Monday, June 28, 2010

Until The Light Takes Us (2008)






The homely but homey, longhaired and black-leathered Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell of Darkthrone, one of the progenitors of Norway's indigenous, extreme-heavy-metal subgenre black metal, is a likeable, articulate, working-class musician. Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes of the one-man project Barzum and a founder of the seminal 1980s band Mayhem, is a clean-cut, goateed boy-next-door—who until his parole earlier this year was nearing his 16th year of a 21-year sentence for murder and multiple arsons. It would be stretching things to absurdity to call them the Martin Luther King and Malcolm X of the music, but between their two viewpoints lies the entirety of a niche whose influence outweighs its popularity. As Nagell says early on in the doc Until the Light Takes Us, he went further into the music and Vikernes further into the politics.

Those politics are the standard-issue leanings of a paranoid megalomaniac—he uses the former term specifically, and the latter just naturally arises from his talk of being god-like and having followers—and Vikernes' boyish mien recalls nothing so much as Timothy McVeigh or maybe Charlie Starkweather. Embodying the extreme of the black metal subculture, where the deliberately discordant, Goth/KISS, emo-on-amphetamine vibe takes a decided backseat, he champions an ultra-nationalism in which "Christianity, the U.S., NATO, Norwegian democracy" are all instinctively wrong.

Vikernes and a shocking number of others like him took this as license in the early 1990s to burn down churches—and worse. One interviewee, Olve "Abbath" Eikemo of the band Immortal, applauds a fellow black metaler's 1992 knife murder of "this fucking faggot back in Lillehammer." The Norwegian press made sensationalistic hay of such crimes, misinterpreting them as the work of musical Satanists rather than what they were: domestic terrorism by ultra-right-wing xenophobes. Like some deranged Idaho survivalist, Vikernes talks about having stockpiled weapons preparing for—hoping for—World War III, since "to build something new, you have to destroy the old first."

Vikernes speaks from the remarkably dorm-like Trondheim Prison, which he shrugs off as "a monastery" and from which he was released on May 24, 2009, despite being convicted of four church arsons and the knifing murder of influential band-mate Øystein "'Euronymous" Aarseth. (Another influential musician, Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin, pulled a Kurt Cobain; a photo of him with his brains blown out appears on the 1995 bootleg live album
Dawn of the Black, shown here.)

Throughout all this, the cautiously amiable Nagell tries to be an ambassador of sorts for the music itself, describing his influences and the impetus for black metal's creation as a deliberately depressing, starkly anti-commercial expression of Norwegian nihilism. Snippets of several songs reveal a sometimes hypnotic blend of 1970s Black Sabbath meets Windham Hill by way of John Cage. We see bits of concerts in which performers cut their arms and bleed profusely—knives seem to play a big role in Norway—and artist Bjarne Melgaard's black-metal-influence paintings.

Hearing from fans and music critics would have been nice, as would a videographer without apparent Parkinson's. But for all the amateurishness of San Francisco filmmakers Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, the Alice-Cooper-to-the-nth subculture they document has a lurid fascination that pulls you along.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Omar Souleyman - Jazeera Nights (2010)



A few muttered words in Arabic, shrouded in echo. And then it erupts. A day-glo cloudburst of warpspeed Bontempi rhythms and snaking microtonal melodies. Psychedelic invocation to some lascivious simultaneist idol. Urgent glossolalia of electronic thunder and lightning. Amphetamine-powered merengué of dysmorphic frequencies. Notes from between the notes. Beats like the jerry-rigged machine gun fire of exurban guerrila fighters. Cosmopolitan party music from the end times. The death rattle of globalisation, echoing across the scarred plains of bomb-ravaged dreamscapes.

The style of music is called dabke, a Syrian genre popular at weddings and usually accompanied by a sort of fraternal, arms-around-the-shoulders-knees-in-the-air type line dance, but listening to traditional dabke stars like Nasri Shamseddine or Zaki Nassif and then listening to Omar Souleyman is like switching from Max Bygraves and the New Seekers to Public Enemy and Ruff Sqwad. As the name of his previous collection on Sublime Frequencies, Dabke 2020, suggests, Souleyman's dabke is from (at least) ten years into the future, buzzing through time and boldly heralding the new.

Souleyman was born in the late 60s in the midst of an ill-fated experiment in Syrian radical socialism, shortly before a bloodless coup established the thirty year presidency of Hafez al-Assad (father of current president Bashar al-Assad). Growing up in Tal Tamr, a small rural village in the north-east of Syria close to the borders of Turkey and Iraq, left the young Souleyman exposed to the influence of a wide number of different middle eastern musics throughout his childhood. Living at the interstices of the Arab world, he absorbed a panoply of sounds and styles whilst making time in a series of dead-end jobs. But it was not until the mid-90s that he began performing professionally at weddings and parties, quickly amassing over 500 cassette releases, mostly live recordings, that now dominate every tape stand in Syria.

Onstage, the strutting, gesticulating Souleyman, dressed in trademark shades and keffiyah, is joined by long-term collaborators, Rizan Sa'id and Hassan Hamadi. The latter's role being largely to stand chainsmoking, occasionally whispering poetry into Souleyman's ears to be incorporated into the music, according to the age-old ataba tradition. And what poetry, ranging from the visceral heartbreak of "My liver has rotted from waiting for you" (from the track 'Eih Min Elemkon') to a political broadside such as "The poor live in bitterness and the rich live as they want" ('Kell Il Banat Inkhatban') *The Quietus

Download

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Pussy Galore - Exile On Main St.(1986)



The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. as recorded, poorly, by Pussy Galore

01. Rocks Off
02. Rip This Joint
03. Shake Your Hips
04. Casino Boogie
05. Tumbling Dice
06. Sweet Virginia
07. Torn & Frayed
08. Sweet Black Angel
09. Loving Cup
10. Happy
11. Turd on the Run
12. Ventilator Blues
13. Just Wanna See His Face
14. Let It Loose
15. All Down the Line
16. Stop Breaking Down
17. Shine a Light
18. Soul Survivor

In 1986 Pussy Galore, world reknowned as being the nastiest, noisiest bastard step-childs of rock, set out to parody and pay homage to an album which deeply influenced them. At the very least, the heavy drug intake did. A track-by-track re-imagining ensued, complete with distorted interludes, radio interference and clips straight from the roastee. Their version of Exile is something utterly foreign, so alien in nature that it is an absurdity, a total aberration, yet still instantly recognizable by the soul, grit, blood and sweat put into. Just as Keith Richards is from another planet, so is Jon Spencer, and if your only exposure to this freak of rock is the Blues Explosion you had better strap in and hold on for dear life, you're about to cum acid and shit fire. I hope you enjoy burning sensations, because Pussy Galore are about to give you aural gonorrhea, and you're going to like it.


Love them or hate them, Pussy Galore did what they did with class, and in this day of modern art "masterpieces" and German Schei�er videos it takes a special breed of weird to shock and awe. Enjoy!


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Faust - Faust Is Last (2010)




If faust announce a last record then it might be a good idea to open up the ears, especially when the cover art of the new & last record is one big reference to their first record. The x-rayed "fist" appears again, this time with the fingers slightly more opened. 40 years lie between the two records. 40 years of many different line ups, record companies, financial disasters, artistic failures and successes. Whatever can happen to a band has happened to Faust. In that sense they are not an unusual group of musicians. What is unusual is that each project, each record, each concert over the last 40 years has been different. On the very first record they made clear (on clear vinyl) that they were in it for destruction. "All you need is love" and "Satisfaction" symbolically were set fire to. That same fire you will hear on this new & last Faust record. The circle will be closed by more circular music. A music that seems to come out of nowhere, sonic descriptions rather than songs. Timeless and not rooted in specific places and/or traditions. Maybe influenced by Cage's idea of chance, Dada, cut-ups, Sun Ra's free jazz organ playing and the second attempt after the German-American Monks to represent "a rock group as total artwork". faust in 1970 and in 2010 sound aggressive and 100 percent oriented towards the future. There is not a glimpse of nostalgia in "Faust is last". Turn up the volume and listen to this first, new and last Faust record very loud!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Giddle & Boyd - Going Steady With Peggy Moffitt 10" (2008)



After getting my hands on this item i thought i would post for downloading... Enjoy !




C.A.L.M. (cadaverous aesthetic loving mammals)




Breaking down... thinking all the pretty little thoughts that the day washed away and covered by the nighttime calm... How this is at least bearable? My speakers are too loud for my old ears and heart but still...

Time for some questions i said... the questions had many answers too obvious to trust.
Time for some answers... the answers had many questions to drone into the naked virtue.

Conversation is the RIGHT way...
Conversation is the wrooong way...

Why do people think such SHIT??
-I think i used to be more beautiful but the years took my fountain of youth away...
-I dreamed a dream that i was dreaming of a dreamy reality in a dream...
-I...I...i................
..
-Enough about you!
-Start me up again and you will soon see the results of a quiet life....

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Other Side Of Sonic Youth (14 tracks 2010)




With roots in Hardcore Punk and No Wave, and a fascination with experimental music of all colours, Sonic Youth have always managed to inject pop sensibilities into the cacophonous racket they're so good at making. As early as 1988 and the release of Ciccone Youth's classic "Whitey Album" this duality was crystal clear, offering up cover versions of Robert Palmer and Madonna one minute while referencing John Cage with a 1:03 track of pure silence the next. Even by the time the band reached their commercial zenith and signed to Geffen in 1990 they held on to an uncompromising edge - hunt down footage of 'Drunk Butterfly' performed on the BBC's now defunct Late Show to get an idea of just how demented and righteous pop music can get. For this 14 track selection, however, we've plowed through the outer edges of their catalogue, focusing on often instrumental and improvisational work as well as recordings made by Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo under their own names and as part of separate outfits. Of course, the band are involved with so many projects, labels and performances it's virtually impossible to know where to start even with this seemingly narrow remit, so we've stuck to material from their own SYR, Sonic Death, Ecstatic Peace and Goofin imprints alongside selected solo and collaborative recordings providing an insight into the creative, fearless and vital body of work outside the 9-5 of Sonic Youth.


Ronnie James Dio Tribute [Στυλιανός Τζιρίτας UNIT, Old Fashioned Donkeys] Live @ Knot Gallery (11/06/2010)




Τσακισμένα Ακόρντα και η Άπτερος Νίκη

Ένας ηχητικός φόρος τιμής στον προσφάτως εκλιπόντα RonnieJames Dio


Στυλιανός ΤζιρίταςUNIT

Ως παραδοχή στην παρακαταθήκη φωνητικών και ανθρωποκεντρικού ρεαλισμού του εκ Portsmouth πάλαι ποτέ ορμώμενου (ενίοτε) σπαθοφόρου, το κουαρτέτο θα προσπαθήσει να τοποθετήσει στις σύγχρονες αρχιτεκτονικές δομές την αρχετυπική και ουμανιστικής στόχευσης φιγούρα του εκλιπόντος ιταλογενή λαρυγγιστή.

Στέλιος Εφεντάκης > κιθάρα/ηλεκτρονικά

Βαγγέλης Κουτσιούρης > μπάσο

Θωμάς Χαβαλές > μαγνητοταινίες

Στυλιανός Τζιρίτας > κλαρινέτο/ λαρύγγι


Old Fashioned Donkeys

Τα γαϊδούρια αυτή τη φορά αναμοχλεύουν τις αναμνήσεις τους από διάφορα κομμάτια της καριέρας του RonnieJames Dio και του αποτίνουν ένα δικό τους φόρο τιμής μέσω ενός παλιομοδίτικου noise σετ με άφθονο screaming therapy...

Παναγιώτης Σπούλος : tapes και ηλεκτρονικά

Adamis & Νικόλας Μαλεβίτσης : screaming therapy


Έναρξη: 8:30

Είσοδος: 5 Ευρώ

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Current 93 - Baalstorm, Sing Omega (coptic cat 2010)

Current 93 - Baalstorm, Sing Omega

Despite only one year lying between Baalstorm, Sing Omega and its predecessor Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain, there’s a drastic difference in the sound of both albums. Aleph… was an angry record, centred on harsh guitar stabs and razorblade leads – a very deliberate texture overload accompanied by an appropriately aggressive vocal delivery from David Tibet. Baalstorm, Sing Omega is much more delicate in contrast, calling upon the flow and cascade of piano and cello instead, moving in wave-like surges and nudging along Tibet’s abstract ramblings, which babble breathlessly with an epiphanic urgency.

Rhythm and tempo are absent for a large portion of the record, with melody and harmony free to embark on a ceaseless drift and strings and electronics washing softly over eachother – an effect most beautifully present on “December 1971”, during which cello and guitar meander back and forth alongside a gorgeously fluid and furious David Tibet verse. He is on faultless form here, sounding helplessly at victim to the vivid dreams and prophecy that pour out of his mind.

Elsewhere are the sweet sounds of music box on “Passenger Aleph in Name” and the mournful progression of “The Nudes Lift Shields For War”, the latter of which is injected with an intensity of melancholy not seen since the harmonium-driven Sleep Has His House. It’s only during the last two tracks that the beauty of the album begins to give way; the 10-minute finale “I Dance Narcoleptic” spirals into carousel organs and the playful shouts of children, and personally I found it to be quite messy alongside the gorgeous choreography of the previous pieces.

But Baalstorm, Sing Omega is otherwise a beautiful work that, although seeming to drift aimlessly on first listen, reveals itself to be an intensely focused release when you step back and perceive the record as a whole. The aforementioned “December 1971” is already developing a spot high up on my list of favourite C93 tracks, and no doubt several more of these stunning compositions will quickly follow suit. *ATTN:Magazine

Download