She who talks loud, saying nothing

Neil Young - Dead Man OST (1996)




















Sick greetings from my coughy and nose running deathbed,
I thougt it quite appropiate to feature this epic soundtrack today, also I feel like this soundtrack is particularly enjoyable while enduring a rather delirious and fuzzy state of mind.
If you didn't come across the film Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch or the soundtrack by Neil Young yet, start with either, the soundtrack entails plenty of dialouge, which gives a good impression of the film.
I'm too brainpained to paraphrase:
"Neil Young recorded the soundtrack by improvising (mostly on his electric guitar, with some acoustic guitar, piano and organ) as he watched the newly edited film alone in a recording studio. The soundtrack album consists of seven instrumental tracks by Young, with dialog excerpts from the film and Johnny Depp reading the poetry of William Blake interspersed between the music." (wiki)
I'd also like to contribute this adept film review.
FrauWurst


Mix of main theme, excerpts, and clipshow:



Please buy DVD and CD.
Try here

Can I have some more please...?

Can-Soundtracks-1970
Krautrock,experimental, soundtrack



















What a wonderfully lazy sunday afternoon is is today, the sun is out, the ferocity of my hunger has been satisfied by a burrito, Hawkeyes are ranked 13th after beating Penn State and I'm listening to the second Can album, and it all fits perfectly. Soundtracks is as it says a series of soundtracks to films performed by Can, along with two original songs featuring the bands former singer Malcom Mooney who would leave due to mental health problems, and the rest featuring the newly acquired frontman and talisman Kenji Damo Suzuki. More about the band members next time with the incredible masterpeice "Tago Mago".

The first three songs feature in the film Deadlock, 1970, directed by Roland Klick; "Don't Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone", Damo's first recorded performance is from the film Cream, "Soul Desert" is from the film Mädchen... nur mit Gewalt, the epic "Mother Sky" is from the Jerzy Skolimowski film Deep End, and the Mooney sung "She Brings the Rain" is from the 1971 film Bottom - Ein großer graublauer Vogel .

The style of this album is oceans apart from their next 3 albums and it only comes close to the originality, exuberance and mind-fucking nature of these stunning albums, but this album holds a special place in my heart/brain.

The whole album seems to ache, it longs for something, and it torments itself about it repeatedly, stabbing away at its own heart. As I said the band were still finding its sound at this point, but the departure of Mooney and Suzuki's introduction really advanced their sound into the extraordinary directions they would explore.

The story of Damo Suzuki's initiation into the band is also extraordinary. On a morning before Can were due to play a gig , Czukay and Liebezeit were sitting in a Munich cafe, when they came across the japanese traveller Suzuki. They invited him to trial for the band and he played the gig that evening, he would become iconic, with his inaudible spontaneous lyrics sung in a variety of languages, he was what would elevate Can to one of the most innovative and influential bands of the time.

The album itself is like a prototype for whats to come, the Mooney songs are much evolved from monster movies more bluesy meets Velvet Underground inspired sounds, and contains the repetitive chaos which would shape "Tago Mago". Without doubt the highlight of this album is the 15 minute epic "Mother Sky". An epic beast, it blows me away every time I listen, its swirling monotony hypnotizes the listener, and Damo's slurred incomprehensible vocals capture your whole consciousness. It captures Can so well, the apparent contradictions of the underlying mechanical bass and drums, the guitar which melodic at some points, and tearing at others, fuses the song together, allowing Damo's insane ramblings to sound so beautiful and natural. Mother Sky is a song to hear intently and involve yourself in like no other, a real journey, it really hits you hard, not for the quiet background listeners please. Get high, drunk, turn it up loud, turn off the lights and immerse yourself. God I love Can
jamscoopa

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Deadlock

I Can see why you'd like this......

Can-Monster Movie-1969
Krautrock, experimental, progressive.


















Hallo, ich heisse jamscoopa und ich prezenten Can-Monster Movie. If you'll excuse me for ruining the german language I will present to you in chronological order (of release) the condensed discography of one of my favourite bands Can. I will start with the first proper Can album and the only one featuring the original singer Malcom Mooney.

From AMG:
Always at least three steps ahead of contemporary popular music, Can were the leading avant-garde rock group of the '70s. From their very beginning, their music didn't conform to any commonly held notions about rock & roll -- not even those of the countercultures. Inspired more by 20th century classical music than Chuck Berry, their closest contemporaries were Frank Zappa or possibly the Velvet Underground. Yet their music was more serious and inaccessible than either of those artists. Instead of recording tight pop songs or satire, Can experimented with noise, synthesizers, nontraditional music, cut-and-paste techniques, and, most importantly, electronic music; each album marked a significant step forward from the previous album, investigating new territories that other rock bands weren't interested in exploring.

This first album by Can, is fairly atypical of the sound they would evolve to and perfect in the trilogy of "Tago Mago", "Ege Bamyasi" and "Future Days". Malcom Mooney's voice adds something completely different than from his replacement Damo Suzuki, his bluesy, raw and broken voice tells of troubles which surface most on the stand out song "Yoo do Right".

"Yoo do Right" is a 20-minute monster, edited down from a 12-hour jam of terrifying proportions and beating its way through 8 minutes of white-hot guitar and keys that pulls your chest apart, drums clattering in circles and squares and obese rhomboid patterns about your head, before falling to the silent click of drumsticks and a boiled-to-nothing whisper and then lurching back to unending life, strafing and spinning and rending all in its path.

Monster Movie was released in 1969, and is Can's most rock-oriented album by a considerable margin. Its songs are raw and aggressive-- very much informed by The Velvet Underground's larval trance-rock-- and they mark Malcolm Mooney as nothing if not an inspired amateur. "Father Cannot Yell" leaps out of the gate with a hi-speed keyboard flutter and the snap of Jaki Liebezeit's snare. Although the band would later perfect a kind of ambient funk, here they were brawny (though precise), determined rockers to the hilt; five minutes into "Father Cannot Yell", the song climaxes with a blaze of bass, drums, and fuzzed-out guitar, and an entire legacy of minimalist rock (from Neu! to Comets On Fire) is predicted. Of course, the 20-minute "Yoo Doo Right" is the centerpiece, and gives the best indication of what Can would do afterward. The murky, primal atmosphere of drums that dominates the track never allows the listener to escape the band's propulsion; like much of Can's best music, "Yoo Doo Right" seduces me into hypnosis, and winds through a seemingly endless array of textures and variations. Monster Movie is an amazing debut, but would be Mooney's last. He suffered a nervous breakdown onstage and returned to America.

A great start to a great band, more to come.
jamscoopa

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MnM 256kbps

Creepy, you see.....very creepy

Comus-First Utterance-1971
Acid-folk, folk-rock, proto-progressive, experimental.

Good evening boys and girls for your audiological experience tonight I bring to you a daft affair which will entertain, unsettle and drive you into delerium, or i guess you'll just put it on in the background or something.

Comus (with a hard S{not like Camus}) were an english folk rock band from the late 60s early 70s, who produced a few albums of little success or critical acclaim. First Utterance is their debut and their most interesting work. Based on a poem by John Milton it deals with as my good friend wikipedia tells me:

"two brothers and their sister lost in the wood. The Lady becomes fatigued, and the brothers wander off in search of sustenance. The Lady is captured by the debauched Comus, a character inspired by the god of mockery, brought to his pleasure palace, and magically affixed to a chair with "gums of glutinous heat." Comus urges the Lady to "be not coy" and drink from his magical cup (representing sexual pleasure and intemperance), but she repeatedly refuses, arguing for the virtuousness of temperance and chastity. Meanwhile her brothers, searching for her, come across the Attendant Spirit, an angelic figure sent to aid them, who takes the form of a shepherd and tells them how to defeat Comus. The three manage to rescue her and chase off Comus, but the Lady remains magically bound to her chair. With a song, the Spirit conjures the water nymph Sabrina who frees the Lady on account of her steadfast virtue."

It sounds reminiscent of very traditional folk at some points and at other times raucous ramblings of a madman over a drunken flute rock band lost in the woods waiting to die. This complement alone should entice a willing reader to listen, frankly its a very unique album, partly due its concept nature and also due to its rather odd song structures which seem to start, change and stop at odd intervals.

The lyrics are somewhat undeceipherable, whether there about torture, madness or rape is anyone's guess, but that is not the point, if you want pretty lyrics then this is not the place to listen, but if you want a full on journey through a theme of human suffering in a folk rock style than this is your definitive cup of tea.

"Diana" and "Drip Drip" are probably the two strongest songs although the latter tends to go on a fair bit too long, "Song to Comus" and "The Bite" also stand out as highlights on what is a fairly consistent album. A really novel experience and a cult classic, very interesting music, it always has a slightly bemusing effect on me, its really quite eerie. The strained vocals and high pitched violin create a vibe of unease, whilst the "gypsyesque" drum beats force the songs through unabated tension and feelings primal witchcraft. In the end you feel like you've been cursed somehow, only to remember "I don't believe in curses" then lots of your friends relatives get cancer. But you think the odds are high, 1 in 3 people will get cancer, of course it's not a curse, then one day you wake up in the middle of the night and a giant rabbit with a glowing eye is at the end of your bed and asks you to follow it and leads you on to commit a series of crimes, then you find that you time traveled and................oh
Enjoy, recommended for any curious listeners.
jamscoopa

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Utter

It'll suit you, it's kinda Italian luxury jute

Gruppo D'Alternativa - Ipotesi (1972)











Discovered on MUTANT SOUNDS

Good stuff. :)


You may read this review, I think it's funny.
"This band with a strange name and an unusual line-up is still less-known to many Italian prog experts, yet their only album is surprisingly good and has very interesting moments.
The weakest point is the singer's voice, squeaky and monotonous and with some spoken parts to connect the musical themes, but musically the band is competent and the album reveals some jazz-rock influences in the Canterbury vein (listen to some jazzy guitar parts or the use of bassoon).
Acoustic parts are prevalent but there are sudden rhythm changes and complex arrangements and the album can be a nice surprise. The nine tracks are connected to form two long suites. [...]"(source)

Let's learn Italian.

Try it on.

The most trusted name in the skies

Fly Pan Am - Ceux Qui Inventent N'ont Jamais Vecu (2002)
















Ah, c'est ca, c'est un expérience extraordinaire.

Bonjour people people,

so, this is Fly Pan Am, a Canadian experimental, avant-garde, post-rock, rather untagable band which is definitely worth a listen. Their sound is groovy, it's cool it's energetic, confusing and it's more or less constantly repeating everything which it entails. It's pure joy.
The intriguing thing about this record is the way one song abruptly passes on to the next, from unbearably amazing industrial-like sound sceneries to easy passages back to repeating and hyptnotising sound creations. You will find something new with every listen, I promise.
The best place to listen to it may be a huge empty warehouse with some amazing sound system of course. The album is superb as a whole, personal favourites are track two, four and six.

They released their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with the likes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect. (last.fm)

Please support and experience yourself.

This is not a dream?....well it sure sounds like one

Dadamah-This is not a Dream-1992
Alternative, psychedelic, rock

















Dadamah as promised folks, is the only album by this somewhat transient and awesome band, enjoy.
While Dadamah is often seen as another step along the way in the artistic path of Roy Montgomery, he'd be the first to agree that does a disservice to his equally talented bandmates. Singer/bassist Kim Pieters writes the fascinating if sometimes hard to read liner notes for this complete career overview, while there's also keyboardist/backing vocalist Janine Stass as well. Together the trio continued the by-then well-established Kiwi underground music tradition of shadowy, haunting music and production, helped by noted figure in said scene Peter Stapleton, who also took care of drumming as needed.

Unless the consistently aggro noise fests of, say, the Dead C or Gate, Dadamah also draw on a generally more spare but no less compelling approach, often building up arrangements and then settling back again, or else maintaining a continuing steady, gently addictive pace. There's the roots of Montgomery's work in the Pin Group, naturally, with its own echoes of Joy Division and early Cure, but there's also a very strange, folky vibe as well that at points suggests the work done half a world away by Dave Pearce in Flying Saucer Attack. Both Pieters and Montgomery's singing draws on the more idiosyncratic post-punk approach to vocals, eschewing technical skill in favor of just getting it out. Whether it's Pieters' higher, sometimes wailing approach or Montgomery's stern, strained and reflective singing, though, words and music almost always go very well together throughout. Stass' keyboard work, meanwhile, adds even more of a strange, odd edge to proceedings. Sometimes the tone is almost a bit jaunty, as the swinging skip and burbling keyboard notes of the lengthy "Too Hot to Dry," sung by Pieters, shows, even with the usual murky production style. With highlights like the Montgomery-sung "High Tension House," where the title phrase comes from, and the truly tripped, Pieters-sung "Radio Brain," This is Not a Dream is well worth investigating.
(All from AMG)

One of my favourite albums from the 90s, it has a fairly low quality sound which when added to the eerie oddly strained vocals creates something quite pleasantly haunting in a way. My highlight would be "Brian's Children" from a subdued start and a rather traditional alt pop verse is spirals down into a repetitive hole drawing you down as it goes, wonderful sounds.
But the album is full of great songs, "Papa Doc", "High Tension House" and "Too Hot to Dry" are all worth putting on loop, each time finding something new.
Capturing sounds reminiscent of the acid psych of the late 60s/early 70s, as many of the early 90s scene bands tried to do, this album is one of the best at doing so, but without sounding like a rehash, it merely takes inspiration from past to create something incredibly good. Its simplicity is its charm, yet the songs produced are far more interesting than alt pop very largely due to excellent writing and musicianship; but in great parts due to Mongomery's deeply disturbed demure vocals.
jamscoopa

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Papa

Down by the pond a toad sits sighing.....

Bardo Pond-Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15-1995
Acid-rock, experimental, psychedelic-rock, drone.

Hey heroes, for you today I have some distortedly dense droning psych from a band called Bardo Pond.

Bardo Pond issued its first album, Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15, in early 1995; its title was taken from the scientific name for the notorious hallucinogenic toad found in the western U.S. The CD version appended "Amen 29:15," a near-half-hour jam that marked Takeda's recorded debut with the band. Later that year, Compulsiv released a CD EP of leftover tracks called Big Laughing Jym. Bufo Alvarius sparked the interest of Matador Records, which signed Bardo Pond and issued their breakthrough sophomore effort, Amanita, in 1996. Titled after a little-known hallucinogen from India, the album won critical praise and substantially heightened the band's profile, as did their increasingly improvisational live shows.

It starts with feedback, hum, and fuzz, then a heavy guitar riff emerging from the murk -- arguably Bardo Pond in a nutshell. Then again, enough other bands do the same thing, so why should the Pond get singled out? It's hard to pin down an exact reason, but whatever "it" is that a band needs to connect, they've got it. The slow, stony pace that "Adhesive" establishes for Bufo Alvarius Amen 29:15 continues through the album's remaining tracks, but in such a way that Bardo Pond rapidly become their own band and not merely the sum of their influences. There's something about the combination of lo-fi crunch, post-shoegaze bliss-out, stoner Quaalude head-nodding, and Loop/Spacemen 3-inspired drone that's truly unique.

Standout moments abound: "Back Porch" has a series of instrumental breaks with brief, beautiful guitar lines, while on the soft jangle of "On a Side Street," various solos unfold slowly but surely in the background as lowly sung lyrics amble about. "Capillary River" has some astonishing, transcendent soloing in the middle of the song, building up to a brilliant final verse as Gibbons' vocals are lost in feedback and haze. The low-key shuffle/drone "Absence" is a good showcase for Sollenberger's singing -- sweeter and clearer here than might be expected. The CD version includes what might be the ultimate head-trip of them all, at least for this particular album: the 30-minute "Amen." The central part of the song is a fairly simple chord progression repeated again and again, but it's the various touches throughout the number -- the extra drones, watery deep reverb on the bass, and slow overall rhythm -- that make it the understated monster it is.
(All From AMG)

Its the bands debut in all its raw form, but a great listen, check out "Amanita" "Lapsed"or "Dilate" if you like this. I will also be posting "Dadamah-This is not a dream" next which is Roy Montgomery's band. Montgomery collaborated with Bardo Pond on a side project "Hash Jar Tempo".(inspired by the brilliant Ash Ra Tempel, whom I will also post)
Excellent album, its takes time to hear through the uber heavy distortion, but once you do it works beautifully. They have also jammed with Damo Suzuki's Network, which I've been lucky enough to have seen twice, the live recordings of the gig are immense, although currently not up anywhere I know-links would be appreciated.
jamscoopa

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Toad
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scaruffi

The Psychedelic Avengers

The Psychedelic Avengers-The Psychedelic Avengers and the Curse of the Universe-2004
Psychedelic, space-rock, rock-opera, eclectic.

















Good Patriot Day to you Sirs. But I'm not American so whats much more important is that it's the weekend, wonderful. For you on this day I have a collection of like minded artsists;going under the name of "The Psychedelic Avengers" creating an intriguing masterpiece which they chose to call "PA and the Curse of the Universe". I won't review overkill this album, its basically a spacerock opera, with a bunch of different styles from different guys, but it works well if you listen to the whole thing all the way through, whether intoxicated or not.
jamscoopa

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Spaceman

The exuberance of every waking moment

Waking Life -2001

Dear anonymous reader,
I warmly recommend this divine living experince of art to you. Waking Life, is a film like no other, and I don't care how often you've heard that before.
Everything which should occupy your mind is told through a "half" lucid dream of the main character. It's you and me, it's everything you know, knew or will learn during this intangible abstract idea of life, the journey of our minds.

Here are some excerpts:





Watch it

And Listen

Everything is not a taste

Neu-Neu 75-1975
Krautrock, electronic, ambient, experimental.


















Happy Labor day y'all, I'm still not clear about what its actually celebrating here but hey its a day off work.
To you on this day I present to you the 3rd album by Neu!(pronounced noy), Neu! 75. This album is perhaps considered there masterpiece along with their original self titled effort.
Neu! consisted of Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger who had left Kraftwerk in 1971 to create a new sound. The sound was highly inventive and with the so called "Motorik" sound being birthed on "Hallogallo" and "Negativland"from there self titled it went on to influence there old band mates in Kraftwerk.
75 comes at the crossroads in the stylistic nature of the band, with Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger starting to assert there now differing view on the music. Preceding this albums release Rother had worked with another kraut band Cluster to form the "super group" Harmonia. Harmonia's tone of ambient repetitive electronics was contrasted by Dinger's evolving sound which was leaning much more to rock, a compromise was found by splitting the album in two, including Dinger's brother Thomas on guitar and Hans Lampe to play drums on the 2nd half. The album clearly reflects this divergence of taste.

The album opener "Isi" is a wonderfully melodic Rother song that creates images of the musical equivalent of flying. The other two Rother inspired songs also make up the 1st half of the album, "Seeland" and "Leb' Wohl"(meaning farewell). Both songs, but especially "Leb' Wohl" are really beautiful ambient creations.

The second side kicks of with "Hero", this side is Dinger's, a much more upbeat affair which is reminiscent of proto punk and is said to have inspired John Lyndon of The Sex pistols,(an unfortunate consequence) but Neu! are of course much better than punk ever was/is. The song works brilliantly for me, the controlled Neu! sound is contrasted perfectly by Dinger's deranged slurred vocals, this song describes the album extremely well. The second Dinger song is the 8 minute epic "E-Music" an overtly repetitive track that reminds me a lot of their debut/signature sound. The album closer "After Eight" is seemingly a remix/continuation of Hero.

The album is excellent, I'll also so post their debut and 2nd album which both rank along side this. Neu! may be an acquired taste and many listens are needed to fully appreciate this album. True inovators who are often overshadowed by the "mother" band Kraftwerk, Neu!'s sound is one which is solely theirs which although influential can easily stand its ground against anything similar since.
jamscoopa


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Noy
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Scaruffi

Lowrider

Lowrider - Ode To Io (2002)

1. Caravan
2. Flat Earth
3. Convoy V
4. Dust Settlin'
5. Sun Devil
6. Anchor
7. Texas Pt I & II
8. Riding Shotgun
9. Saguaro
10. Ode to Io 

Ode To Io

Nebula/Lowrider - Double EP (1998)

Nebula

1. Anything from You
2. Full Throttle
3. Back to the Dawn
4. Fall of Icarus

Lowrider

1. Lameneshma
2. The Gnome, the Serpent, the Sun
3. Shivaree
4. Upon the Dune [Full Version]
   

Double Ep (link dead)


Please by from AllThatisHeavy Store and check out the band's record label Meteorcity.
You can also buy the deluxe version of Ode To Io here, which features the songs from the Nebula split.

You don't have a burning desire at all

The Books - Music for a French Elevator and Other Short Format Oddities - 2006
















Bonjour mesdames et messieurs,

I'll break my silence today with something to satisfy and sooth our experimental souls. I present The Books, an amazingly consfusing and inspiring duo consisting of Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong.
If you like to think deep while brushing your teeth or unlocking your front door, or standing in a french elevator you will be able to enjoy this Geräuschkulisse(soundscape). Their music is something between electronic, folk, accoustic, samples, speech and sounds which can be described as a poor copy of bodily functions.
This being the newest piece of work which was actually designed for an elevator in the french Ministry of Culture (produced on their request), starts of with gentle songs and chants which come close to earlier albums such as Lemon Of Pink (2003). The mostly characteristically short "songs" progress to only consist of recordings and speech. You may remain in a delighted and slightly confused but actually wiser state of mind after listetning to this peculiar music.
It's a short but rather dense album, so enjoy and brush away.

Please buy and support.

But most of all, listen.

The brave and free

The United States of America-The United States of America-1968
Psychedelic, electronic, experimental.

















A cult psychedelic classic here for you tonight ladies and gentlemen. The United States of America's self titled and sole album rank as one of the best of the 60s, which is a tough decade to stand out in. Recorded and released in 1968 this is unfortunately the bands only release, yet it is a work of huge quality both in its experimental sound and catchy juxtaposed songs. In a broad way it is reminiscent of The Zombies "Odyssey and Oracle" where light poppy songs are accompanied by less than poppy lyrics. Its dreamy ballad songs are some of the albums best songs and due to its freaky female vocals remind me a lot of Velvet Underground and Nico and also a much distorted Grace Slick in Jefferson airplane.
The album was revolutionary for its pioneering use of electronics(the ring modulator) and heavy mesmerizing themes, its very much a unique album in this sense but one that also fits its era perfectly. Along with Silver apples who also released their self titled album in 1968, this album sound was predicting later decades of ambient synthesizer dominant music, and whose only equivalents can been seen as those in krautrock.

The album starts with a circus themed "The American Metaphysical Circus", a highlight and bizarre song(see the mildly jaded amg review). The other stand out songs are "Cloud song", "Where is yesterday" and some nice bass in "Coming Down", but really the whole album is excellent. If you like psychedelic, interesting or experimental music check out this album.
jamscoopa

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USofA (256kbs)