DJ Krush – kakusei (CD)

Another cool find at my favorite Renaiassance Montréal store (2.00 $ for CDs, count me in). DJ Krush (real name Hideaki Ishii) is a Japanese alternative hip hop producer, DJ and remixer (born 29^th july 1962). Kakusei, which came out in 1998 is his seventh studio album. This is nice and long recording (17 tracks = 68.58 minutes). Hideaki likes to jam / mix things up electronic, hip hop, downtempo, some nice sonic abstractions here and there, trip hop on the side, a pinch of jazz, chill out beats with some subtle dub elements throw in for good measure. The perfect soundtrack for a hot summer day. Lying on the beach, kakusei playing in the background, an icecold glass of sangria and your lover lying next to you. What am I talking about, it`s stinking hot here in Montréal, I don`t drink sangria and I`m alone. In the mean time, I have plenty of nearly frozen beer and this album to keep me company. I got myself a plan. I`m looking forward to hear more DJ Krush music, good stuff. Recommended. More info here: /http://www.djkrush.nl/

Art of the day

This is a mixed media small painting done with:
watercolor
some collages added
white glue
charcoal powder
felt pen
black pen

Dictation – always makes things worse (CD)

Dictation is the solo noise project of a Gentleman named Robert Wallace. The same guy who plays in `The crash hounds of America` and the owner of `hot & ready records`. I thought this was going to be an ear shredding, harsh, kinda wall of noise oriented listening material. I got pleasantly surprised, this falls under the category of ambient / experimental noise (8 tracks = 47.32 minutes). Here`s a short rundown of what`s in store (for the innocent, unexperienced listener out there).

1 – 5.02 minutes = lo-fi grindings / scratching + voice = ambient / meditative noise perhaps.

2 – 2.37 minutes = didgeridoo + random banging + guitar + short noisy burst = feels like sound collage.

3 – 2.05 minutes = processed voice samples + lo-fi goodness + weird experiments going on.

4 – 1.12 minutes = is this processed piano / synth / organ or you`re just happy to see me (nice short & sweet little track).

5 – 2.38 minutes = weird ass experimental noise (I like it! I like it| I like it|).

6 – 9.41 minutes = lo-fi ambient musings slowly and randomly going into noisy territories.

7 – 3.10 minutes = strange sound snippets (found sound perhaps) + rhythmic banging.

8 – 21.07 minutes = lo-fi aural minimalism + short noise bytes of unknown origins. Ear challenging to say the least. I like this and I highly recommend it. Send well-hidden cash to:

R.L. Wallace

2700 White Avenue # 3

Chico

Ca

95873

USA

homemade postcard of the day

Moonstar – Dupont (CD)

When I was a young one. I would go to a record store and buy an album from a band / artist I never heard of before (out of sheer curiosity). I`ve made some amazing discoveries (Gang Of Four, Yellow Magic Orchestra) and some horrible finds (Art Zoyd, New York Dolls). It`s a hot and humid Sunday afternoon. I`m at Renaissance Montréal, looking at their huge second hand CD section. I pick up this album by Moonstar. Never heard that name before. I look inside the sleeve my spider sense is tingling. It feels like electronic music. Anyways for two dollars, what the heck. That afternoon I purchased eight CDs and five DVDs. I`m sitting home, I open up a cold beer and sit down. Now let`s see what Moonstar sounds like. I hit the play button. Let the games begin. There`s sixteen semi-instrumental tracks. I couldn`t find any standout pieces here. It`s so good, every song is standout material. The music is an potent / infectious mix of jazz, broken beats, electronic, break beats, chill out, IDM, going sometimes into lo-fi territory. The arrangements are subtle. The perfect soundtrack for a hot summer day (sangria and company not included). More information here: http://www.ptrmusic.com/

From parts unknown (in America)

I got this envelope from the States (no return address). I have no idea who send me those cool politically incorrect collages. They' re kinda nice so enjoy folks.

Hiroshima Yeah! # 138 August 2016 (zine)

One of the reasons I keep doing this is having the chance to read, appreciate and review my favorite zine, yes you`ve guessed it it`s Hiroshima Yeah! The cover star`s Sandy Denny (1947-1978) was a British folk singer. She sang with The Bunch, Fotheringay, Fairport Convention and she also guested on Led Zeppelin`s fourth album. Now we shall begin with poetry and `joy in diminishing returns`. Here are my favorite pieces

Not having

For me,

The freedom                               

Of not having

The job,

The wife,

The kids,

The car

Beats all of the above,

Hands down.

And

Destiny

I was always destined

To be someone

Staring out at the rain.

And finally

Natural end

For a while,

I was obsessed

With you,

Wrote love songs

About you,

Travelled miles

Each day

Just to drink

In the same pubs

As you.

But now,

Bumping into you

Outside a supermarket

As you push

Your granddaughter

In a trolley,

It feels good to know

That all obsessions

Come to their

Natural end.

Man I love this stuff. There`s also `13.82 billion years in hell` (Gary Simmons monthly column this time he explores the theme of the forgotten prisoner) and our monthly episode of `doctor Thornaby` (a readers nightmare that`s for sure). We are to treated with book and music reviews. We conclude things with `Mortimer ` (Mark Ritchie). A short story about hanging out with the wrong people and managing to escape. Contact:    donbirnam@hotmail.com