Showing posts with label Improvisation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Improvisation. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 November 2024

Borbetomagus – "Barbed Wire Maggots" (Agaric Records – Ag 1983) 1983


Borbetomagus is a trio of Don Dietrich (reeds) Jim Sauter (reeds) and Donald Miller (guitar) and additionally Brian Doherty (electronics) Existing since the mid-seventies. This is free-improv "jazz" of the most extreme nature and its certainly not for the faint hearted, since heavy bone crushing walls of noise are their specialty.Yummy.
That sounds like something I'd like, and something that any supreme court judge in a MAGA hat would eagerly pass a death sentence or two for after the fast approaching american taliban take-over...er...takes over?
Remember when The Plastic People Of The Universe got jailed in Iron Curtain Czechoslovakia? Well, in a few weeks time, musicians like Borbetomagus may get their chance to taste prison food.
Remember also, when Uncle Adolf had a set-back democratically,and managed to pass the 'Enabling Act'back in 1933?....No?....fair enough,as we're all doomed to repeat it.The Orange small handed shredded wheat barneted one,has both chambers, the Supreme Court, and The Presidency, so whats there to stop him? The Handmaids Tale for everyone. Meanwhile, over in Liberal, communist Europe,the green light is given for Russia to enter Paris whenever they feel like unleashing the Nuke arsenal. The world will be split into three zones,under China, Russia,and Trumps USA......thanks be for our american chums.
This is,in fact, a good argument for the 2nd Amendment I suppose,so some gun toting Hick can off the Orange one in the mistaken premise that he's taking their guns away because he's a liberal Democrat...wrong Hicksville morons, its so he don't have to do no more Democratic stuff. Like Mr first against the wall actor Bob De Niro said..you'll never get rid of him. Tickets on sale soon for the live beheading of De Niro in Times aquare. 
Enjoy.
I am informed that one of the members of Borbetomagus died in mysterious circumstances a few weeks ago.
So sad that he will never enjoy the rights of women being removed, heretics and artists imprisoned,and a hereditary dictatorship installed......and there's nothing that can stop this if they should so desire.If they don't its because they are too stupid to realise it...the doors open,and Elon's foot is placed, like the talentless salesman he is,to prevent it being closed.
This may seem exaggerated,but its happened before,and most recently by Trump's best mate, Mad Vlad himself.
Barbed Wire Maggots indeed....Just wait for that Russo-Sino army sweeping through the Eurasian land mass.The america's is for the Trump Dynasty,run like a Taliban out post of sanity.
Or, maybe ,our greatest hope is that RFK will refuse production,or even research of the vaccine for the next Pandemic on the grounds that is may cause autism in white kids and we'll all die.
That might be the sensible option; and i'm not just saying that because i'm already Autistic...even though i'm ashamed to be on the same divergent spectrum as E-Lon......maybe this is in fact an Alien Invasion?...that's actually makes more sense than contemporary reality.

Tracklist:

1 - Untitled (21:45)
2 - Untitled (21:47)


Wednesday, 6 November 2024

The Blue Humans – "Clear To Higher Time" ( New Alliance Records – NARC 077) 1992


The Blue Humans are, basically ,that bloke from No-Wave Legends Mars;namely experimental guitarist Rudolph Grey, and a flux of artsy chums,such as ,the afore mentioned Alan Licht. Whom first came to notice in the late-1970s New York City post punk and trendier than thou downtown Noo Yawk art scene which also spawned such nerds as Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca and such like.
I thought all members of Mars had to be 'resting' actors,seems i'm wrong. The others went on to be completely unknown,but Rudolph made a meagre living attacking an out of tune guitar within yet without the medium of Free Improvisation, come on we've all done it? Especially mucking around on stage with various ad-hoc combo's such as The Blue Humans.
Rudolph wasn't just a pretty face y'know? 'Twas he wot wrote that much needed biography of acclaimed trash movie maker Edward D. Wood jr, the mind behind the worlds first anti-nuclear movie "Plan 9 From Outer Space"....a film some people have inexplicably labelled 'thee Worst Movie Ever Made' !????....which is of course far from the truth and very close to being utter bollocks.
Like Grey's music, Woods movies seemed to have been made up as they went along,and were, arguably.....very arguably as it turns out, the closest anyone has come to making a genuinely 'Free' Movie. An art concept drafted in from the Oort Cloud,beyond which dwells the mysterious Planet Nine.

Tracklist:

A1 Lightning 4:30
A2 Movement 3:36
A3 Finally 4:16
A4 Under Power 3:15
B1 Clear To Higher Time 19:51

Sunday, 27 October 2024

The Max Factory – "Tudor City" -(Ecstatic Yod – actuel 5) 1995




The Max Factory is Alan Licht with or without friends.....that's what it says on the inner gatefold cover of another of that "Ass Run" series on that Father Yod label what we all dig so much.
So if you've ever been Licht by anyone called Alan,you'll know what to expect.If you haven't been Licht by someone called Alan,firstly 'Why Not?!',and secondly expect lots of spontaneous guitar noise akin to the sound of nails being scraped down an amplified chalk board.
If you have sensitive teeth, i advise caution when approaching this fine beast.

Tracklist:

Side A:
A1 I Lack The Power (7:41)
A2 A Perfect Herbert (5:14)
A3 Coma (4:03)
A4 Derf Scratch (3:50)

Side 1:
B Tudor City (23:04)


Friday, 18 October 2024

Fuzzhead – "El Saturn" (Ecstatic Yod - Actuel 7– FYPL-11) 1995



Another rather lovely interpretation of a BYG gatefold from the early seventies,this time involving improv weirdo's Fuzzhead from Cleveland (?) ,honoring original BYG artist, the Saturn dwelling Sun Ra.
Basically, garage-psychedelic freak-outs is what we have here, lengthy and totally improvised space jams that I'm sure Sun Ra would have approved of,even though he insists that all his music was written down and followed note for note.This I cannot apply to Fuzzhead,who, quite clearly are making this all up as they go along.Even daring to meddle with a few of Ra's Greatest Hits.Remember that K-Tel album,"The very Best of Sun Ra and
His Intergalactic Research Arkestra"? Not the

Sun Ra & His Solar Myth Arkestra one, that was on Ronco...not available in stores.
Just a quick note of interest, that Marshall Allen is still at the helm of the Sun Ra Arkestra,which is remarkable bearing in mind that he is in fact 100 years old and counting as this goes to press!?
However,Side 2 returns us all briefly,well,22 minutes worth anyway, to the bizarre mushroom and Ayahuasca influenced form of abstract Hip-Hop that Fuzzhead used to do in the early nineties.
It definitely is After The End of the World......Don't you know that yet?

Tracklist:

A1 Its After The End Of The World
A2 We Travel The Spaceways
A3 I Am The Brother Of The Wind
B1 El Saturn

Thursday, 17 October 2024

Shit Spangled Banner – "No Dolby No DBX (Ass Run 1)" (Ecstatic Yod – actuel 3) 1994

'Eavy Metal never sounded good in Dobly',and that goes even more for Noisy Improv like the appropriately named Shit Spangled Banner.
I Had DBX on my first Portastudio, the otherwise fantastic Tascan Porta One, and it was shite,removing some of the music/noise as well as the Hiss.It made it all sound like it was trapped inside a wet cardboard box.
Its a bit of a No-Brainer to not use Noise Reduction on a noise recording.
So,wisely,Shit Spangled Banner not only doesn't use 'Dobly',they state this fact proudly on the inside of this facsimile of a  BYG/Actuel sleeve.
BYG/Actuel was the French Jazz imprint that saved the creative lives of the New Wave of Jazzers like Archie Shepp and buddies in the late 60's....if you didn't know already?
The other respectful tip of the hat goes to the Father Yod/Ya Ho Wa 13 references;who were an Hawaiian based free love cult ,who played improvised acid rock,recorded it, and put it onto vinyl,which remained largely unsold.
So I suppose with all that hinting at non-conformist form of modern music,Shit Spangled Banner are gonna improvise the shit out of you until that imaginary alternative Flag self-combusts.
Apparently, Thurston Moore runs this label!?....but don't let that morsel of truth put you off you silly sod....this stuff is certainly my cup of tea,with the Tea Bag left in please.
Sorry for the Spinal Tap references,i'm a neurodivergent nerd, I can't help it! 

Tracklist:

1 What Makes Love Grow 1:07
2 Ghost Meat 16:12
3 Wooden Teeth 4:14
4 Heaven Often Manifests As Silence 2:15
5 Cuntshine 12:12
6 Smallpant Fields 5:20
7 Broken Goodtime Kid 4:52
8 Untitled 0:47
9 Untitled 0:52

Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Jandek – "Baltimore Saturday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0865) 2024



 Yet another Jandek recording from 2009.This one has got electronics on it,so it's quite unique in the Jandek canon. Also Susan Alcorn appears again making weird noises on her pedal Steel Guitar.
If that don't make you wanna hear this double CD then there's something wrong with you....well...maybe not? It's a good one though.

Here's that tit (I notice he has two of them) who regularly threatens the safety of your much valued scribe
He's the fat one on the right,meeting his hero......I wonder if this was taken in 2009?...still waiting for the Vancouver release.He says he's gonna 'find me' if I post that......which of course I will.

Tracklist:

1-1 It's All There 6:45
1-2 Love Relation 1:44
1-3 Gone On Me 3:04
1-4 Turn The Key 1:42
1-5 Make Me 1:50
1-6 On The Highway 1:51
1-7 Another Block 4:51
1-8 I Asked 2:38
1-9 Last Friends 4:03
1-10 This Other Me 2:09
1-11 The Minutes 2:58
1-12 The Moonbeam 3:38
1-13 I Talk To My Self 4:27
1-14 The Words 2:39
2-1 Splashing In The Streets 11:42
2-2 Drew On The Meadows 20:06

Friday, 16 February 2024

Jandek – "Nashville Friday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0863) 2023


Another Live Jandek from the homeland of American music recorded in 2009 (again). Enough to make the Grand Ole Opry spontaneously combust.....so no bad thing.
On this outing we find one of spontaneous music's legends in Ladonna...er... Smith.....no relation I guess? Ladonna who played on all those batshit crazy Davey Williams records. And still scraps the viola in a complementarily warped fashion...as in both warped like a record,and warped like a mind.
One would love to see Jandek do a surprise appearance at the Grand Ole Opry one day,eh kids?
Here,we are treated to a singing Jandek avoiding tunes like obstacles in an obstacle race,skimming the jagged surface of every obstacle the sonic backing can conjure up.
Disc one seems to have a Horse theme running ,or should i say, cantering, asunder the rancid chunks of  dueling banjo's that accompany Jandek's dream of becoming a wild Mustang for the 8 long minutes this equine nightmare trots unsteadily along.
And we all like a nice Horse Theme don't we boys'n'girls?
And Yes, Sterling whips out the Fretless bass to further compound those heinous acts of violence against taste that occurred in the 1980's;but, Kajagoogoo this is most certainly NOT!

Tracklist:

1-1 Now That I Want You 10:37
1-2 Shadow Of The Horse 11:12
1-3 Tennessee Flower 9:20
1-4 The Mustang 8:04
1-5 Castigated To Be Free 11:02
2-1 Don't Be Seen 10:25
2-2 This Isolated Moment 7:08
2-3 It Don't Matter 9:17
2-4 Linden Row 7:21
2-5 When I Got You 15:30

Monday, 12 February 2024

Jandek – "Vision Of Jewels" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0864) 2023


While we is on the subject of Japan, I realised there is someone else who begins with 'J' that's been overlooked recently,and certainly never drives on the correct side of the road musically speaking.
Jandek innit?
He's got a new studio album out which sounds like a lot of his post - 2010 live output.but without the sparse applause. 
Its improvised,no vocals, no credits, no info,so i can't verify if it actually was recorded within the last 15 years. So no proof of the carrot topped bard's continued existence on this planet.
I presume that the cover art is a photograph of the Representative's home planet,whizzing around in one of the outer spiral arms of the Milky Way;.....either that, or Sterling R. Smith has just discovered image editing software?......Nah! That's Planet Jandek.
Its as good as anything The Scratch Orchestra did at least.Would have liked to have been around for that Derek Bailey Jandek collaboration that was never discussed.I suppose i could do a fantasy audio montage of this fictional event one day?
When i first encountered a Jandek record I thought it was Funny,but upon listening to subsequent releases I realised that he wasn't fucking Joking!? I thought it was just shite Self-released by a nutter with too much spare cash? Where he got that from I dunno,as i thought he used to work in a Machine Shop somewhere in Houston?
Nowadays I think its less Shite,and especially this stuff,which could pass for Free Improvisation in any number of pretentious enclaves dotted around the metropolitan Chumbawumba beer kellers of planet Jandek.

Tracklist:

1 White Quartz 16:16
2 Color Streaks 15:19
3 Star Specks 12:45
4 Viewing The Realm 23:59


Sunday, 8 October 2023

Jandek – "Brooklyn Sunday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0859) 2023


Heeeeeeres Jonny!....on a crusade for truth justice and the unamerican way.....and a quest to make unpopularity popular again.
All that, played out to a soundtrack of atonal improvisation by the unpopularly popular JANDEK.....he knows she didn't do it,come and SIGN THE PETITION,before you read the facts,and wallow in the acidic bath of becoming ripe Troll bait.Satisfied in knowing you done good,perched on the right side of History.

There seems to be an actual theme to this recording,again from 2009,but featuring outsider Pedal Steel Guitar, Susan Alcorn.
It seems to be about a miscarriage of justice leading to execution,and eternal punishment.
Jandeks Harmonica and Alcorn's Steel Guitar seems to suggest the regular abuse of justice carried out in the old Wild West.
Of course this doesn't happen today does it?With all that technology ,foolproof scientific tests,and statistics? Nah!
That said I've got a bee in my bonnet about something......

Wasn't there a Nurse from the wild north west of England who was convicted purely on the strength of flawed statistics, and easily contested circumstantial evidence that her state funded defense team hardly bothered to contest? The stats said she was there every-time a very ill premature baby died,statisticians have shown it more to be a case of fitting the statistics to the person rather than,a person to the stats....They died of what, they never really established,despite The Coroner having already ruled the deaths as natural causes. There wasn't even a proven crime committed.But, oh no,like some people still refuse to recognise that Elvis could have died from natural causes, it seems that there are plenty more would don't believe a sick baby could die without being murdered.
Of course I am referring to the Lucy Letby case,who, along with other such cases involving health workers,has been stitched up like a kipper and thrown under the bus to save the NHS's blushes.
I mean,J.H. Christ, where do you want me to start!? The apparent ease in which the Police can change a cause of death from natural causes to Murder is deeply troubling,coupled with a trial that didn't seem to feel the need to present the science that explained why these very ill babies died,the Plumber the joke of a defense team called,tried his best;but he explained that the ward was rife with the permanent presence of pathogens and virus's,leaving the infants exposed to killer conditions like Sepsis.....in fact Lucy even complained on 17 occasions about the conditions....strange behavior for a murderer me thinks.
Lucy did overtime,so she must have murdered them because she was in love with a handsome Doctor. Such was the blatant misogyny in all areas of this case that this was put forward as the only desperate excuse for a motive ever heard in a British Court!? Yeah, that's right, she murdered babies to gain admiring glances from this dashing blade from the senior Doctors department.

The case against Lucy Letby has often been referred to by those of us who have looked closely at the evidence as a 'witch hunt', a crime that particularly impacted women,
When "Expert for Hire" Dr Dewi Evans was questioned about Lucy's possible motives, he gives Lucy's status as a "single woman"(?) in her late twenties and alleged 'infatuation' with Dr A as a grounds for suspicion, this after he mentions earlier in the interview that he remained single into the beginning of his career as a consultant. He considers himself career focused while she is suspicious.
I'm not sure how useful this comment is in terms of appeal, especially because flagrant sexism seems to be ignored or taken as a normal worldview especially in older members of the population, but in Dr Evans case I can't help wondering if evidence pointed to an unmarried, 'career- focused' doctor, his finding might have been a bit better informed?

But the Public are angry...yes the Fucking Public again,are foaming at the mouth like rabid Baboons,baying for blood,and revenge, like a 17th century Wytch trial.If you drown you're innocent, if you don't we'll hang you.

Jandek would have been burnt as a witch if he was around Salem back then.....maybe today he would just get away with a sound beating from a drunken Mob of Morons, or maybe not.Humans are dangerous.


Lucy Letby was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of her life in jail for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others. She is facing retrial for one further attempted murder charge. On five other counts of attempted murder the jury could not reach a consensus. She has consistently maintained her innocence and some close friends and colleagues have supported her. No motives for the killings were ever put forward,except that she wanted to impress a Doctor she fancied. She was convicted almost entirely on circumstantial evidence from "expert" witnesses, who were often testifying on subjects outside their expertise. In particular, medical doctors were testifying about areas of medicine for which they were not specialists, or presenting their conclusions as "scientific", without applying correct scientific methods. As a result the evidence on which she was convicted was flawed and partial, and other likely explanations for the deaths, such as hospital infections, were not presented to the jury as part of the expert evidence. Flawed evidence was allowed to pass unchallenged in the court, or accepted as "uncontested fact" by the defense, who appear to have been out of their depth with the medical complexity of the case. Incredibly, given the nature of the evidence against her, no expert witnesses were called to testify on Lucy's behalf. This is a summary of some of the worst errors, identified by experts in their fields who able to be part of the proceedings. There are links to more detailed information available on the Science on Trial website. All this evidence was presented to the defense team during the trial, but,inexplicably, none of it was used or put before the jury?!


Lucy Letby was found guilty of killing six babies by injecting them with air. Again this was not from evidence gathered at the time. The post mortems recorded natural causes of death. Instead the prosecution relied on expert evidence from a retired pediatrician Dr Evans) through an investigation carried out several years later. The correct procedure for establishing death through air embolism should be a particular postmortem technique. But this was not done. The next best would have been a CT scan. But again this was never done. Instead the cause of death was inferred from X-rays taken before the babies died along with analysis taken from a study carried out in 1989 during the early days of ventilating preterm babies. The study used is entirely inapplicable as it examined babies with lungs damaged from high pressure oxygen, which is very different from injecting air. The expert witness in the case was not a pathologist or forensic scientist, and did not follow the correct methods for determining the cause of death, which could only have been done to any degree of certainty, through a comprehensive post mortem.


There were two babies Lucy was convicted of attempting to murder by injecting insulin. These cases were presented as "the smoking gun" which showed there was a spate of murders in the unit, rather than the more logical explanation of an uncontrolled series of infections. In the notes of these two babies investigators found (a couple of years after the event) entries of very high levels of insulin and very low levels of C-Peptide. An expert witness from the lab where the tests were done at Liverpool University NHS trust, said this pattern could only come about through injecting insulin. To the jury this was presented as proof of insulin poisoning - while Lucy Letby was the one on duty.  However the lab that did the tests specifically says in its online information that the lab test used was not designed to determine cases of insulin over-dose, and that if exogenous insulin were suspected then a different test at a different lab would be necessary. Lab experts say the type of assay tests carried out by the lab are prone to error and that the extremely high figures in the notes, which was many times the level required to send an adult into a coma, was much more likely a false result. While the result is recorded in the notes, no further tests were ordered, nor was a more accurate test by photo spectrometry carried out. Instead two hours later one of the babies (both of which survived) recorded normal glucose levels, strongly suggesting the insulin test recorded was indeed a false result. Unfortunately Lucy's defence, who seem to have been out of their depth, made an agreement early on with the prosecution where they conceded that insulin poisoning through injection of insulin into fluid bags was "established fact", based testimony of one professional expert witness:Dr Dewi Evans.


These and many other aspects of the case are covered in a more comprehensive critique of the evidence which you can read at your leisure HERE!. It was put together during the trial and sent to the defence lawyers who said they read it, but then failed to follow up or use it?????


Then we have to mention the "I AM EVIL" post-it note.On which the prosecution seemed blind to anything else except the "I AM EVIL I DID THIS" line at the end,taking it totally out of grammatical context.

The "They" she refers to is obviously The Police and her accusers.

"THEY went I DID THIS,I Killed Them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them,I am Evil I did This."

She is writing about her finger pointing accusers.A simple case of self-flagellation, Absolutely nowhere near a Confession.

The note is dissected expertly HERE!  




Much was made of the fact that Lucy Letby was the only one present during the deaths or sudden collapses of all 19 babies in the case against her. This was presented as too much to be co-incidence. However it also very misleading. She was not only present at all the deaths and collapses presented in the case. There were many other deaths in the unit where she was not present, and the unit suffered a higher than normal death rate over a five year period. There was no statistical analysis as to whether the proportion of deaths she was present at could have been  the result of chance or not. Neither was there a statistical comparison with other spikes in deaths in other NHS units, known to have other causes than a series of deliberate murders, to see if what happened in Chester was comparable.  It is this omission to investigate other possible causes which is most worrying.  This increase in deaths over the five years followed a similar pattern of sudden collapses, whether Lucy Letby was present or not. The most likely culprit for any spike in unexpected deaths in a hospital is an outbreak of infection. Yet this was not investigated. Nor was there any evidence from an epidemiologist or infectious diseases expert during the trial, to rule out this possibility. Yet all the babies in the case had "suspected sepsis" written in the notes. Some had confirmed viral and bacterial infections. All but one were preterm. They covered a wide range from the smallest three babies who were less than 28 weeks and below a kilo, to others who were more mildly premature. There were several multiple births. As such they were a group who were extremely vulnerable to infection. In addition most of the babies in the case were on ventilation. Everything suggests that these were a very sick cohort of babies. The high mortality in the unit led to outside investigations, one of them by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which was critical of the senior leadership of the unit. 

Exactly the same thing happened to another Lucy in the Netherlands, Lucia de Berk, at the appeal trial of which Statistical expert Richard Gil, exposed the glaring inaccuracies, leading to a total exoneration of Ms de Berk.......Check the de Berk case out HERE!

And Richard Gil on the  Lucy Letby case HERE!

These and many other aspects of the case are covered in a more comprehensive critique of the evidence which you can read at your leisure HERE!. It was put together during the trial and sent to the defence lawyers who said they read it, but then failed to follow up or use it?????

Oh Yeah....if you've made it this far(?)...The Jandek record is great,and relevant only in the fact that he is an Outsider,as is anyone who supports justice in Lucy Letby's case.Which just might be the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
BASTARDS!


Tracklisting:.

1-1 Sacramento 16:39
1-2 The Trial 9:48
1-3 The Sentence 3:47 
1-4 The Chamber 11:01 
2-1 Deep Thought 10:22
2-2 Resurrection 14:06
2-3 Eternity 18:52

and

Friday, 6 October 2023

Jandek – "Vienna Wednesday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0862) 2023


As Hitler roamed the streets of pre-war Vienna searching for his raison d'etre,destiny would dictate that a professional nobody called Sterling Richard Smith would plough a similar furrow so often gouged by the talentless. 
Adolf Schiklegruber would go on to adopt a single word as his nom de plume, just as Richard Smith would do a hundred years later, as a tradename for the clueless artwork they offered a disbelieving world.The Hitler one, was not gifted in the art department,even though he could paint an entire apartment in one afternoon.....TWO COATS! I think he sold even less paintings than Van Gogh....meaning ZERO.
But....Hitler committed the cardinal sin of the arts,...he gave up!? Then took out his frustrations as a narcissist down on his luck out on humanity......and we let him do it!
One thing Jandek certainly did NOT do, is give up. His art is...let's face it, total kaka, unless viewed in the whole, as a Gilbert and George style living concept. He is the Art,whereas Hitler was too stupid to realise this concept within himself.
How conscious The Corwood Representative is of this is debatable,but it can all be an acquired taste that becomes almost.....I said 'Almost'.....an addiction.He IS the Gilbert and George of Outsider Music.
And here he is,one hundred years on from the Bier Keller Putsch, almost to the day, and The Ginger Bard of Outsider-dom Jams with the Viennese locals,putting together another two CD's worth of tuneless noise,augmented by Jandek's painful moan. Again recorded in 2009,along with nearly 100% of his most recent output,fueling more rumours of his secret demise. He's dead, and whoever he entrusted his estate to has a dumpster full of Jandekian free Improvisation  ready to release on the public,stretching into the next century.
The question is often asked as to would the Holocaust have happened if Hitler had been accepted as an Artist?.....well knowing quite a few artists,the answer is a deeply harrowing 'Yes'. Of course it would,this planet is covered with Human's,and they can't help but do stuff like this, Artist or Not?
Another Question has to be asked concerning the Ginger One,as to whether he would have become a mass shooter if idiots like us didn't read too much into his music,which he undoubtedly would have. So,in conclusion, nerds like us save lives.Start by telling your kids that their awful paintings are works of genius,and you may just have saved the lives of dozens of college students. Or better still make them get a job, or don't live in the USA........No Guns, no shootings.....a slogan of pure logic that yer average American Republican is totally blind to!?


Tracklist:

1-1 Sidewalk 11:44
1-2 I Go To You 12:43
1-3 Cloud 8:46
1-4 Intensity Of Love 12:52

2-1 Galaxy 8:34
2-2 I Never Dreamed 12:16
2-3 Everywhere 7:22
2-4 Still With You 15:55


Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Null & Fred Frith – "Null & Fred Frith" (Nux Organization – NUX-21) 1991


If you can't get Brian Eno for your cred cornering collaboration,the next best thing is to procure the ,cheaper,talents of one Fred Frith late of everyone's favourite post-prog art-rock combo, Henry Cow.He has a natural oblique strategies gland inside his front Brain,and can play at least one instrument,if desired;so no need for Eno's famed pack of cards to ever leave the draw.....unless David Bowie wanted them of course...what David wants David gets.....or steals.
Frith brings a more subtle approach to the noise,and side A sounds more like yer Free Improvisation kind of Noise, a noise with nuances if you will?
Woah...side B goes unexpectedly subtle,verging on the Eno's ambient period,with its floaty textures and Atmospheric noodlings.
Who needs Eno anyway?

Tracklist:

Side A : 20000V Live (27:43)
Side B : Heavens Breath (15:32)

Sunday, 16 April 2023

Crespo Schneiderman Duo – "No Complaints" (Blueberry Honey – #18) 2010


Well,Guerilla Toss seemed  to be very popular,so as most,if not ALL groups should split up after their second album.I think i posted three Guerilla Toss albums,so we must make a U-Turn,no complaints, and refer to a split single they did with the magnificently Bats, Egg/Eggs. A member of whom would be the Crespo part of this equally nutty electronic duo, the Crespo Schneiderman...er...duo. So you lucky people who found their feet-a-tapping in 7/4 time to a Guerilla Toss LP,will have to adjust to the floating,if non-existent, rhythms, of this abstract electronica outing,which partners Andy, née Andrew, Crespo,with one of the many members of Sun Burned Hand of the Man, Ron Schneiderman...yes, he???...of who?????....(don't worry about it, we'll get to that)!
Having just watched an obviously very ill, Meat Loaf, slur why he hates performing "I'll do anything for love(but I won't Do That)"......he never did tell us what "That" was,but the answer to his artistic torture being that he felt a pressure from the audience,if that's the right word for such people (either that or 'Morons'?) to be more than perfect....and if he wasn't they would let him know in no uncertain terms. This admission, led me into that musical fantasy world in which I frequently navigate during those blank episodes I display whenever anyone normal is talking to me....my music place. I should imagine it works great during Bad Sex, or whenever one is arse raped by....well...er...Meat Loaf I guess?I can't think of anything more repulsive at such short notice........(pause...I've just gone to my Music Place).
(.....I'm Back......)
No Complaints...yet!?
Just imagine playing this Cd-r to Meat's audience of Moron's in place of "I'll Do Anything For Love....blah blah blah blah!, and tell them that it was Meat's Idea.If he wasn't dead already,they would certainly crucify him,if they could ever hoist his ample frame aloft onto a reinforced cross to hammer in the nails.
Hopefully in my disturbing fantasy, the nostalgia crazed mob would have already chased Jim Steinman down, and burnt him at the stake in a wicker man made of endless histrionic rock dirges made real. Truly a music for people who don't actually like Music..........christ that's ME!?
Oh the joy of watching a middle aged mob ripping up seats and rushing the stage,chanting 'we want MEAT', is a joy to behold,sadly only in my crumbling imagination.
The Crespo Schneiderman Duo,I admit, is not the kind of act one would expect to be playing the Enormo-Dome in upstate Kentucky, in fact,in such places you risk expedited justice and a swift lynching for making such Godless music as this.Remember, these living missing links burnt all their Beatles records,and once you start burning records, it only takes a small leap of consciousness,or unconsciousness as in Red Neck stupidity ,and next they start burning humans.
I dunno if this record is that good as to create a new violent mob of "Proud Boys" to cleanse us of our liberal jew DNA, but I like it.
What pleases me most about this abstract  upside down inside out spontaneous mess, is, it makes me feel comfortably separate from these fuckers whom I have so painstakingly drawn reference to...with out naming names....well...a bit anyway.

Tracklist:

1 A Paper Year
2 Come Back Last Year
3 Go With Last
4 Hard Deed
5 A Code
6 Pre-Western Worm
7 Leave It To Ted
8 Low Class High
9 One Two Three Four
10 Subject : Ultra Jerks

Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Jandek – "Manhattan Thursday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0855) 2022


Another recording from 2009? Sterling and downtown scratch band sound like no-one knows how to play any instrument, and they're playing four different tunes at the same time but in different time signatures......That's Jandek in Manhattan,a place where nobody is allowed to say that Jandek is Shit. It's a challenge for the Downtown NYC muso's to improvise with someone who has not the slightest clue or interest in conventional tunings,musical notes, or technique.The downtown elite would give their eye-teeth to be this close to the year zero of music without their muse,the Corwood representative.
There are some awful moments when the Saxophonist begins to sound like a Blue Note session player from 1959,but thankfully this is brief. If you wanna listen to some self-identifying sophisticate's standard Jazz boredom, then go and worship the Bird in your own privacy.
We do get treated to more of Jandek's improv sixth form poetry,which makes up for the crowd pleasing moody be-bop somewhat.....I can almost see audience members nodding their heads,eyes closed digging the poetry like a beatnik coming out of a vegetative state. Coooool.
It also appears that Jandek don't do encores, even to persistent trendies applauding post-ironically to tempt the ghostly face of the representative back into the limelight.Even the sarcastic screams of a very misguided lower Manhattan hipsterette could not,and correctly Not, move the Rep to cede to the audience's fake demands.....coooooler.
 
Tracklist:

1-1 Taken Out The Numbers 11:01
1-2 Where I Find You 14:47
1-3 Crossroads Of Life 15:11
1-4 Your Little Sister 12:11
2-1 What Really Matters 9:36
2-2 Outside The Way 12:08
2-3 Mystic In The Nothingness 24:10

Monday, 3 April 2023

Jandek – "Tilburg Saturday" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0860) 2022


Oh Shit! Jandek on piano warning!!!!!
As recorded in a Dutch recording Studio,with audience of eager applaudees, in Holland, the Netherlands,in somewhere called Tilburg,which, obviously ,is in the Netherlands.
He may not pass for an Irishman(he does),but if someone told me he was Dutch I'd say absolutely Dutch,... deeply Dutch.
Thankfully, its not just solo Piano tinkling, the man does his lo-fi improv poetry atop the bloody awful piano shit. Not kidding, but i reckon he should stick to the poetry a lot more.That stuff can empty any room of any normals, and leave only the kind of people we can get along with, pretentious art posers excepted....bastards!
This is also recorded in 2009,the most prolific year in Jandeks entire recorded life. So,did he die in 2009? It looks like it!?....are there any pictures of The Representative walking barefoot anywhere? Is he actually Paul McCartney? Probably not...its the voice, and probably the total lack of melody in his entire canon.
Yeah, he's dead alright, but don't think that's the end of jandek. There's a massive vault of jandek improv's that will take us clear into the next century. This guy is immortal.

Tracklist:

1 The Evening Starts 10:32
2 Like A Dot 6:05
3 Altar Of Chance 7:12
4 Flying Past Mountains 6:43
5 Outside Of Me 6:10
6 Dance The Trance 7:07
7 Reluctant Aversion 7:03
8 Shadows Of The Stars 11:29


Sunday, 2 April 2023

Jandek – "Northern Ireland July" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0857) 2023


More recordings from 2009?...was that the year he died?.....don't worry Jandek Saddoes,I'm only speculating. I'm sure he's real......and by all accounts rather good at this spontaneous music malarky.
Northern Ireland is too important a hotspot to only get individual concerts released on corwood.This is a whole Tour in a box!?
This ain't Outsider music, but it is made by an outsider,that being the  ginger post-reclusive Richard Smith.
He does indeed look like a member of the Real IRA, but is too pale to be in the continuity IRA, and too Ginger for the INLA. Most of these IRA splinter groups consisted of no more than minus one to one nationalist idiot as a rule, rather like all the so-called 'Groups' on Bandcamp. Its like the USA labelling the UnaBomber a terrorist group.
Maybe Bandcamp should be labelled a terrorist group too?
But,Nothing gets on British peoples Tits more than some senile American getting involved in things they don't,can't,won't understand....like Joe 'I'm Irish Me' Biden. 
Hopefully Jandek's lack of interest in this crass stupidity will help cancel out Irish Americans once and for all.
Good stuff this maybe,but the drummer sounds like he was recruited from an Orange Order marching band......yeah,its gonna happen.....on Drugs....Hahahahahaha.
I'm so funny.
Americans can't really get involved,mainly because most of them think Northern Ireland is somewhere in the Bronx,and native Americans are restricted to outdoor concentration camps called Reservations for their own good.Then they start slagging off China for doing what they were doing.
Its seems wrong to label Jandek an American,but there is no other place on the planet that he could have possibly come from.

Tracklist:

1. Larne Sunday 1:15:50
2. Bangor Monday 1:07:09
3. Belfast Tuesday (Afternoon) 23:13
4. Belfast Tuesday (Evening) 1:15:48
5. Londonderry Wednesday 1:13:55

Thursday, 30 March 2023

Jandek – "The Wizards Hour" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0858) 2023


Is it me or is Jandek's output lessening? Only two albums in the first three months of the year so far....so I guess the answer is an emphatic NO! However, most of his recent releases seem to be recorded in  2009...a seemingly very prolific year for the Bard of Corwood.....I wonder if Corwood (Jandek) ever thought about issuing someone other than The Representative himself. If they(he) did,how would we know it wasn't Jandek pretending to be a group or something similar? He has form in that area......The Units,as credited on the debut Jandek,before it was credited to Sterling's alter-ego, after he got threatened by the similarly monikered synth-punk bands the Units.He changed names pronto as soon as legal action was mentioned....lightweight!
The Wizards Hour,dunno if he was refering to himself,benefits from being a recording made for WNYU 89.1 FM and having a strict time limit,so no 6 cd's worth of stuff here.......thank fuck.
A shimmering but scraping yet juddering note-less meander through the ox-bow lakes of The Bardo Pond outtakes bin.
The Rep and uncredited chums make ,what normal people would call a Psych-Drone journey into Outsider Space. That's all well and good,but with tunes like this our favourite Outsider is rapidly becoming an Insider. If you took away his entire pre-2000 lexicon of Outsider-dom,he would be now be filed alongside The aforementioned Bardo Pond, Loop, SkullFlower, and Ascension.Largely due to his unnamed guests I would suggest.It was about the time they appeared that things started to go downhill Outsider-wise. Musically, No-longer an Outside,but maybe, personality-wise,he still retains that threat to Bigots and Fools everywhere...in other worlds not us!?.Sometimes the Emperor needs to look into the mirror,and realise he's wearing new clothes that are no longer invisible. I blame the Internet and that cunt who wrote that book ....you know, the one that inexplicably puts Syd Barratt and Don Van Vliet in the same category as.....coff...Jandek?.......maybe he's right about Syd, but Don?...an Outsider he most certainly was NOT!

Tracklist:

1. The Wizard Awakens 20:44
2. The Wizards' Afternoon 24:51
3. The Wizards' Dream 16:34


Wednesday, 11 January 2023

Jandek – "Diverseworks" (Corwood Industries – CORWOOD 0856) 2022


After a lengthy series of stuff about recently deceased musicians,I will risk my life by returning,briefly, to the possibly Dead Jandek,with another pseudo-classical improvisation from the seemingly infinite vaults of old recordings.Rarely do we hear anything from contemporary Jandek. I suspect there's enough in storage for Richard Representative to achieve musical imortality.We will all be long dead by the time the Rep and his helpers exhaust the well.....that is, unless he has expired and they are doing this already.
Here we have Outsider music turned inside out.This is as far as one can get from that creepy guy in his mum's cellar banging out deranged versions of the human condition on an old piano.
Jandek,once a ginger mist with an out of tune guitar that drifted around various suburban parts of Houston,howling like a slow wind across freshly laid barbed wire;alas he is now a trilby wearing version of Nosferatu,hanging around the toilets in the music department en campus somewhere in the Texas system for further education.
His purpose?...Recruiting insider studentia to help him make this very seriously experimental music.Rather like how Madonna and Bowie used to 'look for ideas'by stealing them off starstruck upwardly mobile producers and musicians.
I doubt any student of modern composition would be Starstruck by the appearance of Jandek in their campus toilets,more likely they would run away,unless they knew better.
The ones who did know better,saw this as an opportunity to get on an avant garde record with a guy would would pay for everything.
Jandek does virtually nothing on this record,except for twanging his detuned bass somewhat furtively .Leaving the recruits to make it sound like one of those spontaneous improvisation records he spotted in the 'Other' section of his local record store,thinking, 'Hey, I can do that'!...or rather, 'i can get someone else to do that and i'll credit myself' on the traditionally credit-less Corwood jewel case artwork.
It has now got to the point where Sterling the Corwood representative is no-longer listed as an Outsider Musician on Discogs, but has joined the much despised ranks of the "Free Improvisers".
So now any collective gathering of Avant Garde improvisers can be heard to scream:
"Lookout! It's Jandek...and he's looking for musicians!"
Whatever the collective noun for a gathering of Free Improvisers is....maybe a 'Scrape' of Improvisers perhaps?

Tracklist:

 Rehearsal:

1-1 Part One 16:01

1-2 Part Two 28:28 

Concert:

2-1 Part One1 9:05

2-2 Part Two2 6:22

2-3 Part Three 16:03

DOWNLOAD this diverse insider crossover moment HERE!

Saturday, 18 June 2022

Steve Beresford /Jon Rose / John Russell / Tony Wren – "Luton - Center Of The Universe" (Fringe Benefit Records – FBR 33) 1981


 

Having proved that there is a super-massive Black Hole at the center of our galaxy;Top scientists are yet to prove that Luton is at the center of anything,let alone the universe.As one of the most drab and uninspiring of London satellite towns,and home to one of thee worst football grounds ,possibly in the entire universe,the place would be greatly improved by being swallowed by a black hole and compacted to infinite density.
Although ,Luton was indeed close to the center of the improvising universe for at least two evenings early in 1981,when Steve Beresford and chums hit town,witnessed by what sounded like,going on the sparse applause,approximately 8 and a half punters,but no dog.....he didn't turn up! Or, better still a room full of paying customers,including one dog, who sat in silence,or left,during the performance,leaving the eight and a half strong Luton intelligentsia to applaud wildly in a largely empty room. This C-60 being the only evidence that this actually happened.....or did it?
These free improvisations have all those essential monkey's tea party qualities that would normally empty any size room of consenting adults within minutes and provoke many a ruddy faced jingoist into enraged foot stamping threats of violence.In which case I could't recommend it more. 

Tracklist:
A January 20, 1981 31:03
B February 6, 1981 25:38