New Releases for January 2008

Index of New Releases for January 2008

OSTGUT TON (GERMANY)

Artist:	FENGLER, MARCEL
Title:	Playground/Early Glow
Label:	OSTGUT TON (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	OSTGUT 009EP

Marcel Fengler is a resident DJ at Berghain, and Playground/Early Glow can be looked at as the result of a two-year testing phase of sonic possibilities available to him. "Playground" is peak-time techno with a metallic scraping noise, refined percussion and a huge kick. "Early Glow" is meant to be played in the early morning hours, as a carpet of fragmented chords with pads rush in and out, developing the sort of rhythmic hypnosis which Berlin crowds have learned to love so much. These tracks are classic Morse codes from the depths of club space.

PARADIGM (UK)

Artist:	WISHART, TREVOR
Title:	Machine
Label:	PARADIGM (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	PD 025CD

"Although Machine was completed in 1971, it was not released until 1973, shortly after the release of his Journey Into Space. Machine is therefore the first major composition by Trevor Wishart. It was composed at York University and was originally issued on vinyl as 3 sides of a highly adventurous 3LP box set called Electronic Music From York, on the University's own record label. In common with Journey Into Space (also on Paradigm Discs), Machine makes use of a large number of volunteer contributors, mostly from the student body at York. With this recording, however, there are no instruments used. Instead, the music of Machine is made up entirely from a combination of spoken text, carefully directed improvising choirs that take their lead from pre-recorded factory sounds. These are extensively mixed and edited with yet more collected machine sounds and other sources of musique concrète, as well as occasional use of basic electronic sources. The scale of this work, and the degree of preparation involved in scoring it, seems to have more resonances with the world of theater or film rather than tape composition. Much of Wishart's early work involved the use of musicians and artists being directed to perform in new ways, outside of their usual remit. A combination of late '60s openness, detailed scores that provide frameworks for improvisation and slavish editing have resulted in an incomparable sound work. With a continuous playing time of one hour, the wild and previously unexplored terrain covered by this pioneering work of British experimental music moves in turn through the full range of possible audio landscapes from the oceanic calm of the doldrums to earsplitting factory mayhem."

PHOENIX RECORDS (UK)

Artist:	SILVER APPLES
Title:	Contact
Label:	PHOENIX RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	ASH 3001CD

This is a reissue of the second album Contact by '60s electronic legends Silver Apples, originally released by Kapp Records in 1969. This enigmatic duo, armed only with percussion, vocals and an early, specialized synthesizer, is often credited with giving the musical world its first electronic album, as well as having a significant influence on bands which followed in their wake; bands such as Ultravox and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Silver Apples, named after a W.B. Yeats poem, consisted of electronics wiz Simeon Coxe and percussionist Danny Taylor. Simeon built an impressive collection of electronic paraphernalia (dubbed the "Simeon") which ultimately included a dozen oscillators, six of them tuned to bass notes which he played with his feet, an assortment of sound filters, telegraph keys, radio parts, lab gear and a variety of second-hand electronic junk. Contact ushered in the band's recorded popularity and a national tour was quickly organized. Several tracks on Contact feature bass lines provided by Simeon's banjo playing, but it is the clever use of the lead oscillator and new-found intensity of the lyrics that sets Contact apart from its predecessor. Such was the level of Simeon's growing electronic proficiency that the intro to the album's opening track, "You And I" more than successfully recreates the sound of an airplane taking off. Silver Apples all but disappeared from the musical firmament when Kapp folded in 1970, only to re-emerge in January 1997 to perform before a celeb-packed audience at the Knitting Factory. Again, the critics were unanimous. As the MC waxed poetic during an introduction to the Silver Apples concert in San Francisco, 1968: "You are about to have probably the most unusual musical experience of your life. The music will enter areas of your mind never before opened until now. At times it may be hard to understand, but if you let the music penetrate, you'll dig it."

Artist:	FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND
Title:	Satori
Label:	PHOENIX RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	ASH 3002LP

Previously issued on CD by Phoenix Records (and o/p already), now issued on deluxe LP format as well; 180 gram pressing. Reissue of the second Flower Travellin' Band album, originally issued by Atlantic Records in Japan in 1971. Satori is a conceptual hard rock/psych album driven by Hideki Ishima's furious guitar licks which erupt and explode over the harmonic heart beat of the drums and bass. Yamanaka's banshee-like vocal style turned him into an occidental Iggy Pop or Robert Plant while the band itself was rapidly becoming Japan's answer to Led Zeppelin. Satori is a huge album in every way. From power chords to Eastern-tinged North African six-string freak-outs and crashing tom-toms, the band flexes its collective muscle from start to finish. In short, this is a real rock classic of the type they simply don't make any more.

Artist:	SILVER APPLES
Title:	Silver Apples
Label:	PHOENIX RECORDS (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	ASH 3003CD

This is a reissue of the self-titled first album by '60s electronic legends Silver Apples, originally released by Kapp Records in 1968. Fresh off their stint as The Overland Stage Electric Band, Simeon and Dan Taylor formed their own extravagant, two-man electronic space-odyssey, Silver Apples, to pretty remarkable critical acclaim. Their debut enjoyed a 10-week stay in Billboard's Top 100 list, and the album's first track, "Oscillations," made the Top 10 list in numerous cities around the U.S. The music critics loved them. "What's so amazing is that they make absolutely mind-shattering music with all this junky equipment" commented one reviewer, quite possibly astounded over the then-mindbending concept of build-it-yourself electronics combined with rock drums. The debut album features lyrics by poet Stanley Warren who met the duo at the Third Annual Avant Garde Arts Festival in 1968, organized by topless cellist Charlotte Moorman. An absolutely essential piece of musical history from electronic/psychedelic/rock music's ground-breaking legends.

Artist:	FIFTY FOOT HOSE
Title:	Cauldron
Label:	PHOENIX RECORDS (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	ASH 3016LP

Deluxe LP format only; 180 gram pressing. Cauldron was Fifty Foot Hose's first and most famous recorded work, released on Limelight Records in 1968. Founded by Cork Marcheschi, the band played continuously around the Bay area of northern California throughout the mid-'60s. Marcheschi, who had developed a taste for R&B and the avant-garde music of composers such as Edgard Varèse, started out as the band's bass player, but his interest in experimental music prompted him to develop his own musical instrument, similar in function to the hybrid developed by Simeon Cox, and which was the underpinning of the Silver Apples' sound. The band played a lot of gigs, but the experimental nature of their music tended to perplex audiences unused to such sounds. However, a four-track demo led to the band signing on the experimental Mercury subsidiary, Limelight Records, and under the eye of producer, Dan Healey (later to work extensively with the Grateful Dead), Cauldron appeared in 1969. As the album didn't fit into any particular mold, it largely went un-noticed at the time, but to the modern listener, this is an album that has stood the test of time particularly as Marcheschi used just about every electronic device known to man, including audio generators, echodette, squeaky box, siren, ring oscillator circuits and two Theremins. Given Cauldron's lack of success, the band disintegrated, although several members were to quickly resurface in the musical Hair. However, by the late '70s and early '80s, interest in the band's singular sound was rekindled, with the likes of Pere Ubu, Throbbing Gristle and Chrome all deriving inspiration from its music. An important and influential album.

PICC-A-DILLY

Artist:	CHERRY, DON
Title:	Tibet
Label:	PICC-A-DILLY
Format:	LP
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	PIC 3515LP

Grey-area LP reissue, originally released as Eternal Now on Sonet Records in 1973. Don was living in Sweden at the time and made 2 great spaced-out records (in the freeform "Universal Music" style) for Sonet (Live Ankara being the other) -- the prior CD reissue of this material has seemingly disappeared into the wind. If this album had been made by some Vietnam vet living in a windowless cove in Northern California -- with a picture of leaves on the cover, no less -- it would have made the NWW list and originals would be fetching more than a used car, today. As an unfortunate aside, this LP reissue features the vastly inferior American cover as used by Picc-a-dilly, compared to the screaming ethno-psychedelic visuals favored by Sonet. The fact that he is shown wearing a suite that he certainly wasn't wearing during this recording, playing an instrument that he certainly wasn't playing during this recording -- apparently these details fazed no one. "Piano and percussion dominate this rare recording from sessions in April of 1973. No cornet or trumpet. Cherry sings and plays piano, gamelan, harmonium, and assorted percussion. The other musicians are: Christer Bothen (piano, etc.), Bernt Rosengren (taragot, a Swedish wooden soprano saxophone), Agneta Ernstrom (Tibetan bell, etc.), Bengt Berger (piano, mridangam, etc.)."

PIGNA (ITALY)

Artist:	PASSARANI, MARCO
Title:	Statostasi EP
Label:	PIGNA (ITALY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	PIGNA 011EP

"The new Pigna season starts with the return of Marco Passarani. Marco is the man behind the Final Frontier collective, and it has been a while since his last release on one of his own labels. His last work was out on Peacefrog, and this gave him a boost, getting him a higher level profile. The two tracks 'Statostasi' and 'Nova' both represent the new direction Marco is moving in, somehow closer to a deeper and essential soulful house style, but still very groovy and well-linked to those early Chicago and Detroit flavors he's devoted to. This is the first of an intense release season for mister Passarani. Keep your ears tuned in."

PROPHASE MUSIC

Artist:	PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SOUND
Title:	No Wonderland
Label:	PROPHASE MUSIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	MVDA 4684CD

"This is the first time on CD for Plastic Crimewave Sound's 2006 2LP opus, originally released on Eclipse Records and now long out of print in its vinyl form. This is the record you always wanted PCWS to make; stretching out their influences and delving deep into the paranoid times of today, tomorrow and yesterday. You will hear mammoth psych jams, acid punk, soundscapes, heavyosity and calming drones. Featuring cameo appearances by Michael Yonkers, Devendra Banhart, Josephine Foster, Fursaxa, Spires that in the Sunset Rise, Chris Connelly, and more. Absolutely stunning psych for fans of Hawkwind, Can, Pink Fairies, Acid Mothers Temple and brain damage in general."

PSF (JAPAN)

Artist:	VA
Title:	Asian Flashback: Underground Music From Asia
Label:	PSF (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	PSF 170CD

Asian underground compilation with 13 groups. Featuring Li Jianhong, Narita Munehiro, Hano Shoji, Mustangs, Kiyasu Orchestra, Mafeisan, 10, Xiao He, D!O!D!O!D!, Sato Yukie, Yoshiteru Koga Jizo, Kim Young Jin, Li Daiguo, Amature Amplifier, Soonie. "First PSF compilation to focus on the linkages between the established underground scene in Japan and nascent ones in China and Korea. Politics and history had long prevented exchanges between the three countries, but in recent years increasing trade and cultural linkages have revealed exciting new synergies. Covers the breadth of new East Asian underground forms ? white-out noise, face-peeling free improvisation, lysergic rock, limpid acid folk, electronic tone float, coruscating punk, free jazz and avant-art moves. Features relatively established names like China's king of noise guitar Li-Jianhong and motor-psych free-rock emperor Munehiro Narita, alongside a ton of utter unknown names." -- Alan Cummings.

Artist:	AHOUSEN
Title:	Ahousen
Label:	PSF (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	PSF 172CD

"Tokyo underground group! Avant-psychedelic." Debut release from the quartet of: Katsu (guitar), Suu (sax, voice), Akira (bass) & Tail (drums). "Lunatic avant-free-rock, honed in guerrilla street performance. Debut album from one of the most exciting discoveries from the recent Tokyo Flashback 6 compilation. There's an entrancing sense of moon-kissed lunatic wildness about Ahousen (the group's name means Ship of Fools). Their avant-rock meets free jazz meets enka melancholic sound is entirely their own, a crazed communion with dead voices, honed to blistering perfection in guerrilla performance on the night-time streets of Shinjuku. For those of a genealogical bent, the group has some history. Guitarist Katsu played with original Tokyo Rockers legends Lizard in the seventies. Drummer Tail has played with Suishou no Fune." -- Alan Cummings.

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