The Sound Projector

In my hands I hold the second release by Ros Bobos, called Unchartered Universal Euphoria (NO NUMBER CD, 2006). He appears to be one Andrew Hannah from New Hampshire, a part of New England sitting pretty on the Massachusetts border. I received his earlier release many years ago in the late 1990s, and a most delightfully befuddling listening experience it was too. This singular chap does use cut-ups (I think), but not in a way that you or I are remotely familiar with; I have memories of a very dense sound-art construct, only tangentially connected with music. While the sleeve art to this new one, featuring a collage of men with the heads of snakes and the wings of birds, may lead you to expect something in the Vicki Bennett or Stan Reed mode, I suspect Bobos is after something much more elusive. Certainly looking forward to unsealing this one and hearing the track ‘Jesse Chainsaw Hyungau’. Can you imagine anything that could live up to a title like that?

Nice looking CD in the box with a black cover illuminated by a single star. It’s called (subject unknown) and it’s by The Retail Sectors in Japan. I’d like to get more things from Japan, because the envelopes (bearing evidence of their passage through time and space) always intrigue me. For one thing, the Japanese Customs declaration form is much more elegant than ours. This parcel arrived from Kentaro Togawa who wrote ‘Symbolic Interaction’ on the back of the envelope, perhaps intending to communicate something of his desire for reciprocal interchange of a mutually beneficial nature between himself and The Sound Projector. He describes himself as an apathetic Japanese boy. Well, if he wants apathetic, he’s come to the right place. He may or may not be based in Kyoto and some experts describe his music as having elements of Radiohead and Philip Glass. I’ll let you know if this observation proves accurate.

Lastly, from Rider University Gallery comes a fairly ‘extreme’ package. It probably contains two CDs, but I can’t be sure as they’re mounted in a contraption about the size of a US CD longbox made of layers of plywood and sheet metal, held together with small bolts. It’s called Music From an Exhibition and the package documents an event compiled by Dr James Dickinson. On the ‘cover’, there’s a nice image of a sculpture by Alison Kuby Netz, who makes some intriguing metal figurative artworks which also boast articulated movements - hence the term ‘kinetic sculpture’. This all looks groovy stuff, so I’ve got fairly high hopes for this one - and will revel in the sonic delights once my local engineer arrives with his toolbox to help me unfasten the bolts. Dr Dickinson also asked for advice on Derek Bailey records, including the Incus Taps CD. Does anyone know if this is still available?

1. Circle, ‘Gaurila’
   From Tower, USA LAST VISIBLE DOG LVD-112 CD (2007)
2. Frank Rothkamm, ‘Relikt’
   From Moers Works 1982-1984, RUSSIA MONOCHROME VISION mv10 CD (2006)

3. Spotlight, ‘Sane Al’
   From Lo-Fi Confessional #8, USA GRAND DECEIVER RECORDS NO NUMBER CD [2007]
4. Alexei Borisov and Anton Nikkilä, ‘Metaphysics of Swing’
   From Where are they now, N&B RESEARCH DIGEST NBRD-08 CD (2007)
5. Ergo Phizmiz, ‘SymphonieVum’
   From Nose Points in Different Directions, UK WOMB RECORDS WOMB103 CD (2007)
6. The Caution Curves, ‘Christmas’
   From A Little Hungry, USA SOCKETS 001 CD (2006)
7. Tarantism, ‘Occam’s Razor’
   From Stuck to the Bottom, USA RESIPISCENT RSPT017 CD (2006)
8. Herpes Ö Deluxe, ‘Funkenflug’
   From Kielholen, GERMANY HINTERZIMMER HINT 01 CD (2007)
9. Greg Malcolm and Tetuzi Akiyama, ‘Comes and goes’
   From Six Strings, NETHERLANDS KORM PLASTICS KP 3027 CD (2007)
10. Richard Lerman, ‘Promenade Version’ (from Travelon Gamelan (Music for Bicycles) 1982)
    From Music of Richard Lerman 1964-1987, JAPAN EM RECORDS EM1063DCD (2006)
11. Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, ‘Ephemera part II’
    From The escape of the electrified dermatologist…, RUSSIA MONOCHROME VISION mv09 2 x CD (2006)
12. Cultural Amnesia, ‘Scars for E’
    From Enormous Savages, UK ANNA LOGUE RECORDS ANNA 007 (2007)
13. Lieutenant Caramel, ‘Le Concert Des Anges’ (from Je ne veux plus voir le ciel, 1988)
    From Early Tape Works, RUSSIA MONOCHROME VISION mv08 2 x CD (2006)
14. Corsican Paintbrush, ‘Goldenrod Fields’
    From Aquarian Hymns, USA DIGITALIS digi035 CD (2006)
15. Nick Didkovsky, ‘Tube Mouth Bow String’
    From Tube Mouth Bow String, USA POGUS PRODUCTIONS P21042-2 CD (2006)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

Four pieces of heavy-duty tape music and ‘industrial’ noise arrived today from Monochrome Vision, a Russian label in the hands of Dmitry Vasilev. Must admit I was very taken with the black-and-white packaging (in keeping with his label’s name) and the very clear and straightforward layouts for the artworks, even down to the use of Times New Roman. The artworks were wrapped in a piece of Russian newspaper and the CDs were taped up in bubble wrap. Just starting to unpeel ‘em now…

Stroma-Konkret (mv07) is by Maurizio Bianchi and Siegmar Fricke. I never yet heard a single record by this famous ‘MB’ fellow. I understand he used to be pretty noisy. These are not recordings from his well-known 1980 period, but from last year. According to Sigmar, the German electronicist, “These compositions ‘cellular-organelles’ took place inside the spheroid surroundings of hydrophilic microfloras in the course of the radiometric age 2006″. Well, not many people can say that.

Lieutenant Caramel has a double CD compilation called Early Tape Works (mv08). Music hereon mostly dates from 1984-1988, some from a bit later. It’s got a photograph of a big foot on the front cover, and a nice skeleton on the back cover playing a Spanish guitar. This is French artist Philippe Blanchard who is also a film-maker. He says in his notes: “For 20 years, I have produced in my barrrels some tape music representing a suicidal psychodrama for any ‘good’ thinker of current music”. I can’t wait to dredge these barrels, lemme tell ya….apparently this stuff has some sonic commonality with Nurse With Wound and Brume. Juding by his portrait photo, Lieutenant Caramel looks a serious sort.

Das Synthetische Mischgewebe also has a double CD set (mv09), with a long title which begins The Escape of the Electrified Dermatologist… Music from 1995-2006. This represents some collaborations with ERG, Artificial Memory Trace, The Oval Language, and others. I think I heard one record by DSM (who is mostly Guido Hubner), Casual Praise of Domestic Calamities, which we reviewed in issue 14. On strength of that nightmarish set, I’m expecting some fairly ‘edgy’ material.

Frank Rothkamm has a compilation of his early material, Moers Works (mv10), with vintage voola from 1982-1984. Another refugee from ‘industrial culture’, presumably this is the same Rothkamm who’s currently in NYC whence he sent me his FB01 and FB02 records, those bizarre sci-fi pastiche records which apparently satirise vintage electronic music of the Cologne school. Here however, we have evidence of his early and crude ‘sampling’ experiments using the KORG MS-20 and analogue tape. Bound to be a goodie!

1. Firehose, ‘Time With You’
   From fROMOHIO, USA SST RECORDS SST 235 LP (1989)
2. Hüsker Dü, ‘No Reservations’
   From Warehouse: Songs and Stories, WARNERS 925 544-1 2 x LP (1987)
3. Meat Puppets, ‘Blue-Green God’
   From Meat Puppets, USA SST RECORDS SST 009 EP (1982)
4. Black Flag, ‘Room 13′
   From Everything Went Black, USA SST RECORDS SST 15 LP (1982)
5. Minutemen:
   a) ‘Anxious Mo-Fo’
   b) ‘Theatre in the Life of You’
   c) ‘Viet Nam’
   d) ‘Cohesion’
   e) ‘It’s Expected I’m Gone’
   From Double Nicklels on the Dime, USA SST RECORDS SST-028 s x LP (1984)
6. Dinosaur JR, ‘Freak Scene’
   From Bug, UK BLAST FIRST BFFP 31 (1988)
7. Killdozer, ‘Going to the Beach’
   From Snakeboy, USA TOUCH AND GO T&GLP#6 (1985)
8. Shockabilly, ‘Psychotic Reaction’
   From The Dawn of Shockabilly, UK ROUGH TRADE RT 120T (1982)
9. Minuteflag, ‘Fetch The Water’
   From Minuteflag EP, USA SST RECORDS SST 050 12″ (1985)
10. Flipper, ‘In Life My Friends’
    From Gone Fishin’, USA SUBTERRANEAN RECORDS SUB 42 LP (1982)
11. Hüsker Dü, ‘Ice Cold Ice’
    From Warehouse, op cit.
12. Butthole Surfers, ‘American Woman’
    From Rembrandt Pussyhorse, RED RHINO EUROPE RRE LP 2 [1986]
13. The Meatmen:
    a) ‘One Down Three to go’
    b) ‘I Sin for a Living’
    From We’re the Meatmen and You Suck, GERMANY AGGRESSIVE ROCKPRODUKTIONEN AG 0022 LP [1983]
14. Firehose:
    a) ‘Under The Influence of Meat Puppets’
    b) ‘It Matters’
    From Ragin’, Full-On, USA SST RECORDS SST 079 LP (1986)
15. Mission of Burma, ‘Peking Spring’ (1983)
    From The Horrible Truth about Burma, USA RYKO RCD 10341 CD (1997)
16. Big Stick, ‘Jesus was born on an Indian Reservation’
    From 45 12″, UK BLAST FIRST BFFP 6 12″ (1989)
17. Minutemen, ‘Joy Jam’
    From The Politics of Time, USA NEW ALLIANCE RECORDS NAR-017 LP (1984)
18. Meat Puppets, ‘I am a Machine’ (1987)
    From No Strings Attached, USA SST RECORDS SST 265 2 x LP (1990)
19. Black Flag, ‘No Values’
    From Everything Went Black, op cit.
20. Flipper, ‘Talk is Cheap’
    From Gone Fishin’, op cit.
21. Hüsker Dü, ‘Friend You’ve Got to Fall’
    From Warehouse, op cit.
22. Dinosaur JR, ‘Pond Song’
    From Bug, op cit.
23. Shockabilly, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
    From The Dawn of Shockabilly, op cit.
24. Minutemen:
    a) ‘Corona’
    b) ‘The Glory of Man’
    c) ‘Take 5, D.’
    d) ‘My Heart and the Real World’
    e) ‘History Lesson - Part II’
    From Double Nickels on the Dime, op cit.

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

Great batch of heavy vinyl pressings arrived today from Vinyl On Demand. Luckily I had a ‘meat porter’ with me to carry them home from the mail box. Never be without your ‘diable’, as they say in the meat markets of Paris. The combined weightage must be about 10 kilos. Now I can safely say my vinyl weighs more than two tonnes. I have in the past perhaps been a little sniffy about Frank’s VOD project, as my perception was he tended to concentrate too heavily on ‘industrial’ music for my tastes. But I’m proved wrong yet again, we have here for the most part some invaluable documents of a vanished and once-thriving cassette culture.

A Skeleton / Cupboard situation (VOD35) is credited to Colin Potter. It’s a great-looking compilation of home-made music recorded in his IC Studio and originally released on cassette tapes or private press LPs in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Titles sampled on this LP are The Scythe, The Ghost Office, We Couldn’t Agree on a Title, Insane Music for Insane People and Angst in My Pants. Jonathan Coleclough designed the original covers. There are some photographs of them on the back cover, looking pristine, fresh, and excitingly obscure. In issue 15, I think I have managed to confuse Colin Potter with Colin Fletcher. This is on a par with my mistake over the two Alvins - Lucier and Curran. I’m really looking forward to playing this one. I think the international ‘cassette scene’ is an interesting part of musical history, but we don’t yet know enough about it. However with reissues like this, fragments of the picture are coming together.

In like manner, we have Snatch Paste: An Assortment of Snatch Tapes (VOD32). This is another compilation, again from the cassette era, showcasing some gems from Philip Sanderson’s Snatch Tapes label. The recordings were made 1978-1981, and featured names on this album are David Jackman, Storm Bugs, Mannequin Moves, Tony Clough, Alien Brains, Orior, and Claire Thomas with Susan Vezey. No informative booklet inside this album however. For that data, ya gotta visit Sanderson’s site. Sanderson is still making music, although quite different to this earlier abrasive material. There’s also a Storm Bugs retrospective coming this May from VOD.

Vinyl-On-Demand’s topnotch production values must be murder on the label’s budget. Luxurious, heavy vinyl pressings are the order of the day, housed in extremely sturdy sleeves. Often the sleeves are gatefolds, even for single LPs, with label logo embossed in blind. Plus a rectangular shape similarly embossed.

There’s more. Finally, a compilation of Ptôse, the little-known French avant synth combo from ‘that’ period. This one is called Early Recordings 79-83 (VOD34) and it’s a whole full-length double LP! I’ve been intrigued to hear something by these French circuit-manglers ever since I heard the CD Ignoble Vermine, which is a tribute record to Ptôse made by contemporary musicians who use electronics, tapes and beat boxes, all of whom natch claim Ptôse as an influence. Of course I never heard (or saw) a single original record by Ptôse. Now’s my chance (and yours if you’re quick enough to snap up one of these 500 copies). Nice geometric cover design opens up to reveal a complete discography of this French electronica combo who have been often dubbed “The French Residents”. Drool!

Next come two heavy box sets. Cassettencombinat West Berlin 1980-81 (VOD36) arrives in a hefty white box with a plain bit of typo and a picture of a Portastudio on the cover. Inside are three luscious LPs, colour-coded for ease of reference, all with printed card sleeve inserts, and a seven-inch single. This collection seems to be an exhaustive historical document of a post-punk DIY home-recording cassette scene in Berlin, of which I know nothing. As I stalk these intriguing grooves, slurping up with my ears the sounds of the Frau Siebenrock Combo, Borsig Werke, Sprung Aus Den Wolken (and many others!), I intend to vanquish my ignorance. I further suspect that characterising all the music as ‘minimal electronica’ will be an inadequate approach.

Lastly, here’s a grim-looking slab - a box of sounds by John Duncan called First Recordings 1978-1985 (VOD33). Again, a historical survey of this most uniquely austere of performance-based sound artists. Herein be ‘Station Event’, ‘Dark Market Broadcast’, ‘Gain’ and ‘No Probe’ on three LPs, all in black covers. And a DVD of ‘Prayer’ and ‘Phantom’ which is mounted on the top of the box. Whew! This one has been auditioned briefly - I played the whole of ‘Station Event’ in one sitting, and a mesmeric experience it was. Guess I’ll stop before this turns into a full review, but in meantime may I suggest you purloin a copy of this instantly, unless it’s already vanished.

1. Sun Ra, ‘Other Worlds’ (1965)
   From Heliocentric Worlds Volumes 1-2, USA ESP-DISK 4026 CD (2006)
2. Albert Ayler, ‘Holy Family’ (1965)
   From Spirits Rejoice (remastered), USA ESP-DISK 1020 CD (2006)
3. Tammen / Harth / Dahlgren / Rosen, ‘Retained Notions of Speed and Purpose’
   From Expedition, USA ESP-DISK 4031 CD (2006)
4. Sun Ra, ‘A House of Beauty’ (1965)
   From Heliocentric Worlds Volumes 1-2, op cit.
5. Pearls Before Swine, ‘I Saw The World’ (1968)
   From The Complete ESP-Disk’ Recordings, USA ESP-DISK 4003 CD (2005)
6. Albert Ayler, ‘Truth Is Marching In’ (1966)
   From Slugs’ Saloon, USA ESP-DISK 4025 2 x CD (2005)
7. The Fugs, ‘I command the house of the devil’ (1965)
   From Virgin Fugs, USA ESP-DISK 1038 CD (2005)
8. New Ghost, ‘Eyewitness’ (1998)
   From Live Upstairs at Nick’s, USA ESP-DISK 4030 CD (2006)
9. Sonny Simmons, ‘Dolphy’s Days’ (fade)
   From The Complete ESP-Disk’ Recordings, USA ESP-DISK 4012 2 x CD (2005)
10. Ed Askew, ‘A Soldier’s Song’
    From Ask The Unicorn (Artist’s Edition), USA ESP-DISK 1092 CD (2005)
11. The Fugs, ‘Hallucination Horrors’
    From Virgin Fugs, op cit.
12. Pearls Before Swine, ‘Regions of May’ (1967)
    From The Complete ESP-Disk’ Recordings, op cit.
13. Frank Wright, ‘Jerry’ (1965) (fade)
    From The Complete ESP-Disk’ Recordings, USA ESP-DISK 4007 2 x CD (2005)
14. Albert Ayler, ‘Angels’
    From Spirits Rejoice, op cit.
15. Yma Sumac, ‘Marinera’ (1961)
    From Recital, USA ESP-DISK 4029 CD (2006)
16. Sun Ra, ‘Discipline 27 (Part 1)’ (1973)
    From Concert for the Comet Kohoutek, USA ESP-DISK 3033 CD (2006)

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM

Minimal electronica / clicks n cuts / international digital severity

1. Mouse On Mars, ‘Schlecktron (double mix)’
   From Electric Ladyland, GERMANY MILLE PLATEAUX MP 019 CD (1995)
2. Techno Animal, ‘The Brotherhood of the Bomb’
   From Modulation and Transformation 4, GERMANY MILLE PLATEAUX MP 3CD 61 CD (1999)
3. o. blaat, ‘egg salad sandwich’
   From Two Novels: Gaze / In the Cochlea, PORTUGAL CRÓNICA 012 CD (2004)
4. Panasonic, ‘Puhdistus’
   From Kulma, UK BLAST FIRST BFFP132CD (1996)
5. Mika Vainio, ‘Jos’
   From Onko, UK TOUCH TO:34 CD (1997)
6. Ryoji Ikeda, ‘contexture’ + ‘counterpoint’ + ‘cadenza’
   From O°C, UK TOUCH TO:38 CD (1998)
7. Terre Thaemlitz, ‘Genrecide (I wish Tricky’d die any way I hope)’
   From Modulation and Transformation 4, op cit.
8. Curd Duca, ‘Mod 6′
   From Modulation and Transformation 3, GERMANY MILLE PLATEAUX MP CD43 2 x CD (1998)
9. Noto, ‘rotar’ + ‘lab’
   From kerne, GERMANY PLATE LUNCH 04 CD (1998)

Simultaneous playback with:

10. Garai Ákos, extract from Til Ødslig Horisont, UNRELEASED CDR
11. Omit, ‘Decayer’
    From tracer, USA HELEN SCARSDALE AGENCY CD hms005 (2005)
12. o + a, ‘box 30/70 - multiform/hive’
    From Format 5, SWITZERLAND TOURETTE # TICK 2 CD (2001)
13. Ultra-Red, ‘Esperanza (en la frontera)’
    From Modulation and Transformation 4, op cit.
14. Marc Behrens, ‘Central Invariance’
    From integraçao, PORTUGAL sirr 2004 CD (2001)
15. Philus, ‘Tele’
    From Modulation and Transformation 4, op cit.
16. Panasonic, ‘Rutina’
    From Kulma, op cit.
17. o. blaat, ‘bulle-2′
    From Two Novels, op cit.
18. Kim Kascone, ‘nb2e_vortex.aiff’
    From Modulation and Transformation 4, op cit.

The Sound Projector radio show,
originally broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM