Monday 30 April 2018

Jandek ‎– "The Humility Of Pain" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0771) 2002


Jandek Monday beckons us yet again!
'Pain' is french for bread, and modern English for JANDEK!
Bread is a humble food, so the Humility of Pain (Bread) is very appropriate as Jandek forces the same response by the shear torture of his music.I humbly beg this jandek torture to please stop.
And so it does for short 6 day periods of tranquility, only to return to make the torture seem more intense.
Another Classic window into a mind, imagined or otherwise, of emotional turmoil and raw honest,human,suffering is what is on offer here. Filling the gaps between the notes with adequate reminders that we probably are already living in Hell.
The cover photograph,looks not unlike what the entrance to a 'real' Hell would look like in a Nightmare.Full of shadowy corners,with distant dark moanings filling the stale,dank, air;never quite seeing what monstrosity awaits past the bend in the narrow road,a visual analogy for life and the fear of its end?In fact there are a few corners of my village that look like that!?
What a great way to start another fruitless week on this rock?

Tracklist:
1 The Humility Of Pain 7:21
2 Work Of Art 4:46
3 I Stepped Out Of It 5:33
4 I Want To Look In 6:38
5 I Can’t Leave A Clue 4:43
6 Share My Life 6:45
7 You Know You Need 5:38


Sunday 29 April 2018

Die Trip Computer Die - "Abyss" (self-released CD-r) 2004


Apparently there's about 17 'Die Trip Computer Die' CD-r's doing the rounds from around the turn of the millennium. This is one that has escaped total obscurity to tickle your lug holes and stimulate your hypothalamus.
This one is very much more Post-Club, plunderphonic samplerdelic mindfuckery. Like Trip-hop fed trough a sausage making machine with added spice in place of the pure cubes of unpalatable fat. There's nothing I'd enjoy more than feeding Tricky or Massive Attack through a mincer, and selling them back to the 'hip' ganja toking clubbing clique as tastless sausages.Smoke this sausage if you dare?
DTCD, do dance culture deconstruction effortlessly,mixing it up as a nice fluffy omelet to compliment your Trippy Tricky sausage.

Tracklist:

1-18 Untitled

DOWNLOAD into the abyss HERE!

Saturday 28 April 2018

Die Trip Computer Die - "Shorter Circuits Vol.1" (Self-Released CD-r) 2001


More plundered madness from underneath the underground,and beyond beyond obscurity.Probably recorded 'Live' around 2001,there is little or no information available on these non-releases.
This is another of these privately distributed CD-r's, by noise decomposer/ video artist Lepke Buchwater (Milk from Cheltenham) with Xentos 'Fray' Bentos (also known as L. Voag, Pete the Drummer, Dr. Shagnasty and 'Bubbles' in the Beyoncé fan club, formerly of The Homosexuals) and Ted Barrow. inventor of various ur-instruments, most notably 'The Baxtertron' which was an electronic 'black box' constructed inside a recently vacated Ferrero Rocher box.
Thrill to the turgid layers of circuit bending overlaying blatantly ripped off music loopage processed to appeal to the unsuspecting post-clubber in the chill-out room, to worm its way into the befuddled brane of Mr and Mrs Henry normal,and other tattooed Chavs and chavettes.
This abstract reorganisation of popular culture into something deeply unpopular, is subversion of the highest quality, by persons who seem to have zero interest in the cult of personality, or an ego.This is to be roundly applauded......not that they'd be interested in receiving applause;one would guess they would view that as failure. 

Tracklist:

1. Summer Evilings
2. Party Rally Anthem
3. Bloodmilch
4. the Rusting Of Techno Cop
5. Anti-Fugue(Theme of the Horn Rimmed Ones)
6. The Samantha Cycle Part IV
7. Ants...
8. Buchwater-Agnet of F.E.A.R.

DOWNLOAD some fried circuits HERE!

Friday 27 April 2018

Die Trip Computer Die - "All Shag Ringo" (Self-released CD-r) 2004



In the grand tradition of Die Computer Trip Die,I've plundered a recycled review of this great ,very privately released record in a language I can't understand, by a member of the public on some forgotten web-site., somewhere out there; and Die Trip Computer Die are certainly very 'out there'; as deliberately obscurely as anybody has ever been.......to sell-out a little, i can reveal that this is distantly Homosexuals related, so you now know that its very good indeed......if a trifle smart-arse,but the 'Good' kind of smart-arse.
Take it away Fabio R.......:

"Enigmatica, intricata, colossale trilogia sperimentale di mai immessa in commercio quella di Die Trip Computer Die, in tre torrenziali satelliti ‘stream of consciousness’:All Shag Ringo, ottenuti tessendo con pazienza, perizia, intrigo ed estro casalingo, un’infinità di suoni e visioni, forme dinamiche e scarti di lavorazione.
Si ottiene un ‘monstre’ collage D.I.Y. in assoluta libertà strutturale, tra samplers, improvvisazioni, immersioni ambientali, decolli e frastorni psichedelici, rotte spaziali con onnipresenti lattiginosi filamenti di tastiera a tessere e palesare reami metafisici e visioni celesti. Tutto ciò è fatto ‘reagire’ con brandelli di suoni, sfigurate e terrificanti emissioni media, alieni-quotidiani dal richiamo mnemonico e d’effetto spiazzante. Si genera un rapporto conturbante e alquanto inaudito tra elementi sì disposti, dalle giunture truccate, di suggestive e arcane forme richiamate.
Incerta rimane la data di realizzazione, mancando qualsiasi menzione ad essa. Qualcuno menziona il 2002, ma questi montaggi potrebbero calarsi negli anni ’90, stanti indubbie comunanze con The Orb atterrati nella California dell’assurdo di LAFMS, o l’abilità collagista, fedeltà e immaginario, ardire e ardore tipici delle recenti, smaliziate generazioni di artisti elettronici." (Fabio R.)

I couldn't agree more Fabio......er.....what did you say again?

Tracklist:

1. All Shag Ringo
2. Untitled
3. I Was A Prisoner Of The Feedback king
4. Untitled
5. Loyal telly
6. Untitled
7. You Will Forget pain
8. Untitled
9. The Psilent Ones

Thursday 26 April 2018

Die Trip Computer Die - "Angry Dan Presents: Stop Killing Jelly Trousers" ( Altered States Tapes ‎– AST023) 2011


This is ,arguably, my favourite record of the 'teenies', though how one argues with oneself is worth an argument in itself.......with oneself? 
As i'm high on Volterol's anti-inflammatory magic blended with a swiftly imbibed (the past participale of 'Imbibe') pint of guiness,I will push the boat out and say, "This is a perfect record". It ticks all the boxes in my sad internet fantasyland. It's very funny, innovative to the max, challenging,intellectually stimulating, did I say 'Funny'?......well...all that lot and more.
Yes, there's a lot of Plunderphonia about this cassette, but it's not pretentious like Oswalds' version of the genre, and its shitloads more amusing than Negativland, which is natural because 'Die Trip Computer Die' are English, and Negativland are far too 'clever' for their own goods American types.Amos, aka Xentos Fray Bentos of DTCD, did, again, arguably, invent the genre after all,as L Voag back in '79? No wonder that 'Angry Dan' is livid!
Die Trip Computer Die, are ,of course, Jim Whelton, late of the Homosexuals, Lepke Buchwater (Milk From Cheltenham), and Ted Barrow.....dunno much about him,but he sounds like someone who would have ran a market stall who sold out of print soul cd's.

Here's what it  says on the Altered States website:

"Altered States is proud to plop out this latest steaming opus by the now-defunct, absurdist trio, Die Trip Computer Die. Made up of men who were at one stage or another involved in UK post-punk unit The Homosexuals, DTCD utilise various instruments, circuit-bent equipment and plundered sample loops to achieve lift-off. Most importantly they use their (collective) MIND in order to crumble YOURS. Angry Dan Presents: Stop Killing Jelly Trousers was recorded live in Pontins, Nijmegan during a holiday in 2002 with the verbal verbosity of au pair, Angry Dan mastering ceremonies. However, this recording information may be merely another red herring left in your letterbox by the Trippers. ADP: SKJT is a twice a year listen, but when you do bring yourself to press play, it ll tie your laces and poach your eggs. 60 copies, pro tapes, cover + insert by Myjyerljcle Stevrdjnen Lesteechskinz."


Tracklist:

Side A - (19:48)
Side B - (18:54)

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Various Artists ‎– "Domestic Sampler UMYU" (Umyu ‎– UmyuI-1138) 198/2


Well, while England were being knocked out of the World Cup in Spain without actually losing a single match and only conceding one goal; due to a ridiculous system now kicked to the kerb.
The Barcelona underground were strutting their stuff on this 'seminal' sampler, which also included rare tracks from Jim Whelton and Lepke Buchwater, aka Milk From Cheltenham ,Amos & Superslicks, and The Hostiapaths.These were recorded at the same session that produced the "Psst-Wanna Buy A Tape" and Bing Selfish records.
Although,most of the groups sound as if this could have been one of those fake compilations that Jim and the Homosexuals were so keen to foist on the general public.They are in fact the real Spanish deal,despite Whelton being the main reason why I have posted this album, there is a lot more of interest in the Spanish input than one would have thought.Its great stuff.

I Haven't had a bitter Rant for ages,and as i mentioned the '82 World Cup fiasco earlier........here one goes..........
Who wants to win the fucking World Fucking Cup anyway when you've got music like this to remind you that unbridled capitalistic gain has its alternatives.Such is the state of Modern Football, populated by millionaire players from countries you've never heard of, playing for clubs owned by billionaires from countries you've never heard of......a playground for the super rich, attended by the Nouveaux Riche in place of the working class who made the sport up in the first place! They've stolen our sport, like the fuckers have stolen our music, fashion, and culture. Boycott the world cup in gangster state Russia for a start (England are shit anyway so who cares?); then comes the world cup in the desert in that Football homeland of Qatar(won by bribing officials by the way...proven).With air conditioned stadia built by slave laborers, a lot of whom died so the bourgeois can watch football in comfort, before returning to their six star hotel to argue which player deserved a 100% pay rise.
Fuck that shit!.....play this record instead, and remember the days when fun was free, and the Footballers who represented your home town actually came from a street near you. 

Tracklist:

1–El Grito Acusador - Somos Punks 1:55
2–The Hostiapaths - Tchang Kai Chek 1:30
3–El Grito Acusador - James Bond No Lo Hacía Por Dinero 1:10
4–Entr'Acte - No Es Deixi Vestir Per Una Màquina 3:29
5–Milk From Cheltenham - The Unloved 1:35
6–Error Genético - Tumor En La Frente 3:00
7–Detra's Band - 10 En El Horno 1:31
8–Tres - I Doubt 3:00
9–Amos & Superslicks - Blue Pink Suits 1:08
10–Klamm - Eish Anta 6:50
11–Boris - La Banda De Doris 1:30
12–Entr'Acte - L'Altre Escàndol De L'Extranya Dona 2:45
13–Logotipo - Teoría De Contacto 3:15
14–Secreto Metro - Esparadrapo 5:01
15–Mimi Piner - Perfect Lunch 3:40


Tuesday 24 April 2018

Bing Selfish ‎– "Selfish Works" (El Frenzy Productions ‎– NM008) 1983



Another tenuous Homosexuals connection is this debut 12incher from Comedian Bing Selfish,which includes a large input from Amos (Jim Whelton),Lepke Buchwater (Milk From Cheltenham,Die Trip Computer Die!) and from the Murphy Foundation (which i may post some of.....although not a fan).
Recorded in Barcelona with free studio-time during a session for the 'Domestic Sampler' compilation (up next),this fits in stylistically with Whelton's other skewed poppy work very nicely.
the rest of the tracks they recorded cropped up on the "Psst- Wanna Buy A Tape' compilation a few years later.
Bing continues to release records today.....not heard them though, so one shouldn't comment, one supposes?

Tracklist:

A1 Spanish Dictators
A2 Australia
B1 Rekjavic
B2 He Knows
B3 The Crush


Monday 23 April 2018

Jandek - "This Narrow Road" (Corwood Industries 0768) 2001


HOORAH!It's that time of the week again.....it's Monday....and its time to start off the worst day of the week with a real downer.....It's JANDEK MONDAY!

Nearly didn't make it because of bloodvessel busting computer problems.I tried doing it on my old skool iPhone 4, but that sent me even further into the ballistic bracket! It Dun my brane in!
Alas, all is fixed now, after five hours of expletive soaked work.Now, Jandek sounds like the sweet music of Angels.....well at least like that of some haunting ginger Siren, luring happy balanced individuals onto the jagg-ed rocks of misery.

Today's choice is inspired by a kind Jandek Obsessive pointing out that this was actually Jandek's 'second' spoken word album,in the very under-used comments section of the "Worthless recluse" post; in which i had erroneously stated was actually his second, when, silly me, it was in fact his third!?.....won't make that error again, especially as i will probably never mention this album ever again in my life.
Its not as good a title as "Worthless Recluse" anyway.

Of all of the landfill site filling quantities of Jandek albums, probably the most disturbing and soporific volumes, are indeed, the 'Spoken Word'or 'Unaccompanied Singing' episodes.They sound like the tapes sent to the Police from nuts claiming to be The Zodiac Killer or Jack the Ripper's representative on earth.Or the rantings of one of those perv's with a sealed apartment in their basement, filled with missing women who were snatched as children existing alongside his and their malnourished progeny.
The untuned guitar work is sorely missed, as that was the only thing that kept one awake during the Corwood Representative's duller moments.
I dunno, maybe I'm still pissed off at my 'tech' problems?
It still scores a big '10' for creepiness, and there's nothing quite like it out there;and....its got a song/poem called 'Killer Cats In The Caribbean'!!!!.....if you don't dig that ,then you better stick to Phil Collins for your entertainment.

Tracklist: 


1 One Last Chance 29:21
2 Killer Cats In The Caribbean 3:05
3 Yes You Are 2:44
4 The Name I Had 3:30
5 I Need To Be 2:03
6 Pieces Of Place 3:29
7 Never Never Never 1:05
8 Just Like The Floor 2:20
9 Ten O’Clock Shadows 2:48
10 Come Over Here 1:06
11 Frosted Field 1:02
12 I Knew About Them 3:34

DOWNLOAD via the narrow road that is the information superhighway HERE!

Saturday 21 April 2018

Various ‎– "PSST - Wanna Buy A Tape?" (El Frenzy Productions) 1986


Another faux-compilation over which Jim Whelton (L Voag,Amos,Xentos) looms large.All the groups, are figments of his fertile imagination and endless sense of the absurd, and contains some of his silliest band names.Hardly a bad track on here.
This was also the start of Bing Selfish's music career.Tracks A2, A4 + B4 are from 1982 Barcelona sessions that led to Bing Selfish 'Selfish Works' 12"........coming up next.

Tracklist:

Esta Cara:


Intro side A 1:00
A1 –Lenin Lads - Fantasma De La Vida 2:45
A2 –El Narciso - Pass The Buck 2:09
A3 –Lenin Lads - What's For Brechtfast 1:19
A4 –The Employees -  The Boss Came Back From The Dead 2:56
A5 –Lenin Lads - Tribute To Moira Tan 3:11
A6 –Lepke Buckwalter - Evil Harry 3:37
A7 –Bing Selfish With Mari Lou, El Narciso + Toth - Senora Tokyo 3:21
A8 –Appel Singh Bankboy's Five O' Clock Train - Sex Shop International 3:28
A9 –Lenin Lads - Party Faithful 4:04


La Otra Cara:

Intro side B 0:58
B1 –Lenin Lads - Beach Boys 2:11
B2 –The Tennis Ball's Bigger Than The Golf Ball - My Blue Moon Turned To Black 2:15
B3 –The Murphy Challengers - Party Pranks 3:39
B4 –Los Delectantes - Lulu Said..... 1:43
B5 –Bing Selfish And The Sycopants - No Puedo Dejar De Pensar En Ti... 2:48
B6 –Lenin Lads - Dunlop 1:55
B7 –D.J. Taj And The New Language - First Prize, A Trip To India 3:38
B8 –Bing Selfish And The Sycopants - Petrograd Brother 2:16
B9 –Lenin Lads - Moira 2:59
B10 –Lenin Lads - Hostile Lounge 1:53


Friday 20 April 2018

George Harrasment ‎– "Masai Sleep Walking" (Black Noise ‎– BN 6) 1980


George Harrasment (see what he did there?), was basically Bruno Wizard of the Homosexuals,aided a bit by various Homosexuals, L Voag being one of the pseudonyms of Jim Whelton aka Amos, aka Xantos Fray Bentos aka......it goes on.
What we've got here are 26 stripped down,mostly instrumental, song sketchs by the most pop orientated Homosexual, Bruno. Recorded in very lo, lo-fi, one can feel the squat ambience very nicely indeed.
Not the best starting point on your gaydar to uncover all the alias's of the Homosexuals. there are better versions on the  "Astral Glamour" triple CD-r on 'Hyped 2 Death'....i'll be posting that don't don't go and bloody buy it!

Tracklist:
A1 Vision Expanding
A2 Charlie Watts
A3 High And Low
A4 Black Noise
A5 Yoghurt
A6 Ants On Safari
A7 In My Age
A8 One Minute
A9 Victoria Falls
A10 Calvary
A11 Funeral
A12 Gimme Gimme
A13 Two Horizons
A14 Another Step
A15 Symponic Thais
A16 Making Eyes
B1 Collapsible You
B2 Across Continents
B3 Eclipse Of The Moon
B4 To-To Rello
B5 Especially To You
B6 Re Entry
B7 Symbols I Love
B8 Cheetah!
B9 Early Developments
B10 Final Distance

Credits:

Bass – L. Voag (tracks: B1, B6)
Featuring – The Homosexuals
Performer – Bruno(tracks: All), Vida S. (tracks: A7)
Voice – Zoe (tracks: A1, A5, A10)

Notes
All tracks were recorded at home. Some on 2 track Revo + some on Mono Portable cheapo cassette machine. All tracks mastered on cassette machine. Tracks: 10. on Side One + 1. 6. on Side Two Rough Mixes from Sloppy Sound Studios - Surrey. The first song on Side Two is sung by lovely 'Michelle' of Battersea. Love to the twins and L Voag for bass on Tracks 1. and 6. of Side Two and much inspiration on the rest. This album was cut at Pye Cutting Studios and consequently sounds terrible.
Part collaboration: Unsound Engineer at Free Range Studios, London: Andrew Bailey


The Tesco Bombers ‎– "Hernando's Hideaway" (Y Records ‎– Y 14) 1982


Mmmmm, sounds like they're haaving fun doesn't it?.....another Homosexuals spin-off, including the irritating britpopart ratpack member of the nineties, Keith Allen, father of Lily allen. Better known as the yobbish drunk twat who hung around with fellow drunk twats Damien Hirst,and that bloke from Blur, doing cocaine and champagne......because they could......and we didn't want to.
This isn't too bad for a semi-trendy chart attempt......its got Sara, on vocals, and Amos (Jim Whelton) to add some class and moral fibre.

Tracklist:

A Hernando's Hideaway
B1 Break The Ice At Parties
B2 Girl From Ipanena (Instrumental)


Wednesday 18 April 2018

Ici La Bas ‎– "Ici La Bas" (Black Noise ‎– No.4) 1979


Another piece in the Homosexuals' convoluted and deliberatly obscure jigsaw puzzle from 1979.Not that they would have garnered any fans from their first ep at all,but they would have lost them after changing their name for this 12" ep.A time homoured method of career suicide, if a career is what they wanted, which ,of course they didn't......what's a 'career' anyway? Slavery and compromise is the definition of 'Career', The Homosexuals stood for Freedom', a much better word.
There's no boring list of personnel, and who played what, just a bunch of made up pseudonyms, and band names as if it was a compilation.
The 'real' band aren't mentioned anywhere. Instead each track is by a different made-up artist to deliberately cause maximum confusion, enigma and mystery;which worked eventually, instead all that happened initially was zero sales.

1-Regard Omission - Sax; The Master, Gtr; JV Sang
2-The Total Drop - Ici La Bas
3-Galore Galore - Yanto Novitch
4-Nippon Airways - Dirty Mary Brown & the Mystiques
5-Flying - The Prolific Urdos
6-Cause a Commotion - drums; The Master, Gtr/vox; JV Sang, flute; Alex Smart.

No group of the time could match The Homosexuals' total disregard for ambition, or were as prolific, or exude such intelligence and understanding of the Rock'n'Roll myth.
They operated completely out of the mainstream with no coverage at all from the media of the time. This Black Noise release only serves to pile up yet more mystery upon mystery, with the scant documentation accumulated from previous releases only muddying the waters further.And,rhetorically, boy do they deserve muddying?

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Amos & Lepke - "Modern shit will make you ill" (It's War Boys _ £21) 1984



As I recently acquired the sole missing piece of the "It's war Boys!" jigsaw, namely "Modern Shit Will Make you ill", aka, this tape......; and Amos (Jim Whelton) guested with The Work in Japan) and came from the same squatland scene as This Heat. I bring you this new chapter in the documentation of Amos/Its War Boys/Homosexuals recordings. Directly taken from the original Its War Boys catalog, here is one of the most obscure sonic works of the early 1980s, Modern Shit! First issued on tape (cat No. £21) this work circulated only privately among the close friends of the label and was never officially distributed. Actually, it represents one of the most intense and experimental outputs of this creative London squatland-garde period.
The idea was to create a contemporary 'Non-stop', vaguely in emulous contradiction to products by people like Cerrone and Biddulph (1970s disco queens- which in hindsight was probably even 'weirder' than this stuff?....it just lacked the sense of humour).
Lepke and Amos, the two minds behind this project (and 2/3 of the Milk from Cheltenham adventures), each constructed a half hour near-continuous non-stop collage using only the foulest materials.
In those days, they had their 8-track studio in a mouldy basement below Brixton Road, Sarf London and they happened to occasionally record some awful wannabe pop bands. It was a truly horrible experience for our heroes,but with a good side.
Almost as soon as the idiots left the studio, Lepke and Amos would start re-mixing their music, often stealing and sticking it (suitably mangled) onto new tracks, the basis material for "Modern Shit!"
Two pseudonymous British gentlemen lurk behind this Modern Shit. The first has used various vaguely absurd monikers over the years, including Amos, L. Voag, and Xentos “Fray” Bentos; the other has stuck with one improbable handle: Lepke Buchwater (no doubt meant to echo the name of legendary U.S. crime kingpin Lepke Buchalter). Currently, they comprise two-thirds of the excellent Die Trip Computer Die; in the late ’70s/early ’80s Amos was in the Homosexuals, the Just Measurers, Amos and Sara, and a host of other obscure bands, while Lepke was the brains behind the group Milk from Cheltenham.
Despite the fact that all these outfits produced wildly creative music, arguably some of the best from the post-punk era, chances are (with the possible the exception of the Homosexuals) you haven’t heard of any of them. In the case of most of these recordings, their low profile was due to a deliberate obscurantism stemming from a DIY/anti-capitalist rejection of the Music Business. As for the Modern Shit project, originally released in the early ’80s on Amos’s cassette label It’s War Boys, there was another reason for keeping things at an almost subterranean level. At the time, Amos and Lepke supported themselves by running a small recording studio, where they recorded all kinds of crappy local bands. As mentioned, after the bands had left, they would muck about with the session tapes—and a lot of that muckery/mockery found its way into this project.
Amos and Lepke’s plundered material got worked into two absurdist “mega-mixes” that were intended as a surrealistic parody of ’70s “non-stop” disco mixes produced by the likes of Cerrone (of Love in C Minor and Supernature fame). Each produced their own continuous half-hour mix, Amos’s appearing on the first side of the original cassette version (indexed as tracks 1 to 19), and Lepke’s on the flip (now tracks 20 to 37). 
Amos and Lepke worked with the same collection of resources, principally drum machines, keyboards, their own vocals, and all manner of “found” recordings—taken from records, TV, and the hapless local bands mentioned above (from whom they mostly lifted vocal tracks).
In terms of methodology, Amos’s mix bears less resemblance to an actual disco “non-stop” than Lepke’s, but it is nonetheless more impressive as a piece of music. In place of a disco’s steady rhythmic base, Amos uses recurring fragments or loops to create linkages between parts. (These bits and pieces can’t really be called “samples,” as it’s very unlikely either Amos or Lepke used samplers, which had barely been introduced at that point. Their dense collages were done the old-fashioned way, with tape manipulation, splicing, turntables, and loops.) Rhythmically, the last thing Amos lays down is a groove—rather, his rhythms are deliberately ridiculous and deranged. The mix’s wacked-out surrealism, however, is tempered by sections that are strangely beautiful, brooding, and mysterious. After a barrage of bizarrely collaged fragments, Amos’s side ends with a five-minute song that could almost seem normal if you weren’t really listening. A lifted vocal lead is rendered completely absurd through strange keyboard colourings and subtly off-kilter backing vocals.
Amos’s own lyrics (that is, when he himself is singing) are both comically ridiculous and somewhat menacing. They are also interrelated with the lyrics in Lepke’s mix: while nothing remotely like a coherent narrative emerges, both reference World War II, Nazis, and political repression.
Lepke’s mix is “funkier” than Amos’s—you can tap your foot to much of it, and an actual bona fide disco beat even crops up briefly. But it’s still a complete piss-take, and full of wildly demented humour.Hours of fun can be spent spotting the extracts form Holgar Czukay's 'Canaxis', and identifying snippets of Pierre Henri's musique concrete oeuvre.
The work these two produced,predates and will appeal to fans of the plunderphonic/cut-up work produced by Nurse with Wound, John Oswald, Stock, Hausen & Walkman, and People Like Us.But remember ,they got there first.

Tracklist:

(1-37) Modern Shit Will Make You Ill

DOWNLOAD this vintage shit HERE!

Monday 16 April 2018

Jandek ‎– "Canticle Of Castaway" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0802) 2010


Wow!....Its Only JANDEK MONDAY again isn't it!?
I've still got that dull ache in my cerebral cortex from the last Jandek Monday!
I love the creepy picture that adorns the cover, like a missing persons mugshot that's been left pinned to a notice board since the early nineties. 
This is a return to long, dark and  painful acoustic 'songs', or canticles of a castaway, which i assume is Jandek himself?. Eavesdrop on the reclusive troubadour disembowel himself  for his public; an open wound of a record. 

Tracklist:

1 Don't Go Out 29:05
2 You Weren't 6:51
3 Boys Like Blue 17:09


Sunday 15 April 2018

Camberwell Now - "Live Basel, Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne 16/06/1984" (Bootleg)


A great, crystal clear, radio performance recording from Basel in Switzerland, in front of a small but ,eventually, enthusiastic audience. Lots of amusing stage banter, and a great set from this ignored This Heat spin off;.......as has been said, its more of a Matching Mole/Soft Machine relationship to their former band, than an actual continuation. There's also an interesting interview tacked on, which gives a overview of Stephen Rickard's 'Machine', which was basically a cassette version of the Mellotron,and a precursor to the sampler.

Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne
16 June 1984

Charles Hayward - voice, drums, keyboards etc.
Trefor Goronway - voice, bass, percussion etc.
Stephan Rickard - recordings, tapes etc.

1-9 (aud.) with sony TCS-310 Walkman/built-in microphone
10 from FM radio

Tracklist:

1. Tuning
2. Working Nights
3. Daddy Needs A Throne
4. Speculative fiction
5. Sitcom
6. Wheat Futures
7. Green Lantern
8. The Ghost trade
9. The End
10 Interview Radio DRS III june 1984.

DOWNLOAD camberwell now right now HERE!

Saturday 14 April 2018

Metabolist - "Live at Actionspace, London, 20/07/1978" (Bootleg)


As fate would have it, a group who were contempories of and trod on similar territory as This Heat, were also recorded at Actionspace in 1978.
Metabolist were unashamedly influenced by Krautrock,and Zeuhl ,but absorbed just enough 'Punk' not to be dismissed as a prog-hangover......although nothing wrong with that in my book.
Although labelled as "A Poor Mans This Heat" by some sections of the UK music press,their album "Hansten Klork" is now widely regarded as a post-punk classic;which indeed it certainly is.

More Metabolist HERE!

Tracklist:

1. Curly Wall
2. Pinstripe
3. Rainy Day Sunshine Girl
4. Slaves
5. (I Can't) Identify (part 1)
6. (I Can't) Identify (part 2)
7. Unknown
8. Eulam's Beat
9. I Don't Want To
10. The Big One.

DOWNLOAD at a high metabolic rate HERE!

Friday 13 April 2018

This Heat - "Live at Actionspace London 17/07/1981" (Bootleg)



A rather tinny recording of pre or post(?) Gareth williams This Heat in action at Actionspace in 1981.The audience noise is conspicuously silent,except for the occasional distant shout in the murk where all the bass frequencies were exiled to.

Loads more live This Heat can be found by clicking HERE!

Tracklist:

1. Horizontal Hold
2. Paper hats
3. SPQR
4. Cenotaph
5. Makeshift Swahili
6. A New Kind Of Water
7. Greenfingers
8. Health and efficiency
9. Twilight Furniture

DOWNLOAD some heat action HERE!
or
DOWNLOAD the speed corrected version + HERE!

Thursday 12 April 2018

This Heat - "Live at the Prince Of Wales Conference Centre,London, 20/101979" (Bootleg)


Continuing the theme of post-punk-avant-prog, brings forth the kings of said made-up sub-genre;....That's right, more live This Heat, with a decent quality bootleg recording of a gig sometime in 1979, including a rare capturing of obscure Heat number ., "The Rough and the Smooth".....worth it for that alone.Despite some irreverent audience members chit-chatting in the presence of art history, its a rather good recording for 1979.
No doubt that the truly awful Prince Of Wales would think its all a pile of totale shite.
Apart from that I have nothing more to add....its 'This Heat' innit?
Tracklist:

1. Triumph
2. Testcard
3. paper hats
4. Twilight Furniture
5. Rough and The Smooth
6. Makeshift Swahili

DOWNLOAD with prince charles' disapproval HERE!

Wednesday 11 April 2018

Mick Hobbs and Benb Gallaher - "Bite My knee" (Life and Living Records) 2011


This Strobe Talbot 'spin-off' spoken word project recorded in 2002, involving Mick Hobbs and Benb Gallaher, apparently has sunk without trace in the heaving mires of modern information overload. Ramming headlong into a flatulent Iceberg from the 21st century musical glacier that threatens to consume all noble vessels that sail beyond the middle 'c's' . It rested on the seabed of taste for 7 long years only to be discovered in perfect condition in my e-mail inbox, courtesy of one Benb Gallaher!
Like Sir Lew Grade's abysmal "Raise The Titanic" movie, the album has been raised from the depths in near mint condition to sail,but not for sale, again to a new audience......well probably the same old audience, but who cares huh, it lives? 

This is rather good for the continuity of this blog, because I was looking for tenuous links to post some new 'This Heat' bootlegs. Mick Hobbs' Cold Storage links aside,the original backing sounds for these spoken word pieces were originally to be comprised of unreleased works from the late Gareth Williams.....of This Heat.
A reverence towards Gareth's work, led to that idea being dropped. So that task fell squarely on the more than capable shoulders of mick Hobbs, Benb and the usual suspects including Jad fair, R. Stevie Moore, and Rick Wilson.

Tracklist:

1. 99 Similes (for the Ploughman's Lunch)
2. Upon Waking
3. Sad Saturday
4. I Hate Text
5. After Driving A Considerable Distance Within A Short Time
6. Stock Exchange As Seen From Afar
7. Paintings Of Pears
8. Prompts and Replies (For Dr. Dexter -- My Physical, Revisited)
9. Attempted Definitions
10. Fun
11. The Death Of Dignity
12. New Math
13. Statements
14. Between
15. Bite My Knee
16. A Dozen Things That I Chose Not To Say Today
17. Yourself And Elsewhere
18. Business Is Brisk
19. Comme Tu Dis (Excerpt From The Memoirs Of My Mirror)
20. Someone's Birthday
21. State of Affairs
22. My Latest Theory

words: Benb Gallaher
sounds, Mick Hobbs, Benb Gallaher

aided by various pals:

R. Stevie Moore (1)
Jad Fair (2)
Alig Pearce (3)
Rick Wilson (14)
Andy Fisher (18)

Recorded May 2002 in London, UK
Released on Life and Living Records in May, 2011,


DOWNLOAD and bite someone else's knee HERE!

Tuesday 10 April 2018

Half Japanese ‎– "Perfect" (Joyful Noise Recordings ‎– JNR183) (2016)


Yeah, Mick Hobbs of 'The Work' fame, has been a member of Half Japanese for 28 years,since 1990!
Which is the reason for posting a modern, David Fair-less, 1/2 Japanese lp. The music is fair-ly radio friendly american Indie Rock, with an abnormally subdued Jad Fair providing the singing.....maybe he misses his brother? It doesn't stand up to their earlier wild untutored standards, but this always happens when a version of a classic group get back together, minus certain key-members; the same thing happened to Pere Ubu,who also resorted to radio-friendly Indie, probably to fulfill some offers to play a few Avant-Rock nostalgia shows to earn some belated income from the upwardly mobile. This is happening more and more with those bloody awful festivals choc-a-block with dancing dads freaking out to alternative groups with one original member 're-forming' after a 20 year lay off.
I can see it now, Half-Japanese and Pere Ubu playing at the Dingleberry Festival alongside Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond.The swelling crowd of 50-something baby-boomers paying 200 quid a pop, to sing-a-long to "30 Seconds over Tokyo" and "Forever in Blue Jeans"......rock is definitely very DEAD!

Tracklist:

That Is That
We Cannot Miss
You And I
Perfect
Hold On
Man Without A Shadow
Here We Are
Listen To Your Heart
We'll Go Far
That's Called Love
In Your Spell
A New Beginning
That's Right


Monday 9 April 2018

Jandek ‎– "Khartoum Variations" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0782) 2006


HOORAY! It's JANDEK MONDAY! 

Another sneaky snapshot into Jandek's mysterious existence......apparently he had a life?! Pictured here in front of an edited version of Dublin castle.
In his earlier career, I had this image of our favourite ginger whinger stuck in his house, never venturing further than his front and back yard. But later albums see him touring Europe?!
Was he cured from the sad hermit-like imprisonment of his youth,or was he just making it all up? Was he 'Normal' after all?
The songs on here say otherwise. This kind of tortured despair can't be faked, especially the tortured despair the listener feels after listening to an hour of this.......and whats more, these songs are all repeated versions from the "Khartoum" album of the year previous in 2005.
For some strange reason he never re-did "Fork in the Road"?
These 'variations' are murkier than the brighter/harsher versions on "Khartoum".....(which you can hear/read about HERE!")
Its the kind of cynical repromotion trick that large record companies do every 5 year anniversary of a mildly successful album from pops past....the 'Bonus Disc',and laughably, 'The Deluxe Edition'.......can't imagine anything about Jandek is 'Deluxe'? Where are they going to go next in their endless quest to squeeze out every last penny from us, selling the same product to us over and over again!?....No 'deluxe editions' in the world of Jandek. Just mountains of unlimited editions of his seemingly endless stream of albums.Even after he dies, i expect it to continue posthumously ,like it has with 'Muslimgauze'.
The only thing that Jandek can actually repeat,or sell us time and time again, are the bleak lyrics, along with a general vibe of hopelessness. Musically,however,its a different album,as the guitar scraping is as random and tuneless as ever. Jandek on top, miserable,dysfunctional form. 

Tracklist:

1 You Wanted To Leave 9:15
2 Fragmentation 6:16
3 I Shot Myself 6:42
4 New Dimension 5:10
5 Khartoum 8:14
6 In A Chair I Stare 5:27
7 Move From The Mountain 8:13


Saturday 7 April 2018

1/2 Japanese ‎– "Loud" (Armageddon Records ‎– ARM 7) 1981


That's right!.....Jad Fair was in Half Japanese.
So to flesh out this fact here's Half-Japanese's best album.
Chock-a-block with untuned falling apart anti-rock.....aka, wot proper rock should sound like.

Tracklist:

A1 My Concentration, Oh No
A2 2 Hearts = 1
A3 If My Father Answers, Don't Say Nothing
A4 Scientific Devices
A5 Gift
A6 Dumb Animals
A7 Popular
A8 I Know How It Feels. Bad
A9 Perfume
A10 New Brides Of Frankenstein
A11 Forget You
A12 Loud/Louder/Loudest
B1 Spy
B2 No Danger
B3 Love Lasts Forever (Sometimes)
B4 Nurse
B5 Only Dancing
B6 Bad To Your Best Friend
B7 Baby Wants Music
B8 High School Tonight


Friday 6 April 2018

Jandek ‎– "Raining Down Diamonds" (Corwood Industries ‎– Corwood 0780) 2005


Did someone mention Jandek?
As outsider music has reared its less than beautiful head on recent posts,I have an excuse to post some 21st century Jandek.
DISCLAIMER: Stictly,Not recommended to those of a nervous disposition,prone to suicidal thoughts, or gun owning social outcasts or loners with a gripe about society who live near a school.
This Diamond in the mud is one of his first 'post-live performance' albums, and features our hero in the first of a series of photo's featuring Jandek,somewhat provocatively, as a ginger Muslim on the cover.
His 21st century studio output has been overshadowed, sadly, by his emergence from the shadows to perform 'Live!?'; with other ,'proper', musicians!? Making Music that one would expect to see on a proper record label! A Shocking sell-out, or just enhancing the 'Jandek' legend,and/or myth.
This CD is classic Jandek however. Utilising his unpatented detuned bass strings method of aural torture.
Vocally and Lyrically he is in top unacquainted despair form.Very much the musical equivalent of slowly slitting ones wrists in a cold bath and welcoming the peace of death with open bloody arms.
This could clear a warehouse party with everyone on pure Ecstasy and Nitrous-oxide in less than 5 minutes. Laugh I almost cried.....or more accurately, Cry I almost Laughed; which is the eternal paradox when someone first encounters Sterling R. Smith's alter-ego.Its a strange mixture of Hilarious and Disturbing.

I've got loads of this stuff already featured on here....and more in the can!? So i propose a 'Jandek Monday' approach, where I will offer up a new Jandek album to ruin your week,every Monday......and there's loads of 'em too! 

Tracklist:


1 What Things Are 5:54
2 I Stared 4:42
3 It's Forever 3:21
4 You Ancient 3:58
5 Take My Will 8:24
6 New Rendezvous 9:37
7 Your Visitor 8:16

Thursday 5 April 2018

Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston ‎– "Jad Fair And Daniel Johnston( Its Spooky )" (50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Watts Records ‎– JAD9-2) 1989



Here they are, the Outsider music dreamteam. All that is missing to make the perfect Outsider power trio would be Jandek on guitar.
You thought you knew everything about music, well it turns out you were wrong.They told us there were twelve notes,they were wrong, they told us about time signatures....they were wrong, syncopation ,forget it.In fact everything they would force down a young person's throat in music school, and now rock school, is total bollocks!
A music class by Jad Fair would last maybe five minutes....."Just go and do it", would be the essence of this masterclass. Its a year zero,back to nature approach that we all would benefit from, without any need for Pol pot.
There's no need to 'Unlearn' anything if you don't learn it in the first place.

This is the CD version by the way...its got more on it.

Tracklist:

1 It's Spooky
2 Summer Time
3 I Met Roky Erickson
4 Happy Talk
5 McDonalds On The Brain
6 I Did Acid With Caroline
7 If I'd Only Known
8 Tongues Wag In This Town
9 Tomorrow Never Knows
10 Oh Honey
11 A Vow Of Love
12 When Love Calls
13 Frankenstein Vs. The World
14 Hands Of Love
15 Kicking The Dog
16 What I've Seen
17 Something's Got A Hold On Me
18 Villian
19 Chords Of Fame
20 Ostrich
21 Casper The Friendly Ghost
22 First Day At Work
23 Fun And Games
24 Nothing Left
25 Memphis Tenn.
26 Come Back
27 Tears Stupid Tears
28 The Making Of The Album
29 Get Yourself Together
30 What The World Needs Now
31 Sweet Loafed

Wednesday 4 April 2018

R. Stevie Moore ‎– "Next" (R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club ‎– Nt10) 1974


Erstwhile chum of Jad Fair and cohorts, R.Stevie is one of those great American eccentrics that I once thought the USA was full of......sadly this is very untrue.Unless one calls those Religious nuts in the liable belt 'Eccentric', which, in a way, they are.......like Charles Manson was eccentric.
Thats 'R.' on the cover, and I imagine it took some guts to prance around Nashville looking like that in 1974?
Our, R. Stevie, was doing DIY cassettes since the late sixties, and he's still at it today.
The music ranges from bizarre ballads, to proto-new wave rockers, to dysfunctional Adult Orientated Rock.At times sounding like Paul MaCartney and Wings if they we formed by out-patients at a psychiatric day-center, and other times like some US FM radio group....not an expert in this area so i'm struggling for comparisons!.......er........ Steely Dan(???).......on Mogadon.Well at least Neil Young coming up off tranquilizers? 
All, of course, done with a dry sense of humour and the absurd.
I'm quite confident in saying that, there was sweet fuck all like this doing the rounds in 1974, everyone in America wanted to be Led Zeppelin or Jethro Tull, no-one knew there was something else.Now, we do, so you can finally delete 'Physical Graffiti' and 'Thick as a Brick' from your hard drives to make room for the 100 plus R.Stevie Moore albums that are crying out to annoy the fuck out of your sophisticated friends.

Tracklist:

A1 Adult Tree 4:20
A2 Wonderful. Wonderful 4:14
A3 World's Fair 4:21
A4 Topic Of Same 4:54
A5 Europe 4:18
A6 Stool Pigeons And School Teachers 3:28
A7 Hot Bloose 5:47
A8 Ballad Of Ethos 7:12
A9 Kookie Coma 2:47
A10 I Still Chase The Women 2:44
A11 Danny Newberry 3:05
B1 A Thirst 3:01
B2 Pop Music 3:24
B3 Mighty Short Piece 2:52
B4 Moons 6:00
B5 New Yorkus 5:18
B6 I Not Listening 3:33
B7 Rockets By Two 6:08
B8 Quarter Peep Show 3:07
B9 I Love All The Girls 3:39
B10 The Fight 5:01
B11 I Need Your Love 4:49


Tuesday 3 April 2018

Jad Fair & R. Stevie Moore ‎– "FairMoore" (Old Gold) 2002


Everyone and their granny,in the known experimental pop universe, has done an 'ENO' collaboration it seems?
Running our Brian a close second in the 'Collaborations' ranking table is one, Mr Jad Fair, outsider rockist extraordinaire. 
It only seems right that he should do one with original DIY outsider rocker R. Stevie Moore; who, as chance may have it, also guested on Strobe Talbot's 'Lets Born To Rock' album.
Musically, its firmly on the Outsider side of the Outsider Rock continuum, sounding like a Wesley Willis backing track as played by a Nashville cabaret band on a legal high kick. Jad Fair is on his usual form vocally and lyrically, streaming the consciousness of a child with no interest in attaining the trappings of maturity,at times approaching the logic of dreams. 

Tracklist:

1 Stationary 2:11
2 That That Is This 2:00
3 Cotton Candy 2:57
4 Evil Eyes 2:24
5 Good Sign 1:58
6 Protected 2:33
7 Caramel Kisses 1:00
8 Cinnamon Roll 1:26
9 Leaders Of Yes 3:28
10 Opposite Of None 0:57
11 Supreme Beings 1:16
12 The Most 2:46
13 Two Of Us 2:21
14 Yeah, You Betcha 3:42
15 Your Theory 1:35
16 Lemon And Lime 3:11
17 Pow Pow 1:28
18 Beep The Horn Of Plenty 1:46
19 Red & Yellow Soda Cans 3:50
20 The Absence Of Trouble 2:24
21 We Are The Enhancers 2:43