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...
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