Bleak Bliss: April 2020

-Δt - Opera Death

The second and final album by Minus Delta T was a triple LP set released in 1987. What does it mean? Something, probably!

-Δt - Opera Death

To say that the band -Δt (pronounced and sometimes written as Minus Delta T) was strange is a supreme understatement. Tangentially associated with German electronic post-punk bands like Der Plan & Liaisons Dangereuses, Minus Delta T's output had more in common with theatrical performance art than synth-pop or even music. In their brief lifespan, they produced two albums, neither of which I could explain to you if I tried. Their debut came out in 1984 as an LP & 7" single, both remastered and reissued on CD in this 2011 edition. There seems to be a concept at work here, but hell if I know what it is. Good luck.

-Δt - Das Bangkok Projekt

Ferran Fages, Ruth Barberán, Alfredo Costa Monteiro - Atolón

Same trio that recorded Istmo return with a confusingly-titled album. By 2004, the group has given themselves the band name Atolón, but on this album they use their given names and title the album Atolón. I've no idea. Released as a CD on a pretty solid Italian label called Rossbin that put out lots of interesting stuff (by people like Taku Sugimoto, Utah Kawasaki, the Bohman Brothers, Andrea Neumann, Tu m', Joke Lanz) in the years when it existed.

Ferran Fages, Ruth Barberán, Alfredo Costa Monteiro - Atolón

Various - The Accelerating World

Well, I'm assuming that it will at some point ... but in the meantime here's some fun for all the family. Crawl Unit, Spastic Colon, Richard Ramirez, Speculum Fight, Bastard Noise, Blowhole and more ...

CD released on Pinch A Loaf Productions in 1996.

The Accelerating World

Ferran Fages, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Ruth Barberán - Istmo

Minimal electro-clatter by a Spanish/Portuguese trio featuring trumpet player Ruth Barberan (who plays in a sort of Mazen Kerbaj/Axel Doerner style), Alfredo Costa Montiero (who holds the rare distinction of being the only person to put out a solo accordion record on No Fun Productions) and multi-instrumentalist Ferran Fages on "acoustic turntables". Curious, eh? Recorded in 2003, released as a CD by Creative Sources in 2005.

Ferran Fages, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Ruth Barberán - Istmo

Various - 電子雑音-4 Compiletion CD (ElektNoiz #4)

"It seems this CD was at first given free with the Elekt Noiz magazine, then later sold separately by MSBR."

It's a staggering list of people and their work.

All Hail Koji Tano! As Always!

Lê Quan Ninh, ‎Serge Pey, Michel Doneda, Daunik Lazro - Les Diseurs De Musique

Saxophone and percussion quartet from France, recorded in 1997 and released as a CD in 1998 by Vand'Oeuvre, a label affiliated with the Festival Musique Action.

Lê Quan Ninh, ‎Serge Pey, Michel Doneda, Daunik Lazro - Les Diseurs De Musique

Lê Quan Ninh, Laurent Sassi, Michel Doneda, Marc Pichelin - Montagne Noire

A weird merging of "free improv" and "field recordings" here, Lê Quan Ninh and frequent collaborator Michel Doneda perform outdoors while Laurent Sassi and Marc Pichelin (of quintetAvant) document the acoustics of the landscape around them. Released in 1999 by Ouïe-Dire Production, packaged in a thick envelope with full-color postcards showing the terrain being explored.

Lê Quan Ninh, Laurent Sassi, Michel Doneda, Marc Pichelin - Montagne Noire

Hair Stylistics - With Tree

It's not called Joshua. There is nothing to be afraid of.

A message from above received in 2017.

with tree or without tree ... yeah, i went there. i've been indoors for way too long

Lê Quan Ninh - Le Ventre Négatif

This CD is the second of Ninh's rare solo percussion albums, and it's absolutely great. He plays "surrounded bass drum", which means he's bouncing and scraping objects on the surface of a bass drum turned on its side. Fans of Z'ev, take note of this clatter! Released as a CD by Meniscus in 2003.

Lê Quan Ninh - Le Ventre Négatif

Lê Quan Ninh - Ustensiles

Solo album recorded in 1995 by master percussionist Lê Quan Ninh, released on CD in 1997 by For 4 Ears.

Lê Quan Ninh - Ustensiles

Various - Found Secret

This is one of those collections that you could listen to forever and still hear different things ... apart from the Toshiji Mikawa track who just incapacitates you and yours.

CD released on 777 Was 666 in 2015.

Found Secret

Hair Stylistics - No Emotional Violence Of Tomorrow

Making what the fuck eminently dance-able as only he can.

Another self-released CDr from 2017.

No Emotional Violence

va - Pathological Compilation

Absolute classic compilation from 1989, compiled by Kevin Martin (of GOD, Techno-Animal, The Bug) and featuring exclusive tracks by Carcass, Coil, Godflesh, Stretchheads, Terminal Cheesecake, Silverfish, GOD and Napalm Death. All killer, no filler.

va - Pathological Compilation

Sensorband - Area / Puls

You met Sensorband yesterday on the Coalescence post. They were a short-lived collective consisting of Atau Tanaka, Edwin van der Heide and Zbigniew Karkowski. They toured for a short while (different continent to me ... thanks for asking) and only made one release. The name comes from them using sensors on their hands to manipulate electronics ... the music created is astonishing so I thought that I'd take a slight detour to post this. It's been a while since we've posted anything in the same street as the Meme label so don't be alarmed kids, switch off and tune out.

CD released on Sonoris in 1999.

Area / Puls

Various - Coalescence

A very good international compilation featuring the likes of Dachise (Paul Daniel Knowles), Column, Artificial Memory Trace, Crawl Unit, Knurl and PBK cuddling up next to Aube, Masonna, Kazumoto Endo and someone called Merzbow.

CD released on Alien8 Recordings in 2001.

Coalescence

Hair Stylistics - Political Songs

Masaya Nakahara is a stone-cold genius. Impossibly prolific and creative, he can switch styles at the drop of your proverbial headgear and continue to blow minds. I just wish I could hear all of it by some point but I know it will never happen. Good reason to get out of bed though ... just in case I can find a new one. Here he delivers some dark ultra-left field dubbed up techno that is quite simply great!

Self-released CDr from 2017.

Political Songs

Borbetomagus - Seven Reasons For Tears

A recording from 1987, released on LP in 1989 and then on CD in 1993. This is the Borbeto quartet with Adam Nodelman on bass. After Tears, the line-up would revert to the classic Sauter/Dietrich/Miller trio that continues today.

Borbetomagus - Seven Reasons For Tears

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Asbestos Shake

Head's up, Knut's back. A six-headed beast beyond the imagination of mere mortals.

CD jointly released on Agaric Records, Uhlang Produktion and V-Records in 1991.

"Recorded live at The Stutz, Zürich on December 12, 1990."

Asbestos Shake

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Fish That Sparkling Bubble

1988 LP by the combined Borbeto/Voice Crack machine. On this outing, Knut Remond is gone from Voice Crack, but bassist Adam Nodelman (Missing Foundation, Sunburned Hand of the Man) is added to Borbetomagus.

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Fish That Sparkling Bubble

Various - Adventures In Modern Electronics

This is completely magnificent.

Crack on then!

CD released on Pinch A Loaf Productions in 1997.

Adventures In Modern Electronics

Borbetomagus - Industrial Strength

This 1983 LP is by the same Borbeto Big Band that recorded Borbeto Jam, and was released on another free improv/jazz label, Leo Records.

Borbetomagus - Industrial Strength

Emil Beaulieau - Kill The All-Noise Japanese Artists

The omniscient Time Lord that is Emil Beaulieau is having none of this murder malarkey and decides to travel back in time by a year in order to vanquish the upstarts. Everybody gets it: Merz Bow-Wow-Wow; Hi-Fi K. Dan, Incapacitated, Violins O.G. and the rest. That'll teach them to mess with LLLord RRRon Of LLLowell!

CD released on Pure in 1995.

[Don't worry kids, no noise artists were harmed (much) in the making of this recording. As da yoot say it's "Top Bants!".]

kill them all, kill them all, the long and the short and the tall

Merzbow - Merzbow Loves Emil Beaulieau

You might recognise the track titles as Emil's contribution to the five LP "5th Anniversary Boxset Thing" from 1989. That's where the similarities end. This is what happens when Masami Akita grabs those tracks and does his thang!

CD released on Pure in 1996 ... it was volume one in the Merzbow Kill Emil Beaulieau series. You can only kill somebody once (unfortunately in some cases) so there wasn't a subsequent volume.

... it's a second hand emotion

Borbetomagus - Sauter, Dietrich, Miller

Another early one, this 1982 LP was reissued on CD in 1990. Recordings from 1979 and 1981.

Borbetomagus - Sauter, Dietrich, Miller

Emil Beaulieau / Richard Ramirez - Stormy Weather / Poisoned Moment

Two legends doing what they do best ... but even so, this is on a pretty epic scale.

CDr released on RRRecords in 2002.

Stormy Moment

Borbetomagus - New York Performances

1986 LP recorded live at ABC No Rio in New York.

Borbetomagus - New York Performances

Emil Beaulieau - Dedicated To Masami Akita

LLLord RRRon of LLLowell was one of very earliest Occidentals to realise the importance of the Japanese noise scene. I think that he was also the first person outside of Japan to release the works of Merzbow ... 抜刀隊 With Memorial Gadgets as a double LP in 1986 ... these people go back a long long way.

CDr released on RRR offshoot Pure in 1997.

Dedicated To Masami Akita

Emil Beaulieau & Merzbow - Live In Chicago

A self-explanatory release ... however, there was a very limited boxed edition that also included a tape. We have never seen it. Sad Face.

Single-sided LP released on RRRecords in 1991.

Live In Chicago

Emil Beaulieau - Memories

A hugely entertaining deconstruction / demolition of works by such disparate people as Psychic TV, Humble Pie, The Haters, Led Zeppelin and Asmus Tietchens. Special prize goes to the bright spark who can tell me the track dissolved into Frankenstock ... I know it but can't put my eardrum on it, I keep thinking it's from 200 Motels but I'm not convinced.

CD released on PPPure in 1994.

memories, der der der der der der erm

Borbetomagus - Work On What Has Been Spoiled

Another very early LP from Borbetomagus, before they became the earth-rending beast a few years later. Still, this is nothing to scoff at. Released in 1981, this version of the band is a quartet with Hugh Davies on live electronics. Never reissued, though I hope that this early stuff gets cleaned up, dusted off and made officially available again someday.

Borbetomagus - Work On What Has Been Spoiled

Emil Beaulieau - Anti-Performance

How to portray an anti-aesthetic whilst articulating original ideas.

A request came in for this last night. Good choice.

C44 released on RRRecords in 1991.

Anti-Performance

Borbetomagus - Zurich

Recorded in 1984, released as a double LP in 1985 and then on CD in 2013.

Borbetomagus - Zurich

Emil Beaulieau & Pain Jerk - Decollaboration

LLLord RRRon with Kohei Gomi recorded nearly 25 years ago. That idea in itself cheers me up but not as much as the content.

C32 released on the latter's AMP label in an edition of 80.

you burn in your houses ... with anxiety

Emil Beaulieau & Wolf Eyes - Split

So what is the point of getting a bit of vinyl and then wrecking it and painting it? Answers on a postcard. I've always regarded this "anti-record" as part appreciative nod to a GX artifact and part humorous middle finger to blockader pomposity. Ripped by destroying somebody's equipment so you don't have to ... even though nobody in their right mind would bother.

7" released on RRRecords in 2003.

even anti-art is art and blah blah blah

Emil Beaulieau - Plan A: Destruction Of Output

EEEmil using four fairly contemporaneous vinyl releases on the still great Tochnit Aleph as source material for this missive.

7" released on Tochnit Aleph in 1998.

Destruction Of Output

Borbetomagus - Borbeto Jam

This is an early LP by Borbeto and might surprise those looking for the visceral ultra-high-volume thrills of the later albums. Released by improv jazz label Cadence in 1985, it includes the core trio with some heavy hitters from the improv world joining in: Peter Kowald on bass, Milo Fine on piano, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet and Tristan Honsinger on cello.

Borbetomagus - Borbeto Jam

Borbetomagus - Snuff Jazz

Generally regarded to be Borbeto's greatest album, this CD (an expanded reissue of an LP from 1990) contains recordings of 1988 and 1989 concerts at ABC No Rio in New York and DC Space in Washington DC.

Borbetomagus - Snuff Jazz

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Concerto For Cracked Everyday-Electronics and Chamber Orchestra

The Knitting Factory was a venue in New York City that had a policy where bands were not allowed to record their own sets. They could only pay the venue to record for them. The rumor is that this album by the double-trio of Borbetomagus (truly one of the top three two-saxophones-and-guitar bands in all of New York) and Voice Crack (Swiss electronics duo + Knut Remond of 16-17 and UnknownmiX) refused to play along with that bullshit, so they discreetly recorded their own set and put it out with this puffery: "Recorded live at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York on May 26, 1994", hence the bloated faux-classical title. Which is very funny. The music is blistering as you might expect.

Borbetomagus & Voice Crack - Concerto For Cracked Everyday-Electronics and Chamber Orchestra

Borbetomagus - Buncha Hair That Long

1992 CD by the greatest power trio since Rush. Tracks recorded live in Tennessee, Ohio and a final hometown scorcher live at CBGB's, supposedly a cover of "Blue Jay Way". Very funny, you guys.

Borbetomagus - Buncha Hair That Long

Hair Stylistics - The Inner Toilet

Welcome to my world, won't you come on in? No. It's a lock-down. What the fuck we're you even thinking? Man, I really need a lie-down.

A below most people's radar self-released / Boid CDr from 2017.

now wash your hands ... and don't be a fucking racist

Crank Sturgeon - Crank Sturgeon Has Meat Jacket

As a vegetarian, I prefer plant-based outer garments. Inside my head, this is what the Rt Honorable Sturgeon of Crank hears when he watches The Walking Dead.

The lock-down you say? Yeah, everything is fine. I haven't really erm ...

C30 released on Readymades Tapes in 2015.

Full Meat Jacket

Pop Culture Rape Victim - A Means To A Beginning

A reasonably early Matt Taggart pummeling that society is now ready to accept with a version of abandon.

A self-released CDr from 2003.

welcome to the pop song of the future because there is nothing left ... is anybody receiving me

Emil Beaulieau - A Punch In The Face

It's only a matter of time ... practice your technique!

CDr from 1993 courtesy of somebody's RRRecord label.

Let's go out and see what we see ... it's nearly enough, enough for me

Hair Stylistics - Red Hair From Hell

We've all met them.

Another self-released CDr from 2018.

Red Hair From Hell

Crank Sturgeon - Gonna Have A Whole Hand In The Platter

Welcome to the always deliriously inventive world of the Crank Sturgeon!

C22 released on Anti-Everything in 2008.

he's got the whole world in his platter

Emil Beaulieau - That Velvet Touch

Ruined loops and pitched penetration on this 7" from RRRecords in 1986.

That Velvet Touch

Hair Stylistics - Babylon Zimbabwe

Another magical missive from Masaya that is not on Bandcamp and isn't listed on Discogs.

A self-released / Boid CDr from 2018.

Babylon Zimbabwe

The Rita / PCRV - They Can Breathe In The Murky Fresh Water

Two people who you should all be familiar with already doing what you should already know they do brilliantly.

C60 released on Dada Drumming in 2005.

feeding time

Emil Beaulieau - Abusing The Little Ones

This is Lord Lessard Of Lowell using some of the legendary Murder Series themed 7"s that were released on Self Abuse Records in 1997. Unsurprisingly, it's very good.

Originally an LP released on Self Abuse Records in 2003, this is the CDr reissue courtesy of Nefarious Activities a decade later.

Just face the truth or fund the farse ...

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