Sunday 27 October 2024

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)


Monday 21 October 2024

Fuzzhead – "God Bless Your Short Attention Span" (Heliocentric Worlds Of Sound C-60) 1991


 A C-60 of Fuzzhead's earlier cassettes compiled from their Freaky Hip-Hop post club plunderphonia era. Existing within the realms of some kinda unpopular Hippie Hop transition phase.
Thankfully they stuck all of that stuff on one C-60 to register it for posterity before they made the correct choice to get freaky.
As much as I prefer their freakout psych-noise stylee, this has an almost acceptable commercial tinge from the shit end of that particular drumstick,and serves as a gateway sound for youngsters over thirty to find an appreciation of the spontaneous, and less likely, a conduit for noisy psychedelics to be exposed to something that has nothing at all to do with "It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back, but you can see what they mean through the toxic smoke of Chuck Zyklon D's less advised moments.
Yep, this sounds nothing like any Hip-Hop I'm aware of,in fact its a tenuous connection,but has all the hallmarks of someone trying to find their way around a darkened room guided only by the extreme boredom of a drum loop drawing you closer to the edge of a cliff.
A concept embraced by the Tik-Tok generation,who swarm the highways and by-ways of the world wide web like lemmings looking for a way out of the labyrinth as long as the exit doesn't involve anything longer than 30 seconds of screen-time.

Tracklist:

A1 Star Time 1:11
A2 Jackie Drove Away 3:26
A3 Wake Up America 3:48
A4 I'm Just A Freak 4:11
A5 Over And Over 1:16
A6 10 More Minutes 2:52
A7 Fishbowl 3:47
A8 That Stuff 5:33
A9 Kitty Cat 4:29
B1 That Chick Can Sing 4:30
B2 Wonderful Love 5:16
B3 Over The Edge 4:24
B4 Pistol Packin' Mama 4:02
B5 That Baby O' Mine 2:10
B6 Chrome Disk 4:11
B7 Get This Party Started 2:47
B8 Johny 3:41

Friday 18 October 2024

Fuzzhead – "El Saturn" (Ecstatic Yod - Actuel 7– FYPL-11) 1995



Another rather lovely interpretation of a BYG gatefold from the early seventies,this time involving improv weirdo's Fuzzhead from Cleveland (?) ,honoring original BYG artist, the Saturn dwelling Sun Ra.
Basically, garage-psychedelic freak-outs is what we have here, lengthy and totally improvised space jams that I'm sure Sun Ra would have approved of,even though he insists that all his music was written down and followed note for note.This I cannot apply to Fuzzhead,who, quite clearly are making this all up as they go along.Even daring to meddle with a few of Ra's Greatest Hits.Remember that K-Tel album,"The very Best of Sun Ra and
His Intergalactic Research Arkestra"? Not the

Sun Ra & His Solar Myth Arkestra one, that was on Ronco...not available in stores.
Just a quick note of interest, that Marshall Allen is still at the helm of the Sun Ra Arkestra,which is remarkable bearing in mind that he is in fact 100 years old and counting as this goes to press!?
However,Side 2 returns us all briefly,well,22 minutes worth anyway, to the bizarre mushroom and Ayahuasca influenced form of abstract Hip-Hop that Fuzzhead used to do in the early nineties.
It definitely is After The End of the World......Don't you know that yet?

Tracklist:

A1 Its After The End Of The World
A2 We Travel The Spaceways
A3 I Am The Brother Of The Wind
B1 El Saturn

Thursday 17 October 2024

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

Tuesday 15 October 2024

Jimmy Smack – "Death Is Certain" - (Knekelhuis – KH040) 1982-83 / 2022


Hmmmm, Nice Arse.

Electric bagpipe drone weirdness from LA deathrock outsider Jimmy Smack. 'Death is Certain',aww and there's me thinking I was gonna live forever, is assembled from two self-released 7"s and a similarly self-released twelve incher from 1982/3.
Looking at him I sense he prefers a good 12 incher to a nice seven incher any day, but then again don't we all?
There aren't many records that can boast an electric Bagpipe, but this one does,so its already automatically good,never mind the Suicidal tendencies, as in that Rev and Vega kind of minimalism.

Always keep at least one hand on yer bagpipe kiddies.

Slapping on the corpse paint well before all those Scandinavian Death Metal drongos,Jim reminds one rather of a scotch Alien Sex Fiend,or Fad Gadget.
Is he trying to frighten us or something?....I really think he is!?
Although he was unhealthily obsessed with Death, he soon decided to quit after receiving an opportunity to find out what Death was really like when he received several Death Threats.Apparently he wasn't too popular with the LA Deathrock audience,regularly booed off and and a hate target.Worried for he and his families safety,....Yup, he had a wife and Kids!?.."he bailed right after the death threat thing. Stopped,and sold his pipes(how much did he get for them?)." Went back to his day job permanently,that's right he was a Ballet Dancer,and even more incredibly....NOT GAY!?
Smack, not his real name i'm guessing, was a multi-disciplined artist,so when he wasn't donning death mask war paint,he was preaching the gospel of Cold War nihilism; or channeling paranoia with great urgency through the howling banshee screams of electrified Celtic bagpipes.Or,doing The Nutcracker on Broadway?
At least we can now reassure ourselves with the knowledge that Smack never struggled for work,and I quote:"I was in the theatre all the time, my whole life. I had the Hollywood Free Theatre and then the Star Theatre. I was just always on stage doing something. Worked with all these clowns, we were all clowns so I became a clown — I was Jimbo the clown.”.....interestingly Not Smacko the Clown?
If only Johnny Rotten became Jimbo The Clown after Wobble left PiL, then the world would have been a marginally better place......if slightly creepier.

Tracklist:

A1 Anguish 9:51
A2 Hating Life 3:12
A3 Depression 2:09
B1 Souls 1:26
B2 Cybernetic 1:38
B3 Death Is Certain 1:56
B4 The Scarlet Beast 1:38
B5 Batty 2:31
B6 Anguish (Instrumental) 8:51


DOWNLOAD smacko the clown HERE!

Friday 11 October 2024

Executive Slacks – "Can't Hum In Europe (Live)" - (World Wide Terror) 1985


Big in Holland........wasn't there a band called that?
Whatever, either way The Executive Slacks were.......Big In Holland.
A fact this live in Europe Cassette demonstrates nicely as all of the Dates on this tour seemed to be in The Netherlands....except a couple,which were in Gay Paris,and the inevitable  appearance in Belgium where every band sounded like this with all that Belgian New Beat stuff and EBM.
As listed in the insert notes,as if you're interested, here's the actual Tour Dates for you nerds out there:
Executive Slacks live in Europe '84: Amsterdam (NL) - Venray (NL) - Tilburg (NL) - Rotterdam (NL) - Vlissingen (NL) - Arnhem (NL) - Utrecht (NL) - Groningen (NL) - Wageningen (NL) - Paris (FR) - Brussels (B) - Sint-Niklaas (B)
Nearly every Dutch person I know comes from Groningen, except for long time commentator on this blog, Henk Madrotter, who has admitted liking The Executive Slacks a lot,so I'm guessing that Mr Madrotter was in the audience in Rotterdam?
New wave / industrial band mixing primitive electronics, harsh guitars and aggressive vocals. From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA...it says here.
And yes we did call this kind of stuff Industrial back in the mid-eighties, although I don't see why,same for Nine Inch Nails. Americans doing this kinda stuff was and is rare.Other examples are Front Line Assembly......or were they Canadian?..Skinny Puppy?.....they were Canadian too I wager? Crash Course in Science came from Philadelphia didn't they?.....as you see we don't google anything on Die or DIY. The Neo-Luddite movement starts HERE!

Well, being the closet Numan Fan fan boy,that I am, I'm hearing Numan here,so I have no right to complain. 
Note the reference to "The Park"...as in,"Down In The Park",Tubeway Army.The same tune fucked over by that Trent Reznor knob,and if i'm hopefully mistaken, by that Marilyn Manson Twat.

Tracklist:

A1 The Park
A2 Sisyphus
A3 In & Out
A4 Cinema
A5 Man Of Christ
B1 Our Lady
B2 Ecce Homo
B3 Electric Blues
B4 I'm Coming


Wednesday 2 October 2024

Deef – "Real Control" (Mass Record) 1984


Starting with a sentiment that we can all agree on, this bunch of brutal Japanese Punk Rockers takes no prisoners,play it loud until you too become Deef.
Old Punk Rocker Heroes such as the terminally awful John Lydon,are almost as bad as their fans,and should do us all a favor and voluntarily turn themselves in at the sadly fictional local extermination camps for gobshite Rockers.
Turning from enemy of the state number one,into housewives favourite, never before have we heard such self-congratulatory verbal vomit as we have in the last decade or so from Neil Young's Punk of preference (says it all dunnit?).Unfortunately,Johnny didn't heed Neil's sadvice and proceeded to fade away rather than burn out.. Having said that I would still turn into a giggling fan boy if by some quirk of reverse indefference I should ever meet Him; He having such a deep influence on the teenage Zchivago,a nose in front of William Shatner and Steve Priest(RIP) would reduce me to a sweating nervous titter should I ever, in earth as it is in Heaven? My Dignity strewn among the wreckage of my free-falling self esteem.
Like a Doubting Thomas of the as-yet unwritten Rock'n'Roll Bible, I have often denied any knowledge of J. Rotten's existence;a Judgement mainly based the endless toe-curling clap-trap this arrogant gob-shite proudly continues to spew forth from 1981 until the present day!? And the public and the dodgier corners of the Media  take it seriously as if this Tubby Tory Tosser is some kind of populist philosopher!? Like his best mate Piers Morgen who would splash a spray of spittle soaked Sycophancy in the general direction of Rottens Arse, whilst exclaiming that he had bought "Never Mind The Bollocks" as a privately educated Yoof..When I die I would love my ashes to be scattered in Peirs Morgans' eyes.
There are similar dick-eads too numerous to list here of course, eg Cave, Geldof.....are they not the same person?....and many others,all of which should have become a noble recluse ,not unlike the Great Syd Barrett,whom I am told was one of Lydon's many influences!???
Then we have the Rebellion Festival look,of beer bellies,fading Tat's,bald heads, shorts and training shoes.Waddling to the Cockney Rejects, reminiscing about their fantasy gig list.Ahhh the night that the UK Subs came to town.
There's a youtube interview with the least stupid member of Spandau Ballet, who went to the Pistol's Screen On The Green show, like I wasn't there too. He saw the Pistol's ,aged 14,and formed Spandau Ballet the next day!?.....let's analyse that for a second? He saw the Sex Pistols and Formed Spandau Ballet? He really couldn't have been listening!?...or there at all, like the thousands who reckon they were.
One always meet these people down the pub and similar social outings,who can't wait to tell you that they're an aging "Punk"?...(If you're a Punk, mate, I certainly ain't). They talk about these fictitious gig nights like they were actually in the Band,and use words like "important" and "crucial"and how they formed a band the next day after seeing 'The Pistols'.
Well, Deef probably have beer bellies forty years on too,but as they are Japanese they're probably genetically slim still;but I'm sure they aren't still touring like The UK Subs...nobodies that irrelevant...surely?
So,"We kill all Punk Rock Heroes"....yes even Gary Kemp,the criminal who wrote "Gold"....cus' he was there you'know...and we weren't.


Tracklist:


A1 We Kill All Punk Rock Heroes
A2 War
A3 脳テン
A4 拷問
A5 メス
A6 Y
B1 Detai
B2 幻想的教育論
B3 キ・ン・タ・マ!?
B4 家畜
B5 ナイ!
B6 自殺
B7 サルの肉
B8 天国パイロット

DOWNLOAD deefinitely HERE!