PATRICK BURKE-SILENCE AND TIMING, LP, 1981, USA

This fantastic and very obscure private press oddity is a solo outing from a member of the cult post punk unit Parasites Of The Western World. Silence And Timing may refrain from some of the balls out avant rock maneuvers heard on POTWW's recently reissued album on Destijl, but it's a knockout in its own less overt way; Burke's idiomatic boundary blur in this instance being between dreamy psych and melancholic post punk, with passing overtones of both Brian Sands and Gignoux's The Broadway Boys, though this has got a darker overall cast than either of those.

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ILITCH-10 SUICIDES (CD REISSUE W/BONUS MATERIAL), 2xCD, 1980, FRANCE

Proffered once before at the dawn of Mutant Sounds in its original LP incarnation by Jim, it seemed crucial to share the deeper mysteries of one of France's most radical and profound voices once more with the contents of this vastly expanded double CD reissue of their second outing, now that this version is out of print. Ilitch was Thierry Mueller plus guests and his approach heard on 10 Suicides (as opposed to their more atmospheric and Fripp-damaged debut) is precisely situated between the acid prog synth meltdowns of Verto/Spacecraft/Heldon/Lard Free on one end and the synth punk-esque attack of Metal Urbain and Lucas Trouble on the other; a particulaarly nerve shattering and spellbinding place to locate an aesthetic. 10 Suicides is expanded and enriched by the inclusion of the 12 minute CD capping and narrative laden oddity "Culture", but it's the second disc of bonus goodies in particular that will prove a real boon for seasoned psychonauts, culling together as it does both the original full 16+ minute version of the atmospheric Comma Programma (sections of which were originally excised and used as fragments on 10 Suicides) and, more significantly, offering up 35+ minutes of re-titled material first heard on their impossible to find Eurock cassette-only release P.T.M. Works that harks back to their Periodik Mindtrouble debut, but takes it much deeper into vertigo-inducing, Lard Free-damaged and phaser-queased kosmiche ends. Absolutely crucial!

Note: links removed at the request of the artist

ACOLYTES ACTION SQUAD-INCREDULOUS SHRINKING WORLD, LP, 1998, UK

Recessive and profound mystery school electronic probings from one of the great overlooked bands of the last 20 years. I shared AAS's delirious second outing "Bust Of" way back in '07 and this debut outing is every bit as startling. Operating in a strange and melodically downcast furrow dug out somewhere between the desolate subterranean investigations of Storm Bugs and Asmus Tietchens' work with both Liquidski on the Monoposto picture disc and with Ulli Rehberg as a member of Mechthild Von Leusch, this album held me in a spell for months around the time that it came out. Investigate the contents herein and let them exert the same queer gravitational pull on your reality tunnel that they did on mine.

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***NOTE: THERE'S A MIRRORED MEDIAFIRE LINK IN THE COMMENT FIELD***  

BACIAMIBARTALI AND WINTER LIGHT-S/T, SPLIT LP, 1982, ITALY

Denmark's Scatterbrain and Communication as well as Chapter 24 and Martin Dupont would all be good touchstones for the very sharp post punk maneuvers in play on this intense Italian psuedo split album (pseudo in that both bands comprise most of the same folks). Baciamibartali yield the most obvious drama, while Winter Light's more spacious and and sometimes dubwise approach supplants the live drummer with a rhythm box, while still managing to traverse similar zones with some aplomb.

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BIB SET-IT WASN'T MEANT TO HAPPEN..., LP, 1969, SWEDEN

Continuing my shares of Swedish underground goodness, here's a key piece of the puzzle. This slurry and wasted organ drenched treasure from the heyday of their psychedelic scene has a very obvious simpatico with Mecki Mark Men, though it's atmospheric weightiness, wandering bits of dreamy abstraction and the agonized and yearning vocal angle also occasionally call to mind The Mandrake Memorial. Absolutely crucial stuff!

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AURAL INNOVATIONS SPACE ROCK RADIO PRESENTS VAS DEFERENS ORGANIZATION

As a way of celebrating the release of VDO's Ninth Ward Fourth World LP, our pals at Aural Innovations, one of the internet's longest running and most comprehensive space rock outposts have done us the honor of constructing a two hour long podcast exclusively devoted to Vas Deferens Organization and comprising work from our complete catalog. You can find that Here

Make sure to dig around the rest of their site as well. It's a treasure trove of information for the psychedelically inclined...

DOGGEREL BANK-SILVER FACES, LP, 1973, UK

The first of two albums by this fantastic, forgotten and determinedly wacky UK outfit, Silver Faces is probably best understood as a quintessentially British spin on the sorta absurdist polit-rock of Germany's Floh De Cologne (particularly circa Fliessbandbaby's Beat Show), though the particular (sub)cultural lens it's being viewed through here renders the results somewhere between Monty Python, Daevid Allen's The Death Of Rock, The Bonzo Dog Band, that "Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" bit on Jethro Tull's Passion Play and, when they're rocking out a bit, even a bit of an akin to the Chou Pahrot LP that I'm also sharing today.

***************NEW LINK POSTED SEPTEMBER 2012***************

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THE AVANT GARDENERS-THE CHURCH OF THE INNER COSMOS, LP, 1984, UK

This oddball U.K. crew debuted under the moniker The Avant Gardener with a single on Virgin in 1977, after apparently winning some sorta talent contest. This is not something you necessarily need to hear. At that nascent stage, they were a faltering, if spirited mess (the determined can find it Here along with a withering and lengthy anecdote about them from the engineer of the sessions). Dial forward seven years however, with a reformation, a previous (unheard by me) LP and two new members in their ranks and it's a very different story; this latter day Avant Gardeners stuff having moved from abject fumble to expressively wobbled and arty dark-tinged post punk laden with psych pop overtones and a vibe akin to The Legendary Pink Dots, The B People and The Deep Freeze Mice.

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LIGHTDREAMS-ISLANDS IN SPACE, LP, 1981, CANADA

Brain soaking space rock magic with substantial acid folk underpinnings from these ace cosmonauts and contemporaries of Melodic Energy Commission; another Canuck crew who forgot to tone down the high ritual psychotropic magic because it was presumed passe elsewhere and whose playful approach to the idiom is mirrored here, alongside a healthy dose of other space cadets who walk the line between heat-warpingly blasted and blissfully serenading ala Dennis Weise, Woo, Steve Hillage and Ian Macfarlane/Violet Lightning.

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CHOU PAHROT-LIVE, LP, 1979, UK (SCOTLAND)

A faux live album from an outfit who were anything but, Scotland's Chou Pahrot and it's pseudonym-bedecked operatives (M. Zarb, Eggy Beard, The Amphibian & Mama Voot, from left to right) are in fact a complete blast. Sure, the tweedy/beardy thing makes them look like they just wandered in from the photo shoot for Jethro Tull's Heavy Horses and that follows through to a degree in their sound, which also touches on Gentle Giant at their most straight ahead rockin', but there's another unmistakable odor wafting off this besides ale and weed and it's the unmistakably pungent scent of those who worship the Camembert Electrique; with several of the tracks here being riddled with the tell-tale impish sax curlicues and smirky pothead pixie space rock logic of Gong.

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V/A-STORAGE KOMPILATION, CD, 1999, GERMANY

A key window into the freakier fringes of the German electronica scene, this was one of the comps that convinced me to delve into this stuff with some abandon around the turn of the century. A mixed bag of the previously available and the otherwise unreleased (including exclusive tracks by Felix Kubin & Pia Burnette, Kreidler, Helgoland, Idee Des Nordens and Tulip, Die Singende Tulip), this irresistible overview of artists associated with the Edition Stora imprint has it's finger on the same proactively absurdist left field pulse that Felix Kubin was monitoring with his Gagarin label at that same moment.

Track listing:

1. Helgoland-Throatcleaner
2. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-Fox
3. Fathers Of Hydrogen-Electric B3
4. Oleg Kostrow-Der Sack Und Das Messer
5. Klangkrieg-Trosthaus
6. Gronland Orchester-Gnu
7. Pia Burnette & Felix Kubin-Hide And Seek
8. Hammafest-Öffnung
9. Idee Des Nordens-Drop De Bomb
10. Hammafest-Wunderer
11. Nova Huta-In Mein Kopf Rauscht Lok
12. Die Welttraumforscher- eine Allerschönsten Dinge
13. Kreidler-Call Me
14. Tulip, Die Singende Tulip-Love Bye
15. Messer Fur Frau Muller-Salut Adieu
16. Idee des Nordens feat. Stora All Star Band-Idn
17. Helgoland-Waikiki Calling
18. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang-Anturner
19. Jetzmann/Liquidski-Übern Jordan
20. Halberstadt Quartett-Ein Freier Raum
21. Hammafest-Runter

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***NOTE: THERE'S A MIRRORED MEDIAFIRE LINK IN THE COMMENT FIELD***  

SUNDAY PAINTERS-SURFACE PARADISE-4TH ANNUAL REPORT, LP, 1983, AUSTRALIA

Ferocious, fascinating, claustrophobic and completely forgotten rhythm box-driven Aussie post punk cacophony that holds a mid-ground between Metal Urbain and The Instant Automatons, though less venomous then the former and less giddy than the latter. This treasure was unearthed for your edification courtesy of blog friend James Dean Brown, formerly of post-industrial beat merchants Hypnobeat, whose Huggables cassette will soon be featured here and whose latter day work as Narcotic Syntax has been issued by Perlon (more info Here )

Note: I put the wrong release date on the zip file for this, but I don't have the time to re-up it, so just know that 1983 is the accurate date for this one...


Note: it appears that this LP, alongside their first album and several singles are soon due for reissue (see note on the comment board), so the links for this have been removed.

EUGENIO MICCINI-CONCERTI DI POESIA, LP, 1983, ITALY

While many sound poetry albums may sound like a good idea in theory (especially if you've got a thing for flipped out vocalists) the reality of actually sitting with one is often as enticing as a dry hump with a hair shirt. That however is not the case here, or at least not with the jarringly odd A side (the flip side being a bit of a wash unless you get aroused by the idea of someone holding down the FF button on a cassette deck). Miccini was something like the grand old man of Visual Poetry in Italy during his life; an art practice that involved collapsing together words, figures, signs and symbols. A similar set of aesthetic collisions and elisions is in evidence here, as ancient tinny gramophones underpin increasingly hectic stereo-panned recitation en route to what sounds like armageddon in a clock making factory.

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BRUCE DITMAS-AERAY DUST, LP, 1977, USA

Following on from my post of his Yellow LP some time back, here's another wild and wooly collection from this one time fusion drummer turned avant analog keyboard maven and Joan LaBarbara associate, courtesy of Blog friend Ward, who last gifted us with the Chamberpot LP. The A side here mirrors Yellow's outwardly bound mooginess and groove splatter while the far more jazzy flip finds him in a series of enjoyable if much more idiomatically straight duets with legendary Italian jazz trumpter Enrico Rava.
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BLACK PHLEGM-MUZAK FOR ABATTOIRS, LP, 1989, UK

The name and title here really sum things up nicely, with this absolutely lost to time UK crew spewing out a murky and seasick slurry of dink beats, key quease and purgatorial atmospherics dredged up from the bowels of the UK avant garde. One of the biggest weird music collectors I ever met claimed this as a personal favorite, and while there is no accounting for taste, this certainly does manage to kick up a very specific and strangely compelling sort of malaised atmosphere.

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RONRUINS-KETSUNOANA, CD, 1998, USA/JAPAN

In which Japan's most formidable and berserk bass/drum duo dive head first into a spaghetti-tangled menage a trois with Bay Area avant string slinger and prog/punk avatar Ron Anderson of The Molecules. The corrosive chop 'n' change art spasms that ensue are both exemplary and exactly as one might expect, given the previous work of these three.

Note: links removed

FUCK UP PREVENTS POSTS 'TIL THURSDAY

Sorry...everything was planned to go up today and then I manged to lose all the texts that I'd written (along with the texts from many earlier posts) today in a technical fuck up of epic proportions. I probably won't have the time to re-write this stuff now 'til thursday rolls around. Eegads.

BRIAN SANDS-REHEATED CHOCOLATE TANGOS, 12" EP, 1979, USA

Following on from my post of this eccentric American private press art popper's Fixation LP, here's his debut EP and it's another total charmer. The whiff of R. Stevie Moore emanating off of Fixation is even more in evidence here, right down to the schtick-y asides and tape speed fuckery. Over the course of side A you'll also be treated to defocused Skip Spence-like baladeering, a Buddy Holly style rave-up and a rather Nazz-like cover of The Beatles' "Baby You're A Rich Man", though events veer substantially further askew on the flip, with the three tunes on side B taking on a very Cleveland/
Akron tinge, specifically one pitched somewhere between the Harvey Gold and Andrew Klimek singles that I've shared elsewhere.

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APOLLO-S/T, LP, 1970, FINLAND

One of the very first Finnish prog bands, Apollo was in fact the launching pad for the world renowned fusion drummer Edward Vesala, whose gorgeous work I've previously posted both under his own name and as a member of Toto Blanke's Electric Circus. Dag Erik Asbjornsen described this extraordinary acid rock/proto prog crew in Scented Garden's Of The Mind as sounding "like they're fronted by a singing moose", a description too perfect to try to top, though it only applies to the half of the album where they're in post-Cream acid pummel mode, but oh...when they are, it's sublime. If any of you out there have been hepped to Kalevala, you'd almost swear this was the same band when they're functioning off this tip; Apollo's iteration sounding as though it's being filtered though the same heavy fogbank of dope smoke that also resulted in expressions of this form like May Blitz or Peru's Tarkus. Yes. That heavy. Stomping stoned caveman shit that is just too gobsmackingly ridiculous and wonderful for words. It's also contrasted about 50/50 here with swoon-worthy orchestrated proggy prog that's very McDonald and Giles/early Crimson in tone. The tension between these poles makes for a truly epic listen.

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D-DAY-GRAPE IRIS, LP, 1986, JAPAN

Long touted as a minimal synth album of some note, this is actually more of a mixed bag of new wave moves, disarming electronic confections and the sorta Japan-specific winsome preciosity that reminds you that this was the culture that gave us Hello Kitty. It is however worth noting that the majority of the slight stuff gets front loaded here, so stick with this curio and the rewards will become ever more manifest, though the apropos of nothing sampladelic interventions on the first track ought to at least signal that something about this shebang is gonna be rewardingly off. The outre interventions really begin coming to a head with the delicious synthetic woodblock and effected vocal side A closer "Sweet Sultan", and there's more where that came from on side B, along with the one explicitly minimal synthy number here; "Dust" , a sort of Nipponese spin on Algebra Suicide. I however am more apt to opt for what follows; particularly "Ki-Ra-I", a gorgeous Woo-like heat mirage of time-suspending beatbox exotica and the limpidly beautiful pastoral electronic album closer "Float A Bort".

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