A collection of various reviews (mostly obscure music), collages, mail art, drawings, poems. My own, little slice of paradise if you will.
Saturday, 18 July 2015
Friday, 17 July 2015
Orange Crush – autumn reflections (MP3)
I`m a really
compulsive person. And I`m a sucker for free mp3`s especially when it`s
electronic music. I have a strange tendency of downloading tons of free music
which always seems pretty interesting. When I find time to hear it, that`s when
I usually get three surprises:
A - it`s an
interesting / amazing / challenging listening experience.
B – oh shit
another shitty rip-off of another shitty trend, repeated ad
nauseam.
C – heard this a
thousand times before and don`t wanna get bored again.
Never heard of
Orange Crush before. Thank God for www.discogs.com. This is the solo electronic
music project from Karl Endreson. To be quite honest I wasn`t expecting
much. Upon the first listen I`m pleasantly surprised. I`ve been listening to
this album on my mp3 player for the past week. The perfect soundtrack for summer
even though it`s named `autumn reflections `. The music is a potent
mixture of ambient techno, chill-out, ambient electronica, and two amazing
tracks of pure melancholic, peaceful, dreamy ambient music. You will definitely
dig this if you`re fans of (in no particular order): LFO, Plaid,
Two Lone Swordmen and The Orb. Get it here: http://orangecrush.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-reflectionshttp://orangecrush.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-reflections
Art is everywhere part 26
A couple of give-out sheets from Mark Sonnenfeld...
Mark Sonnenfeld
45-08 Old Millstone Drive
East Windsor
New Jersey
08520
USA
Mark Sonnenfeld
45-08 Old Millstone Drive
East Windsor
New Jersey
08520
USA
Monsieur Populaire – inachevelures volume – 1 (1993 - 1998) (MP3)
This album is a
compilation of various drafts / unfinished tracks. I like this 18 pieces = 70.09
minutes long album. It`s an interesting listen. Jimmy Beaulieu explores
various music styles he likes to experiment, he likes to have fun and it shows.
I`m sure he had a great time recording all this. The overall feeling /
impression here is diversity. Diversity in styles, numerous tracks, numerous
music styles: electronic, techno, minimal garage electronics (track # 5:
numéro 782), experimental electronic music, minimal techno / electronic,
a mix of electronic music + noise, lounge and a noise track. The noiser in me
was particularly impressed (even though I liked everything) by the
following:
4 – Presque –
version 2 (4.46 minutes) = electronic music slowly going into noise
territory, enjoy / feel the noise, it`s getting there.
12 – Gertrude
(4.00 minutes) = a mix, a stew, a jambalaya of various low-fi noise bytes
pummeling what`s left of my brains. Damned my ears are bleeding and screaming
for help. Baby I`m coming home!!! Feed me more please!!! Have no fear, get it
here: http://jimmybeaulieu.com/monsieur-populaire/
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Psionic Plastic Joy – a journal of love, friendship and nihilism issue # 18 (zine)
Got this in my
mailbox yesterday, coming home from work all tired and sweaty. All I can say is
this made my evening. I take a shower, fix myself coffee, sit down on me
favorite chair and start reading. PPJ is a half-sized, cut and paste, black and
white, photocopied zine (32 pages this time around). The quality of material
puts me to shame. There`s a good quantity of artwork, comics, collages by the
like of: Ryan
Homsley, François Marceau, D M Marshall, Vittore
Baroni, Tristan Gemmell, Michael Desnivic,
Haddock, Tim Collapse, Thompson, Stuart Stratu,
Yves Albrechts, Reed Altemus and Jason Rodgers
himself. There`s a slew of talented writers contributing various articles:
Jim Hayes (nice work on his `120 excerpt about neo-neoism and
mail art`piece), Apio Ludd, Erik Disorder, Neal Wilgus,
Jason Rodgers, Bob McGlynn, John Zerzan and Dr.
Oscar Sanchez ( `the wipas case: a true story of grisly
murder `is a really disturbing but real case). Get a paper, a pen (nothing
digital, keep it real), contact here:
Jason Rodgers
P.O.BOX 10894
Albany
NY
12201
USA
Monsieur Populaire – à la pêche (1998) (MP3)
A minimal
Monsieur Populaire set, somewhat funny (and I mean, in a warped, out
there way), funky at times and a little strange. There`s 11 tracks for a total
running time 0f 61.21 minutes (would fit perfectly on a CD-R). Various music
styles are at work here: garage electronics, low-fi, instrumental electronics,
techno, minimal techno, and chill-out electronica. I enjoyed everything this is
a nice well-crafted album. My standout track this time around
is:
10 –
l`automobile en bois (6.04) = chill-out, minimal techno music. Recalls
David Kristian`s first album `Synaesthesia`(ambient techno with an
underwater feel, love this stuff). If you`re into bands / artists like:
Kraftwerk, I Am Robot And Proud, Plaid, Moby, and
David Kristian you will definitely like this recording. A warning for all
noisers, DON`T TOUCH THAT DOWNLOAD BUTTON!!! Otherwise, get your ear candy here:
http://jimmybeaulieu.com/monsieur-populaire/
Monsieur Populaire – contre la terre des justes (1999) (MP3)
This is a
compilation of sparse, noisy and abrasive pieces (or so it reads on his
website). I fail to agree. I`ve been listening to noise / harsh noise for over
twenty years, and some, this long compilation (16 pieces = 84.23 minutes) has a
lot more to offer than just your usual dosage of harsh abrasiveness. There is a
lot of sounds at work: low-fi noise mixed with percussions, minimal electronics
+ minimal percussions, beat oriented electronic music, low-fi experimental
noise, techno, minimal electronica, noise with techno and a crossbreed of
industrial / techno. Favorite tracks this time around:
4 – Presque
(3.55 minutes) = noise + percussions = Bourbonese Qualk going techno /
commercial perhaps.
8 – le garçon
qui venait du passé (11.03 minutes) = amazing minimal techno
(Ritchie, please take notes you might learn
something).
13 – ça
saigne (4.00 minutes) = noise mixed with techno, man I love this (DEVON GET
DA TABLES!!!). Get it here: http://jimmybeaulieu.com/monsieur-populaire/
Minimal Frank update
I just received a parcel today
from Pedro Bericat (Mute Sound, P.O.Box 4033, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain). Inside
there`s an audio CD, which is `1
minute autohypnosis 29th CD compilation `(1 minute autohypnosis – sex – war
– noise – faith – white – truth – light – Europe – death – seed – red – net –
Jung – dollar – neo – time - love-in – city – twenty – new – Cage – zen – self –
LSD – dose – Tesla – sea - place). This is an ongoing CD compilation project.
Anyone can participate. Any music style is accepted. There`s only on rule: every
track submitted must be a minute or under a minute. It`s a great way to promote
new artists / bands. If you don`t like the music, you suffer for a minute and
under which is not that bad. If you like what you hear you have the possibility
to contact the band / artist. I submitted a Minimal Frank track a couple of
months ago. Feel free to write Mute Sound for more information. More information
here:
Here`s the link for their latest
compilation: http://www.mutesound.org/1_minute_project/1-minute-autohypnosis-29th-cd/
Check out track # 5`it`s Minimal Frank`s `UCT-8`track.
Friday, 3 July 2015
Monsieur Populaire – et les quatre groupes alimentaires (1997) (MP3)
Jimmy
Beaulieu feels that this is his tightest, more pop / dance oriented effort
so far. I have to agree, this is another mighty impressive effort. Ten songs,
with a total running time of 64.19 minutes will get you there. This is mostly
instrumental electronic music mixed with elements of pop, minimal techno,
electronica, and dance floor techno. I loved the whole album but a couple of
tracks caught my attention (in a big way), they are:
4 – J+LHV5
(4.37 minutes) = amazing minimal techno, listen chill-out and
relaxxx…
8 – rétro
(1.44 minutes) = that short, quirky / slightly warped / strange little
electronic tune that I love (are you calling me weird? Yes I am, compliments
will definitely get you somewhere).
9 – stock
(13.57 minutes) = a nice and long dance floor techno track, has some nice erotic
voice samples (shall we text?), good stuff.
You want some,
come get some, just here: http://jimmybeaulieu.com/monsieur-populaire/
Monsieur Populaire – du feu entre mes bottes (1996) (mp3)
Monsieur
Populaire considers this his ham period (whatever that means) were he was
trying to do rock`n`roll alone with his old analog gear. I have to say I love
the end results. The music is an extremely infectious / awe inspiring mix /
crossbreed / crossover of, in no particular order: techno, hip hop, metal,
electronic, punk, and rawk `n`roll music. I can smell a couple of influences, I`m guessing: The Prodigy, Nitzer Ebb,
Fatboy Slim perhaps. Anyways I like it and you should. Standout tracks
this time around are:
3 – à moitié
(3.16 minutes) = low-fi electronic / synthetic rock + nice percussions,
miam, miam.
7 – King
Kong (7.55 minutes) = tight rock + electronic music we`re getting
somewhere.
9 - Les vrais
questions version 3 (4.24 minutes) = rock + instrumental hip hop undertones
+ more electronics = sonic bliss. Have a beer, get it here:
http://jimmybeaulieu.com/monsieur-populaire/
Steve Roach – invisible (mp3)
I`m always curious
when I discover that a known artist / band offers a full album as a free
download. I usually find it pretty suspicious, what`s the catch? Is this
recording so damned bad that you give it away because you know nobody will buy
it? There`s always a catch or so I though. Boy am I wrong here. This album was
offered as a gift on new year`s eve. It consists of one long (58 minutes) piece
of `ambient` music. To say that this is pure ambience would be an insult. The
more you listen to this and you realize there`s more than meets the eye.
`Invisible` is a long evolving / devolving piece of minimal / ambient / ambient
darkwave. You hear some gloomy / doomy synth lines, subtle lo-fi noise bursts
here and there, drones, strange rhythms running in the background, field
recordings of unknown origins, brooding / hypnotic, deeply dark, dark ambience
bits. The best way to enjoy this? Lying on your couch, the volume full blast
and don`t forget those high quality headphones. I want to hear more of Steve
Roach`s music. His website: http://steveroach.com/
Download
Invisible here: www.steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-70-min-cd-version
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