Tony Coulter here, --------> you there. And with us too, this Thor's Day morn: more music, more art. I've done my part, now....
Start.
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Gen Ken Montgomery: Gen Ken & Equipment (no label, 1981) cassette/ CD-R
Let us commence our musical march -- focused this time on cassettes --- with the debut release of sound artist Ken Montgomery (aka Gen Ken, aka Egnekn). A testament to Montgomery's roots in Conrad Schnitzler--style electronics and minimal-synth-y new wave, 1981's Gen Ken & Equipment originally came out only on cassette, but was reissued on CD-R a number of years back. Incidentally, not too long after the release of this first cassette, Montgomery went on to collaborate with Schnitzler -- who, in case you don't know him, was an early member of Tangerine Dream and has since been the most consistently experimental and interesting practitioner of Berlin School electronics. For his part, Montgomery in later years has largely left Berlin-style electronics behind in favor of more conceptual sound art pieces. Longtime New Yorkers may also be interested to know that he was once the owner/operator of one of the city's best-ever record shops: Generator -- which lives on as a label, Web site, and concept.
Gen Ken Montgomery: Lost at Least
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Dada Frolic: B.O. (no label, 2007) CD-R
Next up is something that has only ever existed on CD-R, but that contains music recorded in the '80s by U.S. cassette-underground stalwarts Dada Frolic -- the nom-de-tune of Dan and Detta Andreana. Some tracks on B.O. did appear earlier on various cassettes, but the two fine tracks I've given you below were, as the punters and spelunkers say, "previously unreleased." Dan Andreana, it should be mentioned, was a DJ on WFMU during the '80s and early '90s, and also served the station ably as an engineer. For more Dada Frolic-ing, see this William Berger BOTB post of 2007.
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Fetid Poets: Mass Storage of Miniscule Artifacts (no label, 1990/ RE: Pulsewidth, 1998) cassette/ CD-R
Let's turn now to a 1990 cassette by the duo Fetid Poets, consisting of Alexander Ross and David Lee Myers (aka Arcane Device). Myers is best known for his feedback-based music -- and has previously been featured by me on this blog (see here). Ross had a 1989 cassette release (Grandfather Paradox) on the Generations Unlimited label -- co-run by Gen Ken Montgomery! -- and also recorded as Fantastic Palace, but is perhaps primarily known as a visual artist. In any case, the Fetid Poets cassette came about after Ross brought his sound library of lo-fi home-recorded bits and pieces and found-audio snippets to Myers's digital studio, where the two pieced together wonderfully expansive and intense audio collages that should appeal to fans of the likes of Christian Marclay or H.N.A.S. The cassette's final track, by the way, also appears on the compilation LP ReR Records Quarterly Vol. 3, No. 2 -- though credited not to the Fetid Poets, but to the names their mothers gave them. As for the Brownian Movements referenced below, they are -- as I surely need not tell you -- Jamesian in scope.
Fetid Poets: Unrestrained Bleed-Off by Numbskull Emulsions and Ensuing Quasi-Corona Effects
Fetid Poets: Pseudo-Replication of Brownian Movements
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Let's finish up today's musical offering with two cassettes from the extremely unique -- and highly prolific -- Japanese musician Naofumi Ishimaru, who has been releasing recordings as Yximalloo since at least the late 1970s. It's hard to know what to say about the music of Yximalloo except that it is simple and subtle, charming and angry, crazy and beautiful all at once -- a strange sort of personal ritual music, perhaps. I will mention that the first track I've given you below features Yosihumi Niinuma -- better known as Sympathy Nervous. I will also mention, somewhat randomly, that Mr. Yximalloo has collaborated with Jad Fair (as Jad and Nao) and with Jean-Louis Costes (on 1995's Je t'aime du Honoh), and that in 2008 he had an album (Unpop) released by the venerable and venerated ESP label. He was -- as a few FMU old-timers may remember -- a guest of mine on WFMU back around 1994.
Yximalloo: 15 Songs (Sakura Wrechords, 1982) cassette
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Yximalloo: Techno Temple Choir (Sakura Wrechords, 1984) cassette
Yximalloo: Catholic Ghetto #23
Yximalloo: Sa' I' Min #2
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Time now for the pictures. This time 'round, I've gathered together some cheapo LPs acquired recently, mostly just for their covers.
Arturo Monticelli: 50 Greatest Piano Themes (Grand Award, 1959) LP
Art: Tracy Sugarman
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Music Minus One: First Violin / Schubert: Piano Quintet in A, Opus 114 (The Trout) (Music Minus One, 19??) LP
Art: Russell Newton Roman
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The Cinema Sound Stage Orchestra: Cleopatra (Somerset, 196?) LP
Art: J. Krush
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Paris Philharmonic Orchestra/ Manuel Rosenthal: Glazounov: Suite from Raymonda (Capitol, 195?) LP
Art: ??
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The Ray Charles Chorus: Far Away Places, Volume 3 (London Records, 195?) LP
Art: ??
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National Concert Dance Orchestra: Selections from Porgy and Bess (Halo, 1958) LP
Art: Marsh
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Orquesta Lirica Audio Museum, Madrid/ J. Olmedo: Albeniz: Spanish Dances (Telefunken, 195?) LP
Art: ??
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Hamburg International Philharmonic Orchestra/ Wilhelm Von Luden: Antonin Dvorak: New World Symphony #5 (Great Musical Masterpieces,195?) [detail]
Art: Constance Krystoff
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Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/ Gyorgy Lehel: Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2/ Brahms: Hungarian Dances (Parliament, 195?) LP [detail]
Art: Jules Maidoff
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'Tis all for now ... see you -- and you! -- two weeks hence.
Fascinating stuff, Tony - especially the Gen Ken Montgomery. The LP scans are great as well.
I always look forward to your posts!
Posted by: Uglyradio.wordpress.com | December 16, 2010 at 11:17 AM
Ha! I remember the Generator; had some good times there and some good stories. Here's one.
We're all sitting on the floor of the shop, listening to Sue Anne Harkey jam on her electric zither thingy. Into the store pops a big crazy eyed street person ( bear in mind, the nabe was a little uhhh different back then ). People are trying not to pay attention to this distraction, but then he reaches his hand into his jacket and we all think "oh my, something awful this way comes" and I start looking for a place to jump to. In a mighty flourish, he reveals an enormous tapestry of Elvis Presley. "Any of you white people want to buy this?" he asks. We all bust out in a big laugh. Come on buddy, sit down and enjoy the free show.
Posted by: K. | December 17, 2010 at 12:34 PM