Ichiyanagi, Ranta, Kosugi - Improvisation Sep 75

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.

Get it here

The Necks - "Chemist"

Jazz+Minimal Composers+Kraut+Australians=The Necks.

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.


Enjoy.

-bp

Mark van Hoen - "A Glimmer of Forgotten Ancestors"

This song could have been an album on its own.

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.

Get it while it's still hot here.

-bp

p.s. - If you dig this track, check out the rest of the album or any of his other albums. They're great.

Pole - Kotrill (NWW List)

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.

piss off/delight your neighbors HERE

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

Sunburned Hand of the Man - "Anatomy"

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.

Check tracks: 2, 7, 8 and 12.

Get the album here.

-bp

Numero Uno

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.

-bp