Here is, one of the most rewarding Ultra-Minimalist recordings - It requires a lot from the listener - you can not listen to it in your car, can not listen to it on the train, can not listen to it on your earbuds - or else you will not hear anything at all. Here, Gunter requires you to put on your headphones, wrap your head in a sweater and then some cellophane, sit in the library and get that solitude - then tune in. It's quiet. silence is appropriated as sounds bubble and fissure, signals phase in and out. these are planetary rhythms.
My Home-Alone kraut mix. I've wanted to throw together a Krautrock/nu-kraut mix for a while, and tonight Robyn was out with some friends from work. Here's an hour-long mix of German and German-tinged sounds. Maybe throw it on if you maybe feel like it sometime, or something.
00:00 - Ghost - "Gareki No Toshi" - In Stormy Nights 07:45 - Klangwart - "Zweitoneins (A.E. remix)" - Rauschgold: Alec Empire Plays Staubgold 12:00 - Skullflower - "Orange Canyon Mind" - Orange Canyon Mind 17:45 - Kraftwerk - "Tanzmusik" - Ralf and Florian 24:15 - Hairy Chapter - "Cry For Relief" - Can´t Get Through 28:15 - Faust - "I Was Shy Before" - Kleine Welt [Live] 32:45 - Feu Thérèse - "Les Déserts Des Azurs" - Ça Va Cogner 36:15 - Sunburned Hand of the Man - "Eyelash" - Anatomy 41:20 - Cloudland Canyon - "You & I" - Lie in Light 47:30 - The Alps - "Cloud One" - III 52:00 - La Dusseldrof - "White Overalls" - La Dusseldorf
I've been itching to put together a mix for some time now. If you've heard anything I used to play on Postscript, then the mood of this won't be a surprise. I've included a bunch of the more recent sounds from my headphones and flows fairly well (I think). Not too much more I can say other than, "Enjoy."
00:00 - The Fun Years - "Autoshow Day of the Dead" - Baby, It's Cold Outside 07:10 - Expo '70 - "Vampire Flower" - Audio Archive 003 10:10 - Pan*American - "So That No Matter" - White Bird Release 15:35 - Tim Hecker - "Sea of Pulses" - Imaginary Country 20:10 - Aero - "Aug 31" - Rises and Falls 24:32 - Lumerians - "Turquoise Towers" - Lumerians 32:12 - Tarentel - "Massa Carrara, Italy" - Live Edits: Italy/Switzerland 35:52 - Mint - "Hindemath " - Kompakt Pop Ambient 2009 40:31 - Loscil - "Resurgasm" - Submers 47:55 - Mountains - "Millions of Time" - Mountains, Mountains, Mountains
I was thinking recently about how I could slam the entire 8-bit music scene (and especially the Baltimore scene) in a single post, then I got the new Wire magazine. The second track on the latest Wire Trapper is the song "Riddarholmen" by a band unknown to me, Shogun Kunitoki.
First off, they're not Japanese. This Finnish band is essentially an 8-bit act, with probably-cheap electronics and really enthusiastic stage presence. The song "Riddarholmen" starts off equally banal (which is a sad word when describing the vibe/image the genre shoots for) but takes a turn for the awesome about halfway through.
The sound Shogun Kunitoki throws is a mix between Silver Apples pulsating analogs and Caribou/Manitoba tinged psychedelic-sunshine-pop. It's fantastic. I'm not sure what they're all about but I definitely dig this song.
I'm not saying I'm into 8-bit stuff at all. I think what I'm realizing is that I'm a huge fan of Finnish-bands now... Just check out Kirsten Ketsjer or anything on the Apestaartje label.
I've heard a few ways to describe this slow burner, and ambient country's definitely a sticker. Souled American released 4 albums on Rough Trade, pioneering the alt-country sound highly influential to those who heard it, including Jim O'Rourke and the Mountain Goats. A quote from there Wiki (link) page which stands out:
"It's possible that "Frozen", the first of the post-Rough Trade albums, is among the most sluggish and languid music ever made. This style affords the listener moments of crushing misery but also intense beauty, the music being unlike anything made before or since its release."
It took a few tries but this slow tremolo has been resonating quite deeply.
By God I knew this was created for those ears down south if they haven't heard this yet, this is some of the best atmospheric/post-something downer music I've heard in a long time. The band hails from Germany and absolutely kills on the restrained theatrics. Powerful stuff!!
Here's another one on the noisy side for you, Lefty-followers. I've been semi-obsessed with the final track from Ex Models' third (and probably last) album, "Chrome Panthers." If "Chrome Hearts" doesn't make you go out and buy a set of drums, I don't know what will.
Anchored by Oneida's own percussive wonder, Kid Millions, the album "Chrome Panthers" finds Ex Models performing their longest tracks to date. The previous two ("Other Mathematics" and "Zoo Psychology") were stellar noise/angular rock outings, but lacked the impulse and punch achieved only after updated producers and strength in rhythm.
Ex Models are normally only two members strong. Bro's in real life, Shahin and Shahryar Motia, are fantastic musicians and songwriters but the addition of Kid Millions pushes the combo over the edge. Ex Models are basically dead now though. Both Motia brothers started another band called Knyfe Hyts (funny name which comes from their technique of taking hits of hash from the tips of knife blades before playing sets of bad psych-rock) which has already broken up.
If you can get passed the vocals (which I don't mind, personally I hear Mark Mothersbaugh) and like loud rockin', check it out.
My favorite aspect of this collaboration is that the finished product feels nothing like the parts combined.
Nurse With Wound was originally asked by Stereolab to produce their first album, to which Steven Stapleton apparently said something along the lines of "Nope. Too rock." Stereolab eventually got a remix out of Stapleton, along with this oft-forgotten gem of an EP. Behold, "CRUMB DUCK!"
If you've read any of the descriptions of the music posts I've put up, you must be sick of my "sounds like (insert kraut band)," but this one's special. "Animal or Vegetable..." is the closest channeling of Faust's "Rainy Day Sunshine Girl" I've ever heard. Add a bit of tape manipulation and fuzz bass/heavy drums and you've got yourself a KRAUTROCK JAM. "A New Dress" is one of the creepiest story-songs I've ever heard. To top it all off, "Steel Drum" features some expert channel fading to throw you for a loop during intense headphones-listening.
Okay, so these three men were apparently the cream-a-la-crop for Japanese experimental music in the 70's - they had close ties with john cage, harry partch, the fluxus movement, and everything great under the sun. Ichiyanagi is a hugely revered composer whose mindwarping "Opera from the Works of Tadanori Yokoo" (found here) was a milestone in experimental composing. Takehisa Kosugi is a member of one of my all time fav drone/ambient groups Taj Mahal Travelers (August 1974 found here) - a group whose sound derives from some ghostly japanese folklore set in a black forrest. Michael Ranta is part of the NWW-endorsed group, Wired, whose sound isn't that far from Taj Mahal.
So I was pretty thrilled to come across this one - it's a true rattler that comes together if you let your imagination take over. percussives pounce and patter in and out, sounds stretch out in such a dubious way it sounds as if you've partaken in some magnificent foreign ritual . its a ride.
I'm going to see the Necks in a couple weeks in Knoxville, so I decided I'd post this. I've truly come to love this band over the past year. Their long-form compositions always build on a single theme and just groove and groove and groove... for an entire hour.
Piano, bass and percussion. Minor phasing. Nothing more.
Mark van Hoen's final song from his stellar "The Last Flowers from the Darkness" mixes just about everything I love about the music I LOVE. Kraut-based loops. Sampled/manipulated drum pulses (not beats). Drones. Ambient passages. It's a killer. Beware, do not listen in you're pregnant or have a heart condition.
I cannot stress enough how much I enjoy having this on. This dude produced Seefeel back in the day... SEEFEEL.
Ello Monsieur Lefty. Here's one that's kept me on the floor for too long....
Pole's Kotrill is the absolute yin and yang of records - The first track is a hallucinatory barrage of space floating backwards, sounds and colors passing right by your head keeping you in a constant state of schizo meditation. Stay a while, it's mindblowing....
and then they pull a number on you.....
track 2 is the comedown, kind of shedding that violent experience, which transitions into track 3 villin-gen - holy shit, what a turn. The healing begins with this one - a calm and soothing place to be - it's pure bliss.
You don't hear music like this very often - the sum of its parts just blends so completely, kind of taking the extremes of life and showing us both sides of the coin.
Really you can't listen to this without listening to the whole.
Also, if your interested, lately my whole musical life has revolved around the NWW list. check it out here.... http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ultimathule/nww/nwwlist.html
I've never really gotten into Sunburned Hand of the Man. Too many releases. Too limited of runs for their releases. Too often not enjoyable to my ears. However, their extremely limited (and tour-only, or so I've read) "Anatomy Vol. 1" completely knocked me out. It's an expert mix of kraut-inspired psychedelic grooves. At times it's funky. At times it's overtly experimental. Most importantly though, is how fun it is to listen to. The overall album is interspersed with pitch-manipulated recordings of a mind experiment involving sensory loss and altered depth-perception. Whatever, it's just cool to hear mixed into some great songs. As far as "Sounds Like This..." I'd describe it as most akin to No Neck Blues Band/Excepter, Suicide, (stranger) Can and Faust.
It's been quite a while since I got into a psych album, but this one does it for me. It's the perfect middle ground between experimentation with direction and pointless dicking around.
The first blog I ever wrote on was the one Josh Pigjello created. It's really great and I still love it. Soon enough though, I was addicted to posting too much stuff too frequently. Magical Metal Playground rules because it's a place for all things cool. Not just music.
I'm still gonna frequent that blog. I love it, as I said before. I am starting this one to me music-related topics only. Out of print uploads, select track previews, etc...
Hope this is enjoyed by anyone who stumbles across it.
