The Sound Projector

1. Sparks, ‘Thank God it’s Not Christmas’ (1974)
   From Kimono My House (remaster), EU UNIVERSAL ISLAND RECORDS 984 341 7 CD (2006)
2. Old Man Gloom, ‘Christmas Eve Part I’
   From Christmas, USA THE MAGIC BULLET RECORD CO MB060 2 x LP (2004)
3. The Shaggs, ‘Philosophy of the World’
   From The Shaggs (compilation), USA ROUNDER CD 11547 / RED ROOSTER CD 3 (1988)
4. David Bowie, ‘Sell me a coat’ (1966)
   From Images 1966-1967, UK DERAM RECORDS SDM 3017/1-2 2 x LP (1973)
5. Nico, ‘Frozen Warnings’ (1969)
   From The Marble Index, GERMANY ELEKTRA ENTERTAINMENT 7559-61098-2 CD (1991)
6. The Residents, ‘Dumbo the Clown (who loved Christmas)’
   From Subterranean Modern, USA RALPH RECORDS SM7908 LP (1979)
7. The Qualities, ‘It’s Christmas Time’ (1956)
   From Sun Ra, The Singles, USA EVIDENCE ECD 22164-2 2 x CD (1996)
8. The Dominoes, ‘The Bells’ (1953)
   From The Dominoes Volume One. All Their Hits 1951-1965, USA KING (GUSTO RECORDS) 5005X LP (1977)
9. The Specials, ‘Do Nothing’ (1980)
   From Stereo-Typical. As, Bs and Rarities, UK EMI RECORDS 7243 5 27154 2 8 3 x CD (2000)
10. The Fall, ‘No Xmas for J. Quay’
    From Totale’s Turns, UK ROUGH TRADE ROUGH 10 LP (1980)
11. The Qualities, ‘Happy New Year to you’
    From Sun Ra, The Singles, op cit.
12. Neil Innes, ‘Time to Kill’
    From Off The Record, UK MMC RECORDINGS LTD MMC 001 2 x LP (1982)
13. Raymond Scott, ‘Siberian Sleighride’ (1939)
    From Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights. The music of Raymond Scott, USA COLUMBIA CK 53028 CD (1992)
14. Billie Holiday, ‘God Bless the Child’ (1941)
    From God Bless The Child, UK CBS RECORDS M 66267 2 x LP (1972)
15. Raymond Scott, ‘New Year’s Eve in a Haunted House’ (1939)
    From Reckless Nights, op cit.
16. Haco, ‘Invisible Fireworks’
    From Happiness Proof, USA DETECTOR MP-22 / UK ReR MEGACORP HACO2 CD (2000)
17. Leonard Cohen, ‘Winter Lady’
    From Songs of Leonard Cohen, USA CBS RECORDS CS 9533 LP (1968)
18. Scott Walker, ‘Tilt’
    From Tilt, UK FONTANA 526 859-2 CD (1995)
19. John Fahey, ‘The Holly and The Ivy / The Cherry Tree Carol’
    From Popular Songs of Christmas & New Year’s. Guitar Instrumentals, USA VARRICK RECORDS VR-012 LP (1983)
20. Rod Poole, extract from December 96, USA WIN RECORDS WIN 031 CD (1998)
21. John Fahey, ‘Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly / We wish you a Merry Christmas’
    From Popular Songs of Christmas, op cit
22. Nico, ‘Roses in the Snow’
    From The Marble Index, op cit.
23. Krzysztof Penderecki, extract from Symphony No 2, Christmas Symphony, BELGIUM PAVANE RECORDS ADW 7100 LP (1981)
24. Popol Vuh, ‘Be in Love’ (1973)
    From Seligpreisung, GERMANY SPV RECORDINGS SPV 085-70132 CD (2004)
25. The Dominoes, ‘O Holy Night’
    From The Dominoes Volume One, op cit.
26. King Crimson, ‘Starless’ (1974)
    From Red. 30th Anniversary Edition (remastered), UK VIRGIN RECORDS CDVKC7 CD (2000)

Show ran over by ten minutes. Some listeners may have missed 25 and 26.

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

1. Trans (First Performance)
   From DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 726 LP (1976)
2. Prozession (1967)
   From GERMANY STOCKHAUSEN 11 CD (1994)
3. Gruppen for Three Orchestras (1955-57)
   From DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 137 002 LP
4. Kurzwellen (1968)
   From GERMANY STOCKHAUSEN 13 CD (1992)
5. Stop for Orchestra (London version 1973)
   From DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2530 442 LP (1974)
6. Struktur III from Kontakte (1959-60)
   From Elektronische Musik 1952-1960, GERMANY STOCKHAUSEN 3 CD (2001)
7. Sternklang (Erste Forstetzung) (1969-1971)
   From DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 2707 123 2 x LP (1977)
8. Hymnen Region I (1966-67)
   From GERMANY STOCKHAUSEN 10 4 x CD (1995)
9. Stimmung (Singcircle version)
   From UK HYPERION A66115 LP (1984)
10. Goldstaub (1968)
    Nachtmusik (1968)
    From Aus Den Sieben Tagen, GERMANY STOCKHAUSEN 14 6 x CD (1993)
11. Spiral für Blockflöte und Kurzwelle (1968)
    From WERGO HOR ZU BLACK LABEL SHZW 903 BL LP
12. Gesang der Jünglinge (1955-56)
    From Elektronische Musik 1952-1960, op cit.

All music played was extracted from much longer pieces. 10 was simultaneous playback of two pieces. Some similar overlap on 4+5.

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

The owner of Vinyl-On-Demand records is, of course, FRANK MAIER and not FRANK DOMMERT as printed. Frank Maier writes: “Frank Dommert runs Entenphuhl-label in Cologne and is part of Georg Odijk’s A-Musik Shop but he has nothing to do with me”.

This mistake occurs in the Philip Sanderson interview and in the Vinyl Viands Special section. Apologies for any misunderstandings caused!

Boy, is my face red…

Quite a harmonic roaring blaster is Das Zerstoren, Zum Gebaren (BN028CD) from The New Blockaders, a single 49-minute wodge of broodingly evil metallic thunder recorded at All Tomorrow’s Parties in 2006, an event at which I did not assist, but was apparently curated by Thurston Moore. With a slightly longer credit list and thank-you list than I’m accustomed to for a TNB release, wherein mastermind Rupenus pours effusive praises on Damian Romero (who recorded it), the two members of Jazzfinger, Mark Durgan, The Haters and many more good guys, this is an attractively-packaged release on the Blossoming Noise label which reprints a Byron Coley note on the back cover. With such altruistic tendencies worn literally on the sleeve, are we seeing the first stages of the recuperation of the formerly hostile-to-everything TNB into the warm camaraderie of the music festival world? Probably not, but sonically speaking this one shows early signs of being every bit as “listenable” as the two vinyl box sets of TNB remixes…

Got another nifty dual CD-DVD pack from those lovely people at Asphodel in San Francisco. Their last one, devoted to the work of Otomo Yoshihide, still strikes me as a vast missed opportunity. Continuity showcases the extreme sound art of Zbigniew Karkowski, a man who has never disappointed when you want a Tarkovsky-styled trip to the urban wasteland sprawls of your mind, while the Japanese video artist Atsuko Nojiri handles the visual side. I’m just breezing through ‘Mass-Flow’Rate’ on the audio component of th’ pack, but the detailed electronic texturising which I hear is apparently made of up of samples from the primary opuses which appear on the DVD. These primary works could turn out really interesting, as they employ a small collection of chamber-music performers armed with strings, woodwinds and percussion, and the tracks they make are ‘extended studio manipulations/mutations of recordings of original instrumental material’. So it looks like I’m in for a fine bout of ‘reprocessing’ with this beaut! The deep orange criss-cross lines on the cover seem to beam their way into infinity across a field of saturated yellow, conveying a ‘cosmic’ odyssey which is no doubt guaranteed to enrich the eyes and minds of all listeners and viewers.

sunseastar offer a very artistic set of field recordings on their Fjærland CD. The idea is apparently something to do with creating musique concrète out of genuinely chaotic processes found in nature, such as ‘insects moving through grass’. In this endeavour they hope to emulate (or perhaps even go one better than) Xenakis, who used stochastic processes to construct his music. The duo of Andy Wilson (author of the excellent book about Faust) and Simon Crab, both of whom have been associated with Bourbonese Qualk, accordingly travelled to various exciting locations over the last two years, documented what they may, and brought back these eight cuts. All the sounds we hear have been extensively reworked, of course. What’s rather worrying so far that (a) the chosen locations include all the usual suspects already used by everyone from Chris Watson to Disinformation – a pebble beach, glaciers in Norway, a military testing ground, and a nuclear reactor; and (b) how boring and tidy the music sounds, despite their avowed interest in the exciting powers of ‘chaos’. Well, score one for the insects! Still, there is clearly intelligence and research operating here, so I will persevere.

Public Eyesore Records from Omaha have generously sent me enormous quantities of CDs and CDRs in the past, in such volumes that I’m usually too overwhelmed to even play them. This new batch of five, on their new subsidiary EH? label, may however hold some promise. Shelf Life’s Rheuma (EH?027) delivers, in its opening cut at least, the sort of gently-chaotic collage construct drone and noise-lite dribble that keeps me happy for hours, as it spirals out in to never-ending whirlpools of slightly grimy seawater. Likewise, I can probably derive pleasure from parts of Hear Here (EH?029) by Giraffe. On this, Joseph Jaros and Luke Polipnick manipulate radio waves, samples and murmuring feedback on tracks like ‘Static Blanket Transmissions’ to sustain compelling moods. Marina Hardy has her Pink Violin (EH?032), a collection of 14 eccentric and dark pieces for her ghostly voice and disembodied bowing arm. Hardy tries on all kinds of musical clothing, but remains mysterious and chilling. I’ll happily file this alongside recent weirdies I’ve received by feminist geniuses such as Liz Allbee, Bela Emerson and Miss Violetta Beauregarde. Nagaoag are an uncategorisable bunch turning out the most ‘down’ version of turgid experimental-stoner music you could wish for, but unfortunately deconstructed to the point that it has no bottom end, or any underlying rhythm or shape. That said, the undeniable grotesquerie that peels off yama labam a (EH?028), particularly from the twisted voices and swollen tongues of the incoherent vocalists, gradually burrows a way into your forehead like some giant slug.

A selection from the 16th issue of the magazine

1. Tibetan Red, Fouta Djalon’ (fade)
   From Fouta Djalon, SPAIN GLIPTOTEKA MAGDALAE GMGTSMMSAND014 CD (2006)

2. K K Null, (Track 5)
   From Fertile, UK TOUCH TO:74 CD (2007)
3. Southern Man and Pykrete, ‘Distance Player’
   From No More Love, USA PHASERPRONE RECORDINGS PPR003 CDR (2004)
4. Jazkamer, ‘Tentacles of Broken Teeth’
   From Balls the Size of Texas Liver the Size of Brazil, CZECH REPUBLIC PURPLESOIL PULSE ZERO FOUR CD (2007)
5. The Holy See, (Track 3) (fade)
   From Fucking Physics, USA DIGITALIS RECORDINGS FOXGLOVE 151 CDR (ND)
6. Lazy Magnet, ‘Voyage of the Universal Harmony Rainbow’
   From Rare Youth, USA RARE YOUTH RY 001 2 x CD (2006)
7. Ros Bobos, ‘He Spoketh in Tongues’
   From Unchartered Universal Euphoria, USA NO LABEL NO NUMBER CD (2006)
8. Helena Espvall, ‘Idioblast’
   From Nimis & Arx, USA FIRE MUSEUM RECORDS fm 06 / PAX RECORDINGS PR90284 CD (2006)
9. Transitional Phase, ‘Phase Six’
   From Transitional Phase, USA LAST VISIBLE DOG LVD 109 CD (ND)
10. The Caution Curves, ‘Let Them’
    From A little hungry, USA SOCKETS 001 CD (2006)
11. Vertonen, ‘Beltone Segue’
    From Stations, USA C.I.P. CIPCD019 CD (2006)
12. Zodiac Mountain, ‘Odal Chant’
    From Lake Winnebago (demos), USA 23PRODUCTIONS 23CD0415 CDR (2007)
13. The Fun Years, ‘Softly as Stilts’ (fade)
    From Life-Sized Psychoses, USA BARGE RECORDINGS brg002 CD (2007)
14. Richard Pinhas, ‘Metatron(ic) Rock’ (fade)
    From Metatron, USA CUNEIFORM RECORDS RUNE 228/229 2 x CD (2006)
15. Jean-Louis Huhta, ‘Helvete’
    From Halfway Between the World and Death, [SWEDEN] SLOTTET SLM5 CD (2006)
16. Joe Frawley, ‘Exit Music’
    From Tangerine, USA PRIVATE PRESS NO NUMBER CDR (2007)

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

Much to my great shame I have never been to Cecil Sharp House in all the time I have lived in London, despite professing my interest in hearing and studying the folk music of the United Kingdom. However on Saturday 1st December 2007 I made the trek to North London to meet my friend Chris Campbell, so that we could hear the singing and playing of Sharron Kraus. Chris introduced me to the music of the great Alasdair Roberts some years ago, and assured me that Kraus was cut from the same cloth - a late-late revivalist, young, and maintaining continuity of folk traditions (albeit by sourcing recordings, rather than by doing it orally), and also pegged by some as a practitioner of ‘dark folk’. The latter is a purely associative term, but I suppose it may be attached to anything from an interest in murder ballads to the secret and buried histories behind certain festivals and dances. Stumbling around the back streets parallel to Parkway, Chris and I arrived too late to get a free Hobby Horse CDR, but we did get a tasty mince pie with our hot coffee.

Kraus turned out to be a superb singer, and a gifted played of the hammered dulcimer which she cradled on her lap like the rudder to a magical ship. Plus she plays the guitar, and is in such sympathy with the folk songs she sings that they almost become part of her own life history. Which is as it should be; I think there’s a lot to be said for taking ownership of these songs (which are ours anyway), and incorporating them into your own voice and body so that they may resonate still in the 21st century. There’s no point in pretending (or wishing) that we’re all still pre-mechanised farmers in 18th century Dorset, although I know there are folk singers who want to preserve that voice at all costs.

For me, Kraus really took off in the latter part of her set where she sang, aptly enough, a number of old Christmas Carols, wassailing songs, and songs associated with the winter seasons. It was her recordings of the wassails, heard on Stuart Maconie’s radio show, that convinced Chris Campbell to make this trek; something about her rousing voice contrasted starkly against the striking drums and tambours really struck a chord with him. Kraus’s simple, direct and beautiful version of ‘The Holly and The Ivy’ (for which she duetted with Nancy Wallace) moistened this listener’s eye in about two seconds. Likewise her version of ‘Down in Yon Forest’, famously recorded by Shirley Collins accompanied by her sister’s portative organ. If she’d sung ‘Lullay My Liking’ too, they’d have had to cart me out as a blubbering wreck.

Also on the bill were The Owl Service, who disappointed despite some clearly talented players (like the quite-good violinist) in their ranks; they seemed to lack the clarity and focus that Kraus owns effortlessly. She has a clearness of intent that guides just about each song she sings, whereas The Owl Service don’t quite know how they’re going to approach their material. The overall confusion was compounded by their electric guitarist, whose Slayer t-shirt betrayed his other musical allegiances, and who used one too many pedal FX for my liking. I can also recommend Trefusis Hall as a venue, with its delightful informality on the day (food and drink allowed in the arena, and a friendly sedate audience), and picturesque antlers mounted on the walls (perhaps masks to be used in some ritual animal dance). If only we could have dimmed the strip-lighting somehow. With the general run-down appearance of the basement levels in Cecil Sharp House, it felt a little like being in a school assembly hall!

On Friday night (30 November 2007), I saw Charlemagne Palestine’s performance at the LMC Festival of Experimental Music. The Cochrane Theatre somehow seems a most fitting venue for the music – small and intimate. This probably worked in favour of the quieter more minimal acts; in fact Clive Graham and myself were refused entry to the auditorium because Robin Hayward was parping his tuba so quietly, and it wouldn’t do to disturb the audience’s enjoyment of that. Earlier in the evening, Clive handed Palestine a reel-to-reel recording of an early 1972 work of his, which had somehow found its way into the Daphne Oram archive. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Charlemagne. Actually this is the fourth time I’ve seen him in the UK. He was playing a piece for two harpsichords, and although there has been a version of Strumming Music for Harpsichord (played in 1977 at the Purcell Room by Elizabeth Freeman, one of his students), I don’t think what we heard was quite the same thing. In any case it took a good while before we got to the music, what with the man’s generous effusions.

He began by playing the glass harmonica, alternating between a glass of cognac and one of water, and sounding voice tones in sympathy. Then a chatty introduction turned, quite spontaneously into an impromptu ceremony where he passed his glass of cognac among the audience looking for all the world like a colourfully-garbed priest of the street. Comically aware of the irony, he remarked out loud “I hate to commune…I’m a Jew!”, while eager members of the audience put their hands up in hopes of a sip from that warming vessel. Palestine explained, possibly embroidering the past a little, that his musical ceremonies in NYC in the 1970s could take anything up to half a day, and would involve a brandy balloon of a much larger size, which contained an entire bottle of Remy Martin passed around an equally enthused audience of culture-hungry New Yorkers. Palestine admitted he feels cramped by modern music festivals, which are like a “pot-pourri” and tend to allow at most 30-40 minutes for each performer; he needs more room to stretch himself, and drew parallels with installations at art galleries. He went on to boast of how he had once written a nasty letter to Morton Feldman, who at the time was I suppose a somewhat more successful and semi-establishment composer of the New York school. Feldman had spoken scornfully of the ‘downtown’ musicians (of which Charlemagne was one) and their 4-hour durational works. Yet soon thereafter, the story goes, Feldman had switched from composing 20-minute pieces to composing much lengthier 4-hour works. Palestine happily took the credit for influencing that development!

At length, surrounded by his customary bears and other soft toys fair bursting out from his red wheeled suitcase, garbed in a wide-brimmed hat and colourful Mambo shirt, Palestine delivered himself of the harpsichord music. Simple two-note strumming patterns quickly developed into complex rippling patterns, the likes of which you or I couldn’t hope to invent. His music continues to sit somewhere between composition and improvisation, but it’s entirely dependent on having the man himself physically present to do it. Nobody knows what he’s going to do but himself! Alternating between the two instruments – the “yin and yang” as he called them – demonstrated their individual characteristics and voices. The familiar mesmeric haze was summoned in short order. But it got really interesting when he started attacking the bass notes with violence and gusto, causing wooden hinged parts of the harpsichord lid to rattle and vibrate, visibly jumping about and contributing an unexpected percussive noise. Somehow, these old instruments became prime noise-makers that Merzbow himself couldn’t match. The supplier of the harpsichords, invited on stage to take a bow, couldn’t help but perform a quick examine of the woodwork to make sure that no damage had been sustained. Charlemagne meanwhile was still enthusing about the whole thing 15 minutes later in the lobby. “Did you hear that?!” he boomed loudly to anyone who would listen. “None of that was supposed to happen! The instruments went crazy!!”