What's On My Micro, Part 3: Experimental Sounds, Long Tracks

To you, the hot weather may mean good times, beers and rockabilly in the backyard.  To me, it means laying flat on my back in the AC, annoying little nubbie headphones jammed into my earholes, with the Micro playing lengthy musical extrapolations—sounds I can get lost in, and temporarily forget about the curling sidewalks, teeming humidity and roasting sun outside.  Here are a few recent faves:

-Toshiro Mayuzumi + Makoto Moroi - "Variations sur [7]"

Somehow, even with the eye-popping quality of this record sleeve, RCA felt obliged to actually put some music on the disc as well.  This track is early Japanese musique concrete, from two of the masters; utterly engaging and surprisingly modern-sounding.  Composer Mayuzumi also scored over 100 films in his lifetime. In my search for more information on the recording, I found this page, with more mp3 downloads from this fertile era in Japanese avant-garde music. [Variations sur 7 mp3, 21MB]

-AMM - "ICA London 23rd March 1966" (unreleased)

This recording captures UK improvisational giants AMM in their earliest incarnation (see this bio written by founder Eddie Prévost)—beautifully dense, screechy, shambling, and still shaking off their jazz and Cage-influenced foundations.  [Track 3 mp3, 15MB]

-DDAA - "Nouvelles Constructions Sonores sur Fondations Visuelles" (cassette, 1991)

DDAA (Déficit des Années Antérieurs) formed in 1979, and are one of my all-time favorite musical groups.  In the early 80s, they were lumped in with the post-Throbbing Gristle "industrial" scene, but musically and thematically speaking, DDAA have always had more in common with Ralph Records (also see this) and the LAFMS.  Some of their best recordings over the years have been cassette-only releases; this mp3 represents side A of the above-named cassette.  [NCSSFV-A mp3, 62MB]

-Kaoru Abe - "Well-Tempered Alto-Saxophone Suite For Joyness Of All Beginers And Also Exparts Pt.1" from Partitas Unfinished (rec. 1973, orig. release 1989 on 2LP, released 2000 on limited 2CD)

The late avant-garde Japanese saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist/improviser in a solo alto performance from March 1973.  Abe's abrasive, percussive, melodious tones recall Albert Ayler, somehow encompassing a very "punk" vibe at the same time.  A player beyond compare, to be sure.  See this page for a thoughtful biography of the artist, by Eugene Chadbourne.  [Pt. 1 mp3, 33MB]

-Maschine Nr. 9 - "Headmovie" (1974)

Headmovie is a Nurse With Wound List item, a German Rock-audio collage of spoken word, electronic pulsations, psychedelic music, and borrowed bits from The Beatles White Album, among other things.  The credited trio includes musician Georg Deuter, who at the time had released some great ethnic-flavored solo albums of instrumental music and was already veering towards "New Age."  Krautrock luminaries Renate Knaup (Amon Düül II) and Daniel Fichelscher (Popol Vuh) also participated.  [Side 1 mp3, 41MB]

Comments

[BrianTurner]

Speaking of amon duul 2, a staffer who just interviewed Kurt Loder for an article just dropped the bomb on me that Kurt auditioned for Amon Duul 2 while living in Germany in the 70's.

Where the hell can I find DDAA?! Do they have cds at all, or are they entirely out of print?

-MD

See this link below for another DDAA full-length, plus the other half of the one presented here:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/05/cassette_cultur_1.html

See this post on another blog for yet more:
http://thethingonthedoorstep.blogspot.com/2007/03/ddaa-ronsard-lp-7-tape.html

Also try eBay; every once in while there's something up.

You could also try contacting the band directly through their MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/deficitdesanneesanterieures
They seem to have a PayPal setup-