Other Music Update
April 12, 2000



In This Week's Update :

A.K. Klosowski/Pyrolator reissue
Elastica
Fall reissues
Luc Ferrari
Andre Almuro
UBSB Traceroute LP
Zusaan Kali Fasteau/Don Rafael Garrett
Piero Umiliani reissue
Lolita Storm
Moles reissue
Muslimgauze
Dafeldecker, Fussenegger & Kovacic
Eulenspygel
Jay Cloidt
Panacea
Smog

Restocks:
Dreamies at a domestic price!
Sun Ra on Actuel

Brand New:
Herman Nitsch box set
Chicks On Speed
Saint Etienne single


Featured New Releases :

A.K. KLOSOWSKI / PYROLATOR "Home Taping is Killing Music" (Ata Tak/Captain Trip, Japan) CD $16.99
RealAudio:
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RealAudio:
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A genuine landmark in modern music. One of the very first plunderphonic
sampling albums, recorded in 1984, and sounding easily as relevant today as
Etienne Charry (note the similarity between opening tracks!). A seamless
blend of rhythm tracks and tape collage, "Home Taping" blazes through
samples of Pharoah Sanders, The Stooges, Caruso, Barry White, Flying
Pickets, Navajo tribal chants, Mahler, Fletcher Henderson, Vietnamese and
Cambodian indigenous music, Hendrix, Coltrane, Bach, Louis Armstrong, Pete
Townsend, the Supremes, Morricone, The Platters, and that's just for
starters! Pyrolator was the pseudonym of Kurt Dahlke, the founder of the
Ata Tak label and Der Plan (Deutschland's answer to The Residents).
Captured here with the mysterious Mr. Klosowski, he really brings home the
funk in ways that John Oswald and Steven Stapleton could only dream of.
Reissue adds two bonus tracks. Highest recommendation. [JG]
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ELASTICA "The Menace" (Deceptive, UK) CD/2xLP $23.99/$23.99
RealAudio:
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"The Menace" is every bit as catchy and sly and sexy as their last
perforated slab of reconstructed-1978 punk and pop, the 1995 s/t CD which
ended up in so many sportscasts and ads. And Elastica haven't lost
anything. They've still got the vocal tradeoffs, pumped-up and frothing
guitars, window glass crunched under their Docs. Three of the original
members remain in the group (including singer Justine Frischmann), and
they've added a guitarist and two keyboard players for an unstable,
Hammond/Casio one-two punch that inflates the sound. "The Menace" shows
that they not only have learned how to incorporate all kinds of unusual
textures into a song, they've still got their nice sense of slow/fast
timing to boot. And, though they still do that Wire thing (hey, at least
they paid for the privilege last time), they're doing it well, and
branching out onto their own sound. 13 songs include the collaboration with
Mark E. Smith that was on their last EP, plus a (completely fun but
pandering) cover of Trio's 'Da Da Da'. Surprisingly, no U.S. labels have
snapped them up this time 'round. Why not? [RE]
CD
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LP  /perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=502128905751&refer_url=email

THE FALL "Early Fall 77-79" (Cog Sinister, UK) CD $19.99
RealAudio:
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This highly necessary reissue of this collection compiles early non-album
singles tracks and B-sides for an undiluted mainline dose of Mark E.
Smith's lyrical brilliance, matched reference-for-reference by musicians
who understood music above and (way) beyond punk rock. From the opening
strains of 'Repetition' (where Smith juxtaposes Jimmy Carter with Richard
Hell's 'Blank Generation'), we are introduced to a band possessing agility
without precedence. Loads of this material has cropped up on live records,
Peel sessions, etc.: 'Bingo Masters Breakout', 'Psycho Mafia', 'Rowche
Rumble', 'Fiery Jack', and 'Psykick Dancehall'. Augmented by the addition
of their two tracks from the long-deleted "Live At The Electric Circus '77"
10". So entirely of the moment and ultimately timeless that it's pretty
difficult to grasp in one sitting. Or twenty. They have continually defied
comprehension for nearly a quarter-century now. Highest recommendation.
[JG]
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THE FALL "Live 1977" (Cog Sinister, UK) CD $19.99
RealAudio:
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A rawer than raw, earlier than ever live document from Mark E. Smith's
personal tape collection, with appropriately crappy sound, still manages to
capture The Fall's dangerous energy in all its snotty glory. Fueled by
Smith's between song patter and sly Mancunian asides, this performance
literally gets the spit flying. Previously bootlegged or rumored tracks
like 'Dresden Dolls', 'Hey Fascist', 'Cop It' and their unique-ahh closing
cover of 'Louie Louie' (!) make their official debut. Expect peak levels
far beyond the primitive cassette recorder's capacity and occasional
dropouts, etc. Not for everyone, but, then again, The Fall never were. [JG]
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LUC FERRARI "Danses Organiques" (Elica, Italy) CD $14.99
RealAudio:
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This CD reissues a work originally realized in 1973, consisting of a
singular, lengthy (50 min.) journey of effects-laden speech and sound.
With sexual overtones that nearly rival Robert Ashley's provocative
"Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon," the voices here are both sensual and
haunting, and are interspersed with percussive rumbles, washed-out
electronics and buzzing drones. This work wanders--it's sometimes dense
and powerful, sometimes spacious and cerebral. The fragmented electronics,
percussive rhythmic loops, and tweaked sounds make this recording an
obvious crossover reference point for fans of modern day electronica--the
Autechre and Mego mindsets. "Danses Organiques" is a beautiful, damaged
work that is among Ferrari's best -- in fact, it may be his best work
currently in print. [PW]
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ANDRE ALMURO "De-Pli" (Elica, Italy) CD $14.99
RealAudio:
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First CD issue of music by this French composer, active since the mid-'40s
with the creation of the Mouvement Sentationniste. In his 35 years as a
producer for French Radio, Almuro has worked with the likes of Breton,
Cocteau, Genet, Casares, and Clementi. As a composer, he began studio work
in the '50s in partnership with Bernard Parmegiani, eventually joining
Pierre Schaeffer's Groupe Recherche Musicales upon its inception in 1958.
As an independent in the '60s, he released six albums of electroacoustic
compositions, including "Avec", collaboration with legendary Marxist
chanteuse Collette Magny. The first piece included here, "Le Troiseme Oeil"
(1991), was recorded as the soundtrack to a 28-minute film by Jean-Luc
Guionnet. It is a subtly evolving cosmic ambient piece that closely recalls
the work of Asmus Tietchens or Christoph Heeman's lengthier H.N.A.S.
constructions. Noisy waves and pulses collide and vie for resolution toward
a greater sonic unity within an electrically charged atmosphere. "Terrae
Incognitae" (1978) is a 36-minute live performance for concrete sound and
60-member chorus that captures a chilling organic blend of electronics and
human spirit. I see dead people! Finally, "Boomerang, Prelude" (1979) is a
cataclysmic 12-minute drone performed live among iron fences, road cones,
big standing mattresses and a whole tree hanging upside down. Despite the
14-year span between these recordings, they still sound remarkably of a
whole and utterly contemporary. [JG]
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UBSB TRACEROUTE (Ash Int'l, UK) LP $9.99
This thundering, impossible set of beats was made by trapping datastreams
at a Scandinavian high-bandwidth internet hub and converting the flood of
raw data into an analog sound form. You couldn't create these beats any
other way, whether you rode an 18-wheeled mountain bike over an amplified,
spiked rubber floor, equipped 500 mice with tap shoes, or suspended
yourself in a room lined with dot-matrix printers. A fierce, fantastic
musical moire that is not only transporting to listen to, it would be so
much fun to DJ with. [RE]
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ZUSAAN KALI FASTEAU & DON RAFAEL GARRETT "Memoirs of a Dream"
(Flying Note) 2xCD $21.99

RealAudio:
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Scenes from an improv marriage. This husband and wife duo were better known
as The Sea Ensemble, whose sole album "We Move Together" (1974) was one of
the few genuine highlights of ESP-Disk's post-60's output.
Multi-instrumentalist Garrett began in Chicago, working with Muhal Richard
Abrams during the founding of the AACM and appearing on early albums by
Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Dewey Redman. By 1965 he had become a fixture on
the San Francisco free-jazz scene, often performing in John Coltrane's
group on West Coast excursions and the albums "Om," "Kulu Se Mama,"
"Selflessness," and "Live In Seattle." In 1971 he began his collaboration
with the equally versatile Fasteau and the pair embarked on 14 years of
world travel and performance. This is essentially the second Sea Ensemble
album. Disc one, entitled "Streaming Love," was recorded in 1975. The two
lengthy compositions exhibit such intricate complexity, it's hard to
believe that it's the work of only two people. A study in extremes, from
playful to mournful, subdued to ecstatic and all points in between, a
musical examination of the genuine expressions in any real human
relationship. Disc two, entitled "Come From Deep," was recorded live in
1977. Imagine the Art Ensemble Of Chicago circa 1969 paired down to a duo,
and you're on the right track as Garrett and Fasteau (occasionally joined
by their very musical young puppy) sing scat and run through a staggering
array of instruments over the hour-long performance. On these recordings,
Rafael Garrett plays contrabass, B flat clarinet, sol clarinet, shakuhachi,
nai and kaval flutes, sheng, zurna, sanza, balfon, conch, and percussion.
Kali Fasteau performs on piano, cello, nai, shakuhachi and kaval flutes,
sol clarinet, cumbus tanbur, sheng, conch, sanza, moursin, and davul drums.
I wouldn't be able to tell you what most of these instruments are, but they
all sound fantastic. Highest recommendation. [JG]
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PIERO UMILIANI "Il Corpo" (Easy Tempo, Italy) CD/LP $15.99/$18.99
The 'Mah Na Mah Na' man returns with a reissue of the complete score for
this "Erotic! Exotic!" 1974 thriller. And it's a honey. Don't expect the
usual half-hour, one-theme soundtrack--it's 64 minutes long, and filled
with a variety of crisp and sinuous melodies. The orchestrations are very
much of the period and genre, with lots of wordless female vocals, guitar
pedal effects, snaky organ and vibe lines, and all kinds of percussion. Yet
there's a spaciousness here, a restraint, that makes what could have been
just another camp artifact into something inventive, exciting, even moving.
The fold-out booklet offers a mini-poster, liner notes in a kind of dada
English, and a photo of the Maestro, the film's director, smoky temptress
Zeudi Araya, and two great big striped congas. [AL]
CD
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LP  /perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=801999121050&refer_url=email

LOLITA STORM "Hot Lips Wet Pants/I Love Speed" (DHR, Germany) CD single $8.99
RealAudio:
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Very simply, DHR's answer to the power pout of X-Ray Spex, delivered at 5
times the speed, with gabber and shouting. It might not have the serious
qualities of Ms. Styrene, instead, LS know how to have Bijou Phillips-style
fun. Listening to this is like getting punched in the face repeatedly by
sharp and soft teenage-girl fists. Lolita Storm are chewing up the trail
behind Le Tigre and Chicks On Speed. 2 trax. [RE]
/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=501914862360&refer_url=email

MOLES "Untune the Sky" (Flydaddy) CD $13.99
RealAudio:
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A classic example of the perfect pop record. Recorded in 1991, the debut
album from the Moles has been OOP for a number of years. The Moles were
Richard Davies' band prior to his work with Cardinal and later solo albums.
While some of the songs lean towards the jangly pop style of Unrest, others
capture Davies in a crooning mode, somewhat akin to prime-period REM (with
an Australian accent)--although, in either case, the overall sound is more
carefully fuzzed-out. The Moles' approach compares nicely to the work of
their peers during this era, although the songwriting is unmistakably
Davies' own, easily rivaling any of his other releases. To sweeten the
ante, the Moles' double 7" "What's the New Mary Jane" is now tacked on the
end, adding four brilliant psych tunes that are the finest material the
Moles ever recorded. "Untune the Sky" is the album that you always expected
from Richard Davies--it just happens to be the first one he made. [PW]
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MUSLIMGAUZE "Baghdad" (Staalplaat, the Netherlands) CD $13.99
RealAudio:
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Opus #114 is yet another magnificent dubby, scuzzy excursion into Bryn
Jones' amazing underworld garden of sonic delights. Utilizing even more
reggae samples, found sounds, short-wave radio, and broadcast number
stations overlaid onto mantric tambura figures, "Baghdad" manages to sound
fresh and surprising throughout. Played in the shop on a Saturday, it was
amusing to note frequent queries of "Is this still Muslimgauze?" from clerk
and customer alike. Recorded sometime in 1998, this hour of power occupies
much of the harsher fuzzed-out terrain claimed by "Azzazin" and "Narcotic"
while retaining the melodic balance achieved on classics like "Zul'm" and
"Blue Mosque". Numbered, limited edition of 2000, with perhaps the most
beautiful digipak I've ever seen; sumptuous block foil calligraphic
elephant and moon of rainbow iridescent script laid over a blood-red
backdrop of a Middle Eastern landscape and then repeated on the disc
itself. Pounce! [JG]
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DAFELDECKER, FUSSENEGGER & KOVACIC "Printer" (Durian, Austria) CD $15.99
RealAudio:
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Splendid live performance recorded May 1999, featuring acoustic bassists
Werner Dafeldecker and Uli Fussenegger accompanied by turntablist Dieter
Kovacic. The 29-minute long title piece takes us inside a printer, where
repetitive improvisations mesh with the eternal drones of machinery as the
trio develop an astonishing repertoire of languages all their own. Each
player then follows with a solo composition. Mighty intense stuff. You will
believe a bass can fly! [JG]
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EULENSPYGEL "Ausschub" (Spiegelei/Garden Of Delights) CD $19.99
RealAudio:
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Their second album, recorded in 1972 at Abbey Road studios by the Zombie's
Rod Argent (!) continues the special magic I wrote about when reviewing
their debut "2": "brilliant, over-the-top, infuriating Kraut-psych in the
tradition of Floh De Cologne, Necronomicon, Out Of Focus, and Eiliff. A
sublime fusion of dual guitars, beyond-heavy keyboard, flute, and violin
blending into a ridiculous concoction of Teutonic folk culture,
pseudo-classical 'rock', and 'political' songwriting with strongly accented
(and, mercifully) native German lyrics. In short, just the kind of stuff
that throws our Duane into uncontrollable fits of laughter when played on
the sales floor here at Other Music. When the proto-Magma whoops and
hollers dovetail into rich veins of Black Sabbath riffery; when Ian
Anderson flute figures give over to organ fugues worthy of Deep Purple,
it's all over: love it, or trash it."--Me. Commencing with a 22-minute
political rock-opera, "Abfall" ("Trash"), Eulenspygel bemoans the plight of
German orphans and even visited a number of orphanages to research the
project. Now that's dedication! Toss in some raga and we're off to the
races! Superb reissue adds 7 bonus tracks, copious liner notes and band
photos (including obligatory Abbey Road crosswalk shot!). 71 minutes. [JG]
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JAY CLOIDT "Kole Kat Krush" (Starkland) CD $13.99
From the label that brought us all those wonderful Tod Dockstader reissues.
Fragments of the Nutcracker, Peter Gunn, The Beatles--Cloidt uses a barrage
of references. But he owes nothing to John Oswald or John Zorn. Instead,
Cloidt's games that excavate the 20th Century are take place as if in
spinning metal bowls, following simulated footsteps. His little etudes are
nervous, agitated compositions of swing, cuteness and occasionally, more.
Past that, his trio for manipulated cat, baby and auto sounds transcends
its winking reference points spectacularly. Finally, a solemn gesture of
warbling muffled timbres gives the CD necessary breathing room. Executed by
the Kronos Quartet, Paul Dresher Ensemble, and others. [RE]
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PANACEA "Brasilia" (Caipirinha) CD $13.99
RealAudio:
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Volume 4 in Caipirinha's Architettura series of CDs inspired by
architecture. I'm not sure how Panacea's truncated nearly
only-dogs-can-hear squeaks and grinding high-pitched drones have to
do with Niemeyer's gorgeous (if barely-functional) organic cityscapes.
Nonetheless, this CD contains a neat primer on the history of Brasilia, the
city planned in Brazil's heartland in the early '60s. Now I would imagine
an aural exploration of that city to consist of large, curving arcs of
sound, echoes that rebound as sound would across one of its empty plazas.
Instead, Panacea opts for illustrating the invisible life signs that pulse
through the air and beneath the ground of seemingly empty Brasilia--static
charges of aging phone lines, jammed airwave and radar signals overhead,
and thrums like tires on the 10-lane highways carved into beats, all while
he dices his own familiar techstep/drum and bass sounds into smaller and
smaller particles. Like Brasilia, the human presence is nearly nonexistent
in Panacea's art--no Brazilian music, and the only voices those lifted from
radio, heavily filtered and detached. An odd expression of a place that can
really only be described as surreal. [RE]
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SMOG "Songs of Devotion" (Drag City) CD/LP $13.99/$13.99
RealAudio:
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With rustic pipes and a neatly-ironed shirt, Bill Callahan is a freak
troubadour prowling the shopping plaza parking lots and family-style
restaurants for inspiration. His themes here run a little like Raymond
Carver short stories--the internal dialogues of suburban relationships,
infused with banality for banality's sake. Musically, he uses trios and
duos of musicians (a few from Tortoise) on guitar stabs, gentle piano that
climb to epic rock on a few peaks, like the languid, slithering rhythmic
mass that is 'Distance, or his run at trip-hop, 'Justice Aversion.' His
other best tracks are just him and a piano and/or synth, kept in time by
the most minimal drum machine ever. I can't figure out if this record is
gushing with sarcasm, or if there's not an inch of humor here. I think
keeping you guessing is a good thing. [RE]
CD
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LP  /perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=09999127401&refer_url=email


Restocks:

DREAMIES "s/t" ( Gear Fab) CD $13.99
RealAudio:
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A _quite_ unusual pop experience, now available at a domestic price! From
the liner notes: "Dreamies are music, speech and sounds from life combined
to create a surrealistic mental experience. The musical portions are unique
in as much as the only natural instrument is the acoustic guitar. All other
musical sounds are electronicially synthesized tone colors..." Besides the
long, filmlike collage aspect, the Dreamies album is also like getting one,
long song made up of vague and sunny psychedelic melodies, shot through
with fragments of political speech, weather patterns, television snippets
and electronic textures. Playing with sound in a fun way, they'll often
turn sounds on their head so you're not sure what is what. I'm sure the
Elephant Six bands have listened to Dreamies a LOT. A rare abstract concept
album, it remains extremely friendly and listenable all the way though, in
two 25-minute songs that NEVER get dull. Raved about by everyone who has
bought it here, from the Chemical Brothers to John Zorn (!). [RE]
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SUN RA "Solar Myth Approach Vols. 1 & 2" (BYG/Actuel/Charly) 2xCD $28.99
Back in stock after a month-long absence.
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And a few new titles we got in this afternoon (full reviews next week):

HERMANN NITSCH "Das 6-Tage-Spiel Des Orgien Mysterien Theaters"
(Organ of Corti) 8xCD box $129.99
Blood-soaked! Frightening!
/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=09999128572&refer_url=email

CHICKS ON SPEED "Will Save Us All" (Chicks on Speed) CD $24.99
RealAudio:
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Debut album following the already-deleted "Un-Releases" singles collection.
/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=71875299012&refer_url=email

SAINT ETIENNE "How We Used To Live" (Mantra, UK) CD $9.99
Brand new single from a forthcoming LP.
RealAudio:
/ramgen/othermusic/SaintEti.ram
/perl-bin/OM/CD_Add_To_Cart.cgi?sku=60900800532&refer_url=email 


This week's newsletter scribed by: Robin Edgerton [RE], Jeff Gibson [JG],
Andrew Leigh [AL], and Phil Waldorf [PW].


Thanks for reading.
-all of us at Other Music

15 E. 4th Street
New York, NY 10003