A week ago, I finally started listening to my archive of the first 154 releases on the legendary Ninja Tune label. From the early 90s forward, nearly every artist with a progressive electronic sound and a touch of jazzy flare was on Ninja Tune.
I was already a fan of the big names in Future Jazz like Jaga Jazzist, Bonobo, Funki Porcini and St Germain. The first LP I bought after being bitten by the electro-jazz bug was St Germain’s classic Tourist album on Blue Note Records.
Here’s “Rose Rouge,” a classic example of electro-jazz.
That album instantly reminded me of LTJ Bukem’s Journey Inwards double LP (released in ’00 – the same year as Tourist) so I picked up a 94-disc archive of Intelligent D’n'B records, including Bukem’s Good Looking Records label, the Earth series, and several others.
My favorite album from that new selection was Big Bud’s Late Night Blues, which I’ll be ordering on vinyl soon.
But as I continuted to research the Future Jazz genre, a few artists clearly stood out from the crowd.
From Hidden Orchestra’s official profile:
Hidden Orchestra combines two live drummers and deep basslines with strong jazz and classical influences, to make cinematic, emotive, percussive, next generation music using traditional instrumentation and organic samples.
I was similarly entranced by the stripped-down rhythmic and melodic jazz loops of The Cinematic Orchestra, particularly their earlier LPs, Motion (1999) and Remixes 98-2000 (2000).
For example, listen to “Channel 1 Suite” from Motion. (A possible nod to Buddy Rich?)
Or for a taste of electronic free-jazz from the very same LP, “Blue Birds.”
And from the album, Everyday – the slow and bassy “Burn Out.”
That’s when I hit the brick wall of harsh reality surrounding the family of Future Jazz LPs -
They cost a small fortune.
What I soon learned was that Ninja Tune is a small, independent label and they pressed very limited numbers of these fantastic albums in the 90s and early 2000s. As such, many of these discs command $50 – $150 per album if you want the real thing.
And I wanted the real thing.
But two days of searching yielded the most wonderful discovery I could have ever asked for. There is a site called BeatDelete.com. Think of them as a Kickstarter for all your favorite, out-of-print records.
Ninja Tune was offering all their greatest albums from the 90s to be pre-ordered for reissue on BeatDelete. 100 orders locked in the re-pressing, and then they’d take it off the site.
I couldn’t throw money at the monitor fast enough.
I locked in pre-orders for two of my favorite Cinematic Orchestra double LPs and tracked down an original copy of Remixes 98-2000 from a private seller who also had a mint copy of DJ Food’s Kaleidoscope (another of my new-found favorites from the Ninja Tune archive.)
Kaleidoscope is the magic album I hinted at in my last entry. DJ Food samples both the Del Close & John Brent How To Speak Hip LP from ’59 and features the smokey vocal legend of the 50s and 60s – Ken Nordine.
And that jazzy upright bass plucking you hear is Benny Golson’s “Wink” from ’67.
The “thinking man’s” track he’s introducing at the end of “Ageing Young Rebel” is the reason I had to buy this record. Here it is – “The Crow.”
And then, I discovered darkjazz. Call it what you will – darkjazz, doomjazz, noir jazz, funeral jazz… It’s magnificent stuff.
From last.fm:
Dark jazz is a form of modern jazz characterized by the fusion of downtempo, minimalist ambient music with jazz. The term is often used interchangeably with doom jazz, and is comparable in feel and mood to dark ambient music.
There are approximately 100 contemporary artists which fall into the category of darkjazz, but there are three names among them that you need to know: Bohren und der Club of Gore, The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation and their other half – The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble.
For those who understand silence to be the most beautiful song the in the world, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble’s 2011 LP, From the Stairwell will take your breath away.
Almost literally, in fact – as I found myself holding my breath throughout my entire first listen, perhaps from fear that my breathing might interfere with the hauntingly fragile sounds coming from my studio monitors. The album is full of half-audible frequencies – whisper-soft percussive tones, electronic sounds who’s source the listener can scarcely place, and gently-played fragments of jazz solos which vanish as subtly as the appear.
From the Stairwell is a contender which could challenge Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way for the quietest album ever recorded.
And if The Cinematic Orchestra’s Motion is an evening in a smoke-filled jazz club, then From a Stairwell is the intoxicated alley-walk home when the night is through.
In the age of the loudness war, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble is a beacon of hope that delicate and well-produced records will survive the millennium.
Hipster “Kookie” Kookson III was played by Edd Byrnes as a recurring character in the detective series, 77 Sunset Strip. Edd later starred as Vince Fontaine in Grease. Sunset was produced by Jack Webb (of Dragnet fame.)
Kookie’s popularity with teen viewers culminated with the novelty single, “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” recorded with Connie Stevens in 1959. The song became a classic of the Doctor Demento Show, usually played with “The Mummy”/”The Beat Generation” also from ’59.
Hip Homework: Research golden-voiced Ken Nordine’s most noteworthy recordings – Word Jazz and Colors: A Sensuous Listening Experience.
Hip Vocab: Review the 1959 LP, Del Close & John Brent’s How To Speak Hip.
Next week we’ll explore a killer DJ who sampled both of these hip artists on his classic electro-jazz album.
This month I’ve picked up some absolutely outstanding non-commercial releases (which I prefer over “bootlegs,”) and I wanted to take the opportunity to differentiate between the two terms.
When I hear the word, “bootleg,” I picture a DVD-R in a paper sleeve with the word, “TITANIC” written in black sharpie across the disc. Bootlegs are what people try to sell you for a fiver in a gas station parking lot.
“Bootleg”
When instead I use the term “non-commercial” or “unauthorized” release, I have in mind something much different. A wonderful example is the KLF Recovered & Remastered Ltd Ed EP series I highlighted in my last entry. These are painstakingly and skillfully remastered works engineered by dedicated fans who fill the void left when the official label has left recordings ignored and unreleased for decades.
Two such LPs just arrived in the mail yesterday.
Crown Records issued unauthorized versions of Kraftwerk’s first two (sadly, forgotten) albums, I and II in 1994, albums which had not been available on vinyl since 1970 (other than a short run by Philips Records’ Japanese division in 1979.) What made the Crown releases even more fun was that for the first time these LPs were issued on red and green wax matching their Warhol-esque cover art.
These two albums sound nothing like the electronic wizardry of their better-known recordings. Here is a sample of side 1, track 1 – “Ruckzuk.”
But then, this week, I got my hands on an absolute gem – a remarkable example of a proper fan-produced album.
The Syd Barrett – Have You Got It Yet? box set produced by The Laughing Madcaps is a work of art.
This 22-disc box set includes over 200 rare and unreleased audio tracks with a total running time of over 13 hours. But it doesn’t stop there. The set is complete with deluxe fan-designed packaging and 8 bonus VCD discs including Syd’s First Trip from 1966, TV promotional footage from Sydney and Belgium, a complete collection of video interviews, the VH1 Legends special, a disc of rare photo galleries, PDF scans of books like The Pink Floyd Songbook, and so much more.
Each disc comes with matching artwork and detailed production liner notes. Many of the tracks are presented as OOPS (Out Of Phase Stereo) mixes.
From the liner notes:
These are fan-created remixes and NOT session outtakes. OOPS is a process by which a home user can remix a stereo track, thus revealing musical details that were less evident in the commercial mix.
Furthermore, every OOPS and mono track on discs 8-10 was rendered as a dual-signal expansion: one channel is a mirror image of the other. For the listener, this means a richer sound field and a more natural ambiance than could be expected from pure mono, yet without any obvious attempt at a stereo result from a mono source.
The spines of Volumes 1 – 10
For the Pink Floyd fans out there unfamiliar with the phrase, “Have You Got It Yet?” the story goes like this:
Initially, the song, “Have You Got It Yet?” seemed like an ordinary Barrett tune. However, as soon as the other members attempted to join in and learn the piece, Barrett changed the melodies and structure, making it impossible for the others to follow. For the chorus, Barrett sang, “Have You Got It Yet?” while the rest of the band answered “No, no!”.
Roger Waters was later interviewed about the incident and said that upon realizing that Barrett was deliberately making the song impossible to learn, he reportedly put down his bass, left the room, and never attempted to play with Barrett again.
Waters called it “a real act of mad genius”.
I will not endorse buying bootlegs. But fan-remastered and remixed recordings of rare and unreleased 40-year old archival material? Fine by me.
I’ve been all over the ambient and experimental map these first two months of the year. I recently revisited Boards of Canada’s extended catalog – 6 LPs, 4 compilation albums, 6 EPs, and two live sets (the Warp 10th Anniversary Party from ’99 and All Tomorrows Parties in 2001) and fell in love with the sound of early downtempo all over again.
For years I’ve loved Peter Gabriel’s fourth LP (in particular the tribal percussion on the track, “Rhythm of the Heat”) as well as the Birdy and Passion soundtracks from ’85 and ’89. I decided it was finally time to acquaint myself with the rest of his discography, so I picked up a digital archive of his 14 studio albums, 17 singles, 11 remastered recordings, 6 official compilations and 6 live albums. I have I-IV on vinyl, as well as the Birdy OST, and this archive will be the perfect way for me to identify which LPs to order next.
Also this past month I decided to explore the birth of IDM. A quick bit of research uncovered the Artificial Intelligence series on the Warp label, which was the definitive collection of early intelligent dance releases. The series included 8 discs issued between 1992-1994. The selection below is by Link, which is one-half Tom Middleton who I remember from the Cosmic Fury DJ face-off between Middleton and Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly.
And after months of researching krautrock’s greatest recordings, I finally picked up 11 albums by Faust. And thank god, because the search led me to the 1973 masterpiece collaboration of Faust and Tony Conrad titled Outside the Dream Syndicate. This stripped-bare, minimalist record puts you into a trace and you slowly begin to feel the subtle nuances of the droning violin and the relentless percussion. A most rewarding listen! I promptly added Conrad’s debut LP to my shopping list. It’s around $100 when it surfaces, so it appears I’m not the only fan out there.
Popol Vuh was another German 70s artist I discovered and enjoyed this past month. I tried out their 27 LP catalog spanning 1970 – 1999 and (as usual) was most fond of their debut album – Affenstunde. The album is a solid 40 minutes of droning proto-synth sounds and natural percussion. Unlike the later work of Tangerine Dream, the album never sounds artificial or sequenced. It remains organic from start to finish. I’ll be looking for this album at the record show next month.
Just before the month began I went through the complete discography of Tangerine Dream chronologically by date of release to identify which albums from their vast catalog would best fit my library. I picked up 206 discs, including all studio albums, all remasters, live LPs, soundtracks, singles, and solo projects by each member of the band. A week into listening and reading I knew exactly what I wanted. Their first four records were much more experimental and organic than the sequencer-based ambient work that they are best known for. Long before they inspired the new age genre they were making crazy avant garde German music not unlike Popol Vuh.
Unfortunately, original pressings of these early albums would set me back $50 apiece and $100 for a clean copy of their debut LP. After two days of research, I found the answer.
In 1985, Relativity Records pressed 3000 numbered copies of a box set called In the Beginning… which included their first four albums, uncut, and the previously unreleased Green Desert LP. All of the original album art is included in the set along with a ten page book about the band. Best of all – I secured a copy for a mere $25. This was the PERFECT solution for my situation!
While I was on a German kick I decided to put the finishing touches on my Kraftwerk library. I already had Radioactivity and Autobahn on vinyl so I picked up their first 17 albums digitally to see where I wanted to go next. I instantly fell in love with Kraftwerk I and Kraftwerk II. These were the experimental LPs they produced before Ralf & Florian secured their signature electronic sound. Many reviewers write the first two albums off as “for-completists-only.” I strongly disagree. While of course these are no Autobahn, they are beautiful free-form experiments and I had to have them on wax. After two days of exploring I settled on the Italian Crown label bootleg pressings which came with red vinyl and green marbled vinyl discs. I found one seller with both albums so I saved on shipping and took the plunge. They’ll be in the mail this week.
The other German group I had neglected for far too long was the band, Neu! I’m listening to the six LPs they released between 1972 and 2010 (the most recent being a recording from 1986.) I think I’ll have to agree with the majority of fans that their first two records from ’72 and ’73 are their best work. I’ll be looking for original pressings at the record show as well.
I also picked up the fan-produced bootleg series of EPs titled, The KLF Recovered & Remastered. The 6 EPs and 7th Special Remixes disc include magnificent independent remasters from the KLF’s deleted catalog. These EPs are on par with the work Dr. Ebbetts and The Purple Chick did with the Beatles’ recordings.
The best disc by far is EP 6 – Live From the Lost Continent 2012, which is a simulated live stadium concert in which the KLF take the listener on a tour through their entire career. It opens with the Rites of Mu and closes, appropriately with the KLF collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror at the February 1992 BRIT Awards. This was the legendary performance where they fired blanks into the audience, declared that they’d left the music business, and dumped a sheep carcass at the doors of the building. The sampled screams of the audience all throughout this hour-and-17-minute “performance” is true to form to what the KLF, themselves did with their Stadium House Trilogy and the entire concert is an absolute triumph. Best of all, it lets long-time fans take part in one last show decades after Drummond and Cauty left the biz behind.
I have over 88 KLF albums and singles in my library, and EP #6 RE now ranks #1 on my list. And thanks to EP #1, I’ve added the America, What Time is Love LP single to my shopping list.
Always on the hunt for more experimental music, I finally took the advice of my favorite record store owner and listened to Soft Machine’s first four albums. I had discovered the Canterbury Scene. More of a journalistic term than anything else, (like krautrock) it referred to a group of musicians around Canterbury who worked together in several bands around the time that the Berlin School was born in Germany.
I researched a list of essential artists and picked up their discographies. This included Soft Machine, Matching Mole, Egg, Steve Hillage, National Health, Khan, Ash Ra Tempel/Ashra/Manuel Gottsching, Gong, Caravan and Henry Cow.
The organ work on Egg’s first LP is brilliant, and warranted repeated listenings. I also enjoyed their post-break-up release, The Civil Surface from ’74. Both have been added to my record show list.
Out of the 17 albums in Gong’s library, I found the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy to be the most memorable. Released between 1973 and 74 these were finally re-pressed in Italy in 2002 and have sold online for about $45 apiece for the re-issues. Angel’s Egg (Radio Gnome Invisible Pt 2) seems to be their strongest record.
I was similarly floored by Ash Ra Tempel’s first two LPs. If you like post-psychedelic drone, their early stuff is really worth picking up. I’m going through the 49 LPs they released between 1970 and 2007 but so far Ash Ra Tempel (1971) and Schwingungen (1972) are my clear favorites.
The unfortunate thing about many of the Canterbury and krautrock artists is that there were no pressings made after their original releases in the early 1970s. This means a listener may have to shell out one or two hundred dollars per album, which is why I’ve no reservation about familiarizing myself with their catalog digitally before making that kind of investment.
On to more contemporary sounds, I’ve been following the Electronic Supper Club series which is a great collection of live dj sets. Of the thirty three hours of material available thus far, hour 30, “Set 2″ is a memorable favorite – lots of deep house grooves which are great for both the dancefloor or the living room. Click here if you’d like to watch the set.
That got me in the mood for more quality IDM, so I picked up 47 albums and singles by Aphex Twin. I’m still trying to warm up to the fan-favorite, Selected Ambient Works Vol 2 which inevitably surfaces in conversations about all-time-greatest ambient releases.
I may also invest in a vinyl copy of Powerpill (the Pac-Man techno single) to add to my ridiculously large collection of Pac-Man Fever merchandise. The Aphex Twin library is just over 41 hours worth of material so I’m sure I’ll find a few classic releases to order on wax. (“Bucephalus Bouncing Ball” from Clint Mansell’s Pi soundtrack comes immediately to mind.)
Ever since I sampled Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach vinyl box set during my last pilgrimage to my hometown record shop I’ve wanted to learn more about his work. I have 53 of his discs in my archive and I’m slowly making my way through the collection. He seems consistent in his approach to music and his focus on short, repeated patterns gives it an almost drone-like quality. Thus far the Einstein on the Beach 4LP set is my favorite so I will likely pick it up from the shop. I only wish there were vinyl issues of the short pieces he composed for Sesame Street in 1979 for the animated shorts, The Geometry of Circles. He wrote them while developing Einstein on the Beach, which is probably why that album remains my favorite so far.
I watched the stunning space madness film, Moon from 2009 this month. Imagine a two-hour film with only one actor… and you’re on the edge of your seat the entire time. What was most memorable about the film was the score – a simple oscillation of two notes on a piano that sticks in your head hours after the film has ended. After researching the film I read that the melody was a metaphor for the conflict between the main character and his clone (both played by the same actor.)
I was surprised to learn that the score was written by the aforementioned Clint Mansell, the former guitarist for Pop Will Eat Itself. He has written the scores for many films, including Black Swan (2010), Doom (2005) and the soundtrack I mentioned earlier – Pi (1998). His more recent works have entered into modern classical territory, and I’m enjoying it very much. I picked up all 19 of his scores and my vinyl copy of Moon arrived in the mail last week.
At the beginning of the month I was researching an old CD I remembered from 2000 – LTJ Bukem’s Journey Inwards. I had recently heard tracks by Big Bud which had the same Intelligent D’n'B feel as Journey Inwards. Sure enough, I learned that they were produced on the same label. I quickly picked up the complete 94 disc catalog which included all of the Good Looking Records/Earth/Soul/Logical Progression/Looking Back/etc releases and I absolutely loved what I heard. Shortly after listening to this collection I added Big Bud’s Late Night Blues LP to my shopping list. The album plays like a live show in a small space-jazz club, and is great music to wind down to.
My exploration of space-jazz led me to a Various Artists collection called The Future Sounds of Jazz. This series compiles the best electronic “future jazz” singles from 1995 – 2012 in a wonderful 21 disc set. Nightmares on Wax became a fast-favorite of mine, and I will likely be purchasing their first two LPs – Caraboot Soul and A Word of Science.
The last new entry in my library this month was the result of my research into contemporary ambient sound. I have approximately 830 ambient albums beginning with Erik Satie’s The Gymnopédies from 1888 and ending with Ulrich Schnauss’ A Long Way to Fall from 2013, but the majority of my ambient collection is what you would call “classic ambience.”
To get a better feel for more contemporary ambient recordings I researched a long-time favorite artist – Wolfgang Voigt. He founded an ambient label in Cologne, Germany in 1993 and released collections of his favorite minimal and microhouse works on his label each year. I picked up the 13 disc Pop Ambient set which began in 2001 and published their latest release last month. It makes for a fantastic playlist, and is inspiring a number of future vinyl purchases.
So there you have it – the first 819 albums of 2013. The year is off to a great start. My research has yielded a list of must-have LPs which I’ve passed on to a record dealer who is traveling to Germany this week in preparation for the upcoming record show. He promised to bring me back some great original pressings. I’m looking forward to it!
I’ve spent the last few years tracking down my most favorite LPs but have kept them all sealed waiting for a system that would truly do them justice.
A few years ago, a WONDERFUL friend gifted me a McIntosh 4280 amplifier, a DAC, and Focal speakers for being the Best Man at his wedding. Sadly the MAC was faulty and after 3 years of servicing it at McIntosh headquarters, it was declared dead.
But on December 23rd, 2012 he drove 9 hours across the USA and delivered me a replacement MAC and new cables to go with it!
I had also recently upgraded my linear turntable to a glorious Denon and picked out the best cartridge I could afford.
FINALLY after 5 years I’m removing the shrink and spinning my favorite LPs!
The new setup includes:
Denon DP-60L Rosewood Turntable w Ortofon 2M Red cartridge
and my trusty Yamaha CR-840 integrated tuner/amplifier (The Yamaha was my first so I keep it around but powered off)
Cambridge Audio DACMagic for my Music Workstation
McIntosh C39 pre amplifier w remote and manual
Integra adm2.1 power amp
Harman Kardon Solo
(repair in progress)
Sonance Sonamp 260
(repair in progress)
Focal 814v floor speakers Sennheiser HD 380Pro studio monitors
(I LOVE these headphones!)
Pair of XLO Ultra 10′ speaker cable
AudioQuest Python interconnects
and Tributaries Silver Series RCAs
(from the early 2000s before Trib became stupid)
NOTE: Sample image not an exact match – mine have silver caps on the connectors
Next I plan to order a VTI 304 cherry audio rack, one of the few units which can accommodate the mammoth size of these vintage components.
THANK YOU, dear friend. You made my Christmas one to remember!
It’s been a very busy season this past month! I’m developing six multimedia lectures (and all are music-related, of course.) The first will take place at the city’s finest bookshop in January, and is free to the public. Locals are encouraged to attend.
I have also been approached by a local university professor who is interested in me bringing the series to their American Music class.
The more technical talks on subjects like Managing Personal Servers With 10k+ Files will be offered to an area Meet Up group and will detail handy functions such as on-the-fly real-time trans-coding to best suit the DAC of the end user and to ensure smooth playback at any speed.
Thankfully just in time for my first lecture I received the last two albums I needed for my debut presentation.
The first is that glorious cult classic, that godfather of industrial noise – Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music.
It’s a mesmerizing listen. This 2012 edition is a new stereo mix of the original 1979 quadrophonic release. And finally holding it in my hands I read the notes on the back which confirmed my supposition that Reed was inspired by the work of La Monte Young.
And the other wishlist item came as a total surprise. It’s Raymond Scott’s 1946+ recordings from Manhattan Research Incorporated, released as a triple gatefold 3LP set in 2001 in the Netherlands. My copy turned up in Malaysia and arrived in time for Christmas.
If you haven’t heard these fantastic snippets of futurama space-age electronic musique concrete, hop over to the Tube and have a listen. Scott developed a stockpile of electronic noise generators decades before the synthesizer, and in the 50s every company wanted his futuristic sound for their advertising.
My favorite vocal samples from this collection:
“Don’t beat your wife… every night… chew Wrigley’s!”
and“Someday, science tells us… we’ll be able to clean our walls… electronically.”
Also picked up a German import of A Clockwork Orange OST, and I’ve just recently developed a fondness for the downtempo stylings of deep house. (Don’t think floorstompers or heavy bass… think 120BPM with a focus on smooth mid-tones and jazz chords.)
I’ll try to post a few prime cuts in the coming weeks.
My pre-ordered copy of Brian Eno’s latest generative work, Lux has arrived at my record shop which I should be visiting next week.
In the meantime here are a few groovy titles that I’ve found in the wild.
This first album appeared on r/vinyl and I couldn’t get my wallet out fast enough. I’ve been watching auctions for original copies of Beck’s Sea Change for months. Every copy sells for about $40. Then I found out about the special limited edition Black Friday release of the Mobile Fidelity 180g remaster and knew I had to act fast. This is the first Mobile Fidelity release on a colored vinyl – marbled pink wax in this case. And it sounds absolutely magnificent.
Next I found two John Cage LPs in the trade-in boxes a customer dropped off at my local record shop. They were a little musty so I may look to upgrade my copies later down the line. They were Folkways Records’ Sound of New Music featuring Cage, Varese, Ussachevsky and others, and Indeterminacy by Cage and David Tudor.
Later that week I checked out Buffalo’s largest bookstore and took a chance on their small record section in the back. Behind about 50 Elvis records I lucked out and found a sealed John Cage and David Tudor record! It still had it’s $2 price sticker from 1966, which the shop kindly honored!
Next up at my local Antique Mall I absolutely struck gold in the area of New Music.
I almost passed up this next disc because I knew I had the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange at home. But the vendor explained to me that this was a different album, entirely. Most importantly it includes the full 13 minute version of “Timesteps,” one of the most famed in the history of early electronic recordings. (The soundtrack version of the album trimmed it down to 4 minutes.)
They also had a classic ambient album from Harold Budd – a Belgian import of Serpent in Quicksilver.
Then I spotted this legendary Nonesuch release – Time’s Encomium. Wuorinen won a Pulitzer Prize for this recording, making it the first all-electronic album to win the Prize and making Wuorinen the youngest-ever recipient. It’s a wonderful milestone in early electronic sound.
And finally there was this incredible LP which I had been after for weeks. The Columbia-Princeston Electronic Music Center was founded in 1958 and this mono LP was released in 1964. The only electronic record I’ve found that pre-dates this release is my copy of Forbidden Planet which was recorded in 1956.
That’s all for this week, I’ll post the new Eno album as soon as I pick it up!
I’ve started volunteering at the Bop Shop and they let me browse the special collections section (items for sale on the website) and I’ve found some remarkable LPs.
The first item I picked up was Morton Subotnick’s The Wild Bull. I asked, “so is it true that I can pick up just about any release on the Nonesuch label and know that it will be fantastic?”
Moments later, I had my answer. I found a double LP boxed set titled, The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music by Beaver and Krauss. It was composed on one of the first Moog synthesizers built by Bob Moog and includes a syllabus to guide the listener through a collection of sound concepts and the language of electronic music which was altogether new to the world when the record was released.
One of the 20th century music experts working in the shop smiled and told me that the Guide was an essential starting point for my early electronic library and that had the album been produced in a more limited run, it would be considered a holy grail.
Click on the back cover shot for a high-resolution photo and check out the track listing for a better idea of what this collection offers.
Next I asked if by chance the store had a copy of George Harrison’s noise record, Electronic Sound.
Sure enough, in the special collections area there were not one but three copies! The first was $25 but had needle wear and audible surface noise. The $40 copy was a Japanese import in NM condition and it played magnificently. I opted for the second disc and after researching the recording I learned that Krauss actually composed and performed an entire side of the album but was never credited on the release.
The final treasure came when I inquired about a collection of experimental releases from the French label, Prospective 21e Siècle from the 60s and 70s. I was surprised to hear that the owner of the shop recalled the label and remembered seeing a few discs come into the store at one time or another. We searched through the “to-be-filed” shelves and to my absolute surprise found FOUR of the label’s releases tucked away on the top shelf! Most were $50 apiece and in excellent condition. After quickly sampling these discs I picked out three and added them to my pile.
I plan to rip these rare albums to FLAC just as soon as the McIntosh pre-amp and power amp arrive.
Prospective 21e Siècle - Boucourechliuv
Prospective 21e Siècle - Clavencin 2.0
Prospective 21e Siècle – Ohana
I made two additional discoveries this week as well. The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble has released two albums, each in the area of New Music.
The first was a performance of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. It was an excellent performance of the classic piece, but the second release is what really grabbed me.
In C Remixed is a 21st century re-imagining of Terry Riley’s groundbreaking minimalist composition.
Below is a sample – Jad Abumrad’s mix
And the other discovery was the work of Pauline Oliveros. I began exploring her tape music from the 50s and 60s but was most impressed with her work with The Deep Listening Band during the 1990s. The album, Ready Made Boomerang was recorded in a two million gallon cistern which has a reverberation time of 45 seconds!
I’m hoping for a vinyl re-issue of this release.
I’ll be heading back to the Bop Shop this Saturday so stay tuned for more!
After hearing 7 Skies H3 (the 24 hour Song Skull) and a number of other Lips’ releases that I’ve neglected for far too long I decided to track down the colored vinyl editions of all my favorite Flaming Lips albums.
I already had a sealed copy of the limited edition 180g 2LP + bonus CD pressing of The Soft Bulletin for starters. This album is a sonic masterpiece from start to finish. Once the new pre-amp and interconnects arrive I just might take off the shrink and give it a spin.
The next disc I picked up was the red vinyl pressing of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The beautiful artwork is a perfect match for the record – it sounds just like it looks.
So last weekend I went digging through the Discogs database and found limited ed. colored vinyl pressings of At War With the Mystics and Embryonic. One was a UK issue and the other a US pressing. I spent a few days tracking down the best-priced copies I could find and then jumped on them.
Here’s Mystics…
And I learned that the original colored issue of Embryonic had two mistakes: The first song on side D (Scorpio Sword) was accidentally placed at the end of side C and while disc 1 was pressed in blue vinyl the second LP was accidentally pressed on black.
As a result, Warner Bros. sold 100 copies at the album release show and destroyed the rest.
This second run corrected both mistakes. Here’s Embryonic pressed in translucent colored vinyl.
I really enjoyed everything from the Soft Bulletin forward, including their experimental works such as Zarieeka (four CDs which are intended to be played simultaneously), Two Blobs Fucking (a dozen youtube videos also written to be played at once), the 1996 Parking Lot Experiment, and the aforementioned 24 Hour Song Skull.
Now I’m curious about their early work. Their first six LPs were full of outrageous song titles such as “One Million Billionth Of A Millisecond On A Sunday Morning,” “Jesus Shooting Heroin,” “The Spontaneous Combustion Of John” and many others.
I have digital copies of their extended discography so in the coming week I’ll be taking in their releases from 1986-1997. I may end up with a colorful collection of all their re-issues by the time I’m done. But with album art like this…
