Bleak Bliss: June 2015

Masayuki Takayanagi - Archive 1

This is Masayuki Takayanagi's free-form New Direction Unit performing live between 1977 and 1978.

Akira Iijima and Masayuki Takayanagi share the improvised guitar work, Nobuyoshi Ino is on bass, Kenji Seyama and Hiroshi Yamazaki are behind the kit at various points, Yoshiaki Fujikawa is on reeds on the first four sets with Kenji Mori on the fifth. Legends every one of them!

Released on Jinya Disc in 2009, the first 100 came with a DVD ... but you can't have everything ...

Another Situation First Concert - 1977.9.4 At Purcinera, Shibuya

Regular Concert No.35 - 1977.6.2 At Jean Jean, Shibuya

Regular Concert No.36 - 1977.8.4 At Jean Jean, Shibuya

Regular Concert No.39 - 1978.2.10 At Jean Jean, Shibuya

Regular Concert No.43 - 1978.10.6 At Jean Jean, Shibuya

Nicole Chambers - Reciprocity

Second album by IDES boss, guitar-and-tape-mangler Nicole Chambers, issued in 2006. As with all of her solo noise, this tape is essential and deserves as many sets of attentive ears on it as possible. Sink into this one. Put it on repeat and let it fog up your living room.

Nicole Chambers - Reciprocity

Nicole Chambers - NC

I don't know much about this one, except that I love it and more ears (like yours!) need to let these sounds seep inside. I have no idea how Chambers made this stuff, even though she clearly writes on the insert that tape recorder, boom box, and guitars were involved. The music sounds as if it was dropped in from another dimension. It's muted fidelity adds to the overall air of distant, brutally compelling fog. Chambers spent some time in the ranks of power-electronics instigators Bloodyminded, whose irritatingly trite, desperately-grasping-for-transgressive act borders on parody. She went on to run IDES, one of the most dependably fascinating cassette labels of the late 00's, but the strongest releases in the IDES catalog are her own. Released in 2005 in an edition of just 22 copies.

Nicole Chambers - NC

Glass Bath - Grey Gardens

Frozen menace by the duo of Andy Ortmann (Panicsville, Nihilist Recordings) and IDES label mastermind Nicole Chambers. Issued as a tape on IDES in 2006.

Glass Bath - Grey Gardens

Climax Denial - Sexuality is a Curse

No one can make sex seem so damned depressing like Climax Denial's Alex Kmet. This was the 2nd cassette on the remarkably well-curated IDES label in 2006. Pretty much anything IDES saw fit to release is worth your time.

Climax Denial - Sexuality is a Curse

Vomir - L'Homme Saturé

LP jointly released on At War With False Noise ‎and Turgid Animal in 2010. You know where you are heading here ...

L'Homme Saturé

Vomir / Cannibal Ritual - Untitled

Well, I was going to post the Persistence In Mourning / Vomir split tape to lead into this. At the last minute, I realised that it is on the Ominous Silence Records bandcamp page. Never mind, you can go there instead.

Here's a single sided C90 released on Cannibal Ritual's Black Grave Tapes in 2008. Cannibal Ritual goes by the name of Ruggero Lenzi. That in itself makes me smile as it's an obvious nod to Italian schlock-mondo film directors Ruggero Deodato and Umberto Lenzi.

The other bloke is Vomir ... oh, and did I mention that it is HNW?

Vomir / Cannibal Ritual

va - Clones of Suicide

Extremely odd "tribute" to New York City's pioneering synth duo Suicide by the crew of Japanese weirdos who inhabited that barely-describable sideways-electronics "scene" that circled the Zero Gravity and Far East Experimental Sounds/Sonic Plate labels in the late 1990s. These aren't really cover songs; they are more like declarative blurts of appreciative (dis)respect that somehow reference Suicide's impact on the artists' own production/aesthetic. Some are sparse tunes with repeating organ bars definitely informed by Martin Rev. Others turn the echo up on some Elvisy vocals a la Alan Vega. None of it is easily explainable.

The disc features music by Dub Sonic (aka the late, Sun Ra-obsessed Takehiro Nakazato), Take Rodruiguez (Nakazato's inexplicably Latino alias for techno-bossa-nova), techno/dub/nonsense band Nasca Car, Manshow, super-heavy bass emperor Kucknacke, Scorpion is Snake is Spider (which sounds likes a Hanatarash alias, but is actually Kucknacke), Kazunao Nagata (the undisputed champion of synthesized what-the-fug, aka the man behind techno/pop label Transonic and the braincell-shattering Zero Gravity label), G13 (aka ambient drifter Enitokwa), Woodman (whose "A Barbarian in Asia" album can and must be found elsewhere on this blog... get to it!), Bathroom Monkeys (aka Woodman again), and... the coup de ??? of the entire album, a duo of Kucknacke with the legendary, acidic folk singer/songwriter Kan Mikami! No, I did not make this album up. It is a real thing, really pressed on a CD and sent to Earth by Sonic Plate in 1999.

va - Clones of Suicide

Persistence in Mourning - The Undead Shall Rise

"First full-length album from Andy Lippoldt AKA Persistence In Mourning, after a couple of EPs and a split 7" with funeral doom legends Worship. The Undead Shall Rise is a concept album on a zombie attack, following our protagonist on fleeing the zombie hordes on the A side (which ends with him being bitten), and deals with his transformation into an undead on the B side. It's a hokey concept, but does it work? YES IT DOES! There's a real soundtrack feel to the record, with funeral doom dirges interspersed with noisey, unsettling moments and fractured spoken word. Reminiscent of doom legends Thergothon on the more "conventional" pieces, but in my opinion the stuff he's doing on this record is a million miles ahead of anyone in the genre right now. It's a very downbeat record and captures the spirit of utter hopelessness and despair (what I can only assume the "zombie" concept is allegory for) perfectly. Features a host of guest musicians (including Ganzmord, M. Warjomaa from Aarni and B.Baphomet from By The Horns) who serve to each stamp their own unique talents onto the music."

LP released on At War With False Noise in 2009. Whilst your at it, check out their Bandcamp as well.

The Undead Shall Rise

Persistence In Mourning / Koufar - Untitled

The piercing throb of Mackenzie Chami's power electronics alongside Andrew Lippoldt's charming slow motion abyss rock. C44 released on Phage Tapes in 2009.

Persistence In Mourning / Koufar

Koufar - The Death Of Myself

Mackenzie Chami on a C20 released on the excellent New Forces in 2010.

The Death Of Myself

Male Compliments - Male Compliments

This C34 is a one-off Mackenzie Chami power electronics project released on Crimes Against Skin in 2010 in an edition of 35.

Male Compliments

Bachir Gemayel - Severed Heads Form A Circle Around Mt. Lebanon

At first, the static rolls along before targeting the wall. Mackenzie Chami on a C94 released on HarshFuckedForLife Records in 2009 in an edition of only 15 copies.

Severed Heads Form A Circle Around Mt. Lebanon

Cracked Dome / Bachir Gemayel - Untitled

C20 released on Phage Tapes in 2008 in an edition of 44.

Cracked Dome / Bachir Gemayel

Cracked Dome - Mutilated Horizons

This covers so much noise territory that I won't say any more than it was released on the mighty Turgid Animal in 2006.

Mutilated Horizons

Torturing Nurse / Cracked Dome - Untitled

This was posted here five and a half years ago ... it's about time it got another hearing!

You all know Shanghai's Torturing Nurse of course. Even by their standards, this is chaos. Guitar shredding noise destruction. It's wonderful and quite frankly mental and I love them! Cracked Dome is "Gene Symptoms" and he chops up the first offering to the point of destruction before turning towards a long brood.

CDr released on Barfing Dagger Re-Recordings in 2006.

Torturing Nurse / Cracked Dome

Vibracathedral Orchestra - REC-REH 13

Vibracathedral Orchestra have had a lot of line-up fluctuations. Sometimes, you never knew what you were going to get. Once they supported Sunburned Hand Of The Man over here and it turned out to be Mick Flower on his own ... and then he joined Sunburned for the rest of the night. Complaining? Are you crazy? Wonderful night and I got to marvel at the rubber horse-headed Gnod dance troupe.

Whilst the ranks have included Matthew Bower and Chris Corsano, nothing compares to the early works. Two, maybe three, years ago, I had a brief exchange with Neil Campbell and asked about the prospect of the original Vibracathedral getting back together. He said maybe there was a chance of some live gigs over in Leeds. It was difficult for me to get across to the Brudenell Social Club on a regular basis ... so I didn't ... can't tell you how much I regret that.

Anyway, that's a very long-winded way of saying "here it is". Adam Davenport, John Godbert, Julian Bradley, Michael Flower and Neil Campbell recorded in late 2013 and self-released in early 2014 in an edition of only 50 copies.

Only Bridget Hayden is missing from these recordings but I am not a beggar that likes to choose ...

REC-REH 13

Jarvis / Joincey / Todd - Stopped Clock For Early Retirement

The inaugural offering was this CDr released on Phil's Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers in 1996.

Stopped Clock For Early Retirement

Jarvis / Joincey / Todd‎ - This Horse Already Rotten

The second outing for the threesome. CDr released on Slippy Town in 2000.

This Horse Already Rotten

Jarvis / Joincey / Todd - All Aboard The Good Ship Marginalia

What's the only good thing to come out of Stoke? Yeah, name your own road (aka escape route). Boom and indeed Tish.

The real answer is obviously Andy Jarvis, Anthony Joinson and Phil Todd. Responsible in various roles for the likes of Anna Planeta, A Warm Palindrome, Dogliveroil, Inca Eyeball, Green Monkey, Tea Culture, Target Shoppers and Ashtray Navigations. Yes, good people, you are in the hands of genii.

CDr released on Phil's Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers in 2001.

All Aboard The Good Ship Marginalia

Thee Angels Ov Light Meet Thee Angry Love Orchestra - Psychick Youth Rally

Originally, this was a C60 released on Cold Spring in 1988 in an edition of only 35 copies. Luckily, Cold Spring re-released this on CD in 1995. It documents an illegal event organised by Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth in London on the 23rd of April, 1988. It was around this time that I saw Psychic TV at Manchester Polytechnic. Off my bean on acid, right down the front with naked members of the audience waving their pierced penises in my face and Genesis screaming down my throat. For some reason, I don't remember the female nudity, just the flappy impaled members. It was either a fantastic or terrifying night depending on the strength of the flashbacks. Anyway, this is nothing like that ... not a cock in sight!

This is an unexpected combination of ambient dungeon noise, metal junk and harsh scree.

Psychick Youth Rally

Gysin / Burroughs / P.Orridge - Interviews + Readings

Some of you won't even remember "the good old days" when you stumbled across things and had to then send a self-addressed envelope in the hope that you would get a reply and wonder whether it would be worth the cost of a first class stamp. Happy days! Burn your computers. Send letters. Well, maybe not.

Anyway, this is a C96 released on a fledgling Cold Spring way back in 1989 and it does what it says on the tin.

Interviews + Readings

RE/SEARCH #4/5

And then in my bludgeoningly grey part of the world, you hear of a wonderful magazine series published in California. Now finding those were a feat of extreme optimistic stubbornness. It worked eventually though. This was published in 1982. I've scanned my copy and converted to PDF. Treating the written word in this way is obviously sacrilegious, so do your own RE/SEARCH!

RE/SEARCH #4/5

Ophibre - S for S

One more drone from Ophibreland, this one released in an edition of 54 copies (not 50?) by Cloud Valley as a CDR in 2008.

Ophibre - S for S

Ophibre & Brian Grainger - Maine/Sander

CDR reissue of a split cassette full of rough drone by two obscure American artists.

Ophibre & Brian Grainger - Maine/Sander

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman literally defined Free Jazz. An absolute visionary who carved his own path because he knew he was right. His influence is felt throughout so much of the music we love. He died today at the age of 85.

Free Jazz remains a revolutionary idea. Initially, this was released as an LP in 1961. It is recorded in stereo. Big deal, you might say. However, this is two quartets with one playing in either channel. In the left channel, you have Ornette Coleman on alto saxophone, Don Cherry on pocket trumpet, Scott LaFaro on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. In the right channel, you have Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Charlie Haden on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums. It was a continuous piece of improvisation split across two sides of vinyl. In 1998, Rhino released it on CD as it was originally intended with a bonus 17 minutes of the "First Take". This is what you have here and it remains one of the most spectacular compositions ever recorded.

Free Jazz

Chappaqua Suite was recorded in 1965 and released as a double LP throughout Europe from 1966 onwards. Originally it was recorded with the intention of providing a soundtrack to the film Chappaqua. Once the director heard the proposal he knew that the beauty of the music would overshadow his own efforts and it remained unused. It is still largely unreleased and ignored in the country of his own birth.

Chappaqua Suite

Ophibre - Drone Works for Differing Digital Audio Formats and Encoding Methods

The title says it all.

Ophibre - Drone Works for Differing Digital Audio Formats and Encoding Methods

Firefukt

Hi all!

If you use Firefox, you will have noticed a problem over the past 4 to 5 days. Downloads have been blocked with a "may contain" warning (but only after you have wasted your time trying to get a file from Zippyshare). There has been quite a conversation going in the comments recently about what was going on. The short version is that the recent update of Firefox has incorporated a function that scans downloaded executable files to make sure they are not infected with a virus. It appears to target Zippyshare in particular.

Guess what! The information that these decisions are based on comes from Google! Guess what again! The same places still work in Google Chrome! Go figure ... Google appears to have royally fucked over Firefox and they have fallen for it hook, line and sinker! More information can be found here, here and here.

The reputational damage to Firefox will be immense and a hell of a lot of people will switch. There are some solutions on the pages listed but you need to be the judge of whether they work for you. Anyway, all of the files here work perfectly in all of the other browsers!

Ophibre - Untitled

Early, untitled CDR, probably self-released. I can't find any information about it.

Ophibre - Untitled

Ophibre - Puzzle Pieces

I'm not sure what happens when you fit the pieces together. More wobbly synth drone, released in 2007 on Oph Sound as a CDR in an edition of 25 copies.

Ophibre - Puzzle Pieces

Ophibre - Approaching the Ionized Piezo Kiosk

Ophibre keeps a very low profile. You may not have heard of him, so consider this post and the forthcoming deluge to be a public service. It's the project of Benjamin Rossignol, an artist who lives in Boston Massachusetts and builds synthesizers. Much of his music is a subtle or unchanging drone, sometimes a background hum and sometimes raw and overpowering. He's put out albums on Excite Bike, 905 Tapes, Intransitive Recordings, Kendra Steiner Editions, Ghetto Naturalist Series, Ruralfaune, but most Ophibre is self-released on his own Oph Sound imprint. This album came out in 2009 as a CDR on Ear Jerk, a label run by one of the Davenport guys.

Ophibre - Approaching the Ionized Piezo Kiosk

Jooklo Duo meets Thurston Moore & Dylan Nyoukis - Untitled

CDr released on Dylan's Chocolate Monk this year in an edition of 75. Instantly sold out, of course! Anyway:

"Finally got our mits on the desk recording of this smoked out gig of stumbling, wailing and plonking, Vanzan's hands busted and broken from previous nights thunder drags out his recently salvaged piano and is joined by saxaphone, guitar, tapes, voice and objects. Quartet gets down and mysterious, sweaty bodies shut out thought, hammer a nail into the crowds collective id, upwards disappearing."

... and you can't say fairer than that ...

Genius

Prick Decay - Have A Blossoming Slack Afro

Pre-Decaer Pinga vehicle for the wayward minds of Dylan and Lisa Nyoukis on a C46 released on Oska in 1994. British abstract savant skronk puzzlement at it's finest ...

Have A Blossoming Slack Afro

No Artist - Deadicated to Anneliese Michel

Anneliese Michel died at the age of 23 of malnutrition and dehydration following 67 exorcisms conducted by Catholic priests over the course of 10 months. The cause of the behaviours that led to the literal conviction that the responsibility lay with demonic possession was epilepsy. An established medical diagnosis of epilepsy. You would be forgiven for thinking that this happened centuries ago in some relatively uneducated hinterland.

Anneliese died in 1976. In Germany.

Not even an unknown artist ... quite simply none. That is perfectly appropriate. It allows the space to consider the truth behind the inspiration for this tape and the stupidity of religious zealots. Simply beautiful and poignant harsh noise.

C42 released on Worthless Recordings in 2011 in a tiny edition of 18.

Anneliese

Unknown Artist - Yirat HaShem

Gorgeous rolling waves of noise surrounding disturbed biblical prophecy. Really very fine indeed...

Originally this C60 was released on Totenwerk in 2014 in an edition of 23. There were two subsequent reissues on Forced Nostalgia. The latter's Bandcamp page states "Currently sold out again thanx to a sudden rush/interest from Japanese buyers". I include this extra nugget of information solely to encourage pointless speculation regarding the source of the music.

Yirat HaShem

Unknown Artist - I'm Melting #1

C46 released on Excite Bike in 2009.

Everybody's money on it being Dan Dlugosielski?

Thought so ...

I'm Melting #1

Unknown Artist - Untitled (Chondritic Sound)

Another info-less mystery, this 3"CDR (and a booklet which I have not yet scanned) was given away to anyone who bought four other Chondritic Sound releases in July 2007. No artist, no catalog #. Like it or lump it. It sounds like the work of Greh/Hive Mind, but you never know... literally, you won't ever know for sure who made this. I don't suppose it matters, but you can always leave your obscure theories in the comments.

Unknown Artist - Untitled (Chondritic Sound)

Unknown Artist - Waystyx 06

It comes to you in a plain brown wrapper. No artist listed, no info on Discogs, no text, nothing. This CD came out on the extraordinary Moscow label Waystyx (also home to many fine recordings by Brume, Ralf Wehowsky, Merzbow, Contagious Orgasm, Illusion of Safety, other Bleak favorites) in 2006 and is a real mystery. What's not a mystery, though, is that the music is a lovely drone with digital filigree and is a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an hour. If you know anything about this, please tell us in the comments!

Unknown Artist - Waystyx 06

Sex Complex - Meditations On The Ways We Weren't

Matt Boettke is better known for his work as (the ridiculously good) Scant. Here he is on a release from Seven1878 from 2013.

Meditations...

White Gimp Mask & Sex Complex - Split

This is another Graveyard robbery ... exclusively released there and the link has now died ... hence:

Gimp Sex

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