Hot in the Airport: The Y. Bhekhirst sound (mp3)

Ten off-kilter MP3s after the jump...

Here's the musical oeuvre of one Y. Bhekhirst, a man who sings in some unidentifiable accent, backed up by a band that sounds like each instrument was recorded separately, without any regards to such things as tempo or melody. Hot in the Airport was a big hit on Incorrect Music, where the most played track from the album had to be the title song. It's just so darn catchy, and Mr. Bhekhirst made sure you picked up on that by underlining the track. (As can be seen in the picture on the right, the underlining was done on the plastic cover of the tape, not on the J-card insert or even on the shrinkwrap, which always struck me as a telling detail.)

For more information on Mr. Bhekhirst, check out the inevitable Wikipedia article, which will direct you to this Bhekhirst fan(?)site. These two sites contain all of the known information about Y. Bhekhirst, which is to say not that much.

All files below are 128kbit MP3 files.

Side A: Dalmar | Over All | Time Passing | I Run My Car | Rain in Summer

Side B: Hot in the Airport | Freshing Air | You Dance | I Will Sing | Everytime I

Comments

[ljp]

These tracks are really creepy! Too bad I don't know how to consolidate all the tracks into one folder. Thanks for that anyways!

[M.G.]

Damn it! This is pure genius!

Now i'll gladly download all of these tonight for the world to enjoy.

My wife will kill me for playing this loud. Again.

[Jeff Werner]

After hearing the first few lines sung on Over All, Y. Bhekhirst's voice immediately reminded me of a Canadian accent. To me he sounds like Gordon Lightfoot raised in Newfoundland.

[Master Evil]

I though he sounded German. Well, proves how much I know about accents

[Matvei]

Y is absolutely Hispanic, exists in the public records of New Hyde Park, and appears to still reside in that blessed town. Two registered letters (to a home address, not the defunct PO Box) and one housecall have failed to coax a response from the great man, but anyone in his vicinity who wishes to try his luck and persist (I'm in California, limiting my effectiveness) should contact me. Y has at least ten cassettes of unreleased material registered with the US Copyright Office, dating back to 1964 and including at least five incarnations of Hot in the Airport (the V.5 note on the 45 pressing seems to refer to this).

[j. benney]

thanks a lot for promoting y.'s music, and my "fan" site.

i would really, really appreciate it if some wfmu type could tell me what the b-side to the "hot in the airport" 45 is. maybe then my site will be complete... for now.

(and here i was thinking for a second that there was a new bhekhirst track, entitled "t.t." in typically enigmatic style.)

[Master Evil]

Y has at least ten cassettes of unreleased material registered with the US Copyright Office, dating back to 1964 and including at least five incarnations of Hot in the Airport (the V.5 note on the 45 pressing seems to refer to this).

Where are the other Tapes?! Love to hear them!

[dina kelberman]

This is so awesome!! I didn't know the rest of this album was available!! Now I have it!!!!!!!

[HDG Records Representative]

Thanks for uploading the entire album. "Hot In The Airport" is a masterpiece and Y Bhekhirst is a genius, no questions asked. I am thoroughly grateful to everyone here for unearthing it.

"Dalmar" sounds uncannily like The Fall (I was waiting for Mark E Smith to start rambling away when I first heard it), "Freshing Air" is the ultimate protest album (it wees all over Bob Dylan's entire output), and as for the title track...oh man, this will get stuck in your head for days, much like "You Dance" (the only song I'll ever dance to!).

As for the question of "Who is Y Bhekhirst?" I like to assume it's Morrissey being accompanied by The Raincoats (and Chris Cutler banging away on the drums)

[André]

The songs are awesome. My favourite is Dalmar.
By the way, when listening to Dalmar I tend to hear sirens from a German ambulance vehicle. You can hear it at 0:44 if you listen closely. So he might actual be a German guy, but who knows.

[Andrew]

I've been interested in getting more sounds by this unique musician since I heard a few of his tracks on "Incorrect Music". I can remember listening to his songs and thinking, "Hang on, this doesn't suck at all. This is actually quite good. In fact..." and, having been drawn into the simple and sheer hypnotic effect of his music, have been curious ever since. So thank you for providing this opportunity to hear his work in the round. What exactly is going on is a matter for debate, but the end result is something well and truly inspired. A jewel in the "outsider music" crown. More power to his arm. And if there is more material available, please someone get in touch with me...

[Plaskon]

Thank you so much, Listener Jim. Thank you for these quality MP3s of Y's record.

[Jim]

I actually live in new hyde park, ny. Any idea where i can find him?

[MEK]

It's too difficult to find out who this man is. This is certainly a great mystery.

[Matvei]

Jim in Hyde Park, contact me at bhekhirst at yahoo dot com, maybe we can figure out how to talk to Y. Definitely know where he is, but can't get him to respond to mail/etc.

[MEK]

I live near New Hyde Park, too. Where does he live?

[MEK]

I contacted Matvei...still no answer to where he is. I'll be aggressive with this project for a bit and then I'm giving up. There are other things to worry about. I live near this artist and I think we can say hello and thank him, that's all.

[MEK]

Anyone who has not done so, please join the Facebook group page for YB as well.

[MEK]

okay, so I got his "address" from a poster here. I still have not confirmed that it is the real YB. But I can confirm that it is the address of the person with the long name JHDG and the same birthdate(1946). But I have driven by his house twice. (I feel really creepy, I don't want to stalk the guy) I guess I am waiting to see if he is outside or something, so I can say hello. This has been harder than I thought. I don't want to really bother the guy but I really just want to thank him and let him know he has fans.( I know it's more than 6 people). Does anyone care? Am I being a creep? I am just obsessed with music. Please feedback.

[milton parker]

Stop driving by his house, but certainly write him a letter telling him that he has fans and asking about the other cassettes, and post back here

[MEK]

I heard that someone has written to him but he did not reply. Beleive me, I don't want to drive by his house like some deranged fan. LOL. This is really silly, YB probably has no clue he has some fans. I just happen to live close enough where I might catch a glimpse of YB.

[MEK]

Folks, if you would like to write YB a letter you can get YB's home address from Matvei, he posted his email address above. You can write all the letters you want. I doubt you will get any replies. This is a cold dead case in my book.

[Jon]

Oh wow, I just found out about this guy and followed a link here.....and this here comments are fresh...

Does anybody know how old he might be? Maybe he's out of it and has someone taking care of him and he's incapable of replying to letters or something...maybe he goes to florida for the winter...maybe you can "accidentally" run into him at the supermarket.....just speculating.

I live on LI too. I love so called 'atrocious' music. WFMU is the best radio station in the entire universe!!!

[MEK]

It's possible he is not at all "with it". He might be another Syd Barrett case(But We hope not)...I think based on his public copyright records he is in his 60s. He was born in 1946. We only know that much info. It was getting creepy for me to keep driving by his house. I want to respect his privacy. I could, like you said, accidently 'bump into him'at the post office or supermarket. I don't think he has any idea alot of folks like his music.

[Matvei]

I've sent him multiple letters in both English and Spanish and heard nothing. I can tell you that from my experience tracking marginalized musical artists (probably 200+ to date) that if you can't get them over the phone [which JHDG doesn't have] or e-mail [ha!] you will not hear from them - most of them are bemused to hear of interest but don't reply if you don't persist. I'm guessing if we can actually speak to this guy he'll be shy but thrilled to get some cash/fans/etc. I can only think of two cases in my entire tracking career where the band was hostile to learning about fan interest, and both of those were extreme personalities who recorded very aggressive music. Y's profile to me is more of a gently senile -- maybe even deaf, and don't think I'm kidding with that theory -- dreamer who's marching to his own very disjointed drummer.

Anyway, it's worth a serious effort. Going by copyright records this guy has REAMS of material, and I highly doubt any of his family will preserve it for posterity should he die (or if he already has).