A side project of Australia's Philip Brophy, better known for his long running unit → ↑ → (pronounced tsk tsk tsk), this flabbergasting marvel does it's damnedest to wriggle free of tidy explanations. What's being proposed here is a species of mutated and horn-riddled avant electro-funk, but one that's being perverted in the most subtle and slippery ways imaginable, with the sonics here situated (to my ears at least) somewhere between B.E.F., Hajime Tachibana and Ralph Carney's work on Bowling Balls From Hell. 100% irresistible. Thanks go out again here to blog friend Chris, who also brought us last weeks bent Jek Dicoppe LP.Get it via Rapidshare here
Huge thanks to your man for digging this complete gem from the memory hole and of course to Mutant Sounds for posting it.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally jawdropping in its originality and sheer diversity of material, some of the tracks sound so strangely of the moment and you have to remind yourself they were made 30 years ago...it will definitely be in my top five of albums heard in 2010 along with René Roussel 'Rubriques' which was also made in 1980.
Anyway, here is the Discogs info for anyone that is interested:
Asphixiation - What Is This Thing Called "Disco"
Label:Asphixiation,
Catalog#:ONO 001, ONO 002
Format:2 x Vinyl, LP, 12"
Country:Australia
Released:1980
Twp things I did notice is the titles of two tracks on the rip don't have the extra text in parentheses so here they are:
L'Acrostique D'Amour (for AM Radio)
The Crush (For Discotheques)
Unless this is a mistake on the Discogs entry...it has been known before!
Hope this helps and thanks again, I imagine I will be listening to this album for a long time to come - it must be rare, there is not even a vastly overpriced copy for sale on Discogs!
Side A1 The Beat Aesthetic
Side A2 Feelings
Side A3 Asphixiation
Side A4 Blurred Movement
Side A5 Hunger-Food-Nausea
Side B1 Inocent Rhythms
Side B2 Aural Risk
Side B3 Traditional Europe
Side B4 Self Denial Is A Beautiful Thing
Side B5 African Disco Queen
A little bit more digging on the Asphixiation 'What Is This Thing Called "Disco"?' (which translates as actually reading the sleeve notes) I see that the two tracks on Discogs labelled 'A' & 'B' which I queried in my last post come from an Asphixiation single it seems:
ReplyDeleteA L'Acrostique D'Amour (for AM Radio)
B The Crush (For Discotheques)
The text in the parentheses seems to refer to the original text on the single rather than the song title, that is what I have deduced though of course I could be wrong but it makes the most sense.
Thank me for answering my own question, I'm welcome ;)
I have been listening to this album non-stop, it really is a truly remarkable artfact - still astonished there are not more comments on its sheer magnificence.
Anyone know if Philip Brophy did any more of this art punk/mutoid funk/deranged disco kind of thing?
Hi,
ReplyDeletethose two tracks are from the 12" EP that accompanies the LP, and all tracks are included in the download. Glad you're enjoying it!
By the way, if some tracks sound like they should be louder relative to the others, I thought so too, but I left all the relative levels the same as when playing the record.
regards,
Chris
Sheer magnificence! I've been looking for this release for ages. Honour to the mutants!
ReplyDeleteThanks
JDB
Obscure vinyl item for collectors only ? Well there is a lot of ideas summed up which i've dreamed to hear. To me this is amazing release that i spin more and more and still feel like hearing it for the first time. Simply great! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAmazing record, many thanks for sharing another jewel
ReplyDeleteHOLY MOLY!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. Also, anyone here in Melbourne might like to visit the Victorian Arts Centre exhibition Black Box<>White Cube which includes video and original items by Asphixiation. It's on until late September 2011 - more info here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theartscentre.com.au/whats-on/event.aspx?id=2650
Heard the song Aural Risk and was in awe...
ReplyDeleteCould you please re-up this special one?
Any chance for a reupload of this album, by any who downloaded it? Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteHey, any chance anybody could re-upload this gem? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI know the blog is dead, but is anyone who grabbed this able to reupload a copy of this elusive rarity?
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot!
Great album.
ReplyDeleteI bought the vinyl when it first came out, and, as I don't have a record player these days, am now listening to an old cassette version originally made for playing in the car.
Magic.