Ferocity of Practical Life: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Naked Diza Star (2006)

Les Rallizes Dénudés - End Of Heavy Groove (2006)

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Volcanic Performance (2008)

Friday, November 27, 2009

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - The Wisdom Prepared (1998)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

Just to throw you off, this one’s pretty much the opposite of its predecessor, A Little Longer Thus. Supremely loud, distorted and free-form guitar, bass and drum twine with no let-up all on one long, thick track—this time fully realized at the nearly full CD length of 75 minutes. It’s nothing less than another exhausting, expansive, galactic black napkin of unsurpassed density and absorbing power. No other band should ever even think about attempting something like this. Completely stunning, a must-listen for every fan of extreme music.

Catalog: TKCF-77021 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - A Death Never To Be Complete (1997)

Fushitsusha easily maintain their position as Earth’s most-deserving of your dollars with two 1997 full-length CDs on the Japanese major label Tokuma, which appeared simultaneously with the Keiji Haino solo CD Keeping On Breathing and the duets with Derek Bailey called Drawing Close, Attuning. Don’t worry, though. The fancy, well-lit office support hasn’t affected the band’s non-commercial approach one little bit. The result is just better recording quality—this time captured at Moat studio in London, November 1996.

“Just As I Told You” is a short intro with repeated bass and drum jolts and a quiet, warning guitar off in the distance that suddenly explodes into the spare, plodding drums and bass of “Though It Went So Well?” with guitarist Keiji Haino freely spackling the patented, slow-motion, sustained trance-scramble with supreme, effects pedal warehouse heaviness that only he is capable of imagining—let alone mustering. No one else has ever approached the rock band format even vaguely in this manner.

A quivering delicacy hovers about during the half-hour-long centerpiece “That Which Is Becoming To Me,” which also erupts into feedback-marked, guitar soul-wail after 14 minutes. The piece then clouds into more mild ambience again 10 minutes later. “Continue To Be” operates in a very similar artery with way mellow shimmer that volcanoes into additional giant feedback cereal after 10 minutes with the mix volume cranked way up for the last few seconds. Stark drum and bass pound hold together “A Death Never To Be Complete” as Haino alternately screeches his throat raw and offers blasts of trebly, overblown guitar. The disc closes with “Hermitage,” a quiet and melodic waft of pleasant pastries—a perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.

Catalog: TKCF-77014 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Mizutani 2 With Association Love Songs (2007)

| Avant-Garde | Folk-Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Noise Rock |

3xCDs of "Solo" Takashi Mizutani (I really don't know why the 'mizutani' albums are 'solo', because the whole band is playing). Well, another lo-fi psychedelic-folk album as the first 'mizutani'. Pretty cool. Disc 1 from '72-'75, Disc 2 from '80 and Disc 3 from '76. review coming later. more info at discogs.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-015 (Univive)
On Last.fm
Download

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - One More Night Tripper (2006)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Double Heads (2005)

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Purple Trap - The Wound That Was Given Birth To Must Be Bigger Than The Wound That Gave Birth (1995)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

This set was recorded live in London in 1994 and proves once again that Fushitsusha is among the most engaging improvising musicians currently breathing. Disc one opens with sky-scraping arcs of rocking, psychedelic guitar mangle intertwining through simple, plodding bass and drums on “Allurement” then shifts gears into abstract, improvisational fatness plus occasional sections of raw screaming with spare bass ’n’ drum stabs. “The Nameless One,” “Purple Maze,” and “Here, There” are all short blasts of quirky, overload-speckled improv. Disc one is closed out by a long ’n’ lovely wash of ghostly night blare on “Great Dizziness.”

“You Within Me” opens disc two with some steady rocking from the rhythm section as Keiji Haino splatters some deliriously scattered and beautiful electric guitar slabs and particles everywhere—way beyond belief. For fans of spontaneously-psyched free-rock, this is an absolute must-hear and is one of Fushitsusha’s best tracks ever. The proceedings slow up a bit on “Code” as the bass and drums barely move under a descending guitar line, eventually moving into more deep space exploration—only to end up rocking out hard at the end. “Overthrow” starts out with a few seconds of barre chord garage-rock then suddenly veers into another glacial bass and drum base on which Haino strews more of his noted gobs of feedback mic-tortured vocals. His guitar joins in after about eight minutes for some air-tangling displays of slop which segues back into the garage song, ending with another noise mangle.

Little or no editing has been done to these tapes—smatterings of applause, audience chatter and “getting ready” instrument sounds are all very audible—giving this release an authentic live feel. It’s the sixth album in the ongoing Fushitsusha saga and is totally essential.

Catalog: BFFP 124 (Blast First)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Pathetique (1994)

Like most of Keiji Haino’s cover artwork, Pathetique’s mini-LP-style gatefold jacket is covered top-to-bottom with dark ink on black paper, underscoring the immense depth of the ideas, emotions and sounds contained therein.

The CD opens with a stately, slowly descending pile of crunch chords and amp-whistle clocking in at a mere five minutes (the blink of a hummingbird’s eye in Haino’s universe), serving as a more-than-adequate intro to all the lost squall and splendor to follow. Track two’s supremely slop-o-guitar sound-shards chop and challenge and veer startingly into full-on destruction and modern psych passages that sear all synonyms. Song number three shifts repeatedly from an extremely catchy yet dissonant, descending, mantra-rock groove into more improvised, feedback bliss at all the “wrong” moments—which sounds so right. At well over 40 minutes, track four stretches out a solid ocean of electronic guitar distortion into one of those “timeless / infinite moments” Haino discussed when profiled in The Wire magazine.

Catalog: PSFD-50 (P.S.F. Records)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Monday, November 23, 2009

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Live II (1991)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

Rock music has been forced upon me for nearly 40 years now. Over that time, a lot of favorite bands and albums have, of course, come and gone. All of that changed when I heard this set by Fushitsusha in the early ’90s. It’s easily the most interesting, challenging, non-commercial, creative, soulful, heavy and outward-bound music made on an electric guitar that I’ve ever heard, and I seriously doubt that anything will be able to top it anytime soon. It just makes all other guitar music sound silly. Like the previous volume, Live II also comes housed in an all-black, mini-LP-style gatefold jacket, except the inner sleeves this time are non-CD-scratching white cloth and the booklet is just super-deluxe: small, striking, abstract line drawings and Japanese lyrics on ultra-textured black paper. Very nice, indeed. Keiji Haino must’ve got ahold of a few dozen more effects pedals, an overdrive unit, and a couple of additional full stacks since the first Live set was recorded, as Live II is far more abstract, wide-sounding and black-hole-bound than it’s predecessor. Plus, like 99% of Haino’s music, it’s all recorded live with no overdubs.

Opening up disc one, Godzilla stomps your city into a dusty pancake with supremely heavy, dissonant and overblown riff-damage that’s completely drowned in unrecognizably dense fuzz / psych arcs, exploding with electric sound-splinters that just obliterate you. Some of Keiji Haino’s most harsh vocal attack weaving through the din isn’t much more inviting. This mood is continued on the next song, although with somewhat less of the almost comical heaviness. Track three is marked by occasional sour note tinning with lost vocal murmurs and the most other-solar-system-sun-staring lead blisters imaginable. Avoiding cliché at every turn, Keiji Haino’s heavily-effected, other-planetly, aluminum guitar abstractions shrinkwrap your head, cram it into an oil drum and coax your mind out with the most beguiling, smelted space-winds.

Another very spare, four-note bass waft opens the next song, accompanied by quiet guitar plucks and beautifully piercing vocals. Eventually, gentle guitar arches and strums rise into a melodic, sky-reaching apex to a slow fade out. On track five, another simple bass and drum wobble is interjected by overloaded guitar blow and other moments of floating vocal quietudes, ending with a maelstrom of noise funnels. The disc is closed out with a very strange web of shrill, organ-like clouds floated along with more lost-planet vocalizations. Six tracks, 73 minutes of way unearthly soundwaves.

Disc two continues with seven tracks and 74 minutes of the Fushitsusha onslaught. Opening with a very quiet, simple, melancholy bass line with drum ’n’ cymbal washes, Keiji Haino gently splashes the most ethereal guitar chimes, eventually coalescing into rising volume with soft vocal wet naps. After opening with a twisted feedback festival, track two comes to a sudden stop then veers into an abstract area of the most intense guitar flail of all time: severe, reverbed ice curtains rain down all around and cut into your head like frozen glass slivers from all other dimensions—just unbelievable. Next, a very unusual (for Fushitsusha), fast-paced bass and drum section rapidly supports plenty of garbled grate-guitar that could easily propel your next aerobics class. The following two songs feature Keiji Haino solo on guitar and voice—track four sporting plenty of sour guitar aches plus vocal chants and five heading in a much more placid vein of singing with chiming electric notes.

Following that is a very thick, muted, bass-heavy noise tornado with super sore-throat vocals completely blowing your house to bits just before rocking out near the end—barely prepping you for what comes next. The set is nonchalantly capped off by the most mammoth garage-psych track slopped with the highest arcing lines of splintered guitar mangle ever to disturb an air molecule. As the bass and drums rock simply on, 1:48 is where the exhilaration really begins: just the most full-on, forehead eye-projected wail-breakload that completely destroys and constructs merely the best rock song of all time. When the guitar maelstrom rejoins the rhythm section at 12:58, it drives the biggest electric orgasm ever straight home—just before a few way dissonant, dying dinosaur breaths shudder everything to a halt.

Catalog: PSFD-15/16 (P.S.F. Records)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Live I (1989)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

Fushitsusha is Keiji Haino’s main line—his most prominent, best gift-giving, longest-running group and the vehicle voted most likely to simultaneously massage and damage the known universe of eardrums and cortexes. This album first appeared as a 2-LP on vinyl only back in 1989 and entered the Official Hall of Whispers quickly, only to top the list–along with the Taj Mahal Travellers–of the most desirable and unobtainable Japanese music artifacts in the years to come. Finally reissued as a 2-CD set at the end of 1997, a slightly wider swath of humanity has been offered the chance to shower in these dirty grooves. Stay nude. True to form, the reissue is housed in a mini-LP-style gatefold jacket approximating the original: completely black with just the band name written small in Japanese down the middle of the front cover and a small cross on the right panel inside. The paper inner sleeves and discs themselves are likewise soaked in “the combination of all colors.”

The first disc contains four tracks and 45 minutes of dirty, swamp sound—kicking off with some scuzzy blues rock held together by a slowly chugging rhythm guitar courtesy of Maki Miura, low-end bass power by Yasushi Ozawa, not to mention Jun Kosugi’s freely splacked drums on top of which Keiji Haino splays the most playful yet arcing guitar lines of loose abandon. The rocking out continues on track two, highlighted with some more sprightly guitar work—making way for the centerpiece: an incredibly pleasant and sparse realm of dream-levitation. It’s all supported by a very simple four-note bass line and an echoing side-guitar strum which Keiji Haino eases into with the most restrained lead guitar notes and soft, gentle singing imaginable. Eventually, Haino foreheads his guitar completely out of the realm of all known human considerations via unusual progressions, slop-o stalls and keening wails. He also busts out a rare harmonica bit on the closing song.

The four tracks on disc two take up a bit more time for a grand total of 52 minutes. Starting quietly with the most standard balladeering ever offered by this band, the first song really picks up when Keiji Haino sends his piercing, outer space guitar semi-circles soaring into the nether regions. On track two, dissonant rhythm-section jolts punctuated by plenty of feedback whine and piercing lead guitar lines plus a desperate vocal display later splay into an intense noise hurricane that could easily level South Carolina. Third up, Keiji Haino melds a very quiet, mild strum into a murky field of loud, obtuse, sour note-picking and back again. The set is completed with a stretching, 26-minute vista that switches back and forth several times between droning strums, faster stuttered rhythm sections with nice singing, not to mention plenty of very spare, beautiful balladry and lightness. The music on this release is easily the most pleasant and accessible ever made by Fushitsusha or Keiji Haino, making it by far the best place to start for the beginner.

Catalog: PSF-3/4 (P.S.F. Records)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Keiji Haino ( 灰野敬二 ) + Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) + Lost Aaraaff - Soul's True Love (1995)

This is quite a revelation: a 4-CD box set from 1995 chronicling the first decade of Keiji Haino’s career: from Lost Aaraaff in 1971 on through solo home recordings and eventually to the birth of an early version of Fushitsusha near the end of that decade.

Disc one contains 58 minutes of music featuring two long tracks of live mayhem from Keiji Haino’s very first group, the free-jazz-inspired Lost Aaraaff. The vocals / keyboards / drums approach here is very similar to their lone effort reissued by PSF, just way more lo-fi and obviously recorded live in front of a festival audience, as a few screams, shouts and catcalls are flung back toward the stage by the restless mob. But it’s no match for the hyperactive haunt-screech of Lost Aaraaff, as the trio offer their skittering, drifting, exploding, spontaneous wares to the Gods of cacophony. And the clouds nod in approval—never mind the audience.

Disc two is a solo Haino affair called Suite Reverberation that contains 12 tracks and 55 minutes of very personal, endearing, lo-fidelity bedroom sound. A very short spate of harmonica backed by indeterminate clacking and rustling sounds with mega tape hiss opens the disc; while a solemn organ punctuated by lots of silence and periodically accompanied by unknown high-pitched squeals takes up track two. On three, held horn notes hover with unknown string plucks. Appearing next is 47 seconds of solo, unaccompanied, incredibly high-pitched screams and screeches that could easily disturb, oh, just about anyone. Track five is largely comprised of motor-on-violin screech-torture with a lot of nice, muffled tube-humming. A long patch of mangled, sped-up tape chaos with fuzzy, mumbled vocals and a sheet of trebly noise make up track six. Seven is just a very short electric drone. A melodic recorder pipes a curious little tune on eight, as nine unveils simple, rhythmic plucking on acoustic string instruments. A long piece of improvised cello torture is featured on 10, as track 11 sports a lengthy array of mysterious, springing, tapping, rattling and muffled sounds. The disc is closed out with some dry, muffled knocks with subtle surface hiss. Confounding.

Haino goes it alone again on disc three, which is aptly called Forest Of Spirits and contains four long tracks and 73 minutes of simple, hypnotic music. Fading the disc in is a massive billow of supreme static-wash (that sounds a lot like the “before-the-music-starts” part of a million old, scratchy records playing at the same time) with hordes of distant, whistling ghostvoices—the perfectsoundtrack for your next graveyard camp-out. Track two is a lengthy dose of heavily reverbed violin screech, while three is filled with a similar feel of lonely horn calls ’n’ cries from the edge of a dead continent. Finishing the CD is a bristling, splintered cracker-grate of spackled noise electronics with infinite, chugging, low-end doze—punching the clock at nearly a half-hour-long and predating Merzbow by at least several years. Amazing.

The fourth and final disc documents the birth of Fushitsusha circa 1978, with four tracks and 68 minutes of early efforts. Amid some really prominent tape hiss, a flail of piercing guitar feedback, which is not nearly as dense as modern-day Fushitsusha, opens the disc, followed by a moment of dry strum then another splooge of spastic, rubbing, beating guitar molesting with squealing feedback all over; plus some vague percussion clatter in the background. This all ends abruptly as a more empty area of stomps, knocks and slight percussion takes over with spare, quirky guitar tangles. A momentary baby cry can also be heard way in the background—suggesting this was probably a live performance. On the second track, a skirmish of unknown scraping with rattling percussion precedes a sudden vocal explosion of hyperventillating, monkey-like screams. A very quiet, intense atmosphere is interrupted by a smack, followed by more moaning and screeching, as if Haino were being punished by the gods of eardrums.

Closing out these attacks and retreats are more incredibly hyperventillating screams, which seamlessly meld into an ultra-thick garble-field. Track three is mostly composed of some sort of strange, skittering, electronic sounds with panning noise blasts and soft vocals which segue into a gnarled collection of cries and screams. This then gives way to another helpin’ of electric guitar—first some simple string hits with piercing, squealing feedback, then a long series of held, sour notes interspersed with lots of clangorous mangling that sounds like an early version of a track from Watashi Dake? The electronic swirl reappears intermittently with some rudimentary drumming. Completing the CD is a real surprise treat: a suite of three mild, soothing songs with pleasantly strummed guitar and distant apparition singing, all backed by the most spare, primitive drum-splack you could imagine. This is the differentest Fushitsusha you’ve never heard.

Upon first holding this box in my hands, I was hoping to find a huge booklet of vintage photos and maybe even some English notes inside detailing Keiji Haino’s lost history. But upon opening it, I’m sorry to say, I found nothing of the sort–just four jewel cases, all with a black booklet sporting the same grey circle on the front, but each with a different three-panel fold-out photo of Keiji Haino in recent live performance. The photo inside disc two, Suite Reverberation, is by far the best–a close-up, toe-to-scalp shot of Haino playing guitar, head back, eyes closed in other-universe bliss–and should’ve actually been on the front of the box.

Unfortunately, details on the music in this set are very scant, containing just a blurb from the label explaining that these recordings spanned from Lost Aaraaff in 1971 to just before Haino’s first solo album Watashi Dake? in 1981. Only track titles are featured on these booklets and the only info on the box is all in Japanese printed on a small ribbon.

Catalog: Purple Trap (PT001-004)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
Keiji Haino on Last.fm
Fushitsusha on Last.fm
Lost Aaraaff on Last.fm
Download

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Sonic Youth - Sister (1987)

| Alternative Rock | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Indie Rock | Post-Punk |

Sonic Youth were one of the most unlikely success stories of underground American rock in the '80s. Where contemporaries R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü were fairly conventional in terms of song structure and melody, Sonic Youth began their career by abandoning any pretense of traditional rock & roll conventions. Borrowing heavily from the free-form noise experimentalism of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and melding it with a performance art aesthetic borrowed from the New York post-punk avant-garde, Sonic Youth redefined what noise meant within rock & roll. Sonic Youth rarely rocked, though they were inspired directly by hardcore punk, post-punk, and no wave. Instead, their dissonance, feedback, and alternate tunings created a new sonic landscape, one that redefined what rock guitar could do.

Sister is a nihilistic, distorted, noisy record. There's absolutely no doubt about it. The guitars spike through the mix like a rusty knife, creating some cacophony of melodic noise. The overall tone of the album is extremely warm, due to the fact that (smart) people still used analog tape in 1987. Right, so you know it's nosiy. It's Sonic Youth, for God's sake. Mixed in with all this "damn noise!" are heavy doses of liquid, chorused, melody. Songs like "Schizophrenia" and "Beauty Lies in the Eye" are eerie, beautiful pieces of music. Both songs are enveloped in waves of melody and harmony, and show the ideal that 'noise' can be coupled with melody to form something magnificent. Other songs, like "Tuff Gnarl," the industrial-esque "Pacific Coast Highway," or the slow, droning "Cotton Crown" are schizophrenic in their approach. The songs teater back and forth, eventually falling off into a pit of noise, or melody. On "Tuff Gnarl" especially, Sonic Youth provides one of their most hair-raising songs, with melodic bass and guitar lines, covered over in a blanket of fuzz. "Master-Dik" provides a somewhat 'different' ending to the album. The song features Thurston 'rapping', with spiralling, chaotic noise. Kiss samples are repeated over and over, and add a sort of, cynical, feel, I guess you could say. Think The Smiths anti-ending "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others," done Sonic Youth-style. And a lot funnier.

So, like, gag me with a spoon! Sister is up there as one of the best Sonic Youth albums. The record itself feels very dark, and you can easily feel it brooding, constantly. I guess you could say that Sonic Youth let it all out on Daydream Nation, and that Sister was just the volcano's base stretching. All of the songs here are class, and I can't find anything wrong with them. They represent what Sonic Youth do best, that being artfully, and cleverly combining noise and the 'avant-garde' and somewhat-conventional song structures and melodies. "There's something in the air, that makes you go insane", Kim Gordon sings, and that's what Sister is, well.. kind of.

Album Overview on SputnikMusic
On Last.fm
Download

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Keiji Haino ( 灰野敬二 ) - Interview by Alan Cummings

Read It At Halana Magazine

Friday, November 13, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - '77 Live (1991)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

This must be LRD's masterpiece and maybe the ultimate record from the Japanese psychedelic-noise rock underground. '77 Live is a massive double-album of intense feedback, huge distortion, large reverb, cold vocals, powerful bass, drowning psychedelic rhythms and experimentalism everywhere. Completely stunning. Although it has only long tracks filled with lots of improvisation, none of the them gets dragged out, and you don't lose contact to the song's structure. Maybe because of the bass repetitive strong lines that keeps the songs on both feet, the tracks never get lost in their experimentalism. And that's perhaps one of the most incredible parts of " '77 Live".

The album opens with the astonishing Enter the Mirror, that mixes Experimental Folk with Psychedelic-Noise Rock in a unique way. Followed by the breathtaking Night of the Assassins, a fast and loud song, that runs like a giant and furious tsunami of feedback. My favorite from this album. Following the same path we have the overwhelming Flames of Ice, a little slower than its precedent, but heavier. Then we have another folk-noise-rock style song on A Memory Is Far, and though this one isn't as good as Enter the Mirror, it's still a extraordinary song. Deeper than Night is another heavy song, wondrous everywhere. Then we have the unearthly, devastating, stunning Night Harvesters. Besides being the shorter with only 8min, it's the rawest, fastest, destroy-est track from this album. A terrific song, if it wasn't for Night of the Assassins, this would be my favorite. And the album ends with The Last One, a giant stunning 21min monster, with the guitar screaming as loud as your headphone can bear (or not).

This album is beyond perfection. It's flawed, raw, but heart-stirring and mind-blowing as no other album can be. This is a diamond. A rough diamond, but a huge and outstanding diamond. A unique record.

Catalog: SIXE-0400 (Rivista Inc.)
On Last.fm

Download (mp3 192kbps)
Download (mp3 V0 320kbps)
Covers and Images

thanks to Gentleman Norman Kirkpatrick for the Flac and the scans (you can find it here)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Great White Wonder (2006)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Folk-Rock |

Great White Wonder is one of the few LRD's official albums, released under Mizutani's label, Univive. Released in 2006, it consists of 3 Live concerts, divided in 3 CDs, being:
- Disc One: 13 July, 1974 at Hebon Bldg, Meiji Gakuin Daigaku
- Disc Two: 1 October 1975 at Adan, Shibuya
- Disc Three: 22 July 1977 at Nichifutsu Kaikan (Maison Franco-Japonaise), Tokyo.
As one can see, this album ranges LRD's golden time. They're sharp, violent, furious and as loud as only seen on the '77 Live.

The first CD is perhaps the most noisy in here. Blasting guitar feedback, heavy bass lines and mad drumming. Exactly what one would expect from a LRD great live performance. The highlights are the both Romance of the Black Grief and the rarely-performed Inside Heart. The final track, The Last One, is the longest in the whole cd, and it is heavy, devious and strong. 20min of fiendish guitar noise, crusher bass lines and some, uncommon, shouted vocals.

The second CD is what I'd call ' the most experimental'. It's half of mind-blowing fast psychedelic-noise, especially on Field of Artificial Flowers, and half of the good psychexperimental-folk the Rallizes are fond to, as on White Awakening and A Memory Is Far. The Live closes with an improvised short track.

The Third CD is my favorite, and is for sure one of the bests performances of LRD ever. The guitar is loud, the feedback is shredding, the drums are obliterating, the vocals are cold, distant and mad and the bass is hell heavy. The only weak point in it, is that sometimes the rhythm gets lost in a huge wave of overdrive and echo, but that is exactly why i love this performance. The songs are strong even when they feel exhausted, and the Rallizes manage to blow out giant and overwhelming tsunamis of sound even when they seem to be lost in their own hurricane. Dream, Night of the Assassins and Field of Artificial Flowers are performed with complete perfection. Night Harvesters is a torrential tornado of pure destruction, and Flames Of Ice is a giant and devouring piece of explosives just ready to blow your brain right to the wall. The album then closes with another piece of awesome psychexperimental-folk, soothing the listener's mind later with a drone of feedback and some lacking notes before fading in a haze of quiet and soft noise.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-008 (Univive)
On Last.fm
Download

Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)

| Shoegaze | Dream Pop | Alternative Rock |

Imagine the greatest hit you ever took. Now imagine that hit was transposed into a musical puff of the cheeb. Pretty much right there, you have Slowdive's "Alison" off their 1993 shoegaze work of art, Souvlaki. Blending dreamy pop melodies with fuzzy tremolo guitar static, Slowdive is one of the greatest contenders for acknowledgement as "the shoegaze band that's not My Bloody Valentine". In all fairness, the acute level of success Slowdive were able to fashion for themselves could not have been possible without Loveless. That monumental masterpiece still stands today as the only shoegaze album that mattered, and for good reason, as it's one of the undisputed classics of life. Slowdive even borrows some of the elements that made My Bloody Valentine so terrific, such as a chick-and-dude vocal approach and maintaining a poppy style for each of their tracks. But let it be known; Slowdive are not copies of My Bloody Valentine. As their lovely critically acclaimed Souvlaki displays, Slowdive's approach towards Shoegaze is focused more on melody and song construction, whereas Loveless was prone to drift into blissful drones that while being very repetetive, were hypnotizingly beautiful. Both band's approaches to the genre are smart and beautiful in their own way, but whereas My Bloody Valentine was more experimental in approach, Slowdive truly made a pop album in verse-chorus-verse mentality. It makes Souvlaki a more digestable album than Loveless at first, and maybe if you're just crazy enough, a better one.

Upon first listen, it's clear to see that Slowdive aren't trying to win anyone over with anything other than their songwriting. A lack of instrumental flare or any displays of musical virtuousity is noticeable throughout Souvlaki, leaving lots of pressure on the vocals to be damn impressive. Fortunately, they deliver. Vocalist/guitarist Neil Halstead's breezy sigh and female vocalist/guitarist Rachel Goswell's lazily angelic voice are two great tastes that taste great together, as Slowdive's best work comes when Halstead and Goswell sing together like two too-high-to-*** lovers. The aforementioned "Alison" showcases that exact vocal feel, both melodically and lyrically, as Halstead and Goswell breathe in eachother's ears "Alison, I said we're sinking/ there's nothing here but that's okay/ Outside your room, your only sister's spinning/ but she lies. Tells me she's just fine/ I guess she's out there somewhere." While this is going on, the guitars bleed high notes with an almost synthy feel, only adding to the dream-like effect Halstead and Goswell's reverb-heavy vocals create. From this point, Halstead and Goswell get some of their own songs to work on, but undeniably, their greatest strength as an individual is the other person.

It's that strength that lends itself to songs like the ridiculously awesome "When the Sun Hits", in which Halstead and Goswell concot a mesmerizing melody, only to turn it heartwrenching when a choir appears for a few brief seconds; but those seconds linger in your spine until the choir returns for a reprise. It's impossible to discern what the massive choir is saying, but what they're saying seems inconsequential, the same way what those massive dramatic-moment movie-choirs are saying is inconsequential. The point is, you know it's emotional, but you don't know why. The aural spine tingling of "When the Sun Hits" doesn't show up again on Souvlaki, but that doesn't stop most of the album from being pretty darn good. Souvlaki's stronger songs work on both ends of the spectrum, the first being the enormous, spacey feel of "When the Sun Hits" and "Alison", the other's being far more subtle, as the most obvious trek into minimalism also is arguably the best song on the album. "Dagger", the album closer (the four songs listed after "Dagger" aren't on the original album, and thus feel like an epilogue to "Dagger"'s final chapter), uses goth-ish lyrics and haunting harmonies to score a shoegaze acoustic gem to rival "Sometimes". Halstead croons, very seriously, very eerily, "The sunshine girl is sleeping/ She falls and dreams alone/ And me I am her dagger/ To numb to feel her pain". It sounds like a harsh, stereotypical emokid lyric, but it's somehow poignantly honest, and the harmonies Halstead puts over himself when he sings the chorus only add to the beauty. The haunting of "Dagger" isn't exactly replicated, but traces of it are found on the spacey "Melon Yellow" and the Goswell showcase "Sing", in which she sings the title lyric with such a piercing falsetto after about 90 seconds of a monotone drone, it's hair-raising. The credit here goes to the songwriting of Halstead and Goswell, who prove multiple times that they can write one effin' good song, when they've got the inspiration. When they don't, you can see where the weak points in Souvlaki lay.

As noted before, the lack of instrumental flare puts the pressure on the songs themselves, and not all the tracks on Souvlaki are killers. For the most part, the weak moments occur at the ballads of the album. The Halstead solo number "Altogether" sounds like it's meant to be a slower, dreamier "With a Little Help From My Friends", but instead doubles in cheesiness and an uninspired melody leaves the song sounding bland, despite the best efforts of chorus handclaps. "Altogether" stands as the only truly bad song, but weaker moments are definitely there, especially when they sit right next to the good songs. "Souvlaki Space Station", the track before "When the Sun Hits", stands solidly by itself, but all memory of the tune is obliterated when it's followed by pure awesomeness. Similarly, the standard sounding "40 Days" is an okay song, but it's a letdown after the strong start of "Alison" and the melancholy sliding of "Machine Gun". It's these letdowns that prevent Souvlaki from being a classic album to stand up against Loveless, but doesn't prevent it from being a very good album. As a whole, Souvlaki is marvelously composed work of shoegaze, dreamily spacey, blissfully droning, and makes a very strong case for being the second most essential Shoegaze album. The recommendation here is kick back with your friends, put this on, and enjoy a Dutchie. You know Slowdive did.

Album Overview on SputnikMusic
On Last.fm
Download

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Keiji Haino ( 灰野敬二 ) - Nijiumu (1990)

| Avant-Garde | Experimental Rock | Noise |
| Experimental Percussion |

Nijiumu is the first release of Haino's solo career after the '81 Watashi Dake? (it has nothing to do with his side-project band Nijiumu). A dark, airy, struggling and terrorizing record. Everything sounds in place, and at the same time, completely disjoint. His voice, the feedback, the guitar, the crashes and thunders of some distant percussion, and even a haunted piano (perfomed by Takafumi Matsuoka) is unified and dissolved into a ominous sinister atmosphere.

Comprised of one 54-minute track, Nijiumu hovers seamlessly from light, tinkling sounds and whispers to piercing shrieks and droning electronics to metal-object improv clatter and tapping guitar ambience—creating a nearly empty, dark state of dream awareness. There’s a section somewhere in the middle of it all where the held vocals and floating strings wail together in an amazing, sustained climax. Unbelievable.

Catalog: PSFD-7 (P.S.F. Records)
Album overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Tachikawa December 17th 1976

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock |

Tachikawa December 17th 1976, as the name suggests, is another unofficial Live album by the avant-garde rock band, Les Rallizes Dénudés. This is a pretty clear record of LRD at their bests days. Distortion is low and controlled and there are no errors with the recording, what makes this a very non-standard album. Besides, they are loud and noisy enough, and this time, as psychedelic as never. Also, this is another short set: 5 songs, ~81min.

The live opens with a short version of White Awakening. Lots of shifts through bastard overdrive and quite-clean chorus 'til the second, Flames Of Ice. This is were the album really gets full throttle. Loud and hypnotic bass, crashing drums, cold vocals, all soaked into a dense fluid of loud, full of effect and distortion, blasting guitar sounds. Angel and Heatwave keep the furious-soothing atmosphere of this record, all documented with a very decent (and uncommon) clean taping. Dream is a beautiful closer song, that makes all of this double-worthy.

Catalog: unknown
On Last.fm
Download

My Bloody Valentine - Ecstasy And Wine (1989)

| Dream Pop | Shoegaze | Alternative Rock | Post-Punk | Noise Rock |

Before Kevin Shields was a guitar god, before Isn't Anything and Loveless became seminal classics, My Bloody Valentine were a struggling goth band trying to find their place in the music scene. When they disposed of their original singer, they started moving toward Cocteau Twins territory, using guitarist Bilinda Butcher's airy voice to redefine their image. Ecstasy and Wine, which combines the two EPs that came before Isn't Anything, is the sound of a band discovering its unique voice.

"Strawberry Wine" is a gorgeous pop gem, with Shields and Butcher exploring the guitar landscapes that would later become their trademark. Both "Can I Touch You" and "Clair" are rare examples of My Bloody Valentine's talent for making swaggering hard rock ditties. "The Things I Miss" is clearly a presage of the guitar shimmering and glimmering found on Isn't Anything. Although a few of the songs lean toward the pop/rock of the Jesus and Mary Chain, it is quite amazing how even at this stage they seemed to understand the sound that would make them unique. Fans of the band will find this album essential, and even curious onlookers may find themselves drawn in by the gorgeous sound of one of the most unique bands in rock history.

(Ecstasy And Wine is a compilation, consisting of their '87 EPs: Strawberry Wine; and Ecstasy)

Album Overview on Allmusic
On Last.fm
Download

Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Gerogerigegege - Senzuri Champion (1987)

| Harsh Noise | Noise-Punk |
| Japanese Ultra Shit Band |

Senzuri Champion is perhaps the Gerogerigegege first LP release. Some might call it their 'debut', though they had already released a bunch of cassettes by the time this LP came out. The cover of Senzuri Champion features an old man looking at a display of Japanese porno magazines, somewhere in the streets of Japan. Surprisingly, the magazines feature female nudity, a theme that Juntaro would be sure to drop in future releases. The back cover simply features a plain text track listing.

The first track on Side A, "Introduction", is simply an outdoor recording of some wind chimes. You can even heard Juntaro rattle the tape recorder in some parts.
The second track on Side A is titled "Violence Onanie", yet it is completely different from the track off the Singles 1985-1993 CD. It is one long track of harsh noise, with some screaming in various parts. It sort of reminds me of Senzuri Power Up, but the track doesn't sound like any instruments were used, leaving me to guess that maybe Juntaro used pedals to create the noise (in the 20 page booklet of the "Night" 7 inch special version, there's a picture of Juntaro's pedal setup, so it's possible pedals were used for this track).
The third track on Side A are the Gero hits "Rock 'N Roll" and "Dutch Wife ABC". A few seconds prior to these songs though, is a monumental moment in noisemaking. That's right, the first recorded appearance of SENZURI!!! It can't be more than 3 seconds long, but you can hear Gero 30 fapping and panting away. The two songs are the exact same versions that appear on the Senzuri Fight Back 7 inch, in fact the tail end of the track "Senzuri Fight Back" starts off the track.
The fourth and final track on Side A is another Gero classic, "Anal Beethoven". This track is kind of weird. It's the same version off of Senzuri Power Up, but it starts off in one channel, and then a few seconds later it begins in the other channel, creating a slightly delayed stereo effect. It abruptly ends the side of the record.

The first track on Side B, "I'm Herpes, Yes I Am" is actually a longer version of the track "Kosei" off the Kitanomaru Hyakkei 7 inch. It consists of a slow distorted dance type beat with what sounds like a recording of people talking in a public place (the talking is loud and boisterous).
The second track on Side B, "Absolute Rape Beat", isn't like any other Gero track I've heard. It sounds like a pulsating sine wave with weeeee's and bleeps and other noise over it. I don't know any other way to describe it.
The final track on the album is the epic "Senzuri Champion". A little hint of what this track contains is given on the Singles CD, yet this track contains some differences. For instance, there are no backwards loops or sounds. It basically consists of masturbation, drums playing, and some piano. One must wonder if the drum sounds are taken from one of the "Drum solo by Gero 56".

Like all Gero releases, this record has some good parts and some bad parts, but also like all Gero releases, it definitely unique in it's own way.

Catalog: V-001 (Vis A Vis Audio Arts)
Album overview on Artnotart
On Last.fm
Download

Friday, November 6, 2009

Keiji Haino ( 灰野敬二 ) - Sruthi Box (1997)

| Avant-Garde | Experimental Sruthi Box | Noise |
| Drone |

Sruthi Box (sometimes written as 'Shruti') is a rare three-inch CD given away by Japanese major label Tokuma at local record store chain Disk Union and PSF’s Modern Music shop to anyone who bought all four of the Keiji Haino / Fushitsusha-related Tokuma CDs released in April 1997 (Keeping on Breathing, Drawing Close, Attuning, A Death Never to Be Complete, The Time is Nigh) at the same time. It features Haino singing and playing sruthi box.

Mostly an act of noise-drone, Shruti Box sounds a little like his hurdy-gurdy works, though not as violent or experimental.

Catalog: PSJF-9704 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

Keiji Haino ( 灰野敬二 ) - Keeping On Breathing (1997)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

For his umpteenth solo CD, Haino offers up yet another guitar and voice affair—again all recorded live with no overdubs. This time, we’re on a major label, but that sure hasn’t affected Haino’s approach at all, as this easily sounds like it could’ve came out on PSF years ago. Sometimes bent folk strums with gentle, beautiful vocals effortlessly merge into lengthy feedback juggernauts as other low-moaned words float pensively behind massive curtains of unruly amp sound-dust. Haino’s solo albums certainly don’t sound like anyone else’s solo albums, and while some of his other CDs feature one track drifting on for 45 minutes or more, Keeping On Breathing is 73 minutes long, nicely broken up into seven “shorter” tracks. This album's atmosphere can easily reminds one of his Fushitsusha works, but skinned alive to only guitar and voice. Though this's not as inflammatory as with the rest of Fushitsusha, Haino still manages to sound like a monster, a devil, a wizard on the guitar.

Some choice words from “Wafting”: “I’m floating / wafting / much further down than before / a place where no one wants to go.” From “Here”: “Even saying there is nothing / is a lie / only saying that everything ‘is’ / is permitted.”

Catalog: TKCF-77016 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album overview on Arcane Candy
On Last.fm
Download

The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)

| Hard Rock | Protopunk | Glam Rock | Punk Rock |

In 1972, the Stooges were near the point of collapse when David Bowie's management team, MainMan, took a chance on the band at Bowie's behest. By this point, guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy's new guitar mangler; Asheton rejoined the band shortly before recording commenced on Raw Power, but was forced to play second fiddle to Williamson as bassist. By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs -- though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump.

From a technical standpoint, Williamson was a more gifted guitar player than Asheton (not that that was ever the point), but his sheets of metallic fuzz were still more basic (and punishing) than what anyone was used to in 1973, while Ron Asheton played his bass like a weapon of revenge, and his brother Scott Asheton remained a powerhouse behind the drums. But the most remarkable change came from the singer; Raw Power revealed Iggy as a howling, smirking, lunatic genius. Whether quietly brooding ("Gimme Danger") or inviting the apocalypse ("Search and Destroy"), Iggy had never sounded quite so focused as he did here, and his lyrics displayed an intensity that was more than a bit disquieting.

In many ways, almost all Raw Power has in common with the two Stooges albums that preceded it is its primal sound, but while the Stooges once sounded like the wildest (and weirdest) gang in town, Raw Power found them heavily armed and ready to destroy the world -- that is, if they didn't destroy themselves first.

Album Overview on AllMusic
On Last.fm
Download

The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)

| Garage Rock | Protopunk | Punk Rock | Hard Rock |

While the Stooges had a few obvious points of influence -- the swagger of the early Rolling Stones, the horny pound of the Troggs, the fuzztone sneer of a thousand teenage garage bands, and the Velvet Underground's experimental eagerness to leap into the void -- they didn't really sound like anyone else around when their first album hit the streets in 1969. It's hard to say if Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Dave Alexander, and the man then known as Iggy Stooge were capable of making anything more sophisticated than this, but if they were, they weren't letting on, and the best moments of this record document the blithering inarticulate fury of the post-adolescent id.

Ron Asheton's guitar runs (fortified with bracing use of fuzztone and wah-wah) are so brutal and concise they achieve a naïve genius, while Scott Asheton's proto-Bo Diddley drums and Dave Alexander's solid bass stomp these tunes into submission with a force that inspires awe. And Iggy's vividly blank vocals fill the "so what?" shrug of a thousand teenagers with a wealth of palpable arrogance and wondrous confusion. One of the problems with being a trailblazing pioneer is making yourself understood to others, and while John Cale seemed sympathetic to what the band was doing, he didn't appear to quite get it, and as a result he made a physically powerful band sound a bit sluggish on tape. But "1969," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "Real Cool Time," "No Fun," and other classic rippers are on board, and one listen reveals why they became clarion calls in the punk rock revolution.

Part of the fun of The Stooges is, then as now, the band managed the difficult feat of sounding ahead of their time and entirely out of their time, all at once.

Album Overview on AllMusic
On Last.fm
Download

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Stooges - Fun House (1970)

| Hard Rock | Protopunk | Garage Rock | Punk Rock |

The Stooges' first album was produced by a classically trained composer; their second was supervised by the former keyboard player with the Kingsmen, and if that didn't make all the difference, it at least indicates why Fun House was a step in the right direction. Producer Don Gallucci took the approach that the Stooges were a powerhouse live band, and their best bet was to recreate the band's live set with as little fuss as possible. As a result, the production on Fun House bears some resemblance to the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" -- the sound is smeary and bleeds all over the place, but it packs the low-tech wallop of a concert pumped through a big PA, bursting with energy and immediacy.

The Stooges were also a much stronger band this time out; Ron Asheton's blazing minimalist guitar gained little in the way of technique since The Stooges, but his confidence had grown by a quantum leap as he summoned forth the sounds that would make him the hero of proto-punk guitarists everywhere, and the brutal pound of drummer Scott Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had grown to heavyweight champion status. And Fun House is where Iggy Pop's mad genius first reached its full flower; what was a sneer on the band's debut had grown into the roar of a caged animal desperate for release, and his rants were far more passionate and compelling than what he had served up before. The Stooges may have had more "hits," but Fun House has stronger songs, including the garage raver to end all garage ravers in "Loose," the primal scream of "1970," and the apocalyptic anarchy of "L.A. Blues."

Fun House is the ideal document of the Stooges at their raw, sweaty, howling peak. One of the bests albums ever.

Album Overview on AllMusic
On Last.fm
Download

Monday, November 2, 2009

Enno Velthuys - Ontmoeting (1982)

| Ambient | Synth-Electronic |

This is the first record by the dutch ambient-musician Enno Velthuys. Ontmoeting ('meeting', on English) shows the early Enno, without completely achieving his musical mastering. It sounds like he's still searching for his own sound, in the middle of all this mix of ambient and synth-leaded music. Although, it sounds incredibly fine, and is one of my favourites ambient works from the '80s.

Catalog: KK 020 (Kubus Kassettes)
On Last.fm
Download

George Garside - New Land (1986)

| Ambient | Synth-Electronic |

New Land, released one year before his final work Mind Over Matter, is George's biggest affair to ambient music. His characteristic use of synths, as seen on Oasis and further on Mind Over Matter, is still present, but in this one, he explores further the Ambient Music lands. Though I like his other albums as well, New Land is for me his best record.

His longest work so far, New Land holds in hands 11 highly atmospheric tracks. Tranquil Dominion, New Land, Amnesty and Tides are my picks from this album, though the whole is satisfying and delightful to hear. Dawn is also an outstanding: my favorite, in spite of being the shortest ambient matter he ever produced, it's enthralling enough to be ever notable.

Catalog: GAR 02 (George Garside Self-released)
On Last.fm
Download