Bleak Bliss: 2011

Musica Transonic - Works (?)

You will know that Musica Transonic are Asahito Nanjo, Makoto Kawabata and Tatsuya Yoshida.

I've been tracking La Musica for years and years and it has driven me crazy!

One of my new year's resolutions is to give myself a break and stop trying to track all of this stuff down. These are all of the "works" Musica Transonic that I have alongside all of the other "unofficial" releases I have. They may form part of the Works boxset, but probably don't. They are not part of the other La Musica boxes that I have already posted.

Do What Thou Wilt!

Works 1: Freecore Hardsonic Live with Yamataka Eye

Works 2: Kali 1999

Works 3: Monster Improvisation

Works 5: Psychedelic Freedelic Sounds

Works 6: Freedelic Transonic

Works 7: Officium Defunctorum

Euro Rock Boogaloo

Euro Speed Freedelic Boogie

Musica Transonic & Yamataka Ai

Studio K7

Live @ Seikazoku, Nagoya, Japan. 30-04-1997

See you next year!

Jim O'Rourke - All Kinds Of People: Love Burt Bacharach

...and when you are all bloated with egg nog...try this for dessert!

Jim with a range of Japanese artists covering Burt's classics!

You even get Masaya Nakahara (Hair Stylistics, Violent Onsen Geisha) handling vocals on track four.

The full list of contributors is here

All kinds of Burt remind me of you

Merry Christmas Wierdos!

Psychic TV - Dreams Less Sweet

After Throbbing Gristle's mission ended, Genesis P-Orridge and Alternative TV's Alex Fergusson brought Psychic TV to the world.

In 1983, they released their second lp. The first edition came with a free 12".

One of the better reviews is here and deserves your indulgence. The album was recorded using Zuccarelli Holophonic technology which basically means that the sounds arrive at you from all angles and often the least expected. It lulls you into a (very) false sense of security just before it tips you headlong into a nightmare world. It deserves to be heard via headphones for the maximum impact (SERIOUSLY...DO IT).

Even the serene elements within the work are disarmingly subversive! Whilst "Always Is Always" is sung by an angelic choirboy, it is a song written by Charles Manson and was basically the Manson Family anthem...and if that isn't enough, the song dissolves into the rip of machine-gun fire. "White Nights" contains the lines "Santa Claus is checking his list, going over it twice, seeing who is naughty and who is nice" sung by Genesis at his innocent best. The lines are actually re-appropriated dialogue from the Reverand Jim Jones' so-called “death tapes”. The "Santa Claus" chorus was a rhyme used by Jones to teach children the value of paranoia.

The "Reverand" was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana. Over 200 children were murdered at Jonestown, several of whom were forcefully made to ingest cyanide by adults. It adds a slightly different impact, let's say, to this superficially innocent song!

Even the beautiful cover alludes to a Prince Albert penile piercing...the messages are everywhere on this release...

It was quite simply unlike anything that I had heard before or have heard since. Psychic TV at their most magnificent, melancholic and malevolent best and it has lost none of its impact since its release almost 30 years ago!

Dreams Less Sweet

Dreams Less Sweet - Free 12"

Hans Reichel - Daxophone

For some reason, I forgot the first of the 7"s from the TOTE series...

Beryllium

Thurston Moore - Starfield Wild / Earth/Amp

Table Of The Elements is one of those labels whose product is both aesthetically astonishing and drop dead gorgeous! It was founded by American music producer and graphic designer Jeff Hunt in 1993. In a beautiful touch, the catalogue number of each release is composed of, in sequence, the atomic number of an element from the periodic table alongside its attendant symbol.

Here and below are 12 of the 7" vinyls released between 1993 and 1994. The cast list will give you all you need to know regarding the quality and aspiration of this unique label!

Sulphur

Makoto Kawabata - Musique Cosmique Electro-Acoustique

Deep-space psychedelic electronics vinyl, released on Qbico in 2003.

Musique Cosmique Electro-Acoustique

Sun Kich - Lucky Mountain Hey!!!!!!!!!!

Sun Kich were Seiichi Yamamoto and Tatsuya Yoshida and I think that it is the only release under that name.

Released on Japan Overseas in 1997.

Lucky Mountain Hey!!!!!!!!!!

Jon Rose & Otomo Yoshihide - Tatakiuri

Inspired collaboration that covers just about every piece of ground you can think of! Bewildering, sublime and very funny at points.

Released on Japan's Creativeman Disc. in 1995.

Tatakiuri

Bongwater - Jimmy / Lesbians of Russia

Shockabilly - The Ghost Of Shockabilly

In 1982, Shockabilly was formed out of the ashes of Eugene Chadbourne's LSD Country & Western quintet The Chadbournes. When John Zorn and the late Tom Cora departed, they left a trio in their wake. Eugene Chadbourne, Kramer and David Licht carried on as the newly named Shockabilly.

Mark Kramer has appeared in some absolutely seminal outfits such as Half Japanese, B.A.L.L., Bongwater, Butthole Surfers and The Fugs. He also owned and operated the legendary and unique Shimmy Disc label. The label had such a singular take on the world that I would buy every new release without knowing what it was...just because it was a Shimmy release! They released Ruins "Stonehenge" onto an unsuspecting Western world ferchristssake! Some corporate shites took Shimmy Disc over in the '90's and (from memory) then went bust. I called it Karma at the time! Kramer has since set up Second Shimmy where he continues to release weird and wonderful music and has (re) remastered some of his work.

David Licht has also played in B.A.L.L., Bank Of Sodom, Bongwater and When People Were Shorter And Lived Near The Water.

This CD release on Shimmy Disc from 1989 compiles remastered versions of the first two lps "Earth Vs Shockabilly" and "Colossseum".

If you have never heard Shockabilly, you will have no reference points! Bizarre, inverted, twisted and exhilarating all the way down!

Ghost

Owl Xounds & Family Battle Snake - Split

CDr released on Blackest Rainbow in 2007.

Family Battle Snake is Bill Kouligas' long-standing experimental project.

Owl Xounds & Family Battle Snake

Owl Xounds Exploding Galaxy vs Datashock - Split

C40 released on Meudiademorte in 2007.

Datashock are a "German neo-hippie-spook-folk collective with no fixed line-up, a policy, which suits their without-portfolio sound down to the ground. Datashock strays away from the instrumental template towards a more shamanic (and shambolic) conjuring of ancestral voices from an array of junk electronics, effects pedals and DIY tape manipulation rigs." Which makes for a neat fit on this tape.

Galaxy & Datashock

Owl Xounds - Stoned & Zoned

2 x 3" cdrs released on Thor's Rubber Hammer Productions in 2007.

"As one of NYC’s most aggressive fire-jazz units, Owl Xounds continues to link ESP’Disk and the Misfits, but here also approaches beautiful noise on two 20+ minute pieces. Mainstays Adam Kriney (drums) and Gene Janas (upright bass) are augmented by Bonnie Kane on amplified flute and sax with electronics. Kane’s contributions bring the unit to its most psychedelic paramount, her feedback-sax worshipping at the gates of guitar gods like Les Rallizes Denudes and Blue Cheer, yet affectionately rooted in Albert Ayler. Kriney (La Otracina) moves the action forward, ravaging without destroying, and Janas (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Bern Nix’s Sedition Ensemble) practically rips the strings off his bass, yet both know when to let textures form on their own."

Stoned & Zoned

Owl Xounds Exploding Galaxy - Touch The Iceberg

C44 released on Fuck It Tapes in 2007. Side A is a live recording at the Flywheel Arts Centre in Easthampton, MA in November 2006 which includes the aforementioned Moore brothers.

Kind of sounds like a ghost orchestra warming up in the basement beneath you and then decomposing from there. Which is a good thing.

Touch The Iceberg

Arrington de Dionyso & Owl Sounds - Cow On Mushrooms

CDr released on Colour Sounds Recordings in 2005.

Arrington de Dionyso also appears in the excellent Old Time Relijun.

Don't have a pic of the cover but they appear in the jpeg with Gene and Thurston Moore who appear on the next tape.

Cow On Mushrooms

Vast Glory - Vast Glory

C60 released on Lake Shark Harsh Noise this year.

Vast Glory

Filthy Turd - Schoolgirls In Chains

CDr released on Cut Hands in 2007.

Schoolgirls In Chains

Filthy Turd & A.E. - Vicious Parallels Violent Structures

CDr released on the sadly short-lived Militant Walls in 2006.

Vicious Parallels Violent Structures

Filthy Turd - Love Hotel

CDr released on the mighty Turgid Animal in 2006.

Love Hotel

The Tubes - Live From The Can

Nothing at all to do with the new wavey "White Punks On Dope" outfit (you'll be relieved to know).

This is another John Olson project on American Tapes (AM858) from early 2010...the first of the three Tubes releases so far. Three C90's packaged in a spraypainted tube or can (depending on what was lying around in the Olson household at the time) in an edition of 12!

The picture isn't of the release...it's one of John's artworks that he sells here.

Tape 1
Tape 2
Tape 3

Rangda - False Flag

Sublime trio of Sir Richard Bishop and Ben Chasny (of Six Organs Of Admittance, Comets On Fire and many other wonderful ventures) on guitar and Chris Corsano on drums. Normally, you would be happy to know that these people were in the same country...but in the same band? It's like your wildest dreams coming true!

Released on Drag City in 2010.

False Flag

...and here's a bootleg of Rangda Live In Geneva if you are interested...

Pengo - Toads Tools Amongst The Tombstones

New York's Pengo is John Schoen, Jason Finkbeiner and Nuuj who form a mighty three-headed avant/drone/noise/psych hydra. Every Pengo release that I have is bewilderingly different from the previous as they restlessly bring together many disparate strains of underground sounds to form a perplexing and at times alienating (but always rewarding) whole. At times, they have been compared to Sun Ra, AMM, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Throbbing Gristle, Suicide, NNCK and Les Rallizes Denudes. At the end of the day, Pengo are like Pengo and nobody out there is like Pengo!

On this LP, released on the awesome Qbico label in 2006, we see them sail off into acid-damaged shamanic Sundurned psychedelic territory. A great album from a really excellent outfit!

Toads Tools Amongst The Tombstones

Sudden Infant - Invocation Of The Aural Slave Gods

Great CD released on Blossoming Noise in 2005. Contains a couple of inspired covers: Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag" and Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home A Heartache". Excellent!

Invocation Of The Aural Slave Gods

Sudden Infant - ← Look Left

3" CDr from your favourite Swiss noise experimenter. Released on Entr'acte in 2004.

← Look Left

Reynols - Bolas Tristes

CDr released on Freedom From in 2001.

Bolas Tristes

Reynols - Blank Tapes Live In Malmö

Live recording of a session on February 15th, 2003, at The Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö, Sweden. Unleashed on the world by the Swedish label Komplott.

Blank Tapes Live In Malmö

Reynols - Blank Tapes

CD released on Bernhard Günter's Trente Oiseaux label in 2000. The release comprises music made with analog & digital processings over selected blank tapes dating from 1978 to 1999. Apparently.

You should also check out the (now) netlabel site. There is an extremely impressive amount of quality material available for free download. You may also be able to cop a physical version of this as well.

Blank Tapes

Reynols - '-------'

CD released in 1999 with the honours split between Phil Todd's (aka Ashtray Navigation's) sadly missed Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers & Mike Landucci's equally mourned Blackbean And Placenta Tape Club.

'-------'

Reynols - 10.000 Chickens Symphony

"For their first 7", Reynols did field recordings of (at least) 10.000 chickens and effected them to create a deep-frequency drone with bits of chicken sounds in it for side 1. As a contrast, side 2 shows the more original face of the recordings, a storm of unbelievably high & shrieking sounds, which are at last also being manipulated to increase the astonishing orchestral noise the chickens produce."

This is a 7" released on Germany's Drone Records in two editions in 2000 and 2003 respectively. Chickens as source material...gotta be a pun in there somewhere!

10.000 Chickens Symphony

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.10 - Singing For Justice

Hair Stylistics is the noise project of Masaya Nakahara that has taken over from his Violent Onsen Geisha escapades. He is astonishingly prolific but his work is very difficult to source unless you are in Japan or speak the lingo. Every time he offers up wonderful work that displays a sense of humour that is sadly lacking in a typically ultra-serious genre.

The "Monthly Hair Stylistics" series of cdrs were released in a series of 12 (plus a 13th "Mystery Disc") during 2008 (and a little bit of 2009). I only have seven of the thirteen unfortunately. Would I be pissing in the wind in asking somebody out there to help fill in the gaps?

I have around another 50 Hair Stylistics releases that I may sprinkle around at some point.

Singing For Justice

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.6 - Wild Hair Style

Wild Hair Style

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.5 - 30 Minute Panty People

30 Minute Panty People

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.4 - Electric Success In The Ghetto

Electric Success In The Ghetto

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.3 - Hard Märchen

Hard Märchen

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.2 - Gracia A La Viva

Gracia A La Viva

Hair Stylistics - Monthly Hair Stylistics Vol.1 - Pop Bottakuri

Pop Bottakuri

Absolut Null Punkt - Killsonic Action

On this recording Absolut Null Punkt are Asami Hayashi on bass, Seijiro Murayama on drums with the guitar and vocal duties covered by Kazuyuki Kishino. You should know the latter as K.K. Null and Null and as a member of Zeni Geva, Senssurround Orchestra and a former member of YBO². Seijiro Murayama was the original drummer with Fushitsusha.

This 1988 lp captures a live performance at CBGB in Kyoto on November 29th 1987. It has never been rereleased...bizarrely!

Imagine Swans, Godflesh and Boris put in a blender and forced through a stack of amps turned up to 12. No artists were harmed in the formulation of that last sentence!

Killsonic Action

Ministries of Blood Recordings

Ministries of Blood Recordings is/was a cdr label run by Dustin Redington who is one half of Demonologists (the other half being Cory Rowell).

Ministries of Blood was one of the leading industrial blackened noise labels in the United States and for the last 6 years pushed a genre so new and fresh at the time that most thought it to be a ridiculous concept. I mean, who would want to combine the imagery, fetishism and aesthetic of Norwegian Black Metal with heavy electronics? Obviously a lot of people rose to the challange as the black noise vibe exploded worldwide. MOBR only released cdr's and maintained a solid reputation in all things groundbreaking and innovating.

For the record...The Doctrine Of Flesh, Ropes Of Our Father, Lord of The Dead are Dustin solo projects, whereas Puritan Sword and Dead Bird Mountain see Dustin collaborate with Billy Mixson and Eric Sellers respectively.

Massive thanks to Dustin for sharing releases from the back catalogue!

Puritan Sword and The Doctrine Of The Flesh have been taken down as they are sheduled for re-release.

Cory has asked for the link to the excellent "Demonologists - Neon Pink" to be removed. It's due for a rerelease. Go and buy it. It's very fine.

Book of Blood - Book of Blood
Breath of Chaos - Decaying
Breath of Chaos - Eternal
Breath of Chaos - Summoning The Black
Butcherchrist - Black Wounded Soul
Caliginous - Reap The Atrocity
Cruento - Signal of Distress
Dead Bird Mountain - Demon(s)
Demonologists - Neon Pink (Soundtrack
Etheric Void - The Irradiating Failure of His Covenant
Graves House - Blood Nebula Forming
Ilabrat - Death Is The Crown of All
Josh Lay - Serotonin Haze
L'exorcisme - L'exorcisme
Lord of The Dead - Dethroned and Cast Through The Bowels of Hell
Lord of The Dead - Hatred
Lord of The Dead - In The Name of Violence
Lord of The Dead - The Sentence of Death
Maleux - Where The Dead No Longer Dream
Mortuor - I'am Waiting For You
Nomad Conqueror - Darkness Ruled The Earth
Nomad Conqueror - I Am From The Barbaric North
Rhuith - Zone Di Morte Illuminata
Ropes Of Our Father & Caustic Viral Hell - Split
Stemcell Research Project - Museum of Sleep
Teeth Collection - Priest Tongue
Toxicum Aestus - Indoctrination of Decay
Unholy Dominion - Spawn
Utarm - Thanatophilia
Witches Sabbath - Requiem of Shadows
Wormwoods Decay - The Butchrey

Jason Glover & Sir Richard Bishop - Elvi Sinawi

Between trying to have a life and MU dropping off the face of the earth for a short while and preparing the Ministries Of Blood post...pause for breath...thought I'd drop this.

It's a 3'' cdr released in 2002. I've started seeing this being offered up for a lot of money. If you were thinking about making an investment, bear this in mind (from Sir Rick's own site):

"A live performance of electronics and general mayhem. Recorded in the late 90s at I-Spy in Seattle, or at Benaroya Hall, depending on who you ask. Originally limited to about 35 copies in jewel case but now limited to however many Jason Glover makes when nobody is looking."

Elvi Sinawi

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