I'm always in search of new, compelling muaic from times past, as well as the present. I'm taking you back in time however, and to the eightees to be precise. There was no better time for pop than then. Pop Goth and New Wave were at their peak and I am well-known to be a fan of great female vocals. I don't really mind that little teeny bit of cheesy 80's pop if it's done well, and it's intention is to be...cheesy!
Strawberry Switchblade was a new wave duo band from Glasgow, Scotland UK in 1981. Rose McDowall later become associated with the industrial scene and contribute to projects such as Coil, Current 93, Death in June, Nature and Organisation, Nurse With Wound, Psychic TV, Boyd Rice. Jill Bryson and McDowall bonded in the Glasgow punk scene of the late 70s.
Since Yesterday, became a top 10 hit in the UK , and a huge success in Europe as well as Japan . The track's opening fanfare came from Sibelius' Symphony No.5 and had also featured on the earlier hit "Beach Baby" by The First Class. The girls' strikingly contrasting black and white wardrobe, including the polka dot rah-rah skirts worn for the sleeve of Since Yesterday, attracted some coverage at the time. Their somewhat "Gothic" appearance was part of their ensemble and was particular to their personal demeanor. In my very personal opinion, you can tell there was a partnership with Boyd Rice and Friends. And they've a high similarity to artists such as Lene Lovich, Danielle Dax, Altered images, X-Mal Deutschland, The Wake and Dolly Mixture. If you're into the likes of the previously mentioned, this album would make a welcome addition to your music library!
As readers of my posts are well aware, I have documented this band several times on my blog posts, just because I believe them to be a good experimental art rock band, and deserve credit for their writing, drumming and vocal skills (their live performances are mind-blowing). As you also know, I had been wowed away after seeing them live in a Brussels punk club. I often visit their web pages and browse for pictures and info of the band. I am also aware that many of you out there, the world over, have got to know about the band through my little blog, and others through other music blogs or discussion threads, however I have purchased their album online (plus a few extra copies for friends) and am posting Pleasure Machines for your enjoyment.
One of the most striking features about the album, is the versatility of this band. Whereas the ep was all about the beats and the punchy lines, Pleasure Machines seems slightly more directional and structured. At some points, you can't really tell where it is going, so it will surprise you. Yet most often, the songs are a good trip. The fun element is still quite predominant and their new work is much more thorough. It is versatile in a clever, yet not in a subtle way, which is something not all listeners can relate to, as some of my readers prefer a more or less consistent mood throughout, so as I said, it's not for everyone, however, if you are enamored of Nina Hagen and Diamanda Galas, you will appreciate the various vocal styles offered. The music remains playful yet strict, and once again the command on the vocal chords is splendid. The drummer is another very pivotal element in their music style as a whole. Very structured delivery in most tracks, quite intense I would say. I usually believe the bass in many bands I listen to are what make a good artpunk/post punk/indie band and don't usually focus on the drumming skills, however, the drummer Chris is what gives this band a backbone, with his amazing technique . Most of the tracks on this album are still as memorable, adding a touch of finesse at times (the yelps and cat-howls still being present). The frontwoman (Lisa) who seems the designated writer in the band, seems to have a vast range of (top-notch) musical influences and taste and I do have a thing for vocals that double as effect peddals! Pretty great stuff on the whole. Always remember, as with all of my other posts in my blog, if you like it, go ahead and buy it!, (or blog about it and share the good word).
Unfortunately I have no knowledge of the band's exact whereabouts this year, except for this Summer, they have been and will be playing in various different local clubs in Europe in Malta, where they hail from.
The Areola Treat's new album is now available for download on CD Baby. I've been on about this band ever since having seen them in a live performance in belgium a while ago. The drummer and vocalist had quite an impact on me, and I kept following them on Last FM and created a few blogs reviewing them myself. The frontwoman herself has a charm about her and the drummer's punding is quite simply astounding.
CD Baby Indipendent Artist Reviews: This week, 'Pleasure Machines', the new, self-released album from The Areola Treat. Read, listen and buy!
The Areola Treat are an indie/sludge/art punk band, formed in Malta in 2006. Inspired by UK-based, late 1970s punk and rock and roll, besides the burgeoning punk and post punk revival, The Areola Treat are arguably a definitive art punk ensemble, mostly due to their detailed tightness, blood-curdling female screeching, growling vocals and punchy guitars in the first few years of the band being formed, and more recently with their somewhat more political stance and echoes of psychedelia and post rock. Their first self-entitled studio ep, The Areola Treat was released in 2008 under Belgian label Kinky Star. The band's first self-released studio album 'Pleasure Machines', was released in April 2011.
The Areola Treat will be performing in Malta, Europe, at Voice Of A Generation, in Ball Street, Paceville on the 27th August.
Andrew Weatherall's first post-Sabres outing (together with Keith Tenniswood) is a truly beguiling cachet of alternately moody and unexpectedly funky down- and mid-tempo electro. Miles more complex and integrated than such future-funk wibblers as the Clear Records stable, Fifth Mission is often as tear-jerkingly emotional as it is goofball lino material; machine music imbued with more than a bit of humanity. Uniformly excellent.
The Two Lone Swordsmen are British house DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall and studio engineer Keith Tenniswood. They had formed in early 1996, following the dissolution of Weatherall's influential Sabres of Paradise techno act, and since then have indulged themselves in styles ranging from electro and 4/4 techno to post punk and downtempo breakbeat. Emissions Audio Output, was the first label they had worked with, and was run by Weatherall. However, the small nature of the operation limited the duo's success, which caused them to look elsewhere and they subsequently signed to Warp Records, making them labelmates with acts such as Autechre and Boards of Canada, as well as setting up the Rotters Golf Club label for their more dancefloor-friendly output under various other guises.
In 2004 they released From the Double Gone Chapel, exhibiting more of a late 1970s dub and post punk sound than their previous work, influenced heavily by groups like PiL. It was released with the single Sex Beat, a cover of the popular Gun Club song. Their latest album, Wrong Meeting, was released in April 2007, with Wrong Meeting II following a month after. Set solidly in the dub rock vein they explored on From the Double Gone Chapel, the duo venture into sleezy country and LCD Soundsystem-style punk funk disco.
01. Little Did We Know
02. The Best of Stealth
03. A Slow Drive West
04. Big Man Original
05. Spark
06. Lino Square
07. Search for a Car
08. Glenn Street Assault Squad
09. Gang Sweep Shuffling
10. The King Mob File
11. Enemy Haze
12. Beacon Block
13. Two Barb Quickstep
14. Switch It
15. Rico's Helly
16. The Backstair Rattlers
17. Paisley Dark
18. Extended Branch Brothers
Born October 20, 1937) Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist. She is known to many as the Queen (or First Lady) of Rockabilly.
Jackson mixed country music with fast-moving rockabilly, often recording them on opposite sides of a record.
As rockabilly declined in popularity in the mid-1960s, she moved to a successful career in mainstream country music with a string of hits between 1966 and 1973, including "Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine", "A Woman Lives for Love" and "Fancy Satin Pillows".
She has enjoyed a resurgence of popularity among the rockabilly revival in Europe, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence in 2009
This album was Recorded between 1956 and 1963. Includes liner notes by Rob Finnis and digitally remastered by Duncan Cowell (Sound Mastering Limited).
Wanda was the first country and rock n roll singer to teach me a woman could growl! I would say Jackson's music is the epitome of rockabilly, with heavy, twangy guitars, a good, solid base and some serious drum shuffling. With such a great gritty voice and superb skill, it's surprising this album was released in 2000.
Enjoy!
Tracklisting:
01. Baby Loves Him
02. Mean Mean Man
03. Fujiyama Mama
04. Cool Love
05. Honey Bop
06. I Gotta Know
07. Let's Have A Party
08. Money Honey
09. Long Tall Sally
10. Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad
11. Searchin'
12. Savin' My Love
13. Kansas City
14. Hard Headed Woman
15. Tunnel of Love
16. My Baby Left Me
17. Sticks And Stones
18. Who Shot Sam?
19. There's A Party Goin' On
20. Brown Eyed Handsome Man
21. You Don't Know Baby
22. Tongue Tied
23. Riot In Cell Block #9
24. Slippin' And Slidin'
25. Fallin'
26. Rip It Up
27. Rock Your Baby
28. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
29. Honey Don't
Tracklisting: 01. Eos
02. All The Love
03. Like Music
04. Vigil
05. Shadows Of The Sun
06. Let The Children Go
07. Solitude
08. Funebrae
09. What Happened?
Timelessly beautiful, envelop yourself in a few few hours of meaningful silence in appreciation of the ebb and flow of solitude, darkness, joy and sorrow.
If "Shadows Of The Sun" could be considered an exercise in mourning, then "Funebre" would definitely represent the actual funeral. The second half of the track features a lengthy piano solo, in which the 'classical composition' techniques are particularly evident, while the theramin returns to give the song an otherworldly distance to it. Finally, "What Happened?" (an appropriately titled song, as I will explain in a minute), begins with uneasy 'industrialesque' noises humming in the background, while the last piano melody slowly hangs over your head like a death sentence. A bell begins tolling shortly before two minutes. However, the Oslo String Session Quartet quickly moves in and delivers their most moving moment in the album, a fitting end for the album.
I keep discovering new, exceedingly thrilling dark music.
The fusion of black metal and dark electronic music continues to gain steam with the release of Megafauna, the first proper full-length from Yoga. The band’s name might signify a rejuvinating, esoteric form of exercise, but the sounds of this epic 12-track journey illustrate an audible fate far more taxing than two hours of holding the downward facing dog pose. Here, synthesizers are cauterized of their sonic sheen, implementing a muddy, caustic veneer more in line with a scratchy, old 78 than a shiny, new 12-inch and creating a sound drenched in murky dissonance and creepy ambience that would make Tobe Hooper’s arm hairs stand on end. This is something like a field recording of some soundtrack to a nightmare scored by an unholy studio session between Xasthur and Alan Lomax. And if that seems like something which would appeal to you—yes, it is that awesome.
Tracklisting:
1. love caboose
2. clothes on the bed
3. group dynamic
4. runaway dna
5. eskimo
6. space heater
7. zombie shark
8. walkin again
9. nonsense nonsense
10. mouth erection
11. zombie talk
12. leave us alone
13. shark cave
14. alligator
15. human head
16. never tired
17. it's great not to care
18. i don't care
19. debbiegetthefuckoutofmyhouse
20. red dot
Here's more great music from the Ariel Pink connection. Geneva Jacuzzi is currently rumored to be living with Ariel Pink's frontman.
Geneva Jacuzzi takes you on a mystical leap into No Woman's Land, drops you off, and waves goodbye, leaving you in a time whirlpool back to the early to mid - eightees where you're suddenly left to fend for yourself. The whole album is rudely nostalgic and sensible in its own way. This album makes for the perfect 'trip down memory lane' sensation, for all those that lived their childhood with a twist of fun.
AnnaF.
Also off of Ariel Rosenberg's Human Ear Music label, Geneva Jacuzzi (Geneva Garvin) is one wicked vamp of a character whose musical aesthetic is the closest thing to a sibling or maybe an immediate cousin to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti.
Aside from familiar relations, Geneva Jacuzzi, also of Bubonic Plague, poses another striking resemblance to groups like The Knife and Super Creep, if those two alone have any in common. They don't, but still. Geneva Jacuzzi brings at most a handful of her own tricks to the table, building a stable, mysterious, and hauntingly cold composition for her '08 release Koose Control. Slightly similar to these crazies or vise versa: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Bubonic Plague, Super Creep, The Knife, Panther, Glass Candy, Vibe Central.
UTR015 | Digipack CD / LP | 14 tracks, 46 mins | 19 Nov 2007 | Buy
John Maus' second album 'Love Is Real' is an apocalyptic journey through the nostalgic streets of our home towns deep into the recesses of the human heart. It is a map of self discovery, rejection and escapism captured across 14 songs of melancholic baroque pop music. Similar in style to his 2006 debut 'Songs', the album is a mixture of exploratory synthesiser theatrics, tensely-strung bass lines and insistent drum machine clicks and pops, all set off by John's deeply resonant reverb-drenched vocal. 'Love Is Real' is a more reflective and realised effort than 'Songs' however, focusing its attentions on impulsive song writing and inspired musicianship, replacing the reminiscent feel of the first record with genuine poignancy.
'Love Is Real' is an album of contrast, of obscurity and familiarity, of darkness and light. Moments of intense disco anxiety warning against the sin of avarice - "Too Much Money" - find themselves rubbing shoulders with romantic virtuoso fugues - "Green Bouzard". The juxtaposition of the buoyant 80's synth pop alongside John's sombre, sometimes even morose lyrics is another good example of this tension. "Without you girl, I'm going over the edge" Maus sings over the four-to-the-floor dance rhythm of the album's prescient closer 'Times Is Weird'. Over the fantastical keyboard gymnastics of 'The Whole World's Coming Apart' John finds relief in repeatedly confessing "This is my nightmare, my nightmare". It's contrasts like these which point towards John's preoccupation on this album with confused emotions and misunderstood intentions.
Whilst 'Love Is Real' maintains the same anthemic genius and sense of humour that it's predecessor revelled in - the impassioned 'Rights for Gays' being perhaps the most neurotic example - this album finds its strength in its more delicate and revealing moments. The superbly mournful 'Do Your Best' is an elegiac paean to true love - "Reach out your hands to the one alone, in the city tonight" croons Maus to baritone abandon, sounding like a man resisting his own best advice. Similarly 'Tenebrae', the album's tour de force, follows the grand tradition of many classical composers who have tried to convey the suffering, 'great noise' and joy of the Holy Week in music over the last 300 years. It is a stately and majestic song which soars and pulses into inevitable splendour becoming the focal point of this remarkable album.
'Love Is Real' is a record about facing the demons within, searching through eternity and finding hope in the darkness of these uncertain times. It's about never giving up and holding out for the one you love. Put simply it can only be an album by John Maus.
This man is a musical genius in every sense of the word. He knows how to manage his PR and own recording and playing live. He's the embodiment of all that is art and replica, for replica is art in its true sense. I believe we can only learn to mirror true beauty when we see it. It is then that we learn to master the appreciation for it, and therefore the skill. I am so excited about John Maus' work, and terribly in love.
UTR003 | CD | 16 tracks, 54 mins | 20 Mar 2006 | Buy
'Songs' is Maus' debut, his life work, which was written and recorded at home over the course of five years. It's a twisted baroque pop record that brings to mind early 80's hits and coming-of-age movie soundtracks. Almost entirely electronic, the Maus sound is created from synthesisers, drum machine, bass and his remarkable vocals, which are pitched somewhere between Ian Curtis, Calvin Johnson and David Bowie
The record is a manic lo-fi masterpiece, which blurs addictive melodies, emotive lyrics and dreamy soundscapes to memorable effect. Permeated by feelings of intense nostalgia, with this album Maus has created a testimony to lost romance and to longing. These combine in such a way to make the listener feel as through they have stumbled across a lost classic. Ambitious in his musical and thematic scope, Maus touches upon timeless subjects such as the conflict between the mind and body, unrequited love, death and eternity.
John Mausmyspace “We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves” (due April 2011)
Maus is undoubtedly an artist one would admire and any musician aspire to be. Besides having worked on is music project for years, Maus teaches at The University of Hawaii and went to Cal Arts. he’s worked with Panda Bear and Ariel Pink and has garnered tons of respect from both of them and the DIY music community at large. He releases his own stuff via Upset The Rhythm. Below is one track off his upcoming release and some old ones:
When Anna Domino left the Ottawa that was her adolescent home, she left for good. Of course, she was just Anne Taylor back in 1975, a kid getting out of high school and suburbia in the same shot, being dragged around the world by an itinerant mother who had given her birth in Japan, a childhood in Florence, and finally some turbulent high-school years in the second coldest capital city on the planet.
"I think I'm one of those people who just isn't at home," says Domino from her loft in New York, her base since the late '70s. "Because I moved around a lot as a kid there isn't any place that I can really go back to. This is a place that I've landed in, and it's as at-home as it's ever going to be."But even after she had fallen in love with New York, Europe and Crépuscule called. Her career was launched from Belgium in 1983 with a single called "Trust In Love," followed by the EP East And West, then a self-titled album in '86. They begged a bigger audience, but over the years in Crépuscule's "willingly negligent world," as one British weekly called it, Domino became best known for who she should have been: the next Sade, the next Suzanne Vega, the next Julee Cruise...
Still, if Anna Domino is the great lost '80s songstress, she still has an active career that's gearing up for phase two. After an imposed break since 1990's Mysteries Of America, as Crépuscule slowly dissolved, Domino came back late last year with a gorgeous collection of her hits, or rather, Favorite Songs from the Twilight Years: 1984-1990. The retrospective was released by Cargo's Janken Pon label, and Domino credits local imprint boss Kevin Komoda with kickstarting the project. She's also got an album of new material ready to go, and then there's her new band Snakefarm--essentially her same electroacoustic aesthetic applied to "traditional North American songs of murder, trains and she-won't-sleep-with-you-so-you-beat-her-up-and-throw-her-in-the-river."
Canada is getting Domino going again. She will perform in this country for the first time this week. "It feels so strange to be going up there to play now," says Anna. "I'm so happy about it, but at the same it seems like it should have happened a decade ago."
An interesting electronic album for those who prefer sound, etheral eightees pop.
Tracklisting:
01 Home
02 Pandora
03 Paris
04 Bonds Of Love
05 Isn't That So
06 Tamper With Time
07 Bead
08 "Oh Beautiful..."
09 Dust
Ariel Pink (born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg; June 24, 1978) is a Los Angeles-based recording artist who is sometimes associated with the freak folk and nostalgia pop scenes.
In December 2010, Pitchfork named "Round and Round" the number 1 song on their list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2010. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti have been chosen by Animal Collective to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they will curate in May 2011.
We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves track listing:
01. Streetlight
02. Quantum Leap
03. ...And The Rain
04. Hey Moon
05. Keep Pushing On
06. The Crucifix
07. Head for the Country
08. Cop Killer
09. Matter of Fact
10. We Can Breakthrough
11. Believer
Love is Real by John Maus was an understated gem from 2007, which reflected his love for gloomy lo-fi pop with a distinctly melancholy hue to it. It’s taken four years, but Maus finally has a follow-up record ready bearing the excellent title We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves.
The album will be released on the Ribbon Music label, which is a subsidiary of Domino, on June 28, and it’s being previewed by the track “Quantum Leap,” which you can hear in the Sound cloud clip below. Check out the full track listing below the audio file—can’t wait to hear the song “Cop Killer.”
JOHN MAUS lives in his birthplace of Austin, Minnesota. Whilst working towards his PhD in Political Science he also composes music that taps into melancholic fantasy and affirms that we are all truly alive. Questing synthesisers, tensely strung bass lines and chasing drum machines providing the perfect backdrop for John's deeply resonant reverb-drenched vocal. Born in the decade of synth pop and sharing his birthday with George Frideric Handel, John started making music when Nirvana posters went up on every teenager’s wall. It’s this curious conflux of influences that partially helps to describe John’s music. It’s a world where the Germs jam with Jerry Goldsmith, Cabaret Voltaire relocate to Eternia and Josquin des Prez writes a new score for RoboCop. The confrontation of punk, the fleeting poignancy of 80’s movie soundtracks, the insistent pulse of Moroder and the spirituality of Medieval and Baroque music all find salvation in John Maus.
John Maus’ debut album proper entitled ‘Songs’ was released in 2006. It was a record permeated with aching memories; a perfect testimony to lost romance and longing. It’s awe-inspired follow-up ‘Love Is Real’ (released on UTR, 2007) proved a more cohesive listen in terms of focus and emotional depth. Maus finally returned last year to the heavy snows of the Midwest to finish album number three, ‘We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves’, set for release this June.
This is the artwork for free track Quantum Leap which also appears on iTunes.
‘We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves’ breaks new ground for Maus. The shirt pulling and air punching of his impassioned live performance is finally captured in all its frenzied appeal alongside a tender inner space. ‘Pitiless Censors’ looks towards the future in all its absurdity. It’s a record where promise takes the lead for the first time, providing a counterpoint to John’s default existential calling. This is perhaps best shown with new track ‘Quantum Leap’ available through the link above and via iTunes as of now. ‘Quantum Leap’, a song full of dead zones, glancing slaps and oscillating solos. “Heart to heart, mind to mind, we are the ones who seem to travel through time,” intones Maus resolutely through the mist. John’s lyrics are as likely to touch upon themes of Cronenberg gore just as much as the musings of Jacques Rancière. It’s this no-brow approach that makes things interesting, casting Maus as a savant and allowing his music to startle us in ways whereby we open up to the unimaginable.
If that's wet your interest here's a list of John's impending live performances too at SXSW and throughout darkest Europe.
Throbbing Gristle is a British industrial music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions. The band consists of Genesis P-Orridge (bass, violin, vocals, vibraphone), Cosey Fanni Tutti (guitars, cornet, vocals), Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson (tapes, found sounds, horns, vibraphone, synthesizer), and Chris Carter (synthesizers, tapes, electronics).
Throbbing Gristle's confrontational live performances and use of often disturbing imagery, including pornography and photographs of Nazi concentration camps, gave the group a notorious reputation. However the group always maintained that their mission was to challenge and explore the darker and obsessive sides of the human condition rather than to make attractive music.
Throbbing Gristle pioneered the use of pre-recorded tape-based 'samples', and made extensive use of special effects to produce a distinctive, highly distorted background, usually accompanied by lyrics or spoken-word performances by Cosey Fanni Tutti or Genesis P-Orridge. Though they asserted they wanted to provoke their audience into thinking for themselves rather than pushing any specific agenda (as evidenced by the song "Don't Do As You're Told, Do As You Think" on Heathen Earth), Throbbing Gristle also frequently associated with the anarchist punk scene. They even appeared on the infamous Crass pamphlet Toxic Grafity, with a condensation of their own propaganda parody series, Industrial News.
In 1977 they released their debut single United/Zyklon B Zombie, followed by an album, Second Annual Report. Although pressed in a limited initial run of 786 copies on the band's own Industrial Records label, it was later re-released due to high demand on Mute records, however this later release was reversed with all tracks playing backwards and in reverse order. This was followed by a series of albums, singles and live performances over a four year period.
20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third full-length album by Throbbing Gristle.
I had once blogged about the Areola Treat ep. This is one female-fronted band I do like. Not simply because it is indeed female-fronted but because they come across as genuinely honest, not pretentious or trying too hard to replicate other 'in' artists you hear of nowadays, and have a genuine sensibility and technique I can relate to with respect to other types of music I have in my collection. And surprisingly underground! Sure hope they plan on keeping it that way. They're what I would call a no-fancy-nonsense, no-lacy-polish act, just meaningful, yet playful.
I am posting a live gig video that was taken by a fan, presumably. Whoever took it should really have got them from the front though, however,but no complaints seeing this is a better quality video of theirs I could find. On first listening, the vocals on the Areola Treat ep reminded me a hell of a lot of Siousxie and the Banshees, Patti Smith, Malaria, Hagen, Nico, sometimes hints of karen O, (although not really a fan) as well as some other interesting female artists I'd heard and loved. A band to watch out for and see live.
Jacqueline Taieb was born in Tunisia but raised in France. As a very young teen in the mid 60's, she recorded singles during the ultra-cool YeYe scene. Her biggest hit was "7 Hueres du Matin" which she also recorded in English as "7:00 AM". Garage Rock fans enjoy her because of the edgy use of guitar on this song and her hip cultural references to Paul McCartney, Elvis, Little Richard, and The Who. Here's a tribute I made homaging her, as well as Mod clothing designer Mary Quant and the Swinging London era.
The above information was taken off Blue Beat in My Soul
This album was one of the very first French, YeYe albums to thrust me wide-eyed into the beautiful, imaginary and yet so real Mod world. Not only is Jacqueline truly one of France's 1960's leading ladies of Ye Ye, she has been widely copied elsewhere in French spheres up until the present day, but also covered by other artists alike as well as appreciators of 60s French pop. Such artists include French model - turned singer Mareva Galanter.
Tracklisting:
01. 7 Heures Du Matin
02. Le Coeur Au Bout Des Doigts
03. La 1ère À Gauche
04. La Fac De Lettres
05. Bientot Tu L'oublieras
06. Juste Un Peu D'amour
07. Bienvenue Au Pays
08. Le Printemps A Paris
09. Maman Jusqu'ou Tu M'aimes
10. La Plus Belle Chanson
11. Petite Fille D'amour
12. On Roule À 160
13. Ce Soir Je M'en Vais
14. Bravo
15. 7am
More Images from Vinyl Releases of Heldon 6 / Interface
Click small images above to see larger versions.
Studio Album, released in 1978
Tracklisting:
1. Les soucoupes volantes vertes
2. Jet Girl: in New York or Paris, equivalent / in south Bronx
3. Bal-a-fou
4. Le fils des soucoupes volantes vertes
5. Interface
If you enjoyed my previous Heldon post, here's another great Progressive electronic one. This is the studio album, released in 1979.
Tracklisting:
1. Bolero
1 Apprehension
2 Bolero proprement dit
3 Recognition
4 Repetition
5 Rote Armee Fraktion
6 Production
7 Distribution
8 Deterrioration
2. Une Drole de Journee
3. Stand By
Heldon is a French electronic rock band created in 1974. The name of the band was taken from the 1972 novel The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. This is the studio album, released in 1976.
Like its predecessor Schizo, it is above all the group of guitarist Richard Pinhas who released a large number of albums under his own name.
He has worked with numerous collaborators, including musicians of the band Magma as well as philosophers such as Gilles Deleuze (of whom he was a student) and writers such as Norman Spinrad and Maurice Dantec (the Schizotrope project).
Influenced by the work of Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, the music of Richard Pinhas and Heldon is sui generis and innovative and has in its turn greatly influenced the field of electronic rock.
The first releases under the moniker Schizo and later Heldon were entirely self produced and self distributed.
Source: Wikipedia
Line-up / Musicians
- Richard Pinhas / Mellotron, 1954 Gibson Les Paul guitar, synthesizers (1-3,5)
- Michel Ettori / guitars, composition (4)
- Alain Bellaiche / bass (5)
- Gérard Prevost / bass (4)
- Patrick Gauthier / Minimoog (5)
- Philibert Rossi / Mellotron (1)
- Coco Roussel / drums, percussion (2,5)
Releases information
LP Disjuncta-Urus-00011 / LP Aural Explorer-AE 5001 / CD Spalax-14227-Fra / CD Cuneiform-Rune 60-Wor
Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition and to Joren for the last updates Tracklisting:
1. Perspective I (où commence le nihilisme actif) (10:26)
2. Perspective II (3:13)
3. Perspective III (Baader Meinhof Blues) (10:48)
4. Bassong (2:59)
5. Perspective IV: (21:45)
i Perspective IV (7:07)
ii Virgin Sweedish Blues (7:28)
iii Psylocybine (8:34)
Camera Obscura (Darkened Chamber) is the name of an experimental avant-garde music album recorded and released by Nico in 1985. It was produced by John Cale, marking their first studio collaboration since The End in 1974. It was Nico's final studio album before her death three years later.
Nico's vocal style is somewhat different from her prior records, with some songs bearing similarities to Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard. The jazz standard "My Funny Valentine", by contrast, has a more standard legato vocal style, despite her very deep contralto. Many of the tracks offer a refined version of the new wave gothic rock of her previous album, Drama in Exile. The album is dedicated to her then manager, Alan Wise.
Sonically, the album follows on from Drama of Exile in that Nico's core songs are given full band arrangements. Whereas Drama of Exile carried a strong North African influence and exotic, New Wave-inspired instrumentation, Camera Obscura makes use of synths and drum programming.
The album's oldest composition, "König," was originally recorded for Desertshore and re-recorded some fifteen years later for Camera Obscura. A version was included in the Philippe Garrel fim, La Cicatrice Intérieure (1972). John Cale reportedly wanted to produce the song with a more percussive, synth-based arrangement in keeping with the rest of the material, but Nico insisted it should be kept as a solo harmonium piece.
Another early song re-imagined for the recording sessions was "Tananore," which Nico had performed at a Cale concert in Marseille on April 12, 1975 and kept in her set ever since. Nico had incorporated "My Funny Valentine" into her set since February 1982. "My Heart Is Empty" and "Fearfully in Danger," meanwhile, had been set mainstays since her Library Theatre appearance in Manchester on June 16, 1983.
Nico performed songs from Camera Obscura up until her death, although there are no known performances of opening instrumental "Camera Obscura" or the song "Into the Arena."
Source: Wikipedia
This is truly one of my favourite albums by Nico. Few have had the ability to turn melancholy into pure art.
Tracklisting:
01. Camera obscura 02. Tananore 03. Win a few 04. My funny Valentine 05. Das lied von einsanen madchens 06. Fearfully in danger 07. My heart is empty 08. Into the arena 09. Konig
Einstürzende Neubauten (German pronunciation: [ˈaɪnˌʃtʏɐtsəndə ˈnɔʏˌbaʊtən], Collapsing New Buildings) is a German post-industrial band, originally from West Berlin, formed in 1980. The group currently comprises Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals, guitar, keyboard), Alexander Hacke (bass, guitar, vocals), N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments, percussion, vocals), Jochen Arbeit (guitar and vocals), and Rudolf Moser (custom-built instruments, percussion, and vocals).
One of their "trademarks" is the use of custom-built instruments, predominantly made out of scrap metal and building tools, and noises, in addition to standard musical instruments.
Source: Wikipedia
Along with Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, Germany's Einstürzende Neubauten ("collapsing new buildings" helped pioneer industrial music with an avant-garde mix of white-noise guitar drones, vocals verging on the unlistenable at times, and a clanging, rhythmic din produced by a percussion section consisting of construction materials, hand and power tools, and various metal objects.
Neubauten was founded by vocalist/guitarist Blixa Bargeld and percussionist and American expatriate N.U. Unruh in Berlin as a performance art collective; their early activities included a seemingly inexplicable half-naked appearance on the Berlin autobahn, where the duo spent some time beating on the sides of a hole in an overpass. The group's early lineup also included percussionists Beate Bartel and Gudrun Gut, plus contributor and sound engineer Alexander Van Borsig; their earliest recordings are mostly unstructured, free-form noise issued on various cassettes and singles, including their first single "Fuer den Untergang," the 1981 EP Schwarz, and the 1982 album Kollaps. Some of these recordings are compiled on the Strategies Against Architecture '80-'83 collection, with live shows on the cassette-only 2x4. Bartel and Gut were replaced by ex-Abwräts member F.M. Einheit (who served as Neubauten's chief machinery operator) in 1983, when guitarist and electronics expert Alexander Hacke and Abwräts bassist Mark Chung also joined. A tour of England opening for the Birthday Party resulted in a contract with Some Bizarre Records, which released the slightly more structured Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T., as well as consternation from club owners and journalists over Neubauten's stage demolitions and frequent ensuing violence.
When Nick Cave left the Birthday Party and formed his backing band the Bad Seeds, Bargeld became the guitarist and toured and recorded with Cave over most of the decade. He remained with Neubauten, however, which released Halber Mensch in 1986, showcasing its wider range of expression. The group disbanded briefly but soon re-formed, and have released albums off and on since then for Elektra, signing to Trent Reznor's Nothing label for 1998's Ende Neu. While Bargeld remains a Bad Seed, Van Borsig and Hacke contributed to the remainder of the Birthday Party's recordings as Crime & the City Solution. In May of 2000 Einstürzende Neubauten released the full-length Silence Is Sexy on Mute Records. Elektra reissued both Strategies Against Architecture compilations on CD, while most of the group's '80s albums remain available on the independent Thirsty Ear label.
Einstürzende Neubauten's first album, as one might imagine, is their most primitive and radical effort, the purest expression of their original aesthetic. This makes the album both historically significant and conceptually intriguing, of course, but what's most interesting about this album is that it still sounds surprising decades after its release. Often, albums that are considered extreme art statements upon their debut sound almost quaint a few years later, but while Kollaps perhaps sounds less extreme to ears that heard industrial music turned into disco pabulum by the likes of Nine Inch Nails than it did before, songs like the eight-minute title track and the rumbling live closer, "Negativ Nein," are still a fascinating blend of rhythm and random bashing, tonality and atonality, with anguished vocals by Blixa Bargeld that often seem to have little connection with anything else in the piece. The brief tracks, like the 80-second "Sehnsucht," are even more extreme explorations of pure noise. Starting as early as the next album, Einstürzende Neubauten would begin slowly introducing more mainstream musical concepts into their aesthetic, making Kollaps as undiluted a listening experience as there is in the entire catalog.
Source: From Taringa. http://www.taringa.net/posts/musica/897882/Einst_rzende-Neubauten---1981---Kollaps.html
