Japanese psychedelic rock band fronted by Asahito Nanjo the genius behind such other genre-warping groups as Musica Transonic, Mainliner and Toho Sara. It's only 25 minutes long. File under "short and sweet".
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Ash Ra Tempel are one of the greatest but (perhaps) lesser known of the wave of kosmiche music groups (generically branded as krautrock by the UK press at the time) that rose to prominance during the late sixties/early seventies. They originally formed after purchasing Pink Floyd's sound equipment in London and consisted of Manuel Göttsching (guitar), Harmut Enke (bass) and Klaus Schulze (drums). The idea was to combine blues influenced improvisations and new sounds available with the electronics and synthesizers newly available at the time with the traditional rock instruments of guitar, bass and drums. The debut self-titled album was released in 1971, engineered by Conny Plank. Konrad Plank himself was integral to the entire kosmiche scene. It was his inspirational manipulation of the new technology and his ability to effectively use the studio as an instrument, in it's own right, that opened up an entire new world (or universe) of possibilities. Conny also worked with the likes of Neu!, Cluster, Holger Czukay, Guru Guru, and Dieter Moebius and could almost be considered as part of the bands that he worked with, such was his influence. Klaus Schulze soon went his own way to pursue other ideas.
The following year, Manuel and Hartmut joined forces with guest musicians (forming more of a collective rather simply employed session musicians) for the second album Schwingungen. In the summer of the same year the rolling cast list teamed up with with Timothy Leary (yep, "turn on, tune in, drop out") to record Seven Up. In 1973, Klaus Schulze rejoined and, with the first appearance of Manuel's girlfriend Rosi, recorded the spontaneous and totally unrehearsed "Join Inn". Quite literally turn on the tape and play! This astonishingly creative period possibly represents the highwater mark for Ash Ra Tempel and all four feature in the top 10 of Julian Cope's deleriously idiosyncratic review of the period "Krautrocksampler". All four albums are essential!
The "Private Tapes" series of 6 cds contain a wealth of unreleased recording. Released in 1996, they have been sold out for years and (as far as I am aware) have never been reissued.
In preparing this post, I found that the early releases have just been rereleased (again!) or are about to be rereleased ... details of which can be found here. If you like what you hear, I strongly recommend that you buy them! They will sound far superior to these rips!
1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel [ohr]
1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live in Berlin, 1971.05.19 (bootleg)
1971 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live in Bern 1971.10.09 (bootleg)
1972 - Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen
1973 - Timothy Leary & Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up
1973 - Ash Ra Tempel - Join Inn
1973 - Ash Ra Tempel - Starring Rosi
1974 - Ash Ra Tempel - Live @ Salle Wagrem, Paris, 06.12.74 (2cd bootleg aka "Paris Downers")
1975 - Ash Ra Tempel / Manuel Göttsching - Inventions For Electric Guitar
1976 - Ash Ra Tempel & Manuel Göttsching - New Age of Earth
1994 - Ash Ra Tempel - Le Berceau De Cristal
1997 - Ashra - Live in Nijmegen, 11.10.97 (bootleg)
2000 - Ash Ra Tempel - Friendship
2000 - Ash Ra Tempel - Gin Rosé At The Royal Festival Hall
Ash Ra Tempel / Ashra / Manuel Göttsching - The Private Tapes
The Private Tapes Vol. 1
The Private Tapes Vol. 2
The Private Tapes Vol. 3
The Private Tapes Vol. 4
The Private Tapes Vol. 5
The Private Tapes Vol. 6
This was the first release (in 2005) on the brilliant but criminally shortlived Militant Walls which was run by Sam McKinlay (The Rita, Ba. Ku., BT.HN, Vice Wears Black Hose, etc). It was originally intended as a pair of C60 tapes but ended up as pair of cdrs instead. Incapacitants should need no introduction. In case you've been living in a cave...the legendary OVMN (or Optimum Volume Maximum Noise if you prefer) is the solo harsh noise solo project of Joseph Roemer - the head honcho of Macronympha. The importance of these two units is evident by the castlist assembled to rework and pay homage to the original material.
Everything you would want to read about this has already been done here.
Clear Tape
White Tape
The Thing are the trio of Mats Gustafsson on saxophones and electronics, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten on double bass, and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums and were established in February 2000 during a series of concerts and a recording in Stockholm. Their music represents a uniquely Scandanavian take on "free jazz" - a synthesis of the German, British and American traditions of free music whereby this Swedish-Norwegian trio maintain the energy of their compositions at its peak throughout.
As far as I am aware, all of these are out of print but you should check out Smalltown Superjazzz and it's equally excellent parent label Smalltown Supersound for other inspirational goodies.
The Thing - Now And Forever [smalltown superjazzz]
This four disc boxset was released in 2008 combining old and new material. Discs 1 and 2 contain the first two out of print releases "The Thing" and "She Knows" which sees The Thing collaborate with the legendary Joe McPhee. Disc 3 is The Thing with Thurston Moore recorded live at the Oya Festival in 2007 (this is only the dvda...if anyone has ripped the dvd...etc). Disc 4 is unique to this release and features recordings from 2005.
1 - The Thing - The Thing
2 - The Thing with Joe McPhee - She Knows
3 - The Thing with Thurston Moore - Live at Oya
4 - The Thing - Gluttony
The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide - Shinjuku Crawl [smalltown superjazzz]
Released in 2009 and recorded live at Pit Inn, Tokyo, on the 2nd of October 2007.
The Thing with Otomo Yoshihide - Shinjuku Crawl [smalltown superjazzz]
The Thing with Jim O'Rourke - Shinjuku Growl [smalltown superjazzz]
Released last year and recorded live at Pit Inn, Tokyo, on the 4th of February 2008.
The Thing with Jim O'Rourke - Shinjuku Growl [smalltown superjazzz]
Vajra is the power-improv trio of Mikami Kan (vocals, guitar), Keiji Haino (vocals, guitar) & Toshi Ishizuka (percussion; of Zuno Keisatsu and Cinorama fame). You could fill a library describing the impact of these three legendary figures of the Japanese avant garde underground. Vajra represents only one tiny aspect of their careers. Ishitsuka's martial power drumming provides the perfect foundation for Haino's soaring, roaring flights into the infinite abyss, which in turn combine in rare grace and (sub) conscious empathy with Mikami's improvised vocals. Mikami sings entirely in his native Tsugaru dialect which is totally incomprehensible to speakers of regular Japanese.Vajra represent an improvised output of unprecedented force and musical empathy. The raw invention and communication here is quite simply on a par with anything you care to think of. There's something very very special about this group - three masters at the peak of their powers, playing with total commitment, total sensitivity, total passion. Ferocious, bleak, beautiful and inspiring.
All of these were released on the wonderful P.S.F. Records who continue to drop some of the best music you will ever hear.
1995 - Mikami Kan / Vajra - Chiru Ha & Ozakijinjya [p.s.f. records]
1995 - Vajra - 東日流 [Tsugaru] [p.s.f. records]
1996 - Vajra - 金環食 [Ring] [p.s.f. records]
1997 - Vajra - 七識 [Sichisiki] [p.s.f. records]
1998 - Vajra - 声聞 [Śrāvaka] [p.s.f. records]
2002 - Vajra - Mandala (Cat Last) [p.s.f. records]
2008 - Vajra - Live [p.s.f. records]
Inspector Spoon was the most beautiful and intelligent cat I've ever had the honour of meeting! Over the past few months, he was fighting cancer. He left us last night.
Just in case you were wondering where I've been.
I'm not a fan of January and I'm thinking 2011 is pretty shite.
Back in February.
Gnod are "an ever evolving creature that sheds its skin and grows anew, it’s hard to pin down precisely who, or what, Gnod are. This bleeds into their music as well; steeped firmly in psychedelia but drawing from influences as disparate as Afro-beat, krautrock, drone, jazz and dance music, their recent release with White Hills, Drop Out, is a deeply immersive illusion of repetition whereby its motorik rhythms underpin a myriad of hypnotic textures. As a band they’re always creating, hours and hours of jams of which they occasionally see fit to release to the wider world. I say occasionally; since their formation in 2007 they’ve had at least twelve full-length releases and claim to have had many more. These appear out of nowhere though, with no fanfare or attention; Gnod aren’t wilfully elusive, but there is a mysticism that surrounds them nonetheless, an ever changing cast and a lack of information about them ... they keep themselves to themselves mainly, in a collective residency at Salford’s Islington Mill – a creative arts space where they live and rehearse." Quietus
Quite concise really. Gnod often get tarnished with the label of space rock and get compared to Hawkwind. I really don't get that at all. This is Kosmiche inspired psychedelia all the way down! The freak 'n' roll of Ash Ra Tempel, the motorik beat of Neu! and the groove of early Can. Add the punk-funk of, say, the MC5, the repetition of Suicide or Spacemen 3 and garnish with the psychotic theatre of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and you're closer to the truth. However, this isn't meant to date them or bind them in cultural reference points...Gnod are quintessentially Gnod!
I've listened to Gnod for ages and love them. However, I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't seen them live. That is until this year's Supersonic Festival. That's when it all fell into place for me! They were a quite literal revelation. That's when the collective spirit and joy really shone through. Completely inspirational. Gnod seem to be constantly touring the UK and have started to branch out into mainland Europe. Whenever you get the chance, go and see Gnod live! Which brings me to Islington Mill, the spiritual home of Gnod and a shining beacon in the mainstream sludge of Manchester. If you are anywhere nearby...keep an eye on this place! Gnod play here all the time but you will get to see everyone from Melt Banana to Sun Araw, Dieter Moebius to Acid Mothers Temple, Sunn O))) to Chris Corsano.
Gnod have just released a split lp (with A Middle Sex) on Blackest Rainbow. There are only 400 of these so I'd grab it now if I were you.
Thanks go to Gnod for being very supportive of this post going ahead!!!
Goodbye 2010. Hello 2011.
2011 belongs to Gnod!
2007 - Gnod - Abstehen Der Ohren & Live Birth [self-released]
2007 - Gnod - Lord Fear's Dream, Bulletproof Awareness & Pixiedust
2007 - Gnod - Never Nothing Ever (Volume III) [self-released]
2008 - Gnod - The Somnambulist’s Tale (s-sided C100) [sloow tapes]
2008 - White Hills & Gnod - Aquarian Downer (tour cdr) [white hills music]
2009 - Bong & Gnod - Split (cdr) [box records]
2009 - Gnod - Gnod (lp) [pariah child]
2009 - Gnod - Sex, Drones & Broken Bones (or secret pathways to hidden lands)
2009 - Gnod - The Crystal Pagoda (C40) [sonic meditations]
2009 - Gnod - Wuste Zeremonie (cdr) [reverb worship]
2009 - Gnod White Hills - Drop Out (tour cdr) [drug space records]
2010 - Gnod - Full Moon Ritual (C45) [cabin floor esoterica]
2010 - Gnod - Science & Industry (C60) [not not fun records]
2010 - Gnod & Robedoor - Bored Fortress (7'') [not not fun records]
2010 - Gnod Drop Out With White Hills II (2xlp) [rocket recordings]
Gnod plus Fonik - Supercluster (net release) [electronic musik]
Gnod vs Noise Research - Galaxy Being (net release) [electronic musik]
Captain Beefheart - Under Review
Apparently, because this dvd is bigger than a gigabyte you need to have an account with MU. To quote Flava Flav..."fuck that shit"...
Under Review.part1
Under Review.part2
Under Review.part3
The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart
BBC documentary first broadcast in 1997, narrated by the late, great John Peel.
The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart
Anton Corbijn / Don Van Vliet - Some Yoyo Stuff - An Observation Of The Observations Of Don Van Vliet
Anton Corbijn / Don Van Vliet - Some Yoyo Stuff
The Greatest Album Ever Made!
Trout Mask Replica
You already know who they are...
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Part 2
Part 3
Obviously (the) Boredoms are one of the finest finest fine things. Ever wanted to buy this one?
SUPER SEEEEEE!!!!!!
Between 1983 and 1989 the Butthole Surfers were the finest band in the world (apart from the times when I thought somebody else was). I want Human Cannonball played at my funeral. I think they disappeared up their wormhole after Hairway To Steven...
it's a VHS rip
Blind Eye Sees All
I have very little time for black metal...I find it rather lame, theatrical and self-absorbed. However, this doc is pretty good. Tools dressing their ultra-far right racist xenophobic shite as a war against the establishment. An education is a good idea...
Satan Rides The Media [Satan Rir Media]
American "punk" had a rather tortured history...blemished in a rather major and unforgivable way by the Orange County knuckle heads and the sub-metal meatheads who jumped on their local bandwagon and then showed their true colours by the second album...show me an American punk band post 86...go on I dare you!
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Amps For Christ is largely the project of Man Is The Bastard and Bastard Noise veteran and metal/noise pioneer Henry Barnes. Beginning in 1996, when Henry met the like-minded Enid Snarb the project (which has also included Joel Connell and Tara Tavi) has largely operated out of Claremont, California ever since. Barnes decided that he wanted to combine his experience with experimental noise and extreme metal with his love for traditional folk music, classical composition, and jazz. Henry has been building odd stringed instruments, pre-amps and amplifiers for years and used them occasionally in his previous outfits. With Amps For Christ he really began to focus on chasing down these new sounds. The warp in the harmonic scale, experimentation with waveforms and beat-tones are matters of great intrigue in this project. Amps For Christ is about combinations of many styles of music, emphasising the multi-cultured, multi-layered, and multi-genre composition as well as broadly ranged themes. Many tracks deal with love, peace, warmongers, rampant corporate capitalism, and Barnes' relationship with God all with a similar mystical honesty. Even if I suspect there may be a tongue implanted in a cheek somewhere down the line...
There hasn't been any new AFC releases for years although I think that there have been some recent tours...so hopefully there will be some new releases soon!
1997 - Amps For Christ - Thorny Path [vermiform]
1997 - Amps For Christ & Two Ambiguous Figures - The Beggars Garden [shrimper]
1998 - Amps For Christ - Songs From Mt. Ion [total annihilation]
1999 - Amps For Christ - Circuits [vermiform
1999 - Amps For Christ - Electrosphere [shrimper]
2001 - Amps For Christ - The Oak In The Ashes [shrimper]
2003 - Amps For Christ & Bastard Noise - Split [helicopter, kill frank lentini]
2004 - Amps For Christ - The People At Large [5 rue christine]
2006 - Amps For Christ - Every Eleven Seconds [5 rue christine]
From the IMDb website: 'People Who Do Noise' is a film about the experimental music of Portland, Oregon. Extensive interviews and intimate performance footage provide an intense portrait of the motivations, emotions, and methods that go into this uncompromising, sometimes brutal musical form. Unwavering in its focus, the film brings to light an art form unfathomable to many, with only the words of the musicians themselves providing any explanation for the pulsating sonic chaos they create. The unflinching cinematic style defies any trend-setting or commercial representation, opting instead for a stark portrayal of a musical underground at its most genuine and vital.
There's a couple of other reviews here and here and you can buy it here and check the makers here.
Request from the shoutbox. This was posted on Terror Noise Audio a while back but the links are dead...no evidence that the post was pulled...so here it is again.
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Kousokuya are a Tokyo-based underground dark psychedelic rock group. They were formed in 1978 by guitarist Jutok Kaneko out of the ashes of an older group called Kokugaiso. The classic trio line-up that recorded the first album, and reformed in recent years was: Jutok Kaneko (guitar, vocals) Ikuro Takahashi (ex-High Rise, Fushitsusha) (drums) Mick (bass, vocals). Other members have included Hiroshi Yokoyama (synth, 1978-1979), Toshiko Watanabe (drums, 1979), Asahito Nanjo (bass, 1982-1983), Munehiro Narita (drums, 1982-1983), Atsushi Ishiguro (drums, 1983-84), Hibari Nagao (drums, 1994-1997), Emily (bass), Sachiko (vocals, synth, bass, 1995-2003) and Michinobu Matsubashi (drums, 2000-).
The group were heavily associated with the Minor scene in the late 70s and early 80s but released only a handful of recordings internationally, and scant more in their local Tokyo underground scene. As far as I am aware, Kousokuya only released one studio album in their 28 years as a trio with the rest of their output being live recordings. Even these were largely unavaiable outside of Japan until recently. This goes a long way to explaining why bands like High Rise, Mainliner, Fushitsusha et al are legendary and rightly lauded whilst Kousokuya slipped under the radar...
Kaneko passed away on January 24th 2007, but the group has since continued as a duo.
1990 - Kousokuya - 1st (2003 reissue) [p.s.f. records]
1995 - Kousokuya - Ray Night 1991-1992 Live [forced exposure]
1997 - Kousokuya & Masayoshi Urabe - The Dark Spot [p.s.f. records]
2001 - Kousokuya - Live Osaka 09.21.01 [bootleg]
光束夜 - Live 逆流虚空 (Live Gyakuryu Kokou) [p.s.f. records]
2006 - 光束夜 - First Live 1979 (Kichijoji Minor) [p.s.f. records]
2007 - 光束夜 - Echoes From Deep Underground [archive]
Echoes From Deep Underground cd
Echoes From Deep Underground dvd
2007 - Kousokuya - Ray Night [ray night music]
Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje is a Norwegian avant-garde composer and performer. She, of course, releases a wide variety of music but also performs music for films, installations, theatre, dance and performance art. Maja is a member of the Norwegian free improv group Spunk with Lene Grenager, Kristin Andersen and Hild Sofie Tafjord. She performs and records with Hild Sofie Tafjord as the brilliant electronics/noise duo Fe-Mail, and performs as Agrare, with Hild Sofie Tafjord and the Swedish dancer Lotta Melin. She has also played with the Oslo Industrial Ensemble, No Spaghetti Edition with Evan Parker and Rhodrie Davies, Paal Nilssen-Love, Masami Akita (Merzbow), Zbigniew Karkowski, Gino Robair, Jaap Blonk, Oslo Sinfonietta and Lasse Marhaug. She has performed a chamber opera by Dagfinn Rosnes, especially written for her voice, among many other things such as Icelandic film music by Hjalmar Ragnarsson and performing her own music for Ibsen's play "Ghosts" at the Northlands festival in 1999. Maja briefly describes her music and motivations here:
Most of Maja's work is (surprisingly) still available if you look hard enough. I've not included some of the most recent releases. Hopefully, you will find this music as enthralling as I do and start to search it out for yourself!
Maja S. K. Ratkje
2002 - Maja Ratkje - Voice [rune grammofon]
2002 - Maja S. K. Ratkje & Jaap Blonk - Improvisors [kontrans]
2004 - Maja S. K. Ratkje & Lasse Marhaug - Music For Loving [bottrop-boy]
2005 - Maja S. K. Ratkje & Jaap Blonk - Post-Human Identities [kontrans]
2005 - Maja S. K. Ratkje & Lasse Marhaug - Music For Faking [clu clux clam]
2006 - John Hegre & Maja S. K. Ratkje - Ballads [dekorder]
2006 - Maja Ratkje - Adventura Anatomica [semishigure]
2006 - Maja S. K. Ratkje - Stalker (lp) [important records]
2008 - Maja S. K. Ratkje - River Mouth Echoes [tzadik]
Maja S. K. Ratkje - Fra Websiden
Fe-Mail
2004 - Fe-Mail Featuring Lasse Marhaug - All Men Are Pigs
2004 - Fe-mail - Syklubb Fra Hælvete [important records]
2005 - Fe-Mail - live @ wooden octopus skull festival 2005.09.10 flac
2005 - Fe-mail - Voluptuous Vultures [psychform records]
2006 - Fe-mail - Blixter Toad [asphodel]
2006 - Fe-Mail & Carlos Giffoni - Northern Stains [important records]
Spunk
1999 - Spunk - Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger
2001 - Spunk - Filtered Through Friends [rune grammofon]
2002 - Spunk - Den Øverste Toppen På En Blåmalt Flaggstang
2005 - Spunk - En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom [rune grammofon]
Finland's Doktor Kettu is Petri Hagner, Jussi Lehtisalo, Tuomas Niskanen, Alpo Nummelin and Jouko Salenius. Jussi Lehtisalo is probably best known for being part of the tightly structured krautrock of Circle and the stoner doom of Pharoah Overlord. With his side-project, Doktor Kettu, we're given formless and improvised soundscapes made by three guitars, bass, and drums.
There really are some great attempts to capture the experience of a Doktor Kettu release: "True caveman rock, but under heavy sedation. Like a bunch of semi-comatose zombies letting their guitars feedback deep in a tunnel while the drummer sometimes wakes up, stunned, hitting the skins a few times and then succumbing to the world of the undead once again"; "a Finnish drug thing you wouldn't understand"; "imagine a cross between Circle and Thuja" or "imagine Hawkwind or Acid Mothers Temple locked in a cave with broken instruments"; "installments from some massive on-going jam still happening right now"; "slow, meandering, very stoned ambient psych jamming to the max" and quite possibly my favourite..."imagine if you had neighbors who lived below you in a WWII bunker and all they did all day was listen to certain Fushitsusha albums...this is what you might hear through the floor." Basically, Doktor Kettu sounds like a rock'n'roll band being thrown down a well in low gravity.
The Kettu project appears to have been born simply because five friends wanted to get together to enjoy themselves! No info, no publicity and no tours that I'm aware of. The first five cdrs were all released simultaneousy with no fanfare and very little information in editions of a 100 a piece and quickly disappeared. The sixth arrived quickly after in an edition of 50. The recently released cd appears to have been recorded quite some time earlier, so who knows if we will ever get any more fresh Kettu...I hope so!
Jussi himself has described Doktor Kettu as being an "apocalyptic drone-free-psychedelic-low-fi-massacre.....three guitars, bass and drums"
Go on! You know you want to.....
2003 - Doktor Kettu - Black Zenith [super metsä]
2003 - Doktor Kettu - High Revolution [super metsä]
2003 - Doktor Kettu - I Really Like Diamonds [super metsä]
2003 - Doktor Kettu - Kriegsphilosophie [super metsä]
2003 - Doktor Kettu - Yksi Miekka Yksi Kirves [super metsä]
2004 - Doktor Kettu - Gobmi Kalansikov [haamumaa]
2009 - Doktor Kettu - Soft Delirium [super metsä]
Overhang Party were at the forefront of the highly influential Japanese psychedelic rock scene. The original line-up was Rinji Fukuoka (vocals, guitar), Koji Nishino (bass) and Iwao Yamazaki (drums). The line-up changed frequently with Rinji the only constant feature. The cast list is a long one but notably includes (at points)drummer Ikuro Takahashi who has played in Fushitsusha, High Rise, Kousokuya, LSD March and Maher Shalal Hash Baz amongst many others.
The band initially self-released the first LP in an edition of 200 before Rinji set up Pataphysique Records to release Overhang's output along with a wealth of other important works. The band's studio recorded material was limited but thankfully they made up for this by releasing a number of live slow burning psychedelic blow outs. 2003's "Out Takes..." was given away by the band at gigs at the time so I would imagine is pretty rare!
As usual with the Japanese underground, information is pretty hard to come by but there is a pretty good source here. The group folded in 2008 with Rinji going on to form the excellent Majutsu no Niwa. "High tension music results in a high voltage reaction," reckons Rinji Fukuoka and who am I to argue.
1993 - Overhang Party - Overhang Party lp [self-released]
1994 - Overhang Party - Overhang Party 2 [pataphysique records]
1995 - Overhang Party - Live 1994.8.22 At Showboat [pataphysique records]
1998 - Overhang Party - Overhang Party 4 [pataphysique records]
2000 - Overhang Party - Otherside Of (2xcd) [pataphysique records]
Otherside disc 1
Otherside disc 2
2002 - Overhang Party - Untitled
2003 - Overhang Party - Out Takes From 1996 To 2003 (cdr)
2006 - Overhang Party - Live Before And After 2004-2006 [there, musik atlach]
Live Before And After disc 1
Live Before And After disc 2
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