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Leong Lau - Dragon Man (1976)


Born in Malaysia of Chinese ancestry, Leong Lau studied Chinese Opera and played flute with the Chinese Community Orchestra.  He joined the Sydney Dance Company in 1969 as a dancer and was trained in ballet, modern and improvisational dance.  After five years, he entered the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where he trained in professional music performance and composition, and then played concert flute with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Leong Lau has remained somewhat of an anomaly in the record collecting scene. “Dragon Man” is a fantastic LP loaded with wah-wah guitar, fuzz solos, flute solos & wild vocals.  An artist with a sound that's as wild as his look on the cover – a definite individual from the Australian underground of the 1970’s – serving up some incredibly offbeat vocals alongside a range of his own  instrumentation on guitar, alto, tenor, and flute!  The album has some nice heavy bass at times, which creates a raw funky edge that's a real surprise – not straight funk, but kind of a psych-funk groove that really fits with the rawer bluesy energy that Leong Lau is trying to convey in his music.  A very compelling fusion of sounds from many different corners – with titles that include the long jammer “Deep In The Jungle”, the funky flute workout “Dragon Man”, and the tracks “Soul Baby”, “The Atlas Revolution”, and “Rhythm Pounding"


Leong Lau has remained somewhat of an anomaly in the record collecting scene. A fantastic lp loaded with wah guitar, fuzz solos, flute solos & wild vocals. Really impressive offering, it’s amazing an album of this quality still remains unknown to many collectors and dealers. Extremely rare as an original, and hardly ever offered (even in Australia where it was made), we are proud to finally bring this one to the reissue world with Leong’s full approval. Remastered with great sound, this limited edition release of 1000 copies.


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VA - More Arctic Hysteria / Son of Arctic Hysteria: The Later Years of Early Finnish Avantgarde (2005)


...the later years of early Finnish avant-garde. Another incredible volume, following the inspiration and eye-opening 2001 CD Arktinen hysteria -- Suomi-avantgarden esipuutarhureita. Perfectly packaged document of more utterly obscure electronic mayhem and theatrical intoxication, presented as near-high-art. "Now covered are the 1970s and 1980s. 34 artists. Featuring a lavishly illustrated leaflet of 20 pages. Compiled by Jukka Lindfors. Featuring Jimi Tenor, Läjä Äijälä and early Mika Vainio (Pan sonic), The Sperm activists Mattijuhani Koponen and Pekka Airaksinen, Edward Vesala at his wildest, Kari Peitsamo, Kauko Röyhkä and Sleepy Sleepers at their most experimental and many other musical alchemists from Pekka Streng to Reinin Myrkky -- as a bonus some no-holds-barred sound experiments of Kaj Chydenius and M.A. Numminen from the '60s." (lovemusic)



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Daniela Casa - Sovrapposizione Di Immagini (2014)


This excellent vinyl only release from Finders Keepers Records is very welcome, and should hopefully go some way towards shining a light upon one of library music's most visionary composers, who's compositions have considerable appeal beyond the niche of library music collectors.

Born in Rome,  Daniela Casa only lived to the age of 42, but the music she created in her home studio in the seventies (originally intended for use in radio, TV and films) transcends its original scope, and stands up well against any big name soundtrack composer of the day - Morricone, Nicolai etc.

Her opus "Società Malata" was rereleased last year, but where that focused on a particular facet of her sound (the theme of mankind's descent into corruption and wickedness lent itself to more sinister sounds), "Sovrapposizione Di Immagini" is a wider catch all release, that by its nature, displays greater versatility.

So, while the majority of "Societa Malata" is (quite rightly) featured here, there's also room for stomping, heavy psych monsters like the fuzzy delights of "Grosse Cilindrate", trippy, sitar-laden ragas ("Sport Orientali") and airy flute propelled lyricism ("Avventura"), with Casa's distinctive vintage synth tones never far below the surface.

Absolutely essential listening for pretty much everyone. --- Nathan Ford




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John Cage & Sun Ra ‎- John Cage Meets Sun Ra (1987)


Strange, zany, and still at points incredible and amazing, John Cage and Sun Ra performed this concert in 1986. Sun Ra steals the show, improvising amazingly on his Yamaha synthesizer and simply mesmerizing anyone who hears the music.

For those who think Thom Yorke is weird, meet Sun Ra. Yes, this man calls himself Sun Ra. This isn’t a band name, this is a man. Although legally born Herman Poole Blount, Sun Ra took upon his persona after being nicknamed Sonny as a child. But his name isn’t even the weirdest part. The man claims to be of the “Angel Race” and from the planet Saturn. He’s so mysterious that people think his date of birth could be anywhere from 1910-1918. Sun Ra said his astrological sign was Gemini, but who knows if even he knows? Sun Ra, of course, was a musician. He performed free jazz, known for his piano and synthesizer skill. He sounds like no other piano or synthesizer player and makes Miles Davis’ experimentation look like Lawrence Welk swing. Critics call his technique “a variety of influences, including blues, Count Basie's bounce, Thelonious Monk's dissonance and a degree of European impressionism.”

John Cage isn’t exactly all that normal either. He has a bit more of a revered background, studying music at the Cornish School of the Arts. However, the formal studying never got to his head. He created some of the most unique and contemporary music of the 20th century. On top of creating a musical piece for twelve radio receivers and music for an ensemble of metal percussive instruments, Cage made countless pieces of music based on the theory of “chance music.” In the score, Cage wrote silence in his music, however, he knew that at a live performance no such silence would occur. The sound in the performance venue becomes the music. He even wrote his most famous piece based on this theory, 4’33”, a 4 minute 33 second song divided into 3 movements of written silence. Not a single note.

These facts about these two men are essential to understanding this live performance. Without this information, the 45 minute performance seems terribly odd and zany. Sun Ra’s spastic, heavy synthesizer matched with Cage’s minimalist, sparse vocal noises seem all too much for a stable, sane human mind. On this recording, there are literally minutes of absolutely no music going on at the time. Cage showcases his “chance music” theory on this live recording, and the crowd apparently knows his ideas well. However, the recording quality diminishes from the chance music theory. Either the crowd kept incredibly silent or the recording did not pick up the sounds coming from the crowd. Overall, the recording quality of the performance is quite poor, often sounding like an old 50s movie.


Due to variety and musicality, Sun Ra heavily defeats John Cage on the performance. He opens the concert with a huge, furious, dissonant keyboard performance. The crowd cheers wildly and the spacey synthesizer sounds jump all around the range of the instrument and jump around in styles just as quickly. Elements of jazz flow in and suddenly a huge, orchestral sounding chord will overpower the recording instrument. The synth voices change frequently from a typical square lead voice to a bell sound to a synthesized voice. Sun Ra uses his range of voices perfectly, creating a heavy, metallic sound at some points which makes an even more frenzied sound to the already insane harmonic structure. He manages to jump from the most beautiful chords to the most dissonance in a matter of seconds. His first appearance goes on for 7 and a half minutes, garnering tumultuous applause from the audience. He later closes out the first half of the performance with a much more eastern tinged movement. Just when his playing couldn’t get any darker, he spends most of the second half making ambient, creepy noises. Much in the manner of the Mars Volta, he goes off without any sense of time or rhythm, creating whatever comes to mind. However, he lets the ambience slowly build into huge, crashing chords of either beauty or dissonance. Everything is going somewhere.

John Cage is just the opposite. His performance is much simpler. He merely steps up to a microphone and makes strange vocal noises. Cage’s voice sounds akin to an aging Johnny Cash. However, Cage never steps over saying more than 3 or 4 syllables at a time. He takes minute breaks before starting another few indistinguishable syllables. Of course, he relies on his “chance music” theory to get away with the minutes of silence. Sure, it’s a profound and intriguing idea, but it just gets old after a few minutes, especially when the recording buzzes in the background due to the quality. In truth, Cage is reciting excerpts from one of his poems in some strange language, known as Empty Words IV. However, who knows what he is saying? Luckily, Sun Ra saves the performance on the second half by filling in where Cage leaves silence. He fills with light, dainty keyboard lines way up high on the keys. He lets Cage have the show, not doing much of anything, but neither Cage still does less than Sun Ra. Cage proves a better composer and philosopher than a performer. Regardless, the crowd eats everything up, probably being mostly young, profound college kids themselves.

Knowing the stories and ideas of these two men, the performance of this album is almost the sonic equivalent of their lives. Sun Ra shows off his zany, spaced out mind. His music sounds like it’s from another planet, a royal proclamation from Saturn. Conversely, John Cage shows his independent, introspective self with his Empty Words IV literature and extended periods of silence. The two together form a compilation of some of the strangest, weirdest, and somehow profound music of all time. Both men being underappreciated and extremely important 20th century innovators, they never worry about fans or appeal like so many other artists. The two men show a love for music, ideas, and the profound relationship between them. (sputnikmusic)

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015


With Love to all our readers - Savage Saints Crew
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Fela Ransome Kuti & The Africa '70 - Open Close (1971)


Another long-thought-lost gem from the Fela Anikulapo Kuti archives, Open & Close was originally released in 1971 and, in the manner of He Miss Road and Fela's London Scene, is a total groove-fest loaded to the gills with raucous horn blowing, ferocious percussion (once again, Tony Allen take a bow), and song lengths over ten minutes. By this point, Fela could do no wrong when it came to recording; Afro-beat dissenters will claim that there is a trance-inducing similarity to much of Fela's '70s recorded output, that the grooves aren't enough to make the songs distinctive enough on their own. That's true of some of his later recordings (like in the mid- to late '80s), but at this point he was still breathing fire and the band was in top form. Perhaps the distinguishing factors of records like Open & Close and some of Fela's other '70s releases are that as much as he liked to ride a groove, he also liked to disrupt it, twist it and turn it, reshape it, only to bring it back to its original shape. There was less of that later in his career. --- John Dougan


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Cold Sun - Dark Shadows (1970)


OK, let’s put this Cold Sun discussion away for good. Over the last few years there has been a concerted effort, by some few, to *magically* elevate the band – Cold Sun to “legendary” status in the pantheon of Texas Psych.

To those thinking that this album will be reminiscent of the fabled Sixties Texas Garage Rock Sound will be in for a major disappointment. There’s a reason this album was never released in 1970; it sucks! It’s nothing but a bunch of meandering, devoid-of-melody, uninteresting, noise and ill conceived modality exercises. And let’s face it folks, Cold Sun IS NOT somebody like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (East West) or Frank Zappa or (fer Christ sake) Neil Young on his Trans album. Guys like that can pull off "different". Cold Sun? They’re a bunch of tuneless tools. Yes Elizabeth, YOU can be able to listen to Billy Miller learning to play his autoharp.

There’s been a lot of talk that this album is some sort of "missing link" between legendary groups like the Velvet Underground, the Doors, the 13th Floor Elevators, the Golden Dawn and more modern music. Uhhhh… the four groups above could do something that Cold Sun, seemingly, cannot accomplish: carry a tune. Additionally, this *talk* is manufactured stuff. All of these opinions are being concocted by a select few, a circle-jerk, of people who want to push Cold Sun up into undeserved status. Those who talk about Cold Sun in the same breath as bands like the Velvet Underground and 13th Floor Elevators should have their tongues torn out with red hot tongs.


Really? Cold Sun Dark Shadows sounds like Miller and his cohorts had been listening to the first Yes album and the first King Crimson album and were trying to affect some sort of “Prog-Rock” sound with a gimmick. But, again, Yes and King Crimson knew what a melody was. The effort isn’t helped that Bill Miller can put an alley cat, howling at night on a fence, to shame. Omigod! It’s horrific. He goes up and down and upppppp and downnnnnn with this pasty little voice that sounds like he’s getting corn-holed rather roughly.

Miller’s vocalizations, combined with the tuneless music, make for an exercise in pain upon listening. Oh yes, just in case you’re thinking that, like Captain Beefheart, Cold Sun just needs to be “appreciated” well… Captain Beefheart was a genius; Cold Sun is a bunch of, gawd-awful, posers. Again, there’s a reason their album never came out. There’s a reason only 300 copies were pressed when it did come out for the first time, years later.

Looking back, this whole Cold Sun emergence lately seems to be the invention of Patrick Lundborg aka: the Lama. Lundborg has written much prose about how wonderful Cold Sun Dark Shadows Bill Miller is. To me, Lundborg is trying to give Cold Sun props; Billy is his buddy. More like, Lundborg is trying to prop up the putrid, sagging, carcass of Cold Sun.

Beware! Buy this album at your own risk! Don’t buy into the cross-talk that these guys were “great”. Cold Sun couldn’t carry bands like the Red Crayola & Golden Dawn’s jockstraps.

If you’re unconvinced, I have pasted some samples below. It’s God-awful. It’s God-awful AND it’s late to the party God-awful. Don't be fooled into buying this album! Don't be a fool and put them up as a legitimate Texas Psych band from the Sixties. (source)
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Daevid Allen ‎- Seven Drones (1990)


The most minimalistic and yet most intricately subtle music by daevid - a distillation of years of experimentation into the nature of sound. Created with layers of glissando guitar and synth which combine to form the subtly fluctuating basic note of the drone, one for each Chakra or energy centre of the body following the classical Indian tradition. On top of this root drone are more layers of sound, chosen to be appropriate for the qualities of each Chakra. These are created in a variety of ways, more gliss guitar and synth, didgeridoo, space whisper, chimes, flute, and even in one or two places some words. These overlayers seemlessly merge in and out of the root drone in a harmonious way to complete the piece. (planetgong)


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Ngozi Family - Day of Judgement (1976)


Paul Ngozi warns at this beginning of this early Zamrock disc, recorded in 1976 in a brief flowering of Zambian prosperity, about a decade after independence and before plummeting copper prices plunged the country into depression. Ngozi and his band —  Chrissy Zebby Tembo on drums and left-handed bassist Billy Sithenge — are playing live in front of what sounds like a large, unruly crowd. They cheer on each phrase of the intro, roaring as the heavy metal guitar chords bracket lines about sinners going to hell, Christians to paradise. “What do you think about it, people?” Ngozi asks, and this title track devolves into a shuffling, shambolic funk-rock beat with fuzz guitar rolling out over it in waves.  

Ngozi Paul Nyirongo had been kicking around in various Zambian bands for six years when this album was recorded, developing a wild Hendrix-influenced style that found him, sometimes, picking out notes with his teeth. He had done a stint with MOSI-O-TUNYA, a Zambian band based in Kenya, just prior to Day of Judgment, then returned to reunited with Zebby Tembo (who had been in his old band Scorpions). His music was heavily influenced by British and American hard rock and metal, mixed with James Brown-style funk.  

You have to listen pretty to detect much of traditional African folk styles in most of these tracks — that’s best heard perhaps in “Bwemeawe”’s  soft harmonized vocals atop rattling, hypnotic drums. But there is something very African in the way that Ngozi and his bandmates make use of whatever’s available — battered instruments and amps, whistles, sirens and car engines, as well as riffs heard on 1970s radio and replicated with the most primitive materials.


As a result, you can hardly hear “Kumando Kwa Bambo” without thinking of “War Pigs” or “I’m On My Way” without flashing on “Smoke on the Water,” or “Hi Babe,” without picturing Ngozi wearing out a tape of Electric Ladyland.  And yet there’s an intriguing telephone-game quality to all these songs, as you can hear familiar riffs subsumed into heavy funk. Most of these songs have an extended rhythmic break at their center where Zebby Tembo finds mesmeric repetitive grooves. Most of them have fuzz guitar solos that erupt out of the mix, amplified to the breaking point and obliterating all other sounds (a couple of these sounded very similar to Ron Asheton’s work on the first Stooges album). These songs are not subtle or delicate, but have a certain primitive power to them.

A good half the songs are about women, mostly troublesome woman, a fascination for heavy rock bands everywhere. Of these, I like “I Wanna Know” the best, with its sprawling, all-over-the-neck electric solo and shuffling syncopations, which tighten and coalesce near the end into a hypnotic groove. “Hi Babe” is more hedonistic, all Hendrix in its guitar work and vocal phrasings, but almost a throwaway in its good-time vibe. But the best songs are oblique political calls to arms, the anthemic title track, the strident “We Were Not Told.” Neither of these tracks gets very specific about issues or complaints, but both rally listeners to action, solidarity, resistance. There’s a fire in these cuts that doesn’t burn through the romantic ones.

Day of Judgment captures Ngozi and his cohorts as they defined a visceral style that mixes metal and funk and hints at socially-engaged afro-punk. The recording quality is terrible, and you have to listen a few times to get past that, but once you do, it’s astonishing stuff.

Jennifer Kelly
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VA - Electronic Panorama: Paris, Tokyo, Utrecht, Warszawa (1970)


Around 1970 Philips had its own recordlabel (as well as its own electronic studio, btw) and it released a series of records with state of the art electronic and electro-acoustic music which were all encased in a shiny silver sleeve. The series was called Prospective 21e Siecle. Currently these releases are well sought by collectors of ancient electronic music. One of these release was a box with 4 records, each presenting the latest or the best of 4 electronic music studios: Utrecht, Warsaw, Paris and Tokyo. Program notes by Maurice Fleuret. Recorded at Groupe de Recherches Musicales de l'O.R.T.F. (Paris, France), Studio voor Elektronische Muziek (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Studio of Radio NHK, (Tokyo, Japan), Studio Eksperymentalne Polskie Radio (Warszawa, Poland). (jazzearredores)



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Adam Lane's Full Throttle Orchestra ‎- Ashcan Rantings (2010)


A little big band (sometimes no more than a large group) with variable geometry, the Full Throttle Orchestra has very wide parameters, in order to achieve the "multi-dimensional sonic qualities" intended by its leader, composer and arranger, the contrabassist Adam Lane. The references, if not imediatly recognizable, are disseminated in every turn and adopted form: Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington, of course (what else could do anyone interested in getting that particular "orchestral effect" of the swing and be bop eras?), but also Iannis Xenakis and Luigi Nono (ant that means structural complexity and harmonic sofistication), Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Melt Banana (you now know from where comes all the energy and roughness). Also the soundtrack to the movie "Forbidden Planet" (feeled in the futuristic and "exotic" atmospheres), crossing boundaries between jazz, contemporary classical, punk, metal, noise and... "music of questionable worth", as Lane puts it himself with humour. If you think everything was already done in the big band domain, prepare yourself: you're gonna be surprised. (adamlane)


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Odetta - Sings Ballads And Blues (1957)


This is allegedly the record that inspired a young Bob Dylan to trade in his electric guitar for an acoustic model; years later, he said Odetta was "the first thing that turned me on to folk singing." He was not alone. Many folk-revival artists cited this 1956 document and the several that followed as primary catalysts.

The fierce Odetta, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, started out wanting to be an opera singer. That was a daunting challenge in the segregated 1950s, so she pursued musical theater, and at eighteen became part of a touring production of Finian's Rainbow. When the tour got to San Francisco, she heard folk music and was hooked: She learned to play guitar and began singing the mix of work songs, spirituals, and blues that would, in a few years, make her famous.

Odetta recorded several times before she was signed to the Tradition label, but Sings Ballads and Blues is her first fully realized statement. Its songs associated with Leadbelly ("Easy Rider," "Muleskinner Blues") show how authoritative Odetta was as a guitarist; her timing is flawless. And they present her as a riveting singer, particularly in her fulminating lower register (her high notes still have a touch of operatic affectation here). Of special note are the spiritual songs, among them "Joshua" and the closing medley that includes "Oh Freedom," "Come and Go with Me," and a resolute "I'm on My Way." These have a spine-chilling directness, a sense of hard-won knowledge that the more collegiate folkies couldn't match.Sings Ballads and Blues has been reissued many different ways. The most rewarding package is the two-disc The Tradition Masters, which includes the stirring At the Gate of Horn, recorded live in a Chicago club. This time, Odetta isn't alone: She's accompanied by bassist Bill Lee, filmmaker Spike Lee's father, a steadying (and underappreciated) presence on many great folk records. (source)




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Eugene Chadbourne + Thomas Lehn - C Inside (2000)


Eugene Chadbourne and Thomas Lehn performing as a duo. C: Inside was recorded live in Cologne on June 9, 1999. The CD contains three pieces : “Crossroads,” a 46-minute improv, followed by “Intersection” and “Line Out,” two short encores of two and three minutes. Eugene Chadbourne favors his “deering goodtimes banjo” (liner notes) on this recording, but he also uses his “modified guild slim Jim acoustic electric guitar” (same). At one point in “Crossroads,” he slips into a rendition of Gram Parsons' “Hickory Wind,” but his vocal prowess ends there.

This disc is excellent. The frenetic banjo fights the analog rumbles in a match of epic proportions, a match in which the listener is the winner. Both improvisers deliver an energy-packed performance, but the level of energy never reaches an exaggerated level. There is moderation on this disc, self-control (something that is not a standard with Dr. Chadbourne), punctuated by well-timed decibel-packed episodes and an engaging synergy. As a bonus, a strange and fun essay by Dr. Chadbourne trying to understand what a G7 summit actually is. (source)
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Limbus 4 - Mandalas (1970)


Limbus 3 & 4 are an experimental Krautrock group from Heidelberg, Germany. Their 1969 debut "Cosmic Music Experience" featured the musicians Odysseus Artnern, Bernd Henninger and Gerd Kraus on various instruments. The experimentation with an odd array of instruments became the forte of the group, with heavy influences of ethnic world music, primarily African and Indian styles. The music was mostly acoustic and was fully improvised, integrating a fair degree of Viola, Percussive tribal rhythms on exotic instruments that Kraus acquired from friends who travelled to foreign continents. The use of tablas, sitar, bul-bul tarang, and various pipes added to the unusual sound, appealing to the hippie-commune of Heidelberg in the late 60s flower power counterculture era.


The debut was alternatively titled "New Atlantis" in reference to the one of the album tracks, that actually swallowed up an entire side of vinyl, the whole of side two. The album was followed the next year in 1970 by "Mandalas" as a quartet when the second percussionist Matthias Knieper joined. Wind instruments, droning voices and cosmic effects made the whole thing sound like some hallucinatory acid trip, as was intended and the band incorporated the use of piano, bass, cello, viola, violin, flute, recorder, oriental flute, plastic flute, totalophon, valiha faray, tsikadraha, tabras, tambourin, percussion. The band disbanded in 1971, but their music will appeal to Krautrock fans and those with an ear for psychedelic improvised experimental music. (progarchives)

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Sun Treader - Zin-Zin (1973)


Debut LP by UK jazzy/prog trio...the band is based around the percussionist Morris Pert, Alyn Ross at bass and Peter Robinson at electric piano...Morris Pert had played with Stomu Yamashta and also Jonesy…Peter Robinson was formerly in Quatermass, Zakarrias and Three Man Army...The music on this underrated album is a nice jazzy progressive gem with the main emphasis on drums and piano...

Alyn Ross - Bass
Morris Pert - Drums
Peter Robinson - Piano
Robin Thompson - Sax (guest)


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Re: 3/3 Sanbun No San (1975)


Machine Song

W czasie gdy większość miłośników brzmienia lat 60-tych i 70-tych zasłuchana była przede wszystkim w twórczość grup anglo-saskich, na Dalekim Wschodzie działy się rzeczy równie ciekawe, ale ten rynek był traktowany po macoszemu. Z czasem zaczęły przebijać się zespoły - głównie z Japonii jak np. Flower Travelin' Band, Speed Glue & Shinki czy Blues Creation. W Japonii były również grupy mniej znane - typowo undrgroundowe. Do takich zespoółów należy znakomity 3/3 Sanbun No San. Swą nazwę zawdzięcza japońskiemu komiksowi o tym samym tytule. W roku 1975 grupa nagrała swój pierwszy album - uwaga !!! - w nakładzie 15 egzemplarzy z ręcznie wykonanymi okładkami. Muzykę, którą grupa prezentowała to żywiołowa fuzja dokonań Blue Cheer, Hendrixa, Human Instinct, JPT Scare Band ale wszystko to było jeszcze bardziej drapieżne doprawione sosem w postaci np.The Stooges czy Debris. Zresztą nie bez przyczyny grupa utożsamiana jest z protoplastami punk rocka. Korzenie ma jednak bardzo psychedeliczne. Po rozwiązaniu zespołu na ich gruzach powstała inna ważna grupa japońska - Friction. Album wznowiła mała niezależna wytwórnia Shadocks. Zapraszamy do posłuchania. 

Reck - guitar, vocals
Higo Hiroshi - bass
Chiko Hige - drums


This reissue proves and disproves in equal measure conventional wisdom about the pre-punk music world. It shows that there was actually compelling, aggressive, underground, alternative music made around the world in the 1970s before the punk explosion. Nearly everyone knows this fact by now. But 3/3 (or, Sanbun No San) also proves that punk’s revolution was an economic revolution as much as, if not more so than, a musical one. The 1970s’ interstices between punk and hippie were filled by marginal weirdos, loners, basement dwellers, artists, and radicals—that is certain. Problem was that there was no way for these people to get their message, such as it was, out to the world. The recent great finds of this era, like Debris’, Simply Saucer, or even the Electric Eels and “I Got A Right”-era Stooges, were and continue to be appreciated retrospectively. At the time, there was no infrastructure in the music world to support what was deemed unmarketable; even less prevalent was the notion that independent releases were an end, not a means. Punk changed all that.

Recorded in 1975, the LP by 3/3 was probably the most legendary Japanese record among punk collectors simply because it barely existed. Rumors persist of fewer than 10 copies ever made. The LP was manufactured as a test pressing with the hopes of generating record-label interest. That didn’t work. Its nods to psych were too late and its patches of raw, straight-forward, aggressive heaviness apparently were either too late for the post-Sabbath trend or too early for punk. Few people had heard this record prior to this reissue, but in recent years, when many English-speaking record collectors began to frequent Tokyo specialty shops, rumors began to spread outside Japan about the pre-Friction band. Supposedly, a CD-R was auctioned on Yahoo Japan, and if true, I believe that CD-R provided the source material for this reissue. (A strange drop-out near the end of the first song is not a pressing defect—it does at least appear in the MP3s I obtained a while back, possibly also sourced from the mythic CD-R.) So, does the LP live up to its legend?

As a piece of proto-punk, this record is everything one demands from that pseudo-genre. To me, the bizarreness of some proto-punk (I’m looking at you, the Midwest) is acceptable if it is the substitute for heaviness and aggression on records that lack those qualities. Luckily, 3/3 is heavy and not weird at all, at least certainly not to anyone who has listened to even the most elementary heavy psych. Some of its songs, with mucho wah-wah, are clearly influenced by Hendrix more than any other artist, and for the most part, the record doesn’t have the slow, riffy heaviness of Sabbath (or Sabbath-like Japanese bands such as Blues Creation or Flower Travellin’ Band). It falls somewhere in the middle, enhanced in my estimation by its stripped-down, live-sounding recording. This recording quality is reminiscent of the other key obscurities in the Japanese proto-punk world that were reissued recently, the two 7”s by Benitokage. Unlike in Benitokage, however, I don’t detect any glam influence in 3/3. Also, relatively speedy tempos abound. Certainly it’s faster than the Pistols! Reck’s singing, present in about half the songs, strikes me as sufficiently proto-punk as well. He doesn’t scream but he doesn’t wail either, and in some places Reck seems to be singing nonsense (or maybe it’s proto-punk scat). It’s unpretentious, which is probably the best way to describe the overall effect of the album. The LP doesn’t exactly hold together as an album because the song order is imperfect, with the best stuff at the end of the A side and beginning of the B side, and the weakest, most Jimi/wah-wankish, and longest song starts the record. But the record fittingly ends with a song called “Let it flow,” which has a definite downer, spaced-out vibe. As a document of a live show or even rehearsal, this record succeeds because it lacks the mediation a more polished recording would introduce.

3/3’s line-up included Higo Hiroshi on bass and Reck on guitar and vocals, whereas in Friction, Reck played bass and sang, and the redoubtable Tsunematsu Masatoshi played the six-string. The drummer remained the same in both bands. A close look at the photos on the back of this LP reveals that it’s Friction depicted, not 3/3, even though the kick-drum appears to have a “3” on the front of it. With Friction’s current crosscultural popularity (amongst both punks and nerdy norms), listeners will surely be attempting to hear hints of Friction’s spare, abrasive, downtown-Manhattan-one-upped-in-Tokyo sound. They’re not there, except insofar as 3/3’s rawness and live-quality recording may have carried over to the punk era. (Lyrically, Friction remained psychedelic as far as I can tell.) Though nothing by 3/3 jumps off the vinyl and grabs you around the throat like “Crazy Dream.” Alas, such is the lot of the punk fan working backwards.

So, is upwards of $40 a fair price for an LP with no information about the band and photos of the wrong band on it? Well, let’s just say, you need this record, and shoplifting from the few independent record stores left isn’t a solution. It’s in my nature, I think, to jump at the chance to own on vinyl music that is otherwise unavailable, especially music made by folks who went on to be in one of the best bands of one of my favorite eras (first-wave Japanese punk). Apparently, others agree, as this LP is one of the first that curmudgeonly Shadoks has pressed twice on vinyl. The first pressing comprises 500 numbered red-vinyl copies, and the second 350 black-vinyl copies. One hopes that Mr. Shadoks is giving some of his profits to Reck and Co., but one has doubts in this regard. (shit-fi.com)
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VA - No Bullshit: A Sonic Tribute to Zbigniew Karkowski (1958-2013)



Zbigniew Karkowski (born March 14, 1958 – December 12, 2013) was a Polish experimental musician and composer.

He worked professionally in the areas of written contemporary music, industrial music, pop music and experimental performance for the last 15 years. Karkowski presented his work in more than 30 countries on nearly all continents. He was convinced that it is a responsibility of an artist, in the present time, to travel and move and work around the world in order to learn and understand different cultures and traditions, and also to discover the truth about us and our planet. He was not interested in traditional definitions of "what is music", in his opinion all theory and systems of music as a cultural concept have to be destroyed. So in his latest work, his main concern is the realization of drama with electronic sound, and acoustic walls with scores based on architectures of ruins.

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Tibor Szemző ‎- Tractatus (1995)


Tibor Szemző, ur.1955, kompozytor i muzyk, jest autorem prac wideo, filmów eksperymentalnych, instalacji i performansów prezentowanych na całym świecie. Jako muzyk stał się znany w późnych latach 70. XX w. Jest założycielem legendarnych węgierskich zespołów: Group 180 i The Gordian Knot Company. Z czasem jego zainteresowania zwróciły się ku filmowi, wideo i audiwozualnym instalacjom, w których często używa dokumentalnych i archiwalnych materiałów filmowych, jak i historycznych źródeł tekstowych.

Tractatus (1991—95) to minimalistyczna kompozycja na ludzki głos, muzyków i narratorów, stworzona do siedmioczęściowego eseju filmowego Wittgenstein Tractatus (1992) Pétera Forgácsa, zainspirowanego Traktatem logiczno—filozoficznym Ludwiga Wittgensteina. Ta symboliczna ilustracja teorii Wittgensteina, poświęconej logice, językowi, rzeczywistości i zagadnieniom reprezentacji, zbudowana z archiwalnych i znalezionych materiałów filmowych, fotografii i recytowanych w różnych językach tekstów w 1993 roku została wyróżniona główną nagrodą 4. Festiwalu Wizualnych Realizacji Okołomuzycznych WRO 93 (...) Centralnym elementem utworu jest męski głos, nucący ciągle kilka tych samych nut, towarzyszy mu recytacja urywków tekstów z pism Wittgensteina i powoli narastające dźwięki syntezatorów, tworząc hipnotyczną, medytatywną strukturę. (wrocenter)


Hungarian electro-acoustic composer Tibor Szemzö was born in Budapest in 1955, beginning his musical studies at the Kodály method school at the age of six. Initally playing the violin, his subsequent discoveries of rock prompted a move to guitar; the influence of John Coltrane and Charles Mingus next inspired Szemzö to form his own jazz trio (later a quartet), and in 1979 he founded the minimalist ensemble Group 180. Embarking on a solo career in 1983, Szemzö began integrating spoken word and visual elements into projects otherwise dominated by flute and live electronics, and in 1987 he issued his first solo recording, Snapshot from the Island. The downfall of Hungary's communist rule allowed him to began collaborating with various artists throughout Europe, and in 1998 Szemzö also formed a new chamber ensemble, the Gordian Knot. Other notable works include Ain't Nothing But a Little Bit of Music for Moving Pictures (the score to a collection of black-and-white home movies compiled by friend Péter Forgács), The Conscience (a trilogy of narrative-based chamber compositions) and Tractatus (a half-hour piece inspired by the Austrian philosopher Wittgenstein).

Hungarian Tibor Szemzo is an anomaly among late century composers of "new" music. Most of his work is gentle, filling space with sonority and silence. He also uses written text that is usually spoken though sometimes sung, and he focuses deeply on suffering and transformation. His works use chamber instruments and taped soundscapes that he pastes together himself. Drones and a "traditional" sense of melody are also important factors in his numerous works. On Tractatus, he uses the texts of linguist, philosopher, and humanist Ludwig Wittgenstein for his catalyst. He uses seven narrators of these texts in languages as diverse as Japanese to Spanish and Czech, as well as English. One small melodic line is hummed over and over, hypnotically, as a bass plays a series of notes in harmony; sound effects boxes gently fill the ambient space and the narrators take their turns with these texts: "There is indeed the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical." "No cry of torment can be greater than the cry of one man," and so on. There are a finite number of aphorisms offered here, and they are not spoken in tandem with one another, leaving room for them to float over this simple structure and meditatively encounter the listener. A short, minimalist piano phrase appears mysteriously near the work's end and disappears just as randomly before transforming itself every few measures into a classical theme from antiquity until the end. It took over four years to assemble the pieces for this recording, and like the work of Gavin Bryars or Wolfgang Rihm, Szemzo has no reason to bombastically reach for the stars or obliterate the mind of the listener with ideas too dense to take in one setting. He whispers his sophistication in plain speak, allowing for sound itself to make its way into the human heart. (amg)

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Soft Machine - Spaced 1969 (1996)


Ten nietypowy album Soft Machine zawiera wybór z półtoragodzinnej oprawy muzycznej do spektaklu multimedialnego pt. Spaced, stworzonego i wyreżyserowanego przez awangardowego reżysera teatralnego Petera Dockleya. Spektakl ten wykonywany był m.in. przez tancerzy baletowych i gimnastyków (byłych żołnierzy). Ubrani byli w gumowe kostiumy z ramionami ośmiornicy. Scenografię tworzyły rusztowania. Wystawienie tego awangardowego wówczas widowiska odbyło się w klubie "Roundhouse", który następnie po przebudowie stał się znany jako "UFO".

Muzyka miała być ponura i zdezorganizowana.

Grupa nagrywała ją na terenie byłych doków w magazynie, który służył jej jako miejsce prób. W weekendy dochodził Brian Hopper i dogrywał partie saksofonowe. Następnie taśmy były opracowywane w mieszkaniu inżyniera dźwiękowca Boba Woolforda, który ciął, montował i sklejał taśmy, posługując się m.in. pierwszym brytyjskim magnetofonem – ferrografem. Taśmy te nie były przygotowywane z myślą o wydaniu ich na płycie analogowej (LP) czy też nośniku cyfrowym (CD).

Spektakl był wykonywany przez tydzień, ale nie odniósł sukcesu.

Program BBC poświęcony sztuce wyemitował zmontowane fragmenty spektaklu, jednak muzyka Soft Machine była zbyt awangardowa, więc telewizja posłużyła się nagraniami grupy Pink Floyd. (wikipedia)


A returning item in Soft Machine’s music is the use of tape loops and/or repeated patterns. Tape loops were often used by electronic music composers in the Fifties and Sixties. One or more sounds were recorded; the tape was spliced and taped together at a certain point, whereby the tape could have length for over one meter or even more. Sometimes tapes were used which ran through a room from one wall to the other. Halfway a heavy bottle was used to guide it. Longer tapes meant less repeated patterns; how shorter the tape, the more repetitions. Terry Riley used this way of creating his early minimal music, or repeated music as it was named in the beginning. He visited Paris and worked there as well. Daevid Allen caught up with him and that’s how the repeated music was introduced in Soft Machine’s music. In the early days of the group most musicians visited Allen on his houseboat in Paris and created lots of loops; it’s fun after all. As you can read on the left Peter Dockley asked the group if they could create a backing tape for his multi-media happening ‘Spaced’, which would be performed at the Roundhouse. Mike, Hugh and Robert started recording; Hugh’s brother Brian came over and played some saxophone parts. Bob Woolford (from Middle Earth Masters fame) helped out with his tape recorders. Space was made in his apartment in London, with tapes running around milk bottles and up the stairs and fear of his cat which could have destroyed the constructions. The project wasn’t that successful; the audience expected the real band, the critics described at as ‘clanking noises’ and after all just a small part was used for television but not with Soft Machine’s tapes, but with a track from Pink Floyd! The cd doesn’t contain all tracks, some were lost, some were boring after all. Spaced One is a track with very soft sounds, you can hear the bass and sometimes organ, but there are also lots of other noises to be heard. Spaced Two sounds very familiar now; the tune was used before! Spaced Three is a tape played backwards, creating an unearthly atmosphere. The very long Spaced Four sounds real Soft Machine like with a long organ solo by Mike. Sometimes that sounds real creepy. Spaced Five is almost late night jazz with a beautiful saxophone part in it. Speed Six could have been a Frank Zappa composition, using all the kinds of percussion and electronic sounds. Space Seven is a typical Soft Machine record-ending sound, soft and sliding. Spaced is not a ‘normal’ Soft Machine album; if you like electronic music and experimental music this is one for you, otherwise it could be disappointing; not everyone likes those ‘clanking sounds’ after all. (Paul Lemmens)

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East Bionic Symphonia ‎- Recorded Live (1976)


East Bionic Symphonia were a group of improvisers and artists who studied together under Takehisa Kosugi at the Bigakko artschool in Tokyo in the mid-1970s. As a graduation project they recorded an album of free improvisation that was edited by Kosugi and released on the LAM Records label in 1976. Several of the members went on to have careers in underground music and the visual arts. The remnants of the group reconvened in 1997 under the name Marginal Consort and continue to play annually. The original members were Kazuo Imai, Kaoru Okabe, Yasushi Ozawa, Tomonao Koshikawa, Hiroshi Shii, Masami Tada, Tatsuo Hattori, Kazuaki Hamada, Masaharu Minegishi, & Chie Mukai.


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People's Temple Choir - He's Able (1973)


Świątynia Ludu – sekta religijna, założona przez Jamesa Jonesa w 1956 w Indianapolis i przeniesiona w 1965 do Kalifornii. W szczytowym okresie popularności do sekty należało około 30 tysięcy ludzi, dysponowała ona majątkiem ok. 15 mln dolarów, a jej przywódca Jim Jones dla wyznawców kultu stanowił bezwzględny autorytet moralny. Sekta upadła pod koniec 1978 w wyniku zbiorowej śmierci ponad 900 osób (gł. amerykańskich członków sekty zmuszonych przez Jonesa do popełnienia samobójstwa) 18 listopada 1978 w ośrodku sekty w Gujanie.

James Warren Jones urodził się w 1931 roku w Lynn (Indiana), niedaleko Indianapolis. Nie skończył żadnej szkoły, imał się różnych zajęć. Na początku lat 60. w rodzinnym mieście założył kilkudziesięcioosobową grupę Świątynia Ludu. Pod pozorem działalności charytatywnej zbierał fundusze dla swojej grupy. Tak umiejętnie obracał pieniędzmi, że wkrótce jego organizacja bardzo się wzbogaciła. Wraz z setką zwolenników Jones przeniósł się później do Redwood Valley w Kalifornii, by wreszcie osiąść w San Francisco. Twierdził, że jest Mesjaszem, otoczył się dwunastoma uczniami. Grupa stale powiększała się o nowych wyznawców, a wraz z nią rosły dochody, gdyż majątek każdego nowego członka stawał się automatycznie własnością guru.

Przywódca Świątyni Ludu stał się tak popularny, że o jego poparcie zaczęli zabiegać politycy. Został przewodniczącym komisji mieszkaniowej w Radzie Miejskiej San Francisco. W połowie lat 70. Jonesa zaliczano do najważniejszych przywódców Kościołów i sekt w USA.

Życie w sekcie było nieustannie kontrolowane. Członkowie byli poddawani ciągłej inwigilacji i „praniu mózgu”. Za nieposłuszeństwo Jones nakazywał złożenie publicznej samokrytyki, a także wymierzał karę chłosty. Wykorzystywał swych ludzi do niewolniczej pracy. Kiedy prawda o życiu w sekcie zaczęła przedostawać się na zewnątrz dzięki prasie, „wielebny” uznał, że trzeba na pewien czas wyjechać. Wykupił kawałek ziemi w dżungli w Gujanie i założył tam plantację, którą nazwał Jonestown (Miasto Jonesa).

Zainteresowanie prasy sektą Jonesa wzbudziło niepokój władz, które dotąd, przychylne grupie, zaczęły bacznie obserwować doniesienia mediów. Okazało się, że Jones torturuje członków wspólnoty, w tym małe dzieci. Jeśli dziecko na widok „wielebnego” nie uśmiechnie się w porę albo nie przywita nakazaną formułką („dzień dobry, ojcze, jaka radość widzieć ciebie”), jest poddawane w specjalnym pokoju elektrowstrząsom.

Rząd USA nie mógł jednak natychmiast zlikwidować kolonii w Gujanie, nie posiadając niezbitych dowodów łamania prawa. Jonestown było bowiem prywatną posiadłością poza granicami państwa. Sprawę badał wysłannik rządu, kongresmen Leo Ryan.

18 listopada część członków Świątyni Ludu zgłosiła się do kongresmena, chcąc razem z nim wrócić do USA. Tuż przed powrotem, na pasie startowym lotniska w Port Kaituma, oddalonego od Jonestown o pięć kilometrów, Ryan, trzej towarzyszący mu dziennikarze oraz kilkoro uciekinierów, zostało zamordowanych strzałami z broni maszynowej.

Tymczasem w samym Jonestown 900 osób zażyło truciznę. Szczegóły zdarzenia nie są znane. Wiadomo tylko, że wokół siedziby sekty Jones rozstawił kordon uzbrojonych strażników. Ocalało kilkoro osób, którym w ogólnym zamieszaniu na początku „ceremonii” udało się ukryć, a potem wymknąć do dżungli. W Jonestown znaleziono 903 ciała. Wśród nich były zwłoki Jonesa, ale nie wypił on trucizny – zginął od strzału w głowę.

Razem z osobami zabitymi na lotnisku zginęło 914 ludzi. Być może w kolonii przebywało więcej osób, około 1200. Policja, która przybyła na miejsce tragedii, stwierdziła, że kasa pancerna, w której „wielebny” trzymał pieniądze, została rozbita. (wikipedia)


This was a Christian destructive, doomsday cult founded and led by James Warren Jones (1931-1978). Jim Jones held degrees from Indiana University and Butler University. He was not a Fundamentalist pastor as many reports in the media and the anti-cult movement claim. He belonged to a mainline Christian denomination, having been ordained in the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. (At the time of his ordination, the DoC allowed a local congregation to select and ordain a minister on their own. However, ordinations conducted without denominational endorsement were not considered valid within the rest of the church.)

The Peoples Temple was initially structured as an inter-racial mission for the sick, homeless and jobless. He assembled a large following of over 900 members in Indianapolis IN during the 1950's.

"He preached a 'social gospel' of human freedom, equality, and love, which required helping the least and the lowliest of society's members. Later on, however, this gospel became explicitly socialistic, or communistic in Jones' own view, and the hypocrisy of white Christianity was ridiculed while 'apostolic socialism' was preached."

It was an interracial congregation -- almost unheard of in Indiana at the time. When a government investigation began into his cures for cancer, heart disease and arthritis, he decided to move the group to Ukiah in Northern California. He preached the imminent end of the world in a nuclear war; Esquire magazine listed Ukiah as one of nine in the U.S. that cold survive a nuclear attack. They later moved to San Francisco and Los Angeles. After an expose during the mid 1970's in the magazine New West raised suspicions of illegal activities within the Temple, he moved some of the Temple membership to Jonestown, Guyana. The Temple had leased almost 4,000 acres of dense jungle from the government. They established an agricultural cooperative there, called the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project." They raised animals for food, and assorted tropical fruits and vegetables for consumption and sale.

Jones developed a belief called Translation in which he and his followers would all die together, and would move to another planet for a life of bliss. Mass suicides were practiced in which his followers pretended to drink poison and fell to the ground.

During the late 1970's, Jones had been abusing prescription drugs and appears to have become increasingly paranoid. Rumors of human rights abuses circulated. As in most high-intensity religious groups, there was a considerable flow of people joining and leaving the group. Tim Stoen, the Temple attorney and right-hand man to Jones left to form a group called Concerned Relatives. They claimed that Jonestown was being run like a concentration camp, and that people were being held there against their will.

These concerns motivated Leo Ryan, a Congressman, to visit Jonestown in 1978-NOV for a personal inspection. At first, the visit went well. Later, on NOV-18, about 16 Temple members decided that they wanted to leave Jonestown with the visitors. This came as quite a blow to both Jones and the rest of the project. While Ryan and the others were waiting at Port Kiatuma airfield, the local airstrip, some heavily armed members of the Temple's security guards arrived and started shooting. Congressman Ryan and four others were killed; three were members of the press; the other was a person from Jonestown who wanted to leave.

Fearing retribution, the project members discuss their options. They reach a consensus to commit group suicide.  Most appear to have committed suicide by drinking a grape drink laced with cyanide and a number of sedatives, including liquid Valium, Penegram and chloral hydrate. Some sources say it was Kool-Aid; others say FlaVor-AidŽ. Other victims appear to have been murdered by poison injection. The Guyanese coroner said that hundreds of bodies showed needle marks, indicating foul play. Still other victims were shot. A very few fled into the jungle and survived.

In all, 914 died: 638 adults and 276 children. Some sources say 911 died. Their bodies were in a state of extensive decay when the authorities arrived. There was no time to conduct a thorough investigation. TV station KTVU in San Francisco CA has a collection of photographs of the "Peoples temple Agricultural Project." Some are quite disturbing. Unfortunately, their web site implies that all of the dead committed suicide.

The Peoples Temple organization did not survive the mass suicide/murder in Guyana. Their former headquarters building in San Francisco was demolished by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. (source)
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Eliane Radigue - Geelriandre/Arthesis (2003)


Eliane Radigue was born in Paris on January, 24 1932. She studied electroacoustic music techniques at the "Studio d'essai" of the RTF under Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, later becoming Henry's assistant at the Studio Apsome in 1967 and 1968. She worked for a year at the New York University School of the Arts in 1970. Her music, its source an ARP 2500 synthesizer and medium recording tape, attracted considerable attention for its sensitive, dappled purity. She was in residence at the electronic music studios of the University of Iowa and California Institute of the Arts in 1973. In 1975, Radigue became a disciple of Tibetan Buddhism. After four years of study, she began a large-scale cycle of works based on the life of the 11th century Tibetan master Milarepa. Radigue's music has been performed throughout Europe and the United States. She currently lives in Paris, where she continues to compose electronic music and to study the teachings of the Tibetan lamas. 


The first of the two half-hour pieces 'Geelriandre' was made on an ARP Synthesizer in 1972 accompanied by Gérard Fremy on Piano, and finally recorded at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, December 1979. In its 29 minute life-span the world seems to gradually slow down spinning on its axis, everything feels measured to a deeply attuned internal clock. The ARP provides layers of wavering tones which gradually accumulate, dissipate and re-emerge with a subliminal quality while sensitively struck percussion - gongs and other, sharper metallic objects - mark out time with a saintly, opiated patience. Just so so good. Oh man, then there's 'Arthesis' - realised on the Moog Synthesizer at the University of Iowa in 1973, a track which makes you feel like part of your consciousness is folding back into itself. A low, low hum starts out in the left channel before overtones gradually bleed into the right ending with a moebius strip-like circuit. After another 15 minutes or so both channels appear to start swooning in a kind of elliptical syncopation, leaving you utterly transfixed and practically dazed by the end. Hearing these pieces now, in ouro ver-saturated soundsphere, the effect is nothing short of radical and deeply, unforgettably affective. If you're seeking something literally extra-ordinary, which seems to displace time altogether, these pieces will greatly enrich your mind. (boomkat)

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Peppino De Luca - La Ragazza Con La Pistola (1968) [OST]


The Girl with the Pistol (Italian: La ragazza con la pistola) is a 1968 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Monica Vitti won the David di Donatello as Best Actress.

In a small village in Sicily, the girl Assunta is seduced by Vincenzo. The man, however, runs away the day after they become lovers. Assunta, feeling disgraced, leaves for England where Vincenzo has fled. Assunta finds herself intimidated by the different culture, but resolutely travels to London in search of Vincenzo in order to kill him. After an accident, Assunta is hospitalized; she meets a cute patient, understanding and sentimental, who advises her to forget about Vincenzo, and to devote herself to her life. She follows this advice, and soon she creates for herself a new and wonderful life in England.

Very groovy soundtrack.





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Neon (1970)


Don't know much about this early-1970s quartet. Their prime claim to fame seems to rest with the fact their 1970 debut album was produced by Tommy James and Bob King (the pair also handled musical arrangements and contributed one song to the set). In spite of the dumbs*it cover, "Neon" is actually a surprisingly good heavy rock album. With Crabtree penning the majority of the material, the set offered up a nice blend of guitar rock ('Mountain Baby' - ignore the ponderous drum solo) and more commercial moves (check out the Tommy James and the Shondells-styled harmonies on 'Hold Back My Tears'). Personal favorites were the band's cover of James' 'Dark Is the Night' (always liked that 1960s sitar sound), the rocker 'Can't Stop Myself  (From Loving You)' and the mildly psychedelic 'Magic Man'. Listening to the album a couple more times, the set sounds like something The Shondells might have done had the ever elected to go for a tighter, AOR audience - that's meant as a compliment. A pleasant surprise and a bargain at the asking price ... (The album was originally released with a gatefold sleeve.) (source)

Peter Brannigan -- guitar, backing vocals 
Francis Crabtree -- keyboards, backing vocals 
Russell Leslie -- vocals, drums
Fung Porter -- vocals, bass



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Johnny Cash - Live In Poland (1987) [bootleg]


Zaraz, zaraz, to Johnny Cash grał w Polsce?! Facet, który w USA jest absolutną legendą i ikoną muzyki country (oraz zapewne jedynym wykonawcą tego gatunku znanym przeciętnemu słuchaczowi) wystąpił w naszym kraju? Otóż zagrał i to gdzie! Na festiwalu w Sopocie! Ta wątpliwej sławy impreza za komuny pozwalała Polakom poczuć czasami zapach wolności i sprowadzała nad nasze morze takie ówczesne gwiazdy jak Boney M., Kim Wilde, Demis Roussos czy Charles Aznavour. Cash do tego towarzystwa nie pasował za cholerę. Oderwani od kontaktu z zachodnią kulturą nie mieliśmy tak naprawdę pojęcia, jak wielka postać do nas przyjeżdża i traktowaliśmy go jako swojego rodzaju fanaberię - ot, przyjechał do nas kowboj ze Stanów. Jest może trochę bardziej znany od reszty, ale czy kaliber jego muzyki różni się czymś od takich Trebuni-Tutków? I kiedy tradycyjnie ubrany na czarno Cash wychodził ze swoimi frędzlami na scenę Opery Leśnej, na pewno nie zdawał sobie sprawy, że ten występ będzie dla niego o wiele dziwniejszym doświadczeniem niż słynne więzienne koncertówki w San Quentin czy Folsom Prison. Zresztą zobaczcie to sami -  publiczność nieudolnie próbuje złapać rytm klaskania, a prawdziwym highlightem jest fragment od 0:17 do 0:20 – nie wiemy, czy Cash widział w życiu większą stypę. Nie to miejsce i nie ten czas. (source)

Twórcy bootlega popełnili niestety błąd sugerując, iż Cash wystąpił w Gdańsku. Może im się wszystko pokręciło - Gdańsk - Sopot - Trójmiasto.


The note on the bootleg is a mistake. Cash was performing on the Sopot Festivail in Sopot not in Gdansk.


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Chris Gantry - Motor Mouth (1970)


Chris Gantry (Christopher Cedzich) was born December 29th, 1942 in Queens, New York. He began his career as a singer/songwriter at age fourteen with a recording contract for Paramount Records. He moved to Nashville in 1963. Chris has written more than 1,000 songs some of them as collaborations with Nashville’s best Kris Kristofferson, Mel Tillis, Shel Silverstein, and Eddie Rabbit. Over 100 of his songs were recorded by various artist; Roy Clark, Johnny Cash, Sonny Curtis, Robert Goulet, Wayne Newton, Johnny Lee, Reba McEntire, Billy Walker, Garry Pucket, KD Lang, Yankee Grey, and Rhett Akins, including Dreams of the Everyday Housewife, by Glen Campbell. Dreams of the Everyday Housewife won three M.M.I. awards plus the Millionaires Award for over two million performances. It also won the Nashville Songwriter Award in 1968. Chris recorded five albums for Monument and ABC Dot Records and has written for Sony Music, Warner Chapel Music, and Faverett Music Group. Chris won the Tennessee Williams Playwriting Contest with a collection of one act plays titled Teeth and Nails. He also wrote a collection of published short stories entitled Father Duck Tales. He currently writes for Cool Vibe Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee. Chris continues writing music with some of today's brightest up and coming stars and living the life of a Gypsy Dreamer! Chris is available for performances and motivational engagements for youth organizations and churches.

Chris Gantry - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
George Turner - Electric Guitar
Lee Shivley & Karl Himmel - Drums
Tim Drummond - Bass
Andy McMahon - Piano



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Francois Tusques - Intercommunal Music (1971)


France has always had close ties to the United States with regards to jazz. Not long after the music was first recorded in the US in the 1920s, a following for it began across the Atlantic. Of course, Django Reinhardt, who spent most of his life in France and is one of the most celebrated guitarists in jazz (or any genre, for that matter), was the first non-American to be a major jazz innovator. (Reinhardt, along with Joseph Reinhardt (his brother), Stéphane Grappelli, Roger Chaput and Louis Vola formed one of the most significant jazz groups in European history - the Quintette du Hot Club de France - in 1934.)

Born in 1938 in Paris, Tusques is a man with hardly any formal musical training, and it was not until the age of eighteen that he began studying piano. “I had only one week of lessons; after that, I was on my own - you could say an ‘autodidact’. I learned to play mostly by ear, especially from the drummers.”** These formative experiences in jazz for Tusques must have distinguished him a great deal from his peers; learning to play by listening intensely to the drums - an instrument that inhabits a completely different sonic world than other instruments used in jazz - most likely opened his ears up to some wildly interesting sonic possibilities and fostered an idiosyncratic brand of creativity.

In 1964, he and trumpetist/composer Bernard Vitet co-founded the first French free jazz band, recruiting the highly important and innovative Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark on bass and the great Aldo Romano on drums (who is known for working extensively with American jazz musicians such as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy and Dexter Gordon). Unfortunately, to my knowledge, no recordings exist of this group (they certainly did not officially release an album). However, the next year, Tusques and Vitet worked together again (this time hiring saxophonist and flutist Francois Jeanneau, bass clarinetist Michel Portal, percussionist Charles Saudrais and bassist Bernard Guérin - all of whom were key players on the emerging new jazz scene in Paris) to record and release Free Jazz, the first true French free jazz record (on the Moulodji label, but later reissued by In Situ). The album comprises a series of “loose springboard-pieces” written by Tusques that are fleshed out with expansive passages of free improvisation. Obviously, form-wise, this approach is nothing revolutionary. Rather, it is the highly distinctive manner in which the band improvises together that really stretches the genre into new territories. (source)

Francois Tusques - p,g,saw,maracas
Sunny Murray - d
Louis Armfield - perc
Alan Silva - cel
Beb Guerin - b
Bob Reid - b
Alan Shorter - tp
Steve Potts - as


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White Light (1969) [US]


This is garage driven hard rock, with some strong psych influences. This first pressing of the album features a different tracklist from that of the second. Two of the titles found on this version did not make it onto the second.

This is a boot reissue of the second version of this album, which replaces two tracks from the original, with three new ones. They also renamed the two eponimously titled instrumentals from the first issue, to new generic titles.

I haven’t yet been able to determine if these tracks were actually re-recorded, or just edited, but the certainly don’t begin the same way.

For some reason, they don’t manage to get the sound right on this either, even on the tracks which the two share in common, leaving this one sounding off the pace of the original.

The two tracks eliminated from this were two of the best from the first one, and the ones added are comparatively weak semi-comm pop. (tymeshifter RYM)

Kurt Perron -   Electric Piano, Drums, Bass, Guitar
Joel Perron - Lead Guitar, Bass, Drums
Mississipi - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar


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Outskirts Of Infinity - Lord Of The Dark Skies (1987)


The Outskirts of Infinity are a British Psychedelic trio who have been boiling away since the eighties. Their sound is a Hendrix scream of fuzz, flower power and syrupy acid blues, created to blow minds and wig-out squares. Guitarist Bari Watts is their not-so-secret weapon, his freely-freaking axe is a riot of Purple Haze and Creamy slashing.

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The Outskirts Of Infinity is a Psychedelic Rock trio from the UK, and were one of the earliest bands to release an album on Nick Saloman's Woronzow Label. Nick himself played Bass with the band on the first two albums. The Outskirts first album "Lord Of The Dark Skies" was one of the best on the label, with epic slabs of progressive rock and soaring guitar.


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Deuter - D (1971)


Georg Deuter (ur. 1 lutego 1945 w Falkenhagen) – niemiecki instrumentalista i kompozytor, najczęściej wiązany ze stylami new age, ambient i muzyką etniczną.

Deuter jest samoukiem, urodzonym na niemieckiej prowincji, nauczył się grać na flecie i gitarze, uprawiając muzykę domową. Traumatyczne doświadczenia związane z bardzo ciężkim wypadkiem samochodowym skłoniły go do rozpoczęcia tworzenia muzyki. Powstaje ona niemal wyłącznie z wykorzystaniem fletu, akustycznej gitary oraz instrumentów elektronicznych, a sporadycznie także harfy i instrumentów perkusyjnych. Charakteryzuje się radosnym pięknem, zadumą i relaksującym nastrojem.

W swej muzyce Deuter łączy typowe cechy muzyki europejskiej z muzyką Wschodu i innych kultur, np. południowo-amerykańskich. Deuter wiele lat spędził w Indiach studiując tamtejszą muzykę i angażując się w orientalne ruchy religijne. W Indiach nagrał też kilka albumów. W połowie lat osiemdziesiątych przeniósł się do USA osiedlając się w Santa Fe w Nowym Meksyku. (wikipedia)


Like many artists in the contemporary instrumental realm, Deuter mixes acoustic and electronic instruments, ethnic influences, and sounds from nature -- only he's been doing it since the early '70s. Born in the German village of Falkenhagen, Deuter learned flute and taught himself to play guitar but was discouraged from pursuing music as a career. The trauma of a nearly fatal auto accident in 1970, however, motivated him to pursue his dreams. His first recording, D, was released on Kuckuck in 1971. Over the years, Deuter's spiritual search has taken him around the world, most notably to India, where he lived on an ashram, studied Indian music, and recorded several albums. In the mid '80s he moved to the US, eventually settling in Santa Fe, NM. Deuter's style is characterized by gentle melodies and joyful rhythms that render his music accessible even as he presents an intriguing blend of Eastern and Western styles. (Linda Kohanov)

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Zendik Farm Orgaztra - Dance of the Cozmic Warriorz (1996)


Zendik Farm Orgaztra features some of Wulf Zendik's most powerful vocals and poetry. The Z.O. cuts on this LP,taken from the Dance of the Cozmic Warriors album, were recorded during Wulf's 70th year and are an awesome display of his artistic energy and aesthetic wisdom.

This LP, like our mag-zeens, books,videos, and TV shows, was put together by us in our own recording studio—no one got paid, no one at Zendik Farm gets a salary or a wage. We don't use money between us—we communicate, we cooperate, we believe in what we're doing..

Zendik is a Sanskrit word meaning outlaw, heretic, one who does not follow the established order, theological, social or political. We've expanded the meaning of Zendik to one who lives and creates within the Natural Laws of Cause-and-Effect, the Cosmic Laws, that govern not only humans, but all life and the universe itself.


Zendik Farm is a tribal community comprised of mostly young people. We're saying if our air, water and food are poison and there's a hole in the sky and less than a 1000 people own or control 90% of the Earth's resources, and you're supposed to be a good little job-slave, vote for liars, save up for a lawn mower and be ready for wax..!.then life sucks! We can design and build a beautiful culture, a society that works, that's fun, that let's us keep our souls — we can feed everyone, save elephants from extinction, explore other galaxies, create great movies, develop alternate energy fuels, throw outrageous parties, clean up the Great Lakes, work hard, laugh a lot, educate our kids, have friendly, loving sex without disease, etc.

Zendiks are culture builders, revolutionaries—not with guns, but with Art, with a way of Life. Zendiks are out to make life itself an art, make it magical. Zendik Farm is 300 acres along the Colorado River on the southern Great Plains outside of Austin, Texas. We have beautiful houses, workshops, and studios, all well built with recycled materials by young people from all over the world. We do organic farming, music, video, dance, carpentry, animal care, photography, publishing, multimedia shows, home schooling, eco-architecture, mechanics, pottery, and all kinds of other stuff.

It's obvious that the governments and corporations aren't going to create a decent world. It's up to those of us who give a fuck. If you're interested in working with us in any capacity contact us. If you're interested in visiting or living at Zendik Farm give us a call, or write.

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Michal Wasaznik - Punk in Poland [early years]


Michał Wasążnik pochodzi z Warszawy, a od kilkunastu lat mieszka i pracuje w Oslo. Karierę rozpoczął od fotografowania spektakli Tadeusza Kantora i międzynarodowego festiwalu Jazz Jamborre w Warszawie. Później zainteresował się polską sceną muzyki alternatywnej; konsekwentnie dokumentował środowisko twórców oraz fanów punk rocka.

W 1990 roku, po czterech latach na emigracji, Wasążnik odwiedził Polskę. Powrócił tu jeszcze kilka razy, aby stworzyć autorską panoramę polskiej transformacji gospodarczej. W ten sposób powstał “Nowy Świat”. Kurator wystawy Robert Jarosz tak opisuje prace fotografa: "Dokumentując przemiany zachodzące w kraju we wczesnych latach 90., Wasążnik nie zachwycał się kapitalizmem i zrezygnował z efektownych ikonicznych ujęć. Wszedł głęboko w tkankę społeczną. Pół tysiąca kadrów jego autorstwa ukazujących początki rodzimego kapitalizmu to materiał na antyprzewodnik turystyczny". (źródło)

Oficjalna strona artysty


Michał Wasążnik was born in 1956 in Warsaw. Since the seventies he has had strong connections with the radical art environment in Poland.

His career started with photographing the legendary Tadeusc Kantor's concerts, and he also took pictures of many known musicians on the international Jazz Jamboree festival in Warsaw. This was his own way of learning photography.

Some years later he got interested in the local alternative music stream and was the first to document the punk movement in Poland from the inside. At the same time he was participating in many activities and was holding several exhibitions in pioneer clubs right before the time of the "solidarity" and until the state of emergency in 1981 and after its end in 1983.

In 1984 he passed the state exam hold by the Culture and Art department that qualifies him to perform professional photography. His diploma work was consisting of pictures of the alternative youth environment finding place at that time in Poland, as a protest against the obligatory doctrine as well as against a cultural equalizing. The subject he chose to work with was the indirect reason for why he left the country in 1986 to avoid the repression. After staying in Berlin and Hamburg, he finally moved to Oslo.

Michal Wasazniks ambitions as a photographer continued also in Norway. With time his specialization has become architecture and interior photography. His artistic interests are however not limited till this field. The artist presents a variety of pictures in different conventions, both nostalgic, poetic motives as well as in strong modern form. (source)







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