V/A:2/3,CD/2ble LP,1996,Germany

Great industrial compilation released in the memory of a festival that took place in July 2005 ,where all the bands included performed there.Released in limited to 1100 copies CD format and as 3 sided 2ble LP in 550 copies.Dark industrial in all it's forms here....from the experimental noise of Winterkalt to the almost syth pop-ish lyricism of Dive and all inbetween.

TRACKLIST

1 Deutsch Nepal We Are The Angels (Gabriel) (5:05)
2 Deutsch Nepal Razor In Motion (7:00)

3 Winterkälte Global Warming 1995 (3:40)
4 Winterkälte CH4 (Live) (4:03)
5 Winterkälte NOx (Agenda 21 Version) (4:42)

6 Mental Destruction Your Dying Soul (4:40)

7 Mental Destruction Farväl (5:29)

8 Dive Too Late (4:34)

9 Dive Treasure (5:44)

10 Esplendor Geométrico El Papel De Las Instituciones En Los Sentimientos (8:02)
11 Esplendor Geométrico Generación En Crisis (6:19)

12 Esplendor Geométrico Memoria Y Percepión (4:39)

get it here

Social Climbers-st,3x7" or LP,1980,USA

Wonderful post punk combo from Indiana. Old drum machine,pre Sonic Youth-ish no wave attitude, Devo-ish robotic synth tunes.The only weak point is the voice,but the overall result is very goog indeed. Released through Goulcher label as 3X7" and later through Hoboken label as 12" LP.

Note: linked removed as this is soon due for reissue on Drag City

Phallus Dei - Pontifex Maximus ,CD,1991,Germany

The history of PHALLUS DEI starts in 1988. OLIVER ST. LINGAM releases the tapes "Pigfuck" and "Per Crucem Ad Lucem" on the "Unclean"-label under the guise of PHALLUS DEI, named after an album by Krautrock legends AMON DÜÜL. Shortly after, PHALLUS DEI signed with the label Dark Vinyl, who released the first CD "Pontifex Maximus". It is amongst the most successful debuts of an Industrial band in 1991. After a successful tour with Italian Industrial legends SIGILLUM S, the personnel changed. MK. E. ,who was with them on tour, joined the band. Also, Dutch drummer / multi-instrumentalist RICHARD VAN KRUYSDIJK (who now also works with Niels van Hoorn (the Legendary Pink Dots) as STRANGE ATTRACTOR, and with Marie-Claudine Vanvlemen as SONAR LODGE) joined the band. The trio recorded several songs, later to be released on the album "Cyberflesh". JORIS HUIJBREGTS, who also features on this CD, played previously with Richard in the band Lament, and joined PHALLUS DEI a year later. Together they recorded the critically acclaimed albums "Pornocrates", "Luxuria" (feat. Gitane Demone), "Orpheus & Eurydice", as well as "Universum"; a CD by their ambient side-project PHD2. After Joris left in 1995, they continued as a trio, shifting their sound more and more towards electronica and experimental, cinematic music. A "best of"-CD ("Adorations") was released by Triple X in the USA, and after a period when the band members concentrated on different projects, they came back strong in 2001 with a new album: "Nature Mortes". As PHD2 they released their second album, entitled "Resource".

From Phallus Dei website

One of the best dark industrial recordings from the 90s. Dark atmosphere,chanting,,melancholy.Aided as you can see above by David Tibet,Douglas P,Paul Lemos,John Balance,Vasilisk.Not like their later recordings (very nice too but much acoustic guitar driven neo folkish tunes a-la Death In June/Current 93 style).

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Alceu Valença & Geraldo Azevedo-Quadrafônico,LP,1972,Brasil

Wonderful acid drenched psych folkish mixed with tropicalia LP,creating a hypnotic psyched out atmosphere.Excellent is not enough to characterise this album! Alceu Valenca is a well-known Brasilian composer that mixes native northeastern rhythms with elements of rock and psychedelia. Geraldo Azevedo is a virtuoso guitar player who started playing with various Brazilian pop artists, and adds a melancholy, folky sort of vibe on this release. This release has a sort of breezy, easy, psychedelia that is instantly enchanting and open, with simple '60s style organ, steady groovy percussion, and interesting arrangements courtesy of composer/arranger Rogerio Duprat, who has also worked with Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, and Os Mutantes. It was reissued back in 2005 by Mariposa label in limited quantities ,and as far as i'm informed already out of print(if different let me know so i will put the link down).

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Wild & Untamed Blues Band-st,LP,197?,USA

This one is posted just as request from a friend of the blog and due to it's obscurity.Personally i find it bellow average destroyed blues / biker rock with a few psych touches.Nothing spacial IMHO.Here's an Acid Arcives review:
"...ultimate kingpin White trash real people biker rock with male/female vocals, guitar, bass and drums. One of the crudest covers ever with a black and white photo collage of the greasy fat band members and the unattractive female singer wearing a "Spoiled Rotten" T-Shirt. "Motorcycle Rider" "Hey, Good Lookin Mama", "Baby", "Don't Ya Throw It Away" "Sunday morning Blues". This is the real deal and one of the scariest private pressings I have ever come across."

get it here

Crevice-1,CD,1996+Think of pleasant things,CD,1999,USA

Long before their live debut in 1996, Crevice were obsessively toiling away in their studio, abusing their equipment to its limit in search of that perfect headphone trip. One hundred and fifteen instruments were used on their debut CD, CREVICE, which has everything from giant Moog-monster insect soundtracks to super-chill acoustic panoramas. Two of the group's three members were working on outside soundtrack projects at the time, so it's no suprise that CREVICE sounds more influenced by Apocalypse Now, The Shining, 2001, or Forbidden Planet than by any particular rock band. Yet, that's what they consider themselves. "Acid Rock", suggests the opening dialogue on the Disc. The limited edition CD sold suprisingly well for such an odd recording and the band began getting attention from the underground psychedelic press in England, Germany and the U.S.
After CREVICE was released, the weirdos in town really started coming out of the woodwork. First, the group began receiving bizarre tape loops in the mail from a local guitar-cello-effects nut. Next came the violinist, then the two sax players and a guy who made music by blowing into toilet paper rolls and smashing up Barry Manilow records "to force the records to make better music than they were originally created to make". Naturally, they were all asked to join the group.
The original 3-peice Crevice had intended to make their second album another all-studio project. Instead, now doubled in size, Crevice spent the following year playing live at various clubs, boxing rings, art galleries, warehouses, and experimental music festivals. The shows were taped for use on their second album, CREVICE 2. The weirdness is definately still there. The tripped-out atmospheres, synth-washes, oscillators, theremin, and disembodied voices, now joined by violins, cellos, saxes, flute ( and a little help from Barry Manilow) come on like an orchestra from Mars. CREVICE 2 got coverage in the mainstream U.S. music press and the European underground + airplay on several progressive radio stations. Crevice 2 was followed by THINK OF PLEASANT THINGS, a four part spacerock epic recorded live for the German psychedelic label, Get Happy!! The group also collaborated with the krautrock group S/T for their next Get Happy!! release, AHTOON ESKALOON ( available on vinyl only ).
Crevice members include and have included Bryan Stanchak, Jeff DeCuir, James Sidlo, Phillip Luna, Jessica DeCuir, Robert Jimenez, Greg Nelson, James Cobb, Steven Garcia, Boxcar Sanford, Rena Jones, Terry Stanton, Sunn Thomas, Gavin DeCuir, Mark Semmes and Joe Wallace. The band are currently touring live and performing music from their fourth CD enitled "Lullabies For Little Albert", out now on UNCLE BUZZ RECORDS. Other projects include a cut on the LOST RECORDS Eno tribute CD "The Boy Who Vanished Into the Future", Christian Marclay's MERRY MIXMAS installation at ArtPace gallery in San Antonio, various soundtrack projects, and recording a new LP with fellow Texas spaceheads ST37.

From Crevice Website

Here's a great offer by another friend of the blog,Uncle Buzz,aka Crevice. Wonderfull space/cosmic , freaked out electronic compositions ,amongst the best of it's kind. The 1st one is a 71 minutes psych/cosmic electronic explorations lost in the depths of outer space. The second one consists of 4 log meditative sonic cosmic compositions,with eastern feeling sometimes, not far from the very early Tangerine Dream/ Kluster attempts.

get crevice 1 here and think of pleasant things here.

THANK YOU UNCLE BUZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adiós Mundo Cruel -st,CD-r,2006,Argentina

Adiós Mundo Cruel ,is a project of my friend Gustavo(aka Bakounin) from Argentina,that kindly offered it for posting.This is his first attemt and he is doing it really good!Droning experimental electronic sounds with manipulated voices,reminds me some Vibracathedral stuff mixed with "Voice of America " era Cabaret Voltaire.Very well done Gustavo!

get it here

Astral Social Club #9,Live in Sheffield 16 March 2006,CD-R,2006,UK

Astral Social Club is the pseudonym of one Neil Campbell, a man whose involvement in the UK’s experimental music scene has been well documented. Through his work with the Vibracathedral Orchestra and the Sunroof! guise he has consistently amazed and enthralled listeners, not only bringing together a huge legion of fans but also managing to influence countless young acts. This latest work sees the astral traveler moving into further realms and finally putting a capital ‘c’ on club, bringing in 4/4 beats into the psychedelic fold for a change. You think I’m kidding, I can tell, but I’m being deadly serious, pitted head-on against the shimmering beauty of Campbell’s synthesized pads and patented drones are pounding warehouse beats, the sort of beats you’d expect to hear at some disused Birmingham lock-up, not in the recorded output a man best known for making jams that out-psych Sunburned Hand of the Man. It’s no bad thing though, and as you can probably imagine this ain’t your ordinary dance music as Campbell uses the teutonic beats to inform the path of the devastating drones and noise that grows around them. Elsewhere on the album we are treated to two long-form and more typical pieces of blissful dream-drone, but my money’s on the first track. Excellent stuff.
From Last FM

Wonderful droning noise soundscapes by one of the pioneers of the era.This CD-R was not available for sale and was given free at the concert.

get it here

NOTE:the pic above is a link to a video clip of this performance (found here)

Confetti - Retrospective,CD,1995,UK/Japan

Confetti were a shortlived band consisting of David and Virginia Airplane,pseudonyms of a Fat Tulips/Pleasureheards member and his girlfriend. The music is acoustic pop with guitar and tamburine and some atmospheric orchestrations, not far from the Young Marble Giants and Marine Girls sound. There are 15 songs here,which are all their offerings with a Josef K, an Au Pairs and 3 Wedding Present covers.This compilation was released through Vinyl Japan and is long out of print.

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Chas Rose-Child Of The Universe,LP,1976,Australia

Excellent psych folk LP,with great vocal parts,dulcimer, and some female vocals too.Reminds me much of Pearls Before Swine and Nick Drake. Much melancholic yet wonderfull. Should appeal to fans of Nick Drake, Duncan Browne, Steve Tilston, Vashti Bunyan, Midwinter, Caedmon, Dennis Ryder, the current crop of folk like Devendra Banhart, Sufjan Stevens, Joanna Newsome, other similar gentle folk pop records.

get it here

Voigt/465-One Faint Deluded Smile,CD,2001,Australia

Great compilation release of Voigt/465 LP "Slights Unspoken" and their "State/A Secret West"7" ,plus some bonus. Voigt/465 were an Australian post punk band.Their sound is an interesting schizophrenic mix of punk,krautrock,psychedelia with RIO/Homosexuals/This Heat

weirdness.Reminds me much of Family Fodder and Ludus . Overall a big part in the history of Australian underground. Released in 2001 and sadly out of print nowadays.

get it here

Hermann Nitsch - Klaviersonate Für Arnulf Rainer,LP,2001,Austria

Following my post about 9 months ago of Hermann Nitsch's OrgelKonzert 2ble tape ,here comes another great rarity of this unique artist. It was released in 2001 in numbered limited edition of 150 copies through Welt Am Draht label. 2 sidelong pieces of piano paranoia,dark,scary sometimes,they way Mr Nitsch knows well.

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GIORGIO BURATTI-EXPLOSION/FOUR TUNES FOR A WALTZ, LP, 1971, ITALY

Utterly obscure and extremely curious, Buratti's field of operation is out jazz, but his choice of instruments and his minimal and idiosyncratic M.O. make this lost slice of weirdity truly ahead of it's time. While both his collaborators and their remit differ greatly from side to side, Buratti's personal musical arsenal on both consists solely of bass potentiometers, generators and sound effects. Viewed from a certain vantage point, this makes him the grandaddy of contemporary onkyo/lower case/hairshirt improv, prefiguring these strategies by close to 30 years in some respects, but I digress. "Explosion" is, expectedly, the blood-spitter of the two, deceptive flute tootles presaging cacophonous lunges into lopsided cabaret-ish piano pound, disjunctive dictophone chatter and massively close-miked and loud acoustic bass plucks. Wonderfully weird shite to be sure, and with a rigorous and bracingly modern edge that, time-frame-wise, really only compares to Wolfgang Dauner circa "Output", but "Four Tunes For A Waltz" is the real capper here, if ya ask me. Grooving in a rawly frazzled fashion that has a certain akin to both Toto Blanke's live album with Electric Circus and the scrappily wasted and loose limbed side of krautrock ala Spacebox on the one hand and Zippo Zetterlink and Ejwussl Wessahqqan on the other, though aspects of both Rahsaan Roland Kirk and AACM-related stuff suggest themselves elsewhere as well. A serious find, methinks.

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

Get it here   

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

KEVIN AYERS AND THE WHOLE WORLD-COLOURS OF THE DAY (BOOTLEG), CD, LATE 90'S (RECORDED: 1970-1972), UK

Sun dappled, dewy eyed whimsified Canterbury godhead was what Kevin Ayer and his short lived Whole World band were and their "Shooting For The Moon" album (Ayers second after leaving Soft Machine) is one of the high water marks of the entirety of British rock of the era, for my money. Flanked for that one glorious album and subsequent tours by a truly idiosyncratic line-up that included outwardly bound soprano sax master Lol Coxhill, modernist composer David Bedford and a very young Mike Oldfield in it's ranks, the joyously mad and life affirming music that resulted was very much the product of a hot house creative environment where all parties concerned are operating at the top of their game. the live recordings captured on Colours Of The Day underscore just what a unique phenomenon The Whole World Band were, if also underscoring what a slightly drunken one they could be as well, a facet of their identity that fits Ayer's plummily stoned raconteur persona like a big floppy suede hat. Newcomers to Ayers might be advised to check out the studio versions first, but for those into the myth, the contents of this boot are enough to start a pool of drool forming, none more so (well...for me and my circle at least) than a jaw dropping 13+ minute version of his heartbreakingly beautiful (and originally brief) masterstroke, "Clarence In Wonderland" that sends Coxhill into endless fusillades of exalted soprano sax spirals; some of his finest on display anywhere. I could go on waxing rhapsodic about details track by track, but I won't belabor the point. This just simply kills. 'Nuff said.

Get part one Here


Get part two Here

V/A-RIDDLE OF LUMEN, CD, 1994, JAPAN

This scene defining sonic snapshot of a compilation captures the fascinating upsurge of the mid 90's Japanese avant-prog boom in full fruition, specifically at the point where it's boundaries blur into the concurrent noise ferment of the era. Though not covering the God Mountain-associated crowd that, for me, constituted the peak of this scene (Koenjihyakkei, Bondage Fruit, Tipographica, Demi-Semi Quaver), those present and accounted for here belong to a fertile subset of raucous prog/punk/improv/noise bluster that saw little or no distribution in the west. Pride of place here instantly goes to P.O.N., a Ground Zero-related project (infinitely superior, if I may say so) whose insane spin-on-the-head-of-a-pin prog brainwarp can also be found on their eponymous CD I posted a while back. Also winning are Otomo Yoshide's synthetically tweaked dada decollage, which adopts the wonderfully bent template of his early works like "We Insist?" and "The Night Before The Death Of The Sampling Virus", O.A.D.'s dense fug of buldozing Omoide Haotoba-esque prog/funk rammalammma and Peregrini's desultory cyberpunk spasms, which sounds like a tonka toy version of Dissecting Table.

ARTISTS FEATURED:

Drillman
P.O.N.
U
Peregrini
Otomo Yoshide
Soap-Joh Henshi
O.A.D.
Solmania
Bidziliba
Romp
EQ
Live Under The Sky

Get it Here

CURLEW-S/T, LP, 1984, USA

Curlew were (are?) definitive purveyors of that distinctive bippity boopity mutant-funk-into-R.I.O. sound that burned brightly for a few years in the Downtown N.Y. culture of the mid to late 80's (think: Jules Baptiste, No Safety, Massacre, B-Shops For The Poor, Skeleton Crew, Orthotonics), though this debut of theirs has a rather different cast of characters to those that'd feature on their better known follow-ups. Curlew was principally the brainchild of saxophonist George Cartwright and cellist Tom Cora (R.I.P.), the rest of the cast of characters remaining fluid. Bill Laswell, Nicky Skopelitis and Bill Bacon would all depart after this first volley (in their place, Fred Frith or Davey Williams or Mark Howell on guitar, Pippin Barnett and/or Rick Brown on drums and Wayne Horvitz on keyboards), though despite the large line-up shifts, this album surprisingly hews relatively close in tone to their latter day works, Cartwright and Cora's sharp compositional instincts already firmly established right out of the gate. That said, Skopelitis' wailing attack sits at a fair remove from the rotating cast of avant string slingers that'd shortly fill his chair and his hard burning presence in particular gives this era of Curlew it's specific bite.
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Note: It was just announced that this album is due for reissue shortly, so the link has been pulled and replaced with one for George Cartwright's site, where you can learn more about it. Go Here

V/A-P.S.1-VOLUME: BED OF SOUND, CD, 2000, VARIOUS

Thanks to blog friend Tony Pradlik for, many years back, sending me this compendium documenting the Bed Of Sound exhibition at New York's P.S.1, one whose contents, to my knowledge, have never been made commercially available and which heretofore was available for listening only online. Involved were a globe and genre-spanning roster of avant notables (some 43 in all), each turning in tracks of around 90 seconds duration. There's far too much here to go into individual details or likes/dislikes. A gander at the auspicious roster of talents involved should whet the appetites of most, I expect.

NOTE: As anonymous mentioned in the comment board, this evidently was in fact released by P.S.1 as a "CD Catalog". Anyone out there have a scan of this item? It'd be much appreciated....

TRACK LISTING:

1. Adriana Sa
2. Alvin Lucier
3. Arto Lindsay
4. Ben Rubin
5. Beth Coleman (aka DJ Singe)
6. Bob Ostertag
7. Butch Morris
8. Carl Stone
9. Chop Shop
10. Chris Carter
11. Chris Cutler
12. C. M. Von Hausswolff
13. Cosi Fanni Tutti
14.David Behrman
15. Ed Campion
16. Ellen Fullman
17. Frank Rothkamm
18. Genesis P-orridge
19. Gen Ken Montgomery
20. Howard Shore/Ornette Coleman/LPO
21. I-Sound
22. Ikue Mori
23. Impossible Music
24. Joel Chadabe
25. John Duncan
26. John Hudak
27. Kaffe Matthews
28. Keenan Lawler
29. Lauren Weinger
30. Maryanne Amacher
31. Matt Heckert
32. Michael J. Schumacher
33. Muhal Richard Abrams
34. Nicholas Collins
35. Paul De Marinis
36. Sonic Youth
37. Steinski
38. The Residents
39. Telectu
40. Tony Conrad
41. Vernon Reid
42. Vito Acconci
43. Zeena Parkins

Get part one Here


Get part two Here

Rolf Schulz - "Klangfeuer" Tambora ,LP,1984,Germany

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING experimental/free improvisation album by German performance artist/musician Rolf Schulz. Not much infos found on the web though. Dark atmosphere ,highly improvised electronics and natural sounds,some vocals here and there.Reminds me some Jac Berrocal recordings blended with kraut rock feeling and mixed with Hermann Nitsch orchestrated and chorus works .Highly recommended.

I must apologise to Chris , who provided this, for not posting it earlier but it was impossible from my part.Really sorry Chris.Thank you so much.

get this gem here