FM SHADES

FM SHADES Library Stream back online!

2011-12-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

Listen to the FM SHADES Music Library Streaming 24/7!
It also works from the Justin.tv iphone app. Just search FM SHADES on there.

Watch live video from
FM SHADES on www.justin.tv

Jandek - Your Turn to Fall (1983 Original Vinyl)

2011-12-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

JANDEK - YOUR TURN TO FALL
Corwood 0745, LP, 1983
Original Vinyl Rip.

Absolutely my favorite Jandek Lp. In my mind the B-Side is one of the best sequences of Jandek songs. All very strong flowing outsider blues. The A-Side is quite stark and features the first instance of drums or a guest musician in the Jandek catalog. This is the original Outsider Blues. If you've never really gotten Jandek I invite you to start here.

I hate to say it but the CD reissues of the Jandek catalog fall very short in sound quality to the original Lp's. I'm guessing Corwood has someone do extreme noise reduction to the recordings which takes away a lot of the room sound and vibe. It also added some bad digital artifacts to the sound.

Ripped by your Truly, and so Highly Recommended!!!

Download here,
Jandek - Your Turn to Fall (Vinyl 1983).zip.html

39 Clocks - Pain It Dark (German Psycho-Beat!)

2011-12-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

39 Clocks - Pain It Dark
No Fun Records 1981
Germany

Classic early 80s debut Lp by this Hannover, Germany duo. A dangerous combination of Velvet Underground, Suicide, and even a hint of the Young Marble Giants. The duo would utilize a variety of primitive drum machines behind their grinding riffs with hazed out vocals. This is the dark paisley underground!

Original Vinyl Rip. Highly recommended!

Download here,
39 Clocks - Pain It Dark.zip.html

Thomas Leer & Robert Rental (1979 Synth Punk Ambient)

2011-12-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thomas Leer & Robert Rental - "The Bridge"
1979 Industrial Records - UK

One of my favorite late 70s Lp's. Elements of Synth-Punk and moody ambient all on 1 album.

"Scottish musicians Robert Rental (born Robert Donnachie) and Thomas Leer had each released an important indie single a year before this collaboration. Leer's offering was the poppy lo-fi "Private Plane"/"International", and Rental's was the weird industrial "Paralysis"/"A.C.C.". Having relocated to England, the two mavericks were lent 8-tracks by Throbbing Gristle so they could record this album. As the liner notes point out, this was recorded in a two week span (June 18th to July 2nd) in one of their homes; interestingly, the back cover notes "all blips & unseemly noises were generated by refrigerators & other domestic appliances & are intrinsic to the music"! Both musicians take turns on guitar, synths, "synth percussion" (more on that later), bass, and other noises.

THE BRIDGE is divided into two distinct halves; the A-side features vocal work, while the B-side has four tracks of pure ambience. The vocal songs are definitely in a post-punk/synthpop mode. Leer sings lead on four tracks; the fuzzy "Connotations" and the bizarrely catchy "Monochrome Day's" are definite highlights. Rental takes the lead on "Day Breaks, Night Heals", and this creepy gem is the absolute standout. What's interesting about the percussion is that Leer and Rental didn't use a drum machine. Instead, they pounded out rhythms on synth and made tape loops of the results. While primitive, this technique lends a unique touch to these tracks. The flipside is a completely different story. Rental is credited with tapes, loops, and voice for this side, while Leer takes on synths, tapes, and voice (that's voice, not vocals). Long drones and loops, accompanied by TV sounds and those other "unseemly noises", flow effortlessly towards dark chillout bliss. The lengthy "Interferon" is the standout here, but the other three are amazing as well. Both sides add up to what is one of the best releases from Industrial Records; thank goodness Mute reissued it!

Around this time, Rental released an extremely rare demo called MENTAL DETENTIONS; this completely instrumental gem of early industrial heaven also features Leer on a few tracks and DEFINITELY deserves a reissue. Leer still has a synthpop career, and for a while was in Act; some is worth investigating, some isn't. Rental would collaborate with the Normal (Daniel Miller, Mute head honcho) on a single-sided live album (rare but worth the hunt); his last output was the excellent "Double Heart"/On Location" single on Mute, featuring DAF's Robert Görl on drums and Leer on piano (also recommended). After this, he retired from music to raise a family, sadly passing away in 2000. The fact that so little of Rental's output exists is reason enough to buy THE BRIDGE, but the music more than justifies adding it to your collection." Review by Prof. ~.a.~

Vinyl rip by your truly. Highly Recommended!

Download here,
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental - The Bridge.zip.html

Franco Battiato - Clic (4th Lp 1974)

2011-12-03T01:41:00.000-08:00

Franco Battiato - Clic
Italy 1974

Franco's 4th amazing Lp.

"Dedicated to a towering musical figure indeed -- none other than avant-garde giant Karlheinz Stockhausen -- Clic found Battiato working with a smaller core group than on Sulle Corde Di Aries, though both guitarist/bassist Gianni Mocchetti and drummer Gianfranco d'Adda make return appearances. Aside from backing vocals and a string quartet, everything else is Battiato's doing, with the Krautrock touches apparent in his previous work starting to surface all the more readily here. Things are generally more meditative and reflective, though certainly Battiato isn't far from his usual wry humor (thus "Propriedad Prohibida," the title of his bitterly wry take on more-leftist-than-thou Italian bands of the time like Area, though the song itself is a quietly entrancing instrumental). Such fun spirits turn up on the album on "Rien Ne Va Plus -- Andante," the string quartet gently going berserk and quirky vocal flutters interspersed with chopped-up piano and random fake audience applause. "Il Mercato Degli Dei" is as representative of the album as anything, an instrumental composed of various parts and consisting almost entirely of Battiato's various keyboard explorations arranged and overdubbed, but emphasizing calm, quiet arrangements rather than Rick Wakeman-like orgies of sound. "I Cancelli Della Memoria" makes for a great start to the album, soothing Tangerine Dream-like airs and bubbling synth bass loops mixing with everything from (apparently) Battiato's own sax work to his more expected piano parts. "Nel Cantiere di Un'Infanzia," meanwhile, finds Battiato in one of his spookier, moodier moments, the low tones of his keyboards setting an initially unsettling air, while familiar elements from the past -- cut-up radio samples and the like -- sound all the more alien and strange here. More of the same crops up at the start of the concluding "Ethika Fon Ethica," sounding like a romantic film continually dropping out of sync with itself."

Download here,
Franco Battiato - Clic.zip.html

Franco Battiato - Sulle Corde Di Aries (3rd Lp 1973)

2011-12-03T01:01:00.000-08:00

Franco Battiato - Sulle Corde Di Aries
1973 Italy

The 3rd Lp by this incredible Italian artist. One of the high points of 70s art music. This album is another of my favorites.

"Working with a smaller band and greater range of side players -- including, intriguingly enough, cellist Jane Robertson, fresh from working with Don Cherry on Relativity Suite -- Battiato aims at a somewhat more grandiose level with Sulle Corde di Aires. Consisting only of four pieces, the first of which, "Sequenze e Frequenze," is a mostly instrumental number spanning a full side, on the one hand Sulle Corde sounds like Battiato taking himself a bit more seriously. On the other, it contains enough vibrant life to be well worth a listen beyond the world of prog fandom. The combination of acoustic guitar elegance (credit Gianni Mocchetti in particular for his work) and electronic drum pulse and keyboard overdubs some four minutes into "Sequenze e Frequenze," for instance, has a Krautrock-inspired life of its own. Battiato subtly ups the ante a little bit later with an increasingly wacky and fun kalimba sequence over a rolling, stuttering synth/guitar loop that could be right out of Pink Floyd's "One of These Days," with even more keyboard drones and melodies adding to the at-once serene and playful mood. The remaining three songs offer up more in the way of general variety, touching on everyone from acid-folk tribalism to hints of neo-classical approaches, not to mention a playful pseudo-Renaissance jam via oboe and clarinet combined with Mochetti's mandolin on "Da Oriente ad Occidente." The jazz connection hinted at via Robertson's appearance on "Aria di Rivoluzione" gets a more conventional nod due to Daniele Cavallanti's work on soprano sax and Gianni Bedori's performance on regular saxophone. Both are competent players if not uniquely inspired, but Bedori's jamming on the increasingly intense "Aries" deserves a nod. Battiato himself sings only at a few points on Sulle Corde, but when he does, it continues the balanced mood between seriousness and sheer joy."

Highly Recommended,
Franco Battiato - Sulle Corde Di Aries.zip.html

I posted his earlier albums here.

Pôle - Inside the Dream (France 1975)

2011-12-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Pôle - Inside the Dream

Pôle Records (France 1975)

Hazy outsider French Acoustics and Electronics released on the legendary Pôle label in the mid 70s. Properly dedicated to friends Heldon this record sits in a similar synth drone realm. But the first track is a beautifully soft acoustic affair that makes me think of the Charlambides.

"To start, "Inside The Dream" by Pôle the band / collective is a completely different beast from it's predecessor, "Kotrill" (both 1975). Not just musically but, beyond synthesist and Pôle records major domo Paul Putti, the line up is entirely different. Where "Kotrill" started with it's title track exploding out of the speakers in a synthoid götterdämmerung, "Inside The Dream" begins with an acoustic tranquility. A mellow folk riff (Michael Azad) rises into focus and is joined by a sopping wet electric guitar (Paul Putti) and near subliminal bass (Eric Dervieu). Then a smooth pleasant vocal (Christian Rouch) follows "Walking inside your dream now / So sweet, so cold / Watching your face in rainbows" . As so it goes, but somewhere along the line the electric guitar decides it's sick of playing nice and forces it's way into the front of the mix; if that means it's completely out of key and pushing the needle into the red - so what? The following track, 'Outside The Nightmare' (solo composition by Jean-Louis Rizet) is more in keeping with 'Kotrill' in that it is based in the realm of synthesizers, but if 'Kotrill' was the soundtrack to the apocalypse, then 'Outside The Nightmare' is most certainly the soundtrack to the post-apocalypse. You may have lived through the worst, but you're not out of the woods yet, kid. The third and final track, 'In The Mäelstrom', bleeds in from 'Outside', the sound of acceptance of the horrible turn the world has taken, and the will to face it, come what may. Slashing synths (courtesy Mssrs. Putti, Rizet, and Pierre Chavigny) march along with our hero, bloodied but unbroken. Along with "Kotrill", "Inside The Dream" feels like it was either quickly and cheaply put together to get some product on the streets for Pôle (the record label), or they were the projects that inspired the start of Pôle (again, the label). Either way, they are all the better for their raw immediacy and near punk primitivism."

Download here,

Pôle - Inside the Dream.zip.html

S.Y.P.H. - Harbeitslose (Classic NDW)

2011-11-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

S.Y.P.H. - Harbeitslose
Pure Freude Records, Germany 1982
+ 2x7" from 1982

Classic record by these weirdo experimental punks from the early 80s. Sounding similar to the likes of The Fall or PIL and a the German Krautrock heritage,

Founded 1977 by Harry Rag (Peter Braatz), Uwe Jahnke and Thomas Schwebel in Solingen/Germany. Thomas Schwebel hit upon the idea of naming the band "Syph" because it's a dirty name. Harry Rag added the periods to make it look like an acronym and confuse people. S.Y.P.H. was then translated into "Saufender Yankee Prügelt Homo" (Drinking yankee beats queer). After 1986 it stood for "Save Your Pretty Heart"

When Schwebel said goodbye to play with Mittagspause, the band was joined by Uli Putsch and Jürgen Wolter. This new formation stayed - more or less - stable until 1981, but had many changing guest musicians, including Holger Czukay from Can. In return S.Y.P.H. played with Czukay on his LP On The Way To The Peak Of Normal. Uwe Jahnke also appears on the Wobble/Liebezeit/Czukay EP "How Much Are They?".

Recommended!

Download here,
S.Y.P.H. - Harbeitslose.zip.html

Kim Fowley - Snake Document Masquerade (1979)

2011-10-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Kim Fowley - Snake Document Masquerade
Island Records 1979 (European only release)

Another bizarre addition to one of the strangest discographies out there. Legendary LA producer Kim Fowley released this album in 1979 with a vision of the 1980's that where to come. Every track is in a yearly chronological order, his prophecy of the sounds to come?!

Some of the album is not too far off from his "Sunset Boulevard" album but then some of the B-Side gets in early synth punk territory if you can believe that!

Check out some of our previous Fowley posts here

Vinyl rip by your truly. 320kbps mp3

Download here,
Kim Fowley - Snake Document Masquerade.zip.html

UN - Self Titled Lp & 7" (Siltbreeze 1996)

2011-10-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

UN - Self Titled Lp & Trans-Missions 7"

Siltbreeze Records 1996

Classic mid 90s hazy vibes from this Philly trio. Marcia Bassett would later form Double Leopards and various other groups in NYC. In '96 they did a US tour opening for Harry Pussy, an amazing bill which I got to see.

This is one of my favorite Siltbreeze Lp's.

UN on these releases was Grant Acker, Marcia Bassett, Thom Roach.

Tara Burke (Fursaxa) would join the band later.

Download here,

UN.zip.html

Updated Links

2011-04-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

I just updated the DL links for these previous posts.

Pip Proud
Joe Jones
Braen Machine
Ave Sangria (Brazil 1975)
Conrad And Sohn
Creepy John Thomas
Deuter - 1973 - Soundtrack (Library Record rare!!!)
Kennelmus - Folkstone Prism (1971)
Light Dreams - Islands In Space
Lucifer (Mort Garson) - Black Mass (1971)
Nice Strong Arm - Reality Bath (1987)
Nicholas and Gallivan with Larry Young - Love Cry Want
Sun City Girls (1984) 1st Album
Theater of Eternal Music Bootleg Lp (Dh100)
Toncho Pilatos
Velvet Underground - April 1966 Scepter Studios (Norman Dolph Acetate)
VA - White Elephants and Golden Ducks - Musical Treasures From Burma

Renegade Scanners (Swedish Fuzz)

2011-04-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Renegade Scanners - Hands on Future
2007 Sweden
Lal Lal Lal Records (Finland)

Renegade Scanners enters the depths of the primitive psych lore of groups such as Chrome, Monoshock, Skullflower, Neu!, Simply Saucer, & Pärson Sound. In other words, serious Acid Rock. Headed by Jacob Olausson who a few years back made a incredible Psychfolk Lp on the De Stijl label as well as work with the Joshua Jugband 5.

Serious late night haze listening!
Vinyl rip by your truly!

Download here,
Renegade Scanners.zip.html

Staked Plain - S/T Lp (90's Canadian Underground)

2011-04-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Staked Plain - Self Titled
Canada, Lp, 1998
Bobby J Records Austin, TX (pre-OESB)

From cast exotic,
"It all began in Alberta, Canada back in 1993.. The Band played various shows in the Vancouver and Northwest area throughout the 90's. They've shared the stage with groups such as Sun City Girls, Noggin, Irving Claw Trio, Jackie-o Motherfucker, and in Texas with Harry Pussy when they were on their final tour in 1997. While in Texas Staked Plain hooked up with Bobby J records who then releases a Lp of material they had recorded from 1993 to 1996. "

From Forces Exposure Catalog (1998):
"Musical References: Cro-Magnon, Sun City Girls, Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart. Notes: This is 'outsider psychedelic' styled music from rural Northwestern Canada (Boyla, Alberta) with pronounced Downs Syndrome Schematics in Place."

Shayne Ehman, Zoltan Tougas & later Magneticring/Von Bingen member Josh Stevenson.

Download here,
Staked Plain.zip.html

Vogel - Singles 1979-1982 (Swiss Art Rock)

2011-04-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

Vogel - Singles
Switzerland 1979-1982

- 1st (Sunrise Record 1979)
- 2nd (Recommended Records 1980)
- RER Sampler Compilation Track (1982)

Vogel was a obscure Swiss group lead by recording engineer Robert Vogel. Working in similar territory as groups like Faust, Art Bears, Neu!, Honeymoon Killers, & Aksak Maboul. There really isn't much information on this band out there, as far as I know they may have just been a studio group of Robert Vogel's.

Robert Vogel's Recording Engineer credits include Liliput, Anthony Moore, Grauzone, Art Bears, Fred Frith, Art Fleury, Honeymoon Killers, Art Zoyd, & Red Crayola With Art And Language to name a few!

I've also included their track on the 1982 RER Sampler compilation 2xLp. This was how I first heard the group and spent years trying to find more recordings. Its like a mixture of Faust, Silver Apples and Suicide, its that good!

Highly Recommended
Vinyl Rips by yours Truly

Download here,
Vogel - Singles.zip.html

Headless Chickens - Self Titled (Flying Nun, 1986)

2011-04-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

Headless Chickens - Self Titled Ep
Lp, New Zealand, 1986
Flying Nun Records

Oddball first release by this New Zealand who morphed into a more mainstream NZ band into the 90s. At times it reminds me a lot of the Jefferies bothers (This Kind of Punichment, Cakekitchen) style of Post-Manchester darkness. At other times like some early English or German D.I.Y. cassette...

Highly Recommended and hard to find!
Vinyl Rip by your truly!

Download here,
Headless Chicken.zip.html

Von Bingen - S/T (2009, Psychedelic Underground)

2010-09-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Von Bingen - Self Titled
LP 2009
Amen Absen - Canada

Limited vinyl only release from late 2009.

"What's left on earth for me to put on the phonograph? he murmured sarcastically. You'd really think that fate allowed my instrument to appear only at the moment when nothing that man says is worth preserving anymore..."
-Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, L'Eve Future

"We would like you to consider owning Von Bingen's self titled first lp either for your own personal betterment, or for the betterment of your patrons. To aid you in this endeavor, we submit the following summary of biographies, impressions, and predictions.

Von Bingen began life when husband and wife duo Jenni Pace and Daniel Presnell (Astral Blessing) temporarily suspended Hildegard (their east coast group of clangorous misfits), and relocated to Vancouver, BC where they soon met Josh Stevenson (Magneticring, Staked Plain), and Richard Smith.

Influenced by histories of conceptual art practices and electronic and outsider music native to the west coast, Von Bingen's sound is at once reminiscent of distant sonics, such as those found in the labs of 60's SF pioneers, or overheard in Berlin's Zodiac Club in the early 70's, while also anticipating the drone of future decades. Folk forms gleefully mutate, reborn as new hybrids, dignified by analog modular and semi-modular synthesizer systems from Serge, Buchla, and EMS. Instruments such as the flute, clarinet, guitar, and the drum are defamiliarized through quixotic treatments, originating from experimentations in the band's studio. By rescuing tones, processes and technology from dusty desuetude, Von Bingen happens upon a unique retrofit for advanced audiences that is sure to confound, if not altogether please.

Within the grooves of this lp, you will not find full-fledged allegiance to current fashions, nor will you find some light loop of cheap sensations, hollow-core historical reenactments, or facsimile sentiments. In fact, we are not sure what you will find at all, and that is the beauty of nature, a potentially infinite system of chances, where the opportunity to un-learn is as important as the opportunity to learn; where memories possess the power to eclipse experience; where all history becomes synesthesia. Join Von Bingen in this new Eden, and by all means, have an apple."

F.O.L. Ministries, September 2009

-

Reviews,

From Mimaroglu Music
Certainly far away from the current batch of post-emeralds synth-droners, these guys are blazing a different kind of saddle, taking in influences as diffuse as early suicide, “iv” era faust, hell, even a kind of gary glitter-esque schaffel that’s uniquely their own ... highly recommended !!!

From Volcanic Tongue,
"New LP from a group that was born from the ashes of the great Hildegard, featuring Daniel Presnell (Feed & Seed Records et al) and Jenni Pace in collaboration with Richard Smith and Joshua Stevenson (Magneticring/Jackie-O Motherfucker). Besides electric guitar and flute the sound is dominated by deep space smears of vintage electronics, EMS Synthi AKS, Buchla Electric Music Box, Arp Omni 2, Serge Modular… taking their high gothic soundtracks into the same cold, abstract zone as early Kluster, Eruption et al. Most of the instrumentals are propelled by slow motorik rhythms, over the top of which shadows of electro-drones and minimally wailing electric guitar envelope the constructs with all of the inexorable gravity of the more stoned Ash Ra tracks."

From Aquarius Records SF
VON BINGEN s/t (Amen Absen) lp "Early '70s krautrock stylings by way of Canada circa 2009, all the while channelling the visionary plainsongs from the 12th Century abbess Hildegarde Von Bingen! This Von Bingen began when two members of an East Coast psychedeliclatter project called Hildegard moved to Canada, met up with one of satellite members of Jackie O Motherfucker, and rebranded themselves. While the nature of the earlier band has escaped us, this Von Bingen has emerged fully formed, crawling out from the same primordial soup that spawned the likes of Amon Duul II, Hawkwind, Psychic Ills, Bardo Pond, and The Wooden Shjips. Yeah, they're pretty damn good!  A subdued yet motorik rhythm sets the stage for the opening track circled with interlocking guitars, electronics, and bass right out of the songbook of Faust IV, all of which are brought into relief with a sporadically used melodic jump out of the dronerock mentality. A paranoiac piece of incidental music links these grooves with droning lament for flute, giving way to a subterranean plod that almost sounds like a Throbbing Gristle piece remade a decade earlier as a transgressive piece of psychedelia laced with weird horns and Arabesque guitar leads. The flipside begins with an extended piece of cosmic ritualism through sustained mod synth drone and church organ tones twisting along side more of that wistful flute and gradually coalescing into a proto-Suicide pulsation of psychedelic electronics and downer melodies. The finale of the album centers upon a dazed guitar riff coming in and out of focus amidst the druggy atmosphere of synth drones, simple bouts of percussion, freeform flutes, and squeals of electricity. To say this is a trip is quite the understatement. Do not let this one pass you by!"

Not easy to come by but some copies still available from Mimaroglu Music, Eclipse, Fusetron, and Volcanic Tongue (Uk).

Recommended!

Download here,
Von Bingen LP.zip

FRICTION (Japanese NO WAVE 1980)

2010-09-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Friction (軋轢)
Lp, 1980, Japan
Pass Records

One of the best Japanese No Wave Punk Lp's ever!

Formed in 1978, they originally began in 1971 under the name Circle Triangle Square.

"Originally formed in 1971 as an avant-garde music group by bassist Reck, saxophonist Chico Hige, and drummer Sakuro Watanabe in Tokyo, Japan. They changed the bands name to 3/3 in the mid 70s, and Reck and Chico later moved to the United States, where they would join the band Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and later became the original founding members of James Chance and the Contortions before returning back to Japan.

Renaming 3/3 to form Friction, they recruited guitarist Tsunematsu Masatoshi, who had studied art at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music. They released a live album and single in 1979, and then their first studio album in 1980, produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Tsunematsu left the band in December 1980 to become an artist, and from then on Friction has had numerous guest instrumentalists for lives and studio releases, all revolving around frontman Reck."

Highly Recommended!

Download here,
Friction.zip.html

Monsieur Mo Rio - Click Et Craque (1990s Pop Genius)

2010-08-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Monsieur Mo Rio - "Click Et Craque"
Lp (Fucky 04, Germany)
1999

Monsieur Mo Rio is a member of the Schwaben German collective known as Metabolismus. He has been making beautiful 60s inspired pop since the mid 90s. Starting with a series of cassettes and then records. His early cassettes are the best lo-fi Pop I've ever heard. Incredibly creative and hearkening the charm of Brazilian/French pop of the 60s. This Lp "Click Et Craque" is a collection of tracks from his early cassettes from the mid 90s. His more recent albums are amazingly produced at the Sumsilobatem Studio in Southern Germany.

Highly recommended!

You can find more of his music here,
www.monsieurmorio.com
and you can buy his other albums here!
http://monsieurmorio.bandcamp.com/

Download here,
Monsieur Mo Rio - Click Et Craque.zip

Kim Fowley - Automatic (King of the Sunset Strip!)

2010-08-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

Kim Fowley - "Automatic"

Capitol Records, 1974

Amazing and hard to find album by this legendary Producer/Provocateur/Renaissance Man?!

This is my kinda rock'n roll!

Download here,

Kim Fowley - Automatic.zip

HELDON - THIRD (French Electronic Psych)

2010-08-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

Heldon - Third

Fance 1975

Disjuncta Records

Album is also known as "It's Always Rock n Roll"

"Electronic space rock of the highest pedigree – a brilliant third effort from Richard Pinhas and Heldon, nestled nicely in territory between the Cluter/Eno axis and Metal Machine Music – with perhaps a slightly stronger dose of proggish psych as well! The double-length set is filled with compelling keyboards and wonderfully snakey guitars – almost talking themselves with Frippish tones at times – but much more way out overall, and set loose on these long, extended instrumentals."

Drums - Gilbert Artman, Jean My Truong
Harmonium [Indian] - Ariel Kalma
Mellotron, Guitar - George Grunblatt
Synthesizer [Arp & Vcs3], Guitar, Bass, Mellotron - Richard Pinhas
Synthesizer [Arp] - Patrick Gauthier

Highly Recommended!

Buy the new reissue from Wah Wah Records!

Download

Heldon - Third

The White Shark - Muggy Bog 10" (1990's SF Undeground!)

2010-08-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

The White Shark - Muggy Bog 10"

Nuf Said Records, 1994

I've been meaning to post this one for awhile. Here's a good review by Mark Gergis of Porest and Sublime Frequencies,

"A timeless solo venture from Mark Davies–the composer dynamo best known for his fame in the 1990s group Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 among other things. He was also the maestro behind the early 1990s classic Asian/Indian cover band, The Heavenly 10 Stems, but the White Shark is something completely different. It's heavily steeped in the weird and contains mosquito anthems, an existential optigon classic and other warped tracks of beauty featuring trombones, multi-pitched voices, tapes, sound effects and lilting cover songs from yesteryear. For me, this 10" is the perfect meeting of song, sound and length."

Mark Davis is currently living in Portland, Oregon and playing with the group "Girl Feelings."

Vinyl rip by your truly!

Download here,

The White Shark

Joe Meek - "Meeky Meeky Random Flakes Vol 1 & 2"

2010-08-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

Joe Meek

"Meeky Meeky Random Flakes Vol 1 & 2"

Random and oddball unfinished recordings by Joe Meek. Legendary English producer who made most of his recordings in his London flat. A truly damaged visionary!

"Meek was obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.

His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.

Meek's homosexuality - illegal in the UK at the time - put him under further pressure; he had been charged with "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and was consequently subjected to blackmail. In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police stated that they would be interviewing all known homosexuals in the city.

On 3 February 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himselfwith a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries."

Download here,

Joe Meek - Meeky Flakes Vol.1

Joe Meek - Meeky Flakes Vol.2

Magical Power Mako (Japan Psych Underground)

2010-02-23T11:41:00.000-08:00

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym

Japan 1972-1975

5 CD Boxset

Awhile back I posted the very rare Brast Burn and Karuna Khyal albums. Total outsider underground japanese gems. Now I present to you a better known Japanese Artist by the name of Magical Power Mako. Strangely Magical Power Mako and the Brast Burn records sound very similar. Sometimes I think its the same person but its possible there was some serious Sonic Zeitgeist happening in Japan in the mid-70's.

This collection is 5 full length CD's of unreleased material recorded around the time of their first releases in the early 70's. Seriously damaged psych-folk-noise-electronix-freeform-fullyformed bliss! Magical Power Mako cover a lot of ground. Hints of kraut vibes like Faust and CAN + japanese free form motions like Taj Mahal Travellers and Brast Burn/Karuna Khyal.

Originally posted by the late great Dirk at "Cities of Flame With Rock and Roll"

So Highly Recommended!

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym (1972-1975) pt 1.zip.html

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym (1972-1975) pt 2.zip.html

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym (1972-1975) pt 3.zip.html

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym (1972-1975) pt 4.zip.html

Magical Power Mako - Hapmoniym (1972-1975) pt 5.zip.html

Franco Battiato - Pollution (2nd Masterpiece)

2010-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

Franco Battiato - Pollution

Italy - 1972

The Second amazing album by this Italian Master. Following up the post with his first album I did awhile back.

"Dedicated to the Centro Internazionale Studi Magnetici, Battiato's second album starts with an elegant orchestra and chatter of partygoing guests -- a bit like the start of Roxy Music's debut record only with an even more rarified atmosphere. But with the sudden intrusion of his spoken-word vocals, which fade into the mix before an explosion heralds the arrival of his own backing band, things take a nicely different turn. Pollution is proudly prog-oriented if more than a little derivative, able to draw comparison from everything to Ash Ra Tempel's drive and Faust's humor to majestic (and apparently intentionally ridiculous at points) keyboard fanfares that might make Rick Wakeman jealous. There's something wonderfully lively about it all, though, that saves it from the crushing boredom so much pseudo-deep slop suffered from during the same time period. Even songs that conjure up familiar listening experiences -- "Beta" has a similar pace to mid-'70s Pink Floyd easygoing jams -- add a little something extra, in this case heavily processed wordless vocals swirling around the mix. Battiato's reliance on keyboards -- besides himself, three backing band members play some sort of synth as well -- gives Pollution an extreme electronic edge; even when things are more conventionally rock, everything feels that much more eerie and truly spaced-out. "Areknames," with its recurrent synth/trumpet melody, persistent two-note loop, and surprising, intriguing vocal arrangements, is the easiest track to get one's head around, with a hook one can at least carry away from the experience. Elsewhere, a listener just needs to let the experience take hold as Battiato's freeform lyrics and keyboard swoops and swells herald song introductions or just exist in their own mysterious worlds. Pollution also scores with some moments of sheer beauty in and of themselves -- the introduction of "Plancton," with acoustic guitar and keyboards in slow, haunting combination, makes for a lovely start to an intriguing tune."

Download here,

Franco Battiato - Pollution.zip.html

Supreme Dick (Massachusetts Bookworm Psychedelia)

2010-02-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

Supreme Dicks - 4 Albums

Supreme Dicks was an experimental indie rock group formed in 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts. Their albums combine dissonant lo-fi noise, avantgarde and psychedelia sounds to realized dilated and warped structures songs.

I've always thought they where a forgotten band of the late 80s/90s Massachusetts scene. They always had a lot more depth and strangeness than their contemporaries like Sebadoh. One of the most magical shows I ever saw was seeing the 'Dicks open up for Trumans Water back in 1995 for their "Unexamined Life" tour. From delicate guitar interludes to disturbing narratives the 'dicks covered a lot of ground.

Recommended!

1993 - The Unexamined Life

1994 - Working Man's Dick (early recordings)

1996 - The Emotional Plague

1996 - This is Not A Dick

Leigh Stephens - Red Weather (Underrated American Psych)

2010-02-13T20:47:00.000-08:00

Leigh Stephens - Red Weather

(1969)

Red Weather was the first solo project from the lead guitarist of Blue Cheer (1st Album.) Originally released on the Phillips/Mercury label in 1969, the album immediately became a favorite on the underground music scene and established Stevens as a solo act. The music on Red Weather was dramatically different than that of Blue Cheer, with a well structured psychedelic sound like Quicksilver or the Grateful Dead rather than the sledgehammer hard rock sound of his former band. Recorded in England at the Trident Studios with the help of Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, drummer Mick Waller from the Jeff Beck Group, and Kevin Westlake from Blossom Toes, the album was hailed as a masterpiece by many British rock fans but was equally dismissed by Blue Cheer fans. The album contained eight songs that highlighted Stevens songwriting ability rather than his guitar prowess. After nearly 30 years the album was rereleased complete with the original psychedelic artwork cover.

An album everyone should have! A very unique Lp by this phenomenal guitarist!

Leigh Stephens.zip.html

Thomas Mera Gartz (Swedish Folk Underground)

2010-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Thomas Mera Gartz - Sånger
LP,1976,Sweden

Thomas "Mera" Gartz , is previous member of the following bands:Mecki Mark Men, Pärson Sound, International Harvester, Harvester, Träd, Gräs Och Stenar, Arbete och Fritid, Hot Boys, Bitter Funeral Beer Band, Råttan Frittz, Prins Lätt, Triangulus. With a past like that he is almost a legend in the Swedish prog/psych scene. This is his 1st solo LP and here's what he says about it in his homepage :

"Songs in Swedish, acoustic instruments, written after the 5 years being a drummer in a very loud and exited electric agitation, rejoice-, right on and revolutionary shamanistic music group like Pärson Sound/International Harvester/Träd, Gräs och Stenar. There was so many words that was not sung, on my part, so I had to write some songs. Both sorrowful and happy. The friends Roland Keijser, Torsten Eckerman, Nicke Ström, Torbjörn Abelli, Thomas Lundqvist, Bosse Skoglund, Bengt Berger, Anita Livstrand, Jakob Sjöholm, Sten Wallin, and Kära of course, play together with my voice and acoustic guitar, violin, african drum, cither and other sounds. Only one electric tune where I try to play the electric guitar."

Highly Recommended!

Download here,
Thomas Mera Gartz.zip.html

David Hemmings - Happens (1967 Acid-Folk-Rock)

2009-12-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

David Hemmings - Happens
Lp - 1967 - USA

David Hemmings; boy opera star, young British character actor, star of the iconic 1960's movies "Blow Up" and "Barbarella", film and TV director and producer, and latterly again a character actor and star in such films as "Gladiator" "Gangs Of New York" and the elegaic British movie "Last Orders". An impressive resume for any man, one might think, but there’s more, he made a record too! But not the usual actor-makes-an-album camp artifact ....oh no....our David was quite serious. In fact, “Happens!” was actually produced in Los Angeles by none other than Byrds manager and producer Jim Dickson, AND features The Byrds as well as a session crew (led by legendary bassist James Bond Jnr.) drawn from Dickson's years producing folk and jazz for the World Pacific label. The fact that it was done somewhat in a rush due to David's film commitments actually worked in it's favour as the Columbia-rejected and otherwise unheard Gene Clark song "Back Street Mirror" opens the album with a full-on gorgeous orchestral Folk Rock rush.

Largely improvised collaborations with The Byrds and Mr. Bond's crack crew of jazzers follow, allowing David to express his love of folk music against a background of prime Byrds at their Raga Rock peak, and the cream of LA's jazz fraternity! David's friend, Monkees songwriter Bill Martin provides a couple of songs, and we are on course for an album of rare beauty. Packaged with a lavish booklet featuring an interview with Jim Dickson about the making of the album, as well as photos of the sessions and the original promo copy insert with an illustration by David Hemmings, this is indeed an unknown and hidden gem indeed!

Vinyl Rip

Download here,
David Hemmings.zip.html

Michael Garrison (Synth Majik 1979)

2009-10-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Michael Garrison - In the Regions of Sunreturn

LP, 1979, USA

One of the best private press synth albums from the 1970's. Originally posted on Mutant Sounds a few years ago I figure this album needs to get out further. Especially with the new generation of folks investigating the synthetic past.

Highly Recommended!

Michael Garrison or Garri was a synthesist from California, USA. He was born on November 28, 1956 in Oregon and died on March 24, 2004. At the age of 13 he wrote his first song and later, during his musical study at the Idaho University, he formed the basic for the first release on his own label Winspell Records, later Garrisongs Music. The original work was titled In The Regions Of Sunreturn and Beyond and based on the expeditions of Voyager 1 and 2. But when he managed to get a contract with BMG in 1980 the title changed to In The Regions Of Sunreturn and so he became also known in Europe. His style was typical strong sequences with monstrous solos played with various electronic instruments on top. Often a real wall-of-sound experience. An Earth-Star Trilogy differs from the rest of his work by having a much more calm atmosphere. He was strongly influenced by the European innovators of Electronic Music, like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.

Download here,

Michael Garrison.zip.html

John Fahey (The last of 78rpm Blues)

2009-09-16T02:15:00.000-07:00

John Fahey

"Double 78-RPM record"

(Perfect, 1996)

Some of the first recording made by Fahey upon his return to music in the mid-90s.

"It was while he was at Harvard, with vague plans of finding a career of music law and returning to Austin, that Dean Blackwood made the fateful Fahey connection.

A dedicated and passionate music fan with a penchant for eclectic esoterica, Blackwood was struck by a "where are they now?" feature on Fahey in a 1994 issue of Spin. Written by Byron Coley, the expansive profile said that the influential guitarist was living in an Oregon flophouse and scrounging through used record bins for discoveries he could sell to collectors, after succumbing to an alcoholism that had put his performing career on the rocks.

Blackwood was then working part-time at the Boston office of Sub Pop Records (in the midst of its Nirvana windfall), while devoting some of his side energies to the production of 78 r.p.m, records. Though CDs were threatening to make turntables obsolete, and the 78 had long been eclipsed by 45 and 33 as turntable options, Blackwood was fascinated by this anachronistic art object that had all but disappeared in the '50s.

"I'm not an anti-CD person; I think they're wonderfully convenient and a great storage medium," he said. "But as far as having a nice, dense slab, a physical object to hold in your hands, there's nothing like 78s."

Blackwood got Fahey's phone number from Coley, in order to ask if the guitarist might be interested in recording a 78 for Blackwood's Perfect label, one that could pass as a relic from the medium's heyday. Fahey felt an affinity for the commercial absurdity of the project. "He was always up for something that has a little prankster element to it," said Blackwood.

Scott Colburn:

"So I get a call from Fahey's soon-to-be manager Dean Blackwood. He asks me if I would go to Salem, Oregon, and record John Fahey in his hotel room. My first question is "Who is John Fahey?" After I get the low down, I decided that he was a legend and it would be in my best interest to do it. Besides, I always dreamed about those Folkways recordings that were done in hotel rooms. Now was my chance. I rent a car and travel down there to record for about 2 hours. Damn, this guy is good and he doesn't mind that I want to record experimentally, by moving one of the mics around the room hand held. From this session, the disc was born. Sorry, the hand held recordings are in the archive."

A Morning pt.1

B Morning pt.2

C Evening, Not Night pt.1

D Evening, Not Night pt.2

Very Rare.

Download here,
John Fahey 78rpm.zip.html

STERNKLANG (90s STONED BAY AREA BLOWOUT JAMZ)

2009-08-19T02:29:00.000-07:00

STERNKLANG - I
(New World of Sound Records) Lp 1994

Members of Monoshock, plus Cul De Sac's original drummer Chris Guttmacher and Douglas Pearson.

Recorded on a boombox in a smoke-filled room.

Oakland, CA

Stuff of Legend folks!

Download here,
Sternklang.zip.html

Blue Phanton (HEAVY ITALIAN LIBRARY FUZZ!!!)

2009-08-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

Blue Phantom “Distortions”
Lp - 1971 Italy

All instrumental heavy psych/proto prog exploitation album out of Italy in ’71 – also released in the UK with a different cover in ’72. Blue Phantom was a studio band (or maybe they were a real band playing under a fake name – they shred) playing the compositions of “H. Tikal,” who was in reality Italian film composer Armando Sciascia, who normally worked in a vein similar to later period Nino Rota or maybe someone like Piero Umiliani, but here is taking off from Iron Butterfly, the Stooges, Sabbath, in a not at all subtle way - sometimes the templates are very thinly disguised. Occasionally the material moves in a more keyboard based Italian film direction, but even then the drums are pushing it into the heavy rock zone, & the keys are distorted enough that if you didn’t know Sciascia had composed this, you probably wouldn’t make the connection, especially since this type of thing falls in line with the still relatively nascent & not yet solidified prog realm of the time. “Distortions” is apt enough as a title – the guitars are heavily fuzzed, as are the occasional keys, as mentioned. Occasionally this moves into a stranger, less obvious territory – the closer “Psycho-Nebulous” gets into a creepy, almost proto-Devo thing. This is definitely one of those exploitation records which soars way above its supposed station in life to a much higher place. And this is an entirely different take on prog than what was soon to be the normal Italian m.o. of Vivaldi rock – “Distortions” is basically Trogladytic at heart, despite low level composerly moves. An unlikely convergence producing fantastic results – pure pleasure, front to back.

Insane!

Download here,
Blue Phantom.zip.html

Der Plan - 1st Ep 1979 (German Primitives)

2009-07-31T13:19:00.000-07:00

Der Plan - 1st 7" ep
(Kind Attack AAP 001, Germany 1979)

Here's a primitive punk blast for you folks. The very rare first Der Plan 45 from 1979. Totally different then their later Electronic Weirdness. Sounds more like the Dead C meets early DAF, but remember, this came out in '79! Detailed notes in the zip file.
Enjoy.

Download here,

Der Plan.zip.html

OS BRAZOES (Brazilian Psych Tropicalia)

2009-07-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

OS BRAZOES - S/T
Brazil 1969

An obscure slice of late-'60s Brazilian psychedelia. Os Brazoes main claim to fame was being picked by Gal Costa for her backing band when she was making her hugely influential early forays into Tropicalia. Turns out her sidemen had a pretty great album in them as well; they created a similar synthesis of North American rock & roll and local Brazilian forms, with very similar results, as those being explored by Tropicalia ringleaders Os Mutantes and Gilberto Gil (whom they cover here). There's a great version of Jorge Ben's classic "Carolina" included, as well as lots of fuzz guitar, phasing, and studio trickery loading up all the tracks. They never get too far away from the samba however and the entire record ends up with a pretty sweet party vibe throughout.

One of my favorite Brazilian Psychedelic Tropicalia Albums of the 60s!

Download here,
OS BRAZOES.zip.html

Kluster & Friends 1969-1973 - 6xLP Boxset

2009-06-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

Kluster and Friends - 1969-1973
6xLP Boxset
Qbico Records (Italy 2009)

Wow, a seriously amazing unearthed holy grail of early germany experimental proto-industrial/noise...

6 Lps of early Kluster shows pre and post Rodelius and Mobius. Conrad Schnitzler unearthed all these live recordings as a gift to Qbico Records for their supposed final release by the label. And what a gift it is!

As far as we know many online sellers have some copies still available. I seriously recommend if you love Kluster to pick this before its gone and selling on ebay for much more than the retail price.

All the Lp's in the box are in Black Sleeves with no information on the Black Labels. I've titled the Lp's by the unique name on the hub of each Lp. (ASA, Beta, CVS, DAV, EX, & Fungi!)

The audio fidelity of these live recordings is really incredible. Especially when you consider what time period these shows where recorded!

Highly Recommended!!!!

Vinyl Rip by your truly.

Qbico Label Notes: Here is a big one for you Qbico is going out with a BIG!!! BIG!!! BANG!!! When i mailed the news about the closure of qbico in 2010, some friends and musicians wrote me back... one was Conrad Schnitzler wondering if i wanna close with THE BOMB ! i said "yes, why not !?". so Con sent me 6 CD-R of UNRELEASED Kluster music, rec. in 1969-73 (along with Klaus Freudigmann and Wolfgang Seidel) ! he said to choose yr favourite 40 (+/-) from the 1 hour lenght of each CD-R, so to adjust to vinyl format... well, that's was one of the most joyful experience of my life ! this 6LP box collect that music which it's simply some of the most outstanding and revolutionary music that i ever heard !!! One of the most legendary release on Qbico ?! YES (screaming)!

Conrad Schnitzlerl about Kluster:

"Kluster was never over. There is KLUSTER until today. If we friends met, we didn't think about, under which name we met. It is the style of the music which comes out. No other group made such music. This is Kluster-music,it is a style. It is an invention of Konrad Schnitzler 1969 Schnitzler / Freudigmann / Seidel & Friends, was before Achim Roedelius came to the band and after.

I founded the music group Kluster after my exit 1969 from the group GERÄUSCHE (Zodiak with A.Roedelius and Boris Schak). Between 1969 to 1972 I worked with different friends, with Tangerine Dreams among others. With them I tried to perform the music of my imagination. Finally Klaus Freudigmann and Wolfgang Seidel remained at the work continuously over the years. In addition there were several actions with A.Roedelius and D.Möbius where the LPs KLUSTER Klopfzeichen,Osterei and Eruption were made. Instruments, amplifier and effects I gave D. Moebius because he had had no own equipment. I didn't want the music to remind of the normal. My criterias were not folk music, not rock music, not pop songs and not dance music. The idea for "Cluster" later "Kluster"(I wanted to avoid Americanisms) is not only a name for a group but a form of music. I had amplifier, instruments, contact mikes and effects, that could used by the others, too. Klaus had tape machines and microphones. In addition he constructed instruments and electronical sound generators, which made the most undescribable sounds. Wolfgang had everything connected with drum and base and in addition amplifier and effects.

Klaus had rooms where we could work out our music performances. The tapes "Electric Meditation" with TD were made in one of those spaces. Most of the performances happened with friends who took part in the actions; therefore Conrad, Klaus,Wolfgang and friends. For special activities we used the name ERUPTION. The idea was to make sounds without melodies, sounds comparing to industrial noises. I had different friends with me to play. No money was to be earned with this music. No fame, to attain with it. By the way I'm not a musician; I'm an intermedial artist and composer. With the different Kluster groups we did some live concerts. 'Eruption' (Ausbruch) is the title of the LP. Of that I had produced an edition of 100 LPs. Later the Gallery Block had made another edition of 100 LPS of it for the 'Block Box' with a label without Moebius' and Roedelius' names though. Later in 1996 Joe (Marginal Talent) produced a CD of it. I The group `Kluster- was a conglomerate of total different players and artists over several years. But all those years Klaus Freudigmann was involved sometimes as player, or as sound engineer or even as inventor of instruments. It was him, who taped the last Kluster Concert. Therefore he was named equally to the others on the label. After and previously off the splitting from R+M. I still did a lot of activities with the group Kluster there was Kluster befor and after Achim Roedelius+Dieter Moebius It was not popular music Kluster did. Not many people were interested. Therefore, No photos of Kluster, or posters, or tickets, or newspaper cuttings, or anything related left. It is about 35 years ago."

Wolfgang Seidel about Kluster: "Summer of Love? Kluster was formed in West-Berlin - much closer to Siberia than to San Francisco, Haight Ashbury and Golden Gate Park. What came to Berlin with a two years delay were only the outer fringes of the "Summer of Love". Its blossom would have died soon in the Cold War breeze. And 1970 a lot of the optimism of the mid 60ies had already ceased. It became obvious that creating a better world needs more than flowers in your hair. But the political movements of the late sixties were a child of the same optimism that fuelled the rapid developments changing not only the material side of life but also arts, music and the way people interacted. The new left and the hippie movement where all these ideas concentrated wasn't the result of poverty but build on the belief that with modern technology there is enough for everybody. It's only a question of a fair distribution.

That optimism had a soundtrack that was based on the same technology. From the electric guitar, reverb and echo units to the first synthesizers, everything was welcome that sounded as if it came from the future. Future meant space travel - so it's quite natural that the first effects wildly used where those who send you to a space you've never been before: artificial reverb and echo. A lot of people had their first encounter with this new music at the movies - watching scifi-film like Forbidden Planet with the electronic tonalities of Louis and Bebe Barron (1956 - and their work wasn't called music to avoid paying royalties and having to quarrel with the conservative musicians trade unions). For a few years rock music was the most popular of new sounds and for a lot of people the door opener. It was one of the rare moments when you could be at the same time avant-garde and mainstream. But this did not last long. Pop music quickly became old music with new instruments when it turned into highly standardized entertainment. And the use of the electric guitar developed rules like any other traditional instrument.

Amongst that people that met to form Kluster were Klaus Freudigmann and Wolfgang Seidel, who both grew disenchanted with pop music and Conrad Schnitzler who came from a complete different direction as sculptor. While the others discovered the new territories of sound via psychedelic music Schnitzler was a fan of Stockhausen, Cage etc. but was distracted by the highbrowed elite attitude with which this music surrounded itself in Germany. What met was the self empowerment of early rock music with the search for new sounds and structures of 20th century avant-garde music.

That Kluster made simple music on DIY instruments, droning and banging on one note for half an hour, did not mean we were into any kind of primitivism. We hated the bongo playing hippie and his backward dreams of tribal 'healthy' societies (forgetting that hunger, war and oppression were not invented this year). To us the longing for sweet melodies was a regressive refuge from a world that isn't sweet. We did not want to go back. If the future was inevitable, we wanted to shape it - at least sonically. That we preferred slow tempos sometimes gets mistaken as 'dark'. We just gave every sound enough time to be listened to. And we wanted to draw a line between us and the 'look I am the fastest' guitar heroes that began to rule the stages. What we did was getting rid of the schemes of pop and popular classic and find out, what else we can do with our tools, polishing and lubricating them for a future music.

But no matter how far your mind is in the future - your stomach is still on earth and demands feeding. When things got tougher in the 70ies, the people that met under the labels Kluster and Eruption had to look for ways to earn their living. Conrad Schnitzler started his long solo voyage, Klaus Freudigmann took part in the squatter’s movement, and others took ordinary jobs and surfaced now and then with some new piece of music. What's left are some tapes and a few minutes of film documenting an installation Conrad Schnitzler sat up at Galerie Block (1970) reflecting the ideas behind Kluster. Violins that had bought cheap from the flea market were equipped with contact microphones and plugged into radios that had been mounted to the wall as amplifiers. The visitors (hopefully no musicians) experimented collective with the sounds from the violins hearing themselves in the radio."

Download all zip files and put in a folder together,
Kluster.pt 1.zip
Kluster.pt 2.zip
Kluster.pt 3.zip
Kluster.pt 4.zip
Kluster.pt 5.zip
Kluster.pt 6.zip

Nicodemus - What For? (Underrated American Biker Art Rock)

2009-05-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

Nicodemus - What For?
(1980 USA)

Amazing underground american biker art rock. It sad that there is not much talk of Necodemus. The guy has made a number private press Lp's since the 70s which vary intentionally from Album to Album. Acid Folk, Biker Rock, Damage Proto-Punk, and bizarre Effected tracks that sound like Chrome.

Except from Article on Necodemus,
"Nicodemus has produced a body of work over his more than 30-year career that is stunning in its breadth and shocking in its level of accomplishment, yet is so underexposed that many have never heard of a man whose best music is easily on a par or better than the work of auteurs ranging from Lou Reed to Neil Young to John Lennon to Brian Wilson to Bruce Springsteen. Perhaps it's too much to ask that the terminally clueless Rolling Stone Record Guide have caught on, but St. Nic has been consistently overlooked even by self-proclaimed 'underground' guides like The Trouser Press Record Guide or Unknown Legends Of Rock. Excepting a brief blurb in Jello Biafra's section of the RE/Search book Incredibly Strange Music, Vol. 2 and an error-riddled article in Motorbooty magazine, precious few signposts point the music consumer towards Nicodemus' work. Given that the world of music journalism is prone to hyperbole, many may choose to doubt my words, but the proof is in the music: a couple of listens to amazing songs like "Sometimes I Can't Sleep", "They Whisper Here", "One Way", or "When The Daylight Fades To Nothing" should convince even the most skeptical that Nicodemus' music deserves to be considered among the most creative musical art of the last thirty years."
Go here for full article on the man,
http://lix.in/-446c17

What For? is the most rockin' Necodemus album I've found, a good starter.

You can also find other Lp's here,
http://prognotfrog.blogspot.com/2009/05/nicodemus-and-matchez-better-art-music.html
& here,
http://prognotfrog.blogspot.com/2009/02/nicodemus-spacechild-squall-usa-1977.html

I'm going to post a few other rare ones soon.

Download here,
Necodemus.zip.html

Martin Rev - Debut Album (NO WAVE ELECTRONICS)

2009-05-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

Martin Rev - S/T
1980
Lust/Unlust Records

Amazing and hard to find debut S/T album by Martin Rev of the famed NYC Underground group Suicide. Released by Lust/Unlust who dropped some of the best slabs of vinyl from the NYC No-Wave Scene in the late 1970's.

Featuring Martin's unique blend of old drum machines, organs, and ripped synths. Very Hypnotic!

Highly Recommended!

Download here,
Martin Rev.zip.html

Fraction (CHRISTIAN WEST COAST PSYCH, 1971)

2009-05-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Fraction - "Moon Blood"
Angelus Record Label
1971 USA

A Fantastic LP worthy of its Legendary status with great vocals by Jim Beach and powerful guitar work allegedly recorded live in the studio. Long out-of-print album, originally limited to 200 copies, by the short lived Los Angeles-based psychedelic, fuzz-drenched garage band.

"This is the kind of album that keeps us 70's rock fanatics on the never-ending quest to discover the elusive "lost masterpiece". FRACTION-"Moon Blood" LP (1970) is without a doubt one of the earliest examples of stoner rock. Blending elements of brain damaged psyche with bombastic drumming and absolutely over the top vocals, FRACTION immediately grabs the listener and virtually crams a hit of acid down their throat. Well, not quite... But FRACTION is the epitome of 70's drug damaged garage rock, and had FRACTION been from Detroit, maybe you would hear there name mentioned with the likes of the MC5, the UP, and the STOOGES. Nearly everything about FRACTION just reeks of the underground making them destined to be only a footnote in regards to the musical mainstream. However, for those of us with minds of our own FRACTION can be quite a killer musical journey. If I had to describe their sound I would say take the rawest, most drugged-out elements of the DOORS and cross it with the intensity of the MC5 and the STOOGES, then throw in a little grim Krautrock(like NIGHT SUN or HAIRY CHAPTER) and add on top of the whole mix a vocalist who sounds like he is literally having a mental breakdown at times and you begin to get the picture. The production on "Moon Blood" is pretty good although certainly sounds like a record made on a mid-range budget by a band with probably little previous studio experience. Luckily for FRACTION, their naivety works in their favor and gives "Moon Blood" a truly grim, disturbing, punky, and underground feel. The lyrics deal primarily with existential issues and have a somewhat Christian feel to them in a way similar to later heavy metal bands like BLACK SABBATH, TROUBLE, SAINT VITUS/OBSESSED. There isn't a hint of preachy Christianity here but rather a lyrical window into the after-effects of too much LSD, the Vietnam War, assassinations, protests, etc., on a person with faith in God. So "Moon Blood" is a really dark and deep affair, which renders it quite unique and absolutely mandatory for all those interested in late-60's and 70's psyche, pre-punk, hard prog, acid rock, and stoner music. FRACTION-"Moon Blood" is a notoriously valuable(as much as $1000+) and sought after LP(supposedly released in 1970 in quantities of only several hundred) so chances are a CD re-release is the only way you'll ever touch this monster. It may cost you a little bit more than you'd prefer, but FRACTION-"Moon Blood" is a strange beast of a record that you'll find yourself returning to over and over. So pick up a copy, sit back, throw on the headphones, smoke a bowl and take a trip into FRACTION's bleak world of Christian acid angst...."

Download here,
Fraction.zip.html

Damin Eih, A.L.K & Brother Clark (RARE ACID GEM!!!)

2009-05-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

Damin Eih, A.l.k & Brother Clark - "Never Mind"
Demelot Records - 1973
Minneapolis, MN

Super rare Acid Rock/Folk album from the Minneapolis area in 1973. Amazing production and tripped guitar effects. Mesmerizing song craft that's very lysergic in a Syd Barrett sort of way.

"One of those elaborate Midwestern headtrips that will send you into aural space you didn't even know exitsted, like CA Quintet of side 1 of Yezda Urfa. The longer suites are particularly impressive, while the shorter tunes less so. A unique mix of multi-layered acoustic guitars, treated vocals and extensive use of cymbals creates a piercing yet enjoyable high frequency soundscape that demands your attention, while soom moog and fuzz bass round out the bottom. Someone spent a lot of money on this one and I would deem it largely successful, with parts that are truly spellbinding, even though the 'message' remains obscure. Pretentious and rather Euro-proggish in its sensibility, yet playful and exotic enough to appeal to more adventerous psych fans. The bands ridiculously unwieldy moniker and the lack of a high profile reissue keeps this one buried.' - Acid Archives"

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Download here,
Damin Eih, A.L.K & Brother Clark.zip.html

PS. Sadly in only 128kbps mp3 quality,,, but it sounds pretty good for being at that rate.

RAIL BAND (Mali Railway Station Grooves)

2009-04-11T18:22:00.001-07:00

RAIL BAND, MORY KANTE & SALIF KEITA
Mali - Early 70s

Rail Band is one of African pop music's most important bands, a sort of African answer to The Beatles or Rolling Stones. The parallels are not as unlikely as they may at first appear. Both the Beatles and Stones began by copying American prototypes, while in 1960s and 1970s Africa people copied Cuban music. After liberation, several African governments wished to do something to stimulate their own African culture and several of them - for example the Governments of Mali and Guinea - set about constructing state bands. Without coercing musicians to play only traditional music, they gave them instruments and put them on the state payrolls. Several of these bands came to play an important role in the blossoming of African music in the 1960s and 1970s, among other reasons because many artists for the first time had access to modern instruments such as electric guitar, keyboard and saxophone. Rail Band belongs to this tradition but stands in a unique position because of its closeness to the Malian railway. In 1970 the stationmaster in Bamako asked the Griot Tidiana Kone to put together a band that could play in the foyer of the railway hotel and drive the culture forward. In the beginning Rail Band played for hours, a cultural blend of pop songs and more traditional Malian songs with modern settings. Salif Keita came to the group in the early days as a singer and was with them for ages before breaking out and forming Les Ambassadeurs. Mory Kante started his career with Rail Band when he studied the kora in Bamako. One day Salif Keita arrived too late to play, so overtook Mory Kante as vocalist, and both worked for a while as singers. In the five years that Rail Band existed, they developed a special style and mixed calypso and Latin American music, jazz and big band sounds with their own, local traditions.

Download here,
Rail Band.zip.html

Various Artists - Posições (Brazilian 1970s Bliss!)

2009-04-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

VA - Posições
Brazil - 1971

Amazing Brazilian Compilation Ep from the early 70s featuring the best of the Brazilian Avant-Tropicalia Scene. Incredible recordings that seem to have been all recorded in the same studio. Though I may be wrong but it all sounds very consistent for a compilation of this era.

Mind blowing stuff in my books!

01. Tribo - Kyrie
02. Equipe Mercado - Marina Belair
03. Módulo 1000 - Curtíssima
04. Som Imaginário - A Nova Estrela
05. Módulo 1000 - Ferrugem e Foligem
06. Tribo - Peba & Pobó

Highly Recommended!

Download here,
VA-Posições.zip.html

Dadamah - This Is Not A Dream (New Zealand Underound '92)

2009-04-11T02:02:00.001-07:00

Dadamah - This Is Not A Dream
Majora Records - LP - 1993

One of my favorite records of the early 90s. I discovered it just for the fact that it was on Majora Records. An amazing Seattle label that release many of the best Sun City Girls releases as well as works by Total, Eddy Detroit, Crawlspace, Ramleh, and Leslie Q.

"Like every group in New Zealand, the members of Dadamah had links to a number of other bands; drummer Peter Stapleton played in The Terminals, Vacuum and The Victor Dimisich Band guitarist Roy Montgomery played in The Pin Group (whose single was the first ever release on the Flying Nun label). Singer Kim Pieters and organ/synth player Janine Stagg were, apparently, the only two people in New Zealand who had never been in a band.

Dadamah only played out three times, devoting the majority of their efforts to recording on four track. At the time the group was active, the underground experimentation of the Xpressway label garnered a number of fans outside the two islands and a Dadamah track ended up on a compilation seven inch Drag City released in 1991 called I Hear The Devil Calling Me.

Jay Hinman noted Dadamah's solitary place in the NZ underground in his Superdope fanzine:

"Dead C. might blare and scrape, the Terminals might twist and wind, but Dadamah positively shimmer with beautifully earthy lo-fi Velvets/Ubu sound. "

Limited edition singles on the Seattle-based Majora label followed, earning Dadamah praise as "one of the most overwhelmingly great exponents of layer-shifting drone-on master-rock" in the Forced Exposure catalog. Roy Montgomery's droning guitars were offset by Janine Stagg's stabbing organ and gurgling moog synths, with Kim Pieter's vocals weaving through the mix."

Roy Montgomery:
"The Dadamah album I look back upon as an exercise in weaving tunes into cacophony. The other members of the band had the energy and enthusiasm for experimentation and I had the "hooks", to put it crudely. I thought the common ground for us in Dadamah was that terrain occupied by Pere Ubu and the Red Crayola in their debut records, so I think I had that always at the back of my mind in trying write tunes to go with the words and ideas of the other members."

Download here,
Dadamah.zip.html

Angus Maclise (NYC 1960s UNDERGROUND NOISE)

2009-04-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

Angus Maclise - The Cloud Doctrine
2xCD - Released by Sub Rosa 2004

Poet, nomad, methedrine cardinal, and onetime Velvet Underground drummer Angus MacLise, after years of obscurity (and two decades after his death), has gained wider recognition, over the last couple of years, for his vital contributions to the post-Lamonte Young/VU Minimalist/drone activity in New York during the 60s and 70s. Two previous cds on Quakebasket have focused on MacLise the improvising percussionist, featuring extended tribal/trance/noise improvisations with the likes of Tony Conrad, John Cale, and MacLise's wife Hetty. This double disc set features a few tracks in the same vein, such as the "Trance" series, from 1965. Befitting the Cale/Conrad/MacLise trio's previous work in Lamonte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, these crudely recorded jams smear out into whispy drones that saturate the sound field with a gloriously ecstatic clamor. The biggest revelation, at least to me, is the electronic music MacLise recorded in the mid-60s. The 28-minute "Electronic Mix for 'Expanded Cinema'" is a grainy, but vibrantly detailed abstract journey through a variegated soundscape that ranks up there with the pioneering electronic works of Stockhausen and Xenakis. Both sine tones and concrete sounds clash, layer, crescendo, and flow within a dynamic architecture that recalls Varese's masterpiece "Poem Electronique". The piece has all the exploratory din and analog physicality of the best early electronic music. In addition to the music, there if half an hour of rare recordings of MacLise reading his spacy but uniquely skewed poetry. Hi-fi fetishists beware: most of these recordings are sourced from degraded tapes that have been sitting in a box on the floor of someone's closet since the 70s. But their primitive quality does little to hide the raw spontaneity and creativity of this music. The drone pieces, in particular, are given a pleasingly hazy quality that's fitting for these nearly-forgotten communications from yesterday's fringes.

Pt. 3 Link was bad before but now it is fixed... If the zip didn't work for you before grab the new pt3 zip below

Download Here,
Angus Maclise pt1.zip.html
Angus Maclise pt2.zip.html
Angus Maclise pt3.zip.html
Angus Maclise pt4.zip.html

Amanaz - Africa (Zambian PSYCH FUZZ, 1975)

2009-04-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

Amanaz - “Africa”
(Shadoks)

Fantastic psychedelic rock album recorded by Amanaz in Zambia in ’75; & in the early '70s Zambian way stylistically very much rooted in late ‘60s psych, with a few African moves thrown in here & there for flavor. Amanaz were a five piece band (two guitars, bass, drums, vox) & all five members wrote & sang, so there is a fair amount of variety in the songs, though they are stylistically coherent, moving from a sort of semi-Africanized “Loaded” Velvets feel to something maybe along the lines of a stripped down Iron Butterfly, maybe even hinting at something like early Funkadelic, but always high level, plenty of fuzz, riffs, post Ginger Baker drumming, & with a ramshackle underground sound & feel – raw, organic, beautiful. This feels like it was hand carved out of an old tree, rather than recorded in a studio. Mostly sung in English, with a couple of tunes in the Bemba language. A fairly close parallel would be the equally brilliant Chrissy Zebby Tembo album “My Ancestors,” also recorded in Zambia & released around the same time. Beautiful Sunday morning comedown feel. Sounds good immediately, but repeated listens reveals rare timeless magic.

Download here,
Amanaz.zip.html

Popol Vuh - "Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte" 1976

2009-02-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

Popol Vuh - "Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte"
Spalax
Germany (1976)

Florian Fricke, piano;
Daniel Fichelscher, guitars, percussion, drums;
Djong Yun, vocal; with Renate Knaup, vocal

Review,
Popol Vuh is one of my more favored Krautrock bands, who at their height displayed an exquisite blend of spirituality, emotional power, and mystery in their music often lacking in other works of the genre. This disc is another great argument for how 30 minutes of captivating music can trounce a 50-60 minute recording of mediocre fare. There seems to be more reverb on this recording then on previous Popol Vuh albums, creating spindly guitar lines, jagged percussion, and a heightened sense of grandeur that reaches in and grabs a hold of the listener. Daniel Fichelscher, who was Fricke's main collaborator in Popol Vuh and also the ex-drummer of Amon Düül II, especially makes his presence known here. This is in both a compositional (he co-wrote three of the songs) and instrumental sense; to date, this is the one Popol Vuh album I've heard where he noticeably overshadows Fricke. This work also has considerably more involvement in the vocal department than previous Popol Vuh albums.

Most of the vocals are handled excellently by Djong Yun, with a voice that strolls through the moonlight in "Kyrie." However, Fichelscher's ex-bandmate Renate Knaup, vocalist for Amon Düül II, also shows up near the end of the album. Never to me has Knaup's voice sounded as humanly vulnerable and sweet as it does singing the incredible title track. If ever a song made you want to wake at dawn and scream into the sunrise with joy, this is it. If you want to compare both gals' voices, by the way, listen to the reprise entitled "Haram Dei": Knaup's Teutonic, more accented vocal is prominent in the left channel, whereas Yun's original vocal track, more clearer and angelic, is prominent in the right. Out of all the Popol Vuh albums I've heard thus far, this is probably my favorite. A truly emotional work that gets better with repeated listens.

Download here,
Popol Vuh - Letzte Tage - Letzte Nächte.zip.html

Flaviola e o Bando do Sol (Brazilian Psych Folk 1974)

2009-02-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

Flaviola e o Bando do Sol
Solar Records
1974 Brazil

Beautiful Folk record with many psychedelic tinges from northeastern Brazil.
Recommended.

Info,
Another representative of the generation northeastern after-tropicalismo, that he had in Paêbirú, of Squid Côrtes and Zé Ramalho, its more radical expression. Also pernambucano, Flaviola and the Flock of the Sun recorded only one album, launched for the Solar local stamp, in 1974. On the basis of regional rhythms, had rare produced a mix of folk-rock-psicodelia, that remains with the extreme present time. Rich instrument, in the base of violões, violas, guitars, flutes and percussion. Basically acoustic, with an uneven poetry, the record is plus an example of the energy, of the will of crair something new, that it abundava in Recife. A comparison with the English of "The Incredible String Band" is not of all absurd. They participate of the Flávio record Lira (the Flaviola), Côrtes Squid, Pablo Raphael, Robertinho of Recife, and Zé of the Flute.

Download here,
Flaviola e o Bando do Sol.zip.html

The Enemy Within (Featuring Peter Green and Mick Green)

2008-12-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Enemy Within
(Featuring Peter Green and Mick Green)
"A Touch Of Sunburn" 1986 Uk
aka "Two Greens Make A Blues"

Originally titled A Touch Of Sunburn and later, Two Greens Make A Blues this electronic Blues experiment was one of the most original and charismatic albums of the 80s. Featuring guitarists Peter Green (ex-Fleetwood Mac), Mick Green, Gypie Mayo and Ed Deane, this reissue includes two bonus tracks with remastered sound and insightful liner notes.

Seriously damaged Beefheart'ian inspired blues record from the 1980's. Kinda like if early Chrome decided to make a Beefheart Album. Lots of cool early 80s drum machines, filtered guitar sounds and goofball lyrics.

Very rare and hard to find. This was later issued in the 1990's as "Peter Green and Mick Green - Two Greens Make a Blues" though the Green's only are noted as playing on a few tracks on this album.
The mysterious band leader is known as "The Raven."

Download here,
The Enemy Within.zip.html

Franco Battiato - Fetus (Early 70s Italian Masterpiece)

2008-12-03T01:21:00.000-08:00

Franco Battiato - Fetus
Released 1972 on Bla Bla
Italy

Mind Blowing Debut Album by this Sicilian born Italian Experimentalist turned Pop Star. Battiatto even on his early works rode the line of Pop and new sounds in electronics and studio production. Much like contemporaries CAN or Faust. But it seems Battiato's work stayed within the Italian borders as he always stayed true to the italian language. Beautifully haunting electronic passages blur into elated pop moments then turning to music concrete studio edits. There is a in depth review here at Head Heritage which is much more informed.

Highly Recommended. I will post some of his following albums soon.

Download here,
Franco Battiato - Fetus.zip.html

Nicholas and Gallivan with Larry Young (Levitate the White House!!!)

2008-11-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

Nicholas and Gallivan with Larry Young
"Love Cry Want"
1972

some reviews,,,,
June 1972, Lafayette Park, Washington DC. Richard Nixon ordered aide, J.R. Haldeman, to pull the plug on the concert fearing that this strange music would 'levitate the White House.' Here is that music."
---
Love Cry Want is a monstrous piece of psych-jazz, sorta like the most zonked moments of Tony Williams' Emergency Mark I further extended into some unimaginably degenerate mutation.? Over the course of an hour, Larry Young's space organ is repeatedly injected into a maelstrom of primitive guitar synths, spastic ring modulated moans and an abundance of percussion.? Technically-speaking, it's probably closer to free rock than free jazz and in the end, it's one of those discs so dissociating that I wouldn't dare listen to it outside of sobriety.? Heavy?? No shit. That this group was never documented until 1997 only hints at how much of this genre has fallen through the cracks.? So yeah, muchos gracias to Love Cry Want percussionist Joe Gallivan for embracing his past work... and thereby allowing us other freaks to do the same.
---
Did manage to track down Love Cry Want & it is indeed all that & a bag of chips!? This is some of the most whacked music ever made!? The drummer & guitarist are both playing through prototype drum & guitar synthesizers, Larry Young's doin' his outer space organ thing-- sheer Nirvana!? Each 10+ minute song has more musical ideas bubbling around (in a remarkably cohesive & flowing fashion) than you can shake a stick at!? Moments of unholy beauty & red-hot scree bumpin' right next to each other, never losing the flow.? That this music was created & '72 & more importantly, that this music was *heard by* & *scared the shit out of* Tricky Dick Nixon brings a smile to my face a mile wide.? Get it if you know what's good for you!

Prepare for something special and 'levitate the White House!!!'

Download here,
Nicholas and Gallivan with Larry Young.zip.html

CODE III - Planet Of Man, Germany 1974 (Krautrock Gem)

2008-11-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

Code III - “Planet of Man”
Release on Delta Acoustic in 1974.
Germany

Another obscure release from Schulze’s little stable of cosmic electro-acousitc troubadours and a fine one at that. Taking as its pretext a concept as big as the formation of the cosmogony itself: this far-out piece of German-ness is in the same verin as Sand’s Golem, and The Vuh’s first two monoliths. A huge adam-and-eve-adelic experiment into sonic territories hitherto unexplored in 1974. This really was Delta-Acustic’s year wasn’t it.From the cover onwards the LP is a beautiful fusion of electronic and acoustic folkiness, the Sand LP is really the nearest comparison. Cosmic electronics of whistling and wind effects open up Side One and give the LP a very “Ligeti’s contributions to 2001 A Space Odyssey” feel, formless moog ululations and spectral robot voices speaking about primitive (wo)man. Thebrainchild of Manfred Schunke and Ed Key the LP them merges into a sublime acousitc ur-folk plainsong, picked acoustics and English vocals, the bird whistles bring us right into Granchester Meadows (its very Roger Waters in fact, a re-write of that track and Atom Heart’s If), flutes are added and we are in the krautrock Book of Genesis. Primitive atmospherics dominate, until 10 minutes of random drum sounds ruin it slightly (in that 5minutes would have sufficed).

Side Two and Aparna Shakravati adds tambura and chanting one-chord Indian wordless vocal, the whole thing morphing through more elctronic storms and tumult, and samples from American and German voices, into a sudden jump into early drum-machine motorik shuffle and trance-synths. Its very “Black Dance” and Klaus finally makes an appearance on Side Two - mid-way - on drums. The epic closer brings back the acoustics and it all builds into a spectatcular finale of choral oooohhhs and aaaaaaaaaaahhs that the Germans do so well, including (according to the liner notes) a Stone Age Choir and a Cosmos Choir. Fans of Sand, early Vuh and early Schulze will love this LP. - (Reviewed by Gogmagog From Head Heritage)

Download here,
Code III.zip.html

Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (My desert Island album)

2008-10-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics

Recorded in the late 80s.
Original Release: 1990 Vinyl LP on Majora Records
CD Reissue: 1993 CD Tupelo Recordings

Torch of the Mystics represents the pinnacle of the first phase of the Sun City Girls. A concise, pinwheeling album that captures the band's pure commitment to emotional transcendence through music, the 11 songs here fly off into the netherworld of ethnic avant-garage rock with startling clarity. The band had never fully explored the Middle Eastern tones accumulating in their brains as they did on this 1990 masterpiece, nor had they been as clearly and smartly recorded as they are here: guitarist Rick Bishop's tone slices, drummer Charlie Gocher is wider than he has ever been, and bassist Alan Bishop rumbles with an ominous ferocity. Songs like the pile-driving "Esoterica of Abyssynia" sound like your radio has leapt into a dreamy foreign astral plane of its own volition. "Space Prophet Dogon" is a dance of the seven veils as played by the freaked-out Mothers of Invention, while "Radar 1941" crash-lands in the middle of Egyptian Top 40 as imagined by "Count Five." Every track contains a shimmering melodic phrase or haunting undertone that the Girls mine like pure manna, and the occasional bursts of delirious chanting still summon goosebumps on the listener's skin. Every argument made for the greatness of the Sun City Girls has its roots in this platter, and if you have never understood what the fuss is all about or if you ever needed something to convince you of their (deservedly) sterling underground reputation, this is the original testament.

Download here,
Torch of the Mystics.zip.html

The Apollo Stars @ "X-RAY VISIONS" (Scientologist Jazzzz)

2008-09-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

repost of this gem,,,,available at
X-RAY VISIONS

Posting a very rare Scientologist Lp from the 70's.
Grab it before their Lawyers take it down!

Michael Flower (UK PsychNoise Exotica)

2008-09-15T03:29:00.000-07:00

Michael Flower - Returning To Knowing Nothing
(Phase Two)
CDR - 2005

Michael Flower is a founding member of Vibracathedral Orchestra from Leeds, UK. Probably the most mesmerizing psychedelic drone group since La Monte Young stopped getting high (or at least pretended to be.)

This CDR is Phase 2 of a 3 parts series. Some of the best tracks from that series where later released on a Lp on the Qbico label from Italy. Mick plays a array of exotic Asian instruments. Made for the 2005 USA tour with Sunburned Hand of the Man.

Download Here,
Michael Flower (Phase 2).zip.html

Gaseneta (1978 Japanese Acid Punk)

2008-09-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

Gaseneta - Sooner or Later
PSF records - Recorded 1978

Gaseneta were a "punk" outfit from the late part of the 1970s. This CD out on PSF Japan is their only existing release, called Sooner or Later. Considering the dismal state of a lot of Japanese punk this is great, nowhere near the sheer white-out of High Rise, et al, but kind of admirable falling-apart primitivism...basically the same song done over and over at varying degrees of intensity, with VERY ferocious vocals. Whether or not you want to hear this probably depends on your tolerance for punk/noise mayhem; but an important band in terms of their purported influence none the less.

Frantic voice, over-the-top distorted guitar, thunderous rhythm section made a killer garage sound. Gaseneta had inestimable influence on High Rise's sound (indeed, High Rise covered Gaseneta's song in their early days.)" Recorded in 1978, this is really fried stuff, some of the most aggressively gargled Japanese music (in a sorta acid-punk vein) ever witnessed.

Download Here,
Gaseneta.zip.html

Conrad Schnitzler And Sohn (Private Press)

2008-09-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

Conrad And Sohn

Bizarre one-off private-press released in 1981 by one-time Tangerine Dream / Kluster associate Conrad Schnitzler, which was given only to friends and family. Tracks 6-11 are pretty odd, even for Schnitzler, with its pitched up vocals & arbitrary lo-fi synth drippings; but the real prize are tracks 1-5 featuring his teenage son (sohn) Gregor on electric bass and completely fried vocals (in English no less) as run through Conrad's massive modular synth rig. Limited to 500 pieces.

Fans of early Cabaret Voltaire, John Bender, Bruce Haack, and primitive electronix will enjoy!

Download Here,
Conrad And Sohn.zip.html

Eddy Detroit - Jungle Captive (Phoenix Underground 1997)

2008-08-06T04:17:00.001-07:00

Eddy Detroit - "Jungle Captive"

Lp - Majora Records - 1997

Freshly dug out of my vinyl vault, digitized and blown into the ether,,, I present to you Eddy Detroit's classic Lp "Jungle Captive." A serious blast on Underground Acid Folk Exotica from one of Phoenix Arizona's legends. Along with the Sun City Girls, Mighty Sphincter and 70s oddballs Kennelmus Phoenix has always been home to some strange artists.

This Lp does features a wealth of musicians from the Phoenix scene, I've included in the zip a scan of the Lp insert with all musicians listed. The Sun City Girls have been know to play with Eddy on some of his singles and his earlier Lp "Immortal Gods" but they do not appear on this record.

Highly Recommended and your not going to find this anywhere else!
We love you Eddy!

Download Here,
Eddy Detroit.zip.html

Blumen Des Exotischen Eises (80s German Noise Exotica!)

2008-08-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

"Blumen des Exotischen Eises LP was released in '86 in the quantity of 100 copies on his Dead Eye Records. It was recorded between '83 and '85 and consisted of spontaneous music, some of it played by Alfred alone on different instruments with overdubs, and some with friends. Some tracks have early '70s open-air spaced out feel, others -- more heavy hypnotic Teutonic sound. Alfred Otterstaetter began playing music in the late '70s, releasing homemade tapes and records under different band names."

Blown out Sitars/Organs/Guitars/Drums. Reminds me of current groups like Avarus and Kemialliset Ystävät and old groups like Amun Duul I, Siloah, and Limbus.

Download here,
Blumen Des Exotischen Eises.zip.html

Tony Conrad With Faust - Outside The Dream Syndicate

2008-07-15T02:42:00.000-07:00

Tony Conrad With Faust
"Outside The Dream Syndicate" 30th Anniversary Edition
Remastered

The silence ended here. Made over three days on a remote farm in northern germany, outside the dream syndicate — Tony Conrad's historic 1972 meeting with rock visionaries Faust — was the composer and violinist's debut album and an evelatory document of his central role in the birth of minimalism. Issued only in Europe, it was the first officially available record of Conrad's microtonal explorations, initiated in the dream syndicate in the early 1960s. This 30th anniversary reissue features a second disc of originally unreleased music from the sessions and restores outside the dream syndicate to its rightful place in history: as the vital link between early minimalism and the rock avant-garde and a gripping testament to the power and beauty of the drone.
Highly Recommended!

Violin - Tony Conrad
Bass - Jean-Hervé Peron
Drums - Werner Diermaier
Synthesizer - Rudolf Sosna
Engineer - Kurt Graupner
Producer - Uwe Nettelbeck

Tracklisting:
Disc One
01 From The Side Of Man And Womankind (27:16)
02 From The Side Of The Machine (26:21)

Disc Two
01 The Pyre Of Angus Was In Kathmandu (3:38)
02 The Death Of The Composer Was In 1962 (3:16)
03 From The Side Of Woman And Mankind (Complete Version) (31:11)

Download here,
Tony Conrad with Faust Disc One.zip.html
&
Tony Conrad with Faust Disc Two.zip.html

Persona (1975 Brazilian Obscuro Psych)

2008-07-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

Persona - Som
(Brazil 1975)

Launched in Brazil in 1975, private edition, in long-play mono of 10". Obscure experimental psych band, pre-Tutti-Frutti. Interesting noise and precarious writing, seeming to have been done in a small garage, recorded with a domestic Cassette 2 track, tape mangled bliss!

DAMAGED WITH A CAPITAL "D" !!!

Members
Locution - Robert Campadello
I sing - Carmen Flowers
Guitar, Echo Play Efects and Gaita - Carlini Luis
Vioão - Lee Marcucci
Percussion - Franklin Paolillo

Download here,
Persona.zip.html

Vangelis - The Dragon (GREEK PSYCH OUT!)

2008-06-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

Vangelis - The Dragon
(1971)

Found this early Vangelis rarity the other day and was blown away. "The Dragon" is a psych monster, especially Side A. Fuzz Bass, Tripped Strings, and throbbing Rhythms. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Info,
In 1971, Vangelis played several sessions in the London Marquee Studios, some of them together with guitarist Argyris 'Silver' Koulouris, violinist Michel Ripoche, bass guitarist Brian Odger and drummer Mick Waller. For some reason the recordings were never released at the time, and lay shelved until 1978, when Charly Records suddenly released the music under the name 'The Dragon'. Apparently this release wasn't approved by Vangelis, as he successfully went to court to get the album off the market.

Other recordings of these jam-sessions were released at the same time as the album 'Hypothesis'.

Download here,
Vangelis - The Dragon.zip.html

Eddy Detroit - Immortal Gods (Phoenix Underground 1982)

2008-06-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

Eddy Detroit - Immortal Gods
1982

The first (of two) self released albums put out by Eddy Detroit (his third album would come out many years later on Majora, Jungle Captive, in 1997. Very exotic cult folk and primitive rock album, led by the irrepressible vocal presence of Eddy. "A reissue of more material from the early 80's Phoenix underground music scene, contemporary with Paris 1942; this time none other than the first LP by Eddy Detroit... this was self released in 1982 and has been pretty impossible to find for quite a few years. Featuring an all star lineup including Mary and Dan Clark (Victory Acres), Charlie Gocher and Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls), James Verlaine (aka J. Akkari from Paris 1942) and others.

Download here,
Eddy Detroit.zip.html

Brother Ahh - "Sound Awareness"

2008-05-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Brother Ahh - "Sound Awareness"
USA 1972 Strata-East Records

A very trippy album from the enigmatic Brother Ah -- aka Robert Northern, former member of Sun Ra's Arkestra, and also a lecturer on the east coast. This album's his first, originally issued on the Strata East label -- and a space mixture of other-worldly sounds. The first long track on the album is entitled "Beyond Yourself (The Midnight Confession)", and features a group with Ah on flutes and "natural" sounds, plus cello by Pat Dixon, percussion by Barbara Burton, and soprano voice by Barbara Grant. The track's a "sound journey in 7 parts" -- floating across space with a mystical feel that slowly unfurls. The other long track on the set is "Love Piece", a tune in which Ah plays flute along with percussion by Max Roach and the M'Boom percussion ensemble -- plus a 90-voice chorus, and a short rap by Roach. Very spiritual stuff!

Side A: Beyond Yourself (The Midnight Confession) (22:04)
Cello - Pat Dixon
Flutes, French Horns - Brother Ahh
Percussion - Barbara Burton
Soprano Voice - Barbara Grant
Note: Beyond Yourself is a sound journey in 7 parts:
Introduction, Rap, Midnight Confession, Fear, Demons, Morning Song, Dawn

Side B: Love Piece (16:20)
Featuring - 90 Voice Sound Awareness Ensemble, The
Flutes, French Horns - Brother Ahh
Percussion - M'Boom Re:percussion Ensemble
Rap - Max Roach
Tuba - Howard Johnson

Download Here,
Brother Ahh.zip.html

Anthony Moore - Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom (1971)

2008-05-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Anthony Moore
Pieces from the Cloudland Ballroom
UK 1971

Moore is best known as a founder of the progressive rock band Slapp Happy but has also written lyrics for Pink Floyd. These albums are part of a theoretical trilogy written in Germany in the early 1970's (the third part, Reeds, Whistle And Sticks was unissued until a 1998 CD release on Blueprint). Although Anthony is of British origin, these can be viewed as essential Krautrock peripherals and are Historically Significant no matter how you look at it.

Pieces features: Anthony Moore (comp/cond), with: Ulf Kenklies (vocals), Glyn Davenport (vocals), Gieske Hof-Helmers (vocals) & Werner 'Zappa' Diermeier of Faust (hi-hat).

From Alan Licht's "Minimalism: The Next Ten", originally published in Halana #3: "Two great missing links in the incredible history of Uwe Nettlebeck's productions at Wümme, Germany. Slapp Happy founder Moore recorded Pieces From The Cloudland Ballroom a month after Faust cut their debut LP (fall 1971) and Secrets Of The Blue Bag a month before their second (with Slapp Happy's debut Sort Of following in May '72 and Tony Conrad/Faust's Outside The Dream Syndicate in October). Indeed, Faust's Werner 'Zappa' Diermaier and Gunther Wusthoff both contribute to Pieces, which is not a Krautrock or artrock LP but a bona fide minimal classic. Side one is 'Jam Jern Jim Jom Jum,' which has three singers chanting that mantra while Moore plays these odd, luminous repeating chords underneath. The first piece on side 2, 'mu na h-vile ni a shaoileas iad,' sounds uncannily like Richard Youngs' Advent with its quiet piano and piercing bowed sounds, while 'A.B.C.D. Gol'flsh' could almost pass for the trance rock classic that Moondog never got around to recording."

Download Here,
Anthony Moore.zip.html

Ave Sangria aka Bleeding Bird (Brazil 1974)

2008-05-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Ave Sangria - S/T
Brazil 1974

This is one of my favorite Brazilian Albums. Ave Sangria where from the Northeast Brazilian scene of the early 70s sharing the stage with other legends like Lula Cortez and Ronnie Von. I couldn't find much english information but below is slightly understandable translation of a Portuguese article on the group,

They used lipstick, kissed themselves in the mouth in full stage, made a dirty music, with letters speaking of pirates, young women deceased in the rutting. And was very quaint; "chickens", according to ones, and a threat to the young maidens of the city, as others. These "bad elements" they were part of the Ave Sangria, former-Tamarineira Village, whom Recife band of 1974 scandalized, in the same way that Rolling Stone of the London ten years before. With effect, it she was known as the northeast Stones. "This age all part of the legend around the Sangria Bird" - it explains, 25 years later, Rafles, the minister of the information of the group. "The lipstick was mertiolate, that people used to shock. I do not know of where this history of kiss in the mouth appeared, the only thing different in the group was the hair and clothes." Rafles for return of 68, was "pirado" of call of Recife. Between its maluquices it is to send, for the post office, one strengthened established one, in legitimate Colomy paper, for Paul McCartney. Months later, it received the reply from the Beatle: an autographed photo the gratefulness. Who was considered the Rafles name Tamarineira Village, when the group took a definitive form, with the entrance of the singer and songwriter Marco Polo. This happened after the I Experimental Fair of Music of New Farm. Until then, without defined name, Almir Oliveira, Martins Squid, Disraeli, Bira, Aparicio My Love (sic), Rafles, Tadeu, and Ivson Wanderley was only the band of support of Laílson, today cartunista of the DP. Marco Polo, an academic of former-Right, was integrant precocious 45 of recifenses generation of poets. With 16 years, he dared to show himself to its poems and the Aryan Suassuna Cesar Loyal to it. He was approved by the two and he launched its first book in 66. In 69, he initiated himself in the journalism, the reporter of the Daily one of the Night. Soon he gained world. In 70, he worked for some time in the Periodical of the Afternoon, in Sao Paulo, but soon he turned hippie, the craftsman working in the lost temper square General Osório, in Ipanema. The first show as Tamarineira Village was the Rejection of the Landscape, after the festival of New Farm. Two others had come more concerts, Body in Flames and Concert Delinquent. From then on the band hoarded a faithful public. Gypsies The change of the name happened when the group passed to be invited for presentations in other States. The musicians had gotten tired themselves to explain the meaning of Tamarineira Village. The Bird Angria, according to Marco Polo, was the suggestion of amalucada Roma, that had found in the interior of the Paraiba: "It liked our music and made an improvised poem, mentioning it to the birds we bleedings. We find legal. The bleeding, for strong, sanguine, the violent northeast side. The bird, for the poetical side, symbol of the freedom of our work. At the time, the sound of the Violated Quintet was one of the sensations of the MPB. It did not delay recorders to order them to overseers to Recife in search of new quintet. The RCA was one of them. The Ave Sangria was investigated and refused the proposal (the RCA contracted the Wood Band and Rope). The record would come with the indication of the band, for the entrepreneur of the New Bahians, to the Continental one, the first recorder to bet in the future of the national rock. Anticipating the gozação for being northeasterns, the integrant ones of the band had arrived in the Hawaii studio, in the Avenue Brazil, River, all of fossil hunter in the hand: "We say it to have personal care, people came because of the land of Lampeão," recalls Almir Oliveira. He was one of the few moments of relaxation of the band. With exception of Marco Polo, none of the integrant ones knew the River and they had never entered in a writing studio. Of fossil hunter in the hand the aggravation, who produced the record was little the experienced John Antonucci. Former of the Young Guard ( the Vips formed the pair, with the Ronaldo brother), Antonucci was lost with the sound that had in hands, and it put it to lose: "It did not understand nothing of that mixture of rock music and people who northeastern made, and left The sessions to roll. The devil is that people also did not have the experience of lesser studio, "Pablo counts to the guitarist Rafael. Result: the record finished full of acoustic timbres. Bleeding The Bird, involuntarily, turned a species Violated Quintet udigrudi. Adulterated And was not only the sound. The recorder did not topou to pay for the art of the layer and placed in its place a semblance of the original drawing, signed for Laílson. The record, exactly divulged little, obtained relative success in the Southeast, and sold sufficiently in some States northeast. One of musics that had made more success, and controversy, it was samba-Waldir Its cries. "Its Mr. Waldir / Hurt my heart To make this with me, its Waldir / This does not become not… I want to be its favourite toy whistle Its Its satin shirt… "At a time where the androgyny became a source of pop music. There are with it gliter rock of David Bowie, Gary Glitter and Roxy Music with Alice Cooper, here with the one rebolado of Dry & Wet, Its Waldir was considered by the pernambucanos moralists as a vindication to the homosexuality, when it did not pass of the trick of the irreverent of the Ave Sangria. Its Waldir for little does not turn myth. Some said that he was one gentleman who liveed in Olinda, for which the vocalist of the Bird is Bleeding gotten passionate. Others, that if homonym dealt with a journalist. At last, one gave credit such that the Waldir was a personage of meat and bone. Marco Polo clarifies the history of the personage "I made Its Waldir, in the River, before entering in the band. It was ordered by Marília Pear for the track of the part of the Life Escrachada Baby Stomponato, of Bráulio Pedroso, that finished not using music to advantage. "The Department of Censorship of the Federal Policy did not take faith in this version. It forbade the LP and it determined collect in all its domestic territory. The prohibition stirred up, according to Bird integrant of the Bleeding, columnist for the social today one of the Daily one of Pernambuco, Joao Alberto: "It touched music in the TV program that it presented and commented that he found a nonsense, that the music with a letter of those could not touch freely in radios, "Rafles denounces. Almir Oliveira says that it remembers the commentaries of the journalist in the television:" But I do not attribute it directly. If it was not, would have been another person, music was exactly strong for time ", he brightens up. The prohibition, according to commentaries of the time, it had a general, stimulated for the indignation of the wife, who did not simpatizou with the declaration of love its Waldir. The record was relaunched without the cursed band, but the interest of the media for the group already had passed there. The Globe, for example, gave up to propagate the clip made for the Fantastic one, with Georgia music the Carniceira. The group lost the puncture: "People were a flock of poor faces, some already with children, the always short dollar. In the squeeze, we arrive until recording for the TV vignettes Periodical (one of them for the program Jorge Chau), "recalls Marco Polo. In December of 1974, the Ave Sangria seemed to want to Take flight again. The group made one of its better presentations, with the show Perfumes & Baratchos. The public who was to the Saint Elizabeth not wise person, but had the privilege to attend it sings of swan of the Ave Sangria. It was the last show and the end of the band.

Download Here,
Ave Sangria.zip.html

Here's a insane video from 1975 of Ave Sangria backing up tripped brazilian musician/artist Alceu Valença! Amazing!

Rustic Hinge (English Beefheartian's)

2008-05-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

Rustic Hinge - Replicas
UK 1970

If ever there was a missing link in the history and development of British psychedelic music it is Rustic Hinge. 'Replica' belatedly issued by Reckless Records in 1988, displays an abandoned sense of discipline sorely lacking in UK music of the time. Originally recorded as 'T On The Lawn For 3', 'Replica' features the Rustic Hinge tapes before they were re-edited for planned release as a one-sided album for John Peel's Dandelion label. The tape given to Dandelion featured singer Rod Goodway on a couple of cuts and was an edited version of the 'Replica' material.

Essentially the work of Drachen Theaker and guitarist Andy Rickell (also known as Android Funnel), the Rustic Hinge material is undoubtedly an important find. Drachen recalls: "I found a foil in Andy because he could keep up with me. He's the only musician I've ever played with who could watch me and catch the beats. A lot of that Rustic Hinge stuff was me playing gibberish and him cottoning onto it very quickly and solidifying it as a piece. We had a deal with John Peel. It was signed, sealed and delivered as far as I was concerned and I thought, if it breaks, I'll come back. In the meantime, I left for LA." But 'T On The Lawn For 3' took almost 20 years to surface.

Arthur played a series of gigs with the embryonic Rustic Hinge, but audiences were left bewildered. Drachen: "The problem after I rejoined was that we couldn't find another organist so we couldn't go out and play like the Crazy World. We used to play with Android Funnel, Dennis Taylor and this idiot organist called Roy and it was a total shambles. Arthur would start singing 'Fire' and the band would play cacophony behind him. It was atonal gibberish with banal comedy thrown in and the fans hated it."

Finding the work of Rustic Hinge too close to Beefheartian musical wisdom, Brown moved a couple of miles down the road and began to work on forming his next project, Kingdom Come.

Recorded at Jabberwocky Studios, Puddletown, Dorset in 1970.
Released by Reckless Records on vinyl in 1988.

Rustic Hinge,
Android Funnel - Guitars
Pete Pavli - Bass, Cello
Drachen Theaker - Drums, Tablas
with. Bruce Longhorn - Mellotron (Side One Track 4)
Arthur Brown - Vocals (Side 2 track 2)

Side One Track 1 is performed by HIGH TIDE
Tony Hill - Guitar
Simon House - Violin
Android Funnel - Guitar
Pete Pavli - Bass
Charles X - Drums

Download Here,
Rustic Hinge.zip.html

Video from the BBC!

Dara Puspita - A Go Go... (Indonesia)

2008-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Dara Puspita - A Go Go
El Shinta Records
Jakarta, 1967

Dara Puspita (Flower Girls) was Indonesia’s most successful girl band of the 1960s. While there were many popular female vocalists in Indonesia at that time, they nearly all relied on the services of a backing band. Dara Puspita was one of the few girl groups who actually played all their own music as well.

Dara Puspita hailed from the city of Surabaya in East Java and first formed in 1964 with the line-up of sisters Titiek Adji Rachman (Titiek A.R.) on guitar and Lies Soetisnowati Adji Rachman (Lies A.R.) on bass, along with Susy Nander on drums and Ani Kusuma on rhythm guitar. In April 1965 Lies left the band for a month to finish school and was replaced on bass by Titiek Hamzah. When Lies returned she took the place of Ani on rhythm guitar and Titiek Hamzah stayed on as bass player. It was with this line-up that the band set out to conquer the world.

In 1965 the band relocated to Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, and soon gained a reputation as a sensational live act, bashing away on their instruments, screaming out their songs and jumping up and down. Even though it was often hard to hear the songs through all the mayhem, audiences thought it was great and often joined the band to dance around on the stage.

The band’s stage act and the songs they played were clearly influenced by contemporary British bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, whose music at the time was banned in Indonesia. The Jakarta band Koes Bersaudara (Koes Brothers) was actually put in gaol for playing rock and roll, but it seems that Dara Puspita was never seriously troubled by the authorities, although they were warned not to perform Beatles’ songs. Dara Puspita had a number of close connections with Koes Bersaudara: members of KB wrote a number of songs for Dara Puspita, KB’s singer Yon was romantically linked with DP’s drummer Susy, and the two bands sometimes appeared on the same bill. The bands actually appeared together on the night that was to lead to Koes Bersaudara’s arrest and imprisonment.

Why Dara Puspita was never targeted by the authorities is a bit of a mystery, but was probably due to them being still relatively new on the scene in Jakarta and having not yet released a record. In late 1965 the political situation in Indonesia swung 360 degrees and rock and roll could be played again with impunity, so when Dara Pupita’s first album, Jang Pertama (The First), was released in 1966 they had little to fear. There is no mistaking the influence of other bands’ music on many of the songs here, such as the Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction riff in Mari-Mari (Come On, Come Here) or the Dave Clarke Five’s Glad All Over in Tanah Airku (My Homeland). Dara Puspita followed up their first album with the self-titled Dara Puspita later in the year and in 1967 put out two albums, Green Green Grass and A Go Go. The title track from the latter album, and the song Believe Me, are good examples of the band’s beat credentials.

The band was a popular attraction in Indonesia and also in the region, playing to enthusiastic crowds in neighbouring countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia. In 1968 they took the almost unprecedented move for an Indonesian band of trying their luck in Europe and spent the next few years touring in England, Holland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Hungary. They even played in Turkey and Iran. While in England they recorded two singles for CBS and recorded another for Philips in Holland. In late 1971 the band returned to Indonesia and played a number of concerts, but enthusiasm was starting to wane and in April 1972 they played their last show. Susy was keen to keep going and together with Titiek Hamzah recorded a number of albums using the Dara Puspita name, but it was really the end. Today only Titiek Hamzah continues in the Indonesian music industry, where she has had great success as a song-writer, but the music of Dara Puspita lives on and their records now command ridiculous prices with collectors.

Download here,
Dara Puspita.zip.html

Nightshadow (RARE PSYCH GARAGE)

2008-05-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

NIGHTSHADOW - "Square Root Of Two"
aka_{'LITTLE PHIL & THE NIGHTSHADOWS'}

This record has really been kicking me in the ass lately. Sometimes you feel shocked that it took this long to hear something so good, and wonder why it isn't being talked about. Originals of this Lp sell for around $3000 these days. Atlanta, GA psychedelic with a very familiar 13th Floor Elevators vibe, but with Psycho strange phazed out production and lots of amazingly warped guitar.

The psychedelic intro actually gave me a flashback!
A gem!

Download Here,
Nightshadow.zip.html

Forbidden Planet Soundtrack (1956) RIP BEBE BARRON

2008-04-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

RIP BEBE BARRON

Another Legend of the Early Electronic World has past on.

Louis & Bebe Barron's atmospheric, eerie and sinister electronic soundtrack to the cult classic sci-fi movie from 1956, Forbidden Planet starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen and Robby the Robot.

The groundbreaking Forbidden Planet soundtrack is credited as the first all-electronic music soundtrack for a major commercial movie and was unlike anything that audiences had heard before. In fact, during one preview of Forbidden Planet, the audience actually broke out in spontaneous applause as the sounds of the spaceship landing on Altair IV filled the theater!

Making electronic music was slow and laborious process back in the 1950s. By following the equations presented in the 1948 book, Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, by mathematician Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron built electronic circuits which he used to generate sounds. Most of the tonalities were generated with a circuit called a ring modulator. After recording the sounds, the couple further manipulated the material by adding effects such as reverb and delay and also by sometimes reversing and changing the speed of certain sounds.

From the liner notes by Louis & Bebe Barron:
We design and construct electronic circuits which function electronically in a manner remarkably similar to the way that lower life-forms function psychologically. In scoring Forbidden Planet - as in all of our work - we created individual cybernetics circuits for particular themes and leit motifs, rather than using standard sound generators. Actually, each circuit has a characteristic activity pattern as well as a "voice". We were delighted to hear people tell us that the tonalities in Forbidden Planet remind them of what their dreams sound like.

A great classic of early electronic music! Made with primitive equipment years before any commercial synthesizer's where available.

Download Here,
Forbidden Planet.zip.html

More Information on the Barron's here,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_and_Bebe_Barron

Melodic Energy Commission (Canadian Psych Folk Weirdness!)

2008-01-30T02:55:00.000-08:00

Stranger in Mystery (Canada 1979) - Lp

An interesting branch of the Hawkwind family tree is Melodic Energy Commission, which included among it membership Hawk electronics maestro Del Dettmar. The band's lineup consisted of Xaliman on vocals, guitar, piano, electro-keys, gongs, percussion, and shepherds pipes, Randy Raine-Reusch on dulcimer, khaen, gongs, and flutes, Del on EMS synth and Delatronics, George McDonald on guitar, theramin, and wall of oscillation, Mark Franklin on bass, and Paul Franklin percussion, tablas, glockenspiel, and synth organ, plus numerous guests. Stranger In Mystery is a Canadian Gem feature tribal, acoustic, flower power, hippie psychedelia combined with loads of spacerock electronics. The music is raw, but heavily exploratory, often changing radically within a single track. For example, the nine minute title track features acid guitar and synths jamming in their own individual directions in a kind of heavy Hawkwind,Tangerine Dream Vibe to Ethnic notes which remind me of the Sun City Girls or early Tower Recordings. Xaliman's slightly efx'd vocals are a bit eerie and fit the music well. This album goes from psychedelic chamber orchestra, to dissonant strumming acoustic guitars, and tweaked analog electronics. The original vinyl of the release is very rare. The band is from Vancouver Canada and still exists to this day. Look for them on myspace!

I've also included in the zip file a rare early single by the group.
- Melody is Energy 7''

The Album was originally posted over at Ezhevika Fields.
This one needs to make it to more ears!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Download here,
Melodic Energy Commission.zip.html

Pip Proud (Australian 60s Low-Fi Folk)

2008-01-30T02:27:00.000-08:00

Pip Proud - Eagle-Wise (1968-1969)

Eagle-Wise is a compilation of his LP's A Bird In The Engine and Adreneline and Richard, both albums that were originally released in 1968 and 1969 and incredibly hard to find now. Incredibly Tender intimate Folk.

Reminds me at times of Alistair Galbraith, Syd Barrett, Sentridoh, and Neon Pearl.

BIO:
The greatest Australian singer-songwriter of the 1960's. While all around him artists fell over each other trying to imitate overseas trends - beat groups, psychedelia, or whatever they were listening to in London and LA that month - Pip Proud was starting from scratch, and making his own music. The Adelaide-born Proud learnt guitar and developed his own idiosyncratic style as a teenager; moving to Sydney in his late teens, he began writing poetry, novels and songs at an impressive rate.

Download Here,
Pip Proud.zip.html

Can Am des Puig - Book Of Am (Spanish Folk Psych 1977)

2008-01-28T01:17:00.000-08:00

The Book of AM - Part One & Two ; Dawn and Morning
(Spain 1977)

Beautiful cult commune hippie psych folk item with a certain eastern flavour. Extremely rare - most of it is really good. Spiritual songs with various acoustic instruments, harmonium, sitar, tabla female/male vocals.

A gem of the Acid Folk Genre!

Download Here,

pt.1 - Book of AM.zip.html

pt.2 - Book of AM ii.zip.html

This release was recently reissued as a Double Lp with a Deluxe 112 page book of artwork.
Its available HERE <-
More information HERE <-

Kenneth Higney - Attic Demonstration

2008-01-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

DAMAGED KILLER ALBUM!!!

Attic Demonstration is a collection of demos performed by Higney in 1976. A New Jersey truck driver looking to jumpstart a career as a songwriter, Higney pressed the record in order to give it to other musicians, in hopes that they would perform his songs. That no one took him up on his offer is not surprising, since this a relentlessly downbeat, ramshackle collection of music. It’s a compelling and frequently bleak piece of work, but not one with much (or anything at all) in the way of the commercial potential Higney may have hoped for. Imagine Neil Young’s depressive masterwork On the Beach, only replace Neil Young with an untrained singer who vacillates between a haunted, plaintive drawl and a raspy shout, force the musicians to play constantly out of time, drench everything in tortured lead guitar, and deprive the band any second-takes.

As Higney explains in his liner notes, all of the music, (including overdubs), was recorded in a single take. That explains the ragged, cacophonous sound of the LP’s two rockers, the opening “Night Rider” and the final track, “No Heavy Trucking.” Perhaps they were intended as anthemic road songs; instead, these are abandoned landscapes as desolate as the one photographed on Attic Demonstration’s front cover – a shaggy haired Higney framed by a dreary cloud-choked sky, a vaguely pained expression on his face, resembling the jean-jacketed lead in some long-lost, Garden State Antonioni film. “Night Rider” is the most upbeat track; Higney harangues the title character, probably a biker, backed by clattering drums and guitars that are rarely in sync with the percussion. The dissonant and claustrophobic “No Heavy Trucking” portrays a truck-driver at the end of his rope, sitting alone and helpless in a malfunctioning rig - a glimpse into the trucker’s life far removed from anything dreamed up by C.W. McCall.

There’s also a plodding dirge sung from the point of view of a disillusioned rock star, a plea for his “Children of Sound” (his songs?) not to leave him and go “die in this world of hate,” and three break-up laments that combine bitter misanthropy and wounded self pity. “Look at the River” is the highlight – it begins as an acoustic rumination on the pain of being left by a woman, but builds into an acidic rebuke of her foolishness in abandoning him (”Your life will be an empty shell / Your life will be a rusty bell”), with Higney‚s increasingly desperate vocals matched by corrosive blasts of guitar.

While the LP showcased Higney’s original songwriting (almost utterly devoid of hope and happiness), the two bonus tracks, both from a single released in 1980, are in a more playful vein. Since they were produced with the intention of actually being released commercially, they are considerably more polished than the demos on Attic Demonstration. “Funky Kinky” is a disco (!) song, complete with a high-pitched chorus and cheesy synths. The stomping glam-rocker “I Wanna be the King” is Higney’s tribute to New York City punkers, and contains a great should-not-be-a-rhyme in the line: “I’m gonna be a star / I hate the sissy music of John Denver!” The single, Higney explains, didn’t get much more attention than Attic Demonstration did – it was a “monster record which drowned in the swamp after being chased by villagers.”

Download Here,
Kenneth Higney.zip.html

Mort Garson - rip

2008-01-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

Canadian Electronic Musician Mort Garson passed on at the age of 83 on January 4th in San Fransisco. His records from the 60s and 70s are some of the best Moog Synth music ever made. Here is a cult classic for you all to enjoy. Rest well Mort.

Lucifer (Mort Garson)
Black Mass
(1971)

The concept of this album showed the Moog delivering sounds sinister and exciting to a degree the lurid horror films of the day never matched. All the titles related to occult phenomenons and themes, and seemed to focus mainly on the darker side of occultism. With it's breakbeats galore, intense synthesizer, hip original themes, this was really a unifying concept. An occult Moog-album! The man behind this recording was a somewhat obscure solo artist; Mort Garson.

Mort Grason was born in Canada in 1924, as a graduate from the Juilliard School, he began writing musical scores in the 1940s, and worked as an arranger / composer / engineer in the late 1940s / early 1950s. He got highly acclaimed as the orchestral arranger for Glen Campbell's 1968 "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". Garson also had production credits on records by vocalists and other artists, including Mel Torme, Doris Day, Ed Ames, and Leslie Uggams. He wrote, arranged, and directed for many years on many labels in many styles. He also made music for TV and movies. But he recorded some albums too, each more strange than the other.

According to a Robert Moog (inventor of the Moog) interview, he told that when he was showcasing his instrument at an expo, Garson (even then in his mid-40's) and an assortment of crazed geniuses decided to use it, among other electronic instruments to make a psychedelic pop / rock / spoken word concept album which turned out to be the first usage of the Moog on a commercial pop record from the West Coast. This was the album Zodiac Cosmic Sounds, recorded together with Jacques Wilson in 1967. It consisted of twelve "songs" composed as a suite on the twelve signs of the zodiac and where accompanied by Paul Beaver on electronic keyboards, including the Moog synthesizer. That same year Garson wrote and arranged another little masterpiece, the single credited to the Big Game Hunters.
Next album Electronic Hair Pieces from 1969 used the Moog to arrange some well-known pop hits. His third album was the electronic masterpiece The Wozard of Iz (also from 1969) sets to (Moog) music a socio-political satire built around the children's classic (Bernie Krause on "environmental sounds" and Nancy Sinatra as a co-narrator). His passion for the Moog took him to compose entire albums for A&M of music for each zodiacal sign(!) that predated new-age music by a decade: Signs of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagitarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

But he also made another record in 1971, which was very different. Under the devilish pseudonym "Lucifer", Garson released this record: Lucifer - Black Mass. It had his wildest hodgepodge of electronic sounds. Little is known about this release though.
The same year, after the Black Mass album, Garson released a not-occult album called Music For Sensual Lovers in collaboration with performance-artist "Z", which contained moody Moog music accompanied by the wonderful screaming and orgasmic moans of a porn star(!). Then, four years passed, before Mort Garson returned with another occult-themed Moog record; Ataraxia - The Unexplained in 1975...

Download Here,
Lucifer.zip.html

Le Stelle Di Mario Schifano (Italian Psych Acid Pop)

2007-12-25T11:43:00.000-08:00

LE STELLE DI MARIO SCHIFANO -
"Dedicato A"

"Originally released in 1967 on the BDS label. Mario Schifano (the amazing painter and sculptor from the Italian pop scene) recruited four young and unknown musicians to record this innovative album. Features Peter Hartman and beautiful cover artwork by Schifano himself." Previously carried on the dubious Mellow label, this version has got to jump one giant step forward in the great Italian label scramble for legitimacy! Starts out with a killer side-long track that almost makes this one out as the Italian answer to Love Live Life + 1: flying freak-out stuff, stumbling percussion, screaming organ waver, screaming female vocals, screaming, heavy lead guitar all add up to a first class psychedelic cacophony. The remaining tracks are fine, in a shorter psych/pop vein. Unknown and good-to-astounding, depending on your relationship to the psych universe. The is a heavy Velvet Underground influence on some of these tracks, in a very good way!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Download here,
LE STELLE DI MARIO SCHIFANO.zip.html

White Elephants & Golden Ducks - Music of Burma

2007-10-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Lets send them our good thoughts & Listen to some of their beauty

Download here,
White Elephants & Golden Ducks.zip.html

INSTANT ORANGE - Rare California Psych 1968-1975

2007-10-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Self Titled (1968-1975)
Reissue by Shadoks / Edition 450 Lp

Besides home to the Hells Angels, farmers and citrus grooves, San Bernardino, California was also where Instant Orange lived and released their first single in 1968. The band forged ahead and released another single (1973), album (1973) and two ten inch eps (1974 & 1975). All of their releases were small pressings of 100 copies and to this day, Instant Orange remains virtually unknown. Their homemade sound is a refreshing reflection of their west coast folk-rock influences that were so prevalent during the sixties and early seventies. All original tracks with inspiration from bands like the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Sandy Bull and others. Songs full of electric and acoustic guitars with nice doses of McGuinnesque 12 string riffing as well as many unsuspecting surprises (antiquated electronic effects, rambling rural explorations, long jams, experimental moves, stoner banter and other weirdness between songs, caveman fuzz, etc). A solid listen with enough original imagination to keep it interesting without the band creating an identity crisis by trying too hard to be something else than themselves. Here it all on this limited double album, but grab it before it becomes elusive like some of San Bernardino's motorcycle riding inhabitants.

TERRY WALTERS, RANDY LANIER & LYNN McCURDY are INSTANT ORANGE with the help of Joe Bianchi & Bob Lautz.

Download here,
INSTANT ORANGE.zip.html

Joe Jones - "Solar Music" 1983

2007-10-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Joe Jones - Notes on Solar Music

After my first experience of using SOLAR ENERGY in my music, I found it difficult to go back to making battery powered pieces.

Playing with the subtle changes that occured in the sounds produced by the different combinations of solar cells and motors, under a constant light source (light bulb), selecting one, then taking this combination out into the sun light, where the movement of the earth, cloud formations, and wind, slowly and sometimes radically changed the sounds. The voltage being higher in direct sunlight and lower when cloud formations cast shadows over the solar cells.

The wind plays it's part by gently or not so gently moving the motors or hanging instruments, causing them to swing. The combination of all these factors create the solar music for that particular day.

From complete density of sound in a cloudless sky at mid-day to silence in a heavy sky or total silence at sun down.

FIRST SOLAR PIECES

The first Solar Music Piece was hand made chimes 1977, Harlekin Art, Wiesbaden. This was immediately followed by hanging zitars, to take advantage of their multi-string sound capacity. The "Solar Zitar" pieces could be hung outside or in a window, the sun and wind creating their own composition.

This was a development of an earlier idea, 1964, but could not be completed because of the cost of material at that time.

Download Here,
Joe Jones - Solar Music pt1.rar.html
Joe Jones - Solar Music pt2.rar.html

Joe Jones - "Solar music, at Sierksdorf, Ostsee"

2007-09-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

CD,
Edition of 500 Copies

This is the second cd documenting composer / inventor / sound artist Joe Jones' Solar Music released on the same label (part of the Hundertmark Art Gallery in Germany) that released the last Hermann Nitsch document. This disc is live and was recorded in the early morning of Sunday April 1st, 1984. The instrumentation on this recording is large zitar, 2 tamb, and tamba drum. The interesting thing is that Jones has built 'solar umbrellas' that use solar energy to mechanically play the instruments.

Joe Jones, born in '34, first studied composition at the Hartnett Music School and started his career as a jazz drummer. Due to his white skin, however, there were few jobs for him in this field in the early sixties, since New York only had two active jazz clubs at that time. Because of this Jones began to study experimental composition under John Cage and Earle Brown in 1960. Through his teachers he got acquainted with Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles. When Higgins and Knowles travelled to Europe in 1962 to participate in several Fluxus Festivals, Jones rent their studios. Here he developed his first music machines, with which he was very successful from the beginning. Since 1963 Jones participated in the Fluxus-movement and took part in a number of performances with his music machines. In 1963 he performed at the Yam festival in New Brunswick for the first time, a year later he performed at the Avantgarde music festival in New York. Many exhibitions and actions in New York and Nice followed until Jones opened his own 'Music-Store' in New York in 1969. In 1972 he produced the album 'Fly' together with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and founded the 'Fluxus-Airline' with George Macunias. At that time he settled down in Europe; he lived in Amsterdam, Asolo (Italy), Berlin and Wiesbaden and exhibited worldwide in galleries and museums. In 1980 Jones was a guest of the DAAD's Berlin artist program, before he took up residence in Düsseldorf and Wiesbaden. Since the mid-eighties Jones produced short films with his computer, the so-called 'Fluxus-Home-Movies', and he also devised larger orchestra-like installations with his music machines. His busy exhibition schedule remained unchanged: In 1988 his works could be seen at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, in 1992/93 there was a big touring exhibition with stops in Helsinki, Nuremberg, Rotterdam and Wuppertal. In addition to that his music machines have been represented in the worldwide exhibition 'Fluxus in Deutschland' since 1995, which could be seen in Gera, Budapest, Istanbul, Brünn, Copenhagen, Athens, Tel Aviv and Warsaw so far; further stops are planned for Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa until 2002.

Beautiful Stuff!

Download here,
Joe Jones.zip.html

Hans Frisch - Levend Objekten Sjoo: Paradiso 4/1/69

2007-09-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hans Frisch
"Levend Objekten Sjoo :
Paradiso 4/1/69"

No idea about the lineage of this record or the artist involved. Picked it up in Europe about seven years ago. Very little in the way of info on the actual record. What I can say is this sounds like a monster of post-Fluxus/free-hippie flotsam. Recorded at the famed Paradiso in Amsterdam circa 1969- this one sounds like outtakes from Cherry's sessions for Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain. Flutes, insane tribal drumming ala Psychedelic Underground, electronics. All you could ask for in a record, right?

TOTALLY RARE AND RECOMMENDED!

Download here,
Hans Frisch.zip.html

ps. sorry for the lack of posts recently. I've been off on musical travels and enjoying the last of the summer. I'm sure the winter boredom will bring many new posts of rare nuggets.

Wicked Lady - The Axeman Cometh (UK Biker Psych!)

2007-07-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Wicked Lady - The Axeman Cometh
UK 1968-72

Their appearance marked some belated recognition for the power trio, which Northampton singer-guitarist Martin Weaver formed in 1968 with drummer "Mad" Dick Smith and bassist Bob Jeffries.However, Wicked Lady never came within a whisper of the stratospheric status attained by Cream, or the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band's liberal use of feedback -- and large biker following -- kept them relegated to clubs, even during the twilight hours of the psychedelic era. Awash in drink and drugs, Wicked Lady split up in 1970, but Smith and Weaver soon regrouped with new bassist, Del "German Head" Morley.The new lineup duly set about documenting its existence, as captured on Psychotic Overkill -- whose feel is looser than Axeman Cometh. The effect is a shotgun marriage of Black Sabbath-style rifferama, supported by a less risk-taking rhythm section. Weaver's vocal style lacks charisma, but his wah-wah and fuzz-driven guitar style carries the day. The highlights include a bluesy cover of Hendrix's "Voodoo Child," the sex 'n' drugs snapshot of "Sin City," and the howling, 21-minute epic, "Ship Of Ghosts." But Wicked Lady's erratic ways proved too difficult for clubowners, who eventually refused to let them play. (At one gig, the band reportedly played the same song over and over until an irritated management pulled the plug on them.) Wicked Lady imploded in 1972, but Weaver rebounded that same year by joining the Dark, a more psychedelic- and progressive-outfit.

Download here,
Wicked_Lady pt1.rar.html
Wicked_Lady pt2.rar.html

Kadura - Eastern-influenced Japanese Psych!

2007-07-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

Debut CD and only release I'm aware of by this eastern-influenced psychedelic, atmospheric space-rock by this Osaka band. Leader Atsushi Kobayashi's guitar is a spectral thing, while his vocals are impossibly emotional. The drumming is sometimes strongly tribal, while at other times it functions as a simple, beautiful pulse augmented by bells and other percussion. Spiritual, intense music for the mind.

Not too far off from more tranced out Sun City Girls Rock, and Fushitsusha.

Download here,
Kadura.zip.html

Lightdreams - Islands in Space (Canadian Space Psych Folk)

2007-07-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

Lightdreams - Islands in Space
Canada 1981

Private Press Lp from 1981 released in Victoria, BC, Canada by the band. I really have no information on this great Lp... Some great Space Psych Folk moments that are similar to another west coast band of the era called "Melodic Energy Commission" who had members of Hawkwind playing with them at one time. I should post their rare debut Lp soon.

This album is dedicated to the colonization of space. Serious! Read the notes on the back cover image included with the mp3's.

Vinyl rip by me,,, you ain't gonna find this anywhere else!

Download here,
Lightdreams.zip.html

Ash Ra Tempel - Best of The Private Tapes (The Early Years) REPOST!

2007-07-19T01:52:00.000-07:00

I've made for you all a killer comp of all the best material from the Ash Ra Tempel box set which came out in the late 90s. Unfortunately a lot of the box set is Manuel Göttsching's solo work which I'm not as big of a fan of. So what I've done is boiled down the comp to pretty much all the early Live Ash Ra Tempel Live shows mostly featuring a young Klaus Schulze on drums. This is some serious deep hazy psych that made legends of this band! Most of the live sets are 30min+ and totally epic.
Highly recommended!

Download all parts here,
Ash Ra Tapes pt.1.rar.html
Ash Ra Tapes pt.2.rar.html
Ash Ra Tapes pt.3.rar.html
Ash Ra Tapes pt.4.rar.html

Nice Strong Arm - Reality Bath (Texas 80s Underground)

2007-06-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Originally from the Austin scene that spawned such kindred spirits as the Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid. This group began in 1986 with 2 drummers, guitar and bass. Most probably influenced by english groups like Section 25, Joy Division and Josef K but making it very american. This band was in the head space as contemporaries Sonic Youth, Swans, and Scratch Acid.

Releases on Homestead Records include Reality Bath, Mind Furnace, Stress City, Cloud Machine EP, and Secret Language 7". Nice Strong Arm's legacy includes the vaunted harmonic and pentatonic "Asian"/ sitar-like style indie guitar playing since reproduced by bands such as Polvo & Trumans Water.

I discovered this record years ago at a college radio station and have always loved its vibe. It reminds me of the old Austin, Texas 80s scene which is sadly gone. This record came out 20 years ago which is hard to believe. TIME!

Download here,
Nice Strong Arm.zip.html

Chrome - The Visitation (Rare 1st Album)

2007-06-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Released 1976 or 1977
Siren Records (US)
Cat. No. DE-1000

The first Chrome album is a blend of 70s psych art rock weirdness hinting at the psych-punk vibes that were soon to come with classic albums "Alien Soundtracks" & "Half Machine Lip Moves."

Formed by Gary Spain (bass, guitar, vocals) and Damon Edge in 1976. The band also featured John Lambdin (vocals, guitar and bass) and Mike Low (guitar, synth, and bass). John Lambdin I've heard spent some time in the early 70s playing with the legendary japanese band Flower Travellin' Band.

The first Chrome release is particularly collectable due to the many variations of covers, labels, and inserts. The first spray-painted cover releases included 3 inserts, all of which are quite rare. The initial pressings had a plain looking white label with black text. Perhaps accidentally omitted from the label was "Siren Records", which was subsequently added with a rubber stamp. The second pressing incorporated "Siren Records" pre-printed on the label. Later pressings used an entirely re-designed label featuring silver hand-written text on a black background, typical of the labels used on the next several albums. Most, if not all of these black-labeled records were released with the picture sleeve. All three of these "original" releases of The Visitation were from the same mould (matrix# Kendun DE-1000).

Highly Recommended!
I've included a bunch of the early artwork/xeroxes with the album.

Download here,
Chrome-The Visitation.zip.html

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - 'Original Detroit Noize'

2007-06-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Destroy All Monsters (sometimes rendered DAM) was an Ann Arbor, Michigan musical group formed by Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Niagara and Cary Loren. in 1973.

Their music touched on elements of punk rock, noise, psychedelic, heavy metal music and noise rock with a heavy dose of performance art. Their name has sometimes thought to have came from a Godzilla movie, but it could also have come from a comic book with the same title. They described their music as "anti-rock."

Destroy All Monsters never found mainstream success, but earned some notoriety due to members of notable rock groups The Stooges and MC5 who joined the later rock version of the group.

Although Destroy All Monsters never recorded a proper album, Sonic Youth singer/guitarist Thurston Moore released this three compact disc compilation of the group's music in 1994.

Early years

Formed in 1973, the first edition of Destroy All Monsters was formed by University of Michigan art students Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Niagara and filmmaker Cary Loren. They performed in the Ann Arbor area from 1973-1976, and their only release was a one hour cassette of their recordings available only through Lightworks magazine. Their early music was Influenced by Sun Ra, Velvet Underground, ESP records, monster movies, beat culture and futurism' their sound was experimental, psychedelic, darkly humorous and droning.

On New Years eve of 1973, the first Destroy All Monsters concert was held at a comic book convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At the time the instruments were a violin, a sax, a vacuum cleaner and a coffee can. They performed a demented version of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and were asked to leave after ten minutes. The group performed "Guerilla Style" setting up for free at parties, playing for food along Ann Arbor's frat row. They used modified instruments, a drum box, tape loops, hot-wired toys, cheap keyboards and broken electronic devices. The only formal gig they had (beside the comic convention) was at the Halloween Ball at the University of Michigan art school in 1976.

Kelley and Shaw left the band during the summer of 1976 to attend graduate school at CAL Arts in Los Angeles, California. Both have gone on to lead successful solo careers in the art world.
Pulled this from wiki.

Download here,
DAM BOX Disc1.zip.html
DAM BOX Disc2.zip.html
DAM BOX Disc3.zip.html

Hochenkeit - Portland Psych Drone Ensemble

2007-06-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

- "I Love You" (1999 - roadcone records)
- "Omu4h 4aholab / 400 Boys" (2000)
- "Until Made" (2002 - cdr)

I present to you 3 fine released by Portland, Oregons "Hochenkeit." A band that existed in the late 90s into early this decade. A highly underrated band that predated the whole current underground psych craze. Kids these days don't seem to look very far back beyond the current hits like Vibracathedral Orchestra, Sunburned, No Neck, ect...

Their Debut Album "I Love You" on roadcone records has some serious drone raga moments and is much inspired by fellow northwesterns the "Sun City Girls." On their second album "Omu4h 4aholab / 400 Boys" things take a big more of a groove krautrock inspired edge. Even touching on vibes by fellow labelmates Jackie-o Motherfucker who's album "fig.5" was recorded around the same time. Something was stirring in that strong PDX expresso. Their 3rd release "Until Made" is a limited edition cdr of 60 copies. Its missing a few of the original member's from what I heard. Its much more spaced out and has some beautiful grooves and narcotic drones.

Download here,
1999 - I Love You.zip.html
2000 - Omu4h 4aholab / 400 Boys.zip.html
2002 - Until Made.zip.html

Non-Stop Dancing!!! Chinese Joe Meek Style Surf!!!

2007-05-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Not much info on this Lp... Bought it at a record show a few years back pretty much for the cover. Turned out its some pretty great Asian Style Surf with amazing production that reminds me at times of Mr. Joe Meek. Some nice fuzz bits and chipmunk vocals on the first track! Let the party begin!

NON-STOP DANCING!!!

Dowload here,
NON-STOP DANCING.zip.html

Alice Cooper - Live at the Whisky A Go Go 1969!!!! (pretties for you)

2007-05-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Alice Cooper - Live at the Whisky A Go Go 1969

If you a fan of early Alice Cooper when they where a band and not a persons name you need this live recording... This was recorded around the release of their debut Lp "Pretties For You" which suffers from bad production value. This is probably one of the best live recording boots I've ever heard from the late 60s. It captured the album better than the album its self in many ways. You can really hear the detailed guitar work and dynamics of the band.

Cover Art Trivia: In the late 1960's, the Department for Alcoholic Beverage Control deemed it illegal to 'advertise' an alcoholic Bevearge by including it's name on a club marquee. Rather than change the name of the venue, the owner Elmer Valentine choose to take the 'y' off the neon, which is why the cover art of the album displays 'Whisk' instead of 'Whisky'.

Highly Recommended!!!

Download here,
Alice Cooper.zip.html

Brast Burn & Karuna Khyal (Voice Records)

2007-04-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

Uber Rare Japanese Underground records released sometime in the 1970s. Voice Records who released the records have never been tracked down nor the artist on these records.

"If the accepted lore isn't deliberately misleading, Brast Burn and Karuna Khyal are indeed one and the same. Could these Voice Records artists represent a Janus-faced collective entirely at peace with its inherent contradictions? Might the tribal Sturm und Drang and stomping lunatic-fringe revelry of Karuna Khyal's Alomoni 1985 and the beatific grace of Debon be two sides of a single fabulous tale? As both albums have languid slide guitars and tape loops in common, the possibility seems more likely with every spin through Debon.

A telling point of reference here could be Magical Power Mako, another perplexing entity of Japanese origin and synchronous (mid-'70s) activity. Like any good artistic enigma, MPM inhabits a creative realm to which others gain entrance only at his bidding. Since 1974, MPM has charted his own cosmic/kosmiche trail of self and spiritual discovery through music, with each record as different from the last as it is from everything else. It is to the kaleidoscope of MPM's finest work that Brast Burn's helical psychedelic configurations return.

Spread across two lengthy (22+-minute) tracks, broken into shards and melted down, Debon is a mandala of jingling loops, multi-tracked and harmonized lamasery chants, Kenji "Damo" Suzuki-styled declamations, electronic glimmers, gongs, sacred bells, and fuzzed-out synthesizers. Brast Burn further plaits Debon with breathless flutes and recorders, subtle musique concréte embellishments, percussive shudders, and guitars, guitars, guitars - electric and acoustic, clean and lavishly effects-laden, strummed and struck, slicing and gently sliding. The laundry list of elements, worthy of Ashtray Navigations or Simon Wickham Smith and Richard Youngs, actually evokes a similar effect - at once improvisational yet utterly musical. Nor is it much of a stretch to draw the line connecting Brast Burn with such scions as Ghost or Trembling Strain. Favoring consciousness, clarity, and contemplation (as opposed to Karuna Khyal's fits of angst and drunken choler), Brast Burn communicates sensitivity to the Zen virtue of negative space, layering the natural white noises of wind and water to cancel out lingering entropic traces.

The epic gestures of the earlier track culminate in raga-like repose - a spiritually exhausting, soul-wrenching prayer ritual concluding with the revitalizing serenity of meditation. It might all be too hippie-drippy/sounds-of-the-'70s for some, if not for the full zoological spectrum of curious critter voices (elsewhere identified as Stan Laurel samples!) and toy-like musical accents littering its picked and plucked figures. Tape designs and interrupted narrative aside, there's far more evidence of early Popul Vuh - particularly during the tracks climactic throes of euphoric axemanship - than there is support for Brast Burn's ostensible "Japanese Faust" reputation.

Of Paradigm Discs' Voice Records reissues, the exhilarating Alomoni 1985 may be the more immediately arresting album. But Debons fascinating, multidimensional charms are not to be overlooked by devotees of psychedelic arcana."

Your mind will melt in ecstasy with this one!
Highly Recommended!

Download here,
Brast Burn.zip.html
&
Karuna Khyal.zip.html

Six Ways To Avoid The Evil Eye (Eastern Deep Psych!!!)

2007-04-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

"Six Ways To Avoid The Evil Eye"
by Ed Yazijian

Limited Edition Lp by One Tree (2007)
Released on Limited Edition CDR originally on Feed and Seed Records (2006)

"Wanted to make the world aware of a new release of vinyl called Six Ways To Avoid The Evil Eye. This album is a reissue of a super limited CDR from last year. These are mysterious recordings that seem to be immersed in an innerspace composed entirely of serious reverb jello, all instrumental-style with loads of tabla and slide guitar and international / continental / other worldly instruments & sounds. The artist is Dr. E'weerd Yijji (aka Ed Yazijian) who should be known for his work with serious folks like Dredd Foole and Pete Prescott (Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns) and many others(not to mention occasional live performances with the mighty Sun City Girls). This is his first solo release." Ed is a teacher of Asian Studies in South Carolina and spent a number of years living in Bangladesh.

This is deffinatly the best modern psych eastern drone album I've heard in years.
Its available as a limited edition Lp... Go out and buy it, its a real gem!

The limited edition Lp is available Here,
http://www.forcedexposure.com/artists/six.ways.to.avoid.the.evil.eye.html
& http://www.flippedoutrecords.com/sixwatoaveve.html

update: Ed is also a current member of Hildegard, and if you ain't got no turntable, you can still buy a lovely handmade cdr version (the cover is amazing!!!), plus many other delightful treats at www.feedandseedrecords.com

Download here,
Ed_Yazijian.zip.html

ps. Mutant Sound Blog just posted this amazing album that is in a similar realm,
AKTUALA - TAPPETO VOLANTE (Italian Eastern Psych) get it!

Frank Sumatra and the Mob (UK Weird Post-Punk?)

2007-04-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Frank Sumatra and the Mob - Te Dium
UK 1979
Small Wonder Records

Found this oddball release recently and ripped the vinyl today, below is what info I could find.

"One man, but with a million ideas, Alig Pearce’s Family Fodder collective garnered cult status in the early eighties with a string of lo-fi, schizophrenic releases, all in The Residents/ Flying Lizards/ kitchen sink tradition. however, unknown to many is the fact that within a month of releasing the first ever Family Fodder single, an Alig alter-ego appeared to put out this joyous EP.

Why Mr Pearce adopted a pseudonym for this release remains a mystery. the EP’s four tracks are typically eccentric and diverse. ‘Te Dium’ is a perfect slice of XTC guitar pop, with the added bonus of dreamy female backing vocals, jerky time signatures and the most mind-blowing distorted solo you’ve ever heard (but is it a guitar?). the EP’s other song ‘The Story So Far’, is another departure, and sees Alig adopt a convincing Russell Mael falsetto for a hyperactive chanson that recalls similar efforts by The Red Krayola or Peter Blegvad’s ‘Kew Rhone’ album. meanwhile, ‘The Blues’ and ‘Telstar’ (yes, that Telstar) are brief experimental, electronic excursions. humorous rather than haranguing."

Download here,
Frank Sumatra.zip.html

Theater Of Eternal Music - (60's NYC Drone Underground)

2007-03-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

"Bootleg Lp" &
"Vol 1 Day Of Niagara"
Both recordings presumed to be recorded in 1965, NYC.

Ultra-rare minimal drone recording by some serious nyc heavy weights... "I dream this music"

The Theater of Eternal Music, also known as The Dream Syndicate, was a mid-sixties musical group focusing on experimental and drone music, featuring La Monte Young, John Cale, and Angus MacLise. In 1964 the ensemble contained Young and Marian Zazeela, voices; Tony Conrad and John Cale, strings; and sometimes Terry Riley, voice. Since 1966 Young has realized the "Dream Theater" despite interruptions due to a lack of funding for such an exceptional, extensive, and expensive project.

Most of these pieces have long titles, such as The Tortoise Recalling the Drone of the Holy Numbers as they were Revealed in the Dreams of the Whirlwind and the Obsidian Gong, Illuminated by the Sawmill, the Green Sawtooth Ocelot and the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer. Likewise, his works are often of extreme length, many pieces having no beginning and no end, existing before and after a particular performance. Young and Zazeela are also on an extended sleep schedule, their "days" being longer than twenty-four hours.

There has been a history of dispute over the Theater Of Eternal Music recordings as La Monte Young claims composer copywrite/ownership of the recordings and the other member's feel it was a collaborative project. There are supposedly many more hours of recordings by this group which I hope someday will see the light and make it to more ears.

Download here,
Bootleg Lp.zip.html
&
Vol 1 Day Of Niagara.zip.html

Stone Harbour - (US Psych Folk)

2007-03-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Emerges" Lp 1974

A msyterious duo from Youngstown, Ohio that produced this sole album The music contains a mixed bag of 70s atmospheric psychedelia that veers from folk acoustics through acid and heavy rock and everywhere in between added with fluid acidic and often over the top manic guitar. Only 400 copies where pressed in 1974 and copies now sell for over $600. Recommended !!

Download here,
Stone Harbour.zip.html

Kennelmus - Phoenix Underground Psych Weirdness!!!

2007-03-19T04:48:00.000-07:00

Kennelmus - "Folkstone Prism"
Lp 1971

To throw a little history in here with the Sun City Girls posts, here's a early oddball album from the Phoenix area.

"Kennélmus - named after the group's creative hotshot, Ken Walker (born Kennélmus Edward Walkiewicz) - has been kept a secret far too long. The insinuating, addictive sound of this Phoenix, Arizona combo-relying heavily on Walker's electric keyboards and the mindshredding guitar of Bob Narloch to turn your brain into macaroni and cheese-has been the private plaything of the thousand lucky people who bought the album almost 30 years ago. A headscratching pun on England's Folkestone Prison (don't ask). The more relevant question should be: where have you been all my life? The answer, however, is so riddled with desert-marinated mysticism and peyote-laced tales of fear, degradation and debauchery that the answer only leads to further questions. Be content that Kennélmus-with its insinuating blend of the Chantays, the Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Electric Prunes and many more heat-induced musical visions-is here at last. It is possibly the strongest link in the hand-forged chain of genetically altered combos who have called Arizona home over the decades. From Phil & The Frantics, 20th Century Zoo, Alice Cooper's Spiders and the Beans"

Highly Recommended

Download here,
Kennelmus.zip.html

Paris 1942 - Moe Tucker & Sun City Girls!!!

2007-03-19T04:21:00.000-07:00

Paris 1942 - Self Titled
Released by Majora Records LP 1995
Recorded in Phoenix Arizona 1983

The band is Moe Tucker (drums), Allan Bishop (bass, vocals), Bennie Baresi (guitar), Jesse Akkari (guitar), David Oliphant (guitar) and Rick Bishop as well possibly.

Yes its true, the VU and Sun City Girls connection does exist. Killer early 80s garage jams very VU styled for the first few numbers and then it just gets darker and more stoned. Great Syd Barrett cover to boot! I ripped this sucker from vinyl myself. ENJOY!

Download here,
Paris 1942.zip.html

Sun City Girls - Grotto Of Miracles (1986)

2007-03-19T03:49:00.001-07:00

LP (Placebo)

The Second Album by the Sun City Girls. Some amazing middle eastern themes on this record. Sounds of the Phoenix Underground!

Download here,
Grotto of Miracles.zip.html

Sun City Girls - Debut Album 1984

2007-02-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

1984 (Placebo Records)
Debut Lp

" I still think our first album is one of the finest pieces of work we've ever done. I recommend seeking it out at all costs." rick bishop

Download here,
SCG - Debut.zip.html

Sun City Girls - Singles Collection

2007-02-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I found out today that Charles Gocher, drummer/writer of the Sun City Girls passed away yesterday at the age of 54 after a long battle with cancer. It saddens me very much as he was a big inspiration and that group will not be the same without him. I don't even know if they will continue without him. I feel that the Sun City Girls are one of the most important contemporary American groups. Covering a lot of sonic ground and always full of surprises.

Here is a 2 CD collection of many of their hard to find 7" singles. A lots of which contain the spirit of Charlie.

Download here,
SCG's Singles collection pt1.rar.html
SCG's Singles collection pt2.rar.html

Dickens (French Spooky Psych)

2007-02-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

"Royal Incarnation"
France 1969

This album has been posted by a few blogs over the last year but I thought I'd repost it for the folks who haven't heard it. I unfortunatly haven't been able to find much information on this band. It was originally released in 1969 in small quantities and then reissued on vinyl in 1994 in limited numbers. Killer organ guitar riffs with theremin like female vocals that are eerie as hell! The first track in a funny jam that sounds like punky art rock but then the album gets much spookier.

A true Gem, recommended!

Download here,
Dickens.zip.html