kerzanminoise,is slightly different;with quite a few minutes of a more ambient approach.Like an ethereal electric milk float in a smaller Hurricane,a few miles from landfall. Then around 9 minutes in, the main storm hits,picking the milk float up and smashing it against the wall of good taste,which collapses letting every enlightened idea ever repressed by accepted 'norms' to come flooding out to infect our children.
Consider yourself infected.

Tracks:

1 - Zemzimmazu (29:39)
2 - Kerzanminoise (29:32)

DOWNLOAD the liberating noise of engine failure HERE!

Minóy/Zannóy - "XYZ Blurs Glad Meat Rags" (ZH27 ‎– 422) 1988

Hoffman remixes Stanley Keith Bowsza,aka Minóy,into a seamless blend of subway station white noise,and dawn chorus of mating electronic frogs.Through the buzzsaw ambience, an Ice Cream van's merry jingle rises and falls below the surface,mourned by a solitary fog horn. A plague of Locusts swarm through the subway tunnels, devouring everything in it's path,candy wrappers,hip-hop rappers(Hooray!), uncleaned crappers and dirty ol' slappers. Take note how the plague of Locusts was referred to as an 'IT'. This is how Humanity will be referred to by the inheritors of this mess in a not too distant future. Unless we realise that we can't eat money,

Track:

1 - XYZ Blurs Glad Meat Rags (30.14)

DOWNLOAD some blurred lines that were actually not stolen from Marvin Gaye HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy - "Fractured Lingere Break You Ears" (Zidsic 995) 1988

How many times have you cried out in pain, "HELP I'VE GOT FRACTURED LINGERIE IN MY EARS", which ultimately lead to your ears becoming broken?
Don't be afraid,because the word in the title is 'Lingere',not 'Lingerie', so you don't have to be too afraid of some torn and dirty underpants,crotchless panties, or 'peek-a-boo' bras coming to break your aural receptors. Instead, we have more reverberated scraping in a tunnel,accompanied by failing  jet engines ,and braking railway engines to break(brake) your ears instead.
Another classic sonic abstraction by the dream team of Outsider-Garde DIY, Hoffman and Bowsza.

Track:

1- "Fractured Lingere Break Your Ears" (31.09)

DOWNLOAD and rip your underpants with excitement HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy -"Cephalic Convergence" (Zidslick) 1988

A more minimal Minóy\Zannóy effort,that starts off like a lost cousin of Czukay/Dammers' (Rolf not Jerry),"Canaxis" album,and transforms into a decidedly unfunky version of "My Life in the bush of Ghosts",which in turn was a 'Funky' "Canaxis.So there squareth the circle.
The subtlety of the ghostly radio voices juxtaposed with the dripping electronics,submerged into the unearthed,or unearthly, electrical humming;makes this particular mail collaboration more effective than the tape saturated noise of most other Minóy\Zannóy thirty minute epics. Leaving the listener with more headspace,hence the title.

Track(s):

1- Cephalic Convergence"

DOWNLOAD cephalically converging head music HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy ‎– "The Decline Of The American Orgasm" (ZH27 ‎– 180) 1989

Based largely on a field recording of someone hammering on some wood,or nailing some wood,or whatever hammer/nail/wood scenario you can imagine, that alludes to uninspiring sexual activity. All this set inside some rush hour underpass.......I said Underpass not under-pants you filthy little monkey. The very act of a car or bus entering a tunnel conjures the most unpleasant pornographic imagery,that it could lead to the decline of most sane peoples libido.
The constant wooosh of traffic through the underpants/underpass could be symbolic of promiscuity among our over-liberated generation.That and the odd submerged animal noise makes this single sided C-60 the avant garde version of Spinal Tap's "Sex farm".
The Hammering could also represent the sound of a black-mailed civil servant building the coffin of a murdered and sodomised orphan. A victim of a British parliamentarian,colluded and encouraged by high ranking police officers and members of the royal family(or Royal family's members?).
Be careful what you say and do,for you too may find Kiddie porn appearing mysteriously on your hard drive,and these very same 'Policemen',knocking on your door,saying; "we have reason to believe that you may have downloaded some illegal material of a sexual nature sir".You'll either end up in prison or working for MI6,or even worse Mossad. 

Track(s):

1 - The Decline Of The American Orgasm (30.45)

If you want a good time? DOWNLOAD HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy ‎– "Mmmazammm" (ZH27 ‎– 181) 1985

We are taken on a journey through a cavernous railway terminus waiting area,into a raging forest fire,fanned by a Antarctic gale. Collapsing brutalist architecture on all sides mask the stifled cries of women and children beneath the rubble of  a nuclear winter; but the speaker system is still issuing instructions that no-one will hear.
This is as accurate an aural reconstruction of thee last days of man on earth as you're likely to hear.If you listen very carefully, one could almost hear the immortal last words of Captain Oates,"I'm just going outside, I may be some time!" Minóy and Zannóy left the safety of the tent sometime ago,and never returned;in Minóy's case he has now left for eternity.

Track(s):

1- Mmmazamm (30.53)

DOWNLOAD the DddddddownnnnnnLoaddddddd HERE!

Minóy\Zannóy ‎– "Zanminoise" (ZH27 ‎– 405) 1985

Whereas previous tapes recently,by Luis Mesa and Minoy have reminded your narrator of the eerie soundtracks from childrens TV of his youth (Namely the Clangers). This single sided C60 collaboration between Zan Hoffman and Minóy sounds more like the end of the Clangers planet.We are taken on a trip past the incinerated music tree,a deserted soup mine,with the irradiated remains of the Soup dragon.The iron Chicken is nothing more than a pool of molten metal,now re-solidified as a formless blackened blob.The Clangers homes themselves show signs of being hastily evacuated,with their belongings scattered in the ensuing panic.
This tape offers little clue as to what caused this mass extinction,just the post apocalyptic wind blowing across empty kids TV scenery. All that's missing is the wonderful voice of the late great Oliver Postage(the voice of my childhood) to describe the emptiness.

Tracks:

1- Zaminoise (31.05)

DOWNLOAD a soundtrack for the kids programme at the end of the world HERE!

Minóy ‎– "Plain Wrap Purgatory" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 96) 1986

Like a slow motion trip through an  impenetrable sea fog,scraping the passing hulls of lost ships,and time-stretched Doppler effected fog horns.The title track lures the listener onto the rocks like an outsider-garde siren in a haunted ocean of white noise.
Track two could be the black box recording of the missing Malaysian Airlines jet that allegedly sunk beneath the waves of the south china seas,lost in the dense fog of track one.
This sick pantomime that we call life,really is a Plain wrap Purgatory; and Minóy captures it perfectly within the constraints of one C60.Those outsiders sure have an objective view of things from their enviable vantage point.

Tracks:

1- Plain Wrap Purgatory (26:48)
2- Flying Overhead (31:24)

DOWNLOAD some purgatory unwrapped HERE!

Minóy ‎– "The Tyranny Of Distance" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 209) 1986

We've already had Luis Mesa's versions of the" Forbidden Planet" soundtrack,so its only fair that Minóy did his own attempt. Except that  Minóy's version is far more towards the "Clangers" end of the spectrum than Mesa's;for which I am most thankful.(NB,as i've said before The Clangers is a strange BBC kids programme from the 70's).
That's restricted to side A anyway.
Side B is two different parties(as in the forced jollity type of Party) recorded from inside a pocket.I've had many voice-mails that sound like this.basically I should have released them as avant garde noise scapes,then I would be as ignored as the late great  Minóy is today. But, he is becoming less ignored by the day,to hopefully become another in the long line of 'famous when dead' innovators of Art.

Tracklist:

A	-The Tyranny Of Distance (29:42)
B	-Tennessee Dance Song Mix (Homage To Prince) (30:59)

DOWNLOAD the distant tyranny of  Minóy HERE!

Minóy ‎– "The Conditions Of Post Modern Male Bonding" (Sound Of Pig ‎– SOP 214) 1986

One of Zan Hoffman's frequent collaborators was the legendary Minóy,who I notice had sound sources contributed to a Zanmerz tape or two. There are many Minóy cassettes to be heard,quite a few on this site(check them out here).
His trademarks are saturated tape to tape collages of mostly non-musical sound sources,mixed up with a lot of his favourite Radio Shack reverb effects,This creates a dense fog of fuzzy noise that shifts and undulates to create something otherworldly and barely in control by its creator.
Side 1 shifts from recreating the ambiance of an underground V2 testing bunker network,during a test;to the sound of the heavy bombers coming to bomb it.
Side 2 is a clash of some hellish railway station tannoy battling with bustling commuters and a near-by marching band pageant. Melting together  like Auchwitz bound cattletrucks accompanied by the Treblinka jewish orchestra.
I just can't stop making world war two references!......but so what,I enjoy it.I find there's an analogy for all areas of life in both War and Football (soccer if you're american).And the former applies to this Minóy release;although as a Leicester City fan this could easily be the soundtrack to our season with its elements of foggy self-destruction,but definitely a tape of two halves.
(note- on side 1,i appear to have recorded an evil microsoft windows 'boing' sound while i was ripping the tape! For this i apologise profusely,although it does seem to fit in with the general concept. At least that's the excuse i'm giving for not ripping it again.Sitting around for 60 minutes while it rips in real time ain't too stimulating!)

Tracklist:

Side A-	The Conditions Of Post Modern Male Bonding (30:00)
Side B-	Dusty Antagonist Awake On The White Steps Of Late Afternoon (28:16)

 
DOWNLOAD some post modern male bonding conditions HERE!

Merzan / Zanmerz ‎– "Frightened And Ecrasez L'Infâme" (ZH27 ‎– 010) 1992

This works more as a collaboration than the previous two cassettes by Merzan/Zanmerz.Whereas the earlier tapes sounded like two separate sides by two different artists,this one merges far more as an album.
The side mixed by Luis Mesa is more of a conventional scraping drone,like claws down a blackboard;but,again the Zan Hoffman mix side is far more inventive.It takes you in several unexpected directions,twisting and squirming like a trapped eel out of water.Always maintaining the listeners interest,rather than being bored by another Drone.

Arranged By, Mixed By – Luis Mesa (tracks: A), Zan Hoffman (tracks: B)Featuring [Audio Sources] – Merz , Zanstones

 

Tracklist:

A	Merzan Frightened	29:01
B	Zanmerz Ecrasez L'Infâme	31:16

DOWNLOAD L'Infame,L'Infame,they've alllll got it In fer me! HERE!

Merzan / Zanmerz ‎– "First Affaire" (ZH27 ‎– 074) 1991

This, predictably, is Zan Hoffman and Luis Mesa's first mail collaboration. The usual noisy droney vortex of tarnsformed sound sources,that fit snuggly into the "Other" category. Zan's the man,mixing humour and a great sense of image with the avant garde.....and because of this remains roundly ignored,despite releasing around 1200 albums.Founder of the adage,"if you throw enough mud at the wall none of it will stick".....I made that one up,but very applicable to Zan,and probably Luis Mesa too.The difference is Zan Hoffman isn't giving up,and Mesa has disappeared.

Tracklist:

A1	A Letter To L.M.
A2	Climax
A3	Black Dream
B1	Rumor De Registro Secreto
B2	Religiones Blanco

DOWNLOAD more mud to throw at the teflon coated wall of opinion HERE!

Merzan / Zanmerz ‎– "Hell City And GoGoCrash" (Tonspur Tapes ‎– TT 43 /ZH27 016) 1991

There aren't many artists in the cassette culture universe that Zan Hoffman hasn't collaborated with in his 27 years of sonic exploration; and Merz,or luis Mesa isn't one of them. Under the merged oneness  of Merzan/Zanmerz they combined by sending each other tapes in the post,an extension of the Mail Art umbrella. Essentially,this is basically a Merz track on side A, and Zan Hoffman remixing soundsources from Minoy,Agog,1348,Merz,and himself,to create something unique and extraordinary on side B.
The humour of Zan Hoffman is always to the fore on any of his thousands of releases,and he always has a talent for a funny title or two. Its a whirlpool of unexpected and unconnected sound bytes,swirling in an unstructured soup of effects and mixer manipulation.This has more in common with free jazz than any other experimental musics. Anything goes in the search for the 13th note when Hoffman's in town.

Tracklist:

A	Hell City
B1	She Plays A Mean Car Crash
B2	Gogominoymadreadmetal

"Hell City", composed by Merz in Madrid, 1991.
"She plays a mean car crash", recorded by Zan in Louky. Featuring "no title" (Merz), How loops, Agog viola, John Wiggins (fresh wig), Runzlestirn & Gurglestock.
"Gogominoymadreadmetal" (remixed 11/17/1991), featuring 1348, Merz, Minóy & Anika.

DOWNLOAD this car crash of a cassette HERE!

Luis Mesa ‎– "El Sueño" (Self Released tape) 1985

Luis Mesa does the Forbidden Planet part two.Quite remarkably similar to those weird 1950's oscillators fed through a 1950's reverberation room. A kind of a tribute to early electronic music.
"Piel" is listed as just one track,but there seemed to be three separate tracks when I edited it ,so behold,"Piel parts 1,2,&3".

Tracks:

1.El Sueño
2.Piel (part 1)
3.Piel (part 2)
4.Piel (part 3)

DOWNLOAD a cutting edge 50's sci-fi soundtrack from the er.....mid-80's HERE!

Luis Mesa ‎– "Alquimia Detras" (IEP) 1985

Wonderfully wonky sound collage of electronics and muffled speech samples; juxtaposed with some fine modern electronic composition.This is how I like my industrial music to sound from my humble standpoint. His best tape I reckon.

Tracklist:

A1	Religiones
A2	De La Nada
A3	Profecia
A4	Cuando Nos Conviene
A5	En Trance
B1	Viaje Imaginario (Partes I-VII)

DOWNLOAD willy wonky and his noisy factory HERE!

Luis Mesa ‎– "Arqueotomia" (Grand Mal Edicions) 1986

A C1....yes you read it right....a C1,not a C90,which lasts 90 minutes,but a C1 that lasts one minute!
Two 30 second bursts of noise,to be played on an auto-reverse cassette deck making a continuous loop with a theoretical time length of Infinity.
I have made a short 6 minute loop edit for those of you without an auto-reverse iPod,so you can get a taster without listening to it for eternity. Either a statement on the finite constraints of time,or on the freedom we deny ourselves to choose when to end something that can never be eternal,be it life or a chrom-dioxide tape that will eventually wear out before you press the stop button.

Tracklist:

1	Arqueotomia 1
2	Arqueotomia 2

3 Arqueotomia 3 (Die or Diy? bonus loop edit)

DOWNLOAD a moment when analogue is incompatable with digital HERE!

Bercomize ‎– "Black Love" (Extrema Pasion ‎– EP 113) 1988

The UK may have gone insane in 1988 with that drug feulled mass hysteria called Rave culture,but Spain were spared this atrocity until the Brits destroyed Ibiza a short while later. So Luis Mesa was free of the prevalence of that creativity destroying mind control drug MDMA. He was therefore able to carry on making pure noise with no funky drummer beats,or four to the floor dancefloor stompers.
Hear this dentists drill penetrate your molars,and get "Black Love"(d) Up,without a dancing chav in sight.

Tracklist:

A1	Untitled
A2	Untitled
B1	Untitled
B2	Untitled
B3	Untitled

DOWNLOAD some black love HERE!

Recursos Ajenos / Tecnica Material ‎– "84 - 86 / Espectros" (IEP ‎– IEP 105) 1986

Luis Mesa does his best Residents(without the singing) impression as Recursos Ajenos on side A.Nine minimal bontempi organ ditties,that wouldn't have been out of place in  Eraserhead.
On side B he hooks up with his compadre from Madrid, Miguel A. Ruiz, for some more conventional Industrialised electronica.

Tracklist:

	Recursos Ajenos: 84-86
A1	Cántico I
A2	Mi Muñeca
A3	Baile En Las Cavernas
A4	Gatos
A5	El Velatorio
A6	Un Mar Verde
A7	Le Soleil
A8	Nana
A9	Cántico II
	Tecnica Material: Espectros
B1	Not Apartheid
B2	Solo De Mañana
B3	Insuficiencia
B4	Los Que Sufren
B5	Union Carbide
B6	A Mil Kilómetros
B7	Espectros

DOWNLOAD recursos material HERE!

Recursos Ajenos / Merz ‎– "Una Exposición" (IEP ‎– IEP 07) 1985

Luis Mesa appearing as two bands.On side A he is Recursos Ajenos, and on side B,he is his usual self as Merz.
Recursos Ajenos is the melodic side of Mesa,with synth melodies,drum beats and choir samples.There's even a chorus laden guitar, plucking a melancholic melody on 'Juegos Blancos'. This side of the cassette finishes with a discordant keyboard marching stomp.All very accessible,so i'm sure the other side will be the 'normal' Merz/Luis Mesa dysfunctional experimentation.......just listened to it and yes it is.

Tracklist:

	Recursos Ajenos:
A1	El Himno De Los Muertos
A2	Juegos Blancos
A3	Cánticos
	Merz:
B1	San Remo '84
B2	La Cólera

DOWNLOADtwo sides of luis mesa HERE!

Merz ‎– "Aibre" (IEP ‎– IEP 101) 1985

Luis Mesa made, for some unknown reason, two different albums called "Aibre", one under his own name, and another by his Merz alias.Whatever the obsession with the word 'Aibre' was I don't really want to know, and all the info I could find on it is that is a place in France near the Swiss border!!/....uh?
This version sounds like a cross between the soundtrack to "Forbidden Planet", by Bebe and Louis Barron ,and a whole series of 'the Clangers'*. An electronic music without synthesisers that hark back to the early days of Stockhausen.

*An English kids tv series from the 1970's,which featured an Iron Chicken made from junk,a Soup dragon who made soup for The Clangers;who also ate blue string pudding,and went fishing in space powered by music notes from a music tree.......and now you know why the English are weird!......so what excuse have the Spanish got?.....I got it.....bull fighting.

Tracklist:

A1	Pájaros Electrónicos
A2	La Gran Señora
A3	Exclusión I
A4	Bajo La Lluvia
B1	Aibre
B2	Exclusión 2
B3	Kaleidoskopio
B4	Collage Mixto

DOWNLOAD from the  forbidden clangers planet HERE!