Give Me Take You

One of my favorite guitar records, out of print since its private press in 1980, has finally been reissued on CD in a simple but nice edition with bonus tracks and a fairly nice remastering job.

Crandell's guitar playing is incredibly sweet and even more minimal than John Fahey's and he manages just the right blend of homage to his fingerpicking forebearers and his own emotive individuality.  This one is highly recommended for fans of Fahey and the like, a document as ripe for rediscovery as Drag City's issuance of Mark Fosson's early Takoma recordings, and perhaps better.

Finally, finally, finally on CD, albeit an expensive Japanese edition.  The label, Strange Days, has put in print a lot of the old Cramps titles, along with some other progressive and psychedelic standbys.  Many of those have already been in print in some form or another fairly recently though.

These are the performers on Guisto Pio Motor Immobile and the late seventies Franco Battiato works, and the sound is extremely close to what you find on either of those examples, ie it's great.  Fans of Harold Budd/Brian Eno collaborations or the aforementioned records shouldn't hesitate a second.

This edition is a mixed bag, but overall very good.  The artwork is an exact replication of the original LP and the sound from the master tapes is terrific in quality.  My one qualm is that the opening track of the CD has electronic tones that are not on the original press of the record.  I would guess these were not intended to be on the album, but were sounds left on the master tape and so they somehow made their way onto this CD edition.  Thankfully, it only goes on for a minute or so before the album begins, so turning the volume low then raising it shortly after it starts isn't too much of a pain.

This is the second, recent release for Schoolmap, one of the earliest pieces by Eliane Radigue.  Coincidentally, there is a great interview with Other Minds composer Charles Amirkhanian here on the Internet Archive where she discusses her work and does the first ever performance of the piece during the broadcast.

The piece is designed for four loudspeakers and two sources.  This way the two parts of the piece can be played together and somewhat chaotically so that each time the piece is played it can conjure new variations, potentially.  I haven't had the pleasure of being able to experience the piece fully at home,having only one stereo, but I can reflect on what I have heard of the two disc set.

Anyone familiar with Radigue's output on the Lovely Music, Table of the Elements, or Fringes labels will notice quickly that this piece is a little more raw sounding.  Radigue's sound curating is still on point, but the source material is noticeably less warm and enveloping on immediate exposure.  Altogether, this is not a bad thing.  It is interesting to hear Radigue working with a slightly different sound palette and yet working towards the same purpose.

Granted, this is a dense edition to digest.  In addition to the already complex work spread across two different discs yet meant to be played simultaneously, there are two new realizations:  one from Radigue in 2001, the other from Ielasi in 2006.  Each on separate discs as well and seemingly they too can be played either alone or in conjunction with the other realization, and this raises a whole different set of questions…

I may have to follow up on this in a month or so with some more concrete thoughts. 

Cover art by the phenomenal Paul Jenkins.

The sounds on this disc are nearly identical to what you hear on La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano.  Harrison was a student of Young's and obviously learned his techniques well.  It's good that there is now a readily available document of this sound, which hasn't been so for at least a decade or more. 

This disc is unique in it's own way.  It is, supposedly, one long piece, but it's made up of many shorter tracks and to me is more like a suite of short pieces than one continuous work.  And while the tuning is identical to Young's, the style is obviously different.  Harrison, in addition to working with smaller segments of time, also plays at a faster pace and seems to have a goal tertiary to Young's.  Young would in most interpretations probably be seen as simply and elegantly aiming to present his tuning system.  He did a fine job of it, too, despite many, myself included, not liking the overall personality of his work and professional life.  Harrison, on the other hand, seems intent on using the tuning system to conjure music, and not even very difficult music like one might expect.  The sentiment of his music is endearingly sweet and straightforward, and all that's a little confounding for me when I've come into it expecting a hypnotic powerhouse of a record.  Hypnotic and powerful it is not, when compared to the epic stature of The Well-Tuned Piano, but the quality of the sound on this disc is certainly enchanting enough on its own terms to warrant a share of interest.

LES RALLIZES DENUDES: Yodo-Go-A-Go-Go CD (10TH 003CD)17.00 "AKA Flightless Bird Needs Water Wings. The beginner's guide to Les Rallizes Denudes! Now available everywhere in the free world!" Seemingly endless sonic flame-throwers of phased white noise streak across your inner landscape, as stupidly loud and overly-backlit lead guitar emissions perpetrated by a perpetually be-shaded longhair pummel the similarly be-shaded but barely adequate musical backing that sags and creaks under the wattage. Occasionally, lead vocals of a singular variety are provided by said be-shaded mad axeman, whose paranoid personality ensures all songs are delivered in a voice of querulous subterranean gargling from beyond the valley of Alan Vega. My giddy aunt, what's this, then, a Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy from the Underworld? A rough guide to Japrock's most intuitive non-career movers? Has the world's most revolutionary rock'n'roll band released a compilation album of leader Mizutani's most frequently requested tracks due to overwhelming popular demand? Ja, mein hairies, this certainly seems to be the case. For, with the arrival of this superb Flightless Bird compilation, obsessive fans of Les Rallizes Denudés (are there any other kinds?) finally have a proper 'early career' overview of Mizutani & Co. at their fingertips, a 70-minute-long super distillation of this most contrary of band's choicest musical moves executed between 1967-'82, a superb sounding and partly/mostly chronological trawl through the freaked out and perpetually-yelping mindscape of singer and avant-avalanche guitarmonger Mizutani, and his sinister-yet-interchangeable pool of black clad world-to-rights acolytes." –Head Heritage

A best of?  If they got this right it would be really, really good.  If not, it would still be just fine, I'm sure. 

MCDANIELS, EUGENE: Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse LP (SD 8281LP) 11.00 Exact repro, manufactured by Rhino under license from Atlantic Records. Originally released in 1971, supposedly shortly after which then-Vice President Spiro Agnew demanded the album be shelved for its content. Heavily sampled freak-funk-jazz classic (J Dilla once hid a copy in some bushes) with a Last Poets lyrical bent. "Sampled to death by the '90s hip-hop elite, including Beastie Boys, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and A Tribe Called Quest, this administration-upsetting LP showcases this former 'jazz freak' as a slightly less cerebral Gil Scott-Heron, with his direct, socially-conscious lyrics laid over some of the funkiest soul-jazz of the early '70s. A ridiculously rare-groove find for years, the influence of the LP is incalculable, forging a path for hip-hop and soul that would continue to keep the music and message of the album relevant to this day. The man would later produce hit records for Roberta Flack, Gladys Night, and Nancy Wilson, but for for a time Eugene was not trying to please anyone, but just kicking back at The Man a little."

Sounds interesting enough for at least one listen. 

ASHBY, DOROTHY: Afro-Harping LP (CADET 809LP) 11.00 Grey area exact repro. Originally released in 1969. Harp-led soul jazz classic, similar in vibe to some of Alice Coltrane's classic LPs, but less mystical and more grooving. "It's a richly rewarding, highly accessible collection, a humid mix of exquisitely scored soul, jazz and funk arrangements over which Ashby's playing fans like an ocean breeze." –The Wire

I've always thought Alice Coltrane records needed a little something extra, maybe she's got it? 

AXA HOUR OF DORA BLEU: Clones of Eros CD (FM 013CD) 12.00 "Axa Hour of Dora Bleu is the re-crystallizing of the sound of Dorothy Geller, formerly of From Quagmire (VHF Records) and Laconic Chamber (Camera Obscura.) Dorothy (voice, guitar and songwriting) is joined here by Brooke Crouser (Jackie-O Motherfucker) on piano, electric guitar and vibes; Alex Ste-Onge (Feu Therese, Et Sans, Shalabi Effect) on upright bass; Justin Evans (Rivers and Mountains, Et Sans, Shalabi Effect) on Rhodes and electronics and Francis Amirault (Le Sentier Lumineeux, Cian Ethrie) on percussion. On Clones of Eros, a sound is forged from the natural evolution of the sonic path of Dorothy Geller, with a strong impression made by her Montreal-based collaborators. This is living, breathing music — a melding of a singular vision into a collective process resulting in a music with few easy reference points, music that demands to be heard on its own terms outside of any scenes or movements that may be in vogue momentarily. To attempt a more concrete analysis: the music can be considered 'of folk' while not referencing traditional folk forms, anchored in very particularized voice and guitar with accompaniment that is alternatively unified song form or seemingly improvised, depending on what is required in the moment."

UTON & VALERIO COSI: Käärmeenkääntopiiri CD (FM 014CD) 12.00 "Perhaps this collaboration was destined to happen, and we're overjoyed that it is happening here! Tampere, Finland's Uton (Jani Hirvonen) and Taranto, Italy's Valerio Cosi (who is √ of Pulga) are two of the most creative and most prolific musicians working in experimental music at the moment, and on Käärmeenkääntopiiri, Uton and Valerio have mastered a sound that combines elements of psychedelia, free jazz, Krautrock, environmental sounds, drones and more for an ecstatic listening experience. A mélange of electronic and acoustic instrumentation join together as naturally as the coming of the tides. By turns meditative and forceful, introspective and extroverted, all the while commanding undivided attention from the listener. This is experimentation that remains inviting even in its darker passages. 2007 has been a banner year for both of these musicians, and this release finds them in top form, creating a work that shows exactly why they are in such high demand. Käärmeenkääntopiiri will leave you hoping this is the beginning of many more collaborations between these two."

The sound samples for the Uton & Valerio Cosi record sound really good, almost like a modern day Ariel Kalma Osmose.  Been meaning to check out his work for a while.  Fire Museum, who released the Sondheim discs I wrote about a few posts ago, put these out.

A.R. & MACHINES: AR3 CD (GERMAN 941098) 17.00 "Available again with improved mastering! For Achim Reichel's 1973 release, and first on his vanity label Zebra, the talented Okko Bekker and noted Krautrock producer Thomas Kuckuck were invited along with many others, with the results being a higher-level mix of echo-guitar excursions, imaginative ensemble playing and kosmische folk-blues. Essential A.R.!"

Achim Reichel is one of my favorite of the more obscure Krautrock acts.

DILLOWAY, AARON: Infinite Lucifer LP (HN 177LP) 14.00 One-sided LP. "Bobby BeauSoleil's Lucifer Rising OST looped into infinity by Aaron Dilloway via crude 8-track cassette loops and mountains of tape-delay. Limited edition of 333 copies housed in 'pic-disc style' sleeves w/ 2 color silkscreened artwork."

I'm not a fan of Lucifer Rising, but I can appreciate it enough to think a warped retelling of it might be a good listen.

WHITEHOUSE: Birthdeath Experience LP (VFSL 001LP) 22.00 Official reissue of the 1st Whitehouse album, originally released on the Come Organisation in 1980. Includes William Bennett's original LP design. Includes the warning: "Extreme electronic music: please acquire with due caution." "The place it all began: the seminal first album by Whitehouse. Even to this day, it is a remarkable piece of work created entirely with tone generators and EDP Wasps, and lyrically full of what would be their uncompromising trademark irony. It would prove instrumental in dragging avant garde electronic music a long way from its initially limited boundaries."

Also not a fan of Whitehouse, but I'd give this record another shot. 

Krauze's music comes with the highest recommendation.  To me, it is impossibly beautiful and pure artistic achievement.  Please explore this page on Krauze's website for a good look at his work.

Zygmunt Krauze on Unitary Music:

The form of a musical piece is for me of first and most essential interest. Two competing and contradictory tendencies in music, the tendency to homogeneous form and the tendency to form with contrasts, are phenomena of great importance.

In my music I require calm and organization. Its sound is intended to have sufficiently individual form so that it can be differentiated from the multitude of other music and other sounds. The performed piece extracts a definitely structured segment of time from the chaos of people's activities and from the chaos of sounds surrounding people.

These tendencies are fulfilled in my music through a structure devoid of contrasts, i. e. as homogenous as possible. All changes and movements necessary to maintain the continuation of the music are not contrasting; they do not bring in new elements.

Whatever the listener discovers in the first few seconds of the performance of the piece will last till the end. The beginning of the composition immediately exposes the whole scale of sounds so that nothing alien, nothing new will appear. There will be no surprises.

I prefer that the listener hear separate details and fragments of music rather than be attacked by sequences of attractions, changes and surprises. This music is unobtrusive. It does not attack the listener, who is placed in an active role; he listens only to those details or fragments of music which are congenial to him. He chooses the fragments himself because perception of the music is easy; he knows what he may encounter. He is also aware that if any fragment disappears it will certainly recur.

This form without contrasts, in its essence, has neither a beginning nor an end. The piece can be interrupted at any moment an this will not change its basic traits. It may also last an arbitrary length of time.

This music relates to the possibility of a new mode of reception. In an ideal situation, music would be continually played. The listener would come at a convenient time and leave whenever he considered it appropriate. This could occur in different kinds of halls with specially designed architecture.

         

I've been listening to a good deal of Sorabji lately.  The beautiful BIS release of Frederik Ullen's performance of the first twenty-five pieces of Sorabji's 100 Transcendental Studies a year or so ago first introduced me and ever since then I've been fascinated.  His works are impossibly convoluted, difficult, challenging listens but their direction, and often enough the sound too, comes across as peaceful and reassuring.

Currently my favorites would be the 100 Transcendental Studies and Le Jardin Parfume.  His massive Opus Clavicembalisticum has not yet revealed its own tortured beauty to me just yet the way, for instance, Feldman's similarly sized String Quartet No. II immediately did.  Regardless, Sorabji seems a legend worth investigating deeply.

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA: Invisible/Inaudible: Five Electrical Walks CD (IMPREC 167CD) 13.00 "Christina Kubisch is a first generation sound artist of the highest order. She may now be most famously known for her 'Electrical Walks' which she started in 1981 where listeners wear specially-built headphones that reveal electro-magnetic radiation emanating from the technological world around us. Invisible/Inaudible: Five Electrical Walks is her first collection of compositions utilizing material recorded during 'Electrical Walks.'"

KUBISCH, CHRISTINA: Night Flights CD (IMPREC 168CD) 13.00 Reissue of this 1987 album, originally issued on Auf Dem Nil. "Night Flights is a groundbreaking work from one of the most influential of the first generation sound artists. For some reason, this staggering work has been left out of print for over 20 years. Night Flights has been remastered and includes updated liner notes from Christina Kubisch. Night Flights is being released in conjunction with Kubisch's release of new work for Important Records titled Invisible/Inaudible: Five Electrical Walks."

Kubisch is a maker of interesting sound-art derived albums and it's good to see Night Flights in particular back in print.

STONE, CARL: Al-Noor CD (ITO 010CD) 12.50 "Carl Stone is one of the pioneers of live computer music, and has been hailed by the Village Voice as 'the king of sampling' and 'one of the best composers living in [the USA] today.' He has used computers in live performance since 1986. Stone was born in Los Angeles and now divides his time between California and Japan. He studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since 1972. Al-Noor contains Carl Stone's newest explorations into the dismantling and re-composition of global song and melody, and their relationships to other resonant rhythmic and harmonic phonemes. Stone's computer technology brings forth the transformation of beats, measures and sonic landscape into phase-shifted liquid journeys and sonic monuments. From solitude to shred, sounds gradually shift forth creating new scenes of distant mystery. Movement births stillness. Order becoming anarchy becomes paradise. Other-dimensional voices beat within a new world of texture and space. This is that. Here is there. Those become these. This CD of four new compositions represents Stone at one of the most creative periods of his career."

Can't wait to hear this.  Unseen Worlds is reissuing his first record, Woo Lae Oak, early 2008.

MONKS: Black Time LP (INT 2499000LP) 11.00 Grey area LP reissue, contains the classic Black Monk Time LP, plus their second and third singles, all three originally released on Polydor Germany in 1966-'67. This LP sleeve uses the photo from the cover of their second single for the front, and cover art of their first single for the back. Primitive demented '60s punk at its best. "The Monks' only album is packed with angst anthems on the order of 'Shut Up,' 'I Hate You,' 'Complication,' and 'Drunken Maria.' One of the strangest recordings of all time." –Richie Unterberger.

The Monks R CRZY.  Never really heard them at LP length though.

CRANDELL, RICHARD: Spring Steel CD (TZ 8041) 14.50 "Another remarkable recording by the quirky Oregon composer/performer Richard Crandell, whose first delightful CD For Tzadik Mbira Magic hit several best ten lists for 2004. Adapting and retuning traditional shona instruments, Crandell draws upon the work of Steve Reich, Terry Riley and John Fahey to create a hypnotic minimalist world through the use of repetition, variation and phasing. Charming and original, this is beautiful and subtle music from a recently rediscovered maverick composer out of the early days of West Coast minimalism."

Hopefully an improvement over Mbira Magic, which was good, but needed a little something more.  Maybe a more concision.  It's good that Crandell's early guitar works have recently been reissued.  More on that later.

Two fantastic documents of music from the hot coal mind of Alan Sondheim.  Choreographer/writer/musician, Alan Sondheim is the rare breed of individual that fantastically combines Americana-roots-blues ideology and feeling and contemporary-up-to-the-minute thought.  These two records, released as reasonably priced 500-copy limited-editions on Fire Museum, are excellent and come highly recommended.

The Songs — a reissue of the original Riverboat label LP recorded with the full band (Ritul-All-7-70) who also join Sondheim on another early release on ESP — is something of a free-jazz song cycle.  It's intense and extremely loose, but with a good direction and overall feel.

Ski/nn seems to be a newer recording and is all solo guitar and solo alpine zither.  This is very heady experimental guitar work in the American blues tradition of folks like John Fahey or Charlie Nothing, but entirely distinctive (and successful).  Richard Bishop would be a modern day peer and reference point, but fans of his who have only heard his excellent Salvador Kali CD on Revenant probably couldn't do better than explore this CD rather than seeing what else Richard Bishop has up his sleeve.

For me, a new Roger Doyle album is always a point of interest.  From the Die Stadt Website:

OUT November 2007 ROGER DOYLE »The Ninth Set« CD (DS103) Irish composer Roger Doyle's first release on Die Stadt is his prize-winning work The Ninth Set, a 67 minute masterpiece in 5 parts. He was awarded the Magisterium Prize at this years's Bourges International Electro-acoustic Music Competition in France for parts 4 and 5. The award, which is one of the most important prizes in the world for electronic music, is open to composers having at least 25 years of professional experience in the field, and its objective is 'the promotion and diffusion of works that might become milestones in the history of electroacoustic music'. Previous works of Doyle include a 5-CD set Babel which took ten years to compose, where each track corresponds to a room or place within an imagined tower city; and the 3 hour Passades, music made from software that freezes sounds like a freeze-frame in DVD. He's also known for his project OPERATING THEATRE which released the classic »Rapid Eye Movements« album — consisting of 4 works composed between 1968 1980 — on Steven Stapleton's (Nurse With Wound) own United Dairies label in 1980. Furthermore he guested on Fovea Hex's »neither speak nor remain silent« EP number 2 »Huge«, alongside among others Clodagh Simonds, Brian Eno, Percy Jones and Colin Potter. More at http://www.rogerdoyle.com The CD comes in a color digipack in a first edition of 600 copies. Track listing: 1. »Part 1« 15'22 2. »Part 2« 14'35 3. »Part 3« 16'17 4. »Part 4« 14'28 5. »Part 5« 5'45 Total playing time: 66:29 min.