WWW of Spin Turlock #14: The Harvey Project cont.

It's 2:45 a.m. and I can't sleep.

Here is Round Two, the main thrust of which took place earlier on Friday evening.

Our main piece was a three-CD compilation of the various offshoots of Acid Mothers Temple. Harv sent me a half dozen titles of these mooks and since I have a psoft pspot for psych-rawk, I dutifully listened.

Lords of the Underground

played sometime on Thursday morning - Mantra two-chord hypno- riffing with enough sideral action to make it somewhat interesting...they have mod, free-jazz chops, but like to zone out on those mantras as well.

And both of those aspects would drive most of my sentient friends batty...but not me!
With the extensive catalogue, though, I have to wonder if they work a regular formula. We'll see. Or rather, hear




Do Whatever You want, Dont Do Whatever you want (2002)

5/28/10 7:55 p.m. 1. PINK LADY LEMONADE (YOU'RE SO SWEET) / Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. *

Well. they did their mantra thing. but then they broke out the pneumatic drills and guitar skree. And you KNOW I'a sucker for that kind of action, right? Exactly. The neighbours are moving around upstairs. Dedicated to Colin @ Creatve Radio.

Nice steady low hz hum...like, your speaker isn't grounded anymore, Derwood HAHAHAHAHA

8:03 There! There's that two chord mantra thing...it reappeared

8:37
disc-2

1. SHIZUKU NO YOUNI / Floating Flower
2. SO FAR AWAY / Maquiladora
3. Bésamé La Mucho / Zoffy
4. DISCO, SPACE, BABY / Kido Natsuki
5. MON LION / Fursaxa
6. GANDAKI WARI G.P. / Gopal with Tsuyama Atsushi
7. GALACTIC BOMBER (ROLL OVER CAPTAIN ULTRA!) / Cosmic Riders*
8. PARDON MONSIEUR (smash hits mix) /Pardons**
9. LE LAPIN / Frédérick
10. HELLO BABY / The Wild Riders*
11. LOVE POTION 26 / Magic Aum Gigi*
12. NO MORE RED NIGHTMARE / Tsuyama Atsushi*¡¡
13. BLUES FOR MRS. TRIPLE H / Alien Social Dance Party*
14. WHITE ROOM / Zoffy
15. VALLEY OF THE WIND / Nipponianippon
16. BRAHMAGNPATIRANA (early mix) / Seikazoku*
17. UNTITLED (vanishing version) / Father Moo & The Black Sheep*
18. CAMBOUS / Ueh*

After a short pause Vol. 2...the various spin-offs: forged psych-ethnicity vis a vis the Indian subcontinent, then the POP version of the group.

8:45 More forged ethnicity. Faux Eurasian steppe, I'm guessing. Nice

8:48 Cue Ping Romany on synth Triangle! Is that Keith Emerson from the Nice on church organ? Maybe I just dreamed it

Ach! I hear Krautrock references. [Editor's note: This makes sense in light of this

8:51 interpreting the mid riff of Led Zeppelin's, Whole Lotta Love??!!

8:57 In which Sebadoh performs your favourite Traditional Japanese folk melodies! Just for you

8:59 The real folk blues! Keyboardist Cotton Casino: good handle. I'd buy titles on the name alone..

9:02 Creepy voices and these people must know of Imants Krumins
http://www.acidmothers.com/Cgi-bin/album/nihilist/nihilist_abba/index.html

disc-3

1. CONCURRENCE / Kawabata Makoto & Miyamoto Naoaki*
2. WHITE FLOWERS ON THE HILLTOP / Shogo-nari with Kawabata Makoto*
3. PLANET OF SOMNOLENCE / Space Machine with Kawabata Makoto*
4. UCHU (comet comforter mix)/ Uchu**
5. DOHKOKU / Tsurubami*
6. THIRD EYE OF THE WHOLE WORLD (long version) / Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.
7. I WANT YOU TO KISS ME AGAIN / Kawabata Makoto*

At this point, my notes drift off into delirious rantings..basically, these are more rock/improv combos/projects. White Flowers is a folk idiom based thing.




The remainder of the evening was spent wallowing in the early releases of Klaus Schulze, specifically 1974's Blackdance and it's follow-up 1975's Picture Music. Totally electronic , these things anticipated techno, but with more developed arrangements ...and without the duh-hey click tracks that drive me batty. Actually , it reminds me of Hypnotech 3 before they adopted those batty click-tracks> ..what the kids call "chill-out" music. More information on Schulze can be found here.

WWW of Spin Turlock #13: Bachelor Weekend: Now's the Time for the Listening Party!

Here's the deal:

My significant other heads down to Edmonton (capital of Alberta)this weekend. I can't make it due to day job scheduling, but - as it stands - I have the rest of the weekend off.

At the same time, I am in the process of sifting through some 200 or so CDR burns of various Japanese & German titles sent me via former pro wrestler and lead vocalist of the Hated Uncles, John Harvey. Since there's only so much domestic clean-up to be done, and since most of this material isn't exactly what you'd call "social listening", I figure this is an opportune time window to indulge in extreme aesthetics.

The sound system to be used for this task is an old RCA Home Theatre (5 speakers)w/a DVd player tracking the CDRs. You can play DVDs, CDs, CDRs, and MP3 comps on it & it has served me well.

For contrast, I will interject doses of the on-line radio show, "Bus of Real Country" which is about as far removed from this recorded material as one can get. Both of these exercises are "classic" affairs, but all comparisons end there, Herr, Frau und Fraulein listener.

As Harvey himself cryptically wrote in the note that came in the box: "Have fun"!

Round One:

Kluster - 1969 -1972 (ltd edition 6 LP Box set)



Not be confused with Cluster, Kluster was Conrad Schnitzler's baby. Yes, Schnitzler worked with Messrs Roedelius & Moebius, but this is a different fish altogether.

First off, Schnitzler does not - and never did - consider himself a "musician" per se. This is music made by musicians and non-musicians alike, which will p.o. any musicos reading this right off the get-go. As other writhers have remarked, this group - which had three "proper" studio releases in its lifetime - was the missing link between serious electronic/20th centrury composition (think Stockhausen) and the so-called Krautrock of the 70's. Lesser lights would make "industrial" music out of the same sound forms, but Kluster came first.
Violins are sawed and hit percussively, guitars are made to squawk, drums roll in and out ominously.There is no steady pulse, no mama heartbeat, no melody or harmony to fall back on Clearly, monsters or aliens are nearby. On their studio releases, Kluster used their vinyl space as a soapbox for social commentary - all recited in German - but there's Nunuvthat here! What you get here is 4 hours of well-heeled clink and clank. And that's not meant as as a put-down, either. All of it unreleased prior to 2005.
Read this brief manifesto by Schnitzler. It will help you understand, and then, finally, we may have world peace.

Rating (1-10 on the Shirley scale):
Seven Shirleys


Social Observation:

In Hamilton,Ontario there is a Tim Horton's coffee & doughnut joint every 500 yards or so. In Grande Prairie, Alberta, replace "Horton's" with "liquor store" in that last sentence's equation.

Now's the Time for the Fun, Fun, Fun:

For the benefit of both of my Toronto, Ontario readers: Edgar Breau, he of Simply Saucer infamy, plays Mitzi's Sister this Saturday, May 9th. Cover charge is a mere $5.



Left to right: Kevin Christoff,Peter A. Lacey, Edgar Breau, Jeff Bakalar (cruelly chopped off by Blogger)

Edgar is working on finally - FINALLY - finishing his second solo CD, "Patches Of Blue",this year. It will be issued and/or licenced out by Flying Inn Music. The two one hour sets will be comprised of solo and Saucer material (with original Saucer bass player Kevin Christoff for added verisimilitude).

Recently, Edgar & K.C. recounted their memoirs in the pages of Toronto writer Liz Worth's book, "Treat me Like Dirt" , the title of which is derived from the lyric tag line of "Bullet Proof Nothing". It's a history of the Southern Ontario punk scene of 77-78, and Saucer WAS there, playing to all of 30 or 40 people at David's & the Horseshoe Tavern. Steve Leckie of the Viletones remarked at the time that Saucer was "good, but not punk", and the band heartily concurs with this assessment. Having already blown the doors off - and been subsequently brushed off - 2 or 3 years earlier, they had already "been there, done that". They are the only people in the book who dissociate themselves from the whole punk shebang. They are also just about the only people in the book who weren't burned by Other People'a Music.

And, yes, there still is a Simply Saucer . Available for mod weddings and swinging bachelor parties! Write them for details at their Myspace...they WILL return your calls!

More to follow late Friday night...

WWW of Spin Turlock #12: Groovie Times (no apology to Clash fans)

Haven't really felt like blogging per se in a while, but here's whats new:

Kicksville features Kicks fanzine editrix, Flamin' Groovies uberfan, A-Bones drummist, and Canuck ex-pat, Miriam Linna reminiscing about her tenure with The Cramps.

This comes as a bit of a head-turner, because Miriam has been always reticent about talking about that period in her life (1976 - 1977). Given the nature of her sacking, you couldn't really blame her, so this comes as a pleasant surprise. Her and partner Billy Miller would go on to become Rushmore -like figures in promoting American rock n'roll music through the fanzine, Kicks and the recording label, Norton.

Linna and Miller could be considered the ultimate fans in that they actually became their own heroes by backing the two prime movers of the Groovies, Roy Loney & Cyril Jordan concert. Erg-ho, they BECAME de facto Groovies for two nights in July of last year (2009)

Did I ever mention that I was the MC for 2/3 rds of the Groovies only-est Canadian tour in March of '82? Promoters Stewart Pollock and the late Randy Steele (best known as a CH TV news reporter in Hamilton,ON.) lost a pile of dough doing those shows, but I have my memories. I interviewed Cyril & George for McMaster Radio back then and remember watching them walk across campus in their vintage Brit Invasion suits, clutching Canadian-only , 1963 vintage Beatle LP pressings (the "Twist And Shout" LP) Our vinyl librarian, Al "Fish" Lewis laughed at them...

The rider, (a materials list supplement to the band's performance fee which can include food, beverage, and certain technical items), for these concerts had a specific provision for the band receiving RED towels after the show. This was kind of like the infamous "no brown M&Ms clause" in the Van Halen riders: the band didn't care one way or another but it was a way for the road manager to check up on the promoter's honesty via a simple visual scan of the dressing room. the road manager, by the way, for this tour was a rodent-like fellow by the name of Mouse (not the famous San Fran artist,Stanley Mouse...I don't think so??)A young guitarist by the name of Colin Linden reconnected with Groovies & Charlatans guitarist, Mike Wilhelm.
The set list for the three nights was mainly Beatles and Stones covers, but they did "Shake some Action" and "Don't Put Me On", the latter featuring the best - and ONLY - use of the word poltroons in a rock song.

Alas, that interview tape got bulk erased....and when Cyril Jordan was up here last year with Magic Christian, he remembered very little of it.