Bleak Bliss: February 2018

va - Genotypes

Compilation of obscure underground 1980s electronic "minimal synth" music, released in 2010 by Genetic Music. The comp leans a little too goth for my liking, but the good songs are so damn good that they make the whole thing worthwhile. Tracks by Patrick Fitzgerald, Lee Negin, Alive She Died (yuck, what a cringey name), Mecano, Low Class (better known as Unovidual), Sieg Uber die Sonne, Cinema 90, Urge, Secession, Ciaran Harte (of the new wave band Glass), Hysterica Passio. But the big winner is "Burn My Eyes", by Steven Grandell (now Venus de Mars), taken from her self-released 1984 LP "Animal Angst". It's the first song on this comp and it's a killer.

va - Genotypes

Borbetomagus - Live In Allentown

This was originally a tape release from 1986 that only contained the first set. Luckily for the world, this reissue also contains the previously unheard second set. So that's twice as much legendary roaring snuff jazz from Don Dietrich and Jim Sauter on double sax attack, Donald Miller on guitar and Adam Nodelman on bass.

CD released on Agaric Records in 2007.

Live In Allentown

va - Insomnia Vol. 2

Double cassette compilation from We Never Sleep, with one side each by Matt Heckert (soundtracks to Survival Research Laboratories performances), Greater Than One, Hunting Lodge and Human Head Transplant. Released in 1988.

va - Insomnia Vol. 2

The New Monuments - Live

In 2008, The New Monuments toured and recorded that night's show to sell at the following night's gig. This resulted in around eight impossible to find CDrs. Luckily, the results were boiled down and released as a box set a short time later. The first three discs are from that tour with the fourth being a live event in Detroit.

4 CDr set released on American Tapes ‎in 2008.

It's AM798 btw ...

Live

va - Insomnia Vol. 1

This compilation is so good! It's so very good! Like the best compilations out there, it sets a beautiful mood and is wonderful from start to finish, which is really something since it's also two CDs long. Released by We Never Sleep in 1986/1987 as a double cassette, then reissued as a double CD in 1993, it includes drones and industrial lullabies by The Haters, Greater Than One, Monochrome Bleu, Human Head Transplant, Bourbonese Qualk, Maybe Mental, Dine Forbate (a single-use alias of Kim Cascone/PGR), blackhumour, Savage Republic (whose guitarist, Bruce Licher, created the distinctive letterpress sleeve), Systems Collapse (aka Jon Hudson of Faith No More... yes, you read that correctly), Banned Production (aka AMK), Amnesia Quartet (which includes David Oliphant/Maybe Mental), Helios Creed, Architects Office, Soul Merchants, and eponymous label honchos We Never Sleep.

disc 1
disc 2

The New Monuments - Long Pig

C. Spencer Yeh on violin and electronics, Ben Hall on drums and Don Dietrich (of the mighty Borbetomagus) on sax and electronics.

Spectacular CD released on Bocian Records in 2015.

Long Pig

Here's To You Vincent Company!

Bleak Bliss loves you more than you will know!

Burning Star Core / Prurient - Ghosts Of Niagara

Seminal collaboration ... simple as.

Ten C10s released on Hospital Productions in 2008.

Ghosts Of Niagara

... and just in case you missed them (and give a shit), I've re-upped the USA Live Reports Spring 2005 and Labyrinth Of The Minotaur tape sets that I posted in 2011.

Burning Star Core - A Pair Of Earrings From An Unnamed Property

Violin destruction and reconstruction on this 3" CDr released on DroneDisco in 2003 in an edition of 20.

A Pair Of Earrings

BXC - Amelia

Soaring glam electronics and random kitchen blurt. Very very good. Indeed.

3" CDr released on DroneDisco in 2003.

Amelia

Burning Star Core - Physical Culture

Sweet little 3" CDr released on Chondritic Sound in 2005.

Physical Culture

va - New (Military) Music

This might be a companion to the compilation tape that I posted yesterday, but I'm not sure. Maybe yesterday's tape is a companion to this? The covers look very similar, the titles are similar, they came out on the same label (Opus Dei Society) at around the same time and features a few of the same artists. I'm afraid I don't have any information other than the tape itself, which is worth hearing. This compilation from 1985 features noises by Arvid Tuba, Mario Marzidovsek, Vidna Obmana, Clinique Lutetia, A Violated Body, Victor/im, Aversion Sonore, and Mente Oxidada.

va - New (Military) Music

BxC - Voice & Electronics Live 8/25/05

More recordings from Art Damage Lodge in Cincinnati.

CDr released on DroneDisco in 2006.

Voice & Electronics Live 8/25/05

va - New (Christian) Music

Compilation tape probably released in the mid-1980s on Opus Dei Society, with strange noises by Arvid Tuba, Vidna Obmana, Aversion Sonore, Het Hilaire Brisdak Ensemble, Une Le Wurg Production and Zweiter Korps.

va - New (Christian) Music

Burning Star Core - Live From New York 07-08

In lieu of a 2009 tour, here's Burning Star Core from 2007 and 2008 (and strangely enough it's live ... in New York).

Double C30 set released on DroneDisco in 2009.

Live From New York

Ashtray Navigations, Sandoz Lab Technicians, ROT, Toss - Untitled

Four-way split CD of top quality guitar noise and rock-adjacent drone from England, Belgium and New Zealand, released by Veglia in 2000. It's very good. You will like it.

Ashtray Navigations, Sandoz Lab Technicians, ROT, Toss - Untitled

Wasteland Jazz Unit - Complete Spring Tour 2009

Live documentation of the tour supporting Burning Star Core ... I don't think the BxC sets were ever released (unless you know different).

Triple tape set released on DroneDisco in 2009.

Complete Spring Tour 2009

C. Spencer Yeh + Wasteland Jazz Unit - Live At Art Damage Lodge

C. Spencer Yeh on bass and electronics with Jon Lorenz on sax duties and John Rich on clarinet. Make a free jazz noise here!

CDr released on Rub-Don't-Blot in 2009.

Live At Art Damage Lodge

Yeh / Lorenz / Jewell - Live At CAC 7.21.08

C. Spencer Yeh on violin, Jon Lorenz (of Wasteland Jazz Unit) on tenor sax and Ryan Jewell (of Psychedelic Horseshit) on percussion. Live recording from July the 21st, 2008 at the Center for Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Double C10 released on DroneDisco in 2008.

Live At CAC 7.21.08

C. Spencer Yeh - Helsinki FI / Berlin DE 09-10

"Sold as a 2xC34 release, the third cassette was included with all copies. Recorded live at Ptarmigan, Helsinki FI, Jan 9 2010 and White Rabbit-GDK, Berlin DE, Nov 6 2009. IMVIS (Infinite Modular Vocal Interaction System): Audio documentation from C. Spencer Yeh "Standard Definition" at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati OH, Oct. 2 2009 - Jan. 24 2010."

Triple tape set released on DroneDisco ‎in 2010.

Helsinki FI / Berlin DE 09-10

va - Vanité

Before there was Klanggalerie, there was Syntactic, an Austrian label that specialized in extremely limited (but generally high quality) 7" vinyl releases. Most are valuable collectors' items today, such as the records by Organum, CCCC, Main, Muslimgauze, Merzbow, and so on. This little record was produced in 1996 in that most inconvenient format, the compilation 7". That means very short songs by a lot of people, in this case shorter songs by more people than you might want on such a short little record: Thirdorgan, Sons of Silence, Fennesz, Christoph Kurzmann, Werner Mobius, Legion, Aube, King Lear's Convulsions (who?), Aube, The Haters, Scanner, and Makoto Takashima. Edition of just 100 copies. Pay a fortune to ruthless collector mercinaries, or just listen to it here.

va - Vanité

C. Spencer Yeh - Violin Voice Live, Norway Landmark Bergen Jan. 12th 2010

Another set of live improvisations ...

CDr released on DroneDisco in 2010.

Bergen

C. Spencer Yeh - Violin Voice Live, Norway Dokkhuset Trondheim Jan. 13th 2010

A set of live improvisations ...

CDr released on DroneDisco in 2010.

Trondheim

John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh - Live In Nottingham

Schimpfluch-noise recorded at Arts Org Gallery, Nottingham, England on May the 4th, 2007.

LP released on What The...? Records in 2007.

Live In Nottingham

John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh - Compound

Sublime 7" released on Von in 2009.

Compound

va - Breaking The Plastic Hymen, Vinyl Virgins & Lo-Fi Whores

Happy Friday! Here is an excellent collection of strange noise, low-fidelity songlike things and other beauties, released as two double-7" sets )and later as a box with all four 7"s in it) by Fisheye Records in 1997. I think it was supposed to be a compilation by people who hadn't yet had anything out on vinyl, but the concept may have been out of date by the time the records came out. Not that it matters. Music by The Shadow Ring, Wingtip Sloat, Rake, Hood, Prick Decay, Glands of External Secretion, Tea Culture, Noggin, The Negative Kite, Richard Youngs, Simon Wickham-Smith, and other names that I'm too tired to type right now. If any of the names I just listed caused a twinge of excitement in your brainstem, then you already know this was made for you. Enjoy your weekend.

va - Breaking The Plastic Hymen, Vinyl Virgins & Lo-Fi Whores

John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh - Tiny Red Tables / Big American Hole

It was only when preparing these Yeh posts that I realised that he had put some of his work up for streaming on UBU. So I'll leave the description to the man himself:

"Originally released on Helicopter as a 25+ minute long mono 7" single in an edition of 150. John Wiese and I were both a part of this "Free Noise UK" tour at the time which included a variety of "free jazz" and "noise" musicians. Both John and I had these matching handheld tape recorders, and so at any/all times, we'd collect various field recordings, soundchecks, vocal utterances, just total garbage, and every evening these pieces would find their way into the performances as source material. This 7" is a recording of Wiese playing back the accumulated recordings on the original handheld recorders. Titles were provided by saxophonist Evan Parker, one of the players in the "Free Noise UK" ensemble."

7" released on Helicopter in 2007.

Tiny Red Tables / Big American Hole

John Wiese & C. Spencer Yeh - The Void

Genius take on Destroy 2's gabbagrindnoise. You'll see what I mean.

Double C10 recorded live on Halloween night, 2007 in Lexington, KY at the Void skateshop and released on DroneDisco in 2009.

The Void

Controlled Bleeding & Uncommunity - Across the Stagnant Pond

This cassette features one half by Controlled Bleeding (remember to go pre-order their 10 CD boxset & book!) and one half by Uncommunity, whose main instigator Tim Gane would go on to play in bands you might have heard of called McCarthy and Stereolab. Released by Broken Flag in 1986.

Controlled Bleeding & Uncommunity - Across the Stagnant Pond

Pete Nolan / C. Spencer Yeh - Nolan / Yeh Duo

This time Yeh is joined by Pete Nolan (of the brilliant Magik Markers and a host of other delights). Three sides are literally homemade (hear those pots and pans rattle kids) whilst the final side is recorded live in Manhattan.

Double C30 set released on Yeh's DroneDisco in 2005.

Nolan / Yeh Duo

Controlled Bleeding & Dive - Night Shadows

A split CD featuring a roughly equal amount of music both Controlled Bleeding and Belgian artist Dive, former singer with Absolute Body Control and The Klinik whose cringingly terrible lyrics have always prevented me from fully embracing his machine noise. Here's a sample (not taken from this album):

I'm caught in the web of your lies
Strangled by the look of his eyes
The eyes of someone who cries
The eyes of someone who dies

Jesus fucking christ. Did an adult really write those words down, take time to sing them into a microphone with musical accompaniment, then reproduce the resulting song and several more like it on an album without feeling something like crippling shame? Which record label heard these lyrics and thought, "Yeah, that's pretty good. Let's invest our money into producing a thousand copies of this album. People will enjoy this." Someone must have bought that album, encouraging poor Dirk Ivens (Mister Dive) to drool out more lyrics of this quality on more albums full of similarly pitiable wank. Why did one of Dirk's friends not sit him down and try to convince him to maybe make instrumental music instead? Who would spend any amount of money on this pathetic first-draft-of-a-sad-diary-entry-from-elementary-school garbage?

Sadly, I did. I'm not proud to admit it, but it is true. But only because the great Controlled Bleeding took up half of this compact disc. It was released by the Portuguese label Fast Forward (who also put out a compilation CD that I like very much, and might post here someday) in 1996.

Controlled Bleeding & Dive - Night Shadows

Jessica Rylan / C. Spencer Yeh - Rylan / Yeh 2xC30

I really really love this. As stunning as you would expect from these two wonderful people!

Double tape set released on DroneDisco in 2006.

Rylan / Yeh 2xC30

Controlled Bleeding & Benjamin Lew - Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre #1

Another split LP with Controlled Bleeding (go pre-order their 10 CD BOXSET & BOOK right now!) on one side and Belgian (?) composer Benjamin Lew on the other. CB's half of the record was recorded in 1984 by Paul Lemos and Joe Papa (no Chris Moriarty on this one), Lew's half in 1988. The LP came out on Sub Rosa's short-lived Les Nouvelles Musiques de Chambre sub-label in 1988.

Controlled Bleeding & Benjamin Lew - Les Nouvelles Musiques De Chambre #1

Yeh Yellow Swans - Yeh Yellow Swans

Cosmic psychedelic noise drone.

3" CDr released on Collective Jyrk in 2005.

Yeh Yellow Swans

Controlled Bleeding & Maybe Mental - Halved

Controlled Bleeding is one of my favorite bands. I've loved them since I was young, and I love them still today, just as much as ever. Never beholden to any genre, they have recorded harsh noise (some of the best anyone's ever made and I'll send my husband to fight anyone who doesn't agree), somber chamber music, industrial disco, doom metal, free jazz, electronic dub, dark drone, ethereal ambience, progressive rock, and whatever else they feel like doing at any time. Main bleeder Paul Lemos' distinctive guitar tone is one of the only giveaways that any of these records are created by the same band. That's why I'm thrilled to learn about this upcoming 10 CD & BOOK SET on Artoffact Records! You read that correctly: 10 CDs and an LP-sized bound book. No, of course I am NOT going to share that, because you should support the band and label by BUYING it.

Because I'm so excited about this box set, I'm going to post a few albums that are definitely not reissued on this box or anywhere else, starting with a 1986 split LP on Arizona-based label Placebo, with Arizona's own Maybe Mental on the other side. Or perhaps it's Maybe Mental on the first side, Controlled Bleeding on the flip. Hard to say for sure. I suppose it doesn't matter, as long as you listen to it and then go support the band by buying their in-print music. Do it now!

Controlled Bleeding & Maybe Mental - Halved

Clams - Marino's Dream

C. Spencer Yeh, James Ferraro, Kathy O'Dell, Shane Mackenzie and Zac Davis. Burning Skater Bread anyone? Yeah, fair enough ...

CDr released on Maim & Disfigure in 2006.

Marino's Dream

Mental Prism - Farm Sessions Vol. 1

Kathy O'Dell and Shane Mackenzie with John Elliott and Mark McGuire. In a fairly real sense, Lambsbread meets Emeralds.

Initially self-released in an edition of 10 in 2007, this is the C30 reissued on Wagon in 2009.

Farm Sessions Vol. 1

Axolotl / C. Spencer Yeh / Lambsbread / The Skaters - Live At Spooky Action Palace

A self-explanatory collection of recordings.

CDr released on Maim & Disfigure (I think it's from 2006).

Live At Spooky Action Palace

Various - Delwar Showdown

As far as I am aware, there was only one other singular Yeh / Olson release and that was the "Live At Kathy's B-Day" single sided LP on Rococo Records.

The Kathy in question is Lambsbread's Kathy O'Dell. This is a recording made at her birthday shindig that includes the Yeh / Olson collaboration, Mark Morgan, Death Knell, Aaron Dilloway and a few tracks that basically feature everybody in the room.

CDr released on American Tapes in 2006.

It's AM465 btw ...

Delwar Showdown

Yeh & Olson - The Lower Ones

Warning! Genii at work!

CDr released on American Tapes in 2004.

It's AM353 btw ...

The Lower Ones

C. Spencer Yeh and Taiga Remains - C. Spencer Yeh And Taiga Remains

Alex and Mr Yeh? You already know this is going to be good ...

C20 released on Callow God in 2009.

C. Spencer Yeh And Taiga Remains

Taiga Remains - Vermillion Dusk

Suspended drones on this C16 released on Twonicorn in 2006.

Vermillion Dusk

Taiga Remains - Wax Canopy

Fundamentally, this was one of the final Taiga releases just as he was at the height of his powers. I guess it was just time to move on.

CD released on Digitalis Recordings in 2009.

Wax Canopy

Taiga Remains - Moon Colored Dogs

More of the same flavour on this 3" CDr released on Students Of Decay in 2005.

Moon Colored Dogs

Taiga Remains - Crushed Radiant Deities

The two central tracks were originally on the previous post but, apart from the gorgeous title, you also get an additional 30 minutes of sublime droning noise.

CD released on his own Students Of Decay in 2007.

Crushed Radiant Deities

Taiga Remains - Paper Lanterns

Two tracks of soaring drone noise and droning noise courtesy of Alex Cobb.

3" CDr released on Students Of Decay in 2006.

Paper Lanterns

Taiga Remains / Impregnable - Downfall

Another tape set packaged separately but released together. Alex Cobb and Jeff Witscher with individual drones before collaborating on the second tape.

Double C20 released on Callow God in 2008.

Downfall

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